[HGB] Humanity Gone Bad: The Dead Chronicles

by Watkins, Charles

  “Shit…” I muttered in a low tone as the thing suddenly picked up one of the camping chairs that had been left near the campfire and flung it toward our vehicle hitting the outside of it.

  The sound of the metal of the chair hitting our marauder woke my women and that was when the thing screamed that horrible inhuman scream again and there was no doubt in my mind that the others had heard it—they had to have.

  “It’s that same thing from when we went hunting…!” Jennifer stated in horror.

  “What the fuck is that thing anyway?!” Roxanne asked in a shaky voice as she clung to me.

  “Years ago, before the outbreak ever happened, I used to be interested in studying cryptids…like I said earlier, that thing looks like what was known as a Wendigo…” I answered as I grabbed my weapons and checked the ammo.

  That was when the CB on the dashboard up front came to life with Billy’s voice and he sounded frantic.

  “Shit—he and Kayla were in that dune buggy…that thing doesn’t have very good protection!” I shouted as I went for the passenger side door.

  My women gathered their wits and their weapons and we all jumped down to the ground noticing that the Wendigo creature was stalking toward the dune buggy—I could see both Billy and Kayla trying to get the large machine gun on the top of their vehicle ready and I knew that we had to do something to distract the thing away from them; I pointed my AR-15 at the thing and opened fire, my bullets tore into its rear flank startling it and it turned to face me and my women came up beside of me firing at the thing with their weapons. It roared in what sounded like anger and was about to charge toward us when Noah, Christina, Hugo and the others appeared nearby and added to the firing line—finally after taking what must have been over a hundred rounds into its frail, rotting body, the thing turned and bounded off into the woods until it was gone.

  “What the fuck was that thing?” Darrell asked as he and his group members took a few steps in the direction that the thing had disappeared in.

  “Wendigo…that was the same thing that attacked us back in the woods when we stopped to hunt earlier.” I answered with a troubled look.

  “What the hell’s that?” Darrell asked again as he glanced around at the others.

  “A cryptid associated with famine, violence and cannibalism…the Native Americans told tales of them all over these parts.” I answered glancing at him.

  “Whatever it was, we might need to consider leaving now instead of later—hell—we unloaded enough ammo into the thing to drop an elephant and it’s like it did nothing.” Hugo stated with a trouble look.

  “Maybe now you guys believe me…” I stated turning to face him.

  “Yeah…sorry that we doubted your story earlier—that thing is obviously stalking us; our weapons don’t seem to do much good either…it’s like it only takes damage to the point of driving it away until a later time…” Hugo answered in a worried tone.

  “Gather up everything that was brought out of the vehicles and let’s get the fuck outta here before that thing decides to come back.” I stated as I turned to glance at the others of the group.

  Everyone nodded and started gathering the things that had been brought out and within minutes we were ready to book it out of there—that was when I heard a voice calling to me from the forest in the direction that the Wendigo had disappeared in; it sounded like the voice of my dad and it was calling my name, telling me to come out there and that it needed help.

  “That’s not your dad, babe.” Jennifer stated as she placed her right hand on my shoulder.

  “Yeah…I know…it’s fucking with us—with me, trying to lure me out there to kill me.” I answered in a dark voice.

  “Let’s just get out here—put as many miles between us and that damned thing.” Sheila stated as she stood next to Jennifer while my other women waited for us in our marauder.

  I turned following them getting into the driver’s seat of our marauder and I started the engine turning on the powerful overhead lights leading the way out of the camping area followed by the rest of the group in their vehicles—it was almost daybreak and we had passed Dundurn about half an hour before and we were starting to pass through the outskirts of Saskatoon. I noticed that the streets were littered with the same level of wreckage and debris that places back in the states had been; there also seemed to be a large number of dead-heads here and there and I knew that we would be bypassing this place. The chatter from the others behind us was getting more active as we passed by the dark structures along the side of the highway and it looked like this particular city had been hit really hard back in the day—it didn’t really surprise me though as I had seen and been through so many different places since the outbreak had first hit back in the fall of 2000 that the scenes of decay didn’t stir much of an emotion inside of me anymore; my thoughts were interrupted though as a swarm of dead-heads and other mutations suddenly surged out into the roadway in front of me and I put my foot all the way down on the gas pedal running them over with our massive marauder. We could feel the slight bumps underneath us as our massive tires squashed the creatures into bloody pus on the road beneath us and I heard Billy and Kayla’s mounted machine gun firing for about a minute or so and then all was quiet as we continued on our way and over the next several hours we passed by the small towns of Borden and Maymont and by the early evening hours of that same day we were pulling into Battleford; I switched driving with Sheila and climbed into the passenger seat next to her grabbing some quick food items from the back as she continued along highway 16 toward Paynton.

  “I hope that we don’t run into that Wendigo thing again…” Chloe stated from her seat behind us.

  “I hope not either but I have the distinct feeling that it’s hunting us and that it will continue to hunt us until we’re somehow able to destroy it…” I answered in deep thought as I stared at the darkening roadway ahead of us.

