by Brad Knight
“I’m out!” yelled Amber as she pulled her pistol’s trigger and heard the click.
Shit. “Come over here! Now!” Mack yelled as he unspooled the gasoline soaked rag.
Amber and the twins slowly backed up to Mack. The male twin beat off any meat puppets who got close. They had to weave through a couple parked cars but successfully reached Mack and the pickup.
“Run for the woods. Don’t wait for me, just go,” instructed Mack as he stuck the rag back into the engine. He left some slack out to serve as a fuse.
“No. I’m staying here, with you.” Amber refused to leave.
“Please Amber, there’s no time to argue. Just go. I’ll catch up. I promise.”
“You promised you’d protect me!” Amber got angry.
“That’s exactly what I’m doing. Now go!”
The group did as they were told. They ran for the woods which weren’t far. All they needed to do was reach them before the bear puppet caught up.
The bear had no concern for any other meat puppets. It barreled through them like they weren’t even there. They might as well not have been. They didn’t slow the monster down at all. And it was close to its quarry, seeking fresh meat.
I should’ve asked them for a lighter. Mack realized he didn’t have anything to light the gasoline soaked rag with. The possibility of using the muzzle flash from his assault rifle came to mind, but it wasn’t a sure thing. So instead he looked in the bed of the truck.
Much to Mack’s relief he found a flare in the bed of the pickup. Not wanting to waste a single second, he tore off the top cap, lighting it. Then he held the bright flames of the flare to the gasoline soaked rag stuffed into the gas tank.
Run like your life depends on it. Because it does. Mack ran as fast as his legs allowed. Adrenaline carried him most of the way to the woods.
The undead bear climbed over other downed puppets and cars as it continued its pursuit. It didn’t pay attention to the flaming rag in the gas tank of the pickup it was scaling. All it cared about was killing and eating Mack, Amber and the twins.
Just before he reached the tree line, Mack heard an explosion behind him. He felt a wave of heat hit the back of his neck and exposed arms. To him it felt like heaven. Mack’s legs gave out. He fell to one knee. The male twin and Amber ran over to help him up and into the woods.
“Damn, you’re about as heavy as you look,” said the male twin as he had to take the brunt of Mack’s weight.
“Need to keep moving. That’s not going to stop them,” said Mack. He was right.
Flaming meat puppets moved slowly towards the tree line of the woods. The group of former prisoners weren’t out of it yet. Not even fire would stop the puppets from pursuing their fresh living flesh.
Hung around his neck on a strap was Mack’s assault rifle. It dangled back and forth until he grabbed it with one hand. He aimed it at the advancing undead, ready to fire despite barely being able to stand.
“Where are we going?” asked Amber.
“Just keep going in the opposite direction until we lose them.” Mack gently but authoritatively freed himself from Amber and the male twin’s helping hands.
“What’s that?” asked the female twin. She pointed towards what looked like a ball of flames running at them through the forest. It was a surreal sight.
Mack started laughing. It was in such a manner that it worried the rest of the group. There was an unnerving quality to it that was hard to define. The best analogue to it was a crazy person’s laugh. Why was Mack laughing? All he could find was humor in his ordeal. Every other emotion was spent. He knew what was in that fireball.
“We’re not going to be able to outrun that thing,” said Mack.
Amber squinted in an attempt to get a better look. Once she saw the metal hulking beast inside, her eyes opened wide. “Is that that fucking…?”
“Yep, it’s that bear.” Mack wiped the laughter induced tears from his eyes. He checked his assault rifle’s breach than readied himself for a fight.
“Then why are we stopping? Shouldn’t we run?” The male twin said what both he and his sister were thinking.
“There’s no point. It’s just gonna keep coming,” answered Amber as she looked around the forest floor for anything that she could use as a weapon.
“Either we stop it here or we run from it forever. Let’s finish this, here and now.” Mack gripped his assault rifle tight.
Don’t show them how scared you are. You crumble, they crumble. And Amber dies. You can’t let that happen. You made a promise.
