Uprising Page 2

  Over her shoulder, she could see Robby staring out down the road behind them. Like father, like son. When she turned forward again, she caught Ethan glancing in her direction out of the corner of her eye.

  Kate was suddenly more aware of his arm stretched out behind her. She swallowed and turned toward him. When their eyes locked her insides warmed. It felt like tiny fireworks going off inside her stomach.

  Ethan’s chest rose as his eyes moved down to her lips. After a far too long glance, he turned back toward the road, but only for a second before looking into her eyes again.

  The air between them felt tight, like a stretched-out rubber band. Kate’s heart began to pound like a bass drum as she stared back into his deep brown eyes.

  “Turn right,” Percy said, and Kate practically jumped out of her skin as the rubber band snapped. Kate’s head was out of the clouds and her surroundings cleared.

  Down the road, Kate could see a large farm with an overgrown yard and fields covered in dead weeds. Percy started shifting in his seat.

  “It used to be something else.” Percy’s voice cracked. He lightly elbowed Kate and gestured at the yard with his chin. “You would have loved it, Miss Kate.”

  “I’m sure I would have,” Kate said with a tight-lipped smile.

  The truck bounced up and down as Ethan drove down the bumpy driveway. He parked near the house, and Robby was out of the back of the truck before Ethan cut the engine.

  Kate followed Ethan out of the driver’s side of the truck while Percy took his time getting out of the passenger side. When she looked up, Ethan was standing inches from her looking down into her eyes. Her breath felt like it was stuck in her throat.

  “Be alert,” Ethan said before stepping away from her and shoving the keys to the truck into his front pocket.

  Kate breathed deeply, noticing both the stillness and the staleness of the air. She scanned the area for wandering Unholy, but there wasn’t any movement for as far as she could see.

  Ethan pulled out his blade as he nervously looked around. She couldn’t help but notice his shoulders were tensed.

  “We keep the seeds in the basement,” Robby said as he walked past Ethan heading toward the house.

  “Hold up,” Ethan said jogging to get ahead of Robby. “Let me check it out first, just in case one of those things is hanging around inside.”

  “Be my guest,” Robby said bowing his head slightly as he waved his hand toward the door.

  Kate slowed her pace to walk at Percy’s side. He adjusted the brim of his hat with his shaking fingers as he looked out toward the fields.

  Ethan slowly opened the front door and looked inside the house. His knees were slightly bent, and he gripped his blade tightly holding it up as though he expected The Unholy to launch themselves at him. He relaxed slightly as he stepped into the home.

  Robby was at his heels. The screen door slammed shut before Kate, and Percy even reached the porch.

  “Miss Kate?” Percy said stopping abruptly. The man’s hands sounded like sandpaper as he rubbed them together briskly.

  “Yes?” Kate asked narrowing her eyes.

  Percy let out a heavy breath and refused to look at her. “I think you’re doing a great job with the town. Just wanted you to know that.”

  “Okay, thanks,” Kate said shifting her weight from one foot to the other. It was almost as if Percy’s nervousness was contagious. “Everything all right?”

  “Oh, yes. Yes, of course. Being back here is just, well, I don’t know. I don’t have the words to describe it.” His head bobbed as he started to walk toward what had once been his home.

  Kate followed Percy up the creaky stairs and into the house where Robby and Ethan were waiting. Ethan’s eyes moved from wall to wall as he checked out the dusty, rustic decor.

  “Any day now, dad,” Robby said groaning immaturely.

  “You know I’m not as spry as I once was,” Percy said, scratching his head with his middle finger.

  Robby elbowed Ethan and gestured at the hallway. “That way.”

  Ethan nodded and headed down the hall slowly checking every room as he walked by. Before he reached the end of the hallway, Robby cleared his throat.

  “Door on your left,” Robby said.

  As Ethan made his way slowly down the stairs with Kate a couple steps behind, she could hear Robby whispering something to Percy. She glanced back just as Robby stepped out with a big smile on his face.

