Hobbs did not like the idea of going through the tall grass and the potential dangers that it had but there was no other way except to lose a lot of precious time which brought on its own danger. They walked to what seemed like an endless trip of pure nothingness except the low breeze that helped cool the midday heat. They kept their weapons at the low ready as they steadily and cautiously walked through grass as tiny seeds covered them with little black seeds. One foot in front of the other. Cowan thought he heard something as he turned to his right as he motioned for them to get low. He then turned to Hobbs pointed two fingers to his eyes to symbolize for Hobbs to look as he pointed with the same fingers towards the sounds that he had heard. He now could see the movement of the grass go down one section at a time indicating something was moving in the grass. It came slowly towards them then all of a sudden it stopped. Cowan waited in anticipation. He hated this feeling it was like life was pausing for dramatic affect. It was not fear that concerned him it was the waiting that drove him mad. His sphincter muscles tightening up with each passing moment. He was sweating profusely his heart pounding and his eyes stung from the salty sweat that passed into his eyes but he dare not blink.
Then the grass moved again slower this time as if hunting down its prey playing a game of chess each move so precise. At least that is how it played out in Cowan’s mind. The mind had a way of playing tricks on you. Perceiving things that simply were not there. He reached with his finger and clicked the safety off positioning the lever to fire and placed his finger on the trigger ready to squeeze at the right moment. What concerned him was there was no moan just movement. Could this be someone or something with intelligence moving through the grass as they were being cautious? He could not tell. He tried to keep a grip as his hands desperately wanted to shake in fear. His eyes and ears telling his mind there was something there. His brain gave no argument. Then came out a crawling zombie missing one leg that appeared to have been chopped off at the knee and what appeared to be an improvised tourniquet probably used to stop the infection from spreading in hopes of survival. The fore head had an “I” deeply carved in it probably to indicate infected. Which was a moot point at this juncture in time. The throat had a deep laceration where the vocal chords must have been cut preventing it from giving out a moan to let others know its whereabouts. The creature moved forward inch by inch keeping its head up high locked onto its prey. For a moment he felt sorry for the creature as he unsheathed his relatively short knife and stepped on each of its arms to prevent it from grabbing or scratching him and with a downward thrust the blade penetrated the brain. He pulled the knife back out and wiped it along his trousers one side at a time. He took a deep breath in relief. Then took out the hose of the camel back bit into the mouth piece and sipped the precious water being careful not to drink too much.
Hobbs came up to investigate the body. He pushed over the body with this boot and noticed the piss poor job of a tourniquet where the small twig that was used as a spindle to supply pressure on the wound. He was amazed that the twig was still there despite it crawling on the ground. The leg was obviously cut off with some crude knife or saw. The throat was cut and an “I” was carved on its forehead which alarmed him and brought up several questions. How far did it travel, where did it come from and who would carve an “I” on its forehead? Were they friendly, were there more like this? Only time would tell. Now to veer off mission or maintain their course Hobbs thought to himself.
Chapter 6 The Whispers
Hobbs waved Cowan on and the two stood up being more cautious of their surroundings. They pressed on hoping they would have no more encounters but that was just being optimistic. They came upon a set of houses that were not close together but a good distance apart. They both stopped. Cowan took out his scope and scanned the area once again like he had done before hundreds of times. Still no movement everything looked calm. He swallowed the saliva from the home made coffee pouch. What he would give to just have one small pinch. That would be a slice of heaven. They still had a good distance to go now as the sun still beat down upon them.
Hobbs referred to his map keeping pace to make sure that they were still on track. He found the black squares indicating the manmade structures on the map and counted them to make sure it matched what was before them. Do they pass them by or stop and search each one. It was a decision that he had to make. On one side there could be supplies that they might need or possible stop on the way back. He quickly dismissed the idea. They had all the supplies they needed. Water was the only thing that would be a possible issue but was always needed. The body could go without food for a long time but water was something the body always needed. He squeezed his camel back to gauge how much water he had. He heard the slosh of the water from the pressure he applied to it. A little bit half way full he thought to himself. That should be plenty he knew that Cowan’s supply would be about the same as they were real meticulous of how much they drank. As for checking for a safe house even if they cleared the houses now it would not mean it would be safe on their return. No need for it now. He waved to Cowan to move on. They kept their distance from the houses as to hopefully not attract anything.
They crept through slowly each of their steps being very meticulous and carefully placing each foot down trying to make as little noise as possible. Hobbs thought he had heard something not too far in the distance. It must have been nothing he thought just a trick of the imagination. He quickly dismissed the sound. There it was again he knew for sure he had heard it this time. It was like a swooshing sound like something was moving through the grass. He paused. He crouched down and whispered loud enough for Cowan to hear and motioned him to get low. He looked around and did not see anything. These pauses between each sound just made him more on edge.
