Ben jingled the car keys in the air and tried to force a smile.
“Looks like it’s the back patio after all,” Kyle said, snatching up his crowbar. Forcing back a violent cough from the smoke, he said, “Let’s get the hell out of this town!”
As much as he was trying to keep hope alive, while ushering his friends to the back of the house, Kyle was running on empty. They all were exhausted. Pushing Ben and Sarah through his bedroom toward the balcony in the back, he wasn’t sure how much longer he could keep the pace up. Deep down, he felt like his body was ready to collapse at any moment from fatigue.
As they reached the sliding glass door to the patio, the sound of ruin and rubble reached their ears. The door had finally been pushed open enough. The bed and box spring fell to the floor with a loud clunk. The gruesome call of agitated pursuers filled the living room, closing the gap of safety. A smoke alarm sounded, only to be drowned out by hisses and moans.
The first creature reached the bedroom door. The door was kicked open!
Struggling to lower Ben down to the second floor patio, Kyle turned at the noise. The creature snarled in distaste, its body immersed in flames. Its head was bound by blistered and torn skin to the shoulder. From that shoulder down, the right arm melted into the monster's hip. Its free hand reached out toward Kyle as he finished lowering Ben to the second floor. Behind it, in the living room, the fires raged on as more ghouls filed in.
The stench of burning skin was rank and overwhelming.
Trying to ignore its taunts, Kyle lowered Sarah down. With Ben there to catch her, it was a much easier and quicker process.
“Join us…” It said, in a harsh garble. “We only want to use your vessel. We will free your soul to the gates of hell!”
“Like hell you will!” Kyle shouted.
He picked up a chair that had been sitting on the patio and threw it as hard as he could into the room. It crashed into the creature head on, yet didn’t do the damage he had hoped for. Instead of knocking the monster off balance, the legs of the chair impaled the blistered belly, oozing out red and black bile. The creature carried it forward in pursuit of its goal, feeling no pain or sorrow, only animosity and rage.
“Let one of our brothers of old take your place!” It said moving forward.
Kyle didn’t respond. He didn’t want to give that thing a chance to get any closer than it already had. He stepped out on the patio railing, looked down to see Ben lowing Sarah to the first floor, and then jumped. He screamed, reaching out with all he had. The tree was farther than it had looked. Missing the first set of branches, Kyle collided with the next. The landing had knocked the wind from his chest, and left him scraped and scratched to hell and back.
Trying to catch his breath, he looked back at his patio. The creature with the imbedded chair leaned over the railing. If it had eyes, it would have been scanning the ground for Sarah and Ben. Instead, it hissed and moaned eager agitations.
Despite how tired he felt, Kyle knew he needed to keep moving. He tried, but his arms were stiff and his face felt raw, and it stung from the fall.
“Come on, Kyle!” Ben shouted. “We got to go! They are working their way toward us!”
Kyle focused. He heard the faint sounds of rustling steps in the distance.
“Come on!” Ben shouted again.
Kyle finally got his breath back. Looking down, the base of the tree didn't seem all that far down. He shimmied a little lower in the tree, then let go, hitting the ground hard and off-balance. Instantly, a sharp pain shot through his left ankle.
Ahead, Ben peeked out of the bushes, waving Kyle over, as he struggled not to cry out.
“Come on… Come on,” Ben called in a low voice. The glasses on his face shined in the darkness as the apartment building began to burn.
Kyle leaped forward and headed toward Ben. Pain surged through his ankle, up his back, and into his chest, but he pressed on. Behind him, several boil-covered attackers were in hot pursuit. They rounded the corner of the burning complex, eager to catch up to the three survivors. The raging fires in the background were drowning out their wet slopping shuffles.
The night sky lit up with a spectrum of orange shades.
“Please tell me you parked close!” Kyle shouted, catching up to his friends.
Sarah wrapped her arm around him. Ben grabbed them both by the shoulders and shoved them forward.
“My car is right around the corner. I normally park in the back so that no one gets any ideas about taking my CD player.”
