Sanctum (The After Light Saga) by Cameo Renae Page A

without thinking, but he was always there to keep me in check. My verbal conscience.
    A few more Arvies appeared, but they lingered back. The sun was starting to set, and they were coming alive. They ruled the darkness, and we were trespassing. With too many bodies surrounding the pilot, my stomach turned, knowing what the outcome would be. He had pulled too far away from us.
    I kept Hellfire up and ready.
    One of the other Arvies screamed and tried to jump toward the pilot, who was still wrestling with the first Arvy. I quickly aimed and shot it in the side of the head. It dropped, but then dozens of vicious, milky eyes snapped toward me.
    M y head instantly felt like it was going to explode. My vision was becoming blurred, and I couldn’t do anything about it.
    “Finn, something’s happening to me,” I said , frantic.
    “ Abi, what’s wrong?” He was next to me, but didn’t drop his guard.
    “My head. I can’t focus. It hurts,” I couldn’t take the pain anymore. God help me. Stop! I screamed in my mind.
    After that, the Arvy on the pilot stopped, and everything went dead silent. The pain in my head subsided.
    The Arvy’s fingers were still gripped tightly around the pilot’s neck. Its head slowly turned to face me, and then…it grinned. Every single hair on my body stood upright.
    “Finn?” My voice shook. I was completely terror stricken. Could the Arvies have heard me?
    “I can’t get clear a shot,” he answered. “Why did they stop?”
    “I don’t know,” I answered.
    The Arvy chose that moment to move, jumping up, and bringing the pilot with him as a shield.
    The pilot ’s eyes were wide with horror, he was hyperventilating, and the color of his face had washed out.
    “Help me,” he cried. I helplessly watched a tear escape his eye and drip from his chin, but I couldn’t get a shot. The Arvy had hidden itself behind him.
    When I decided to charge forward, the Arvy pushed the pilot to his knees and sunk its teeth into his neck. The nauseating sound of skin tearing stopped me dead in my tracks.
    The sight made me want to vomit. The pilot had a gaping hole in his neck, exposing muscle and tissue. Blood poured from the wound. The Arvy chewed and swallowed his flesh.
    The cries from the pilot made my eyes water. As soon as he dropped to the ground, I fired, but the Arvy dove out of the way. Finn took the next shot and from the corner of my eye, I saw a body drop off to our right.
    Something inside of me snapped. I ran forward and began shooting, aiming directly in the center of the white eyes. One by one, they dropped. Blood and brain matter showered the ground. At this moment, I didn’t care about anything else, but killing the mutant bastards. I quickly emptied a thirteen round clip in a few seconds, dropping twelve Arvies, then dropped the magazine and reloaded. I could hear Finn’s shotgun right behind me.
    A short distance behind was more gunfire, so I knew the others weren’t too far. I trusted the soldiers were protecting the rest of the group. After another ten shots, everything went eerily silent again. Pale bodies littered the ground. I could hear my pulse pounding like a drum in my ears. My breath was quick, and my hands were trembling. I stayed still, alert, but didn’t see or hear any movement.
    I ran to the pilot. H e was pale, and his eyes were glossed over. His body was twitching, and he held tight to his neck. It wasn’t doing much. The ground around him was saturated with blood.
    “I—I’m sorry,” he pushed words out, blood gurgling.
    “Shhhh. You don’t need to be sorry. It’ s alright.” I tried to comfort him. I tried to be strong, but death was waiting.
    “I should…have stayed…with you,” he coughed, spewing blood all over my chest. Finn stood watch behind us.
    “ It’s alright. You were afraid. We all were,” Finn said, gently pushing me back.
    “I …I’m…going to…die?” he asked.
    “Don’t talk. You’ll be just fine.”
    I didn’t know how