Irresistible: Chap 4 Refuge

I bolted blindly through the hallways, occasionally hitting my hands or bumping my feet against the walls. Voices carried down the corridor after me with Triston’s voice amongst them. Yelling and hissing soon followed after. When I heard Triston’s voice roar, it made me want to turn back, but I was afraid that if I did, Triston might actually kill me.

                The thudding of my shoes hitting stone echoed down the hallway. I tried to focus more on the doorway that was somewhere ahead of me instead of the fighting noises that came from behind me, until I heard the sound of scratching. I ignored it, thinking I was confusing the sound with the ones coming from down the hall. Then I heard it again. It sounded like nails clawing at rock. I looked back over my shoulder to try and find the sound in the pitch black, but when I turned my head and slowed down, the sound stopped.

                I turned back around and continued to run. My mind quickly raced as to what it could be. Just to be sure, I picked up the pace, putting my hands back out in front of me. My heart started to pick up as I thought about what it could be. I tried to not think about it, but the more I tried not to, the more I did.

                As I pushed myself forward, the clawing noise became more frantic from behind me, except there was more than just one. And it was getting closer. My skin prickled and my body began to shake with adrenaline. I was breathing harder and the hair on my skin prickled. I bumped into a wall, but quickly pushed myself back into sprinting.

Scratchy skin of fingertips caressed my face. I pierced the darkness with my scream which bounced off of the walls and into the maze of corridors. I was jumping between every step, ignoring my protesting feet.

The harder I listened, the quicker I noticed that the scraping and clawing noises were coming, not only from behind me, but from above and from the sides of me. When I was about to look up in terror, hair fell onto my forehead from the ceiling. The strands were a few paces ahead of me to match my speed. I shrieked and ducked, trying to outrun whatever it was.

“Triston!” I screamed. Hissing noises answered my plea all around me. I kicked my leg back to draw it up again and something grazed my calf. I let out a hysterical sob. Just as their noises started to subside and I became relieved, I ran smack into something hard and metal. I fell backwards onto the ground.

I was so scared that I hadn’t even been listening for the echoes of my shoes to hear where the door was.

Hoarse snickers from all around me erupted. The vocal chords of the creatures sent chills up my spine, snapping me out of the daze from hitting the door. I pulled myself back up and frantically tried to find anything that opened the door up with shaking fingers. My fingertips found the crevasse where the door met with the wall, but I couldn’t find any sign of a handle. The smell of rot and decay filled my nose as tears fell down my face. I let out uncontrollable cries.

Directly behind me, I could feel them closing in on me. I jerked my back against the wall, still frantically trying to find the industrial circular door opener with my left hand. A low rumble of a growl grew in front of me. By the sounds, I knew it was only a few inches away from me.

“Triston!” I screamed again, through sobs. Hisses chorused in front of me, making me whimper. My entire body was shaking uncontrollably.

“He cannot save you now,” a raspy voice said. The air from its voice hit against my face, smelling of death. Fingers brushed against my wet cheeks and I cried out. It felt like skin, but there was something different. It also felt like…bone. I sobbed. The skin had peeled back from the finger as rough bone ran down my cheek and to my throat, the skin dangling off of its finger and dragging along behind. More hands began touching my hair, arms and legs.

“Triston,” I whispered, squeezing my eyes closed. I wanted desperately to see what was happening right in front of me, but at the same time, I didn’t. Disgusted and terrified, I jerked away from their touch, almost involuntarily. My mind raced as to what they looked like. They smelled like an animal that had been baking in the sun for days. A hand touched my forehead and gently brushed back hair. The skin of the hand was loose and made a crinkling noise when it moved.

I cried harder and screamed out, but was cut off. Two hands gripped my head and pulled me against a boney shoulder, pressing its lips against my neck. Rough, stringy hair fell into my face as my face was forcefully buried into what felt like dry patches of meat and skin that made up the shoulder. Hands gripped my wrists and legs, practically lifting me off of the floor. Suddenly, sharp pains were biting into my skin. Everywhere.