  “Dad’s going to wait upstairs. Is it safe down there?” Robby asked.

  Kate stared at him noticing something about Robby that she couldn’t quite place. There was something about his smile that reminded her of someone, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on who it might be.

  “All clear,” Ethan called out.

  Kate moved down the stairs looking around the dank, mildew-scented basement. There was junk, and soggy boxes stacked in every corner and against every wall. A pair of old rusted shovels leaned against a utility sink that was covered in several layers of grime and filth.

  She thought she saw something small moving in the corner behind a broken, stained recliner that hadn’t been used in years.

  “Where are the seeds?” Ethan asked as he turned around in a slow circle.

  “Oh, over there,” Robby said, pointing to the shelf against the wall opposite the stairway. He stopped and looked into the sink and scrunched up his nose.

  Kate followed Ethan to the back wall. Both of them scanned the shelf, looking for packets of seeds. There was a loud clanking noise behind them, and Kate turned sharply.

  “What was that?” Kate asked.

  Robby smiled and shook his head. His hands were behind his back. “Knocked something over.”

  Kate looked him up and down before turning back to the shelf. She reached out and moved things around, but she couldn’t find anything that even slightly resembled seeds.

  “Might need to get your dad to come down here after all,” Ethan said. “I have no idea what I’m looking for.”

  “Oh, we don’t need to trouble him. That’s what I’m here for. I can help,” Robby said, Kate could hear his feet tapping on the floor as he made his way closer.

  Kate leaned to the side and pulled a box off of the shelf. She took off the lid, but there wasn’t anything inside but some old pictures. Kate placed the box back on the shelf, and as she turned toward Ethan and Robby, a thud, followed by a metallic rattling noise filled the air.

  She didn’t realize what had happened until Ethan’s eyes rolled back and he dropped to the ground. Robby was standing there with the rusty shovel in hand.

  “What did you do?” Kate said taking a step back as she reached for her gun.

  She didn’t get to it quick enough. Robby had been too fast. The last thing she saw before the world turned black was the back side of the shovel coming toward her head.

  3

  Kate faded in and out of consciousness. She couldn’t focus on anything, but she could feel something tugging at her hands.

  “Hurry up, boy,” a raspy, older voice said. It was familiar, but it sounded so far away that Kate couldn’t place it. Her head ached and pounded so badly that she felt as though she was surrounded by a thick fog. Everything started to fade away to blackness, stopping only when someone spoke. Kate grabbed on to the voice.

  “He’d want me to kill them, dad,” the voice said, as something tightened around her ankles. Someone was there. Someone was with her.

  She felt limp. Her limbs were like that of a rag doll as someone yanked and tugged and her feet. Kate could feel a tingling numbness in her hands and feet, but she couldn’t do anything to move the life back into them.

  “You’re not going to shoot them. Not in my house,” the raspy voice scolded. “It’s not like you’ll need to. They’ll find them and finish them off.”

  The man close to her chuckled.

  Fingers grabbed her chin and held her lethargic face in place. She could see a faded outline of a person looking a
t her. She tried to blink… to focus, but her eyelids were too heavy.

  “I wish I could kill you myself. I really owe it to him after everything he’s done for me. Well,I guess it’s your lucky day because my dad’s here, so I’ll do what he says.” The fingers loosened, and her head dropped to the side. “Oh, and thanks for the truck.”

  She heard the taps on the floor as the person walked away. Creaks, followed by squeaks. And then… silence.

  Kate couldn’t hold on any longer. Once again, everything turned black.

  “Kate!”

  Her eyes watered as she blinked repeatedly. She was desperate to grab onto the familiar voice and come out of the darkness.

  “Kate! Come on, wake up!” Ethan said.

  “Ethan?” Kate’s voice scratched the back of her throat.

  The room started to come into focus, and the sharper her surroundings became, the quicker her memories returned. Percy’s basement. Her head… she’d been hit.

