Chapter 3
The waited a moment longer to make sure that the creatures had gone. Back and forth, they exchanged looks. It wasn't until Scooter decided that is was safe that everyone got up from their spots.
Scooter had to help John with that. The old man's knees cracked as they straightened. He grabbed a hold of his back.
"You okay?" Scooter asked. He spoke quietly.
"I'm fine," John said. "Just need to stretch out a bit."
They walked onto the road. The others were waiting there for them.
Alice rushed over to her husband and hugged him. Julie still had her arms around Emily. Marianne still had a hold of the knife. Buster sniffed at the air, though kept close to everyone.
"I was so scared," Alice said.
"There's nothing to worry about now," John consoled her. He patted the back of her head, pulled her in tighter. "Everything's going to be fine."
Scooter heard Julie and Emily begin to whimper and thought of giving them the same type of reassurance. He stepped toward them. He didn't feel comfortable putting his arms around them like John had his wife, but he could say a few words to make them feel better. "It's okay," he started. "Everything's…"
Wham!
He felt something slam into his back and knock him to the ground. His face hit the pavement. His axe fell from his hand.
Unsure of what had happened, he rolled onto his side. He heard screaming. He saw feet shuffling around in front of him.
When things started to make sense, he could make out two people lying on the ground. It was one of the creatures…and it was on top of John.
"No!" Scooter shouted, pushing himself up off of the ground. He picked up his axe and charged forward. "John!"
He raised his axe, but then worried that he might miss the creature and hit the old man.He'd have to kick it off first. He'd strike when John was free.
But John would never be free.
The creature let out a wild scream as it brought its mouth down to John's neck. It bit deeply, aggressively. When it pulled back, a thick piece of John's skin came off in its mouth. Blood squirted across the pavement, covering the creature along the way. The creature went in for another bite, its fingers scratching at John's face.
"No!" Scooter shouted again. He lifted his foot and and slammed the bottom of it into the creature's shoulder.
The creature didn't notice. It kept its face buried in John's neck. It grunted as it tried to pull free another piece.
John tried to shout, though his voice came out weak and garbled.
Scooter raised his heavy boot once more and kicked out with all that he could. This time, the creature fell off of John and rolled onto the pavement.
Now, hurry!Scooter lifted his axe up overhead. He focused on the creature. A woman. Her hair cut short. Her face covered in blood.John's blood. He screamed as he slammed the axe down into her shoulder. There was a soft thud as it sunk in.
The creature screamed. Scooter did as well.
He pulled the axe free, knowing that he hadn't done enough to stop it. It reached out for him. He stepped back.
He lifted the axe back above his head. He focused on the creature's face. Its wild eyes glared at him. Its mouth remained open. Blood sprayed as the creatures shouted once more.
NOW!
Scooter took a deep breath and swung. The blade fell and zeroed in on its target.
With another soft thud, it split the creature's skull apart. It dropped to the ground. The screaming stopped. And a pool of blood quickly formed on the pavement.
Scooter turned. He noticed Marianne beside him, the knife held out before her. She looked about to jump on the creature if it got up. Though Scooter knew that it was never going to attack them again.
His thoughts went on the old man. He ran to him.
Alice was kneeling down beside her husband, begging for help. She held hold of his hand as she screamed out.
Scooter went down beside her and pressed his hands against John's neck. Blood seeped through his fingers; the heat with which felt as though it burned. He pushed down harder on the gaping hole.
"You'll be okay," Scooter said. "Just hold on."
But hold on for what? There wasn't an ambulance coming to help. A doctor wouldn't simply appear.
As Scooter continued to keep his hands on John's wound, the old man's eyes turned from his wife and focused on him. Scooter could see something in the gaze.
I'm sorry, the old man was saying.I'm so sorry.
No,Scooter thought,I'm the one that should be sorry. He had promised Alice that he wouldn't let anything bad happen to him. Yet here John was, lying on the ground, bleeding to death.
It was only when he started gasping for air that Scooter knew it was nearly over. He watched John's mouth quickly open and close. He saw his chest rise and fall.
And, with a final exhale, he died.
Chapter 4
Scooter kept his hands on John's neck even after the old man had taken his last breath. He could hear crying beside him. Julie and Emily had joined in. But now none of it made much sense to him.
What was he doing? What had happened?He could barely see his hands in the blood that had covered them. His clothes were soaked as well. Especially his jeans. He had been kneeling in a pool of blood.
John? Is that you?
It was Marianne who snapped him out of it. She grabbed hold of his shoulder and shook him. He turned to look at her and noticed the concern in her eyes.
"You did all that you could," she said. "But we have to leave."
"Leave?"
"We have to go! Those creatures, they'll be back!"
At first, he hesitated to take his hands off of John's neck. Though, in the end, he knew that Marianne was right. The creatures would have heard the screaming, could probably now hear the crying. He released the pressure he had placed against John and sat back. He tried to ignore the fresh stream of blood flowed out of the old man.
"We have to go," Marianne repeated. "Now!"
