NorthWest (John Hazard - Book II) (23 page)

The deer quietly grazed on some young grass and paid no attention to the three people sleeping out in the open. However, the rustling sounds coming from the tree line nearby got their attention and they lifted their heads. They stood like statues except for the twitching ears. After a moment, they resumed grazing in the dewy grass nearest the trees.

The next time there was a noise from the woods, the deer ignored it and continued to feed. There was no chance for them to react when the attack came. Two of the aliens came from the shadows and bounded toward them. Finally alert, the deer raised their heads and turned to run. Behind them were more than twenty monsters, and when they bolted, they ran directly into them.

Each animal fell in a showering spray of their own blood, and the carnage that followed was a hellish scene. The team woke to the screaming sounds of the terrified deer and crazed shrieks of the aliens. Eddie and Karla jumped to their feet just as John and Emily ran from the tent. Raj and Sherri were right behind them. John swerved past a tent he had dismantled during his watch and grabbed the four aluminum poles that had been supporting it. He tossed one each to Raj, Emily, Karla and Sherri and yelled “Run! Get out of here! I’ll get Macy!”

“No! John!” Emily tried to call to him to leave the professor behind. When she saw him motion to her to get out of there, she ran for her life along with the others.

Macy was already struggling with her bonds, her eyes bugging out in fear. “Please, John! Oh my God! Don’t leave me here.” She pleaded with him as he was pulling his knife out from its sheath. With one movement, he cut the ropes that bound her ankles and lifted her to her feet. “You might be a lying bitch, Macy, but I’m gonna give you a chance to run for your life. Try not to lag too far behind.” And with that, he broke into a sprint after the others.

He quickly began to close the gap between himself and the crew. The bizarre screaming, slurping, and bone cracking sounds of carnage at the campsite grew more and more distant as he ran. He could see them just ahead while Macy tried to keep up, her own thoughts rushing back to haunt her. All John had to do was run faster than her and she would be the one to be sacrificed. The distance between them was growing by the second.

Even with her feet unbound, it was difficult for her to run and keep her balance. She never realized how important the arms were when running and how they served to maintain a center of gravity. With her hands tied, she had to be cautious of every step while she ran. She wondered how much time she had before the deer would be completely consumed and the monsters resumed the hunt. It seemed she was about to find out.

About a hundred yards behind her a screeching howl cut through the quiet of the forest, and then a chorus of chilling sounds came from the blood drenched camp. The creatures were coming, and judging by the way they continued to grow as they ate, the deer had been a mere appetizer for their breakfast.

The noises of the monsters behind her were getting closer, and the pounding of her heart in her ears nearly drowned them out. It sounded as though more than fifty creatures were in pursuit, the same number of ravenous mouths screaming for more food. They were screaming for Macy’s blood.

Forty Five

When John caught up to the group, they were standing at the edge of a very deep and narrow ravine. The distance across was only about thirty feet at that point. It was too far to jump and John could see why they were not moving forward. That sucker was really deep, maybe a hundred yards, with a lot of sharp rocks jutting out at the bottom.

“Now what, John?” Emily was looking at him anxiously. He turned, shouting, “Follow me!” and began running along the rim of the deep chasm. The group fell in behind him, trusting that he would have some kind of plan. The truth was, he had no plan. He was hoping for some kind of a break and he had no idea how they were going to cross.

Running along the edge over the rough terrain was nearly impossible. Outcroppings of rocks and fallen trees were scattered along the cliffs and the group was becoming quickly fatigued from climbing over them. Macy was trailing about fifty yards or more behind the group and was growing hoarse from yelling for them to wait. No one was paying attention. She really wanted to stop and somehow free her hands, but every second wasted put less distance between her and the creatures chasing her.

Up ahead, John noticed a tall, nearly dead pine leaning halfway over the gap. A lot of the dirt had washed away from the roots leaving them mostly exposed. He ran to get a better look at it and called to the others behind him, “Give me a hand with this tree. It looks like we could push it over and use it for a bridge!”

