Valley of Death, Zombie Trailer Park

by William Bebb

CHAPTER 4

  Hopping Down The Bunny Trail

  The jackrabbit was exhausted. Its heart pounded fiercely as it hopped an unpredictable pattern, but the screaming pursuers had not given up the chase. This particular jackrabbit outran everything from stray dogs (Including Boris on three different occasions) to hungry coyotes before, yet the men that were chasing it were a very different kind of predator. As it ran through a dense patch of Saguaro and Prickly Pear Cactus, it heard some of the pursuer’s screams change in both pitch and volume.

  It stopped in the middle of a dusty road just east of the trailer park, stood on its hind legs, breathing hard and looked back at them. The men smelled of danger, much stronger than usual, and it had never before encountered such determined predators.

  First one man would spot the jackrabbit and give chase then others would join in. Some stopped chasing and others would join in.

  While it had no understanding of a relay race, that is perhaps the closest description to what had been happening to it all morning.

  Looking back down the road, the jackrabbit's brown eyes saw only one man come through the patch of cactus. The man clawed at his face while running closer.

  It sat motionless and watched as the man sniffed at the path it had taken. The jackrabbit twitched its whiskers and long ears for a few moments before turning and following the road toward the direction that the sun rose every morning.

  The man following it used to be called Hector. He was hungry, in considerable pain from the cactus needles, and furious as he ran down the road. His hands, legs, and face, were covered in sharp cactus needles. As he ran, smelling the delicious animal, he slapped and clawed at the cactus needles. Some of them fell out as he slapped at them, but most were simply driven deeper into his skin. The pain from the needles had discouraged the other men, but Hector felt his blood surging as he spotted the long eared meal running steadily slower.

  Food had become scarce since Hector and the others had changed a few days earlier. In addition to insane anger, he felt a ravenous hunger driving him to catch and devour the small animal.

  The jackrabbit dove into the piles of trash and garbage at the end of the road. It became still under several rotten pieces of cardboard as it heard the pursuer coming closer. Slightly trembling under the trash it heard footsteps approach, slow down, and gradually come to a stop as its nose twitched slightly.

  Hector smelled the animal and a million other interesting aromas that drifted over the trailer park's trash dump. He sniffed the air again and stomped loudly through the garbage trying to pick up the scent once more. The sheer quantity of smells made tracking, at least by his nose impossible, so Hector listened harder as he moved slowly through the trash dump.

  He heard a scuttling sound several feet ahead and dove headfirst into a small cluster of prairie grass.

  A terrified rat squeaked in alarm and ran toward a small group of spindly looking trees.

  Hector chased after it as saliva drooled down his chin. He dived forward and seized the squealing biting rat just as they reached the trees.

  The rat bit at his fingers, but Hector simply opened his mouth and chomped off its small furry head.

  Squatting in the shade of the trees, he ate his well deserved and long overdue meal. It didn't take long to finish and Hector had eaten everything. He ate the fur, the bones, and of course the precious bloody meat.

  Hector burped and wandered around his new surroundings. Stepping further under the shade provided by the trees, he tilted his head and listened to a faint rhythmic chugging noise coming from deeper in the woods. Licking his blood stained lips he followed the sound till it stopped and listened harder while sniffing at the air.