  That was when a sudden boom of thunder shook the vehicle around us and seconds later a torrent of rain started coming down out of the darkening sky above us—it was so heavy that Sheila slowed down almost to a crawl as she was having trouble seeing the roadway ahead of us; that was when a surge of dead-heads and other mutations suddenly came out of nowhere and hit the right side of our marauder and I heard shouting and gunfire from the others behind us. Glancing back through the side mirror I caught a glimpse of Billy and Kayla making a mad dash toward the back of the Zetros where Hugo quickly opened the door letting them inside before closing it to keep the hordes of dead-heads and other mutations out—that was when Sheila cried out staring ahead at something directly in front of us and when I looked to see what it was I saw the damned Wendigo creature surging straight toward us; its movements were strange and unnatural and it leapt up onto the hood of our marauder and glared in at us through the windshield with a faint red glow in its hollowed-out eye sockets.

  “Fuck—we’ve got to get that damned thing off of their vehicle!” I heard Beau shout over the CB.

  We watched as bullets started to hit the decaying body of the Wendigo until it climbed off and turned its attention toward the others behind us—I nodded at Sheila and she took her foot off of the brake and sped ahead through the pouring ran running zombies and other mutations over completely and I grabbed the microphone of the CB and shouted for the others to follow us while we had the chance; they done so and we were able to get away from the horde as well as the Wendigo creature but we had lost another vehicle in the process.

  “Shit—that damned thing is chasing us!” Mace shouted over the CB seconds later.

  I knew that they were exposed in the back of their big pickup truck and that if the Wendigo creature was to get into the back of the vehicle then their fate would be sealed.

  “I got this shit…” Beau stated over the CB as sounds of the rear doors opening could be heard.

  Beau held one of the AT4 rocket launchers and he a
imed it at the Wendigo creature that was steadily gaining on the Zetros, which at that point was at the rear of our convoy—I watched as he fired and the rocket hit the creature square in the chest exploding sending it flying back into the woods far behind us.

  “I hope that that damned thing is destroyed because if a fucking rocket launcher can’t do the job then I don’t know what will.” I stated as I was trying to calm my nerves from the events that had just unfolded.

  “I sure hope that’s the last we’ll see of that thing.” Hugo stated over the CB.

  “No kidding.” Richard stated on his end with a nervous chuckle.

  The rain continued and started to get heavy again toward the evening hours just before dusk—the roadway ahead of us was getting flooded again and wrecked and burned out vehicles were a constant obstacle that was causing our progress to be slow; I had passed Paynton hours before and we were almost to Lashburn—the city of Lloydminster was just beyond that and I knew that once we got there we’d be out of Saskatchewan altogether. I continued driving into the night as my women slept around me and I listened to the occasional chatter from the others behind us over the CB channel and my mind had started to wander—wander over things that had happened in both the recent past as well as things that had happened years before, back in the early days of the outbreak; that was when I was forced to stop as there was some sort of barricade set up directly ahead of us, I could make that much out from the lightning that lit up the dark sky above us every few seconds.

  “What’s up?” Noah asked over the CB in such a way that it startled me.

  Jennifer who was sleeping beside of me in the passenger seat also jumped awake with a start.

  “There’s some kind of barricade just ahead—it’s blocking the roadway…” I answered as I picked up the CB microphone speaking into it.

  I flicked on the overhead high beams and that was when I noticed that there was an old tank pulled up to the front of the barricade that sat motionless and still—the heavy rainwater poured down over it creating a hollow sound; I scanned the other areas ahead of us and saw nothing and yet someone had created this barricade.

  “We’re going to have to scout this area and see what is here if anything—we need to find a way to get our vehicles through this barricade.” I stated into the CB as I grabbed my M16 and checked my other weapons.

  My women were all awake now and gathering their weapons and gear to follow me as I opened the driver’s side door and climbed down the pavement of the roadway that was more than partially flooded—I attached a UV flashlight to the barrel of my assault rifle and shined the light around at the empty area ahead and waited as my women gathered around me as well as the others of my group behind me.

  “Someone should wait here with the vehicles…there could be marauders or who knows what lurking around here waiting to spring an ambush on us or steal what we have.” I stated as I turned to glance at the others.

  “We’ll hold this position—if there’s anyone around here looking to mess with us then they’ll regret it.” Mace stated as she Remy and Ember checked the ammo clips of the Dragunov sniper rifles and propped them up onto the top of the truck they had been riding in the back of.

  “We’ll stay and stand watch as well—those marauders aren’t the only things that we need to worry about…there could be just about anything lurking around here.” Darrell stated as he and his group leaned against their armored truck.

  I nodded and turned back toward the empty areas ahead of us and slowly led the others through the small opening in the barricade past the old tank and we soon after found ourselves in a good-sized outpost, it looked like a military installation that had been set up many years before possibly during the early days of the outbreak but it looked like it had long since been abandoned.

  “There could be ammo…supplies here, let’s see if there’s an entrance to some kind of bunker.” Hugo stated as he and Beau along with Amy veered off from the rest of us and started searching around the area off to my right.

