by Jacob Rayne
She punched it and was amazed when it hit the deck.
That was a good punch, her addled brain told her. Then Kyle stepped into view, the shock stick from the boot of his car held in front of him.
‘Ah that makes much more sense,’ she grinned.
‘You ok?’
‘Yeah, it bit my leg. I think I killed the first one. Leg’s sore now.’
He looked at it and winced.
‘Let’s go.’
‘Where are the kids?’
‘I hid them in the car.’
‘Thank God.’
‘I know. Let’s go get the hell out of here.’
‘Best idea I’ve ever heard.’
They made their way downstairs. Both of them jumped when they saw a creature by the front door. It let out a chittering cry and charged them.
Kyle was getting his aim in now and took most of the left side of its head off as it charged in. The serum-laced shotgun shells he had taken from the lab seemed to be doing the trick.
‘Shame I didn’t get more,’ he muttered.
The shimmering moth parasite was visible through the gaping wound in the side of its head, but still the creature came forwards.
He fired again, hitting the parasite in the creature’s brain dead on. It burst in a shower of dark blood, which coated Kyle and Vanessa in dripping, stinking gouts.
The creature fell to the floor, blood racing from its ravaged head.
They both let out a cry of alarm when they saw that the car was surrounded by the creatures.
‘It’s my kill, and I’m gonna claim it,’ Andy said, his tone indicating that this was his final word on the matter.
‘Well ok,’ Billy sulked.
‘Damn right it’s ok. Gonna cut the head off and mount it on my wall next to the elk that Joe Coache and me bagged last fall.’
‘Well good for you.’
‘Don’t be jealous. We’ll bag you one too. I’m sure there’s plenty of—’
‘What?’
‘Where’s the fucking thing gone?’
‘Pete, ya dumb bastard, get out here. I know you’re just taking the piss.’
Silence greeted him.
‘Ah, for fuck’s sake.’
In the back of Davey’s mind was what had just happened to Chris. He pushed that out of his mind; Pete was one of the fastest shooters he had ever seen. If anyone could nail one of those things it was him.
He walked in a circle round the clearing, making sure he took note of where the Hanging Trees were. If they were twelve o’ clock, he reckoned he was at about four.
‘Ya dopey git. I can see your feet from here,’ he cried.
His voice was one of playful mocking. See, it said, I knew he was ok. He neared the feet and gave them a kick.
‘You’re as shit at hide and seek as you are at scaring me, you dumb bastard. But I like your style. Cos Chris is dead, it’ll scare me more if I think you’re dead too. I get it. Well done. Now get up.’
Pete’s feet remained still.
‘Great. Keep me thinking you’re dead. Fun’s over. Get up.’
He walked in closer, and that was when he saw that Pete’s body ended at the hips.
His upper body laid a full metre away from the lower half, connected by steaming loops of intestine sitting atop a vast pool of gore.
It looked like Pete had been the rope in a giant’s tug of war. Davey felt panic well up inside him.
As much as it sickened him, he couldn’t take his eyes off the horrendous sight; Pete’s dead eyes, his mouth clamped shut like he was biting down to try and lessen his pain, the ragged wounds where he’d literally been torn in half.
And the blood.
Merciful mother of God, the blood.
Just when he thought he’d never be able to tear his eyes away from his friend’s torn corpse, a flicker of movement registered in the trees off to his left.
He glanced there, instantly relieved to not be looking at Pete. He saw the two orange sparks of light move through the trees, stopping a few feet away from him. He couldn’t see it, but already he could sense its power. The eyes blazed into his.
Terror had nailed his feet to the floor, glued his hands to his sides.
Powerless, he watched the dark figure draw closer.
He knew instinctively that nothing he could do would stop it harming him.
The shotgun felt a dead weight, but he managed to lift it to his mouth.
The foul, orange-eyed creature wasn’t going to tear him in half like it had Pete.
No fucking way.
The creature let out a cry of frustration as it realised his intent. He looked at it a second longer, then flipped it the bird and pulled the trigger, spraying the contents of his head up into the cold night air.
Kyle and Vanessa froze for a few seconds when they saw that one of the creatures had smashed the back window and was reaching in to try and grab the girls.
Marla, little warrior that she was, was jabbing the sharp end of an umbrella into its face and hands every time it came near.
When he saw the terrified look on his daughter’s face, Kyle’s anger overwhelmed his fear and he ran at the creatures.
Vanessa picked up some of the big stones from the front lawn and started throwing them at the creatures, hoping to distract them from the rest of her family.
One creature fell, its skull split by the impact of the sharp stone.
Kyle grabbed the creature which was trying to attack his children and pulled it backwards. He fired the shotgun into its face at point blank range.
Inside the car, the girls screamed. Kyle thrust the shock stick at another creature which was doing its best to rip off the driver’s side door. It fell, clutching its belly.
A powerful blow to the back of the head jolted him forwards. His world spun and he saw stars for a split-second. He turned to see a grinning creature.
He reloaded as fast as he could and fired up at the creature, not aiming, just desperate to get a shot off at it. The top of its leg disappeared. The creature roared and dived at him.
