by Tim Moon
Startled out of his memory, Ben spilled his coffee. Hot liquid rushed over his hand like lava.
“Damn it,” he said, drying his scorched hand on his shorts.
Charlotte looked at him confused. “Sorry, Ben. Are you okay?”
Ben smiled despite the pain. “I’m sure I’ll survive. Thanks.”
The ocean churned like sharks in a feeding frenzy as thousands of athletes swam away.
Ty pushed his phone to the limit taking pictures.
The swimmers quickly took the shape of a pointed comet, with a small line of leaders, then a mass creating the body, which eventually tapered into a thin tail.
Waiting for the lead pack to return would take quite a while.
“Should we move for when they switch to the bikes?” Anuhea said, leaning toward them so they could hear.
“Sounds good to me,” Ben said. The view from where they were wasn’t very good anyway. He looked at Charlotte and she seemed to agree.
Anuhea recommended they make their way to the north side of an intersection that all the athletes would come through on their bikes.
Moving through the crowd on the narrow street would be tedious. Given a choice, Ben would normally avoid huge crowds like this. The press of warm bodies, everyone breathing the same air in close proximity, was stifling.
Ty tapped Ben on the shoulder. “Take the lead.”
Ben’s height and broad shoulders lent themselves well to several things, one being moving through crowds. And despite his dislike for the sheer number of people surrounding them, Ben realized he now had the perfect excuse to take Charlotte’s hand as he led the way though the press of bodies. Her soft, warm hand felt comfortable in his as they walked. Charlotte smiled at Ben and put her other hand on his arm. Ty and Anuhea fell in behind her, following in their wake.
When they had cleared the bulk of the crowd, Ben looked back. Though he was keeping up, Ty was still snapping pictures with his phone. The kid was everywhere with that thing.
As they walked up Palani Road, Ben noticed some space along the sidewalk further up the street near the corner of Palani and Kuakini Highway. That’d give them a good view of cyclists as they rode south, turned around, and came back north.
Turning to suggest the spot he’d seen, Ben’s breath caught as he watched Charlotte talking with Anuhea. Her lips danced as she spoke. His lips tingled with hope of someday joining that dance.
As if reflecting how Ben felt, the crowd broke out into cheers.
Startled again, Ben nearly bumped into two police officers walking past them. Out of habit, Ben apologized in Korean with a small nod of his head. “Mian hamnida.”
One of the officers scowled at him, but they continued walking. Ben didn’t understand why he was feeling so jumpy.
Anuhea leaned forward and said something to Charlotte, who nodded.
“We have some time before the swimmers get back. Let’s grab some more coffee,” Anuhea said.
Ty nodded. “We can grab that spot once we get some caffeine.”
“Sounds good to me. I spilled the last of mine,” Ben said.
October 10 | Palani Road, Kona | 0721 Hours
THE RISING DIN of the crowd’s cheering, signaled that the athletes must be in the transition area.
After ordering coffee, they had claimed a spot along the curb near the edge of the crowd. Ben and Ty moved the girls in front of them so they could see better. So far, the event was actually turning out to be more fun than Ben anticipated.
The first cyclists came into view, pumping their legs furiously. They practically flew across the asphalt as they raced past. The riders were so in the zone, they seemed completely oblivious to the crowd. One of the helicopters buzzed away, following the race leaders.
A few dozen riders soon grew into a massive swell. The tightly packed swarm of finely tuned bodies cruised by in a blur of color. Although the cheers dampened over time as the crowd’s hands and throats tired, their enthusiasm never let up. Excitement radiated off the crowd.
“Amazing athletes. I don’t think I would want to do three events back to back like that,” said Charlotte.
“After you told me yesterday that you run marathons, I thought we’d be watching you out there.” Ben bumped Charlotte playfully with his shoulder.
“I’m not a great swimmer though.”
“It’s pretty easy to learn, but I wouldn’t want to be in a big group like that. I bet a lot of people get injured out there.”
“Think they’d let me wear water wings?” Charlotte said with a playful smile.
