Chapter 5

Lilly's POV

As I put the whispers into the back of my mind until another day I saw Liam sprint toward the scream. His boots kicking up dirt from the path, I didn't think I just followed him.

"Lilly, wait!"Scarlet shouted from behind me, but I was already moving.

The scream came towards the cabins near the west end of the compound and when we rounded the corner torchlight and chaos filled my vision. Two men were dragging a woman back from the gate as blood was running down her arm. Just beyond them the metal doors were being slammed over and over from the outside as something tried to break through.

"Hollowed!" Someone screamed, "They're inside the compound!"

The words seem to freeze everyone as Liam raised his rifle and barked out orders, "Get everyone back! Jake, lock down the inner yard! Alice, get the wounded to the medical tent!"

Jake sprinted towards the wall as he fumbled with the floodlight switches the gate groaned, the chains snapping apart one by one. I saw pale fingers clawing through the gaps it seemed like there was dozens of them.

"They shouldn't be able to get in this far I thought," Scarlet muttered, drawing a pistol she must have picked up somewhere, "The fences.."

"Fences don't stop desperation," Liam growled.

The gate burst open and the Hallowed poured through bloated, gray skinned bodies, mouths open in shrieks that made my stomach twist. The hollowed slammed into the guards first, dragging them through the mud. Then all you hear is gunfire erupting, it was deafening, like flashes of light cutting through the storm.

"Run!" Liam yelled, he grabbed my arm and shoved me back towards the cabins, "Get to the tunnel on the southern end! Fast!"

I stumbled, my heart pounding out of my chest. Scarlet was firing her gun beside me as we ran, her shots hitting the Hollowed, but they were to fast and too many.

"Lilly! Scarlet!" Mary called, "What's happening over there?"

We made it back to where the three of them waited for us before we took off after Liam. I shouted, "Go and head for the tunnel it is straight ahead!"

John tightened his grip on his axe and pushed them ahead, all I could see was the sheer panic flicker behind his eyes, but he didn't argue. He never did when it came to Mary and Lilac always thinking of their safety first. I turned to cover their backs, firing one of the rifles I found on a fallen guard. The recoil tore through my shoulder, but I was able to get two Hollowed before more climbed over them snarling.

I fell to the side as something slammed into me throwing me into the mud. Cold, wet hands circled my throat in a clumsy way as the stench of decay hit me so hard I had to fight not to vomit. All I could see was teeth snapping inches from my face when I jammed the rifle between us the best I could and pushed, screaming. It's empty white eyes locked onto mine and for a heartbeat something inside me snapped.

Heat built in my chest, not fire, something older maybe ancient.

I thrust my hand up and a pulse of light burst from my palm, burning through the creatures skull. The hollowed collapsed leaving only the hiss of rain on burning flesh.

I couldn't do much but lay there shaking, staring at my hand.

"What was that?" Scarlet gasped, grabbing me by the arm and pulling me up with her.

"I don't," my voice caught, "I don't know."

Not giving it another thought we ran past the burning cabins and the screams. Ahead Liam was clearing a path with brutal force, yelling at people to move. He shot a Hollowed mid lunge, kicked away from him without breaking stride. Liam's face was severely cut with blood leaking from his temple.

When he saw me, something flashed in his eyes I don't know if it was fear or awe, "Keep everyone together, Lilly! Don't you dare stop!"

He turned to cover our backside all while shouting orders at Jake, who was still at the gate tower trying to hold it with two other guards.

"Jake! Fall back!" Liam roared.

I watched as Jake ignored Liams orders and the Hollowed surged up the ladder and pulled him down. Jake's scream was brief and horrible before there was silence.

Liam cursed and pulled a Bernadette from his belt, "Get inside the tunnel! Now!"

"Liam!"

"Go!"

I grabbed Scarlet, Mary, John and Lilac and shoved them towards the storm drain at the edge of the compound. The entrance was half hidden behind sandbags, a steel door barely wide enough for one person at a time. We pushed Lilac through first, Mary was next, then Scarlet followed with John behind her.

When I turned around Liam was standing in the rain pulling the pin of the grenade, The explosion ripped through the compound and the shockwave slammed into my chest throwing me against the tunnel door. Dust and heat filled the air as the world seemed to get louder, then everything went quiet except for the ringing in my ears.

"Liam!" I shouted, coughing. "Liam!"

"I said to go!" He stumbled through the smoke a moment later, coughing with his hair plastered to his forehead.

He shoved me through the door and slammed it behind us, making sure to slide the thick metal bar into place. The tunnel seemed to shake as something hit it from the outside and the sounds of the Hollowed grew muffled even faint, but they didn't stop.

Inside the tunnel lanterns flickered weakly, and the air was damp and heavy, smelling of mildew. We all stood there, breathing hard, soaked from the rain and covered in mud and black sludge from the Hollowed.

"Everyone make it here?" Liam rasped.

Mary was the one to nod, still holding onto Lilac, John's hand on her shoulder trembled. Scarlet's eyes darted between me and Liam, her face extremely pale.

"Where's Alice?" She whispered.

Liam's silence was answer enough but he shoot his head slightly.

Everyone was silent after that and we started down the tunnel in a line, the only sound was the water sloshing under our boots. My hands still felt like they were burning from whatever I had done earlier. I couldn't stop thinking about the light, it hadn't come from outside, it came from inside me.

As we walked I felt a presence it seemed like it was close, following just beyond the edge of the lantern light.

I turned and squinted into the darkness, and there for the briefest moment a figure stood among the shadows. He had broad shoulders, armor that shimmered like the night sky and his hair as black as a raven.

His eyes found mine, golden and alive with heat, then he was gone.

"Lilly?" Scarlet's voice called out to me, "Are you okay?"

I blinked, forcing my breathing to slow and answered, "Yeah. I'm fine."

But I really wasn't because the whisper had returned, soft, low, snaking through the darkness.

"Tether.."

This time it didn't sound distant, it sounded like it was coming from inside my head