Page 137 of Walking in Darkness

An instinctual gathering as a stream of Laven made their way toward the town, heading in the same direction we were.

I could feel them coming.

Hundreds ... maybe thousands who’d flocked from every direction and made their way toward the call that had been issued.

Strangers who’d been drawn.

Some spoke in English.

Others in different languages.

Brought here from every end of the earth.

It felt as if each of us had been inscribed on one another in some secret way. Our souls recognizing each other as wary, uncertain glances were cast. As understanding dawned and hope blossomed in the crux of the turmoil that awaited us.

The heavens continued to writhe, thrashing with insolence and the intonation of the immoral.

It only grew thicker the closer we got. Like sludge had filled the atmosphere.

The coldest chill slicked through the middle of it, gusting across our faces and whipping through our hair.

We slowed once we made it all the way across the field, our breaths heaving as we came to the fence line. On the other side was a roadlocked with cars. Most had been abandoned, many with their headlights still gleaming into the darkness that obliterated the day.

Beyond it was a gas station that looked as if it typically catered to semitrucks. The parking lot was large, and it now overflowed with pickups and cars that had been left at odd angles.

Huge diesel-fuel tanks were lined along the backside near the tall canopies that protected the pump stations.

And it was here that we saw the others. Those who’d been called for a different purpose from ours.

A slew of people charged through the abandoned cars and trucks.

Enraged.

Violent.

Barbaric.

Running amok on the streets as they flocked toward the crack where the Kruen crawled out from above.

My stomach toppled.

It was what I’d feared most.

Laven weren’t the only ones who had been coaxed to this place.

The corrupt who had fully given themselves over to the nefarious and vile had come in scores.

We all crouched down at the fence line, taking in the scene. The complete chaos that had befallen the land, so much worse than it’d been back in Portland, though I was sure it wouldn’t take long for this virus to spread.

For it to advance and expand and decimate.

“They’ve all gone mad,” Dani whispered where she knelt at my side.

“It’s what happens when there is no good left,” Pax grunted as he peered out. “We’ve seen it time and again since we’ve been on the run. These monsters who give themselves over to the wickedness that possesses their minds. They’ll do anything to see it through without any thought of consequence.”

“Can they resist it?” she whispered, her heart bleeding out. Not wanting to harm someone who had no choice.

“I think they could if they wanted to,” I whispered. “I can feel it ... when I’m struck with the compulsion to reach out and heal, and when it’s useless to try. The way it was with those men who abducted me the other night.”