“Maybe for pre-race entertainment,” Ben said, smiling back at her. He glanced down at her lips then met her eyes again.
A primal, terrifying scream pierced the air.
Everyone stopped and looked toward the sound, like meerkats. Almost immediately, people started yelling and the crowd spilled into the road. It almost looked like a fight was breaking out. The two police officers from earlier ran back past them toward the commotion.
More screams joined the noise, the sound rising like a tortured chorus, making Ben’s skin crawl.
He noticed that the majority of the racers sped by with singular focus, never glancing at whatever was causing the fuss.
“I wonder what happened?” Ty said, looking concerned.
“Maybe a big bike wreck?” Ben said, wondering if that could cause such a scene.
A few people ran away from the crowd but almost everyone else just turned and watched, fascinated to see what it could be.
Over the heads of the crowd, Ben caught glimpses of movement. Were people brawling? Some people fell. A few yelled and pointed. Some seemed to be pulling others back from the fight. A few people were bleeding.
Whatever it was, it was bad.
“It looks like some people got hurt,” Ben said, glancing at Ty. “There might be a fight.”
But Ben wondered why a fight would break out at a triathlon. It didn’t seem like that kind of sport.
Gunshots erupted.
Everyone jumped from the shock. The people closest to the shots scattered.
Ben grabbed Charlotte’s hand and pulled her back away from the street.
“Ty, come on,” Ben yelled.
Trapped within the panicking crowd, the four of them struggled to stay together. People flowed past them like a flash flood cascading through a canyon.
They still had no idea what actually happened.
More gunshots sounded, followed by more screaming. Police sirens wailed in the distance.
Ben turned, looking for refuge, and pulled Charlotte and the others behind him, forcing his way through the crowd. “This way, follow me.”
They ducked into a narrow alley.
“Stay back,” a police officer shouted at someone they couldn’t see. He backed slowly down the street, holding his gun up in front of him. His hands trembled. Several people walked toward him and he shouted at them to stop but they ignored him.
All of three of them were pale and covered in blood. One of them was a woman wearing a bikini. She dragged one leg slowly behind her. Thick strips of muscle swung from a gaping wound in her thigh with each step. Dark fluid dripped onto the asphalt.
“Jesus,” Charlotte said, covering her mouth. Tears sparkled in her eyes.
The police officer yelled again, but the people trudged on after him, growling and snapping their teeth. Halting his retreat, the officer fired two rounds into the man closest to him, striking the man in the chest. The man’s body jerked from the impact, but it barely slowed him.
“Can we get to your car from here?” Ben asked Anuhea.
She shook her head slowly, eyes wide.
“Is it happening again?” Anuhea asked, alluding to the attack at The Brewing Company.
Ben looked at her seriously for a moment. “I don’t know, but we need to get out of here. Where is your car?” Ben glanced toward the back of the alley for the first time. It was a dead end. Shit.
“We’d have to cut through
the crowd. It’s on the other side,” Anuhea said.
“What are they doing?” Charlotte said, pointing out into the street.
Ben turned to see.
A man and woman had walked into the road toward the oncoming cyclists. How the hell was anyone still riding their damned bike through all of this?
The two people had the same wild look as the crazy guy from The Brewing Company. Their ebony eyes gave them a sinister look.
A sinking feeling hit Ben’s stomach as he realized they were going to attack the riders. Whatever had happened to turn these people into monsters, there were now dozens of them loose in the streets.
Blood stained lips curled into angry snarls, as the man and woman each reached out for their next victims.
The oncoming cyclists tried to swerve around them, but the man lunged like a wolf. A small pack of riders, unable to dodge him, crashed in a flurry of arms, legs, and spinning wheels.
Blood dripped from the fingers of the woman as she quickly walked toward the tangled cyclists, hopelessly intertwined and vulnerable, throwing herself onto the pile and ripping into the thick, juicy leg of a trapped rider. His shrieks of pain made Ben wince.
“No,” Ty said repeatedly, as he back pedaled down the alley. Color drained from Ty’s face as he too realized exactly what was happening. This was the airplane and The Brewing Company all over again but on a much larger scale.
