Free Ravenous (Book 1 The Ravening Series) by Erica Stevens Page A

I urged. “Please go.”
   Abby was nodding, choking on her sobs as she moved swiftly toward the door. My arms were already aching from the weight of the plywood, and our mother. We couldn’t move fast enough, couldn’t get out of this room in time. I found myself praying silently, desperate to run, desperate to move faster. Desperate to survive as all of my survival instincts kicked into high gear and the fight or flight response consumed me.
       “Bethany,” Abby whispered horror evident in her voice.
       She was near the door, almost completely out of it, but I was not close enough. I wasn’t nearly close enough. And Abby could see those things. She knew where they were, I didn’t. “I’m sorry,” I breathed.
       She opened her mouth to say something but I shoved forward, thrusting the plywood, and our mother, forcefully at her. Abby cried out in surprise, staggering into the hall before she disappeared beneath the weight of the plywood, and our mother’s frozen form. I dove forward, thrusting myself through the door, rolling as I dodged the snapping tentacles I knew were close on my heels.
       I scrambled over top of the plywood, not feeling at all sorry when I knocked my immobile mother o ut of the way. I was pretty sure she would forgive me, and understand. I lunged forward, grabbing the bottom of the bedroom door as one of those things darted at me with deadly intent. I ripped the door toward me, slamming it shut with a resounding thud that echoed throughout the house.
       I rolled back, my rapid pants loud in my ears as I tried to catch my breath. One of the things slammed into the door, rattling it in its frame. The old, heavy wood held up beneath the onslaught. For now, anyway. “Abby get up! Abby up, up !”
       Abby was trying to get to her feet, but she struggled beneath the weight of the plywood lying half on top of her. I helped to pull it off her. The things were banging against the door with more urgency now. It would not be long before they broke through it. I threw the plywood down and began to awkwardly roll our mom back onto it.
       “Bethany,” Abby whispered. “Bethany, we have to go.”
   “I know, I know,” I replied impatiently as I finally managed to shove my mom haphazardly onto the wood. Light suddenly filled the upper hallway. I lifted my head slowly, the hair on the nape of my neck standing on end as dread filled me. The window at the end of the hall was now ablaze, the room behind me had become eerily silent. “Oh.”
       Abby grasped hold of my arm, her grip bruising and painful. “Bethy.”
   I rose slowly, my heart hammering, my whole body trembling with terror. “Get the other end of the plywood Abby.”
   “Bethy…”
       “Now Abby, get it now !”
       She released me slowly and crawled to the other end of the board. It was not the light blazing in on us that unnerved me most, but the sudden, ensuing, horrendous quiet. The only sound was the soft scrape of Abby’s shoe against the floor as she bent to pick up the other side.
       They were playing with us, toying with us, and they were enjoying every minute of it. For the first time I became certain that we would not escape this , that we would not make it of this house. I gripped the plywood tightly ignoring the bite the weight of it caused my wounded palms. I kicked aside the broken bits of the table I had knocked over earlier. There may be no chance that we were going to escape this, but I was not going to give up easily. They were going to get one hell of a fight out of me.
       “Go Abby.” Her dark eyes were wide and terrified as she stared at me with a trembling bottom lip. “Move.”
       Abby stared at the window in wide eyed horror, but she began to move slowly down the hall toward the stairs. There was no sound, no movement as she turned into the stairwell, making her way backwards down the steps. She watched me the entire time, tears brimming in her gaze, but she