Taller than him and ghostly white, empty blue eye sockets stared at him before disappearing behind him.
Cale whirled around, gun raised and heart hammering in his ears.
Only empty forest met his gaze.
He scanned the environment, his mouth dry and heart threatening to explode out of his chest. Increasingly aware of how dead he should have been, his head dropped with a relieved sigh and he froze.
The tracks were different.
For the briefest of seconds, he considered going after it, but the thought left him quickly. There wasn’t a chance in hell of standing up against that thing at the moment. He went around the tree the thing had been hiding in, a deformed hand print of blue gel melded into the rough bark. Climbing up into the tree, a smell similar to the bio gel filled his nose. It was less pungent and slightly denser, but what caught him by surprise was the hissing bark as the goop ate away at it.
A gun clicked behind him.
“That is a really bad habit of yours, Hawk.”
“I ain’t no hawk, boy.”
Cale looked down under his arm. Five men in flannel jackets and dirty hats stood in a half-circle at the base of the tree, all armed and aiming at him. He hopped down and faced the center man with a rough looking black beard. The thug chewed on something while sneering at him.
Lyons had warned him about trigger happy rednecks forming a posse.
“Can I help you guys?”
“We’re monster hunting and we were tracking something. Then you showed up.”
“So what, you think I’m the monster?”
“I don’t recognize you from town.”
“Sheriff Lyons called for backup with the problem you guys are having. I’m part of it.”
“We don’t need any damn backup. That’s why we’re out here. If you’re smart, you’ll get out quick.”
“I’m afraid I don’t have a choice in that matter.”
The man jabbed the barrel of his rifle into Cale’s gut.
“I wasn’t giving you a choice.”
God, it was like Christmas. A small town in the mountains, and a group of dumb hicks; he couldn’t even stop the tiny grin on his lips.
Twisting the barrel away, he knocked the guy flat on his back. His head snapped back as another guy punched him in the nose. Bleeding but not broken, the grin spread. He dodged another punch but was tackled from behind. Wrestling around, the air was forced out of his lungs as a harsh kick caught his gut and flipped him onto his back.
“Boy.” The first guy spit his chew out onto the ground. “You better be gone by morning.”
Picking up his rifle, he trudged deeper in.
“Come on boys; let’s move before the trail get cold.”
Cale waited for them to leave before standing and brushing himself off, wiping the bloody nose across his sleeve. The best thing about roughnecks was their pride. Throw a punch, and they forget about their guns. Of course, it was a gamble, but the odds were better than drawing his own weapon.
Taking off in a jog, his thoughts reverted to the two separate tracks.
What were they going to do?
Chapter
20
Blowing on his freezing hands, Cale pushed the sheriff’s door open with his shoulder, the warm air hitting him like a pleasant breeze. Lyons and Tim looked up from their desks, the latter immediately running to the back. The sheriff cocked an eye brow at him
“What happened to you? Run into a tree?”
“Locals.”
“Guy have a ratty beard and a mouthful of chew?”
“Yes ma’am, and had four others with him.”
She rubbed her face with an irritated sigh.
“His name’s Jack Mullen. He and a lot of the other hoodlums around town have been going on their hunting trips to find whatever is out there. Those boys usually cause plenty of problems, but lately they’ve been getting pretty violent. Seem to think they’re in charge of the town.”
Cale fell into an extra chair as Tim came back in with a first aid kit and towel.
“Here, this should help.” He handed the towel over. “Is your nose broken?” “Thanks, and no, it’s just a little sore.”
“Did you find anything out there?”
Cale wiped his face clean with the damp towel and dabbed at his jacket sleeve. Until he got the okay from Hawk, there was very little he felt comfortably revealing. As much as he hated lying to them, causing a panic or not being believed would be worse. There could be a time when the town would have to be moved, but until Hawk gave the okay or he felt there wasn’t a better option, he would skirt the issue.
“I think I found some tracks, but Mullen interrupted me. Considering the amount of weapons those guys had, I didn’t want to spend the night out there with them.”
“Probably smart.” Tim looked over at Lyons. “Should we bring them in?”
“No, he’s got about twenty in his little group and we don’t need to be fighting them – yet.” Lyons tossed a set of keys over to Cale. “Your wife has already headed back to town. Tony dropped her off at McKinnon’s bar. The owner’s giving you two one of his rooms upstairs. We’ll start fresh in the morning. Tim, have him follow you there, then get home yourself.”
* * *
Julia snapped her cell phone shut as Cale walked in and closed the door quietly, sliding the deadbolt into place. Never again would he sleep without the door locked, not that the flimsy wood would do much against what was out there. A door similar to this couldn’t even handle the regular ones; their pale clawed fingers tips would shred the door like paper.
He glanced around the small room. The bed took up most of it, but the carpet was plush and the room was warm so at least it would be comfortable on the floor.
“Did you find anything?”
