CHAPTER 59
Kate thought the masses of people in the room were falling, but she realized in horror that they were melting, or disintegrating, from the ground up. Lights flashed across the room and she caught glimpses of the waves flowing through, like violent tides delivering death, one boom at a time.
But the booming was different now. And the light— the flashing was getting dimmer, not nearly as blinding. She could see it now — the device suspended from the walls. It was shaped like a bell or an oversized pawn with windows in the head. She squinted to see something else. It was… dripping. Iron tears fell, draping the unlucky people below it in a molten blanket of death.
More people were dropping, but there were survivors — scattered across the room, some looking confused, as if waiting to be picked in an execution lottery, others were running, some to the corners, three or four beating on the door.
Kate looked down, seeing her body for the first time since waking up. She was covered in blood, but it wasn’t her blood. Aside from the throbbing in her head, she was unharmed. She had to help these people. She knelt down and examined the man at her feet — what was left of him. It looked like his blood had swollen, bursting his blood vessels from the inside, causing a massive body-wide hemorrhage that tore his skin and erupted from his eyes and nails.
The Bell was changing — the light flashed on again, brighter than ever. Kate shielded her eyes with her hand and turned away from the light. Ahead, she saw Naomi, who must have waded through the bodies toward the door. Kate crawled over to her.
The boom was now a constant low-pitched wail, like a ‘goooong’ sound that wouldn’t end. Iron stretching?
Kate rolled Naomi’s head back and pushed the hair out of her face. Dead. Beautiful. The blood hadn’t reached her face.
Bodies swarmed around Kate — the living. They crowded the door, beating and screaming. She tried to rise to her feet, but couldn’t; they were all over her, waving arms in the air and shoving.
The blast deafened Kate and flattened the crowd, pressing a half dozen people into her. She sucked hard for a breath, but none would come. They were crushing her, suffocating her. She punched, twisted, and heaved her head back. It was raining. No — debris falling. And then water, a huge flood of water into the room, and she was free, floating, drifting with the massive tidal wave that swept her over the jagged half wall that had sealed the death room.
Kate inhaled sharply. The breathe hurt but it was a relief. At that moment, she had two thoughts: I’m alive, and David must have saved me.