His next blast took off most of its face, but it was still moving, although the pain seemed to have distracted it from attacking them for the time being.
The group of creatures split, half of them swarming round Kyle, the other half coming for Vanessa. She dropped another one with a stone to the face, but it got back up a few seconds later, one of its eyes a frothing mass of blood.
‘Got to get up,’ Kyle said aloud. He forced himself to his feet, reloading as he got up. He looked over to Vanessa. The creatures were heading towards her. He shouted at her to run.
She did, taking an armful of stones with her. He took out one of the creature’s stomachs with a flurry of buckshot. It fell, screeching and hissing, in a bloody heap, but almost as soon as it hit the floor it was back on its feet.
‘Run, I’ll follow you in the car,’ he shouted, sticking the shock stick straight into the leering mouth of one of the creatures. It fell back in a twitching heap.
Just as he locked the door, the glass caved in.
He saw Vanessa, two hundred yards up the street. A pair of creatures was maybe fifty feet behind her. He accelerated hard into them.
The impact nearly trashed the car. The creatures dented the bonnet and sent cracks racing across the windscreen before their limp bodies flew over the roof and thudded into the road behind.
The girls screamed.
Kyle’s windshield was a bloody maze of cracks, so he slowed, fully aware of the danger of running over his fleeing wife. He pulled over and she got in, panting and sweating.
Kyle gave her the gun and told her to shoot the creatures if they came past. She nodded, but knocked the windscreen out with the shotgun butt.
‘That better?’ she said, smiling.
‘Yeah, thanks,’ he said, pulling away, to a chorus of terrifying cries from the creatures behind them. ‘Say goodbye to our home, girls, I doubt we’ll ever see it again.’
‘Goodby
e,’ they chorused.
Kyle floored the accelerator. They flew past hordes of creatures, involved in struggles with the townsfolk.
Kyle’s foot never left the gas.
His family and his serum were his priority, everyone else could look after themselves.
They left town without looking back.
‘You see it?’ Andy asked.
‘Dunno. Dark as hell out here. I thought the fucking thing was dead.’
‘Join the club.’
‘Well it can’t have gotten far.’
They wheeled around, casting the torches into the gloom. There was no sign of the creature that they thought they had killed.
‘Fuck it, let’s just carry on,’ Andy said.
‘Keep an eye out for it.’
‘Oh, of course. I don’t like the idea of that thing running around.’
‘No me neither.’
They carried on, fighting through the tree branches which seemed to want to ensnare them for the hungry creatures.
As Marcus and Grant reached another clearing, they knocked off the torches. There seemed to be one of the creatures lurking in the middle of the open space, near a well-like structure.
‘Ya see it?’ Marcus said.
‘Yep. My goddamn blood’s ran cold. I don’t like the look of that motherfucker at all.’
‘Me neither, I reckon we should wait till it goes.’
The creature glanced over at them.
‘Shit, get down,’ Marcus whispered.
They dropped to the floor, trying to be as quiet as possible.
‘You think it saw us?’ Grant whispered.
‘I hope to God not.’
The creature was now looking in their direction. They readied their guns. Their shaking fingers clenched on the triggers as it took its first faltering steps towards them.
‘Ah, crap,’ Billy said.
‘What is it?’
‘Shhh. There’s another one now. We’re stuck right in the middle.’
‘Y’think it’s a trap?’
‘Dunno. They seem to just be looking around.’
‘I see the one to our right but where’s the second one?’
Billy pointed it out. Andy felt a chill go right through him. It was only 50 yards away. The one to the right was further away, not far enough – they could never be far enough away – but it was maybe 200 yards.
‘How do we do this?’ Billy said.
‘Well, I don’t fancy our chances, after what happened with the last one, so I reckon we should try and sneak past.’
‘That’s what I thought. We could even go back.’
‘I lost my sense of direction a long time ago, Billy.’
‘Ah shit, I was counting on you knowing where the hell we were.’
‘Guess we may as well jus’ keep pressin’ on.’
The two pairs of glowing orange eyes cast around the forest. It didn’t seem like they had seen them, as they were still looking around. Unless it was a trap, Billy thought, before promptly wishing that idea hadn’t come to him.
‘Let’s go then,’ Andy whispered. ‘Tread careful, we don’t wanna make a sound.’
‘You got that right.’
‘Be ready to shoot if ya have to.’
Not that it’ll do any good, Andy thought, but didn’t add this. He and Billy were scared enough already.
Jarvis found himself at the clearing which housed the well. He had seen Marcus and Grant in the trees around the edge, had seen them drop to the floor and he had wondered why. Then, moving ever so carefully, he had taken a few more steps.
He had seen the glowing embers of the creature’s eyes. The resultant panic had felt like a spiked fist crushing his heart.
He had never seen such cold, dead eyes. One look into the sunken orbs told him that there was no reasoning with these creatures.
The only thing these monsters craved was blood, carnage and death.
The sight of the thing made his legs turn to jelly, his thoughts to sheer panicked gibberings. These insane, desperate thoughts implored him to run, screaming, to Marcus and Grant and take shelter behind their firearms.
