Pete ran around the side of the house in the direction that his dad had gone. When he reached the front yard, he stopped, paralyzed with incredulity.
It was a warzone. There were nearly 10 houses on his block and every single one had something happening. The front door to the neighbor’s house across the street was wide open. A tall man in a hairy bear suit was pulling his neighbor out the front door and into the street. The neighbor to the right was in his yard swinging a tennis racket at two figures wearing the same crazy outfits. They were stabbing at him. Killing him. Screams filled his ears. His eyes went wide and his mouth dropped. The house to his left was on fire. It wasn’t fully engulfed, but he could see the yellow bursts of heat dancing around inside through one of the windows.
In the street, one of the men wearing a bear suit was straddling someone. He drove a sharp object into their chest over and over again while sitting on top of him. The person receiving the blows wasn’t moving. Right next to the body was a gun. Pete’s dad’s gun.
Pete screamed.
The spear went straight through his heart before Pete ever even had the chance to see the creature that threw it.
One couple had been up all night arguing about finances when their home was overrun. The man managed to take a few of them out with a baseball bat before being harpooned in the face. His wife screamed witnessing it all as he did what he could to protect her. With him no longer there to defend her they were on her in seconds producing a much more gruesome act of violence against her than her husband. She was still alive when they started to eat her.
Across town some people didn’t even get as much warning. Still in their beds dead asleep, they were soon just dead. Violence filled the night.
War broke out in the streets as every other home was looted for fresh meat. Screams and gunfire filled the Greenbrier River Valley.
5
Joana saw the purple strips of her hair bouncing about in front of her face as she ran, pulling Tim along as best as she could.
“Oh my God, we’re dead. They’re going to kill us.” She panted, trying to catch her breath.
Tim didn’t reply. His heaves of pain from each charging step were a constant reminder for Joana. With each grunt her mind replayed the train wreck of events. Tim was lucky to be alive. He had been thrown from the car, for crying out loud. She was thankful things hadn’t turned out worse.
Ha! She laughed at that thought. Worse…
It couldn’t get any worse than this. They were being chased by something out of a freaking 80’s B-film. Those had been her favorite times spent with her deadbeat boyfriend; snuggled up on the couch in front of the TV watching movies like Killer Clowns from Outerspace and Trimmers. For a split second, she thought she could smell the popcorn; heard it popping in the microwave.
Her hopes were dashed.
Dead end. The alley ended.
Forced to stop, Joana leaned against the unanticipated blockade trying to catch her breath. She was out of shape and she knew it. She had Tim to remind her all the damn time.
Those popping sounds hadn’t been the sweet savory flavors of butter flavored kernels. It had been footsteps giving chase, bouncing off either side of the walls in the alley.
They had been lucky the first time, but now… now they were fucked.
“Why’d we stop?” Tim groaned, leaning over.
Joana looked past him down the alley, then back his way.
His hand stuck to his side like superglue. She was no doctor, but it was likely that he had cracked ribs. She had gotten one or two of those before. They’re bearable, but very painful. The more you moved the more it hurt. The more it hurt, the more uncomfortable you were… so you moved. It was a vicious cycle. The side of his face was caked with blood. Luckily the bleeding on his head had stopped, forming a deep red crust. There was no telling how bad the cut, or cuts, were. With that much blood there was no way he didn’t need a few stitches. Then again, she was no doctor. She wanted to be a baker. Have her own baking show. Sweets were her passion.
“I said, why the fuck did we stop?” Tim grunted, looking around her round frame at the brick wall blocking their path.
The sounds of popping corn coming up the alley reminded her of the immediate threat. Her mind was like that. It wandered when she was nervous or scared, and right now, she was both. A wild growl howled in the distance. When she looked past Tim, her teeth slammed shut almost biting her tongue. Several bear-like shadows stretched out across the alley’s floor and walls. They were gaining on them.
“What do we do?”
