Pack Animals [An Undead Post-Apocalypse Thriller]

by Cain, Kenneth W.

  The creature kept coming.

  Round after round, she emptied what was left of her clip into the thing. It took each bullet as if unaffected by the pain. Already, the creature was smeared with blood, most of it likely its own. But, like any mother, it was fueled by rage from the recent loss of her children, and so it kept coming no matter how many bullets Karen fired.

  She tossed her rifle aside and drew the handgun, aimed, and fired.

  Click.

  “Rawr! Motherfucker!”

  That chicken shit Huggins took the clip.

  He had left them all hung out to dry. If she lived to see him again, she would make sure he paid for everything. Even if that meant taking him out herself, he would not get away with this. But she couldn’t worry about that now.

  The creature jumped for her.

  She dove to her right, where she rolled to all fours and drew her knife. No way she was going to fend this thing off with a fucking knife. But she had to have something to protect herself. There had to be some way to escape this thing and get the others to safety. Little by little, as she scanned the surrounding area, that hope was growing bleaker by the moment. She couldn’t fend off this thing’s attacks much longer. There had to be some—

  Then, she saw it. The thought of killing the creature had consumed her thoughts right from the start. It had never occurred to her that she didn’t have to.

  Quickly, she made her way over to some wreckage. She had seen the precarious buildings on the verge of collapse as they came into this area and stayed clear of them. Now, she saw them as an opportunity. Without any further delay, she led the creature toward one of those buildings, intent on causing a collapse that would trap the beast. It came for her, the look on its face more determined than ever, and she counted on using that resolve to her advantage.

  The building she chose was only half there. She entered through the wreckage and climbed the shaky staircase. Her footing gave here and there as they ground beneath her feet crumbled. Even as she climbed upward, she felt the unsteadiness of the entire building, as if it were swaying slightly just from her being there. She steadied her nerves and climbed higher.

  “Come and get me, motherfucker!” she yelled.

  It followed, literally running on its gnarled hands to get to her as fast as possible. Once there, it didn’t stop. It leaped into the air, landing on the staircase with all its weight. Although Karen had anticipated this to a degree, it caught her by surprise. All she could do was dive toward the open area and pray she didn’t get squished. Even then, the creature must have seen her readying to jump, because it lashed out with one arm and managed to claw a gash in her stomach.

  “Ahhhhhhh!” She kept screaming even once she was airborne.

  Behind her, the creature tried to attack, but it was too late. The staircase collapsed, and the creature went with it, clawing madly for purchase, the ground giving each time it did.

  She struck the ground flat, driving nearly all the air out of her. She heard something, a pop or a crack, nothing good. Gasping for air, struggling to catch her breath, she rolled onto her back and assessed the damage. Her shin had snapped, the bone protruding. Just looking at it made her throw up. But she paid it little mind, her entire focus on the creature.

  At first, she couldn’t find it, the entire area covered not only with fog but with debris too. Dust, dirt, construction materials, all of it fluttered in the air like tiny fireflies.

  She decided not to wait around to see. Scrambling on her hands and knees, she found a thick branch and used it as a crutch. Quickly, she made her way back to the others when she saw something of a godsend. Hobbling, she got there as fast as she could manage, surprised to see the keys were still in it. She wasn’t sure they could all fit, but she would try. After mounting the snowmobile, she turned the key.

  The engine churned but didn’t start.

  Panicking, she considered abandoning the snowmobile in favor of attacking the creature while it was still down. Then, something came over her, and she decided to try again.

  Rawr, rawr, rawr…

  Then, it did start.

  She drove to the others. There, she unbuttoned her jacket and ripped a strip of her shirt off. She snapped the limb down to a two-foot section and used that and her belt to secure her leg best she could. Once she finished, she addressed Franklin and Izzy, how to get all three of them on one snowmobile. Sadly, she need not worry.