I didn’t realize I was screaming until I stopped. My ears sang in my head in a high pitched tune, slowly drowning out all slurping and sucking noises. My body started to numb against the pain. I started to close my eyes. The scene started to lose reality.

The hands let go of me one at a time until I was balancing on my own. I finally fell down on the ground. I couldn’t pick myself up to find the handle on the door. I slowly blinked in the blackness, breathing in and out.

 Hands wrapped around me, lifting me up. I tried to push away from them, but they didn’t loosen their grip. I was sweating and breathing rapidly, but still tried to stay conscious.

I heard a drowned out sound of creaking and then there was a bright light shining in my face. I didn’t understand it. I tried to focus my eyes, but spots dotted my vision. Someone was desperately shaking me. I tried to look, but just when I thought I figured out what was happening, it was lost again.

Triston, I tried saying, but nothing came out. A hand brushed my hair back from my face. A thick, warm liquid came to my lips. It had to have been poison. It tasted metallic like poison probably would.

I couldn’t remember what I had tried to say earlier, so I tried to speak again, regardless if it actually came out or not. Please don’t kill me.

 

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I opened my eyes and blinked them slowly. I was lying on my back and I was on the ground. Warmth was coming next to me and I turned my head slowly, careful to not stir my already pounding head.

A small fire was placed in the center of dirt with a make-shift spit above it with a medium sized animal cooking on a stick. I blinked a few times to figure out where exactly I was and what happened.

My stomach grumbled, bringing bits and pieces of flashbacks of what happened. I gasped and quickly sat up. My head protested and I threw my hand up, but I had to find Triston. I looked around and saw him staring at me from across the fire. His appearance took me aback.

Triston’s cheeks were full, his skin had more of a glow, and his clothes appeared cleaner somehow even though they still had the same dirt and dust spots on them. Sweat no longer drenched his skin and his ruffled, brown hair was shining against the setting rays of sun, bringing out the different shades of brown in every strand. His clothes looked like they fitted him better and his blue eyes stared into mine. He looked like he was in disbelief.

“Triston,” I whispered. The name uttered out of my mouth dulled every emotion on Triston’s face. He sucked in a breath and let it out.

“Yeah.” Triston’s tone was completely flat.  

“What happened?” I asked, my forehead throbbing like a drum. Triston’s face looked like a human brick wall.  

“Nothing,” Triston replied. I felt my temper start to rise.

“What do you mean, ‘nothing’?” I asked, my voice rising. “All I remember is…” What did I remember? Thinking about the vampires sucking my blood made me shiver.

Triston looked at me and I could literally see his anger peaking.

“If I say nothing happened then nothing happened,” Triston growled, glaring at me over the fire. He reached out and twirled the stick in between his fingers, rotating the small animal so that the fire licked the other side of its muscles.

I looked beside Triston and saw that a large pocket knife was lying by his side. Triston followed my gaze, barely moving his head then looked back at me. I saw something cross over his face, but was quick to disappear. He looked away and into the fire and I followed his gaze.

We didn’t talk for a while. We both stared into the fire until finally he spoke.

“If you’re thirsty, there’s a creek,” Triston said. He looked up at me without moving his head. I simply nodded and stood up. My feet were wobbly, but I tried not to reveal it to him.

“It’s over there,” Triston said, pointing me in the right direction. I felt him looking at me, but I didn’t look at him. I moved toward the direction, feeling the grogginess slowly lift with every step I took. I moved over dead trees and maneuvered around low branches.

When I reached the creek, I didn’t hesitate to take off my dirt stained tee-shirt and jeans as well as my dusty shoes. I placed them on the ground away from the water and, only wearing my bra and underwear, I slowly let myself sit in the cool, shallow water. I moved to a spot that was deeper by a few inches and pulled my knees up to my chest.

