by Terry Yates
“Quick! Get over there, Samantha!” he yelled at Samantha, who was still in the corner with Sylvia.
“Get over where?” she yelled back at him.
“There!” he pointed. “Next to the thing!”
She looked at the monster who was still thrashing, but seemed to be weakening a bit.
“Next to the…have you lost your mind? I’m not…”
Before she could finish, Gringo ran over to her and took her roughly by the arm and began to pull her toward the table.
“What are you doing? She screamed, trying to pull against him.
“Making us rich!”
Her strength was no match for his and he pulled her over to the head of the long table where the creature’s head lay. It was growling at them now since Potts was down. He placed her just to the right of the creature’s head, who struggled to see her, but she was just out of his sight.
“Don’t move!” he told her, pointing his finger at her as if he were commanding a dog to “stay”.
He ran to the end of the table where the creature’s legs were and held up the camera.
“Now bend down!”
“What!”
“Bend down…closer to him! I’m gonna get a picture that’s gonna make us millions!”
“No!”
“Go on! It can’t hurt you! It’s too doped up now!”
Samantha looked down at the beast. Sure enough, it wasn’t struggling as hard, and its growling and howling had diminished a little, but it had been sedated before and she didn’t want to be next to the thing when the meds wore off.
“I can’t!” she yelled across the table, where he was already aiming the camera.
“Yes you can! Bend down! Hurry!”
As if in a trance, she slowly bent down and put her head about three feet from the creature’s head, her chin only a foot and a half off of the table. Trembling, she looked up at the camera and tried to force a smile. She could feel the werewolf looking at her. It had stopped baying, but continued to breath hard. Samantha could smell its foul breath.
“Closer!” Gringo yelled, eye still behind the lens, and motioning with his hands for her to bend down further.
Nervously, she moved her head in a foot closer to the monster’s head, and her chin down about six inches. The thing weakly struggled its head to get at her, but she seemed to be just out of reach.
“What are you doing?” It was Potts, still woozy from the fall. He was up in a sitting position trying to clear his head.
“Getting out of here with at least something!” he answered back, still looking through the lens and trying to focus the camera like Sylvia had just showed him.
“Hurry up!” Samantha cried.
Gringo put his finger on the shutter release button and started to take the picture, but then stopped and lowered the camera.
“What?” she cried again. She knew that if he didn’t hurry up and take the picture, she was going to lose her shit.
Gringo raised the camera back up to his eye, but immediately lowered it again.
“Take the god damned picture!”
Gringo stood for a moment before a look of inspiration came across his face. He ran around the table and moved in behind Samantha. He stood her up, put his arms around her from behind, and then ripped her fatigue top open, exposing her breasts, the buttons of the shirt clattering to the floor. Gringo bent her back over the table. This time, she was even closer to the werewolf whose eyes were nearly closed. Gringo sprinted back around to the end of the table and raised the camera.
“Okay smile!” he told her.
Samantha forced a smile as she looked up into the camera, her breasts almost on the table. Gringo pushed the button and the camera flashed.
“Got it! He yelled over the wind, which was becoming considerably louder.
Samantha started to straighten up.
“No! One more!”
“One more? I can’t…”
“One more!”
Once again, she bent down over the table and forced a smile as Gringo again raised the camera. As he pushed the button, he noticed that the beast’s eyes were now open. Great. He snapped the picture. The flash went right into the werewolf’s eyes, causing it to scream loudly. Before Samantha could straighten up, the werewolf forced its head up and snarled. It now had four large fangs, two at the top and two growing up from the bottom.
The flash from the camera seemed to anger the werewolf. It quickly turned its head toward Samantha. Before she could even stand up, the creature leaned its head forward and sank its fangs into her neck. Samantha let out a scream as the thing bit down hard.