“We have to go,” Ben said firmly.
“This way.” Anuhea motioned for them to follow her, leading the group back to the sidewalk.
A thunderstorm of gunshots rumbled through the air. Wailing people and sirens filled the lulls. People cried.
Blood began to pool in the street and on the sidewalk. Salt and copper mixed on the morning breeze.
Ben saw one man across the street fall in the stampede. His arm stretched out and gripped the curb as he tried to pull himself toward the street. Feet constantly rained down on him until a foot landed on his neck and ended his struggle.
“Ben, c’mon,” Ty said, urging him to keep up.
The whole crowd had erupted into pockets of chaos. People ran through the streets, piling into buildings, and searching out any safety they could find. Ben followed his friends, but his gaze was glued to the scene. In the back of his mind, Ben wondered why he couldn’t look away.
They ran across a parking lot and moved along the edge of a building. Once they reached the front of the building, Anuhea pulled Ty inside, Charlotte and Ben followed.
Ben walked in and noticed the row of big Harley-Davidson motorcycles that lined the windows in front of the shop. Further back stood several tall racks of Harley t-shirts and other biker graphic tees. Part of one wall was filled with a vast collection of mugs. A row of shelves held motorcycle helmets, and more racks and shelves lined the perimeter of the store with other gear – leathers, jackets, hats, and gloves. The middle part of the store was devoted to displaying the latest hogs, rows of gleaming beauties that made Ben wish he knew how to ride. Over to the far right, Ben noticed a giant sign – Service – above a counter. Motorcycle parts could be seen on racks behind the counter.
Although the door was unlocked, the store was empty. Either the employees had left or they were hiding somewhere in the back because no one was there.
Turning to look outside, Ben crouched behind the row of bikes and saw that some of the crowd had thinned enough to expose clusters of people crouched on the ground tearing into bodies. Some of them dug into the corpses like dogs uncovering a buried bone. More of the attackers chased after people who were fleeing their greedy fingers, but for some reason, the attackers never ran.
A woman was bent over a man who was struggling to escape her grasp. As she lifted her head, her blonde hair came up matted with blood, contrasting sharply with the dark pits that her eyes had become. Blood spurted out of the crater she’d created in the man’s neck, like a volcano and his scream quickly faded.
Another woman, this one across the street, was pinned against a building. She wriggled against the rough stone exterior, wailing. Ben could make out the glistening tears racing down her face to drip on two kids as they chewed their way into her stomach.
Ben was stunned. This attack was massive and it was too gruesome to watch, yet he found that he couldn’t turn away.
Out of the corner of his eye, Ben noticed a young boy that looked similar to one of his students back in South Korea. The boy stood on the edge of the sidewalk, crying. He looked lost and terrified.
People rushed past him, uncaring. Someone bumped him, and he toppled off the sidewalk, landing in a heap in the gutter.
In the midst of the madness, something clicked in Ben’s head. Time seemed to slow as he thought back. Seventeen months ago, Kristin had looked coldly into Ben’s eyes and told him two things that had changed the course of his life.
Her words still haunted him.
“I was pregnant. Goodbye.”
Now, as he stared out the window at the helpless little boy in the street, Ben realized just how much that had affected him. He somehow felt a connection to this boy. Ben knew he couldn’t leave the kid to fend for himself.
The urge to help was strong, but Ben was scared. Terrified, actually. He glanced down and noticed that his hands were shaking. But as soon as he admitted to himself that he was scared, Ben somehow felt free, and a sense of calm settled over him.
Ty crouched beside Ben behind the bikes, staring out of the window. Ben glanced back and saw Anuhea holding Charlotte. Charlotte’s shoulders trembled as she cried in Anuhea’s arms. Anuhea must have sensed that Ben was going to do something, because she reached out and put her hand on his arm.
Ben gave her hand a quick squeeze and took a deep breath. He knew what he had to do. Without another hesitation, Ben stood up. The door swung easily as he pulled it open.