Ablaze, the bear puppet was close enough for Mack to see its face. Almost all organic matter was on fire, leaving behind a shiny metal mobile skeleton. Intimidating doesn’t begin to describe the image of the flaming beast. But Mack stood his ground.
Mack went shooting only a couple times in his life before the outbreak. He owned a gun but never had to use it. Since his escape from Dallas, he’d become somewhat of an expert. His aim wasn’t as true as Amber’s, but was above average. Impending death was the most effective training method.
The first burst out of Mack’s rifle missed the bear and splintered the trunk of a nearby tree. Undeterred he pulled the trigger again. Those bullets hit and ricocheted off the beast’s upper back. Armor piercing rounds weren’t enough to down the creature. There wasn’t enough time for another shot.
Mack tried to jump backwards and avoid the swipe of the flaming bear puppet’s paw. The claws tore through his Kevlar vest but didn’t even scratch his skin. Another massive paw came for his head. He managed to duck the potential killing blow.
The bear reared up on two legs. Ancient embedded instincts told it that it needed to intimidate Mack, show dominance. Mack took it as an opportunity. He shot at the joint that kept one of the monster’s legs attached to his body. For the first time the armor piercing rounds did their job. A leg went flying off the beast.
When the bear tried to get back down on all fours it quickly fell to the dry fallen leaves and dirt. Mack backed up, still firing. The beast didn’t seem to notice. It struggled to get up and regain some sense of balance.
An empty clip fell onto the forest floor. Mack took a fully loaded one out of a little pocket in the front of his Kevlar jacket. Once it was loaded, he was ready to start firing again.
On three legs, the flaming bear puppet kept coming. It made one last attempt to lunge at Mack. The Viking fell backwards. There was nothing he could do. He would not escape in time.
The bear puppet fell apart like a jenga tower upon landing above Mack. Fire, white phosphorous, armor piercing bullets and an explosion managed to eliminate the tendons that kept the monster in one piece.
Mack put his bare arms up in order to try and shield himself from the bear’s torso that was falling on top of him. As soon as he felt the hot metal touch his skin he regretted giving up his shirt. The burning pain was bad, but it was compounded by the weight of a metallic body part.
Amber ran over. She tried to kick off the bear’s torso. It was too heavy. For her efforts she landed on her ass.
“Help him!” yelled Amber. She could see meat puppets through the trees.
Both twins hurried to help Mack. The male one threw his shoulder against the bear’s midsection while his sister helped up Amber. That combined with Mack’s efforts managed to knock off the torso.
“We have to go,” said the male twin as he helped Mack up to his feet. All the latter did in response was grunt and hold his burnt forearms out in front of himself.
Chapter 7: The Cabin
When he was young, Mack used to spend summers at his uncle’s farm in Kansas. His father died when he was young, and his mother was a teacher at Solomon High School in Kansas City, Missouri. To make extra money she taught summer school students as well. Not wanting to have a stranger watch her son, Mrs. Ericsson left him with her brother.
Summers were long and boring for Mack. He didn’t know anyone and the nearest town was over thirty miles away. The majorit
y of his time was spent exploring his uncle’s property and helping with farm work.
Mack found himself standing in the endless fields of corn that he once helped his uncle harvest. It didn’t make a lot of sense. He didn’t know how he got there or when. Nor did he know why he was there. But he knew he felt like he belonged.
Not a single cloud ruined the perfect blue sky above Mack. The more time he spent staring upwards, the more things seemed a little bit off. It was as if someone painted the sky above.
In the distance Mack saw the familiar farmhouse. Its brown worn wood exterior was unmistakable. Something drew him towards it. Before he knew it his legs started moving on their own.
Mack looked down. He expected to see the rich Kansas soil that provided for so many farmers. Instead he saw blood, a thin layer of it like a really shallow stream. Still he moved forward towards the farmhouse.
