Killer Koala Bears from Another Dimension

by P. A. Douglas

  Tim was full of shit. There was no telling where these things could have come from. Sure as hell wasn’t any rift. They had done his stupid little Geomancy trick back at old man Terry’s house. And that was nearly a ten minute drive away in the other direction. No way could these things have made it that far on foot. Let alone beat them there with her driving. They could have been living in the mountainside for all they knew. This was all just some big coincidence. What she wanted to say was that they needed to call someone. Get him to the doctor. He was in no shape to be walking around. For Christ’s sake, his head was bleeding. She started to speak, but couldn’t find the words she was looking for. Instead her hand reached her open mouth, the corpse before them an oddity of nature. What she was seeing couldn’t be real.

  “What the hell…,” Tim stretched his chest out, trying to stand on his own, “were you thinking? Nearly killed me.”

  Had her mind not jumped to the fact that there had been two of those creatures, she would have snapped at Tim for giving her shit. Even with the chaos and disaster he was too worried about himself to even bother asking if she was all right. Freaking prick.

  “Will you help me up?” Tim put a hand up for her, while still leaning against the truck.

  “The other one.” Joana looked out into the street.

  “What?”

  “The other one. There was two of them… remember?”

  “Oh shit, you’re right.”

  They both looked on.

  The street was silent. Still.

  After a moment, Joana spoke up, whispering, “We need to call someone. You got your cellphone?”

  Tim patted his black jeans down. “Must a fell out of my pocket when I got flung from the car.”

  Joana noticed how Tim made sure to emphasize the getting thrown from the car part. As if all of this was her fault.

  “Hey, I was wearing my seatbelt.”

  He rolled his eyes, and then started scanning the ground for his phone. “Couldn’t have gone far.”

  Suddenly the wind picked up. A few parking spots away flickering light caught Joana’s attention.

  “Look over there.” She tapped Tim on the shoulder.

  He winced with great agony. Just when he was probably about to jump her shit about grabbing his arm like that, he looked up and saw it too. The light was growing. Pulsing. The purple and blue hues penetrated the darkness, growing larger.

  “I’m scared.” Joana said.

  “That’s it…” Tim grinned, forcing himself upright. “One of the rifts. I can’t explain how there’s one here, opening up miles away from where we did the ritual. But still. That’s it. That’s what we wanted. Let’s go!” He started hobbling toward it.

  “Are you out of your mind?” Joana barked, holding him back. “Look. Something’s happening.”

  She was right. Something was happening. Figures much like the ones they had already encountered made their way through the beam of light.

  “Let me go.” Tim said, trying to pry his way free from her.

  She was stronger than him and she knew it. The countless times they had spent wrestling naked in the bed was proof of that. She outweighed him by nearly half.

  “You’re going to get us killed,” she whispered, yanking him away from the truck and toward a narrow alley between two of the small shops.

  “No… this is our chance.” He protested, trying to wiggle his way free from her arms. “This is what it was all about.”

  Joana and her boyfriend were quickly out of sight. Tim’s words resonated in Joana’s mind as they collided into the dark covering the alley provided. Just as the first creature penetrated the rift, This is what it was all about… Killer koala bears from another dimension was nowhere near what it was all about. That stupid Geomancy crap was just her way of trying to get Tim out of the house and off that stupid computer. She just wanted them to have more of an active life together. Not this. As it was all happening, she suddenly felt like maybe he was right. The ritual had worked.

  Tripping in the darkness, Joana fell backward, the weight of Tim on top of her keeping her from catching her balance. Colliding with what she could only assume was a tin garbage can, it echoed out in the alley like a thundering boom, its contents cascading across the ground.

  With her back against the ground and Tim on top of her, she froze silent. Her heart raced and her breathing was heavy. She could tell that Tim really was in a lot of pain, because he was no longer fighting her. Instead he was gripping at his side with both hands just doing his best to breathe. She felt sorry for him and until now had forgotten about her own injuries. Her head throbbed anew, the shoulder where her shirt was torn still bleeding.

