Ravage

by MacCraw

  “Can you carry-“

  Logan was abruptly cut off when Samantha picked up an enormous load of firewood which no single person could carry on their own. Samantha didn’t have the arms of an overweight person, but she was no Schwarzenegger; however the armful of firewood she was carrying made her arms bulge in sheer muscular power. She was able to carry this gargantuan pile of wood effortlessly, not staggering in the slightest, and Logan was left speechless by this. His mind was fluctuating, wondering if he was in the presence of a fellow survivor or a legendary bodybuilder.

  …

  The sun being completely and eternally blocked out by a full moon made it pretty difficult to tell when it was day or night, but time still worked, and the watches the humans wore read the time as 8:30, which was the set time for dinner and other nightly activities. As everybody else came back to the headquarters in Fort William, they noticed Captain Pack and Connor carrying beds and pillows into the building.

  “What the f- -where did you get all of this stuff?” Hannah asked in wild curiosity.

  “We found troop living quarters, with a bunch of beds and stuff”, Pack explained. “We’re bringing this stuff in so we can all sleep more comfortably. We also came across some additional food and some cans of energy drinks and water bottles.”

  “Good, good”, said Hannah. “Still, I’m not entirely sure that we’ll be able to fit all of these beds in. Still, I’ll help you two do some interior redecorating and see what we can move out.”

  “How about the two rooms on the second floor?” Connor proposed. “They’re big enough to have four beds in each room, two pairs of bunk beds. We can move the supply crates and canned goods down here into the main room, and then we’ll be good to go. Plus, those two rooms have windows that will give us an excellent vantage point.”

  “Excellent thinking”, Hannah smiled, patting Connor on the shoulder. “Come on, guys, let’s get started.”

  Hannah opened the door to the stairs leading to the second floor, and she, Pack and Connor began the irritating task of moving large beds upstairs, around a corner, and into one of the two rooms. Practically the moment the three people ferrying the beds upstairs left the room, Samantha and Logan entered the base, Samantha’s arms still stocked full of firewood.

  “Christ on a bike”, Kirkley remarked, “How are you carrying that much wood?”

  “I don’t know”, Samantha replied in a normal, non-strained voice. “I just feel energized, powerful, mighty. Either from all of the good food I ate last night or from a good night’s sleep.”

  “Eating an enormous amount of food doesn’t cause superhuman strength, Samantha”, said Kirkley.

  “I never claimed that it did”, she replied. “I’m just listing the things that might’ve resulted in this adrenaline rush and high endurance.”

  At this point, Kirkley became suspicious. Concerned, but suspicious.

  “Samantha”, Kirkley asked reluctantly, afraid to set her ablaze again, “Are you sure you’re-“

  Samantha snarled in frustration and slugged Kirkley straight in the face, staggering him. Before Logan was able to speak again, he remained completely speechless and mute. He didn’t even remember what he was going to say. Kirkley got back up slowly, a look of horror in his eyes.

  “Oh, shit”, Samantha said, tears beginning to pool in her eyes. “Kirkley… I… I’m so sorry.”

  “Guess we should all take a shower”, Riley said as he walked in with Poet, “And, uh, cool off.” Poet sighed and rolled her eyes.

  “As inappropriate and ill-timed as that was, Riley”, Logan commented, “You’re right. I think you’re just worn out, Samantha. There’s a barracks nearby; we completely cleared the place out, but they have showers, and I believe the water still runs.”

  Pack, Hannah and Connor came downstairs after setting up the final bed. “Good news, everyone”, Pack announced to his comrades, “Connor and I were able to take the beds from a nearby building and moved them upstairs, so we can all bunk in two groups of four. Only problem is that the rooms are still loaded with supplies and boxes, so we’ll need to work together and move them down here before bedtime.”

  “How about we shower first, Pack?” Hannah asked, “I’m sweating like there’s no tomorrow.”

  “Fine”, Pack said. “Logan, can you take us all to the showers, please?”

  “Hold on though”, said Kirkley, “The door’s locked right now, right?”

  Riley shook his head energetically.

  “If we all go out, then somebody’s going to need to stay inside and open up the door for us when we all come out, and somebody to stand guard in case the dog soldiers track us down”, Kirkley explained.