I looked at my knees and saw puncture marks lining them on every side. Tears started to prick my eyes and I quickly looked at my arms and the rest of my body. They were everywhere. I sobbed as I desperately tried to clean off my skin. I scrubbed my scalp and face with my fingernails to rid myself of anything that was remaining on me from the awful place. I scrubbed every inch of my body until the water was burning my skin. Some of the puncture wounds began to bleed, but I ignored it. I couldn’t stand it.

When I was finished scrubbing, my tears stopped pouring down, hiccups being the end result. I got up and sat on the creeks’ bay for a while, listening to the water ripple and hit against itself. The cool air dried me quickly, but I ignored the goose bumps on my arms. The mild temperature made me believe that I was still in Arkansas, which relieved me a little. When I was completely dry, I got up, put my clothes on and walked back to Triston’s camp.

Triston was sitting with his back to me, his head was on his knees and his hands were on his head. The stick with the animal on it was sticking up out of the ground, waiting to be eaten. Triston looked back to me. He still had the blank stare that he had had earlier, but I ignored him. I sat down and looked at the creature then looked up at Triston who was still staring.

“Just eat it. We have to get a head start,” Triston said. I jerked the stick out of the ground and looked at it, trying to figure out how to eat it. I didn’t realize Triston was moving toward me until he was right in front of me and jerking the stick out of my hands. Tears pricked my eyes again. After I cried once, it was easier to cry again. He looked up at me and I finally realized what the look was. He was worried.

                I tried to look away to make the tears go away, but it only made it worse. Triston took out the pocket knife from his jean pocket and started cutting the meat into slivers, taking each one off of the stick and handing them to me.

I was so hungry that I swallowed each piece by the time he handed me another, not paying attention to the taste or the texture. By the fifth piece, Triston stopped carving pieces. I finished chewing and looked at him.

                “If you keep eating, you’ll get sick,” Triston answered. I hadn’t thought about that, but his tone was starting to make me aggravated. My tears had stopped while I was eating, but I wasn’t ready to hear his irritation with me. Triston stood up and started placing dirt onto the fire.

                “Triston, what is it?” I asked. Triston turned around and looked at me. He looked worn out.

                “What do you mean?” It sounded more like a statement than a question.

                “You know exactly what I mean,” I said. “Why are you in this mood?”

                “That’s my business, don’t you think?” With that, he continued to extinguish the flame. I stood up and began walking.

                “Where are you going?” Triston demanded. I didn’t turn around. I continued to make my way through the forest. Triston’s hand wrapped around my arm in only a second, jerking me back to come face to face with him. I gasped and looked up at him. His lips were only a few inches away for mine and my breath caught. His eyes were staring down at me with eager fierceness, making it hard to think.

                “Where are you going?” Triston asked again, except without as much force. I struggled to find words.

                “I don’t know,” I answered, looking down at his throat. His breathing tickled my skin while static rippled through my body from where he gripped my arm. His eyes hardened from my answer and I looked back up at him. Triston swallowed, but didn’t say anything. A drop of water fell from my hair on onto my shoulder, trailing its way down my chest. He looked down at it then loosened his grip on my arm and backed away, turning to go to the fire.

My heart raced. I desperately wanted to kiss him, but the more I thought about it, I couldn’t make my feet move. Triston finished cleaning up and then looked at the sky.

“We’ve got to go. I’ll have to carry you,” Triston said. it sounded like he wasn’t talking to anyone, but he turned to look back over at me. The look of his eyes sent chills along my skin. They were back to being flat and emotionless.

“They’re coming for us, aren’t they?” Of course Triston couldn’t kill them all.

“If they’re not already,” he answered. I looked up at the sky and saw that the sun was going down at a rapid rate; the last rays of light disappearing one by one.

Triston walked over and looked down at me. He looked as if he was going to say something, but just when I thought he was going to speak, he lifted me off the ground in a swift motion. Before I could put my arms around his neck, Triston took off, whizzing past trees and ducking under branches.

