Desolation Boulevard (45 page)

“
Shit! Thanks Dylan,” said
Matt as they stood outside the cave’s entrance, sucking in huge
breaths. “I really lost it in there.”

“
Don’t mention it, but we
can’t afford to hang around, the feeders are going to be pissed! We
need to get to the car and get out of here.” He looked at
Montana, who was being consoled by Matt. “Are you okay?”

She nodded her head, “Yeah, I think so. I’m
glad to be out of those caves. Can we go home please?” she asked as
tears welled up in her eyes again.

“
Sure. Let’s get to the
car. I’ll drive.”

Matt wiggled his fingers in his ears to try
to relieve the ringing sensation as they walked to the car, which
was parked about one hundred metres away.

“
Lucky limestone’s a stable
rock,” he said, “If that was a coalmine, we’d all be dead. I can’t
understand why there were no feeders in that one cave, though. It’s
weird.”

“
Well,” answered Dylan. “It
doesn’t matter now does it? We just need to...”

He stopped suddenly and looked down the road
that led away from the caves. Matt and Montana stopped and looked
at him.

“
What’s up?” Matt asked, as
Dylan held up one finger.

“
Do you hear that?” he
asked, nervously.

Before there was an opportunity to answer,
however, Dylan screamed, “Run!” and wheeled around, pushing his
friends back in the direction of the cave they had just left.

Matt, however, couldn’t move. All he could
do was stare down the road in amazement, as a large group of
feeders, maybe twenty in number, raced towards them down the middle
of the road with the wrath of the damned in their eyes. Matt looked
up. The sun was till in the sky! This group of feeders was out of
hibernation and functioning in daylight! From somewhere far away,
he heard his name being called.

“
Matt! Matt! Move
it!”

He turned and saw Dylan and Montana standing
by the entrance of the cave from which they had just escaped.
Montana was clutching Dylan’s arm in fear as he yelled, “Come on
man! Move your ass!”

Matt took one look back at the feeders, who
were halfway to him now, and regained enough composure to realise
that there was only one option available to him. He turned and ran
to his friends as quickly as his legs would take him. He stumbled
into their arms as Dylan yelled, “What now?”

“
Follow me!” ordered Matt
frantically; as he headed back towards the dark maw of the cave
they had emerged from just minutes earlier. Montana looked at Dylan
in panic, but when he simply shrugged his shoulders, she realised
that they had no choice but to follow Matt into the mountain once
more, despite the likelihood that it would become their
tomb.

As they raced back towards the largest
cavern, Matt could tell that the feeders were getting closer now,
from the grunting sounds they were making as they ran, so any
mistake the trio made would probably prove to be a fatal one. If
Matt tripped, Dylan and Montana would collapse on top of him and
the feeders would rip them all apart. He was operating purely on
instinct now, and his actions in the next few seconds would either
save their lives or condemn them to death, depending on the
strength of his convictions and a whole lot of luck. He heard
Montana squeal behind him and he realised that the feeders were
closer than ever, and that they were only seconds away from
catching her. With one final surge of adrenalin, and hoping
desperately that his friends were still with him, he burst out of
the narrow passageway and into the cathedral like space of the main
cavern. From the grunting of the feeders, Matt could tell that they
were only a few metres behind Montana now, and that they had
reached the point of no return. He raced across the floor of the
cavern towards the far wall, but just when it seemed as if he was
heading for the two tunnels they had seen earlier, he veered
sharply to the right and leapt directly into the middle of the
small lake that was fed by the waterfall above.

The cold water was like electricity as it
engulfed Matt and sucked his breath away. As he went under, he
sensed bodies hitting the water above him, and all he could do was
hope that it was Montana and Dylan following him in. The shock of
the almost freezing water combined with the exertion of his recent
sprint from the feeders was causing him to panic, and his mind was
urging him to get to the surface to take a breath immediately, even
though the feeders might be waiting for him. Then, suddenly, he
felt his feet hit bottom, and he pushed up as hard as he could,
breaking through the surface of the pool with a frenetic splash. He
swung around, blind from terror, as a body lunged from the depths
beside him. He flailed his arms at it, but before he had even
landed a blow, he realised it was Dylan emerging from the water
alongside him. Montana’s head appeared next, almost simultaneously,
and as they wiped the water from their eyes, they waded back from
the edge of the lake, towards the waterfall, looking around in
panic.

“
Shit! Look at that!”
exclaimed Montana, who was already shivering as she pointed to the
entrance tunnel, “Those things won’t come near the
water!”

The creatures had entered the cave close
behind the trio, but as Matt led his friends into the safety of the
large pool, the creatures had baulked at the edge, eventually
retreating to the back wall of the cavern, where they now crouched,
just visible in the weak light of the glow stick, watching the
humans, with hatred and frustration in their eyes.

“
Fuck me Matt! What made
you think of that?” quizzed Dylan, “Absolute genius, man! I would
have just run up those tunnels we saw before. They would have
caught us and killed us for sure!”

“
I don’t know why we didn’t
work it out when we were in here before”, he said, as he moved and
put his arm around Montana, “All this water and no feeders. They
hate it! As long as we stay here we’re safe!”

“
I hate to burst your
bubble,” interjected Montana, “But if those feeders don’t go away
soon, we’re screwed anyway because we’ll die of hypothermia. I’m
freezing already.”

“
Shit!” said Dylan, “You’re
right! We have to get out of this water or we’re screwed. Any
ideas?”

The group of feeders sat quietly together,
on their haunches, balancing with their knuckles, and seemed quite
content to sit and wait for them to come out of the water. Their
hateful gaze was directed straight at the trio and Matt had the
feeling that if it came down to a contest between freezing to death
and trying their luck against the feeders, they would have no
choice but to fight. He shivered violently as the waterfall
splashed down around them from the rocks above, “We have to get out
of this water.”