  “I’ll hold the fort”, said Hannah. “Remember the phrase, Logan. Nobody comes in without it.”

  “Alright, let’s get going, before the dogs decide to rain on our sprinkler party”, Pack declared. The group sans-Hannah left their impregnable fortress and walked outside cautiously. Since they were on a hygiene trip, not a survival supply run, they came with literally the clothes on their backs, as well as Samantha’s SPAS-15 in case anything was to show up. Even though the sun was forever blocked, there was still plenty of light, and the humans were able to see where they were going without the need for flashlights. Although the usual potential for a wolf attack was a source of tension, there was rising tension from within the ranks of the humans. Samantha seemed to become increasingly more unstable, though the source of this was unknown to Kirkley, and that’s what concerned him, and that was the only thing on his mind during the walk to the showers.

  Kirkley and company reached the showers, and singled out into the shower stalls while Logan stood watch at the door with the shotgun. Kirkley closed the stall door and hung his dirty clothes on the top of the door as he turned the water on and began cleaning himself off. The running water cleansing his skin of the dirt, dried blood and body oil was one of the most pleasurable experiences he’d had in a long time, though not necessarily as pleasurable as sex with Samantha.

  Samantha however, had a completely different shower experience, and not because she was a female. Upon running the water and lathering herself with soap and water, Samantha felt extremely unhygienic and crusty. Her scalp itched, her face as a whole felt chapped, and her body ached terribly. Looking down at her body, she was suddenly alarmed by three distinct changes to her figure. The first two were her breasts: normally, they were the size of small cantaloupes, but they had begun to shrink, down to the size of oranges. Her pudgy belly was the other major change, for she was actually starting to lose weight, especially after wolfing down an enormous dinner. She had expected it to bloat and make her look pregnant, but she was now starting to develop a six-pack, which was extremely unordinary. She finally began to realize that she was changing, but through what means she didn’t know.

  “Hey, uh, Kirkley?” Samantha called.

  “Yeah?” he replied.

  “I’m sorry for what happened earlier”, Samantha sighed.

  “It’s okay”, Kirkley said. “Granted, my face hurts, but no other harm done.”

  The team finished showering about 3 minutes later, and everybody got dressed and prepared to move back to the hideout. Samantha didn’t tell Kirkley about her condition, though, and she didn’t intend to unless she knew what exactly it was being caused by. She had a feeling, but she really wanted to believe that it was false. At the very least, she wanted to cling to her remaining time of humanity before the affliction of Sat, the Spirit of Fright, claimed her soul to add to their army of dog soldiers. With no medical cure, and no way to halt the growth of her beast form, Samantha was fated to become one with the wolves.

  Everybody reached the base, and Hannah’s word was still in effect; the door was sealed. Logan performed some kind of secret knock on the door, and said the phrase, “Do or die, there is no what, when, or why.” The door opened up, and everybody jogged in before Hannah lowered the bar and locked the door.

  “Eve
rybody have a good shower?” Hannah asked.

  “…Yeah…” Samantha muttered.

  “Well, it’s been a long day”, Pack sighed, stretching erectly and loosing up his aching joints. “I don’t know about the rest of you lot, but I’m going to get some sleep.”

  “I second that”, Logan yawned.

  “I’m not tired”, said Riley.

  “Well you need to get some sleep, same as the rest of us”, Logan chided. “You can’t just keep us awake for eight hours, and then expect to drop to the ground with your eyes closed and your thumb in your mouth.”

  “I know, but I’m not tired”, Riley replied. “I could, I could run all the way to London and back.”

  “Good”, Hannah groaned, becoming increasingly irritated with Riley’s childish behavior. “Run down to London, run back and tell us if there’s anything there, run back, jump in a boat and sail off to Pleasure Island, dumbass.”

  “How do you manage to get him to shut up and go to sleep?” Kirkley asked. “Boy couldn’t sit still and shut up if his life depended on it. The fact that the wolf men haven’t attacked us in about 48 hours is probably the only reason he’s still alive.”