  Izzy had died in the time it took to take the creature down. And Franklin looked so close to death, the reaper himself might have been standing next to her. She pocketed Izzy’s tags. Then, she dragged Franklin to the snowmobile, hobbling and enduring the intense pain as she did. When she got him there, she hefted him over the back, threw one of his legs over, and spun him to a sitting positon. She got on, pulling his arms around her and holding them there with one hand as she drove away.

  As Karen drove the two of them toward base, she heard a sound she most feared. The creature roared. Only it hadn’t sounded like an angry roar. No, this was more of a severely wounded roar. She wasn’t sure if it would be dead before anyone else got out this way.

  Halfway back to base, she caught up with Huggins. His body had been torn open, his guts splayed all around him. Whatever killed him, it had done its job well. She relished in the moment, silently cursing the guy for leaving them to die as he had. He deserved everything he got and more.

  By the time she got back to base, Franklin had died. She tried to explain what she had seen, what they went through, the creature, but all that came out was incoherent words. No matter how she tried to string her words together, to make sense of it all, she couldn’t express it in a way that made her sound anywhere close to sane. They talked down to her, treated her like she was crazy, and she couldn’t blame them. Perhaps, in some way, she now was.

  AFTERWORD

  This book began as an exercise of sorts, taking a handful of people I know and developing them into characters (obviously with some differences and name changes). It was a fun journey for myself, and so naturally, I wanted to share it with readers. And now that I’ve gotten the rights back, I wanted to revisit this one. I hope you enjoy this revised edition.

  Pleasant nightmares,

  Kenneth W. Cain

  CONNECT WITH THE AUTHOR

  Kenneth W. Cain is the author of four novels, four short story collections, four novellas, and several children’s books among his body of work. He is the editor for Crystal Lake Publishing’s Tales From The Lake Volume 5 and When the Clock Strikes 13. The winner of the 2017 Silver Hammer Award, Cain is an Active member of the horror Writers Association, as well as a volunteer for the membership committee and chair of the Pennsylvania chapter. Cain resides in Chester County, Pennsylvania with his wife and two children.

  Website: http://kennethwcain.com

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  PLEA FROM THE AUTHOR

  Greetings, Reader. You’ve reached the end of my book, and I hope that means you enjoyed it. Whether or not you did, I would like to thank you for giving me your valuable time to try and entertain you. I am truly blessed to have such a fulfilling job, but I only have that job because of people like you; those kind enough to give my books a chance and spend their hard-earned money buying them. For that I am eternally grateful, my friend.

  If you would like to find out more about my other books then please visit my website for full details. You can find it at: kennethwcain.com. There you’ll find a link to sign up for my newsletter. Or you can email me. You’ll also find my social media links, which you can use to follow or contact me. I would love to hear from you.

  If you enjoyed this b
ook and would like to help, then please consider leaving a review for the book on Amazon, Goodreads, LibraryThing, a blog, or anywhere else readers visit. The most important part of how well a book sells is how many positive reviews it has, so if you leave me one then you are directly helping me to continue on this journey as a full-time writer. Thank you in advance to anyone who does.

  OTHER TITLES BY KENNETH W. CAIN

  Adult fiction:

  Darker Days: A Collection of Dark Fiction

  Embers: A Collection of Dark Fiction

  These Old Tales: A Collection of Dark Fiction

  Fresh Cut Tales: A Collection of Dark Fiction

  A Season in Hell

  Lifeblood

  Jade

  Alexin

  Non-fiction:

  Writers on Writing

  Middle Grade fiction:

  Emergence

  Early Reader:

  How Marbles Roll

  Hardy the Allergic Cat & Willy the Wrong Way Woodpecker

  RE: Animated: Three Apocalyptic Tales for Kids

  When Vampires Eat Fast Food & Cooking with Monsters

  3 Fun Tales About Monsters

  Math Is For Mummies: Addition & Subtraction

  Frankie's Alphabet: an A to Z alphabet picture book

  The Big Book of Monsters & Friends activity book