-

At the farm, as the sun fell behind the
hills, Gabby came and stood beside Sally at the front window. Sally
had been watching and listening for any sign of the Landcruiser,
and with each minute that passed, she was becoming more pessimistic
about the safe return of her friends.

“
Hi darling. What’s
up?”

“
They’re not coming home
tonight, are they?” Gabby asked, sadly.

“
I don’t think so
sweetie.”

“
Are they dead?”

Sally was shocked, “Gabby, no! Of course
not.”

She knelt down and hugged the girl to her
chest, and then looked into her eyes as she held her tiny hands.
“Listen, Matt and Dylan and Montana are very clever and very tough.
I won’t lie to you, though, because I am worried about them, but
maybe they just needed to stop somewhere on the way home because it
was getting too dark. It could even be something simple like the
car breaking down. You try not to worry okay?”

“
Okay, I’ll try not to, but
I don’t think I can.”

They hugged again, and shared a tear, and
when Sally stood up, Gabby asked, “Are those people still out
there?”

Sally knew they were still there, but
checked again anyway. There were five of them now. A young woman
and a boy, who looked to be around twelve, had joined the other
three. The temperature outside was dropping rapidly as darkness
descended, and Sally could see that the group outside was rugged up
in warm coats and blankets. They’d also found an oil drum
somewhere, and a fire was raging inside it to keep the cold at
bay.

“
Yes honey, they’re still
there”.

“
How many?”

“
Five now.”

“
Do they want
me?”

Sally had always tried to be honest with
Gabby, but now, out of love, she lied, “No darling, they don’t want
you. How about we go find mum and get dinner started”.

Chapter 70

Matt, Montana and Dylan stood in the frigid
water and studied the creatures. “Ugly fuckers, aren’t they?”
stated Dylan.

The group of feeders hadn’t moved from their
position since Matt and the others had jumped into the water almost
an hour ago. The creatures’ patience was as surprising as it was
terrifying.

“
I thought they would have
been bored with us by now and gone back to their nests to
sleep.”

“
I wonder how long they’ll
stay there?” asked Matt.

“
Longer than us, that’s for
sure,” said Montana. “I can’t stay in this freezing water forever.
If we don’t get out at some point, we’ll eventually just die from
the cold. Isn’t there a way we can get rid of them?”

“
You know what I’ve been
wondering?” asked Matt, shivering.

“
What?”

“
Why are there only a dozen
of them? We’ve seen thousands of them in the caves today, but only
a few dozen appeared after the explosion? Why?”

“
I have a theory,” replied
Dylan, “But it seems far-fetched.”

“
Let’s hear it,” urged
Matt.

“
Okay. You remember how
Sally said that the feeders seemed to be developing a social
structure, even after only the second night? The prominence of the
alpha male and all that?”

“
Yeah, what about
it?”

“
Well what if it’s more
advanced now?”

“
What do you mean?” asked
Montana.

“
Well, when the bomb went
off, maybe the creatures that survived, all the ones in the other
caves, sensed danger and didn’t want to put themselves at risk.
Maybe they just sent out a warrior team.”

Matt shivered and looked at Dylan. “Really?
You think they have roles now? Maybe they have doctors too, and
teachers?”

“
No need to be a smartass
Matt. Think about how much these things have changed since they
turned from being human. It’s all about survival for them, just
like it is for us. They’ll find ways to increase their odds, and
maybe one way is by practicing damage limitation. Somehow they have
a whole new set of instincts, just like they seem to have a whole
new biology. I’m just saying, that’s all.”

Montana spoke.

“
Listen Matt, that makes as
much sense as anything. All of those freaks watching us look like
males to me. Maybe Dylan’s right, so let’s go with that theory for
now. One other thing we need to think about, though. What happens
when all of the bombs detonate in an hour or so? This whole cave
system could collapse, couldn’t it?”

“
It’s a possibility. We
really need to get out of here soon. The caves might not hold up as
well as they did the first time.”

“
Okay guys,” said Dylan,
“It’s time to make a move. Does everyone still have their
handguns?”

“
God I forgot about them!”
exclaimed Matt, as he and Montana groped around under the water for
their pistols. “Still got mine!”

“
Me too!” said Montana,
holding her weapon above the water.

Dylan showed them his pistol and shook the
water out of the barrel.

“
I don’t know if these will
work if they’re wet, but we have to hope we can either shoot those
things or at least scare them off so we can make it to the car.
Matt, you know guns, will these things still work?”

“
Maybe. These are modern
weapons, and I think that if the barrel is clear, they’ll fire even
if they’re wet. Older weapons probably wouldn’t, but technology has
improved a lot recently. I have to admit I’ve never tried it
though. Why didn’t you think of this before?”

“
I just kept hoping the
feeders would leave us alone when they got bored. There’s also a
risk that gunfire will attract more of the creatures, so I kept my
idea to myself. I don’t think we can wait any longer now, though.
We’re getting too cold, the bombs will detonate soon, and we’re
losing daylight. What do you think? Will we go for it?”

Montana answered through slightly blue,
quivering lips, “Let’s shoot those freaks and run for it! I cannot
stay in this water another minute! Matt?”

“
Let’s give it a go. What’s
the plan?”

“
Okay, let’s nominate our
first few targets so we’re not all aiming at the same creature.
Once we start shooting, who knows what they’ll do. They may run
away or they may overcome their fear of water and attack us. We
have to be ready for anything. Check that your gun is as dry as
possible and the safety is off.”

Dylan looked at his friends as his whole
body shook with the cold. “If we don’t get out of this one, it’s
been a real pleasure knowing you both. Good luck”.