The Chosen Ones

Chapter Two

Chapter 2

"You want to live?" Suddenly Will loomed over me, sword in hand. His appearance jerked me from my stupor. He tore Jim from my grip and shoved the boy down the hall. "Get off your ass. You don't, you'll die under their hands."

The sound of terrified screams startled me. The noise was too much like the killings that had happened at the castle, the shrieks I'd heard when I'd lived in the compound. Fear held me immobile and all I could do was stare down that dark hall, waiting for the beautiful ones to appear and destroy me for good.

Will shoved a sword into my hands. "Jimmy, find Kelly and gather the kids."

I fumbled to grasp the cumbersome, unfamiliar weapon. "Wh...what do I do with it?"

"Cut off their heads," Will explained. "It's the only way to make sure they're dead."

I stared unblinkingly at him. "Cut off their heads?"

The words made no sense to me. Before I could ask him to repeat his command, because surely I'd misheard him, he spun around and raced toward the great room, into the fray. I wondered, for a brief moment, if I would ever see him again. It was an odd disconnected thought, like wondering if it would rain that day, and not really caring either way.

"Run!" someone cried, the high-pitched scream raising the fine hairs on the back of my neck.

Slowly, I lowered my gaze to the sword. It might as well have been one of the computers I'd read about in my books, for it made about as much sense. I didn't know how to fight. I, apparently, didn't know much of anything. The absurdity of it all had me laughing for the first time in weeks: a harsh, dry cackle that made me sound more like a witch than a human.

Shaking my head, I tried to clear my muddled mind. I wasn't sure which terrified me more, my crazed, wayward thoughts or the idea of the beautiful ones arriving. One thing was clear...I needed to move or I would die. Somehow I managed to tuck my feet underneath me, and using the wall for support, I stood. The sword began to slip from my damp hands. I caught it just before it clanged to the floor. But I didn't have time to breathe a sigh of relief. The screams and shouts of those in the great room echoed like an endless nightmare down the hall, rolling toward me and vibrating against my skull. The attacks were happening all over again. But this time, I had a feeling I wouldn't survive.

"Run!" a nameless human cried out, a shadow that darted by me.

Run where, I wanted to scream back. Instead, I squeezed my eyes shut, and tried to pretend I was anywhere but there in that crumbling building. Why couldn't that mind-numbing darkness come now? But no, I was left with only cold, harsh reality. I gripped the hilt of the sword tighter. I'd hide until they left. They wouldn't make it down here, this far into the building. Will would stop them, wouldn't he? Another cry echoed down the hall. I cringed, sweat breaking out across my forehead. The scream was closer. Too close.

The beautiful ones had arrived, and they were headed my way.

The sudden pounding of footsteps had me pushing away from the wall, sword gripped tightly in front of me. Jim burst from the darkness, followed by five other children.

"Hurry, Jane," he panted, the look of terror in his innocent eyes almost my undoing. "We're headed to the children's ward to hide. Come with us!"

But he was gone before I could question him further, the other children following his lead, melting into the shadows toward some unknown destination. They'd done this before, they knew where they were going. I knew nothing.