Gringo dropped the camera and ran to her. He began beating on the werewolf’s head with his fist, the werewolf growling as he did. It began to bite down even harder on Samantha’s neck. He could see blood coming out of the werewolf’s mouth. Tears were running down Samantha’s face as she cried out. He tried to hold the werewolf’s head still so that it wouldn’t thrash around and rip her throat out, but it had tasted blood and wasn’t letting go.
“Please…” Samantha cried, growing weaker.
Gringo continued to hold on to the thing’s head, but he had no way of prying its teeth away from Samantha’s neck. Samantha’s crying began to grow weaker and she began to sink to the floor. He took a hand off of the beast’s head and tried to hold her up with his other hand, but he couldn’t hold her weight up with just the one hand.
Gringo heard a loud noise just inches from his face. The werewolf loosened its grip on Samantha and she fell to the floor. Gringo looked up to see Potts standing over the table, his pistol pointed down. Smoke was coming out of the barrel. He’d shot it.
He fell on the floor and pulled Samantha up into his lap. She was barely conscious. Blood was dripping down her neck and onto her chest.
“Oh Baby!” he cried, hugging her. “Don’t die! Don’t die! Don’t die!”
“Get her out of here!” Potts screamed down at him, still wobbly from the fall.
Gringo gathered Samantha into his arms and stood her up, her legs buckling underneath her. He put her arm around his neck.
“Come on, Baby, we’ve gotta walk!”
Samantha moaned lightly. Gringo saw torn flesh hanging from her neck as the blood continued to flow from the wound. Potts ran over to them, took out his handkerchief and wrapped it around her neck to stop the blood flow. He looked at Gringo who was trying to avert his eyes from Potts’.
“Go!” was all that Potts said.
Gringo nodded and began to half walk, half drag Samantha out of the mess hall, leaving Potts alone with the werewolf. He held his side as he limped over to the table. He stood over the beast whose eyes were closed, a bullet hole just above his right temple.
After a few seconds, the beast slowly opened its eyes. Potts stood motionless as the monster turned its head and looked up at him. Although its eyes were cloudy from the sedative, the werewolf seemed to be studying him, searching his eyes for something.
Potts aimed the pistol at the creature’s head. The werewolf growled at him, its teeth bloody. He could see small pieces of Samantha Gould’s flesh dangling from its incisors. Potts took one last look at the creature. For a moment, he thought he saw the thing smile.
Kyler stood about a hundred feet from the canteen with Gringo and Samantha. The others were already on the move, following the soldiers to the bunker. The rain was pounding down on them. The strength of the wind suggested that the hurricane might be coming very soon. It wasn’t strong enough yet to send tires or signal lights through the air, but a dozen or more miles per hour and they would be dodging debris left and right.
He kept the gym bag under the blanket and the blanket under his shirt. They had to get to the bunker soon or the baby wouldn’t stand a chance. She’d already been through more calamities in two days that most people would go through in a lifetime.
Kyler looked at Samantha’s neck as best he could. He didn’t want to remove the tourniquet.
“Go catch up with the others!” he yelled over the wind.
Gringo got a tight grip on Samantha, whose head was rolling around limply on her shoulders. Her eyes would open and close and every few seconds, and she would moan softly. Kyler watched as they limped away toward the others, the lightning lighting up the sky above them.
He turned back to the canteen. He knew that he should be running away right then, but something made him want to make sure that Potts was okay. As he took a step toward the door, another shot rang out, followed by the thing howling loudly. He stopped cold, frozen to the spot, clutching the gym bag. Before he could even gather himself, Potts burst through the door and began to sprint toward him, head down, and moving fast!
“Go! Go! Go!” he screamed, running past Kyler, who didn’t need to be told twice that it was time to haul balls. He clutched the bag even tighter to his chest and began sprinting as fast as he could, trying to put as much distance between himself and the monster as possible. Behind him, he could hear objects being thrown around in the mess hall. The thing was definitely loose. Potts kept a good, steady pace as he ran in front of Kyler. The man must be in some great shape. He heard the werewolf howl. It was clear as bell as it carried over the wind and out into the open air, telling Kyler one thing…that it was hot on their tails.