  The place was silent as the grave and there hadn’t been anything anywhere to suggest that anything at all had ever been there—that was when Hugo called my attention to a small structure that had been well hidden underneath an old rotting tarp that had been stretched across an area of the outer barricade and once my women and I arrived where he was we seen that there was a substantial cache of ammo there, there weren’t many weapons but it looked like there would be enough ammo to last us until we got to our destination providing we didn’t have to fend off another horde.

  “We also found some food stocks—most of it is Spam and other canned goods.” Amy stated as she motioned to another structure that was nearby.

  “That sounds good—that sort of thing can keep for a long time without going bad.” Billy stated with a chuckle.

  “It looks like the people who might have once been here are long gone—we should get that barricade gate opened so we can get our vehicles through…this rain is soaking me to the bone.” I stated shivering as the cold rain continued to pour down.

  I led the way back toward the vehicles as my women and a few of the others followed and I met up with my daughters at the gate and they inquired on what we had found inside.

  “Nothing really…we found some ammo caches and some food—that’s about it; we need to get this gate open so we can get the vehicles through.” I answered as I nodded at Darrell’s group as well.

  That was when a loud sound erupted from somewhere behind us and the roar of an engine could be heard over the storm—I turned and spotted a small group of strangers who had appeared on the opposite side of the barricaded gate, a large orange colored land rover was pulled into the clearing with its lights shining brightly on us; there were six of them—two men and the rest women and they had their weapons drawn and pointed at us. The first thing that came to my mind was that these were marauders and I swiftly pointed my M16 at them and demanded that they lower their weapons.

  “I don’t know who the fuck you are but we will defend ourselves if necessary!” I shouted as my women and group members aimed their weapons at the strangers taking up defensive positions around the area.

  “I take it that you found the food stocks here…?” One of the men shouted.

  He had long dark brown hair that was past his shoulders and a beard—he was dressed in what looked like an old militia uniform of some kind and he held an SMG in his arms.

  “We found them yes—we haven’t taken them yet though…are you saying that they belong to you?” I asked as I exchanged looks with Noah, Billy and Beau who were closest to my position.

  “That’s right…we’ve spent months gathering that food in hopes of getting enough to make the trip up north…” One of the women answered as she stepped up beside of the man.

  “Echo Bay…?” I asked raising my right eyebrow inquisitively.

  “That’s right…who the hell are you people?” The man asked with a suspicious look.

  “We’re survivors…just like you…we were living in northwestern Georgia back in what was once the United States and we were forced to flee because of the growing number of dead-heads and other mutations—we found a radio transmission stating that there is a last bastion of humanity gathering in Echo Bay up in Northwest Territories.” I answered as I lowered my assault rifle slightly.

  “You heard the same message I guess…that’s why we came up here but several months ago some kind of big fucker drove us into this abandoned outpost and we haven’t been able to leave accept to go out on runs for food and whatever ammo we can find, which has been really risky.” The man explained in a distant tone.

  I shouldered my weapon and nodded at my group members who done the same and I introduced myself, my women and my other group members trying to show them that we weren’t a threat to them unless we were made to be.

  “My name is Chris Sullivan…the other guy with the wi
th cap is Cooper Paige, then there’s the redhead here—her name is Amber Duvall.” The long-haired man introduced as he motioned to the other guy as well as the woman at his side.

  He shortly after introduced the rest of his group, two of the other women had shoulder-length dark brown hair and looked Asian—their names were Tara and Andra Yuon; the last woman was a blonde with blue eyes and a lip piercing, she introduced herself as Britney Hill and smiled.

  “First of all, what was the big fucker that chased you guys in here that you spoke of?” Hugo asked as everyone gathered before the newcomers.

  “Some big son of a bitch with a deer head and a rotting, decaying body—it had long, lanky limbs and huge antlers on the top of its head.” Cooper answered with a shiver as the rain continued to pour down around us.

  “The Wendigo…we’ve had several encounters with the same creature…” I answered in deep thought.

  “You guys too huh?”

  “You seem to be familiar with what that thing is—all I know is that there used to be nine of us…we’ve lost three of our friends to that thing.” Chris stated with a troubled look.

  “We hit it with a rocket round from one of our AT4 rocket launchers not but a short while ago…I’m starting to doubt that even that put the damned thing down.” I stated as I shifted in the spot where I stood due to the biting cold of the rain.

  “Let’s get in someplace out of this rain before we catch our deaths.” Amber stated as she directed everyone’s attention to the structure nearby where the food was kept.

  We all followed her inside to where at least there was a solid roof and it was dry—we talked for several more long minutes and then the newcomers decided that it would be better if they teamed up with us and they could probably tell that we were far more used to dealing with the dead-heads and other mutations that stalked the world around us than they were and we started gathering up the food supplies that they had gathered putting it into the vehicles; we had no more gotten our vehicles through the front gate and into the clearing when something large hit the opposite side of the barricade wall and then several more times before the barricade gave way and the hideous Wendigo creature once again appeared and stalked into the area toward us.