The Swamp (13 page)

             
“It doesn’t look good,” Sam said, “Hey what do you figure are our odds?”

             
“One in one hundred if we catch a break, one in a thousand is more my guess,” answered Mike glumly.

             
Sam thought for a moment, “That doesn’t sound very hopeful to me, lie to me.”

             
“Well in that case, we will be just fine.” Mike replied in a sing song voice.

             
The sun chose that moment to set, and somewhere nearby, a voice cried a single “whoop!”

             
For the next half an hour, they sat there in silence, watchful for anything to show itself, but nothing did. The first stars were showing in the sky to the west when they came.

             
All around the ruined vehicle, the woods spewed forth the crazies. They could just make them out, dark shapes on a dark background. Their shots filled the night, and the others retreated.

             
A few minutes later they came again with the same results.

             
“They are trying to get us to waste our ammo,” Mike said across the dark cab, “hold your fire until they are right up on us.”

             
“It’s working, I’ve got my last mag in and I don’t think I’ve hit a thing. Ted, Mike, how many shots you have left?” Sam asked.

             
“Half a clip,” replied the teen. Mike added that he only had seven rounds left for his 30.06.

             
Sam pondered on this, “That’s about one more of these rushes and then we are cooked.”

             
“Why don’t we go with them?” asked the kid.

             
“What do you mean?” asked Mike, definitely ready to hear any suggestions.

             
“Well,” said the kid in a voice that lacked confidence in his plan “seems to be that if I was charging this RV and people were shooting at me, the last thing I would expect would be for them to run out after me. I don’t mean to say we should run out to fight them, just they we run away when they do kind of blend in with them and haul ass.”

             
The Fleetwood was quiet for a moment, until Sam spoke. “Kid, that’s actually pretty smart.”

             
Mike added “best idea we got, I say we go for it. We fire our guns dry and take off west when they pull back.”

             
There wasn’t time for discussion, the sounds of running feet signaled another attack. They all started firing. Sam saw a figure moving across the pavement and fired. He was rewarded with a grunt of pain as his bullet found its mark. Ted fired again, and then they heard the feet running away.

             
“Let’s go,” said Mike, who was already holding the door and pushing it forward.

             
Before they could answer, he was outside. They jumped up and followed. Sam’s leg was stiff from the long time spent motionless, but he found his adrenaline was going. They ran, Mike out in front, and Ted to his left. Sam glanced over his shoulder and could barely make out the shape of the RV receding into the night. He didn’t see anyone following them yet, but he knew it was only a matter of time.

             
Sam’s side began to hurt, and he had to slow. Up ahead, Mike seemed to be flagging also. The kid however was going strong and pulling ahead. By the time they had run for 5 minutes, Ted was thirty feet in front of them. By the time they had gone 10 minutes, they had lost sight of him.

             
Mike called his name but got no answer. “Stupid kid, he is going to get himself killed out there alone,” as he ran.

             
“I’ve got to stop,” Sam panted at fifteen minute mark, “I’ve got to catch my breath.”

Mike didn’t say anything, but he stopped as well. Mike put his hands on his knees and sucked wind.
Sam’s heart sounded like a bass drum in his ears.               They stood there for a minute. Mike suddenly straightened up and peered behind them into the darkness. Sam looked back, but all he could see was black. He strained his ears, but the beating of his heart obscured any sounds.

             
Then he heard it, several sets of feet striking pavement, they were coming. Mike grabbed his arm and pulled him towards the side of the road. They crossed the grass shoulder and entered the trees.

             
“Get behind a tree and stay low. They won’t know where we turned off the road and may run right past us.” Mike whispered, and dropped to his belly behind a palmetto bush. Sam followed suit, choosing to join Mike behind the tree.

             
They lay there listening, less than a minute later they heard the feet run by. They couldn’t see their pursuers, but they followed the sounds of their feet with their eyes until the sounds disappeared into the distance.

             
“We stay here until the moon comes up, then we find a place to hide until morning.” Mike whispered in his ear, and Sam nodded. The sounds of the night surrounded them and Sam could hear something rustling nearby. The sound got his heart racing again until he convinced himself it was an armadillo or maybe a raccoon.

             
His eyes played tricks on him and he began to see shapes moving around him out of the corner of his eye. Whenever he turned his head, they vanished, only to repair when he moved his head back. He felt himself starting to get worked up, and forced himself to take a few deep breaths to calm himself. It had been such a long day.’ He hadn’t spelt in what, 30, 32 hours’ he thought to himself. He couldn’t remember when he had woken up, but the again he had no idea what time it was now.

              His neck was beginning to hurt from holding it up and looking around. He laid it down for a second to rest it, and fell immediately to sleep.