He began pushing against the trunk trying to rock it back and forth. As each person caught up, more hands pushed at the tree trunk and it was beginning to sway under the pressure. “Push!” Together they rocked back and forth against it. “Again!” The ground around the roots on their side began to rise a bit higher.

At last, the tree roots broke free, allowing the tree to fall over and land with a crash on the other side of the chasm. Some of the large branches cracked and broke off, spiraling down to the jagged rocks below. John grabbed the back of Raj’s shirt as he started to scramble up on the fallen tree. “Not so fast, cowboy. Give it a few seconds to settle or you might get halfway across when it all lets go.”

Raj stepped down and inspected the roots to see if they were shaking loose. The others stood and looked across to the other side waiting to see if the tree would stabilize. Karla was pacing back and forth. She was saying that she wasn’t sure she could get across the makeshift bridge. “Sure you can, baby,” Eddie assured her. “You sure as hell don’t want to stay here and face what’s coming.”

They heard yelling from behind. “Somebody help me! I can’t keep up! Please! Get these ropes off of my hands!” Macy was about thirty yards away and trying to climb over a large log. Just as she topped it, she fell face first into the dirt.

“That’s the idea,” Eddie said under his breath. “You lying bitch.”

Macy managed to stand up and wipe her face on her sleeve. She glared at them and spit out some dirt that had gotten into her mouth as she began to stagger forward again in an awkward run. She got about three steps when Sherri gasped, “Oh my God!” She pointed to the trees behind Macy. They could see the creatures coming, darting from tree to tree in hot pursuit.

“Cross! Now!” John said forcefully. For a moment, they stood paralyzed, then Raj was up. The lower trunk of the tree was virtually free from branches, but spotted with slippery moss. Raj took very tentative steps as he tried to balance himself. He found his footing and slowly placed one foot in front of the other to inch his way across.

Eddie was already losing his patience and called out to him, “Drop to your knees and fucking crawl! You are gonna get us all killed!”

Raj did as he was told and managed to get across the log without slipping. He held onto some branches and scrambled up to the other side. “It’s safe, come on!” He motioned for them, but Emily was already up on the log.

“All of the girls go next!” John directed them. The look of concern crossed her face as she turned her head and looked back at him. “I’ll be all right,” he promised. “Go now.” She turned and began crawling. Before she reached the other side, Sherri was up and crawling. Karla was next and nearly fell to her death when Macy let out a blood curdling scream.

They could see her with her back to a tree. She was surrounded and waving a large branch, holding the monsters at bay with her hands still tied. “You motherfuckers get away from me! I’ll gut you with this stick. Get the fuck back!”

She swung the branch at a couple of them to her left and they began backing up. They turned as if to leave when one of the creatures to her right shrieked and lunged at her. It was a coordinated attack, the ones that had pretended to retreat jumped into the air closing the gap and landing on her, knocking her off balance.

Eddie didn’t stand around to see what would happen. He scrambled onto the log and crawled across without looking back. “John!” Emily was screaming for him to hurry. The others who had been watching the attack on Macy now realized that John was still standing on the other side. “John! Hurry! You can’t help her!”

Macy’s arm was lopped off just above the elbow by a single bite. She shrieked in agony as it dropped, then hung there swinging, suspended by the other arm. Her hands were still bound at the wrists. She had so much adrenalin pumping through her veins, at first she attempted to use her severed arm to swing at them and defend her self. Finally, she began to sway and slumped to the ground. The group of monsters swarmed on her and began to tear her apart. 

John had stood mesmerized. He had only known Macy for the couple of months he had been in her class, but he had never seen anyone try so hard to fight their way out of such a dire situation against such overwhelming odds.

“John!” Emily’s voice finally got through to him. She was jumping up and down on the bank on the other side of the ravine trying to get his attention and yelling at him, “Get your ass moving!” He started across the log, trying to run instead of crawling like the others. A short way out, the slippery moss under his foot sent him sprawling face first. “Oh shit!”

