All These Monsters, page 18
Right. I had done that. I’d been trying to make the words “of course!” come out of my mouth, but they’d gotten stuck. Julian had shouted out an order, and I’d used it as an excuse to run away.
“Also Patrick said you were,” Laila said, pointing to him.
Patrick rounded his shoulders. “I said maybe. It was just a guess.”
“I’ve never been in foster care,” I said. “I have an older brother. And a mom and a dad.”
Priya’s expression was curious. Laila was trying to catch her eye, and she shook her head once, just barely, like she was trying to tell Priya to leave it.
Had they been talking about me? Why was Laila trying to make Priya stop asking questions? Had I given something away? Neither of them knew enough about my life to put all the pieces together, but maybe they suspected. Girls always knew things. It was part of the reason I stopped being friends with Adriana and the others.
“Noah, you better be telling the world that our whole team made it,” Edan said suddenly. “Do you want to interview me? I’ll tell them how awesome I was.”
“You already have a very loyal fan base.” Noah pressed a key on his laptop. “Let’s keep them hanging for a week.”
“You have a loyal fan base?” I asked.
“I do not appreciate that surprised tone.” Edan put both hands on his chest. “I’ll have you know that there’s an entire Tumblr dedicated to how cute I am.”
“No there’s not.”
“Yes there is,” Noah said, like he was trying to suppress a laugh. “And they’ve gotten excited in the last few days, because one of Edan’s ex-girlfriends posted something about how he was a great guy.”
“Are you sure it was actually his ex?” I asked.
“I also do not appreciate that skepticism,” Edan said. “I am delightful, and all my ex-girlfriends will confirm it. Except for that one who said she hoped someone pushed me in front of a train. She maybe wouldn’t have nice things to say.”
I snorted, and then thought of Madison. She certainly didn’t have nice things to say about her ex. It was normal, maybe.
“And there are several Tumblrs dedicated to how cute Noah is,” Edan continued.
Noah’s cheeks went red. “There are a bunch of fan sites for all of us. Clara, you have no online presence. Can you at least get on Instagram? Post some selfies. Make the people happy. There are a few people from your high school commenting on stuff, but who knows if they even really know you.”
I looked at him with a start. “What are they saying?”
“Nothing bad,” he said quickly. “Just that you mostly kept to yourself, you were good in combat class . . .” He trailed off.
“What?”
A short silence followed. My heart jumped into my throat. I couldn’t imagine what anyone at my school could possibly know about me. I barely spoke to anyone.
“Someone said you failed some classes,” Laila finally said. “Which is no big deal,” she quickly added. “Half of our team dropped out of high school.”
“Like me,” Archer said. Everyone in the back of the SUV turned to gawk at him. We did it every time he spoke, quietly waiting for him to say more. He just blinked and looked out the window.
“I dropped out sophomore year,” Edan said. He was facing the road again.
“Why?” Priya asked.
“I had better things to do.”
I clicked on the Tumblr app and searched for my own name. It was true—there were several Tumblrs dedicated to team seven. Lots of screenshots from Noah’s videos. Old photos of several members—Priya smiling at the camera with her cheer squad; Zoe doing duck face into the camera with some girls at the beach; Edan sitting on a stoop, both hands cupping his chin, a huge grin on his face.
The only pictures of me included a school portrait from ninth grade and a few shots from middle school. Those must have come from Adriana or one of her friends. We smiled outside a movie theater, waved at the camera from in front of a river.
Noah had caught me swinging a machete one day in practice, and someone had made a gif set out of it.
teamsevenfans
How to be a badass, featuring Clara Pratt.
kylorensuckssss
This girl is literally the most mysterious person on the planet. Are we sure she isn’t a spy? I wouldn’t put it past my government to send some spies.
beeboopaloop
Is she Latinx?
anniehatesyouallTX
She went to my school. She’s not a spy, she’s just quiet. I think she was super Christian or something.
hellyeahmonsterfighters
Swinging that machete for Jesus!