Knowing Ben, it was probably top of the line.
Ben led them down the sidewalk to the back parking lot. They wasted no time piling into the car. With a turn of the key and a mash of the accelerator, they sped out of the parking lot and into the street.
The rearview mirror told a gruesome tale of growing flames and a sea of creatures giving chase.
Luckily, for them, the car was much faster.
* * *
“Okay, so I believe you now,” Kyle said, rubbing his ankle while crammed in the back seat of Ben’s car.
“I honestly can’t say I believed it at first either, man.” Ben adjusted his glasses, focusing on Kyle in the rearview mirror.
“I’m just glad we got the hell out of there,” Sarah said.
Ben’s little compact car veered right down a side street just past the grocery store. The night sky was gleaming with bright stars. There wasn’t a single cloud in sight. Despite that, none of them felt much safer, even with the windows rolled up and the air turned off.
“Where are we headed?” Sarah asked.
“Just driving,” Ben said. “The sooner we get out of here the better!”
“But what about Ted?” She whimpered. “I can’t leave him. I just can’t.”
“Who the hell is Ted?” His grip tightened on the steering wheel.
“Her dog,” Kyle wheezed, still massaging his ankle.
“Forget the dog,” Ben yapped. “We need to get as far away from this town as we can. And now!”
Sarah rolled her eyes then looked back at Kyle. “Please, Kyle. I don’t live far from here. I promise. He’s your friend,” she said, gesturing at Ben. “Tell him we need to stop. I can’t leave Ted!”
Kyle had never really considered Ben Love to be his friend. In all the time that he had known the guy, he found the geek rather annoying. Always wanting to showboat his toys and gadgets. Not getting the hint when he was talking too much about useless information or just when to shut up in general. From the back seat, Kyle looked at Ben through the rearview mirror. The geek's thick glasses and mustache made him looked even more like a pedophile in the dim light of night.
Kyle sighed.
As much as that creepy downstairs neighbor was irritating at times, he had always been there when he needed him. Maybe Ben really was his friend and Kyle just wasn’t good with people. Hell, he knew he wasn’t good with people.
“Just stop and get the damn dog,” Kyle demanded.
The relief on Sarah’s face made him smile.
“Fine!” Ben said. “Where the hell are we going?”
Sarah proceeded to give Ben directions. She had told the truth, somewhat. Her place wasn’t far at all, to her. She was used to the forty-five minute commute to work every day. After making a U-turn and a few random rights, they reached the highway. She told Ben to keep driving for a while, and that she would tell him when his next turn was coming up.
“How far is it exactly?”
“You are going to be on this road for at least ten miles,” she said. “My house is kind of off the beaten path, so to speak.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” Kyle laughed.
The scenery around them had quickly changed from the ghettoes of downtown Lake Charles to the woodlands of the city's outskirts.
Ben drove at a steady speed down the dark, unlit highway. The high beams on the road ahead showed it to be deserted. The silence hovering in the vehicle made them feel as if they were the last three people
left alive on earth.
“Man, it is way too quiet in here,” Kyle said. Turn the radio on or something.”
“That’s a great idea,” Ben said, excited. His voice cracked in pitch. “Why didn’t I think of that? Maybe there’s news of what the hell is going on!”
Kyle pulled his pack of stolen Lucky Strikes from his pocket and laughed. The pack was smashed to hell and back. He pulled a cigarette free, finding it snapped in the center and bent. The second and third one came out looking just the same. Irritated, he threw them to the ground.
Radio static filled the car as Ben scanned the FM channels.
Trying his luck a fifth time, Kyle pulled free another smoke from the damaged pack. It was intact, but barely. It would have to do.
“Hey, you mind if I smoke in the car?” Kyle asked already lighting it up.
“No… I guess not,” Ben said, cracking the window some. “Hell, can I have one of those?”
“I didn’t know you smoked,” Sarah winced.
“I don’t,” He said.
Tossing the crunched up pack into Ben’s lap, Kyle laughed.
“Have at it, pal. Smashed ’em up pretty good when I jumped into that tree.”
