Holding off as she cut her eyes around the area, “It feels like we’re being watched,” Wendy mumbled as she followed Arthur through the trees.
Chapter Four
I’ll take dogs for a thousand Alex
It didn’t take long for them to walk back to the Blazer. Arthur couldn’t help but grin as Wendy grumbled when she opened the driver’s door and used the steps mounted under the door to climb up and into the back seat. Opening the tailgate, Arthur tapped the floorboard. Donald and Daisy both crouched and jumped up into the cargo area followed by Adam and Eve. Loading the dogs in the back cargo area, Arthur thought about installing a step for them to use, then looked up to see Jason scanning around. “You see something?” he asked.
“Arthur, I grew up in the country and we’ve been out day and night. I don’t hear any insects. Yes, it’s been cold, but I don’t hear shit. Birds, I understand, but it sounds like the world is dead,” Jason commented, but Arthur thought Jason looked too tense for that explanation.
“Mice are eating insects, and rats are eating them,” Arthur offered, hoping to get Jason to admit what was bothering him.
Feeling Arthur stare at him, Jason turned to face him and lowered his voice. “I swear, it feels like we’re being watched, and not by rats or mice.”
“Yeah, Wendy said the same thing on the way back,” Arthur said, closing the tailgate. “I really don’t want to move around on foot to find out, but I think both of you are right.”
“Hey, bitch,” Jason snapped. “We aren’t moving around on foot through the trees. We run into a pack of dogs, we would have to slug it out with them because Adam, Eve, Donald, and Daisy can’t climb a tree with us.”
Giving a nod, “My thoughts exactly,” Arthur agreed and they both headed to their doors and climbed in. Arthur laid his rifle on the dash and then cranked up.
“How tall is this thing?” Samantha asked about the Blazer. “I swear, it feels like you’re climbing on the roof of a house when you’re getting inside.”
“Thirty inches off the ground,” Arthur laughed, pressing the clutch and slapping the shifter in reverse.
“Why didn’t we take the Suburban?” Wendy asked as Arthur pulled out on the dirt road.
“Too big,” Arthur replied. “I wanted something smaller so I can move off-road and through trees, but we won’t have the Jeeps done for a month or so.”
“I can’t believe you want to ride around in Jeeps,” Wendy scoffed.
“The full doors and hardtop will stay on and be reinforced,” Arthur shot back. “I’m not riding around unless I’m enclosed. I want the Jeeps because they’re much easier to move through the woods. Hell, there’s UTVs that’re wider than Jeeps.”
Thinking about that, Wendy gave a nod as she watched out her window. “Oh, well, that does make sense, but I don’t want you or anyone else taking one of them out until you feel comfortable with the protection.”
“I told Arthur I wanted to take a tank, Stryker, or one of the Bradleys out,” Jason chuckled. “They go through trees, not around them.”
“If they were quieter, I’d be tempted to patrol in them,” Arthur replied in a serious tone, and Wendy knew for a fact something was bothering him. Feeling Arthur tap the brake, she turned to see him shift into neutral and as she looked ahead she heard Arthur.
“What the hell was that?”
Everyone looked ahead of them as the Blazer rolled to a stop. On the right side of the dirt road was a very large oak tree surrounded by bushes. The trees on both sides were twenty yards from the road except for the lone oak tree ahead. “What?” Wendy asked.
Jason lifted his hand, pointing at the lone oak. “Something was there,” he replied. “It moved like a cat, but it was just a little bigger than Kong.”
Slowly scanning with his eyes, Jason saw a slope that started and rose rapidly on the left side of the road, and on the right side the ground was more or less flat. “Well…” he started.
‘BAMMM’ sounded from the left side of the Blazer and Jason felt the Blazer rock to the right from an impact. Before he could turn, a blood-curdling scream sounded and he found Arthur had come over the center console and was in his lap. The instant Jason realized it was Arthur screaming, a deep ‘ROAR’ sounded from the left. The dogs started barking from the back, the two women started screaming, and thunder filled the Blazer.
With Arthur pinning him in the seat and his ear protection shut off, Jason had to weave his head around Arthur’s shoulder to see what was happening and found Arthur’s arm extended, shooting at the driver’s door with his 1911. Before he could shift his eyes, Jason felt thunder from the back seats and Arthur was slamming in a new magazine. When his eyes passed by the driver’s door, he saw the window was shattered and holes were being punched through it at a phenomenal pace. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Wendy and Samantha had their pistols out, shooting at the driver’s window from the back seat.
Not knowing what spawn of hell was outside, Jason wanted a fucking gun in his hand. Depending on what was outside would dictate whether if he used the gun on it or himself. Pushing against Arthur in his lap, Jason maneuvered his right hand to his holster and then weaved his head back around Arthur’s shoulder to see why he couldn’t pull his pistol. Before his gaze reached his leg, his eyes stopped at the view outside his window.