  “Here’s how”, Connor said, before firmly striking Riley over the head with a frying pan. The hyperactive joker dropped to the ground, knocked unconscious. Poet seemed visibly cross when Connor did this, and shot Connor a deathly glare and clenched her fist.

  “Drag him to bed”, said Logan, “He’ll be okay, and now we should get some sleep ourselves, before he wakes up and keeps us from obtaining any sleep at all.”

  …

  The crew bunked down for the night, and after an entire day of working to keep their little stronghold standing strong, they were completely exhausted. Except for two people, but one of them had been intentionally knocked out to get him to shut up. Samantha lay awake in her bed, staring out towards the moon which blocked out the sun in an eternal solar eclipse. Somewhere off in the distance, a wolf howled, and Samantha wept slightly, knowing that her time was coming soon. How soon, she didn’t know, but the wolves took her friend Terry, and now she was next. And if she managed to turn, then she would probably lead to the demise of Kirkley and his fellow survivors. She would be responsible for the death of the bravest man she’d ever met, and the only one she had ever loved.

  Somehow robbed of her free will, Samantha covertly dropped down from the top of the bunk bed, and stealthily slithered out of the bedroom, tip-toeing down the stairs like a little kid on Christmas morning, and carefully removed the metal bar from the doors, which creaked loudly. “Fuck!” Samantha murmured in frustration. She managed to remove the bar without causing a parade’s worth of noise, and she slowly stepped outside into the cold night.

  Although everybody else slept like an unconscious Riley, Kirkley was still kept awake in a deep part of his brain, since his mind could not escape the changes in Samantha’s behavior. Feeling the weak vibration of Samantha dropping out from the top of the bed and landing onto the floor was sort of like powering that part of his brain back up, and the creaking sound of the metal bar being raised was like hitting the fire alarm. Kirkley reached under his pillow and carefully pulled his handgun out, since his rifle was downstairs and visibility was minimal.

  Outside, Samantha found herself walking towards the tree line, her eyes locked in a hypnotic stare. Heading into the forest, she walked several meters before turning around a large boulder and dropping down from a short ledge… straight into a pack of wolf men. The wolves slowly grumbled at her, just staring into her vacant eyes, but not attacking her. Samantha stood face-to-face with one of the wolves, who slowly exhaled its musky dog breath against her forehead. For an encounter even brave Kirkley would’ve panicked over, Samantha remained completely calm and level-headed; hell, she even felt secure. After the silent meeting with the dog soldiers, Samantha returned to her human captors. The wolves didn’t pursue her or track her back to camp, but they were now aware that their new infiltrator was a fully functioning member of the wolf pack.

  Samantha sensed that Kirkley was on her trail, so she turned her body to where it looked like she was headed towards the forest, not from the forest, and she locked her eyes on the eclipse, feigning that she was in a trance or mesmerized supernaturally. Sure enough, Kirkley found her standing at the edge of the forest, staring up at the full moon that blocked the sun.

  “Samantha, what are you doing?” Kirkley questioned.

  “I… I’m just so captivated by the moon’s lunar glow and the beautiful orange outline around it”, Samantha poetically replied. “I couldn’t get the perfect view from up in that small bedroom.”

  “It’s extremely dangerous being out here”, Kirkley persisted. “Not only that, but you’re putting the rest of us at risk by leaving the door open. Get inside, now.”

  Samantha followed Kirkley back indoors, taking one last look up at the moon, which glimmered in her eyes.

  …

  “Alright, people”, Kirkley said as the gang gathered downstairs, “We’ve got some news.”

  “What would that be, Kirkley?” Logan asked, taking a sip of coffee.

  “As you are all aware, we have an exceptionally large amount of supplies here in Fort William”, said Hannah. “However, the dogs will eventually find us before we run out of supplies. We’ve been staying here for a very long time, so I understand your reluctance to leave the nest and fly away. The wolf men have been keeping their distance, but we’ll only last as long as the ammunition holds out, and sooner or later they will muster up additional forces and besiege Fort William, and not even walls of frenzied gunfire will be enough to stop them. Kirkley, your turn.”