Ben picked up the pack and laughed, then threw it back at Kyle. With the radio still on scan, he reached up slamming his fist down onto the dash. That was the second time through all of the channels and still nothing.
“So much for that idea,” he said.
“What about the AM stations,” Sarah asked.
“Might as well try,” Ben agreed.
He flipped to the AM channels and hit scan. It was no different, static after snowy static. Just when he had almost given up, they heard something. The signal was weak, and mixed with a crackling hiss.
“Wait… there… I heard something.” Sarah insisted.
“Yeah, I heard it too.” Kyle said. “Go back!”
Ben thumbed the dial back until he reached the signal again. The voices being transmitted across the airwaves were so weak that Ben stopped the car in the middle of the highway and cut off the engine.
“Shh… listen,” he said, turning the radio up.
The sound of two faint voices reached their ears. The terms sounded military, but none of them could be sure. They had never spent any time in the service. Whatever these two people were talking about, one thing was clear. They didn’t intend to be heard.
“I want samples of the tissue in my labs, pronto! Dr. Minders and the science freak show are awaiting their arrival as we speak. … Is … an order. Primary… substance…,” the male voice said. The words broke up at the end, with the signal fading in and out.
“Yes, Sir,” a female voice replied. “We are working on it.”
“That’s not what I want to hear, Corporal!”
“My apologies, Sir.” She replied. “What about civilians?”
“We have already discussed that, Corporal!” His inflection was rather abrasive.
The line filled with static for a few moments.
“Yes, Sir.” The woman choked out. “Every square inch for a … mile… hundred… out. I understand, Sir.… burn… terms of quarantine.”
“That’s what I like to hear. Now, don’t let me down soldier. Over and out!”
“Roger that,” She replied.
The radio filled with static once more, just like all of the other channels. Kyle, Ben, and Sarah stared at one another for a good minute or two. The darkness of the night sky around them, enveloped the car, reflecting their emotions.
“What the hell was that all about?” Sarah asked.
“Quarantine? Burn?” What the hell does that even mean?” Kyle asked excitedly.
Ben took off his glasses, and then glared out into the night. The road ahead looked like it would never end; increasing the fatigue, they all were feeling.
“I don’t think that was good news,” Ben said. “Some of it was hard to make out, but at least there are people finally coming in to clear this thing out. I just don’t want to be around when they get here.”
“Why is that?”
“Because, Sarah.” He put his glasses back on. “They already said on the news that we’re dead. What makes you think they are going to change their minds?”
“Well, let’s get the damn dog and get the hell out of here then,” Kyle said.
“If this is anything like the movies, it isn’t going to be that easy. They will have perimeter blocks and crap like that all over the place. Either we are going to need to lay low until it blows over or do what we can to sneak out.”
“Either way, I am done sitting here in the middle of the freaking street,” Kyle said. “Let’s go!”
CHAPTER SEVEN
Sarah’s house was small and cozy. With the car parked out front, and the lights off, Sarah led Ben and Kyle through the yard toward the front door. Kyle could tell she was trying to hide her excitement and concern for her four-legged friend. Darting out ahead of the others, she rushed toward the front door to her home.
“Ted…” She called out. “Teddy… are you okay, baby?”
“Shhh…” Kyle insisted, looking around at the neighboring homes in the dark. “Are you crazy? Keep it down. We don’t need to be drawing any unwanted attention.”
“Shut up, Kyle,” she said reaching the front door to her home. “You're way too uptight. You know that? I live out in the middle of nowhere.” She waved her arms around at the yard. “No one is going to show up out here.”
She turned the door handle and the door swung open. It was obvious to Kyle that this young lady really trusted her neighbors. The door had been unlocked.
“You guys coming?” She asked, waving them in.
Hesitant to follow Sarah into the house, Kyle pushed Ben forward through the door. The entryway was dark, at first. Sarah flicked a switch, illuminating the hallway in a florescent hue.