A lightning bolt flashed across the sky. As it did, Kyler could see that the group was no more than a hundred yards ahead of them. Both men began sprinting hard toward the group.
“Don’t fall down! Don’t fall down! Don’t fall down!” he said to himself, gasping for breath. He thought that his heart was going to explode.
As the two men neared the group, they saw that Gringo and Samantha were just catching up to it. They were no more than fifty yards away. Kyler could see everyone running and looking over their shoulders at the same time.
Potts began to pull away from Kyler as they were getting close to the group. Kyler was falling behind him. There was no easy way for him to run with the gym bag held to his chest.
Potts didn’t stop as he reached the group, but kept running past them.
“Run! He screamed. “Run!”
The group began to move as fast as it could, which wasn’t very fast. With all of the injured and sick, they weren’t exactly moving like a thundering herd of buffalo. Pvt. Hawkins and Sam Fong were moving as fast as they could while carrying Michael Blum, but between them, they were toting over a hundred pounds and having to run almost sideways, and they were wet which was making it difficult to keep a good grip on the boy.
“Move it! Move it!” Potts ordered, still running.
As the group ran, they tried to stay together, but with some running faster than others, large gaps began to form in the ranks. They heard another howl. It was getting closer!
Kyler continued to sprint as fast as he could. The baby had begun to cry…and loudly. Newborns were supposed to be able to sleep through anything, but not this one…no. It was using its voice as a GPS for the werewolf.
Kyler began to pass Burt Burns who was huffing and puffing, his hand clutched to his chest. It was obvious that he wasn’t going to be able to keep up the pace. As Kyler passed him, he looked over at the old man.
“Help…” Burt gasped.
Kyler didn’t know what to do. Should he slow down and help Burt and possibly get himself or the Dixon baby killed, or should he haul ass and leave him to his own fate? He knew that the best thing to do was to keep running. It was the smartest thing to do…hell, he wanted to do it, but whatever that thing is that makes true doctors, doctors, kicked in, and he stopped. He was going to have to have to at least try and help.
With his heart beating ever faster, he turned around to look for Burt. He peered into the darkness trying to find him. Finally he spotted him and saw that he had fallen well behind the rest of them. Even though his arms and legs were moving as fast as they could possibly move, he was falling further and further behind.
As he began to run back for him, Kyler saw something that stopped him cold. Coming up behind Burt was the werewolf. Kyler could only see it because it loomed over a foot above his head. Another lightning bolt lit up the sky allowing him to see the beast’s eyes, which were yellow and had the look of a hunter that had just found its prey.
“Run, Burt!” Kyler yelled at the man, but Burt couldn’t hear him. He had finally decided to stop running. He had hit that point where he just couldn’t go on anymore.
“No…Burt…” Kyler moaned to himself, “don’t stop…”
But Burt had stopped and he wasn’t going any farther. The werewolf growled behind him. Kyler watched as Burt spun around to meet his destiny. He yelped a little as the creature picked him up off of the ground. Kyler couldn’t see Burt’s face and he didn’t want to see it. Seeing what was about to happen from the back was bad enough.
The monster bit down on the old man’s neck. Burt screamed in agony as the beast sank its fangs into him, his dangling legs kicking and writhing in mid air as if they were still trying to run away. The werewolf slammed Burt to the ground and straddled him, hungrily feasting on his flesh. If Burt had screamed, Kyler hadn’t heard it. He knew that no matter what fear or pain the animal had caused, he wasn’t feeling it anymore. If he hadn’t died when it bit him on the neck, the body slam to the ground had done the trick, for he had seen the old man’s head almost bounce up off of the ground like a basketball.
Kyler’s instincts told him to just turn around and run away, which is exactly what he did, sprinting faster than he had been before. The adrenalin had kicked in, giving him that extra boost that he hadn’t had before. The bag seemed lighter as he ran. Fear had gripped him, and he knew that the only place that thing was going to bite him was on the ass as he ran for his life.