The sweat from the man’s face glistened in the sun’s rays slowly running down the sides of his face starting at the temple and making its way down fast at first then slowed as the salty water collected at the end of his face and dropped down to the ground. One house down two more to go. They crept on and each foot step sounded like a loud thud to them. Their senses were heightened. The body producing the blissful chemical, adrenaline. Cowan eyed the house from a safe distance. Everything seemed too quiet and too convenient for the situation. Then his eyes widened as the pupils dilated to get a better sight at what he was looking at. It was a dark figure that was coming from around the house. It was rather large and moved with impressive speed and it was coming directly towards them. At first Cowan thought it was a man but it was slightly bigger than your average man. The creature did not moan but only grunted as it charged towards them.
Cowan took a kneeling position. He propped one knee up and the other leg was tucked under him as he sat down on his right foot. He leaned forward with his elbow tucked into his left thigh. He wrapped his hands around the sling a few times to pull the rifle closer to his body to keep the rifle as steady as possible. He slowed down his breath to a rhythmic beat. Three seconds in and four seconds out pause then squeeze. As he squeezed the trigger the bullet hit center mass. The creature only stopped momentarily from the impact but just for a split second before it starting its entourage again, moving even faster. Cowan squeezed the trigger again hitting center mass. The creature fell off balance and stumbled a moment and came charging again at him. Another shot rang this time not from Cowan but from Hobbs. Their rounds hitting their target but not phasing the creature. The creature roared in defiance as it was cutting down the distance between it and them. Cowan squeezed the trigger but this time there was no response. He squeezed the trigger again and the rifle was silent. “Shit!” Cowan glanced down at his rifle noticing the double feed in the chamber. His hands were sweaty and he commanded his hands to move faster but each move was labored. He pulled the charging handle back releasing one of the lodged rounds. The other was jammed and did not want to come out. “Fuck!” Cowan saw the creature out of the corner of his eye and dropped the rifle bracing himself for impact. Cowan’s eyes
were wide with fear losing his composure not wanting his life to end so quickly and easily. Cowan saw out of the corner of his eye a green blur that smacked into the creature. As the creature was falling it swiped against Hobbs that caused him to fly several yards away. The creature took one look at Hobbs and another at Cowan. It was trying to decide which it would go after and kill. It then sprinted towards Cowan. Fists raised the creature looked into the eyes of Cowan before they came crashing down. Cowan shifted his body left just barely escaping the deadly blow. The creature raised up once more and Cowan grabbed his knife and plunged it into the thick muscular thigh. Hobbs got to his feet and fired three rounds in rapid succession and jumped onto the creatures back holding on for dear life. The creature thrashed back and forth trying to get a hold of Hobbs. Cowan grabbed the rifle keeping an eye on the creature and Hobbs as he tried to pry out the round that was still lodged halfway in the chamber. His hand trembled with fear and frustration. “Come on you son of a bitch,” said Cowan, as he continued to struggle. Meanwhile Hobbs was holding on for dear life.
Cowan managed to free the round and aimed the rifle at the creature ready to fire but stopped as he did not want to hit Hobbs. He ran up and swung the rifle down on the creatures left leg causing it to stumble and fall over on top of Hobbs. Hobbs gave out a groan as the wind got knocked out of him and he saw stars from the impact. Cowan had just enough time to see the huge fists that came burling at him cracking the ceramic bullet proof plates. Sending him to the ground again. The creature now was on top of Hobbs who was still out of it raising its fists to kill its victim. Cowan drew his weapon up and fired and the bullet penetrated the creature through the throat. It just turned and tried to grunt but a green orange fluid came out. The creature ran towards Cowan. Cowan could feel the vibration in the earth with each step it took.
Right before impact Cowan spread his legs. On the moment of impact he tried to push down on the creature shoving it to the ground. However, the speed and power of the creature was too great. The creature shoved him to the ground. Its legs spread straddling Cowan as it tried to growl but more puss and fluid came out dripping onto Cowan’s face. This is the end Cowan thought to himself. At least he would have a soldier’s death by a powerful foe. He noticed the knife still lodged in the thigh and grabbed it. He tried to stab the creature in the head but missed lodging the blade further into the neck. The creature shook its head and brought down its head to take a bite out of Cowan. Cowan grabbed the neck of the creature pushing it down towards his plates to prevent the creature from taking out a piece of flesh. The creature reared backwards and Cowan had just enough time to grab the rifle and fire off a round. The round severed the spinal cord and the huge body went limp. This did not stop the creature from trying to take a bite out of Cowan. He carefully pushed the creature off of him as he did not want to get bit in the process since the head was still alive.
Cowan took a minute to catch his breath checked on Hobbs to make sure he was alright. It took Hobbs a moment before he came too. They looked at the strange creature it had pale grey skin and several scars all across its body as if it was in a major fight. The eyes were yellow like it had jaundice. Some teeth were missing but the ones that remained were stained a light pinkish color obviously from blood. Its hands were thin, bony and longer than a normal human’s. To the contrary the muscles were clearly defined and strong looking.