The living room before them was dank and musty. Sarah was clearly a hoarder to a small degree. Small collectables lined the walls. Stacks of clothes and various sized boxes covered the couch and coffee table.
“Where the hell did she go?” Kyle asked.
“I have no idea,” Ben said. “She disappeared as soon as we came in. Said something about letting the dog in. She was gone before I saw which way she went.”
Ben and Kyle stepped farther into the living room, tensed.
Sarah screamed.
“Son of…” Kyle bit down on his lip hard.
Feeling blood pool in his mouth, his eyes met with Ben’s. Ben’s face was pale with fear and visibly showing a sense of dread. With Ben still in the lead, the two made their way through the living room and down a long hallway toward the kitchen. Noises that something was trying to break in, told them they were not alone.
They reached Sarah in the kitchen. Her face was flush, her jaw dropped, staring out into the backyard through the sliding glass door. Her best friend of over five years pounded with eagerness to be let in. Sarah fell to her knees and began to weep.
Small cracks fissured across the safety glass. Sarah buried her face in the palms of her hands. The sliding glass door shook hard as the gruesome creature on the other side thrashed wildly to get into the kitchen. The growing zigzag cracks on the glass started to look like a jigsaw puzzle.
“What the hell is that thing,” Ben asked.
“That’s her dog,” Kyle said with a gasp.
The only thing making the dog recognizable was its snarling, sharp teeth. Its skin was blistered and mangled. Its eyes blown out that had left vacant sockets. The tissue clung to red meaty chunks of exposed bone. Four other smaller animal’s arms protruded from its ribs like a melted science experiment gone wrong. The thing was so horrible that Kyle lifted his arm up over his mouth to fight the urge to puke.
“Man, we need to get rid of that thing before it busts through that glass.” Ben stepped toward the door to pull the blinds shut.
No one needed to see that. Sarah sure as hell didn’t. She slumped to the floor
crying.
“Well, what the hell do you want to do with it?” Kyle asked.
“I don’t know… We need to do something, though,” Ben said, pointing down at Sarah.
Kyle stepped over to Sarah, giving her a hug. He hated to see her like this. She just kept on crying, unaware he was there trying to console her.
“Sarah,” he said. “Ted must have been outside when the clouds came. There’s nothing anyone could have done. It was an accident. Don’t blame yourself.”
The mutilated dog continued to bash against the door. The glass began to buckle and Ben began to panic. The glass wasn’t going to hold, and Kyle and Sarah weren't even paying attention.
“Guys… guys… We need to get into the other room!”
The glass shattered.
Startled, Kyle fell back onto the cold kitchen tile. Still crying, Sarah looked up wide-eyed. The scorched and blistered dog lunged forward. Shards of glass protruded from the creature’s tattered flesh as it charged forward.
Ben screamed.
Kyle watched in horror as Ted collided with the person he now considered his best friend. As he fell back yelling in hysterics, Ben’s arms went up. The dog’s splintered teeth tore into his Star Trek shirt. Ben crashed against the wall. The dog’s horrid muzzle met Ben’s fleshy stomach, followed by a sickening sound of two becoming one. Ben’s cries turned to grunts and moans. The stench of blistering skin reached Kyle’s nose.
Ben and the monster lay flailing on the floor.
“We need to go!” Kyle shouted, lifting Sarah to her feet.
She was light and thin in his grip, but other than standing upright, she wouldn’t budge. Her gaze froze on Ben and the thing that had been Ted. Kyle grabbed her by the shoulders, shaking her. Her head jolted back and forth like a rag doll.
“Snap out of it, Sarah! We need to go!”
He grabbed her by the arm. Pulling her, against her will, they darted into the living room and stopped at the front door. Natural light began to peek into the room through the windows. The sun was starting to come up. Had it already been that long? Seeing the light as it crept into Sarah’s living room made Kyle realize, he was running on low. His muscles were weak, his mind tired. Sighing, he realized how much Ben actually meant to him. He thought back to earlier in the day when Ben had walked up showing off his new camera. The geek was definitely annoying, but he was Kyle’s favorite annoying geek.
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