Page 25 of Marked
I chewed my lip and tried to control my panic.
I guess the concept of aliens being real wasn’t totally crazy. Rumors and conspiracy theories about life outside of Earth had existed for ages and had only strengthened in recent years. I had just assumed that they were stories of drug trips gone wrong, or some really weird pranks, or some jacked-up fraternity hazing gone haywire, but it seemed I was wrong.
I shook my head. None of that mattered.
Alaric.
He’d forced me to flee without him. He’d taken on the six Ghengrills all on his own, and he hadn’t allowed me to fight with him. I hoped against hope that he was alright and that he’d managed to get away.
I sighed and headed down the paved path, walking slowly as the sounds of the night consumed me. A strange humming sound echoed in the shadows, and as the seconds passed, it grew louderand louder. I looked around, saw nothing, and started walking faster. I hadn’t made it that far before the noise surrounded me. I swung my head from side to side, but couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from.
Then, I slowly looked up. And I saw them.
Three of the alien Ghengrills had found me, but they hadn’t run after me. No. They were flying on their stupid fucking motorcycles.
God damn cheaters. I didn’t stand a chance against those things.
I sprinted off the path into a wooded area, hoping it would give me cover. I heard them fly above me, and I paused before diving beneath a big fallen log that was hollowed out underneath. The brush was too thick for their motorcycles to fly through, so it would give me a fighting chance. At least, that’s what I hoped.
I quieted the sound of my breath and prayed that they didn’t have heat-sensing radar or something like that, because if so, I was entirely fucked. As my heartbeat slowed to a more gradual pace, I started to hear a commotion to my right. Footsteps tore through the brush and then they paused.
“The Lupenii signature indicates something over here,” a voice said. It didn’t sound human and was broken up by a series of clicks. I frowned actually, surprised to hear them speaking English.
“The specimen can’t be far. She still appears human as far as the scanner shows, and that means her legs won’t be able to take her very far,” another voice clicked, and I quickly forgot about the fact that they spoke my language.
Fuck.
The Ghengrills had some sort of alien technology, and it was tracking me somehow. If I moved, it might sense me. If I didn’t, it might find me too. I didn’t know what to do. I wondered if Alaric had made it out and was coming for me. If I just held my position, maybe he would find me before they did, but I couldn’t count on that. I needed to figure out a way to save myself.
They made more clicking sounds. Maybe they were communicating in their own language now or maybe not; I wasn’t sure, and there was no way for me to know.
I closed my eyes and focused on their rattling voices. They weren’t that far away. Likely only about twenty feet to the right of my position. I had to put some distance between myself and them. If I just stayed here, I was a sitting duck.
Central Park was big. I’d lost them somehow, but I needed more time. Enough for Alaric to come find me, save me, and then tell me what the actual fuck was happening here.
I crawled out from under the fallen log and carefully maneuvered across the sodden, moss-covered ground. I avoided every leaf I could see, along with every twig or branch that might break under my weight. I moved slowly, inching away from their loud clicking at a brutally slow pace until I found the path once more.
I sprinted down it and cut off into another wooded area.
I ran and I ran hard. I tore through the trees, ran around the dirt path surrounding a small lake, and then I kept going. I didn’t stop until I was sure I’d lost them.
Except I hadn’t. I’d never lost them.
I should have known that I was no match for them. I was just a human. A simple girl who’d never gone to college and had somehow gotten caught up in the world of aliens and monsters without even knowing how.
The moment I broke out from the trees back onto the paved ground, they were there. Waiting for me. One with metallic shoulder patches held up a red tube and blew into the end of it.
A red feathered dart pierced through the cloth of my t-shirt, straight into my shoulder. I cried out as the sharp, thick needle stabbed into my skin, the pain intense at first. Suddenly, my body started to tingle. My vision started to waver, and my balance felt off.
I could feel myself falling.
I could have sworn I heard wolves howling all around me and the call of a hawk circling high overhead. I looked up at the sky, trying to find them, but then the world started spinning.
And everything went black.
CHAPTER 5
Kendra
