“Maybe not,” Jared said, looking up. “Maybe she had the dreams to show us how to get out.”
“Fine,” Claire said, grabbing the book from Bex.
Screeching from below echoed throughout the halls, turning my blood cold.
Ryan’s eyes darted in every direction. “Is that…?”
“Yes. Let’s go,” Claire said, shoving the book into her hot pink duffel bag. “Bex?”
Bex nodded, running across the room and diving out the window.
Ryan’s expression was a mixture of disgust and alarm. “It sounds like a dying animal…a thousand dying animals.”
Claire pulled her sidearm from its holster. “You should hear one when you send it back to Hell.” She gestured to me, “Show us the way, Nina.”
The howls and screams of Shax’s minions grew louder. Jared turned to me, cupping his hands on each side of my face.
“This is it, isn't it?” I said.
Jared looked deep into my eyes, as if he wanted to pass the truth through them instead of just saying the words. But he said them, anyway. “I won't let them touch you.”
“I'm afraid,” I said, shaking. The fear was so intense I felt powerless to control my own body. As the screeching grew closer, it became a physical effort to avoid slipping into a flew blown panic. I looked to Ryan, then. “Remember what we talked about.”
Ryan nodded once. “I remember.”
I grabbed Jared’s hand and we fled, climbing the staircase, and then sprinting down the hall.
“This way!” I yelled. I stopped in front of a closed door at the end of the hallway. It was pointless to whisper, with the deafening shrieking of the demonic filling the air. I pulled on the knob, but it was locked. Jared moved me aside, and then landed a lethal blow with his foot. The door swung open, and hit the concrete wall, wooden pieces splintering and then falling to the ground.
“Come on,” he said, pulling me up the crumbling staircase.
On the roof, the wind mercilessly whipped all around us, and the night sky crowded even the brightest lights below.
Jared ran to the edge. “Which building?”
I lifted my chin in the right direction. “That one.”
Ryan frowned at Claire, unsure. “You’re going to jump the length of a football field?”
She smiled. “Yes. And you're coming with me.”
Ryan shook his head. “I’ll take the fire escape.”
I grabbed his coat, and then pushed him into Claire’s arms. “Thousands of those things are going to swarm this roof in about seven seconds. You won’t make it to the landing.”
Jared wrapped his arms around my waist, and then took three long strides, grunting when he leaped from the edge. My fingers locked around his neck. I didn’t dare look down, afraid the second I realized we were doing something impossible, his powers would fade, and we would fall five stories to the ground.
He made the same grunting noise to land as he did when we departed, but the landing was not as rough as I had anticipated.
I could hear Ryan’s yells somewhere between our building and Shax's. His voice grew louder as they approached, and when Claire's feet hit the ground just ten feet away, she let him go.
He fell to the ground, rolling onto his back. “Let’s never… ever do that again,” Ryan puffed.
Claire grabbed his hand and yanked him to his feet. “Don’t be a baby,” she grinned, pulling him to the roof access.
After two flights of stairs my lungs begged for air, but the adrenaline surging through my body made my legs feel they could go on forever.
Jared stopped, looked above us, and not a second later, a loud crash sounded on the roof, followed by the sounds only demons on the hunt could make.
“We’re not going to make it,” Jared said, looking to me, and then to Claire. “Take Nina and Ryan out.”
“No!” I said, gripping his arm.
“There are too many, Jared!” Claire said. “Half of them will slip past you.”
They both looked to Ryan, and then Jared grabbed Ryan’s coat with both fists. “Get Nina out of here. Get her to the alley.” Ryan looked at Claire, and Jared jerked him again, demanding his full attention. “Get Nina out! We’ll hold them off.”
Jared pushed Ryan back, pulling two Glocks from their holsters. Claire threw the duffel bag to me. “Make sure he doesn’t get himself killed, all right?”
“Okay,” I said, tugging on Ryan’s coat.
We descended the stairs, leaving the Ryels behind. Ryan didn’t take his eyes off Claire until she was out of sight, and then he focused, taking two steps at a time.
The screeching grew louder, more excited, and then the gunfire began.
Ryan stopped, held his pistol to his chest, and then slammed his back to the wall. “Shit!”
“We can’t stay here! We have to go, Ryan. We have…to…go!” I pleaded, tugging on him with each word.
“I can’t leave her,” he said, looking up.
“The only way you can help her now is to stay alive!” I said, emphasizing each word.
He closed his eyes tight, and then grabbed my arm, pulling me down the last two flights of stairs.
“This is the door to the alley!” I said, pointing.
Ryan tugged on the handle a few times. When it wouldn't open, he aimed his gun, shooting a few rounds into the handle. I looked away, protecting my eyes from splinters flying in every direction.
Ryan rammed his shoulder into the door, forcing it open. I ran out into the alley, struggling for breath. The darkness outside was so quiet, like we had entered a new world. The normal sounds of Providence were all around us: car horns in the distance, motorcycle engines revving as they pulled away from a stop light, the last bit of rain water falling into the gutters — it was like I was caught in one of my dreams.
“Wake up,” I whispered, closing my eyes. I focused on my bed, and Jared's warm body next to mine. I opened my eyes, but the same scene was before me. I shut my eyes tighter this time. “Wake up!” I screamed.
Ryan gripped my shoulders, startling me. “It's not a dream this time, buddy. We need to move!”
Something dark and swift caught the corner of my eye. Not smoke, and not a shadow, but thicker than the night air.
“What the hell is that?” Ryan yelled, shooting once. The bullet ricocheted off the brick of the building.
“Watch out!” I screamed as the cloud rose above both of us, positioned to attack.
Ryan shoved me out of the way, and I landed hard on my knees and hands. His body flew backward, hitting the building on the other side of the alley, and he then fell the fifteen feet to the ground.
“Run, Nina!” Ryan said, stunned.
I scrambled to my feet, but before running off alone, I hesitated. Ryan was human, and I promised Claire to keep him safe. The blackness focused on me, and Ryan shot another round to return its attention to him.
“RUN!” he yelled, shooting again. The invisible enemy dragged him back into the building by one foot, and he held his gun in front of him, shooting at what he couldn’t see.
Everything inside me wanted to stay, to try to help somehow, but I held the duffel bag close and dashed down the alley, into the street. Tears filled my eyes, blurring my vision, finally spilling over my cold cheeks.
Another alley was ahead, dark and forbidding, but it seemed the right way to go, so I kept running.
When my lungs couldn’t take in enough air, I stopped, hunched over and puffing. Whatever it was that had Ryan couldn't be far behind, so I leaned against the back entrance of a building, working up enough courage to move. A bus stop was just a half block away.
“Take a step, Nina,” I said to myself, willing courage to move my feet. “It's right there,” I breathed, “Go!”
The door opened, causing me to lose my balance and fall back. Something grabbed me from behind, wrenching me inside with so much force that my hands, legs, and head all fell behind, jutting straight out in front me.
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