by Howard, Bill
CHAPTER 28: EXODUS
Clive actually seemed to be smiling a little. Thom wasn’t. Clive had a large laceration on his face that must have been recently acquired as it was still bleeding. Thom’s shotgun barrel was still smoking from the shot that scared off the rabid monkeys. Ellie and I got to our feet and stood facing Clive and Thom.
“Thank you,” I said. “You have impeccable timing. This is Ellie, she helped me out and we’re headed back now. Her kids are in Brooklin." I motioned to the dog, who was lying on the ground now, tired. “This is Max.”
Clive extended his hand and shook Ellie’s. Thom just stood there. He didn’t seem angry, just distant. The first thing that flashed into my mind was Ellie’s sighting of the might-be Isabel, but I dared not mention that without risking a good thrashing.
Clive spoke up. “We better go. Thom and I were just attacked by a young Orangutan. It almost tore my head off, but Thom managed to shoot it before it did. I felt horrible that he had to do that, but I would have felt worse if he didn’t.”
I took a step towards Thom, though carefully--he did have a shotgun. His eyes turned to meet mine as I stood in front of him.
“Thom, I…”
A thunderous crash behind me interrupted my sentiments; we all retracted from the noise and lowered to the ground. There was a massive crash of glass from inside the pavilion, and all the monkeys scratching at the door fled in all directions. There was a moment of silence after the crash, then a bellowing roar from inside. I wasn’t particularly in favor of sticking around to find out what it was, so I stood up and motioned for the others to run with me in the opposite direction. Everyone got up and we turned tail and started running. We barely got a hundred metres before we heard another crash. I looked back as I kept running just in time to see the yellow-eyed gorilla smash through the glass wall of the pavilion and stumble out onto the walkway. It seemed to be covered in a lot of blood, and had a half carcass of spider monkey hanging from its jaw. It just stood for a second; its massive hand swung up and pulled the monkey remains from its teeth, tossing it on the pavement. It then scratched its chest for a moment before its head turned our way and its eyes caught sight of us running. A quick snarl ripped out of its nostrils and it started to gallop on all fours towards us. I screamed forward to the others, who had all passed me when I got distracted looking back. I wasn’t eloquent, but the tone in my voice as the word RUN was drawn out must have gotten the point across, because they all ran as fast as gazelles on the Serengeti. I glanced over my shoulder, and, for a moment, reality was very much like the side mirror of a car, where objects may appear closer than they are, because I could practically feel the hot breath of the gorilla. I could only think of one thing that might save us.
“Split up, into the woods!" I shouted.
We exploded in different directions into the wooded areas. My feet were gliding over fallen trees and stumps as if I were running on air, my chest hurt with the quick, panicked breaths being pushed in and out of my lungs. I took the chance and looked back again, hoping to determine which one of us the gorilla decided to go after. I turned my head and glimpsed a wall of coarse black hair just as it connected with my back, sending me off my feet and into the air. I hit a tree chest first, and it felt like a dump truck had just run into me point blank. My body stopped dead against the bark and slid down, crumbling into a pile at the base of the old maple. The gorilla came to a halt, kicking up dead leaves all around me. It hovered above me, its heavy breath blowing on the back of my neck. I closed my eyes and prepared for the worst. Then I heard its breath stop suddenly and the gorilla shifted in the dirt. I turned my head slightly and looked up at the massive beast. If it weren’t for the fact that it was about to tear me apart, it would be an amazing sight; the sheer size and beauty of the animal was staggering. It still stood over me, but its head was turned to the left, looking out into the woods, and its breathing had slowed almost to a stop. It was tense and the hair on its shoulders stood on end. I turned as much as I could and looked into the direction it was facing, but I didn’t see anything. The gorilla did not move. Its eyes were locked on something, and the all-too-familiar pink foam drizzled slowly from its chin. I had been holding my breath for some time now and had to let it out, but I did so carefully, quietly. I shifted slightly and tried to get a better look at