Outbreak: The Hunger (18 page)

The tiger is digging its back paws into the dirt.  It jumps forward just as Jessica is raising the branch.  She hears a loud roar that shakes the leaves on the tree behind her.  Jessica bends her knees and grips the branch tightly as the tiger charges. Right before the moment of impact, Jessica closes her eyes and bellows out a ferocious scream. The tiger slams into her and she is thrown backwards and rolls across the ground.

After a few moments, Jessica slowly opens her eyes. The tiger has impaled itself on the thick tree branch right through its heart. Blood is draining quickly from the beast. “I got you, asshole,” Jessica whispers. 

As she speaks, she feels something dribble down from the corner of her mouth.  She tastes it with her tongue.  Blood.  She smiles as she thinks about how violently the tiger must have impaled itself to splatter its blood on her face. Jessica looks up the tree to find her son staring down at her in horror.  “It’s okay, Billy,” she tries to say. “Mommy killed the monster.” 

“Mommy?
”
Bill Jr. says quietly.

“It’s gonna be okay, sweetie.” Again, she is having trouble catching her breath.  Finally, she sees her son point to her chest.  Slowly, she lowers her head.  Tears well up in her eyes.

The tiger ran into her with such force that it not only impaled itself, but thrust the branch into Jessica’s chest as well. Now that she’s seen what her son was pointing to, the pain and shock begin to wash through her body.  She is dying in front of her son.

Billy Jr. climbs down the tree, but he isn’t fast enough. When he gets to his mom, she’s already dead.  The last image he has of her is a tear rolling down her cheek and mingling with the blood from her mouth.  He sits down and cries.

John didn’t reach Jason soon enough and the wolf’s fangs sank into Jason’s shoulder.  My lack of eyesight forced me into being more cautious and unfortunately slower.  Jason was screaming and trying to get the wolf off of him. Watching the wolf, I noticed it acting differently.  Up until now, the animals were attacking, killing, and dragging the bodies away, but this time the wolf bit Jason and didn’t thrash its head around and tear him apart. The wolf remained motionless with its teeth buried in Jason's shoulder.

I was close enough to make out what was going on and I didn’t hesitate.  Plunging the seven-inch combat knife deep between the wolf’s shoulder blades, I was hoping to ease the wolf’s hold on Jason. But going by Jason’s screams, my attack did nothing to help Jason; the wolf bit down harder and deeper onto Jason, severing the ligaments and tendons that connect the bones.  Releasing Jason from the beast’s jaws was my primary concern as I pushed the knife deeper into the wolf, but that bastard had a tight grip on Jason.  The wolf bit down harder and I heard Jason’s collarbone snap between its teeth.  For the first time today, I am glad I couldn’t see out of my eye, and glad I couldn’t see the look on Jason’s face as his collarbone shattered.

Ten feet away I heard Jessica screaming and knew she needed our help. Killing this wolf became my only focus. Jumping off the attacking beast, I kept my hands on the knife.  I started kicking the wolf in the ribs and could feel its bones cracking with every blow.  I gained some leverage as I stood next to it, and I began to slide the knife deep in the wolf’s back, alongside its spine.  Nothing should be able to withstand the pain and injury I was dishing out on this creature.  Half way down its back blood was pouring out of the beast in rivers, but the wolf still had its jaw clamped on Jason’s shoulder.

I feel something brush by my legs.  When I turn to look, it was another goat.  This was starting to feel like the animals were conducting an organized attack.  They were coming in waves as if to distract and disorient us.  Keeping my hands on the knife inside the wolf’s back, I kicked at the goat.  I hit it twice in the head but that did nothing to stop it.  I could feel the goat trying to bite my legs and almost let go of the knife that was still inside the wolf. Something from the corner of my eye distracted me and I could see another cloudy shape racing towards me.  I immediately thought the worst:  the bear was coming straight at me.  As it was getting closer, my survival instinct kicked in and I dropped to the ground in the fetal position to try to protect myself.

“What the fuck are you doing?” I heard a hoarse voice screaming at me.  “Get the fuck up.”