Scooter got to his feet, picking up his axe as he did. Julie and Emily were standing not too far way. Buster was beside them.
"Come on!" Marianne pulled on his arm. She wanted him to help with Alice. The old woman was still on the ground beside her husband. She was rocking back and forth, holding John's hand. "Grab her!"
Scooter reached under one side of Alice while Marianne took the other. They tried lifting her.
Alice swatted at them. "What are you doing?"
Marianne replied, "We have to go."
"Go? I'm not leaving my husband here. We need to help him!"
"There's nothing more we can do, Alice. Your husband is gone."
"Gone? He's right here! We need to find help. He's hurt!"
"He's not hurt. He's dead. And we have to go."
Alice stared a Marianne, mouth open, until realization set in. When it did, she turned to Scooter. "You!" she screamed. "This is all your fault! You said that you'd take care of him, wouldn't let anything happen!"
He let go of Alice and took a step back. "I know," he said. "I'm sorry."
"You're sorry? Look at my husband. You got him killed!" The old woman began sobbing again.
Scooter stood there, unsure of what to do. Her words had spoken some truth.He had gotten John killed. He looked down at the axe in his hands and wished that he had used it sooner.
Marianne spoke to him next. "Scooter," she said. "You have to be strong right now and help me with her. The creatures will be here soon."
She was right. Scooter forced himself to push all other thoughts out of his mind and went back beside the old woman.
As soon as he touched her, she began to struggle. This time he didn't let go. He pulled her to her feet.
Standing, she continued to scream, "Leave me alone! I told you John was too old for this! You promised you'd keep him safe! You can all leave me here. Thosethings got my husband. They can come and take me too!"
"We can't leave you," Marianne argued. "Wewon't."
"You will! I won't go with you. I'll stay with John. I'm not going to…"
"No!" Another voice joined the shouting. It was a high-pitched squeal that got them to stop their fighting. They looked at Emily. It was the little girl that had spoken. "You can't stay here! You have to come with us! Please!"
Tears streamed down Alice's face, though now she looked torn as well. She glanced between her husband and the little girl, then came upon a decision. "I love you," she said to the corpse. She bent back down and kissed her husband on his bloodied lips. When she raised her head, red droplets fell from her chin. She turned to look at the little girl. "Let's go."
As she got to her feet, Scooter reached over to help her. He stopped when she shot him a look that told him to leave her alone.
She walked over to the little girl and put her hand out for her to hold. "I know that John wouldn't have wanted me to stay."
Emily grabbed it.
"Where are we going?" Julie asked. It was the first time she had spoken since the attack. They could barely make out her words, they trembled so much.
"We keep going in the direction we were headed," Scooter replied. He had no intention of heading back to the cars to find a place to hide. He also didn't want to go back into the grass. If the creatures came back, they'd see the dead bodies on the road and would search frantically for anyone else who might be around.
He started to walk. The others followed.
It wasn't long before they heard screaming from somewhere out in the fields.
"It's them!" Julie said. "What are we going to do?"
Scooter tried to keep his voice under control, "We're going to keep walking."
He picked up the pace, though it wasn't so easy with a grieving widow and a child to deal with. He went back to pick up Emily. "Marianne and Julie," he said, "help with Alice."
The creatures continued to scream, and sounded like they were coming from every direction. Scooter could only hope that that wasn't the case. He pushed on.
When they came to an intersection, Scooter suggested that they turn off the road they were on. "If the creatures come out, they won't be able to see us," he explained.
They went to the right.
However, before Scooter got very far, he turned to look back down the road they had just come up. It was impossible to make out anything in great detail, but he could see John's body lying out in the middle of the road.
How could they just leave him there like that?
"I'm sorry," he said softly. "I'm so sorry."
Chapter 5
Before he had a chance to move away, the creatures came out of the grass, screaming and swinging their arms. They searched around until they saw John and thething who had attacked him. Then they jumped on the bodies and began tearing them apart.
Scooter couldn't get himself to look away. Part of him wanted to rush back and stop them. He could use his axe to fight them off.Slam it into each and every one of their faces! But he also knew that it wouldn't be possible. He couldn't fight them all at once. They would easily kill him.
Emily moved in his arms and he worried for a moment that she had been looking at the scene unfold. Luckily, she was only pressing her face closer into his neck. She was frightened. He was too.
"Come on!" a voice called to him. He turned to see Marianne staring at him. She was standing a little ways down the road with the others. "Let's go!"
Scooter hurried to them.
"What was it?" Julie asked when he got closer. "Was itthem?"
Scooter wasn't sure of what to say. He wanted to tell them that he had seen the creatures and that they weren't going to be a problem. But to do so he'd have to tell themwhy. He'd have to say that thosethings were too busy eating John, ripping him to pieces. He couldn't see how that would help.
"What's wrong?" Julie continued . "What did you see?"
"I saw them come out onto the road."
"And?"
"And…nothing. They were searching around. I don't think they knew that we were there."