I barked out a laugh.
“What?” Priya asked.
“I’m not religious.”
“Oh yeah, I saw that one,” Noah said. “I was wondering.”
I glanced back down at the phone. According to Tumblr, I was a super Christian who failed her classes and/or a spy.
No one really knew who I was, which had once seemed like a good thing. Now it felt like the world was crafting a narrative for me. Like they had a story prepared if I didn’t tell it myself.
Priya looked at me expectantly.
“I’m not a spy,” I said with a smile.
Patrick laughed. “Thank god.”
“And I am Latinx. My mom is from Mexico. My dad is white and from Texas. And they’re both assholes, so I don’t keep in touch with them.”
On the other side of Priya, Archer nodded like he understood. I was pretty sure everyone knew less about Archer than they did about me. I had that going for me, at least.
“But your brother isn’t an asshole?” Priya asked.
I shook my head. “No, he’s all right.”
“Good.” She smiled.
Patrick took us out onto the highway, then to a two-lane with crops on either side. We drove for a long time, the sun sinking lower in the sky.
“Noah, are we supposed to turn at some point?” Patrick asked.
Noah looked up from his phone with a start. “Am I supposed to be navigating?”
“Yes!” Patrick said with a laugh.
“Oh. Well, um . . .” He unfolded the map and squinted at it. He flipped it every which way. “I can’t even tell which way is up.”
Laila leaned over to look at it. “I don’t know how people used to read these things.”
“Someone give me their phone,” Patrick said. “I left mine in my bag.”
Noah made a face like he didn’t want to give his up.
“Here,” I said, suppressing a laugh as I passed my phone to Noah. “Use mine.”
“Thanks.” Noah opened the maps app and typed in the address Grayson had written on the map. He handed the phone to Patrick, who stuck it in the cup holder.
“Well, we went way too far down this road.” Patrick slowed and made a U-turn.
“Sorry,” Noah said. “I got distrac—”
The ground exploded in front of us.
“Holy shit!” Patrick swerved the SUV, narrowly missing the scrab that had just sprung up out of the earth.
Another one smashed up from the ground. It was massive, one of the biggest scrabs I’d ever seen. At least seven feet tall.
Two more ran at my window.
“Just hit them!” Priya yelled.
“I think that will do more damage to us than the scrab.” Patrick hit the gas hard. The car lurched forward.
“Another one!” Edan yelled, pointing to where a crack was starting to appear on the road. A scrab sprang up and roared.
Patrick turned the wheel so quickly the vehicle spun out of control. I gripped the back of the seat in front of me as we swung in almost a full circle and veered off the road. The SUV bounced and jerked as we soared into the short, bushy green crops on the side of the road.
Something smashed into my side of the car, and I yelped as we bounced again. A scrab roared at the window as it slammed its body against my door.
“Go, go!” Laila yelled.
To my right, a scrab galloped at us on all fours, teeth bared. It hit the side with a crunch of metal and glass. The car slowed. Thump thump thump.
“I think they got the tires!” Patrick grimaced. The car continued to slow.
“We’re going to have to get out,” Edan said. I grabbed my pack and pulled out my baton, popping the top off to reveal the blade.
Patrick swerved around the scrabs, and we bounced forward a few yards.
“Ready?” he asked. I saw the fear in his eyes as he glanced in the rearview mirror.
I looked over my shoulder. Scrabs came for us from all directions. There were six of them that I could see.
“Ready,” Priya said.
The car screeched to a stop. I pushed the door open and dove out, nearly losing my balance as I tried to keep a grip on my baton.
A scrab galloped straight toward me. Its mouth was open, fangs bared and spit flying as it ran.
I swung as it approached, my injured arm screaming in protest. Missed. I ducked as it swiped its claws, pressing one hand to the ground as I slashed my blade across its belly. It screamed and lurched backward. I’d made a really deep cut—best I’d ever done—and blood poured out of the wound. It hit the ground with a thud.
