The Swamp

by Yates, R

  A few minutes later they came again with the same results.

  “They are trying to get us to waste our ammo,” Mike said across the dark cab, “hold your fire until they are right up on us.”

  “It’s working, I’ve got my last mag in and I don’t think I’ve hit a thing. Ted, Mike, how many shots you have left?” Sam asked.

  “Half a clip,” replied the teen. Mike added that he only had seven rounds left for his 30.06.

  Sam pondered on this, “That’s about one more of these rushes and then we are cooked.”

  “Why don’t we go with them?” asked the kid.

  “What do you mean?” asked Mike, definitely ready to hear any suggestions.

  “Well,” said the kid in a voice that lacked confidence in his plan “seems to be that if I was charging this RV and people were shooting at me, the last thing I would expect would be for them to run out after me. I don’t mean to say we should run out to fight them, just they we run away when they do kind of blend in with them and haul ass.”

  The Fleetwood was quiet for a moment, until Sam spoke. “Kid, that’s actually pretty smart.”

  Mike added “best idea we got, I say we go for it. We fire our guns dry and take off west when they pull back.”

  There wasn’t time for discussion, the sounds of running feet signaled another attack. They all started firing. Sam saw a figure moving across the pavement and fired. He was rewarded with a grunt of pain as his bullet found its mark. Ted fired again, and then they heard the feet running away.

  “Let’s go,” said Mike, who was already holding the door and pushing it forward.

  Before they could answer, he was outside. They jumped up and followed. Sam’s leg was stiff from the long time spent motionless, but he found his adrenaline was going. They ran, Mike out in front, and Ted to his left. Sam glanced over his shoulder and could barely make out the shape of the RV receding into the night. He didn’t see anyone following them yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time.

  Sam’s side began to hurt, and he had to slow. Up ahead, Mike seemed to be flagging also. The kid however was going strong and pulling ahead. By the time they had run for 5 minutes, Ted was thirty feet in front of them. By the time they had gone 10 minutes, they had lost sight of him.

  Mike called his name but got no answer. “Stupid kid, he is going to get himself killed out there alone,” as he ran.

  “I’ve got to stop,” Sam panted at fifteen minute mark, “I’ve got to catch my breath.”

  Mike didn’t say anything, but he stopped as well. Mike put his hands on his knees and sucked wind. Sam’s heart sounded like a bass drum in his ears. They stood there for a minute. Mike suddenly straightened up and peered behind them into the darkness. Sam looked back, but all he could see was black. He strained his ears, but the beating of his heart obscured any sounds.

  Then he heard it, several sets of feet striking pavement, they were coming. Mike grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the side of the road. They crossed the grass shoulder and entered the trees.

  “Get behind a tree and stay low. They won’t know where we turned off the road and may run right past us.” Mike whispered, and dropped to his belly behind a palmetto bush. Sam followed suit, choosing to join Mike behind the tree.

  They lay there listening, less than a minute later they heard the feet run by. They couldn’t see their pursuers, but they followed the sounds of their feet with their eyes until the sounds disappeared into the distance.

  “We stay here until the moon comes up, then we find a place to hide until morning.” Mike whispered in his ear, and Sam nodded. The sounds of the night surrounded them and Sam could hear something rustling nearby. The sound got his heart racing again until he convinced himself it was an armadillo or maybe a raccoon.

  His eyes played tricks on him and he began to see shapes moving around him out of the corner of his eye. Whenever he turned his head, they vanished, only to repair when he moved his head back. He felt himself starting to get worked up, and forced himself to take a few deep breaths to calm himself. It had been such a long day.’ He hadn’t spelt in what, 30, 32 hours’ he thought to himself. He couldn’t remember when he had woken up, but the again he had no idea what time it was now.

  His neck was beginning to hurt from holding it up and looking around. He laid it down for a second to rest it, and fell immediately to sleep.

  He dreamed about being back in the swamp. He was on the ground, freshly injured by the hog. His dream differed from real life in the detail that this time the hog was still alive, still out there. He could feel it coming, getting closer by the second. He tried to run away but he couldn’t move, his limbs refused to respond. The animal was close now, he could feel its hot breath as it stood over him, mere inches from his face. The best threw back its head and squealed, the sound sending a terror through his entire body, then the best opened its mouth and reached down to bite his head.

  He opened his eyes, and looked frantically around him for the beast. He started to sit up, but a hand appeared on his chest and pushed him back down.

  “Sam, stay still, it was just a dream, don’t move, they could still be out there.” It was mikes voice and that reassured him. The dream was already fading, and he felt better. He realized he could see more around him, and glanced up to confirm that the moon had risen. He could see the trees clearly enough now. They should move on, find a better place.

  Chapter 10

  Mike seemed to have the same thought. “Stay here, I am going to scout around a little.”

  Sam wanted to object. After the dream the idea of being here alone terrified him. He knew that Mike would mover better alone though, and that he would just be in the way.

  “Okay” whispered Sam, “but don’t be gone too long.”

  He could see mikes teeth gleam in the moonlight as he smiled, and then he moved off quietly. Sam was again amazed at the man. He could see him moving through dry leaves, but he couldn’t hear a sound.