  “But we can finally escape this place.” Tim rasped, out of breath.

  “Shh…” Joana shoved a hand over his mouth and listened. “I don’t think they heard us come down this—”

  Her hopes were instantly shattered. One of the creatures stepped in the alley entrance, looked Joana dead in the eyes, and hissed like a wild animal.

  4

  The Greenbrier River Valley was changing.

  Lewisburg, West Virginia was opening up. All over the small quiet town, seams in the fabric of reality gave birth to a new fate for its humble citizens. More than a hundred rifts had surfaced, spanning the entire valley surrounding the town. Within the hour, it would be flooded with the new invaders from the other side.

  The worst had just begun.

  Jennifer Blannet awoke to her two boys rushing into her room and jumping on the bed. It was a normal custom at their age. Thunderstorms and the occasional scary movie before bed would generally send them both dashing into her bed at any given time in the middle of the night. The Dark man lurking in their closet or under their bed. With twins at the age of six that shared a room, what else was she to expect? After Jon, her husband, went to Iraq and never came back, things had become tough.

  Groggy and confused, she did her best to cling to that last fleeting memory, her dreams taking her back to when Jon was still alive.

  “What is it, boys?” Jennifer asked, rubbing sleep from her eyes and pulling the covers back for the boys to climb into bed. She listened for a second to the sounds around them. No thunder. Ushering them under the covers, she said, “Bad dreams?”

  “No.” Kyle said, the younger of the two by only a few minutes. “The bear-man… it’s at the window.”

  “Oh, come now. There’s no such thing.” She pleaded with a yawn. “Now let’s go back to bed. Mommy was having a good dream about Daddy.”

  “For real, Momma. There was a bear-man. I saw it, too.” Jonny said, pulling on her pajamas. He was named after his father. “Please. You have to go see.”

  “But it’s late, you guys. Can we just go to sleep… please…” She slammed her head back into the pillow and slung one arm up over her eyes. “I’m tired.”

  “But, Mamma.” Kyle pouted, standing up in the bed.

  Jennifer felt the bed shift. Trying to ignore it, she groaned and turned to one side.

  “I wish Daddy was here.” Jonny breathed. “He’d believe us. There really was a bear at our window.”

  Jennifer’s heart sank. She wished Jon was still around, too. She took a deep breath, remembering his face and sighed. Rolling over on her back, she looked at both of the boys. Their expressions were stricken with fear. They really were scared. Seeing them like that made her heart sink even more.

  Reaching up, she patted Kyle on the shoulder and spoke with a soothing voice. “It was just a bad dream, boys. Now let’s get some sleep. There is no such thing as a bear-man creature, and there was nothing trying to get into your wind—”

  Glass shattered from the direction of the boys’ room.

  Panic set it.

  “What was that?” She breathed.

  “He’s going to eat us.”

  Both of the boys started crying.

  “Umm… get under the bed. Now… just do it!” Jennifer demanded, hearing footsteps drawing toward
her room down the hall.

  The boys complied with her wishes as she shoved them off the bed. Before she had a chance to climb off the mattress and find a weapon, the intruder was at her door. She gasped from sheer fright and amazement. The size of a grown man, it was covered in grey and white hair. Its muscles flexed beneath the thick coat as it stood there glaring at her with snarling sharp teeth. Drool dripped from its lips like a wild animal hunting prey. Its left shoulder was soaked with something red. The way it breathed through its nose, just huffing and snarling at her made her shrink inside. Like Alice in Wonderland this brutal creature had somehow forced her to eat the cookie just by being in the room.

  The boys had been right. It was a bear. She could hear them weeping at her feet beneath the bed.

  “Get the hell out of my house!” She yelled, grabbing the lamp from her nightstand.

  The cord tore from the wall and a few loose items on the nightstand hit the floor. Startled, she felt the boys jump with fright under the bed.

  “Leave us alone. I’ve already called the cops!”