I turned to find two more dead scrabs on the ground. Patrick and Archer fought another one together. Laila and Priya each were fending off one. Laila’s hit the ground, dead. Edan was a few yards away, swinging his blade at a scrab. He kept stepping back as it came closer, putting more space between him and us.
Two more scrabs galloped toward him. Edan paused for half a second before bolting.
I took off, pumping my arms as I ran as fast as I could. One of the scrabs caught up with Edan, and he whirled around, swinging his machete. Another dove at him from the side, and he barely managed to dodge its claws as he swung his weapon at them.
“Hey!” I yelled as the third scrab closed in. It snarled as it spotted me. It gave up on Edan and headed for me.
I skidded to a stop. The scrab snarled as it looked down at me. Its black eyes focused on the blade in my hand. I swung it.
With my other hand, I grabbed the machete sticking out of my pack. The scrab batted my baton away. It leaned down, fangs bared.
I sliced my machete across its neck. Blood splattered across my clothes.
Thud. I spun around to find Edan. One scrab was dead, the other injured, blood dripping from its neck. Edan swung his machete, trying to finish it off.
It swiped away the weapon. Edan froze for a moment, reaching for something in his pack. Another knife, maybe. There was nothing.
He took off, the scrab chasing him. It was slower than usual, dragging its right leg as it ran. I bolted after them.
I yelled at the scrab, but it kept pursuing Edan. We ran until my lungs started to burn—I was flat-out sprinting—and the scrab began gaining on Edan. We burst through a patch of trees. I cast a frantic glance over my shoulder, but I’d lost sight of everyone else.
We ran straight into a patch of houses, and my stomach clenched as I waited for the screams of the occupants. But as we got closer, I realized they were all long abandoned, the windows smashed, doors swinging open. One small home was missing part of its walls in the front and back of the house, like something had smashed straight through it.
Edan darted inside that one. Probably looking for a weapon. It was what I would have done, since it was becoming clear he couldn’t outrun the scrab.
It crashed into the house. I pushed myself as hard as I could, running until I thought my lungs might burst. I skidded into the house.
Edan had a frying pan, and I watched as he slammed it into the scrab’s face. It stumbled back, disoriented. Edan hit it again. I darted around an old rickety table, blade pointed at it.
A second whack on the head just made it mad. It stalked forward, opening its mouth like it was trying to roar. Only a squeak came out. Edan must have sliced its vocal cords.
Edan tried to swing again, but the scrab blocked it, charging at him and grabbing his foot. Edan went down, hard. He screamed as the scrab lunged at him.
24
I darted forward and yanked the scrab by the arm, slashing my blade across its neck. It made a horrible choked noise and toppled to the ground.
Edan looked from me to the scrab. He was still on the ground, gasping for breath.
“Holy hell, Clara. Thank you.”
I nodded, switching my machete to my left hand as I offered him my other one. He got to his feet, wincing as he peered down at his leg. A bloody claw stuck out from his pants.
“Ew, is that lodged in your skin?” I asked.
“It sure is.” He grimaced as he limped forward. Something behind me made his eyes widen. He stopped.
I quickly turned. Scrabs. Dozens of them in the field behind the house. They were climbing out of several holes in the ground, one after the other. Several were on their feet, faces pointed in the direction we’d come from. Distantly, I heard someone call my name. Tires screeched. It sounded like more than one car. Someone stopped to help, maybe.
Edan grabbed my arm. He was pressed against the wall, and I did the same.
“What do we do?” I breathed. I looked down at the claw protruding from his skin. I wasn’t sure how fast he could run with that in his leg.
It didn’t matter, anyway. We couldn’t outrun dozens of scrabs, even at full strength.
“Did they see us?” Edan whispered.