He kicked his boots off next to the door and dug his toes into the carpet.
“Tracks, and unfortunately, there are two different creatures.”
“I have reached that same conclusion. The skinned bodies do not have the same substance near them as the missing bodies do.”
“Substance- was it a blue gel?” Julia looked briefly surprised. “The thing that was watching us left a hand print of it.”
“You encountered it? Is that why you are hurt?”
Cale blinked. Had it been anyone else he would have thought she was concerned.
“No, that was some of the locals hunting it. The thing itself rushed past me. It’s fast Hawk. I didn’t even have time to aim.”
“Julia.”
“What?”
“You should be calling me Julia. That is my real name after all.”
“No one else is around.”
“It is what I prefer you call me. It implies … familiarity.”
“That’s something we don’t have.”
“And I- I don’t like it.”
“Why?”
Her fists clenched at her sides.
“We are going to be partners from this point on. I am sorry that I have been critical of you, but it wasn’t to make you feel unwelcome. Cale, I feel guilty. You had a normal life and because I shot at you, it grew into you coming into this war against your will. You’re miserable and lonely. It’s my fault, and I have spent the past week trying to make up for it. I’m not very good at it, but I have repeatedly made efforts to form some kind of friendship with you.”
“You have done nothing but-”
“I fixed your coat, and had Ape install a mesh armor within it to keep you safe. I went into that fire and dragged your burning body out. Wolf and everyone else would have left you for dead. I’ve tried to apologize the best way I can think of, and all you do is ridicule me and think of me as some kind of heartless killer!”
He stomped over to her.
“And you didn’t tell me any of this until now! I’m not a damned mind reader. Did you think if maybe you had tried talking to me instead of at me, I would have been more understanding?”
“I don’t know how!”
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She stared up at him angrily, tears pricking at the edges.
He bit back a curse.
He had made a woman cry. At home, his aunt and uncle would beat the tar out of him for that. Now, a sudden wave of guilt wailed on his insides in their place. Every excuse on the planet didn’t change the fact that under normal circumstances he would have made an effort to realize what she was confiding. Honestly, it was easier to be angry with her. Even if she had made it easy, the fact bothered him.
She spun away from him and looked out at the window.
“I haven’t been around a lot of people, Cale, and no one that was not a part of the military. My ability to interact with people is poor, and my emotions are kept in check to deal with my lifestyle.”
“Why me?” Cale hesitated to take a step towards her. “You don’t use the others’ names. So why do you want that familiarity with me?”
“They have each other and have similar backgrounds like mine. You are normal, which is the one type of person I’ve never met. Your protectiveness of your pets and how well they respond to you demonstrate that you are a kind and gentle person. I guess I’m selfish and wanted to treasure that a little bit.”
Throwing a pillow at him, she didn’t say anything more and curled up on the bed, tugging her green jacket around her.
Cale laid noiselessly down on the ground and shoved the pillow under his head. He listened silently for her breathing to even out and then fell asleep.
Chapter
21
Cale inhaled the earthen scent of the forest. The cold morning air made everything crisper, from the leaves on the ground to the gray sky above. It was silent; even the chirping of birds was absent. If they were quiet, then they had to be terrified of what was stalking the town. The only comfort he had was that the leaves on the ground made the forest much more open and much harder for something to get the drop on him.
Not having slept much throughout the night, he had headed out at daybreak and left Hawk- Julia sleeping. Last night was not sitting well with him, and not just because he felt like a jerk. No, it was more what he did from here on out. Her personality wasn’t going to change, but could he look past that? Did he want to bother when it was easier to hold a grudge?
It didn’t matter if he did or not. What mattered was that she had made an effort and it was up to him whether to ignore that or not. There was only one real option, and it annoyed him that he even had to think about it.
Jeez, one zombie outbreak and all his manners and decency go to hell.
Taking one last look around, he started the trek back to the town.
The glowing blue eyes twenty feet behind him went unnoticed.
* * *
“Have you ever had pancakes before?” Cale held the door open to the town’s little diner. “I’m talking real pancakes, not military issue just add water mix,”
“… No.”
They sat down at the only empty table by the window. He’d spent the entire walk back trying to figure out the best way to apologize, and pancakes was what he had come up with. She wanted normal, so this was the best to start with. It would also give them a chance to talk a little less angrily. It may fall apart, but he was going to give it a serious attempt before casting a final judgment.
Almost immediately, a freckled waitress came up, pen and paper at the ready.
“What can I get for you two this morning? And don’t worry, it’s on the house. You’re here to help out our town after all.”
“Wow, word travels fast. We’ll have a stack of pancakes and bacon with some orange juice.” Cale’s eyes flickered over to Julia. “I think we’ll start with five each.”
“You got it, hon.”
The waitress jotted down a quick note and wandered into the back.
“I know we need to eat to keep up our strength, but a power bar and some fruit would have sufficed.”
“You said you want something normal. Well, I’m going to help.”