I blinked hard to try to get a clearer vision of what was coming at me.  Standing there crooked as his arm was wrapped around his upper chest was Brice.  He had gotten away from the tiger and was coming to help Jason and I.  Standing up as fast as I could I reached for the knife sticking out of the wolf.  Pulling my foot back, I was about to kick the goat again when I saw Brice jump on top of it. Grabbing the goat, Brice wrapped one hand around its throat while the other wrapped around its lower jaw. Brice twisted violently, snapping the goat’s neck and dropping it to the ground.  Through clenched teeth Brice winced in pain as he tried to straighten up.  I was staring at the goat lying motionless on the ground.

“Get with it man,” Brice yelled at me, “or we’re all dead.”

Returning my focus to the wolf, I saw it had finally released Jason from its jaws.  Jason was trying to crawl away but the pain from his shattered collarbone slowed him down.  The wolf violently turned in my direction and knocked me to the ground. 

“How the fuck is this thing still standing?” I shouted out to no one in particular.  The wolf was looking at me with its dead eyes.  If I didn't act quickly I knew this would be it for me. Before the wolf finished turning around to face me, I saw its balls hanging down.  And knew this was my chance.  Grabbing the wolf’s balls, I starting squeezing and twisting them as hard as I could.  I was experiencing the same blood lust as these animals as I was tearing the wolf’s balls off.  I felt the spongy flesh squish between my fingers as I tightened my grip.  The feeling was like squeezing a panna cotta that had too much gelatin in it.  The wolf was howling as I tore and squeezed its balls with more ferocity. 

The wolf collapsed to the ground in pain confirming to me that these bastards did indeed feel pain.

“Watch out,” Brice was yelling over to me.  Releasing the wolf’s shattered balls from my hand, I stood up.  Brice fell on top of the wolf and plunged his hands into the wound on the wolf’s back that I made with the knife.  Grabbing the flesh on each side of the wound, Brice began pulling the wolf apart.  The wolf was howling as Brice tore its back open, exposing bone, cartilage, and its spinal cord.  Brice kept tearing the wolf apart until it stopped moving.  When he was done, the wolf looked like it had been turned inside out.

For the second time today, I was glad I couldn’t see.

Turning away from the remains of the wolf, I was screaming for Fi. I was looking around like a madman trying to locate Fi and Julie.  I knew Julie would still be with her … unless of course something happened to her.

“Fi … Fi,” I shouted as I started running around looking for them.  I searched the area where I left them before running off to help Jason, but they weren’t there. The only sign that they were there was a small pool of blood.

I looked over to where I left Jessica and saw a body lying on the ground with what looked like a dead tiger a few feet away from it.

Julie hugs Fi close, not wanting to let her out of her sight. Julie can sense the animals surrounding them, almost taunting them.

“Stay close to me, Fi,” she says.  “We’ll be okay as long as we stay together and out of the way.”  Julie doesn’t believe her words for a second.

“I want Daddy,” Fi says, close to crying.

“Your daddy is helping Jason over there.  He’s going to be okay, and as soon as he saves him, he’ll be back with us.”  Julie’s never had any experience dealing with kids and isn’t sure how to talk to them, but knows that Fi has seen everything, beginning with the first attack on the train. 
Fi isn’t stupid
, Julie thinks.
She knows we are in deep shit here
.  Julie decides to tell her the truth. The truth, in these circumstances, can only save her life.

They huddle behind a fallen tree trunk where Julie feels they are relatively out of the way.  All kinds of animals were running around--a tiger, some monkeys, some goats, the wolf John is trying to kill and some deer.  She also remembers seeing that bear a while ago.  Plus, the zoo is full of all kinds of animals.  She has no idea how far this… this what…
infection?
... has spread.  She watches John plunge that knife deep into the wolf’s back.  She can’t believe that it doesn’t faze the animal one bit.

She looks over at Susan, who’s finally succumbed to her injuries.  A deer and a llama  stand over her. 

“What are those animals doing?” Julie says, barely over a whisper.  Fi look to see where Julie is looking.  “Oh my God,” Julie says as she realizes what is happening.  She grabs Fi, covers her eyes, and hugs her close.  The deer and llama are eating Susan’s dead body.  Now that her brain has accepted that two herbivores are eating a human being, she is able to process the animals tearing chunks of flesh from Susan’s body.  The deer is eating from Susan’s bloodied head, tearing away chunks from her face and cheeks.  Julie can see that Susan’s lips and tongue are already gone.