  Kate tried to move her arms but she couldn’t, they were tied behind her back. She started to move her legs but when they didn’t move either, her eyes caught the rope tied at her ankles.

  Her eyes felt dry, and her eyelids scratched as panic set in. She couldn’t move.

  “Kate,” Ethan said, the calmness of his voice didn’t ease her mind. “Are you all right?”

  She looked down at her body expecting to see herself covered in blood, but there wasn’t anything there. Her eyes jerked to the corner of the room where something seemed to have moved. She recoiled, but the wall behind her stopped her from going anywhere.

  “I… I don’t know,” Kate answered as her eyes darted around the room eventually settling on Ethan.

  He was at least four feet from her with his back against the wall. His wrists were raw from trying to get himself free.

  “They took our weapons,” Ethan said. His eyes shifted to whatever moved in the corner of the room.

  “Okay,” Kate finally said taking in a deep breath. “Are you sure?”

  She instinctively wanted to feel her hip, but her arms wouldn’t move close enough. Her eyes moved around the room stopping when she saw the shovel near the sink.

  “If I can get over there,” Kate said wincing at the pain that throbbed at the side of her skull. She couldn’t finish her thought as she used the small amount of energy she could muster to wiggle her way toward the shovel.

  All she needed to do was cut her way through the rope. Ethan continued to struggle against his ropes as he kept his eyes on her.

  She looked up the stairs and noticed that Percy and Robby hadn’t bothered to close the door. Kate bounced again moving less than an inch each time she tried to propel herself closer to the shovel.

  “You’re almost there, Kate,” Ethan said encouraging her, but she could see, and she knew she had a long way to go. “Keep going.”

  Maybe Ethan could tell just how tired Kate was. The shovel to the side of her head had made her extra sleepy. If she hadn’t been beyond frightened, she would have wanted a nap. Her head wasn’t clear, there was still a fog encircling her head, but she was fighting against it with everything she had.

  Kate stopped and lowered her head. Her breathing had quickened, but she wasn’t about to give up.

  “Come on, Kate,” Ethan urged. “You can do it.”

  “I will,” she said sucking in a deep breath. “I am.”

  Her eyes darted toward the top of the stairs again. Why had they done it? Why had Percy and Robby dragged them out to their old farm, just to leave them tied up in their basement?

  If all they had wanted was to steal a truck, they could have managed that without bothering with Kate and Ethan. Maybe it was because of their weapons, but even that seemed like a lot of trouble to go to just to get their weapons.

  Percy had seemed like such a sweet, old man. She couldn’t figure out why he’d leave them there. Kate struggled to put the pieces together through the haze inside her brain. Of course, the pain that drummed at her head at the same beat of her heart wasn’t helping matters.

  Whatever lived in the corner of the basement rustled inside the pile of junk motivating Kate to move faster. She pushed the fog away and refocused on trying to get to the shovel.

  “Probably just a mouse,” Ethan said. He must have noticed her reaction to the movement.

  “More like a rat,” Kate said. “A giant rat.”

  “A rat is just a big mouse,” Ethan said, and she could tell he was smiling.

  Kate bounced herself closer to the shovel. “I don’t like either.”

  “Try not to think about it.”

  “I was trying.”

  Kate turned and inched her body back moving closer to the shovel resting against the wall. She pulled her hands up trying to position them on either side of the top edge of the shovel.

  “There you go,” Ethan said, his eyes directed down toward her hands even though she was sure he couldn’t see them.

  Kate grimaced as she sawed at the rope. Her fingers were numb, and it didn’t seem as though she was making any progress. She hesitated when a muscle in her shoulder pulled so tightly it made her neck twist to the side.

  “My arm,” Kate said over her shoulder, catching a glimpse of Ethan still wiggling to get his freedom.

  Kate drew in a breath and fought through the pain to get through the rope. A door somewhere upstairs squeaked, and Kate’s breath felt as though it was stuck in her throat attempting to cut off her oxygen.

