“Same place we’re headed. 105 right out of town. Her parents live a few cities over.”
“You’ll find her. Don’t worry ‘bout it. If her car wasn’t there… she got out.”
“Yeah…” Frank said, pocketing the cellphone. “I hope you’re right, Outlaw. I hope you’re right.” Not wanting to think about what could have happened to Kathie, he changed the subject. “You know… I got my tires replaced at your shop just last month. I always go to Outlaw Tires. Good rates, for sure.”
“Yeah?” Outlaw smiled, taking his eyes off the road for a moment to study Frank’s face. “I thought I recognized you. We’re pretty quick ‘bout the turnaround ti—”
“Look out!” Frank pointed to the road ahead, cutting Outlaw off in mid-sentence.
“Oh, shit!” Outlaw shouted, turning the wheel sharp and slamming on the brakes.
The Jimmy shifted hard to the right coming to a stop just in time. The brakes squawked and the axels groaned. The screech of the tires scraping across pavement echoed out through the street even over the groaning vehicle’s protest to stop.
“We’re never getting out,” Frank gasped.
“You don’t know that,” Outlaw demanded, putting the vehicle in park.
Before them was a five car pileup smack dab in the middle of the highway. Only thing was, there were no cars in the crash coming from the other direction. The cars were just piled on each other like smashed bricks. Orange light floated over the cars like a thick lens. It held them like a cage, preventing them from moving any farther. Three other cars were between the Jimmy and the pile of wreckage. One, a black van, had its back doors open showing it was filled with passengers. Some were obviously injured. More than a dozen more people stood along the street investigating the crash and the strange light coming down like a bowl covering a trapped bug.
Outlaw nodded at Frank and with that, they both opened their doors and stepped out of the Jimmy.
Outlaw called out to the crowd standing near the damaged pileup while walking over. “What’s happened?”
No one replied.
Outlaw gave Frank a look and shrugged.
Frank shrugged back.
Approaching the van, Frank saw that there was still someone sitting in the driver seat. An old man. Had to be in his late 60’s. Long white hairs protruded strangely from his ears. Frank looked past it and just approached him as if it were any other normal day.
“Excuse me, Sir. Can you tell us what’s going on here?” Frank pointed to all the people standing in the street before them and beyond to the pile of cars pressed against the barrier of light.
“So…so…so…something c…c…crazy. That’s what,” the old man stuttered. “We… de…de…definitely can’t get th…th…through.”
The old man’s eyes darted back and forth, scanning the sides of the street near the woods. As his head bobbed left and right, all Frank could do was stare at those strange hair filled ears. He’d never seen anything like it. Not in real life anyway. It reminded him of that episode of Family Guy where Peter’s dad had gnomes living in his ears.
“What are you looking for? Did someone go in the woods?” Outlaw asked, stepping up behind Frank and addressing the old man’s wandering eyes.
“Yep… some of the pe…pe…people from the car in front of us went in th…th..there to in…ins…insp…in—”
“Inspect?” Frank filled in the blank.
“Yes…” The old man said, half leaning out the window of the van.
Just when Frank was about to ask why they went into the woods, two people came walking up on the street. The crowd fell silent as they waited eagerly to hear what the two arrivals had to say.
“It’s like that all the way down,” one of them said, stepping onto the street, slightly out of breath.
“What the hell do you mean it goes all the way down?” Someone else protested.
“That’s what I mean, all right? It just keeps going. We can’t get past it, whatever the hell it is.”
Outlaw stepped forward. “Why can’t we just walk through it? It’s light.”
“You hearing this guy?” A woman shouted. She was wearing a nightgown and slippers. “It’s just light… ha… Don’t you see these cars, mister? If they ain’t passing through, then you can forget about it.”
“Yeah,” another man spoke up, poking his head out from one of the other cars. “When we first got here, I watched a bird fly right into that damn thing.”