I leaned forward a tiny bit and dared a glance at the scrabs. A few took off in the direction of the yell we’d just heard. At least fifty remained.
“I don’t think so.” I leaned back against the wall, my eyes darting around the room.
“Hide?” Edan guessed.
I nodded. “Until they leave.” With any luck, everyone else in the SUV was still alive and would come with reinforcements. I reached for my pocket.
“Shit.”
“What?” Edan asked.
“I left my phone in the car. Do you have yours?”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t have cell service. I just use it with Wi-Fi.” He looked at the broken chair in the corner. “I get the feeling they don’t have Wi-Fi here.”
“Can’t you call nine-one-one even without service?” I asked.
His face lit up, then fell. “I don’t know what the French equivalent of nine-one-one is. They really should have covered that in one of our sessions.”
I heard a rumbling noise suddenly, different than the one I was used to. This was more like a stampede. Edan went pale.
On the other side of the house, a group of at least fifty more scrabs were coming over the hill. They ran aboveground on all fours.
I searched desperately for a hiding spot.
There was a door open a few feet to my left, and I edged closer to it and turned the doorknob. I braced myself as it opened, waiting for a creak or for a mouse to scurry out, but it was quiet. It was a small closet, empty except for a few hangers dangling from the rack. I jerked my head at it. Edan nodded.
The scrabs were getting closer.
I darted inside the closet as quietly as I could and sank to the ground. Edan stepped in after me, pulling the door shut very slowly so that it didn’t make a sound. He squeezed down next to me.
It was pitch-black in the closet, and there was barely enough room for us to sit side by side. Our shoulders were pressed together, and I could feel his body moving up and down with his breath. I could smell his shampoo when he turned his head. I could also smell scrab guts. Their blood was splashed across my pants.
The rumbling grew closer. We were both so still that I felt dizzy in the darkness.
Then, I heard it. Click click click. Claws on the wooden floor. The sound was everywhere. The entire house was full of scrabs.
The dizziness grew more intense, and I realized suddenly that I might be about to die. The fear had been there, in the back of my mind, every time I fought a scrab, but the threat felt incredibly real at the moment.
I reached out, finding Edan’s wrist first, and then his hand. He was not the person I would have liked to be holding hands with in my last moment, but I had to make do with what I had. He gripped my hand tightly.
One of the scrabs snorted. They were so close I could hear them breathing. I held my own breath. My heart pounded so loudly in my ears I felt sick.
I heard more clicking noises, and then a sound like someone was eating. Like flesh tearing. Then, more.
My stomach turned. Were they eating that dead scrab? I had no idea that they ate their dead. I pressed my free hand to my mouth.
This was not how I wanted to die. I didn’t want this to be the last thing I heard. I squeezed Edan’s hand so hard I could feel his bones grinding together.
The scrabs finished in a matter of minutes, and their claws clicked against the wood again and then disappeared. Silence descended on the closet.
Neither Edan nor I moved for at least twenty minutes. I dropped his hand as my heart rate began to slow and let myself relax against the wall. Our breathing evened out, his shoulder still and warm against mine.
“Should I look?” he finally said, his voice barely audible.
I nodded, and then realized he couldn’t see me. “Yes,” I whispered.
The door opened a crack, dim light flooding the closet. The sun had almost completely set.
Edan leaned forward a little, and then quickly back.
“They’re still in that field,” he whispered. I caught him wincing as he slowly shut the door. “And they’re not all asleep yet. It looks like some of them went underground, but there are a bunch up there still. I think we should wait a couple more hours.”
Darkness closed in on us again as the door clicked closed. I fumbled for my pack, my shoulder bumping into him.
“I have my first aid kit,” I said, still not daring to speak above a whisper. Scrabs couldn’t hear high-frequency sounds as well as we did, so it was unlikely they could hear our voices even at a normal volume. Still, a whisper seemed safer. “You want me to pull that claw out for you? It’s going to get infected.”
He hesitated. “OK.”
