Spirits of the Earth: The Complete Series: (A Post-Apocalyptic Series Box Set: Books 1-3) by Milo Fowler (paper ebook reader .TXT) 📕

I back away slowly, down the corridor toward the elevator. She matches me step for step like an alley cat toying with its prey.

"What're you gonna do, Willard?"

My mask is fogging up. I rip it off and throw it aside. "I told you to stay back!"

"Or what? You'll throw that gun at me?"

Time for a new strategy.

"Fine." I drop the gun and raise both hands. "You've got me. Now what? You kill me in cold blood? Like those creatures that attacked you? Can you do that?" I'm gasping, panting. I've got to calm down. "I'm not like them. I'm a child of God. Unarmed, defenseless. Can you really kill me like this?"

"We'll see." She snickers, fangs gleaming, slick in the jittery fluorescent lights above the elevator doors.

"Could you live with yourself? You're an engineer, for crying out loud—not a killer! You're a daughter of God. Think about this, just think! Is this really who you are? Look at yourself! You're naked, crawling around like an animal with...claws and fangs! What's happened to you?"

She slows half a step, confusion clouding her eyes. "You shot them..." she trails off.

"They weren't right. There was something wrong with them. I could tell. But not you—you're different. Why do you think I didn't shoot you first? You don't want to do this. You don't want to kill me."

She scowls, looking down at the concrete floor. "But you killed them."

My rear end bumps into the elevator doors. I hit the DOWN pad, my hand fumbling spastically, my heart racing. I have to keep talking, keep her listening.

"You don't have to be like this. You didn't ask to be this way, did you? Of course not. Those three back there, there was no hope for them. But you'll be fine. We can make you better. You'll be yourself again in no time."

My words are having an effect on her. She's glancing down at the claws protruding from her fingers and toes. I've got to keep adding to her confusion, keep her distracted.

"You want that, don't you? To be yourself again? You weren't created like this, not by God. It's the ash out there that did this to you, that demon-dust. The earth's not the way we left it. They did something to it, something bad, when they nuked the hell out of it, and it's infected you. But we can make you the person you used to be."

Am I getting through to her? Is she faltering?

Her head snaps up, eyes locked on me. "I like myself this way."

With a shriek and a growl, she lunges at me. I cower, shielding myself. Her claws rake across my forearms as she descends on me in a vengeful frenzy. I fall back against the elevator doors, my head colliding with them repeatedly as I fend off her wild blows. Her fangs flash. She's going to sink them into my jugular. It's only a matter of time.

I can't fight her off much longer. She's too strong.

What'll happen to all the others below? Dozens and dozens of them with no idea what's going on up here... Will she kill them too, one by one? Or will she turn them all into mutant freaks, biting them like a vampire?

Will she turn me into one?

The doors slide open without warning, and I fall inside with her on top of me, her jaws snapping at my face.

"Willard? What the—!" Tucker gasps.

"Guns! Get the guns!" I scream.

"Guns? We don't have—"

"The bunker door—GO!"

She jerks her head up to hiss a warning, and he leaps backward, trembling and wide-eyed.

"What the hell!" he yelps.

I throw my elbow into her face, smashing her nose. The blow stuns her for a moment, long enough for me to wave Tucker in the right direction, for him to squeeze past us. He takes off as fast as he can for the bunker door, his boots pounding up the corridor.

All too soon, she regains her composure. She looks down at me with blood oozing from her nostrils and laughs. She's enjoying this—the thrill of the hunt. Will she kill me now or go after Tucker, save me for later?

"You're pathetic." She spits into my face. Then she pulls me up by the throat for a brutal head butt.

I fall to the elevator floor with a dagger of pain slicing through my forehead. Everything goes black for a second, then flashes white. Her shadow whips away and wild laughter echoes after her.

She's going for Tucker. She'll dispatch him quickly, and then she'll be back for me...and the others.

I have to get up. No. I have to get down. The DOWN arrow. But everything's black again, and I'm so exhausted...

I have to warn the others below. The DOWN arrow. Where is it?

The sound of a gunshot explodes, echoing all around me, followed by another and another. Surging adrenaline sends me to my feet. I hit the pad on the wall, and the elevator doors slide shut slowly but securely. My lungs shudder as I struggle for a deep breath. I grip the handrail behind me, falling back against it.

They'll believe me now. They'll have to. We can't go out there. Not ever. We'll have to find another way out. We'll disable the elevator, seal the doors. Find another exit. Somewhere, far from here, where the demon-dust can't find us.

Seconds pass like minutes as I'm carried down the shaft. My forehead throbs, tender to the touch. My forearms ooze thick streaks of blood where her claws lacerated my flesh.

The elevator touches down, and the doors slide open. Sucking in a breath, I step across the threshold and into the security of our bunker. Our fortress. The last bastion of humanity, the way God intended us to be.

His Chosen People.

"Code red! Code red!" My voice comes out stronger than I would've thought possible. "Fall in!"

Heads turn and stare. Folks drop what they're doing and swarm me from all corners of the bunker, murmured voices mingled. I raise my arms high, and gasps echo