The group was moving through a pass between two hills as Kyler once again, began to catch up to them. He didn’t want to look over his shoulder, but he did anyway. He didn’t see anything at first, but after a moment, he saw it. The beast was following them. It was moving at a fair rate of speed, but it kept stumbling to the side much the way a drunk would do if he were chasing someone and trying to eat them. The sedatives must’ve kicked in. That was probably the only reason that it hadn’t caught up with them yet. It was having trouble shaking them off after three good doses. But still it came, lumbering toward them.
The pass narrowed as the group began to move through it. The water running off of the hill made running a little more difficult, but still they kept going. Kyler wanted to yell at Potts and tell him that the beast was heavily tranqued, but couldn’t catch up to him. He was catching up to Pvt. Hawkins and Sam Fong who were both now starting to struggle with Michael Blum. He could see that their arms were sinking lower and lower until the boy’s butt was almost touching the ground, that is until the beast let out another howl, then they were off and running again, Michael Blum’s butt rising higher off of the ground.
Kyler began to pass everyone as he ran through the pass. As he began to pass Nurse Walling, he looked at her.
“Do you need any help?” he yelled at her.
“No! I’m fine!” she yelled back at him, her gray hair matted against her face and the rain rolling down her face. “Get that baby to shelter as quickly as you can!”
Kyler nodded and continued his fast pace. He passed Gringo, Samantha, and Sylvia, then the O’Hearley’s who were having to make Lauren run instead of being carried. After that, he passed Sgt. Cohen, then FranAnne, then Zora LeMarque and Shelly Dixon. As he passed them, he looked over at Zora who was trying to hang on to Shelly, but Shelly was having trouble keeping up with her. Zora gave him a look that told him to keep running…which he did, till the only people still ahead of him were Pvt. Gibson, Zack and Rob Olsen, and Potts.
Kyler could see the end of the pass just ahead…and there was Potts, stopped and looking back at the group with his arm in the halt position. What was he doing? Didn’t he know that thing was behind them? But there he stood, like a crossing guard halting traffic so t
he school children could cross the street. He didn’t want to stop now because he knew that he wouldn’t be able to start up again.
He saw Gibson stop in front of Potts, then bend over, and put his hands to his knees. As Zack and Rob Olsen reached them, Zack did the same while Rob just dropped into a sitting position. When Kyler finally reached them, he fell to his knees, the water splashing up on him. He slid five feet through the water before stopping in front of the colonel. He wanted to put the gym bag down, but he knew couldn’t put the baby in the water, so he propped the bag on his knees. He was breathing so hard that he thought that he might hyperventilate.
After a few seconds, the rest of the group began arriving, also confused by Potts’ sudden halt. They were all there now in one big pack, all looking over their shoulders for the werewolf. Nervousness was making them all surge forward, then sideways like a herd of spooked cattle.
Potts pointed his right arm straight out. “The bunker is in that direction!” he screamed over the storm. “It’s the same field that we crossed this morning! Stay together! Now go!”
“Where’s Miss Munn and Wilbur?” Sam Fong asked, rubbing his tired muscles while Michael Blum sat on the ground.
“Where’s Burt?” Zora asked.
Everyone looked around, then back down the pass for Burt. Kyler wanted to tell them about Burt, but he hadn’t regained his breath yet.
“We can’t worry about them right now!” Potts roared. “We’ve gotta go now!”
“Colonel…I…thewhoofishthranqed…” Kyler gasped.
“What?” Potts asked, looking down at him.
“The…wherf…ith…thrank…” he answered, trying to hold up his finger as if to make a point.
Potts motioned to Gibson and Hawkins with his head and the two privates picked Kyler up off of the ground.
“Spit it out, Man!” Potts barked. “We’ve gotta get outta here before that thing catches up to us!”
Kyler panted two or three more times before he felt that he might be understood.
“I…think…that the tranquilizers we gave him…are working. He’s starting to swerve a lot!”