  Her eyes were round as she swallowed hard. “Are they still here?”

  “I don’t think so,” Ethan whispered.

  Kate’s hand moved quicker as the floorboards overhead creaked. Her eyes locked on to the spot on the ceiling where she’d heard the noise.

  “Kate,” Ethan said, and she didn’t miss the nerves that shook his voice.

  There was another creak above, and then another. Moments later she heard the familiar groan of The Unholy.

  “Oh, shit,” Kate said, moving her hands faster than she thought possible. The rope around her hands didn’t feel any looser. “Ethan…,” Kate said, her voice softer than a cloud, “Ethan, I can’t do it. It’s not working.”

  “You can’t give up. Don’t give up,” Ethan said trying to inch his way closer to Kate. The muscles in his jaw tensed. “You can do this.”

  He wasn’t moving fast, but he was trying with all his might. Kate knew she couldn’t give up when another stomp echoed through the house. This one sounded different than the last.

  “Fuck,” Ethan said.

  “How many do you think?” Kate asked squeezing her eyes shut when the edge of the metal cut into the side of her wrist. “Three? Four?”

  “Yeah,” Ethan scooted forward using the back of his heels to pull himself across the floor. “But you know what they say about four.”

  Kate shook her head.

  “When there’s four, you know there will be more.”

  Kate looked up at him, but she didn’t stop sawing at the rope. Her eyebrows squeezed together.

  “No one has ever said that,” Kate whispered.

  “Yeah, and if we don’t get out of here, I won’t be able to make sure it catches on,” Ethan grinned but Kate could see he was using it to cover his worry.

  She moved as quickly as she could, but it wasn’t long before she saw The Unholy pass by the open doorway at the top of the stairs. Kate bit back her gasp and Ethan was as still as a statue.

  She sucked in a breath and frantically started to work her hands faster. Her heart pounded so hard she was sure Ethan could hear it.

  Kate’s eyes were glued to the doorway. The air in her lungs squeezed tightly as it left her lungs.

  A second Unholy limped by without looking down the stairs. But the creaking floor near the stairs stopped.

  The Unholy took a step back. Its disgusting, black-veined body filled the empty space in the doorway. The Unholy’s gray eyes moved down the stairs stopping when they landed on Ethan.

 
Both he and Kate were impossibly still, but it hadn’t made any difference. The Unholy let out a groan as it carefully stomped its foot down on the first step.

  Kate pressed her lips together to stop the whimper that threatened to seep out. She moved her hands rapidly, ignoring the cuts and scrapes as the shovel dug into her flesh. Kate could feel the warm blood as it leaked out of one of the fresh wounds, and down her hand.

  She knew what would happen if she didn’t get free. Kate had to work fast because The Unholy was coming for them.

  4

  A thick drool-like substance leaked out of the corner of The Unholy’s mouth as its unblinking eyes hungrily moved back and forth between Kate and Ethan.

  “Jesus Christ,” Ethan muttered when the second and third Unholy appeared at the top of the stairs. “Jesus fucking Christ.”

  His hands moved quicker against the rope, but the only thing Ethan was managing to do was slice deeper into his already red, raw flesh.

  Kate’s shoulder throbbed and twitched as the muscle vibrated. Her entire upper body was begging her to stop.

  She looked up just as the first Unholy stepped down onto the basement floor. It took a step closer as the stairs above creaked as the other two made their way down.

  Ethan scooted closer positioning himself between Kate and The Unholy.

  “What are you doing?” Kate said, as he leaned back and pulled his knees toward his chest.

  “Buying you time.”

  “I don’t think it’s working.” Fear made waves through the sound of her voice.

  Ethan rolled back and launched his legs forward, solidly hitting The Unholy in the lower stomach. The creature flew back several feet, lost its balance, and crashed to the floor into a pile of soggy boxes. It didn’t bother to stand. Instead, it pushed itself free and started to crawl toward them.

  “Shit,” Ethan said, readying himself again.