Julie looked relieved. Marianne didn't. She knew that there was more to the story than Scooter was letting on, though she didn't ask him about it.
"We should go," she said, instead.
They all agreed. None of them wanted to be there chatting on the side of the road. They wanted to get out of there.Now.
Once more, Scooter led.
Chapter 6
They stopped when they found a few benches alongside the road. They were in a small town now. Far away from where John was killed.The creatures hadn't followed them. And there didn't appear to be any nearby.
"We should take a rest," Marianne suggested. It was the first time any of them had spoken in a while. They had all been too distraught by all that had happened. "We should have something to eat too."
Julie and Emily sat down on either side of Alice. Marianne took to the other bench. Buster at her feet.
Scooter couldn't get himself to join them. He didn't want to sit. He wanted to keep moving…and to stop thinking. He couldn't get John's death out of his mind.
"I'm going to go for a walk," he said
Julie looked up from the bag she was digging through. "A walk? Shouldn't you stay here with us?"
"I'm not going to go far. I'll just take a quick look around. Maybe find some more food or something."
Julie pulled out a can of vegetables. "We have enough food."
"We'll always need to find more. It's better if…" He didn't finish his argument. It was more of an excuse than anything else and he didn't have the energy to go through with it. "I just want to go for a walk."
"I think you should stay."
Scooter decided to ignore her.
"Do you want me to come with you?" This time it was Marianne that spoke. She had placed her purse on the bench and her knife in her lap. "It'll give us a chance to talk about things."
He didn't want a chance to talk about things. He wanted to be alone.
"Stay here and eat," he said. "I won't be long."
As he started to walk away Marianne got up from the bench and followed him. He wanted to tell her to sit and leave him be, but he stopped himself. She came up and placed her hand on his arm. He no longer felt any revulsion to her touch. He had gotten past the dream. And even if he hadn't, there were bigger things on his mind at the moment.
"Hold up," she said.
"What is it?" he asked. "I"m just going to go for a bit."
"I know. I wanted to talk to you about something first."
Scooter started to walk away again. "I don't want to talk about anything right now."
Marianne followed. "I know. And I'll keep it short."
He turned to face her. "What is it?"
"It's about John."
"I don't want to talk about him."
Marianne grabbed his arm again. "Just give me a second to explain."
Scooter waited.
"It wasn't your fault," she said.
"What wasn't my fault? That John died?"
"Yes, that wasn't your fault."
"Then whose fault was it?"
"No one's. We're all doing the best that we can."
"That's not whatshe thinks." He looked at Alice. The old woman didn't look back. She was too far away to hear that he was talking about her.
"Give her time," Marianne said. "That's all she needs."
"Maybe that's allIneed." Scooter knew that his voice was bordering on childish, but he didn't really care. He wanted to stop this conversation with Marianne and find somewhere to be on his own.
Marianne took her hand off of his arm. "You're right," she said. "But if you ever need to talk, I'm here."
He doubted that he would ever take her up on the offer and started to walk away.
"Remember," she called to him, "it wasn't your fault."
Chapter 7
Scooter walked until was out of sight of the others. He had turned a corner and went a few blocks to a small intersection. There was the usual car crash he
had come to expect. Bodies and blood spread out around them. However, he focused very little on those and instead continued to think about John.
Since the old man's death, he couldn't stop imagining the attack. He pictured John on the ground with the creature on top of him. He could hear everyone screaming as the creature bit into his neck. Then there was the flesh that hung from its mouth.
He also remembered his reaction…and how he hadn't been fast enough.
He slammed his fist against a wall. A pain ran up the length of his arm as his knuckles connected with the brick. His skin tore.
Why hadn't he been quicker?
Scooter stopped himself from punching it again and sat down down on the curb. He placed his axe beside him. The creature's blood glistened on the blade.
He took a deep breath. Then another.
John…
Although he had only known him for a short time, Scooter had liked the old man a lot. He always tried to make the best out of every situation. Adding a joke here and there. And even though things were difficult for him, he never gave up. He pushed himself to keep walking when it was obvious that all he wanted to do was stop.
Scooter also liked that the John usually came to his defence. More than that, he would encourage him and say that he was on the right path, doing a good job. It was more than anyone else had ever said to him before. Even his own father barely spared a word beyond some type of insult or punishment.
Then there was the love that John had had for his wife. That continued to play on Scooter's mind. He had never seen anything close to that before. That type of commitment. That type of affection.
He had never thought much about love before, but seeing it between John and Alice it made him wonder.Was such a thing possible for him?It made him a bit uncomfortable to ask that question. Yet there is was.
His thoughts flickered to Julie. Though just as quickly her image disappeared.
John came back into his mind. As did his wife.
Scooter couldn't imagine what Alice must have felt watching her husband get killed. Especially in the way that he had. They had been together for such a long time. To have it taken away from them would've been the worst thing that could have happened. She must have felt powerless, useless. She had to have been racked with fear and sadness. And, on top of all of that, she would have felt alone. Like a part of her had died.
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