“What happened to it?” Outlaw asked.
“It isn’t flying anymore if that’s what you’re asking,” the man leaning out of the car said.
Frank looked to the ground and picked up a medium size rock sitting at the edge of the road. Without saying a word, he tossed it as hard as he could at the strange field of light.
“Hey… What the hell are you—” The woman in the slippers started to say, but the collision interrupted her.
The rock collided with the orange field of light with a loud electrical crack. A jolt of pure force and energy pulsed at the center of impact. The ringing hum that followed carried through the air like a tuning fork. It was so loud that Frank had to cover his ears. When he looked up, everyone was doing the same.
After a moment the piercing noise faded.
“You think we haven’t tried that, mister?” The woman demanded.
“Sorry…” Frank lifted his hands in suggestive surrender.
Frank felt the phone in his pocket burning a figurative hole in his pocket. All he could think about was Kathie. This is the way she would have come. Maybe she made it out before that strange light started filtering into everything. He scanned the wreckage and didn’t see her car among the damage. He just longed to call her. To hear her voice. To know that she was all right. That everything was okay. He had to act. Do something. If she wasn’t here, then she had to have gotten through. Where else would she have gone?
Just as he was running all of this through his head, trying to think as if he were in her shoes, Outlaw nudged him on the shoulder. They locked eyes and Frank followed him back to the Jimmy away from the crowd in the street.
“Well, what the hell you wantin’ to do, kid?” Outlaw whispered, looking back at the mess blocking their path.
“I don’t know…” Frank said, glancing back down the road in the direction they had come from. “I’m trying to decide where Kathie would have gone if she didn’t make it to her parents. But I just don’t know…”
“We could just wait here,” Outlaw suggested. “If you really think she would come this way, that is.”
“I really do. It’s just that she’d be here already. Her car isn’t in that pileup… so where does that leave her?”
Frank stood there for a moment just looking around, trying to think of where Kathie would have gone. But more than anything, just hoping that she had made it out to her parents.
“There’s another car coming!” The woman in slippers yelled out. “Might want to signal them before they hit us.”
“Good point,” Outlaw said. “We could a used a bit of a heads up. Came damn close to crashing into this mess ourselves.”
When Outlaw and Frank stepped past the Jimmy, someone from behind them yelled out, “It’s the police! Thank God. We’re saved!”
Sure enough, a cruiser headed down the road at full speed with lights flashing.
For the briefest of moments Frank almost believed it for himself. They really where saved.
Frank swallowed hard, his right hand clasped tight to the cellphone in his coverall’s pocket. Maybe in the morning when he woke up in bed next to Kathie they would laugh together about his crazy dream.
He knew better.
The cops in that patrol car were going to be able to handle the situation just as much this was a dream.
They were fucked, and the expression plastered across David Outlaw’s face said it all for Frank.
11
“Slow down. There’s people in the road!”
“I se
e them!” Tim grunted, slamming the brakes on the patrol car.
The patrol car skidded across the asphalt coming to a dead stop about twenty feet away from a white GMC Jimmy parked in the center of the road. The cruiser lights still flashed, illuminating everything ahead in purple and green light. The strange orange hue that had descended on the town altered the familiar red and blue flashers.
“What the shit, man? Who parks in the middle of the street like that?”
Joana was too busy lost in thought to have heard Tim’s complaint. She couldn’t help but remember that white truck. But she just couldn’t place it. Where had she seen it before?
Before either one of them could climb out of the cruiser, a mass of people started crowding around. One of them, Joana recognized, which instantly placed where she had seen the white truck. It was Frank Edelman’s vehicle. He was a few years older than she was, and he worked at the Recreation Center, but she had seen him around. She had seen him once or twice at a few of the small house parties some of her friends had thrown. She had even talked to him briefly here and there at the grocery store. A jitter of butterflies swarmed in her stomach as he and all the others approached the cop car. He was adorable and handsome all in one.
