Animal Kingdom (31 page)

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“
Holy . . .” Gunter heard Riley wail over the comm in his helmet. Gunter and Colonel Worley were almost to the helicopter, Riley and Kier flanking them. Gunter’s head snapped around towards the area of the woods his men had opened fire on. A kid’s body flopped into the mud. Riley was freaking out big time.

“
I didn’t . . . He just came running out!” Riley cried.

Kier was quiet, his eyes locked onto the kid’s corpse with a sad look on his face. Gunter wanted to beat the crap out of Riley for making such a mistake but there was no time for it. Trigger happy or not, Riley was only doing his job. The Colonel’s safety trumped all else according to the brass.

“
Pull it together!” Gunter shouted at Riley over the roar of the helicopter’s blades through the comm link. Before he could say anything else his eyes went wide and he stopped in his tracks as he saw it. The huge beast came lumbering from the trees. It jerked the boy’s body up from the ground and tore it in half with two massive, human-like hands.

Something snapped in Gunter at the sight of such pointless and unneeded carnage. “Take it down!” he ordered the others. He raised his M-16 to his shoulder and took aim at the beast. Colonel Worley kept on running towards the copter as Gunter and his men opened fire. Their M-16s chattered, spitting empty to the ground at their feet. The beast roared, a sound so loud it could be heard over the helicopter’s blades. Bullet after bullet struck the beast but it was like trying to stop a rhino with a BB gun. Gunter could see the rounds weren’t getting any real penetration. The thing’s muscles were so thick and dense, he realized that they were only ticking it off more than it already was. With a snarl, it came running towards them at an impossible speed. Despite its size, the beast moved with the speed of a cheetah. Riley didn’t even have time to scream. The beast punched one of its hands completely through his chest. A rain of blood splashed over Gunter and Kier as the thing’s fist emerged from Riley’s back. The beast jerked its arm free as Kier fired a series of three round bursts into it at point blank range. Howling in rage, it backhanded Kier. Gunter saw the man’s ribs fold inward as Kier went flying through the air from the force of the blow. Gunter turned to run for the copter knowing he wasn’t going to be able to stop the beast easily if at all with his M-16. It was better to live and fight another die than to die here tonight. As he did so, his heart skipped a beat at what he saw. The Colonel lay rolling about in the grass near the helicopter. Dozens of squirrels covered him, tearing at his flesh with their tiny teeth. Gunter could see even more of the viscous, little critters inside the copter. The pilot was dead, slumped over against the copter’s controls. Squirrels danced and climbed over his mutilated form.

Cursing loudly, Gunter yanked a grenade off of his combat vest, popped it, and tossed it at the copter before the squirrels could swarm him. He sprinted for the Colonel’s house as the beast charged after him and the grenade detonated. The copter erupted into a giant ball of fire, the grenade’s blast igniting its fuel tanks. The whirring blades zipped above his head and shot into the woods, bisecting trees. Gunter was knocked from his feet by the shockwave. He rolled through the mud and grass, his left arm breaking under his own weight as he landed on it awkwardly. His M-16 bounced away from him as he lost his hold on it. He came to a stop, yanking his sidearm free from its holster on his hip with his right hand as struggled to get to his feet.

The beast was still standing, staring down at a large, jagged piece of shrapnel that protruded from its stomach. Strands of its intestines poked out of the wound around the metal. Its burning yellow eyes met his. Gunter took advantage of the beast’s shock, raising his pistol. He forced his trembling hand to hold steady just long enough to put a round into the beast’s right eye. Its head snapped backwards the bullet reduced its eyeball to pulp and entered its brain. With a pained noise somewhere between a grunt and a whine, the beast stood erect a moment more then toppled, face first, into the mud.

Gunter breathed a sigh of relief. The immediate danger was over. He staggered towards the house’s front door. When he reached it, he slumped against the wall beside it, cradling his broken arm to his chest. Colonel Worley had managed to survive in the house and Gunter figured there was still plenty of supplies and weapons to be found inside. He hoped he could hole up here and make a go of it because he sure couldn’t walk back to one of the safe zones. Calling for help wasn’t an option either. There was no way the brass would send a rescue mission after him like that had the colonel. He was just a low grade grunt and expendable.

For a moment, he allowed himself to believe he might actually have a chance of surviving, of finding his way home to hold his wife in his arms again. Until he heard the chorus of roars behind him. Gunter turned slowly to see four more of the monstrous beasts come lumbering out of the trees. The anger on their faces lit up by the light of the burning wreckage of the helicopter. Behind them, blood-thirsty squirrels chittered and hopped about like cheerleaders. He didn’t even bother to try to raise his pistol as the family of massive beasts advanced on him. What point was there in doing so? Gunter only laughed at the cruel hand fate had dealt him and hoped his death would be a quick one.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Published author, Iain Rob Wright, was born in 1984 and lives in Redditch, a small town in the UK, with his loopy cocker spaniels, Daisy and Oscar, his fat old cat, Jess, his many tropical fish, and the love of his life, Sally. Writing is the passion that fills his life during the small periods of time when he isn’t cleaning up after his pets. His favourite things are Chinese food, good white wine, Family Guy, and Disneyworld...

Horror is his beloved genre and his many inspirations range from the twisted minds of Brian Keene, Stephen King, and Richard Laymon, to Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett.

His official website contains free short stories, book reviews, and much much more. Check it out at:

www.iainrobwright.com