“But-”
“We don’t have to meet with Lyons for an hour. Trust me. You will be glad that you stayed.”
“You don’t have to make anything up. I was being … irrational last night.”
“So you think I haven’t been a jerk to you?”
“You have been difficult.”
“I was raised to make up for my mistakes.”
“There really isn’t anything to make up for. I had formed a scenario without taking into account your feelings or thoughts. It was wrong how I handled everything.
“Look, I think we need to start off fresh. With everything that happened, I wasn’t acting like I should. I’m your partner and a part of this, so being angry and rude isn’t going to help that.” He smiled his most sincere smile at her. “I don’t blame you, Julia, for me being here. And I am sorry for not showing you my best.”
She blinked at him, surprise evident on her face. He could have sworn he almost saw her lips twitch up into a smile, but it was so faint it could have just been a trick of the lights.
“And pancakes are going to do this?”
Did she just make a – joke?
The waitress returned with a steaming stack of pancakes topped off with sizzling bacon, and set down a plate in front of each of them. There was no way they prepared them that fast. Oh God, had they stolen it from some else’s order? The waitress gave them a smile and then sped off to another table before he could comment.
Cale slathered butter over each pancake and then poured syrup over them until it pooled on the plate. Pushing it across the table, Julia’s face scrunched up like it was going to attack her. His lips turned up in a triumphant grin.
“That’s how you prepare pancakes.”
“There is so much butter and syrup.”
She tentatively grabbed a fork and cut off a piece while he repeated the process on his stack. The aroma of the homemade breakfast overpowering, he dug in and started chowing down. Hawk watched him for a moment, then nibbled at the edge of her bite before popping the entire thing in her mouth.
Her eyes grew wide, and he almost laughed from the awed look on her face. She took a few more moments to analyze the taste, then dug in heartily.
Cale went to dig back in when the diner door slammed open. Tim rushed inside, looking like a deer caught in the headlights. The color drained from his face; he literally ran over to them. It was the look of a horrified man.
“Thank God I found you. Lyons needs you guys, now!”
Cale and Julia were on their feet and following him before he even finished the sentence.
“What happened?” Julia asked as they piled into Tim’s car.
“There’s a farm a mile out of town. Lyons got a call from the owner ten minutes ago. They say some kind of demon tore through their barn killing everything and was getting into the house. Guys, I don’t know what this is, but Lyons was nervous like she heard something on the other end. Lyons is never nervous.”
The deputy slammed his foot on the accelerator and shot out of town, leaving a mass of confused people peering out of the diner.
“What do you have for weapons?” Julia glanced over at Cale. “We only have our handguns available.”
“There’s a shotgun in the back. I know Tony has a rifle in his truck. He and Lyons are probably already there.”
“How much ammunition?”
“A few round- why do you sound like we’re going to need firepower?”
“You’re the one going fifty on a back road.”
“Fair enough.”
They pulled into a long gravel drive a minute later. Tim slammed on the brakes, sliding up next to the other two vehicles and their shock-frozen owners. Cale climbed out and stopped dead in his tracks. Julia did the same, while Tim collapsed to his knees and vomited on the ground.
During his first semester in college, Cale had taken a mythology course comparing the different end of the world prophesies through history. A lot of concept artists had depicted violent, hopeless, gory landscapes.
It looked like an army had fought a frenzied war. The home was trashed with large holes in the walls, like a wrecking ball had bounced through it several times. What was left of the barn’s foundation was tilting at an angle. A good gust of wind would bring the entire thing down. The lawn was torn up like a battlefield; long gashes in the soil reached almost a foot deep in some places.
And everything was dyed in red.
Chapter
22
Julia sprinted towards the house, gun ready and Cale following close behind. He kept swallowing down the bile taste that kept creeping up as they got closer to the house. The grass, what was left of it, was slick. The entire landscape looked as if crimson had rained from the sky and then been sloshed around with a paint brush. Had he been more religious, he would have sworn it was Biblical.
He was going to become more religious after this.
What concerned him wasn’t the carnage though. It was the fact that the thing had strewn its prey all over the place. It was like it had gone into a feeding frenzy or played with its catch like a cat. God, what if the thing was doing it to mark a territory? It was possible. The zombies had shown very basic signs of animal behavior – the bear more so.
How advanced was this thing?
Jumping into the closest hole in the wall, the damaged floor boards cracked and whined as his weight settled over them. The chaotic inside of the house was littered with smashed furniture, chunks of floor were completely missing and an entire half of the ceiling was gone. It was thankfully less bloody than the outside; only a bloody print occasionally dotted something that was destroyed.
This thing had no idea how to control its strength, did it?
Julia was already crawling up the heavily damaged stairs by the time he circled around to the back of the house. He remained downstairs, checking each room for any survivors … or less desirable inhabitants.
“Cale.”
Breathe Deep Fear Vol. 1 Page 10