             
He dreamed about being back in the swamp. He was on the ground, freshly injured by the hog. His dream differed from real life in the detail that this time the hog was still alive, still out there. He could feel it coming, getting closer by the second. He tried to run away but he couldn’t move, his limbs refused to respond. The animal was close now, he could feel its hot breath as it stood over him, mere inches from his face. The best threw back its head and squealed, the sound sending a terror through his entire body, then the best opened its mouth and reached down to bite his head.

             
He opened his eyes, and looked frantically around him for the beast. He started to sit up, but a hand appeared on his chest and pushed him back down.

             
“Sam, stay still, it was just a dream, don’t move, they could still be out there.” It was mikes voice and that reassured him. The dream was already fading, and he felt better. He realized he could see more around him, and glanced up to confirm that the moon had risen. He could see the trees clearly enough now. They should move on, find a better place.

Chapter 10

              Mike seemed to have the same thought. “Stay here, I am going to scout around a little.”

             
Sam wanted to object. After the dream the idea of being here alone terrified him. He knew that Mike would mover better alone though, and that he would just be in the way.

             
“Okay” whispered Sam, “but don’t be gone too long.”

             
He could see mikes teeth gleam in the moonlight as he smiled, and then he moved off quietly. Sam was again amazed at the man. He could see him moving through dry leaves, but he couldn’t hear a sound.

             
‘Remind me to never piss off a marine’ he thought to himself.

             
The bugs were out, and they were eating Sam alive. Twenty minutes had passed by his guess since Mike went to take a look around. Sam was starting to get worried. 

             
Sam waited another 30 minutes of bug bitten hell and decided something was wrong. He decided it was time to do something. He rose as quietly as possible to his feet, and started off in the direction Mike had gone. Every time he put his foot down, leaves crackled like thunder, and sticks broke like gunshots. He knew his mind was exaggerating these sounds, but it still worried him that anything with in twenty miles could hear his clumsy attempt at stealth.

             
He wandered for a few minutes until he saw they road. He eased out, and standing in the tree line, looked up and down the road, straining his eyes, but seeing nothing. The moons beams illuminated the pavement and he could see quite a ways in both directions. He wondered were Mike had gotten too. He had been gone a long time and Sam was worried.

             
Indecision tore at him, He could leave, but what if mike could be somewhere nearby and hurt. But what if he stayed and Mike was already gone, he knew he couldn’t stay here either. He decided he would give Mike ten more minutes, and then start working his way down the side of the road. He knew if he stayed in the tree line and out of the moonlight, he would be almost invisible from people far away, but he could still see people coming down the road.

             
Mikes ten minutes passed and he was debating giving him ten more when he heard a rustle behind him. Sam whirled and saw a hulking shape of a man three feet behind him, arms raised and holding a club. The club arced down towards his head and caught him in the forehead. His vision flared into a sudden bright light, and he had time to think “fucking figures” as the darkness took him again.

             
Sam found himself standing at the tower. The day was hot as the sun beat down on him. He was confused as to how he had gotten here, and where everyone else was. He looked around him, everything seemed normal. He walked over to the door to the house and slowly pushed it open.

As he did he heard his
mother’s voice, sounding pained as she said “Why didn’t you come back? I waited as long as I could.” Sam looked around the room, but didn’t see her.

Her voice seemed to be coming from the kitchen as she continued
, “I sent you to help, and you got them all kill! You couldn’t even save yourself!”

“Mom, don’t say that, I did the best I could.” Sam said desperately as he turned the corner into the kitchen, but found it empty.

“They are all dead… all dead.” Her voice called from behind him, and he spun around. The dining room was filled with corpses blocking his path. It was the people he had rescued from the farm, and at the front of the closing crowd, stood Mark and his mother. The bodies were decayed and putrid, their arms rose as one, reaching for him.

“You killed us all,” said Mark, “Now its time to join us.” And the others picked up the last two words.

“Join us!” the said in unison, and the crowd closed in on him.

Chapter 11

             
He awoke suddenly and realized he was on a concrete floor. His head swam in pain and at first he wasn’t able to move. When he finally got his eyes to respond, he was looking up at chain link. This confused him, so he turned his head and could see he was in a chain link box, roughly ten foot by eight foot and about 6 feet tall. He guessed it was some kind of dog kennel, it reminded him of some he had seen in a catalogue once... The wall by his feet contained a thin, but man sized door that was securely chained closed with a large pad lock. Sam forced himself to sit up though his head injury made him reel.

             
A whispered voice from a few feet away caught his attention, “pssst, you alive?”

             
Sam turned to see Mike in a very similar cage a few feet away. “I don’t think so. What’s going on?”

             
“I’m not exactly sure. They must have realized they had lost us and doubled back through the woods we were hiding in to have a look. I was out there in the woods looking around when a few of them jumped me and drug me back here. They dragged you in about an hour later. You looked quite dead. That was yesterday morning.” Mike explained.