It would be only a matter of seconds before those monsters were on them. Killing them. Eating them. Or worse. A flash of what was to come jarred her from the situation, her mind leaving Tim all alone once more. The creatures reached them. Taking Tim first, Joana was left cowering in the corner of the alley balling her eyes out as she watched them make Tim suffer. In her mind’s eye it made her feel better that Tim had to suffer first. That scared her. Tim had been holding her back and she was about to pay the price for it. Maybe she didn’t care for him as much as she thought she had. Maybe she was just a selfish bitch and that’s why no one else but Tim really liked her. Maybe Tim cared for her more and he wasn’t the problem in the relationship. It was too late a life lesson for her to benefit now.
A hand reached out and jerked Joana back to reality. A reality much more horrifying than her wildest nightmares.
“In here!” Tim yelled between gritting teeth and discomfort.
Joana crashed into something. She lost her balance and fell flat in the darkness. Her hands slapped hard on the floor as she protected her face.
A door slammed behind her making her jump. She spun around and climbed to her feet. With it hard to see in the dark she half expected gnashing teeth or a sharp set of claws slicing into her already sore shoulder. Her eyes adjusted to the light as something heavy scraped across the floor. Tim grunted behind it.
“Help me!”
Tim was pushing a small couch in front of the door, and having hell of a time at it. If his wounds from the crash weren’t enough to keep him from moving the furniture, his small size was. Joana jumped in to help. The second the couch pressed in front of the door they fell silent, listening to the nothingness around them.
Faint grunts and hisses met their ears after a moment. The creatures giving chase had reached the end of the alley. Joana began to panic, breathing heavier than before. Tim lifted the black painted fingernail of his index finger to his lips.
“Shhh…”
She cupped her mouth with her hand as they both leaned against the couch. From the sound of it, there was quite a few of them out there. A sudden metallic boom slammed against the wall outside followed by faint rustling noises. They were looking for them.
Joana started to get up, but Tim shook his head. She stopped and settled back into the couch staying quiet.
Then she realized something. Tim had just saved her life. Fate was giving them a second chance. The boy she had slowly been growing to hate really was a man after all. He had protected her. Been her knight in shining armor. She locked gazes with him in the dim light of the store. His eyes glistened. She had been thinking the wrong things lately. Taking relationship advice from the wrong people. Hell, it was all making sense now. Their relationship hadn’t started to suffer until she started listening to Mina Jones at school. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief.
The noises outside faded. The would-be assaulters had gone.
“What the fuck were you thinking out there, stupid bitch?” Tim stood up, finally breaking the silence. “You could-a got us killed!”
Then it all flooded back to the surface. There was a reason she was seeking advice about their problems. He had become an asshole.
“One minute, you’re crashing your mom’s car. The next, giving me fucking whiplash dragging me down the damn alley. Then when we’re actually in danger getting chased…” Tim stopped, making a pain filled face while gripping his ribs. “When w
e’re actually getting chased… you space out on me and just stand there. What the hell, Joana?”
“Look who’s talking.” Joana pulled herself from the couch and looked around.
The room was some type of office. If her memory was correct, they were in a surplus store for outdoor equipment. Posters of people canoeing, rock climbing, and hiking lined the walls. Aside from the couch they had moved, there was one large desk with a computer, with lots of papers and boxes beside it. There was one other door, which undoubtedly led into the storefront. She had visited it once or twice with her dad before going fishing. This was where her dad got his bait and stuff.
“And what the hell does that mean? Look who’s talking… what?” Tim tossed a hand in the air. “I have blood all over the side of my fa—”
“Just shut up, Tim. Dear God. What the hell did you get us into here?”
“Me… what do you mean, me? I’m not the one that trashed the car and dragged us down here.”
“You’re telling me,” Joana stepped forward, two fingers in Tim’s face. “You didn’t see those things out there. They were bears that were human, Tim. Human bears! Where the hell did they come from, huh?”