  The beast snarled at her with a wicked grin. One of the large furry gray ears on its head twitched as it looked around the room. The monster was tall, hunched over slightly to fit into the doorway. It reached up licking his paw. That was when Jennifer saw the monstrously sharp black fingernails.

  “What do you want? Please just leave…” Her voice wavered, the lamp in her hand shaking.

  She was afraid and she knew that this… this thing could tell.

  “Taem hserf.” The creature grinned.

  The beast lunged forward. Jennifer screamed, sending the lamp flying. Her attacker batted it away in midair falling on her with both paws clawing. Ravenous and wild with rage, the monster slashed at her with his sharp claws. The utter weight of the creature forced Jennifer to the floor. Trying to fight her way free, Jennifer lifted up an arm to avoid getting slashed in the face. Her arm received the brunt of the pain instead. With one fast swipe the deep lacerations from the monster’s claws sent crimson flowing.

  Jennifer Blannet’s screams of agony filled the air, her boys left under the bed to watch her sufferings.

  The bear continued to slice and claw at her with his sharp paws. Grunting with delight and hunger, the arm that she had been blocking with fell to the floor, severed. The creature’s claws were so sharp that after only a few fierce strikes, it was able to separate the bone. Blood pooled around her as she cried out. The shouts seemed to excite her attacker even more. With her arm no longer in the way, her face was next. With one wide slice, three claw marks tore at the skin of her beautiful face. The pain was excruciating. Jamming its claws deep, she felt her right eye burst. She tried to scream again, but her cries were cut short by gurgling and choking. Blood and plasma had run down from the pulpous eye and into her mouth. Gagging on her own sinew and gore gave her no quarter from the creature. It sliced at her pajamas. It grunted and hissed as blood and cotton cupcakes shredded away like grated cheese.

  Her life was drained. She had no fight left. She lay ready to accept this strange fate. She turned her neck toward the bed and coughed. Blood jutted from her lips and leaked from an empty eye socket. She saw her severed arm lying there beside her bleeding all over the carpet, soaking in deep.

  The creature stopped slicing at her for a moment and in the peripheral of her one good eye, she saw it pulling a small dagger from the cloth on its hip. Ignoring it, a lone tear ran down her face as she finally looked past her severed arm at the boys still tucked away under the bed. Their eyes were locked with one another. She had never seen them more terrified in all her life. Holding each other tight, she watched them quiver and cry. She wanted to reach out, hold their hands. Tell them it would all be okay. That she would protect them. That she was going to be with Daddy now. And that it was all okay.

  When she opened her mouth to say these things only blood flowed.

  The pain was even sharper than before. It was like her stomach had exploded. She looked up suppressing the pain. Her eye was sealed on the intruder and what it was doing to her. After slicing her wide open, it reached in with its bear-like paw and began to feast.

  Jennifer was dead before the first warm morsel reached its lips.

  That was when Kyle could be quiet no more. He cried out for his father. Daddy would protect them if he would just come home.

  Their location was compromised.

  The koala bear grinned, the intestinal muck dripping from its lips.

  There was more to eat.

  The Blannet family wasn’t the only one having trouble tonight. It was happening all over town.

  Ben Pepperstien, Jenifer’s next door neighbor, heard the shouting and screaming. Had he already been to bed he might have slept right through it. But he was more of a night owl and went outside to investigate. He normally worked third shift at the local grocery store stocking the shelves at night while the store was closed. Tonight he had called in, not because he was sick or had important plans. He had just called in because he hated his job. The only good thing about that place was the fact that they didn’t have any surveillance cameras. During lunch break, he and some of the other co-workers wouldn’t worry about packing a lunch. It was a grocery store. There was always plenty to choose from.

  With a fresh can of ice-cold beer in hand and bathrobe over his otherwise naked body, Ben didn’t even make it two feet onto his front porch. His eyes caught a quick glimpse of something darting past him in the dark and that was it.