The llama is eating away at Susan’s stomach.  Susan’s intestines are spilled over the ground like some morbid bowl of spaghetti.  The llama has already stripped Susan’s left thigh of flesh.

Julie turns away from Fi as she feels the acid in her stomach working its way up her throat.  She throws up three times before the bile starts to recede.  She has seen a lot of very fucked up things these last couple hours, but watching a deer and a llama tear apart a human being is too much.  She knows they were in a hopeless situation.

“Julie,” Fi says as she tugs at her shirt.  “Julie!” she says a second time, screaming.

Julie looks up, the sour taste of vomit still in her nose, to see an ostrich had come up behind them.  It isn’t a full-grown ostrich, but is big enough to kill them both.  She grabs Fi’s hand.  “Run!” she screams, but the ostrich has already started its attack and is lowering its head, going in for the kill.  Julie throws Fi over the fallen tree that was seconds ago their protection.  The ostrich bites Julie’s ear off as she tries to jump over the tree.  Blood pours into her ear as she tries to fight through the pain.

“Don’t wait for me, Fi! Just run!” she screams.  Julie is able to get over the tree before the ostrich strikes again, but she is running spastically, not quite regaining her balance.  Julie catches up to Fi.  Before Fi can ask, Julie says. “I’m okay, sweetie. Let’s get somewhere safe.”  She looks to her right just in time to see the tiger impale itself and Jessica on the branch.  A scream sneaks out of Julie’s mouth as she watches the life drain out of Jessica’s body. 

“Billy!” she screams. “Billy! Over here!”  They run over to the boy who is crouched on the ground crying.  “Come on, Billy! We need to get out of here!.”  She looks over her shoulder to see that the deer and llama have finished feasting on Susan.  They are looking straight at Julie and the kids.  “
Now
, Billy!” she screams.

Julie is too late.  A lemur drops out of the tree and onto Billy’s head.  He  screams and runs off in a panic.  The last thing she sees is the Lemur’s claws sinking into Billy’s eyes.  Billy runs into the llama and falls to the ground.  The lemur’s claws tear out his left eye.  Julie watches knowing there is nothing she could do to help Billy Jr.  The llama lowers its long neck and rips out Billy’s throat.  The lemur jumps off his head and disappears into the trees.  By this time, the deer and a donkey have joined the llama and the three beasts begin tearing Billy apart.

Julie feels all hope drain from her.  She realizes that looking for the kids is useless.  The kids who were earlier dragged away are dead, torn apart by these animals.  She hears a scream as she sees Brice come limping out of the woods.  He is running toward John and Jason, who are still fighting off the wolf that has been joined by a goat.  In an instant, everything becomes dream-like for Julie.  It just isn’t possible in the world she lived in for animals like llamas and goats to attack and kill people.  The world shifts into slow motion.

Jessica’s body pinned up against a tree by a branch, a tiger on the other end.

Susan’s body lying a few feet away, torn apart by a deer and llama.

Six-year-old Billy’s throat torn out by a llama.

Brice tearing apart a wolf.

An ostrich tearing off an ear.

Julie’s brain can’t process the images around her.  She’s worked with animals her entire life and has never seen anything like this.  Even animals with rabies aren’t this aggressive.  She looks around to see the ostrich coming straight toward her and Fi.

She faints.  Her body hits the ground and the last thought she has is,
I’m never going to wake up again.

“Wake up, Julie, please wake up.”  Julie faintly hears the frightened voice as her body shakes back and forth.  It is Fi.  She opens her eyes.  Next to her lays the ostrich. 
The ostrich
, she thinks as she bolts up.

“Fi,” she screams as she hugs the girl close.  “I’m so sorry, Fi.”  She then pushes Fi at arm’s length and inspects her for any injuries.  “Are you okay?” she asks.  Just then, a pain rips through her head as she remembers the animal tearing off her ear.  “What happened, Fi?” she asks.  “Who killed this ostrich?”  She looks around and sees John with the knife back in his hand.