Peeking above the stalks of corn, Mack could see the top half of hundreds of faces. They were all staring at him with cloudy, dead eyes. There were black veins under their nearly transparent skin. Undeterred by the blood or the meat puppets amongst the corn, Mack continued on. When he got closer to the farmhouse he saw some sinister looking vultures on the roof. They too stared at him in silence.
Every survival instinct in Mack told him not to go into the farmhouse. There couldn’t have been anything good in there. He knew he wasn’t going to open the front door and find never ending chocolate cake and nude women who wanted to jump his bone. Again, he couldn’t help himself.
The front door to the farmhouse opened on its own when Mack reached his arm out for it. That’s when he noticed that the skin on his limb was black and crispy. It looked a lot like the end result of his attempts at frying his own chicken.
Mack saw nothing but pitch blackness in the open farmhouse doorway. Before he could back away, his entire surroundings were enveloped in the black. He found himself without any sense of direction. Then he saw a thin shaft of light cutting down diagonally.
In the shaft of light sat a girl in a chair. Mack could only see her from behind but knew who the girl was. It was Amber.
Mack tried to call out to her. He couldn’t. Some unknown force robbed his voice, snatched it from his throat. It didn’t matter. She knew he was there and turned around to meet him.
Amber’s eyes were red and glowing. She was missing the flesh over her bottom jaw revealing metal teeth. What little skin she had left were rotted, and there were little tears that wept thick black blood.
Never in his life had Mack felt so helpless. As the monster that once was Amber came for him, he couldn’t move. Her mouth opened wide. Instead of a screech, metal cable like tendrils came flying out towards him. They wrapped around his head and pulled him in towards her.
***
“Wha…?” Mack awoke in a wheelbarrow. He was disoriented and still scared from his nightmare. In his confusion he fell out onto ground.
“Ahhh, fuck!” yelled Mack as his forearms screamed at him in pain. Even though his burns were properly bandaged, he had used his arms to brace his fall.
“Calm down man,” said the male twin as he helped Mack up to his feet. “Bad dreams?”
“It’s the pain meds,” explained the female twin. “They can cause some pretty vivid dreams.”
“How, where…?” Mack looked around. All he saw were woods. From the dark blue color of the sky and his surroundings, he surmised that it was near dawn. “Amber!? Where is she?”
“Right here big guy.” Amber waved her hand at him.
Thank god. She’s okay. I’m okay. Jesus, Mack you are one lucky son of a bitch. Mack winced as he wiped away the leaves and dirt from his bandages.
“You should probably get back in the wheelbarrow. What I gave you was pretty strong. I’m surprised you’re even walking.” The female twin gently tried to guide Mack back to the rickety cart. He brushed her off. At first she was taken aback. Then he held out his hand for her to shake.
“I said that if we make it out of that arena alive, I’d want to know your name. And seeing that we did…” Mack smiled with his hand outstretched.
The female twin shook Mack’s hand. “I’m Stephanie.” She pointed at her brother. “That’s Simon.”
“Pleasure to meet you Stephanie,” said Mack. He nodded at Simon, “Simon.” He looked around him. “So what happened? Where are we?”
“Not sure. We got away from the meat puppets and just kind of kept going,” said Amber.
“Then after about I don’t know, an hour maybe, you started shaking and mumbling to yourself. You were going into shock,” explained Stephanie. “Then you fainted.”
“We picked you up and carried you until we found that wheelbarrow,” Simon chimed in.
“Once we knew we were clear of those things, I took a look at your burns.” Stephanie pointed at Mack’s arms. “You’re lucky that Amber had all those medical supplies. Which was strange. I don’t know if I want to know where she got them.”
“What are you, a doctor or something?” Mack examined his bandages.
“Or something. I’m a nurse. At least I was a nurse before all this.”
“Thank you.”
“Are you kidding me? If it wasn’t for you, my brother and I would still be in that basement. Or worse, we’d be in that bear’s stomach. You saved us. Cleaning and wrapping your wounds was the least I could do. Thank you Mack.”
How does she know my name? Who am I kidding? Amber probably told her.
“A nurse huh? Where’d you work?”
“Mercy General in Oklahoma City.”