“What do you think’s going on?” Tim asked, appearing hesitant to step out of the car.
“Only one way to find out,” Joana said, opening her door.
Tim followed suit and they both stepped out into the street simultaneously.
The calm demeanor of the crowed shifted instantly to an uproar of squabbling and bickering.
“These aren’t the police… just a couple of kids!” Someone shouted from within the crowd.
The protests grew even louder.
“What the hell are we going to do now?”
“That’s just great!”
“We’re all going to die out here!”
“Since when did the police start dressing like Marilyn Manson?”
Frank approached
Joana felt flustered.
“Joana. You guys all right?” Frank put his left hand on her shoulder.
Oh my God… he actually knows my name. What do I do… what do I say?
“I… uh…”
“What the hell happened to the front bumper on this thing?” A large man covered in grease walked up beside Frank.
“Joana, this is Outlaw… Outlaw, Joana…” Frank introduced them. “And the guy with the long black hair… that’s…”
She smiled. “That’s Tim, my boyfriend.”
For some reason or another, she kind of wished she hadn’t just blurted out their relationship status like that. If anything, it put her and Frank stuck at just friends automatically.
“Well, nice to meet you guys. Any friend of Frank’s is a friend of mine.” Outlaw lifted his ball cap, nodded, and put the cap back on. “So I got to ask. What happened to the front end of this here cop car and how in the hell did you end up with it?”
Before either of them could reply, Frank said, “You guys are covered in blood. Are you hurt?”
“It’s not my blood,” Joana breathed. “Some of what’s on Tim is his. He got thrown from my mom’s car when those things attacked us.”
“Shit, kid. You okay?”
“I think so…” Tim rubbed his head, his face still coated in dried blood. “My head is throbbing something fierce and my freaking side hurts.”
“Well, let’s get those cruiser lights turned off and you guys come take a look at the damage. Those lights probably aren’t helping your head at all,” Frank said, looking at Tim. “They’re freaking bright as crap.”
“We would turn them off, but we don’t know how,” Joana sighed.
“I got it.” Outlaw stepped past Tim leaning into the cruiser. After a moment, the lights went off and he popped his head out with a shotgun in hand. “Check this out. This might come in handy.”
“Yeah… We couldn’t figure out how to unhook it from the rack either,” Joana said.
Tim glared at her with embarrassment. She lowered her head as if what she said was a slap to his face.
“Well, its unhooked now.” Outlaw grinned, tossing it to Frank. “You know how to handle this thing?”
Frank caught it and shrugged. “Yeah, I guess. You just point and shoot, right?”
“Something like that.” Outlaw smiled. “Just hold tight. It’s got a kick to it.”
“What about you?”
“Don’t worry ‘bout me, Frankie-boy.” Outlaw shook his right ankle, reminding Frank of the revolver. “I’m covered.”
“Hey… what about us?” Tim protested.
“You look like you got it under control if we come into close range assault.” Outlaw pointed to the machete on Tim’s hip. “Just leave the shooting to us, kid.”
Tim rolled his eyes and scanned all of the people standing around them in the street. “Whatever. You said something about a mess up there? What’s everybody doing just standing out here?”
“Come take a look.”
Frank led them toward the wreck through the crowd with the shotgun resting on his shoulder. Joana watched him walk ahead. He looked so cute in that blue jumpsuit… or coveralls. Whatever you called them. He was a working man. Had a job, unlike Tim. They stepped past some of the people. After Joana smiled at a woman wearing a sleeping gown and slippers, she locked eyes with Tim who had walked up beside her. The look on his face was filled with dread. It was as if he knew what they were about to take a look at. The field thingy that he had mentioned. It had already closed down around them. They were stuck. No getting out. She didn’t have to ask. The way his eyes glistened with worry was enough to tell her what she already knew. How could he have been so stupid to let this all happen? Her hatred for him boiled inside. If it wasn’t already bad enough, when she reached the wreck, the hatred for Tim grew. The light had kept the cars from getting out.