  His head rolled off, separating from the rest of his body. It hit the porch and rolled a few feet into the grass before the beer ever slipped from his hand.

  The humanoid bear that had delivered the deathblow rejoiced with a triumphant animal-like roar of victory. It stuffed the sharp sliver of bone covered in the dead man’s blood back into its sheath, not bothering to wipe away the gore. Stepping over to the severed head, it picked the thing up and licked at the leaking substance running from the human’s neck. Satisfied, it bit into the meaty tissue and tossed the head to the ground. A thick coat of bloody filth stained its fur.

  Gulping down the thick salty meat, the creature grunted at another of its kind. They both grabbed at one of the dead man’s legs and dragged it from the porch out into the street. When they reached the pulsing beam of light nearby, the two hungry koala bears pulled the headless body through the portal and into their world.

  Minutes later, the two bears returned, leaving the body behind.

  Pete, Tim and Joana’s friend, was masturbating to some old VHS porn tapes from the 60’s when he was interrupted. Not by the fact that both of his dogs where in the back yard barking like there was no tomorrow. No, he was ignoring them. Every now and again a skunk or something would pass by stirring up trouble with the dogs. It was worse. His dad practically kicked his bedroom door down while he was in middle of his business. Pete jumped covering himself with the blanket, the video still playing on the TV in his room, the volume off so as to keep from waking his old man. His dad was a cranky fuck when people disturbed his rest.

  “Shit, Dad. Ever heard of knocking?” Pete said, picking up the remote and turning off the TV before the old mad had a chance to see. His face was beet red.

  “Put your dick in your pants, boy. Somethin’s happenin’ outside. Haven’t you heard all that racket?”

  “So what? The dogs bark through the night all the time.” Pete said, trying to not seem embarrassed.

  “No, listen.” His dad paused for a second. “Someone is gettin' shot at.”

  “I don’t hear anything,” Pete said, reaching for a pair of pants and putting them on while still under the covers.

  “Shh…” His dad lifted a hand to his lips.

  It was then that Pete realized that his dad had one of his guns out. That meant he was being serious. Pete listened a moment longer and before he could protest once more about his old man respecting his privacy, his dad interrupted him.

  “Here, take this.” His dad tosse
d the gun at him. “Put on your shoes. We need to go see what the hell is goin’ on out there.”

  “Can’t you just call the cops or something?” It was too late. His dad had already disappeared from the doorway, apparently going back into the bedroom for another gun.

  As he finished getting dressed, his mind raced with the idea that his old man had just walked in on him doing the you-know-what. He shook his head, tying his shoes and picking the gun up from the bed. This time tomorrow afternoon he wasn’t sure he’d be able to look his dad in the eyes with a straight face. He just hoped that his mom wasn’t going to end up hearing about it.

  Pete followed his dad out the back door where the dogs were still barking. Had there not been a single cloud in the sky it might have been pitch black outside. But with no clouds in sight, the moon was shining bright. At first his eyes had to adjust, but in under a minute he was able to see very well in the darkness.

  The dogs were in their pens freaking the fuck out. They were barking at something to the east side of the house. Pete’s dad nodded at him and walked off. His dad was like that. Thought just because he was a gun enthusiast that he was some kind of Rambo or some shit. Pete half expected his dad to do some crazy hand signals that meant some operative sneak maneuver or something. He didn’t. Instead, he disappeared around the side of the house, slow stepping his way toward the front.

  Pete shrugged, stepped over to the dog cage, and tried to calm them. It wasn’t working. They were vicious. Whatever was out there definitely had them spooked. Opening the cage to usher them into the house, he got knocked on his ass. Both of the dogs bolted from their cage, pushing past him, and running off.

  “Fuck…” Pete said, standing up and wiping dirt from his rear.

  The dogs were gone. That was when he heard the first shot fired. The report reverberated off the houses around him. It was hard to tell where it was coming from.

  Another shot rang out.

  “Dad!” It was coming from the front of the house.