“Where are we going?” I asked. Triston continued to stare out ahead.

“To my home. It’s not far from here.”

“Wouldn’t they find us there?” Triston looked down at me with a hard glare.

“How many more questions are you going to ask after I answer this one?” It was more of a statement than a question. I didn’t say anything.

His breathing was as steady as it had been when we were still at the fire. I looked up at his face and it was cold against the dark shadows that were casted onto it. His stare was distant and his skin looked like stone. Triston peered down at me.

“What is it?” He asked. He looked back up in time to sweep underneath a low branch. I continued to stare.

“You’re so annoying,” I mumbled, shaking my head. Triston stopped and looked down at me with a hard glare. His nostrils flared and his eyes turned glassy. He bit on his lip and was about to open his mouth, when…

BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

Triston dropped to the ground, putting his arms around me protectively. The echoes of guns were still ringing in my ears. Triston popped his head up and looked around. Another gunshot sounded and I put my hands to my ears.

“S**t!” Triston growled. He stood up quickly, picking me up with him, and flung me a good couple of yards away. I landed hard on my side. I grabbed my arm that stung from the leaves underneath me. The guns had stopped firing, leaving the forest eerily quiet.

His hissing made me snap my attention back to him. I looked and saw that his back was to me, his arm bleeding from what looked like a cut, while he was facing at least fifteen identical looking men, each carrying a rifle. Their clothes were dark, loose and baggy. Their hair was tied back into pony-tails and each man had a look of rage on their faces. The smoke from their guns filled my nose and made it look like fog was rolling in.

                A man, from the center of the semi-circle that they had formed, locked eyes with Triston. His look was cold and hard like the rest of the men’s faces, but his was the strongest. He stood up tall and then smiled.

                “You did quite a number back there, Triston,” the man said, making the two syllables more apparent and forceful in Triston’s name like the female vampire from the room. He tilted his head to the side, like he was taking in the scene before him. Triston didn’t move.

                The man smirked and relaxed as he looked around at the other men. They didn’t laugh with him. They continued to focus only on Triston, their eyes seeming to shine with a look of hunger. It looked as if they were going to pounce on Triston and rip his flesh off. I had to do something.

                I pushed myself up, but Triston whipped his head around to me and snarled. His fangs were exposed and his eyes flashed like an animals and his nose was crinkled. My heart stopped in my chest. He looked feral.

Behind Triston I saw the man staring at me with pity while the rest of the men stared at me like they hadn’t eaten in months. Their fangs were drawn and some were snarling like Triston had. Triston snapped back to the men in front of him and took a step back, putting his hands out, palms facing me, like he was protecting me. In unison, each of the men aimed their rifles at Triston’s chest. A low rumble erupted from Triston, making his body vibrate.

                “Now, now. None of this,” the man said. He placed his right hand on the man’s shoulder that stood next to him. In unison, the men relaxed their holds on the guns, but their postures were still rigid and tense. The man focused back to Triston. “Triston, I shall give you my word. I free you as I speak, but only in one condition.”

                “Oh God,” I whispered. “We’re going to die.” I squeezed my eyes and silently prayed, placing my hands on the ground. I had never been much of a religious person, but the day had come for me to start. I took in deep breaths that I knew would be my last. When I looked back up, the man blinked his focus onto me through the gap between Triston’s arm and I saw Triston stand straighter. The man smiled and looked back at Triston.

                “The condition is that you hand me over the girl.” My breath caught in my throat. The blood under my skin started to cool.

                “No.” The two letters uttered from Triston were ice. The man’s face turned just as cold. Suddenly, all of their faces snapped up in unison, including Triston’s. The men aimed their guns so quick that it didn’t look real. Triston continued to look at them with his arms still protecting me. They weren’t looking at Triston though. They were looking past Triston and me.

My skin prickled when a twig snapped from behind me. Everything jerked into slow motion as I turned to look. Legs were jumping over me top of me, the wind kissing me as whatever it was flew over my head. I screamed and ducked. People were running past me at remarkable speed, making it look like blurs of dark shadows.