“Shit, Ben. What are you doing?” Ty said, anxiously. “Close the damn door.”
Ben stepped outside. He pushed through the rush of people that were still trying to get away. Within moments, someone had stepped on Ben’s foot.
Ben yelped in pain. The toe he’d stubbed earlier in the hotel began to throb. Ben stumbled into a fleeing man who pushed him roughly out of his way. Fighting to regain his balance, Ben fell to the sidewalk like a clumsy drunk.
Anger welled up inside Ben, and he fought to stand up. He forced his way through the frenzied people running every which way. Shots occasionally rang out in the distance.
One of the creatures was making its way toward the kid. Ben didn’t think he could make it there in time to scoop him up and get away. Even if he could, the kid would probably resist since he was a stranger.
The tar pits that were the creature’s eyes latched onto the boy. This one was an average height man, maybe mid-forties, with a ragged, U-shaped chunk missing from his neck. His shirt was torn and bloody. Viscera bulged out of a fist-sized hole near his hip, slapping against the waistband of his shorts. Something dark in the man’s hand caught Ben’s eye. It dripped as he brought it up to his mouth and took a bite.
Ignoring the pain in his foot, Ben charged at him. Tackling the man seemed like a bad idea, so Ben jumped and lashed out with his foot. The man didn’t even try to block Ben’s kick. It caught him square in the chest, and he stumbled back and fell with an angry snarl. Whatever was in his hand tumbled across the pavement with a wet, squishy sound.
Ben nearly lost his balance from the impact. His toe throbbed painfully. And just as Ben stepped back toward the kid, a car honk blared. A split second passed before an SUV burst through the people in the street, flinging bodies out of its way. The creature Ben had kicked down sat up in time for his head to splatter on the SUV’s bumper. Ben turned away, fighting the urge to vomit.
The SUV continued, undeterred in its escape.
The kid was still curled up in the gutter. Ben knelt down and pulled him to his feet. “Don’t worry, I’ve got ya. You’re safe.”
Ben figured it probably wasn’t a good idea t
o grab him like a bag of groceries and just run off, even if that was exactly what he wanted to do. “Where are your parents?”
Amazingly, the kid didn’t fight or scream. He wiped his face then looked at Ben with big chocolate eyes. Tears stained his chubby cheeks. Ben got the sense that he was just happy not to be alone anymore. He shrugged his little shoulders.
“They’re gone.” He sniffed, his voice choked with tears.
They looked at each other for a moment as people rushed past. Ben nodded and opened his arms, an invitation to lift him up. Better to let the kid make the choice.
The boy sniffed again then reached for Ben to pick him up. He wrapped his arms around Ben’s neck and buried his little face in his shoulder. Ben couldn’t help but smile just a little at his gesture of trust.
Looking around, Ben wondered how there could still be so many people running around before pushing his way back toward the storefront.
He shouldered his way through the door and into the shop. Ty looked taken aback. Anuhea smiled, and Charlotte wiped her eyes and smiled at the boy.
If they had been in a different situation, Ben would have busted out laughing at the expressions on each of their faces. Especially Ty’s.
11
October 10 | Palani Harley-Davidson, Kona | 0747 Hours
BEFORE BEN HAD a chance to set the kid down, something slammed into him from behind. The boy tumbled from Ben’s grasp and landed roughly on the ground.
Ben fell forward, trying not to land on the boy, and something, or someone, landed on top of him. Ben’s lungs struggled for air.
“Let her go!” A man said in the doorway, nearly drowned out by a woman’s screaming.
A hand, or something, hit Ben in the side of the face. He saw that Charlotte had grabbed the boy, taking him behind a row of shelves to hide him from the violence. Anuhea said something to Ty, but Ben couldn’t hear her over the noise.
More screaming filled the air. It was so close and so loud that Ben couldn’t even hear his own labored breathing. Whoever was on top of him was in pain or was fighting one of those monsters. Maybe both. They struggled and moved, making it difficult for Ben to pull himself free. He fought hard but realized that his foot was trapped.