Mack nodded like he knew where Stephanie was talking about. It was the polite thing to do. Neither of them acknowledged it. He started walking. The rest of the group followed.
It’s nice to talk to an adult for a change. Better take advantage while I can. Who knows how long these two will last?
“How about you Simon? What’d you do before all this?”
“Who? Me? I was in graphic design. Mostly freelance stuff. Nothing too exciting. You?” answered Simon.
“I was a prepress technician.”
“A what?” asked Simon.
“A prepress technician. Basically I worked on magazines and newspapers.”
“Ole fashioned, I like that,” said Stephanie with a flirtatious smile. Amber gave the woman a dirty look. Simon rolled his eyes.
“Newspapers huh? I guess you won’t have to worry about going out of business anymore.” Simon kicked at a fallen rotting log. “All you needed was the world to end to beat the internet.”
There was silence. All any of the group heard was their footfalls snapping twigs and crushing frail dead leaves. Simon, sensing he killed the first conversation any of them had in over a month had to do something about it.
“Too soon huh?” asked Simon.
Mack was the first to laugh. Maybe it was all the narcotics Stephanie gave him. Or perhaps all the absurdity of everything he’d been through finally caught up with him. Having expended all of his other emotions, all that was left was laughter.
Stephanie started laughing next. Followed by her twin brother. The only one that didn’t laugh was Amber. Mack noticed.
What do you do? She’s been through more than any of us. She needs somebody to talk to. But I don’t think you’re that somebody.
Mack looked over at Stephanie. Is she that somebody? It would probably be better for a woman to talk to her about it. She’d like that better than talking to me right?
Mack looked at Amber. Then again she might be pissed that I wasn’t there for her. Shit man, how the hell do you talk about rape with a teenage girl?
“So... as I asked before he woke up. Where are we going?” asked Simon.
“We don’t know. We’re just walking.” Stephanie seemed a little annoyed by Simon’s question. Mack figured that when he heard it, it wasn’t the first time it was asked.
“Well we gotta be going somewhere. We can’t just walk around aimlessly. Say anywhere, I don’t car
e. Lie to me. But ‘just walking’ isn’t enough.”
While walking Mack noticed an unnatural looking gap in the trees. He stopped and took a closer look. It was a path, specifically a narrow dirt driveway.
Driveways always lead somewhere. “This way,” said Mack. The rest of the group stopped and followed him. He hadn’t led them astray yet, so they trusted him.
Mack led the pack down the dirt path with Amber walking next to him. The twins, Stephanie and Simon, followed. Slowly, the sun rose, lighting up the woods around them.
With the sunlight, the group could see what looked to be a cabin in the distance at the end of the driveway. They could see the dark orange wooden sides of the small structure. There was a pile of wood out front. The area around it was cleared of any trees.
When they got closer Mack saw a SUV parked out in front of the cabin. One of its doors were open, on the driver’s side. Other than that they saw no sign of any people or meat puppets.
“Is it safe?” asked Stephanie as the group was only about thirty yards away from the cabin. They were off the driveway and in the clearing around the wooden structure.
Up close, the cabin looked to be in pretty good shape. Aside from one broken window, the place looked untouched by the chaos in the world around it. The same couldn’t be said for the SUV.
A car! A car is always good. It sure beats trying to go where ever the hell we’re going on foot. Mack hurried over to the open driver’s side door. Much to his dismay it was covered in smeared blood.
“Looks like there was a fight,” said Amber, breaking her silence. She knelt down and picked up the casings from a hunting rifle.
“Just as long as no one is here now, we got nothing to worry about,” replied Mack. Not wanting to sit in the blood stained front seat of the SUV, he leaned over it to check the ignition.
C’mon, start. Mack turned the key that was still in there. Nothing happened. The engine didn’t even try to start. He knew what the problem was. Usually when an engine doesn’t even attempt to roar to life, a faulty battery was to blame. Since he couldn’t just call for some roadside assistance, he gave up his hope of driving out of those woods.