I turned around to look at what happened, but hands grabbed me and I was sent backward hard into the ground. Guns erupted everywhere. I screamed harder, realizing that a body was lying on top of me. The body covered me, grabbing hold of my head from behind and pulling me into its chest. The weight paralyzed me from moving.

Gunshots sounded from everywhere. The bullets sent dirt flying and knocked bark off that hit against my skin. I tried harder to push the body off, but a familiar voice whispered in my ear.

“Hang on to me,” Triston whispered. I nodded and wrapped my arms around his neck. He moved his arms quickly to my waist and we were up and running. He carried me like a child as we whizzed past trees. One of Triston’s arms was holding onto my back while the other was holding me up from underneath. I wrapped my legs tightly around his waist and my arms clung desperately to his neck. I squeezed my eyes shut over his shoulder as bullets hit bark around and whizz past us.

I hadn’t realized I was crying until I was gasping for breath in between sobs. Non-human screams came from where we had just been. More gun shots erupted and some of the screams were cut off short.

“They’re going to kill us,” I cried. 

Triston moved his hand up and cupped my head. He rested his head against mine, while still running at the same speed, and whispered into my ear.

“It’s okay,” Triston said in a shockingly soothing voice. “We’re going to be okay, everything’s fine.” Everything was far from fine, but I didn’t say anything. I opened my eyes when dirt wasn’t being thrown up from the ground and the air from the bullets weren’t threatening us.

The scene had been swallowed up by the forest. I couldn’t see anything, but the forest floor and blurs of dark greenery that was losing its color to the darkness.

 

 

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After a while of running, Triston finally started to slow down. He came to a walk and then stopped, quickly prying me from him. He placed me on the ground and placed his hands on either side of my cheeks.

“Mona,” Triston whispered. His expression looked worried and concerned. Instead of answering, I swallowed. “I’m sure if you were hurt, you would tell me by now.” I nodded.

“Please say something,” Triston said, letting go of my face. He let his hands drop into his lap as he sat down on the ground in front of me. He was so close that even in the dark, I could still make out his blue eyes. “Please let me know that you’re okay.”

Looking at him made me nervous to talk, so I looked away and put my hand up to my mouth. He sighed and looked away from me in the opposite direction, making me look back at him. His tired posture made me feel bad for not answering.

“Thank you for not giving me to them,” I whispered. His looked at me so quick that I didn’t realize that he was until he started speaking so fast that I barely caught it.

“Why would you think that I would give you up to them?” Triston snapped, his voice drenched with bitterness. I bit my lip to not start crying.

“You wanted me to say something, so I f*****g said something,” I answered through hiccups. “Take me home and you’ll never have to put up with me again.”

The air changed as Triston stared at me. I wrapped my arms around my torso as a cold night breeze grazed my skin. We didn’t say anything for a while until Triston leaned in only a few inches from my face.

“Is that what you really want?” Triston said in a flat voice. I didn’t know how to answer. The warmth from him was temptingly comfortable. I lifted my eyes to meet his gaze. His lips were pressed together and his face showed no emotion. I sucked in a breath and swallowed.

“I don’t know,” I answered honestly. I would have known the answer if it wasn’t for him. Everything about him drove me crazy. Even if I went home, there would be nothing to come home to, but I was definitely tired of being scared for my life every waking moment. Especially when the killers were imaginary creatures.

Triston sat back and studied me.

“I can’t take you home yet. They’ll find you,” Triston said. He rubbed his face and then combed his hair with his hand. “You’ll have to put up with me for a few more days and then I’ll take you back.” Before I could answer, he stood up, swept me off of my feet and we continued our way through the forest.

It wasn’t long before we realized that it wasn’t only vampires looking for us.  

Author's Note

I don't think it's that good. I'll probably go back and edit it. Lemme know what you think.