  ‘Remind me to never piss off a marine’ he thought to himself.

  The bugs were out, and they were eating Sam alive. Twenty minutes had passed by his guess since Mike went to take a look around. Sam was starting to get worried.

  Sam waited another 30 minutes of bug bitten hell and decided something was wrong. He decided it was time to do something. He rose as quietly as possible to his feet, and started off in the direction Mike had gone. Every time he put his foot down, leaves crackled like thunder, and sticks broke like gunshots. He knew his mind was exaggerating these sounds, but it still worried him that anything with in twenty miles could hear his clumsy attempt at stealth.

  He wandered for a few minutes until he saw they road. He eased out, and standing in the tree line, looked up and down the road, straining his eyes, but seeing nothing. The moons beams illuminated the pavement and he could see quite a ways in both directions. He wondered were Mike had gotten too. He had been gone a long time and Sam was worried.

  Indecision tore at him, He could leave, but what if mike could be somewhere nearby and hurt. But what if he stayed and Mike was already gone, he knew he couldn’t stay here either. He decided he would give Mike ten more minutes, and then start working his way down the side of the road. He knew if he stayed in the tree line and out of the moonlight, he would be almost invisible from people far away, but he could still see people coming down the road.

  Mikes ten minutes passed and he was debating giving him ten more when he heard a rustle behind him. Sam whirled and saw a hulking shape of a man three feet behind him, arms raised and holding a club. The club arced down towards his head and caught him in the forehead. His vision flared into a sudden bright light, and he had time to think “fucking figures” as the darkness took him again.

  Sam found himself standing at the tower. The day was hot as the sun beat down on him. He was confused as to how he had gotten here, and where everyone else was. He looked around him, everything seemed normal. He walked over to the door to the house and slowly
pushed it open.

  As he did he heard his mother’s voice, sounding pained as she said “Why didn’t you come back? I waited as long as I could.” Sam looked around the room, but didn’t see her.

  Her voice seemed to be coming from the kitchen as she continued, “I sent you to help, and you got them all kill! You couldn’t even save yourself!”

  “Mom, don’t say that, I did the best I could.” Sam said desperately as he turned the corner into the kitchen, but found it empty.

  “They are all dead… all dead.” Her voice called from behind him, and he spun around. The dining room was filled with corpses blocking his path. It was the people he had rescued from the farm, and at the front of the closing crowd, stood Mark and his mother. The bodies were decayed and putrid, their arms rose as one, reaching for him.

  “You killed us all,” said Mark, “Now its time to join us.” And the others picked up the last two words.

  “Join us!” the said in unison, and the crowd closed in on him.

  Chapter 11

  He awoke suddenly and realized he was on a concrete floor. His head swam in pain and at first he wasn’t able to move. When he finally got his eyes to respond, he was looking up at chain link. This confused him, so he turned his head and could see he was in a chain link box, roughly ten foot by eight foot and about 6 feet tall. He guessed it was some kind of dog kennel, it reminded him of some he had seen in a catalogue once... The wall by his feet contained a thin, but man sized door that was securely chained closed with a large pad lock. Sam forced himself to sit up though his head injury made him reel.

  A whispered voice from a few feet away caught his attention, “pssst, you alive?”

  Sam turned to see Mike in a very similar cage a few feet away. “I don’t think so. What’s going on?”

  “I’m not exactly sure. They must have realized they had lost us and doubled back through the woods we were hiding in to have a look. I was out there in the woods looking around when a few of them jumped me and drug me back here. They dragged you in about an hour later. You looked quite dead. That was yesterday morning.” Mike explained.

  Sam examined the area outside his cage. There were a total of ten cages, set in a semi circle that butted against the edge of the clearing. The cages were closely spaced, and he could see six other cages that held people, each had a cage to themselves.

  Sam was surprised that he had been out for that long. “What about the others, have you heard anything about our people that ran for it?”

  “Nope, not from any of them, they got Ted though, and killed him, the sick bastards.” Mike looked crestfallen as he spoke

  Sam took a good look at Mike and was shocked. His left eye was swollen almost closed, his lower lip was split, and his face was covered in some nasty bruises. “You sure aren’t any prettier. I take it you didn’t give up without a fight.”

  “I gave worse than I got,” mike bragged, and then indicated the direction behind Sam, “There are a few over there who will regret being the ones to find me.”

  Sam slide his butt around to look in the direction mike had pointed. A large house stood in the center of the clearing surrounded by tents of every description, there must have been a hundred spread out over the several acres the house occupied. All over the place, Sam could see people milling about, at least enough to account for the number of tents. This was a large group.

  The house was a two story structure that would have looked more at home in the English country side, its stone walls and exposed beams would have very been attractive under any other circumstances, but now they looked menacing. The house was bordered by expansive well maintained flower beds and large trees.

  Over the porch, a large “L” was carved in to one of the stones. Sam’s eyes were pulled to a man standing on that porch leaning on a cane.

  The man stood there staring at him, a smile spread across his face, and he started down the porch stairs towards the dog cages. Sam took in the man’s appearance. He was an older man, mid-fifties if he had to guess, dressed in an expensive looking bright yellow polo and khaki pants. He was walking with a dark wood cane with a silver head, but Sam could tell it was just for show, the man walked fine.