“I don’t know…” Tim stepped back.
“What the hell do you mean ‘you don’t know’? I’m not the one that almost got you killed. If anything, I saved your ass back there.”
“By what… spacing out on me?”
“No, by pulling you into the alley to begin with. Or did you forget that part already?”
“What the hell are we even talking about?” Tim protested, leaning against the computer desk.
Joana shook her head, ran her fingers through her hair, and sighed. After a deep breath, she calmed, and said, “Before we ran down the alley you said something. You said this was it. Our chance to leave. That the stupid stones worked. How do you know that for sure?”
“I didn’t say that.”
Joana put both fists on her wide hips and glared.
“Look… we don’t know anything for sure. Okay. All I know is I was told it would work. We just wanted to leave. Go somewhere better.”
“No…” Joana hissed. “You wanted to leave. I never said I did. I like it here.”
An unexpected look slid across Tim’s face. He seemed shocked and at a loss for words. He just stood leaning against the desk, blood caked on his face along with that smug expression.
“None of that matters, all right?” Joana said, her voice soothing. “We need to get out of here. Call the cops or something.”
Tim nodded.
With that, Tim braced himself, and then stepped away from the desk. Joana opened the door leading into the store and followed Tim as he limped ahead, one hand on his side. She felt sorry for him regardless of whose fault it all was.
“The register’s up at the front.” Joana whispered, grabbing Tim’s hand for comfort. “Maybe there’s a phone up there.
Tim nodded, slowly easing them in that direction.
The entire front of the store was made of glass so those that passed by on the street could peer in at the many outdoor selections inside. The wall was adorned with a few small kayaks and fishing gear. A small child’s tent was set up at the front. A fake fire pit and a few chairs surrounded the entrance of the tent for demonstration.
Looking beyond the front window, no strange activity was happening on the street. As they drew closer, Joana saw her mom’s car still pressed against the parked truck. The wreck had happened right in front of the outdoor store. Her stomach tightened at the sight. Her mom loved that car.
“Here it is,” Tim breathed.
They reached the counter. Tim was sifting through some things behind it. Joana wasn’t watching him. Her gaze was fixated on what was outside. She couldn’t look away. She just knew, that like the countless horror movies that she had watched with Tim, something was going to jump out… slam into the glass scaring her senseless. Her heart raced just waiting for that moment. She longed for it to get over with.
“Got it!” Tim said, a hint of excitement mixed in there with the painful grunt.
Joana jumped.
Tim laughed, instantly regretting it with a painful wince.
“Serves you right. That wasn’t funny. You scared the shit out of me.” She looked down at the phone in Tim’s hand.
“Had to figure out how to dial out.”
“Awesome.” Joana said, watching him dial 911 before returning her focus to the street.
“Great.”
“What?” Joana asked, not taking her eyes away from the window.
“Line’s busy.”
“Well, do we know the actual number to the local police?”
Just as those words left her lips, a flash of red and blue lights saturated the street beyond the store. Joana heard Tim hang the phone up. They both watched in horror as the patrol car eased past with its lights flashing. There were two of those monsters already on the hood of the car trying to get in. The windshield shattered, and just like that, the cruiser eased up onto the sidewalk slamming into a fire hydrant across the street. The hydrant shifted from its stoop and water gushed forth like Old Faithful. The creatures attacking the car didn’t stop. No shots were fired. No cops got out of the car kicking asses and taking names. No, the bears climbed down from the car, dragging two very dead cops into the street.
Tim whimpered and ducked down low behind the counter. Joana felt him shift beside her and did likewise, dropping low, but to where she could still see what was happening outside.
They were eating.
They were tearing the cops’ clothing with their claws and eating the bodies.
Joana suddenly didn’t feel so great.
Two more figures walked into view. More of the same bear-people. Seeing the spoils set out before the ones feasting, the two newcomers looked to gain a portion of the pillage. One of the two already eating shooed them away.