But, although it took all of his willpower, he resisted this thought.
Duggan had said that guns were next to useless against the creatures. Something about the grizzled biker had told Jarvis that he knew what he was talking about. That was the first reason he resisted the impulse to run towards Marcus and Grant.
The second was that he didn’t like the redneck imbeciles anyway. He couldn’t face their company, even with the thought of a horrendous death fixed firmly in his mind.
Thirdly, he was genuinely interested in watching what would happen to the hapless pair when the creature got its claws on them.
The fourth reason was the one which made up his mind for him: if the creature was busy pursuing Grant and Marcus, it wasn’t chasing him. This cold and callous thought surprised him, but he was going to survive this, fuck the moral implications of his escape.
The fifth reason was an exclamation point on his decision; the creature had already begun to move towards Grant and Marcus.
Billy and Andy were moving more quietly than they thought possible. The urge to bolt, crashing through the trees, shouting at the top of their lungs, was primal, but they both knew that their lives depended on being quiet.
The creatures still seemed to be looking for them. They came to within 30 yards of one of them. Their breathing laboured as they tried to make it silent. Even at this range, they could smell the sweet, metallic scent of wet blood on the creature.
It turned.
Looked right at them.
Must have smelt us, Billy thought. If they could smell it, surely it could detect their sweaty, fearful scent.
It seemed not.
They moved past it, without drawing its attention. They almost breathed a sigh of relief, but realised this would be bordering on suicidal.
They picked their way through the trees, moving as fast as they dared.
As they came closer to the second creature, they heard it emitting a low whimper, reminding Billy of his puppy when he locked it out of his bedroom at night.
Billy realised that it must have been the creature that Andy had shot in the face and figured pain was dulling its senses.
Nothing wrong with the other one’s senses though; it was looking right at them.
‘It’s seen us,’ Billy said.
‘I noticed.’
At the sound of their voices, the first creature turned and looked at them.
‘Ah shit, now look what you’ve done.’
‘We’re gonna have to run.’
The second creature, the furthest away, started to move towards them.
They bolted through the trees, the two creatures in pursuit.
The creature seemed to be staring right at Marcus and Grant. Its eyes burned into them, seemingly gluing them to the spot.
‘Five more steps and we’ll open fire,’ Marcus said.
‘Yup.’
The creature remained staring at them as it took one step forward.
It took three more steps towards them, then stopped, as if it had heard Marcus’s threat and was mocking him. It stared right at them, seeming to dare them to make a move.
‘There’s two of us and one of it,’ Marcus said. ‘Let’s take it.’
‘I hear ya.’
The creature took one more step forward and stared at them. They couldn’t see its face, but they both reckoned it was smiling.
‘Now or never,’ Marcus said.
They fired, their muzzle flashes revealing the hideous cracked skin on its face. The dried blood that was caked between the scales. A cold light that dwelled behind its eyes. The curved teeth that looked dark with shed blood.
Seeing it briefly was enough to make both of them glad of the darkness. Staring at such an unholy face was enough to drive a man insane.
They reloaded and fired again. The shells slammed into the creature, drawing
blood and creating wounds in its dark, scaled flesh. It grunted with each impact, but they seemed to be sounds of amusement rather than pain.
Another volley of shells found their home in the creature’s flesh. The two men realised that the blasts were having little effect on the creature and the resultant panic urged them to do what they feared most; they ran at it. At least their gun blasts would do more damage up close.
Grant got to the creature first and swung his shotgun like a club. The heavy walnut stock bent round the creature’s head.
While Grant stood back, admiring his handiwork, he suddenly realised that his blow hadn’t even registered. He froze in shock while the creature roared and charged at him. The impact flung him through the air.
His feelings disappeared from the waist down as his spine shattered against a tree. He cried out in agony and dismay.
Marcus fired at point blank range, carving huge bleeding divots in the creature’s chest. It roared, finally seeming to have felt some pain.
Marcus took heart from this and aimed again. He ducked as the creature swung a murderously sharp claw at his face.
His eyes scanned for Grant. He saw him, bent and broken against a tree. Leave him, his mind said. He’s fucked.
He dodged another lethal swing of the creature’s clawed hand and ran. The creature roared when he fired a blast into the back of its head. Blood and chunks of flesh and skull flew out, soaking Marcus’s clothing. The creature bellowed and fell facedown, a few yards from Grant.
Marcus saw that already it was trying to get back to its feet, so he crashed through the trees, headed deeper and deeper into the forest.
While Marcus and Grant were facing down the monster, Jarvis moved around to the other side of the clearing.
He saw Grant break his weapon around the creature’s head – which seemed to make no difference to it – then saw Grant fly into a tree with a sickening crunch.
When Marcus fired at the creature, Jarvis had reasoned that it was now or never and broke cover just as the blast went off. He missed the rest of the action, as he ran to the well structure and dropped down.
As he crawled into the darkened tunnel, he heard another shotgun blast then a bloodcurdling animal roar, then nothing.