Forty Six

John scrambled to grab hold of something as he started to roll off the log. He managed to find a handhold on the stump of a branch sticking out from the trunk. He tightened his grip and pulled himself back up. He wasted no time crawling to the other side.

Now Emily, Raj and Sherri were crouching behind some of the tree branches. Emily leapt out to throw her arms around John as he was standing up. “Why didn’t you guys run?” he asked. “Where’s Eddie and Karla?” He looked around expecting to see them nearby.

“We didn’t know which way we should go. They bolted in that direction.” Raj said in a low voice, pointing off into the woods.

“I wasn’t about to leave you, John.” Emily hugged him again. “Shouldn’t we push this log off to slow those things down?”

“I don’t think the four of us can move it. Besides I have a better idea,” said John. He pulled a lighter from his pocket and began setting fire to the dead pine needles. “I found this at the campsite last night.” He lit as many branches he could before the lighter gave out. Some were beginning to burn, and he hoped the whole thing would be in flames soon.

“Come on!” He grabbed Emily’s hand as he took off. He made a slight turn to the left and broke into a fast paced jog with the others following. “Eddie and Karla went the other way.” Emily said between breaths as they ran.

‘”We can’t worry about them. They made their choice.” He caught his breath and continued, “To tell ya the truth, I’m not sure we’re headed in the right direction anyway.” He paused to breathe again. “Eddie has his hatchet, so good luck to them and God help ‘em. They may end up saving our asses, you know, if the monsters go after them instead of us.” He kept his pace and grabbed Emily’s hand as they jumped over some smaller, fallen trees.

Meanwhile Karla and Eddie were over a hundred yards away and headed in the opposite direction. They had come across some kind of a trail, and Eddie slowed to let Karla catch up. “Are you sure we should be going off by ourselves?” Karla asked as she ran up next to him.

“I figure we have the lead. Those things are behind them, and they are behind us. No matter which way they go, the bastards will follow them. I think we have a better chance on our own.” Eddie slowed to a walk and was breathing hard. “I think we should follow this trail. I have a good feeling about it. Probably leads right into civilization.”

“That’s why I love you, Eddie. Sometimes you are so smart.” She forced a smile and kissed him on the cheek. At least he is useful!

He was taken off guard and stopped to look at her. She had never said she loved him before, and it was the only thing he had wanted since he first met her. Now in the midst of this crisis, she had said it! Did she really mean it or was it the crisis that compelled her to say it? “Damn.” He let it slip from his lips out loud. Why did she have to tell him under these conditions when their chances of survival were slim at best?

“What’s wrong Eddie? Why’d you say that?” She looked out across the woods and then turned to see if anything was following behind them.

“Nothing, baby. I think I have a rock in my shoe, that’s all.” Eddie pulled off his shoe and shook it upside down to convince her that what he was saying was true. Then he dropped it on the ground and slid his foot back into it.

“Oh my God! What’s that over there?” She pointed off into the woods at a dark shadow that seemed to be moving toward them. Eddie looked in the direction she was pointing. He wasn’t quite sure what to look for. The shadows from the trees made it difficult to tell if something was moving toward them, or were his eyes just playing tricks on him?

“I can’t make it out. It can’t be one of those fucking monsters or we’d know it for sure, they make that shrieking noise when they’re excited. Let’s just get going.” He began walking down the trail. Karla didn’t follow. She stood there troubled by whatever it was that was moving their way. It appeared to be a very large animal with a vaguely familiar gait. Then it hit her.

“Eddie!” She was trying not to be too loud, but he hadn’t heard her. She tried again a little louder. “Eddie, I think it’s a bear!”

This time he stopped to look as Karla moved to try to hide behind a tree. “Oh shit!’ Why did she have to be right? It was a fucking bear and it was headed right for them! Eddie felt a rush of panic. His mind was reeling. He tried to come up with some way out of this, but his brain was frozen.