Blood stained the street.
“What are we going to do? How are we supposed to get out of here?” Joana whined.
“I don’t know.” Tim said, stepping out from behind the counter and putting an arm around her. “Right now, we just need to sit tight. Try the phone a few more times. Someone will answer.”
“Yeah…” Joana cried, leaning into his scrawny chest.
Joana had seen enough.
He held her tight, the sounds of feasting and slurping grunts penetrating the thick glass of the outdoor store.
6
Frank Edelman’s blood ran down his arm from the wound in his shoulder into the sink. With both hands on either side of the bowl, he leaned against the counter staring at himself in the mirror—preparing himself. Building up the courage to do it. He was just thankful that he was slowly regaining mobility in that hand, not matter how much it hurt to move his shoulder.
He had already snapped the loose wooden spear wedged in his shoulder past the flesh. As if that hadn’t been painful enough, causing the blood to flow anew, now he had nothing to hold onto when pulling the rest of the object out of his arm.
The room smelled of bleach, a result of him going overboard with the cleaning for tomorrow’s art opening. The fumes made his eyes burn, which was why he had the door open. The light overhead flickered slightly. Frank gritted his teeth each time the darkness jumped forward. He had just changed that damn bulb, too. The sound of water rushing from the faucet and down the drain echoed off the tile floor and marble walls in the one person bathroom.
Nodding at himself in the mirror, he was ready.
He needed to get this thing out of his arm, stop the bleeding, and get to Kathie before it was too late.
After those creatures left that man lying in the street half eaten, Frank tried calling Kathie a few more times. The line was busy. It was busy when he called 911 as well. Frustrated, he pocketed the phone. While deciding what to do, he watched the creatures return and then drag the partially devoured corpse away. For a minute, he thought about making a run for it. His vehic
le was just right there. He would be across town and to Kathie in less than 15 minutes. But when he stepped forward and reached for the door, the sharp pain was too much. With his focus largely on getting to Kathie he had somehow forgotten about the shoulder. Sharp jolting stabs ran down his arm and through his hand. The pain was so intense that Frank dropped to one knee, gripping at his shoulder with his left hand. His left hand came away red. The pain finally subsided. He looked back out to the street.
There were more of them out there. Scavenging, it looked like.
If he were going to make a run for it he needed to do so something about that shoulder.
That was when he found himself in the bathroom.
By now, at least 10 minutes had passed. On the toilet lid was a bottle of peroxide, two clean towels to stop the bleeding, some bandage wrap from the first aid kit in the office, and some duct tape. With each minute that passed, his heart sank even more. Kathie needed him.
And, Captain… his dog, his best friend was… dead.
He couldn’t stand it anymore. He had to act.
Jamming his left hand into his right shoulder, the index finger, middle finger, and thumb went to work. Blood rushed from his wound as the three fingers tore flesh around the small spear’s sharp tip.
“Fuuucc…” Frank bit down hard, his eyes watering.
Just when he was about to give up, he got hold of it and pulled. Drool and spit dripped from his lips between clenched teeth as the sharp stone cut though muscle inside his shoulder. He moaned while fighting through the pain.
He dropped the arrow head in the sink. It clinked to a rest near the drain. The arrow head was covered in blood.
He sighed with a bit of relief. The brunt of the pain was over.
He’d never doctored anyone up before, but he had a general idea of what to do. The peroxide stung when he poured it over the open gash. He watched at the gaping hole in his shoulder, the size of a quarter, fizzed with white foam. The liquid was doing its job.
Bandaged up with what he had available, Frank left the bathroom and went back out to investigate the parking lot. He zipped up his coveralls while passing toward the door, not even bothering to rinse his blood out of the sink. With wide stretched steps, he was there in half the time it normally took. The lot looked empty.
Killer Koala Bears from Another Dimension Page 5