“What the hell is it?” asked Cowan as he was the first to speak up. It was a rhetorical question but Hobbs answered anyways. “How am I supposed to know what it is?” It was different than the living dead. The living dead shambled along with moans and moved in an awkward manner. This thing moved with precision a purpose but like the living dead it appeared to feel no pain. If Cowan hadn’t shot it in the head who knows what might have happened. “The virus must be mutating which is not good. We better start getting out of here because those shots will be heard from a good distance and the living dead will be sure to follow,” said Hobbs. Hobbs and Cowan looked at each other contemplating their next move. “I know this is off mission but I think this will be of more useful especially if the virus has mutated,” said Cowan. Hobbs took out the blackened steel knife. He knelt down and grabbed the hair to pull the head as he sliced it off.
He moved the blade in one direction then the other. The skin was tougher than a humans and took two passes before the skin broke. Hobbs dug around to find that spot between the vertebrate in order to break the head from the neck. The creature did not stink as the living dead did. There was no true signs of decay nor any no smell of rotting meat. There was a popping sound as the head was separated from the rest of the body. With a sign of triumph Hobbs pulled the head free and held it up. Cowan took out his wet bag. The wet bag was a thick plastic bag that was the typical OD green color. It was typically used to place things in there to prevent water from entering in. There was a string at the top where the bag was twisted, folded over and tied. Hobbs dropped the head into the bag and Cowan tied it up.
Hobbs rubbed his hands and gloves on the ground to try and take as much blood or whatever it was as possible off his hands. He then grabbed his drinking hose that was attached to the camel back bit down on the bite piece and drew in water but didn’t swallow. As he spit the water out of his mouth and onto his hands and rubbed them together. Then he wiped his hands off on his trousers leaving a streak of mud and blood across them just right above the knees. He then knelt down taking off his assault pack and looked in there to see if he could fit the head inside. The pack is too full he thought. He stood up. “Well Cowan I think we are going to have to combine our stuff together so I can make room for this. Hobbs pulled out three MRE’s and handing them to Cowan. Then he picked up the bag and attempted to shove it down into the assault pack. “Alright let’s move,” said Hobbs, pleased that the mission so far did not end up with any personal injury for the most part.
They made it safely back to the original house that they had stopped off. Reaching the same window that earlier they had smashed Cowan looked into it. First starting from the left and going around in a semi-circle. Sweat was pouring down his childish face with a few days of stubble just around his upper lip giving him an appearance of a poor excuse for a mustache. After investigating the inside he could see there was nothing lurking inside waiting for their arrival. He went through first as Hobbs squatted down with one knee to the ground holding his rifle up scanning the perimeter to make sure that nothing was heading their direction. He squinted a little bit as the rays of the sun meet his eyes. His eyes were tired and the skin sagged below them leaving dark circles and wrinkles that aged him way before his time. His legs screamed with pain and the muscles tightened up making the position very uncomfortable yet he had to maintain. Cowan again cleared the room quickly starting from the left corner to the right corner. Nothing it was still vacant and nothing seemed out of place. The air inside the house was still stale and had a foul smell foul like rotting meat and eggs. The stench made him gag and he felt the sudden cramp in his stomach that wanted to wrench up whatever was left in his stomach. He threw up in his mouth and he could taste the bitterness of the acid.
Next was Hobbs, he gave his pack to Cowan who in turn put the heavy pack on the floor. As he was climbing through the window he thought he had heard a small noise and an eerie feeling like they were being watched. Fully through he quickly peered through the windows moving his eyes from left to right on the horizon and there was nothing there. Being satisfied he relaxed just a little bit but the fatigue and jitters were still there alive inside. They were not worried about the living dead knowing that they would not be able to enter through the window without leaving a trace of skin, blood or tattered clothes. They were afraid of the living.
The two looked at each other. Cowan opened his pack and pulled out two MRE’s. He looked at the first one. It was a light tan pouch with the black letters reading pulled buffalo chicken. He gave it to Hobbs who graciously accepted the small meal that had enough calories to s
ustain any normal man for a whole day and provided all the necessary minerals and vitamins they desperately needed to replenish their body. Cowan then dug again into his pack and pulled out another MRE. He sighed beef patty again he thought but it was something to put in his stomach, however, he was not sure that he could eat right away because of the stench. With the taste of bile still in his mouth he bite into his mouth piece and tried to wash his mouth out with water. He swished the fluid between his teeth and gave a small gargle and spit it out onto the floor. The taste was still present but now a little bit less with the help of the water. He needed to make sure he ate something because his drained body needed the desperate calories that the MRE provided.
He took out his knife and cut the top portion of the tan pouch just in the front so he could get to the food within it. He took out the contents. The main meal that was vacuum sealed and left an impression of the square meat still inside the light green metallic pouch. Then came out the partially see through green bag that had a medium size white pouch inside that was used to heat up the patty. He ripped off the top notch as the bag had two different notches two inches below the top one. He bit into his mouth piece once again and he spit it into the opaque green pouch to fill it with just the right amount of water. At the bottom of the pouch was two lines and read do not over fill. Then he dropped the metallic pouch containing the patty inside as pale white smoke started coming out. He carefully folded over the top and laid it at an angle against the wall as the bag filled with air from the heat the little white pouch was producing and gave a distinct smell to it.
Alpha of the Omega Page 6