  “But there is light at the end of the tunnel”, Kirkley continued. “When we looted Fort Ybarra, we found a dead soldier who mentioned that there was a factory down in Italy producing anti-wolf bullets, bullets which have the capacity to kill them.”

  “But we’re on a separate landmass”, Connor questioned. “Even if we had enough transportation for everybody and the ammo and food, we still couldn’t just drive over the ocean. We’re not Christ, for Christ’s sake.”

  “Baby steps, Connor”, Hannah replied. “The pickup we have can’t carry everybody, but if we can drive around the area, and find a transport truck large enough to carry everybody and everything, we might make it to London and find a boat to take us to Italy. Better yet, we might find some more survivors, and bulk up to make an even larger strike force. Everybody in favor can join us, and anybody else can stay here and die, I guess, since we’re going.”

  Now obviously nobody would want to be alone or in a group of three or less, low on ammo and surrounded by dog soldiers. There were no qualms about Hannah and Kirkley’s proposal, but there was still dubiousness about how exactly they were going to pull it off.

  “Alright, lads”, Kirkley continued, “We’re going to put a plan into action. Somebody bring the car about, and take two men with you, while the rest of us hold down the fort.”

  “I’ll do it”, said Hannah. “Captain Pack, Riley, you two are with me. Go grab some weapons and whatever else you’ll need to last for a few days, and meet me at the truck in five minutes.”

  Kirkley, Samantha, Connor, Poet and Logan helped Riley and Pack gather supplies, which reduced the five minutes into three. Riley picked up his weapon, a infantry automatic rifle with a handgrip, and a few large casket magazines for it, and Pack stuck to his G3 battle rifle. They had gathered a small amount of food and water, as well as a spare tank of fuel. Logan also gave his comrades a harpoon gun repurposed into a grappling hook, and an explosive charge.

  Pack and Riley stacked up against the door, and waited for the sound of Hannah’s truck rolling up next to the door. Hannah pulled up, and Logan threw the door open, keeping an eye out for wolf men while Kirkley and Poet helped Pack and Riley load up the truck.

  “Alright, boys, let’s go on a road trip”, Hannah winked.

  “Shotgun!” Riley eagerly shout
ed.

  “Piss off”, Pack sighed, annoyed that he would have to be sitting in the back of the truck. On the upside, he’d at least be able to lie back and rest or rearrange the crates into a bench. Pack hopped into the back of the truck and gave Hannah the thumbs-up. Hannah put her food down on the gas pedal, and the truck drove off towards the gates of Fort William in search of better transport.

  “May the Spirit of Su be with you”, Logan nodded.

  …

  In the days before the Death of the Sun, birds used to chirp, and small animals used to frolic about in the quiet forests, but as Hannah, Riley and Pack drove down the damp dirt road, they felt as if they were driving through a graveyard. Even though it was eerily silent, Pack actually felt at ease for the first time in a while. Ironically enough, the most noise generated was coming from the passenger seat, a young lad who wouldn’t shut up.

  “Hey Hannah”, Riley smiled.

  “…What?” Hannah sighed in frustration, rolling her eyes.

  “You ever watched any movies before the Death of the Sun?”

  “Yes”, Hannah replied in a sarcastic tone. “There was a movie called Silence of the Clams; it makes me think of you.”

  “That one was boring”, said Riley. “The best movie ever was Star Wars; because it starts with an epic space battle where a big battlecruiser is attacking this little ship, and then they get boarded, and then a bunch of rebels get owned by Stormtroopers, and then there’s this one surviving rebel who gets choked by Darth-“

  “I’m going to choke you, if you don’t shut the fuck up”, Hannah snarled. “I’m driving, Ril- Oh shit!”

  As Hannah was chewing out Riley, a wolf man ran out across the road, and the truck smashed straight into it. Hannah attempted an evasive maneuver as she rammed the wolf, but the truck struck a tree in the process, flipping the vehicle sideways. In the rough turbulence of the crash, Captain Pack rolled out of the vehicle, but fortunately enough remained relatively unscathed. He turned to look at the truck, which was completely unusable. His greatest concern was for Riley and Hannah, but primarily for Hannah because Riley was annoying as hell, and he wouldn’t be too emotionally uprooted if Riley were to have been killed.