“Wh…wh…what are we go… go…going to do?” An old man stepped up beside Joana.
“If Tim hadn’t—”
Tim jabbed her hard in the rib. Joana winced at the pain.
“What’s that?” Frank asked, looking away from the wreckage.
“Nothing…” Tim said, very matter-of-fact. “We just need to—”
A sudden rush of air fluttered beside Tim cutting his words short.
“Run!” Someone shouted.
“Oh my God!” Joana screamed, pointing at the old man that had just stepped up beside them.
The spear protruding from his left eye was covered in blood, the wooden handle stuck out from the back of his head. He slumped to his knees then fell flaccid to his chest on the highway pavement.
Everyone shouted and scattered in all directions. Some jumped back into their vehicles, but once inside were unable to move. The other cars had them boxed in. There was no way to turn around and head back into town. The first Arktos that came into view fell from above. Having jumped from the top of a tree near the edge of the road. It landed on its feet on top of the black van filled with people. It smashed the windshield with a glowing rock. The screams of pain and torment began after it climbed into the van.
“They’re everywhere!” Someone shouted, darting into the woods.
“Back to the car!” Outlaw shouted.
When they looked up, the woman in the slippers had jumped into the patrol car. With the keys still in the ignition and the engine running, Joana, Frank, Tim, and Outlaw watched the cruiser take off in reverse. Just as the police car stopped, trying to turn around and take off, three humanoid-bears charged out from the woods on one side, throwing rocks and spears at the moving car. Glass shattered; the bears lunged at it as if it were an animal and not an inanimate metal object. The patrol car stopped and the woman’s screamed filled the air for a few seconds. When her screams ended, they knew… she was dead. The car rolled to a stop not even ten feet away from where it had originally been parked.
“What the hell are we doing standing here? Let’s get the hell out!” Frank started
to run toward the Jimmy, but the three bears that had attacked the patrol car now headed toward them. And the creatures were a hell of a lot closer to the Jimmy than they were.
“Into the woods!” Outlaw insisted, grabbing Frank by the shoulder and pulling him along.
Sharp pain ran through his body as he was pulled down the ditch and past the first few trees. Outlaw had grabbed him right where that spear had hit him. He felt the warm wet sensation of blood running anew under his coveralls.
Arrows came down around them.
“Just keep going!”
Joana screamed, trying to keep up. She could hear the pursuit of those monstrous things giving chase behind her. She stumbled forward almost losing her footing in the soft dirt. She compensated with her other foot and pulled herself forward using a tree for leverage.
She just kept running.
They all did.
With Frank and Outlaw in the lead, Tim and several other people were only a few paces ahead. She looked back, panicked. Those creatures were going to catch up, do things to her. Kill her and eat her.
“Tim! Please… Wait for me!”
Tim didn’t even look back. And in moments, she lost sight of everyone else. The deeper she ran into the woods the harder it was to see past all the thick trees. The machete bounced and slapped her hip. The sound of rustling pursuit somehow had changed. It was no longer behind her, but above. She looked up, still running, and thought she saw something gray sliding across the tree line overhead. She heard grunts and that familiar hissing of excitement that the Arktos made. They were surrounded.
Then the trees parted and gave way to a clearing. She fell to her knees nearly out of breath and screamed in terror. Frank pointed the shotgun right at her.
“Duck!”
Just as she did just that, the shotgun fired. The deafening report bellowed out. The creature that had been right on Joana’s tail crashed to the ground, its chest blown to bits from the close range gunshot wound. The leaves crunched under its weight as it fell to the ground dead. The glowing stone it held slowly faded, the light leaving it just as the life had left Joana’s attacker with the pull of the trigger.
“Thanks…” Joana wheezed, out of breath.
Killer Koala Bears from Another Dimension Page 9