  “Oh god, he’s coming,” said a voice to the side away from Mike. Sam glanced over and saw a brunette woman of about college age. He hadn’t noticed her before, which made him look around. His cage was one in a string of about ten. Most held a person. Some looked like that had been there for a while. The voice continued “Be polite, say yes sir and no sir, and do what he tells you.” Her voice trailed off into a whimper as the man approached closer.

  “Well, I see you have rejoined us her in the land of the living” spoke the man in an accent Sam had only heard in old southern movies. “Welcome to my home, I am your host, Joseph Looper. And your name is?”

  Sam considered saying something rude or demanding to be let out, but something in the man’s eyes stopped him. “My Name is Sam Hobbs, sir.”

  “Aw, Hobbs, now would that be of the Georgia Hobbs or of the Carolina Hobbs?” The man asked.

  Sam knew the answer was neither, but wasn’t sure how the man would take that, “I’m not sure sir, I grew up here in Florida.”

  “Well that’s too bad, a man should always know where his family comes from, and it helps you find yourself if you’ve gone astray.” The man looked pensive for a moment, and then concentrated his full attention back on Sam “I just wanted to take a moment to introduce myself, and welcome you to the church of light and love. If there is anything you need, please do not hesitate to ask.” With this the man turned to go.

  “Can my friends and myself be let go, please?” Sam thought he should at least try.

  The man, now ten feet away turned back to Sam, “oh no, I am afraid not. My people have plans for you, and it wouldn’t be polite of me to spoil it for them. They do so love their little parties.” And with that he left. Sam didn’t like the sound of that, not one bit.

  Under one of the spreading oaks, he could see a large table was being set up like a buffet. Breads and vegetables were already on the table. Somewhere behind the house he could smell meat roasting and his stomach growled.

  “I’d sure love some of that, I am starving,” said Sam.

  The dark haired lady in the next cage laughed. “No you wouldn’t, I’m guessing that meat you smell is one of your friends.”

  Sam looked at her with horror and disbelief. He started to tell her to shut up, and that that wasn’t something to joke about, but then he glanced at Mike.

  Mike just faintly nodded his head, “They brought Ted in a couple of hours ago tied to a log they carried on their shoulders like some kind of a damned animal. They had cut his head off, but it was definitely him, you could tell by that concert t-shirt he had been wearing. We had to sit here and watch as the strung him up on that oak limb over there. They skinned, gutted, and butchered him right in front of us. The smell of meat started less than an hour later.

  Sam’s mouth fell open in shock as Mike spoke, “Why?” was all he could manage to say.

  The woman answered, “They eat whom they catch. This area has plenty of farms so they have lots of vegetables, but the dead have eaten all the cows and pigs except a few. We are the backup. When they catch a group any they don’t kill right out are put into cages given a chance to convert and join them. Those they don’t feel worth converting or those that refuse get to be dinner...”

  “Who are they?” Sam asked and looked to Mike. Mike just sat there slumped against the side of his cage staring at nothing in particular.

  Again the woman answered when Mike didn’t say anything. “They are some kind of cult that lived here before all this happened. The one that is called Joe is very talkative about it, like he was trying to convert me. Apparently they have been here for a long time waiting for god to come get them. The kicker was that the end came but god didn’t. They kind of snapped, all except Joe. The way he explains it, they decided that since god didn’t come for
them, they must not be people, and became animals. They apparently had some kind of communal dormitory around here somewhere around here, but now they all stay here in the tents. They don’t talk, wash or anything, but they do whatever Joe tells them, no matter what it is.”

  As she spoke, he had noticed a flurry of activity at the table as several large trays piled with loose meat were brought out. Sam felt bile rising in his throat and almost vomited as it dawned on him what it was.

  About a hundred people were gathered nearby, most were people his own age, but a smattering of older men and woman could be seen in the crowd. What disturbed him the most was the children, some were barely walking and here and there he saw infants in the arms of the woman.

  They were gathered around the table in a circle. Joe walked to the middle of it and raised his hands as if reaching for something, and spoke in a loud voice. The gathered crowd fell to their knees and bowed their heads.

  “Our heavenly father,” Joe began, “Thank you for the bounty you have provided on this day. May it nourish our minds and our bodies so that we can better do gods work in this trying time. Please find a place for those of god’s soldiers who fell in gathering this feast so that the rest of us could survive. Please god, show light to the heathens that walk the world and bring them to us so that we may purify them in your name. Amen.”

  The throng of people raised their heads and waited. Joe looked around the group and smiled, as he stepped away from the table. “You may begin,” He told them and they rushed forward and began filling plates and bowls. They dug into the foods with bare hands and when they had filled their dishes, they retreated to form small groups and ate. Some used their hands, but most simply pushed their faces down and eating directly from whatever vessel they carried. The sight renewed Sam’s nausea.

  They feast lasted the better part of an hour before the group was sated. Sam had notice Joe hadn’t partaken of the meal, but rather had just sat there and watched, smiling the whole time.