the gorilla’s fixation. About two hundred meters away, I saw a slight movement on the ground, but it was barely discernible. I watched intently. It moved again, but this time I noticed a pair of golden shoulder blades rise and fall above the leaves. I could now make out that it was a lioness, and judging from what was transpiring here, she was a hungry lioness. She was large, I could see that now, and was closing in on the gorilla and me. I started to veer away from my position at the gorilla’s feet, sliding on my back to its right, slithering through the leaves slowly like some clumsy snake. I made it a few feet when the gorilla pounded its fists into the ground in the direction of the lioness. I could actually feel the ground tremble. The low grumble from within the gorilla was reverberating through my chest like an earthquake. The lioness was within about 50 meters, and was raised up into a defensive position, making itself visible, its head lowered but hind legs dug into the ground. The gorilla lunged forward again, but raised itself up onto its legs, pounding its chest and roaring. As it started to lower back down, the lioness launched off its hind legs and flew through the air towards the gorilla, its outstretched front claws making contact with the gorilla’s chest, digging into the thick black flesh. The gorilla barely reacted to the attack, instead just grabbing the lioness by the back and hurling it off into the dirt. At this point I figured I was pretty safe to pick up the pace a little, so I stood up quickly and tore off in the direction of the path. Neither the gorilla nor the lioness seemed to care much, as they continued their assault on each other, raising a huge cloud of dust, dirt, and leaves. I ran as fast as I could to the path, then on towards the front of the zoo. When I reached the next intersection of the path, I met up with the others, who had gathered behind a large wooden sign. After I ran over to them, I had to put my hands on my knees and try to catch my breath. They had all been watching the “When Animals Attack” episode that unfolded before their eyes, transfixed.
“Okay, this is fascinating, but shouldn’t we get going before one of them wins?" I stated in short quick breaths.
Everyone seemed to snap out of it and we headed to the entrance of the zoo. We got to the gates and ran through them out to the huge parking lot. There wasn’t a soul in sight, so we continued through the vast lot and back into the woods surrounding the highway ahead. We ran for about 15 more minutes, until we were about to collapse from exhaustion, before we came to a stop in a small clearing. Ellie and I sat down on a fallen tree, Max lowering himself into the dirt beside us, and Thom and Clive fell flat down onto the ground lying on their backs. We took deep breaths, our heaving chests eventually slowing to a normal pace. Ellie spoke first.
“Thank you so much. I think we would have been dinner on the Planet of the Apes were it not for you.”
Clive nodded, one corner of his mouth raised in amusement. Thom also nodded, a look of relief on his face. I looked over at Thom, who looked back at me, and for the first time in a while he didn’t look like he wanted to kill me. I was going to say something but at the last minute I thought I should just leave it alone. I assumed the fact that he was here at all was a sign he might be coming around on the whole subject of hating me. I would rather settle for the cold shoulder in person than nothing at all.
Titles from:
BOOKS of the DEAD
BEST NEW ZOMBIE TALES (Vol. 1)
BEST NEW ZOMBIE TALES (Vol. 2)
BEST NEW ZOMBIE TALES (Vol. 3)
BEST NEW ZOMBIE TALES TRILOGY
BEST NEW WEREWOLF TALES (VOL. 1)
BEST NEW VAMPIRE TALES (Vol. 1)
CLASSIC VAMPIRE TALES
GARY BRANDNER - THE HOWLING
GARY BRANDNER - THE HOWLING II
&n
bsp; GARY BRANDNER - THE HOWLING III
GARY BRANDNER - THE HOWLING TRILOGY
JAMES ROY DALEY - INTO HELL
JAMES ROY DALEY - TERROR TOWN
JAMES ROY DALEY - 13 DROPS OF BLOOD
JAMES ROY DALEY - THE DEAD PARADE
JAMES ROY DALEY - ZOMBIE KONG
JOHN F.D. TAFF - LITTLE DEATHS
JOHN L. FRENCH – PARADISE DENIED
MATT HULTS - ANYTHING CAN BE DANGEROUS
TONIA BROWN - BADASS ZOMBIE ROAD TRIP
MATT HULTS - HUSK
TIM LEBBON - BERSERK
PAUL KANE - PAIN CAGES
ZOMBIE KONG ANTHOLOGY
* * *
Thank you for reading!
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 25: FEELS LIKE HOME
CHAPTER 26: ELEANOR SUZANNA CROFT
CHAPTER 27: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
CHAPTER 28: EXODUS
Table of Contents
CHAPTER 25: FEELS LIKE HOME
CHAPTER 26: ELEANOR SUZANNA CROFT
CHAPTER 27: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE
CHAPTER 28: EXODUS