Twenty yards away was a white tiger, crouched low and creeping up with its ears folded down and mouth open. In that instant, the tiger looked about the size of a semi-truck. With adrenaline pumping, gunshots, screams, and dogs barking, Jason thought the white tiger could swallow the Blazer.
Yanking his pistol out, and with Arthur still in his lap pinning him, Jason turned his wrist and started squeezing the trigger, wondering why everyone was shooting out the other window when they had a white tiger that could kill a T-Rex coming from his side.
The first round punched through the door and Jason saw it impact ten yards to the front and right of the tiger. He moved his hand, squeezing the trigger and walking the impacts toward the giant. The white tiger saw the impacts and bounced back, but Jason kept sending bullets through the door until his slide locked back.
Not even trying to push Arthur off his chest to get a mag from his vest, Jason leaned to the side and looked at Arthur’s vest as Arthur was reloading and saw one more extended 1911 magazine. Snatching it off Arthur’s vest, Jason weaved his left hand around Arthur until it finally reached the pistol and changed magazines blindly as he looked out the window. Catching movement, he saw the white tiger dart in front of the Blazer across the road.
“Another one!!!” he heard Samantha scream, and holes started getting punched through the front windshield. Jason was very impressed at how fast Samantha squeezed the trigger sending hate out, but she wasn’t leading the tiger. All nineteen rounds impacted behind the white tiger before it reached the trees.
Suddenly, Jason’s ear protection turned back on and the sound of dogs barking threatened to shut it off again. “Stop!” Wendy shouted and the dogs quit. All four were panting hard and scanning around, waiting to see what else was coming.
“Arthur, I got your last pistol mag. Move so I can give you one of mine in case it comes back,” Jason said turning to look out his side.
Wondering what the fuck Jason was talking about, Arthur looked down and then around. “How the fuck did I get over here? Did you pull me over?” he panted out.
As Arthur slid back across the center console, Jason turned to the driver’s door and saw most of the driver’s window was gone and there were bullet holes in the door panel, a lot of them. “No, you suddenly appeared in my lap. What was on that side?” Jason asked, pulling a pistol magazine from his vest and handing it to Arthur.
“A tiger!” Arthur cried out, then noticed bullet holes in Jason’s door. “What was on your side?”
“A white tiger that was bigger than this truck!” Jason answered.
“That orange one was the size of the house!” Arthur replied shoving the maga
zine in his vest. Well, trying to, but his hands were trembling from the adrenaline rush. He had six dual mag holsters for his AR across his chest and four pistol mag holsters strapped to the front of those. Seeing his target and forcing his hand to stop trembling, Arthur shoved the magazine in one of the empty pistol magazine holsters. “They attacked us in a fucking truck!” Arthur panted out, slowly scanning around and even checking the mirrors.
Hearing two sharp intakes of breath behind him, Arthur shifted his eyes as a white tiger and an orange tiger stepped out of the trees to the left, fifty yards ahead. “That tiger’s too small to be the one I was shooting at,” Arthur stated with certainty.
For the first time in his life, Jason understood acute stress response, commonly called ‘fight or flight’. The reaction floods chemicals to the body to enhance all systems. In deer hunting it’s called ‘ground shrinkage’, the deer’s antlers look humongous before you take the shot but seem much smaller when you walk up to the deer. He had never experienced it when something was trying to eat him, and part of his mind was convinced there was a giant white tiger still out there.
Both tigers were just sitting down looking at them and Jason did conclude they were still pretty damn big. “Jason, get on your AR and shoot them,” Samantha instructed.
“Fuck you!” Jason responded. “Tigers can run at fifty miles an hour! That means they can reach here in two seconds and in that time, I would only get eight aimed shots off. That’s not enough to do shit to one of them, much less two.”
“Motherfuckers,” Arthur growled and crawled between the seats, pushing both wives to the side. He dug in the cargo area, pushing the dogs to the tailgate. When he crawled back and dropped into his seat, Jason saw Arthur had a lever-action 12-gauge shotgun. It reminded him of the T2 shotgun, and Jason knew the gun wasn’t legal without a tax stamp, and also knew for a fact Arthur hadn’t gotten one.
Putting a box of shells on the dash, Arthur dropped the lever and started feeding rounds in the tube magazine. Glancing at the box, Jason saw they were three-inch sabot slugs. “I got something for the kitty cats,” Arthur growled.
Everyone heard meowing barks and looked up to see both tigers were doing it. From the bushes around the oak tree, five orange tiger cubs and four white ones bounded across the road to their moms. Realizing now why the tigers had attacked, Arthur stuck his head out and shouted out the window.
“You’re shitty moms letting your kids play near the road!” he shouted out and none turned as Jason rolled his window down sticking his head out and yelling.
“Your kids are ugly and you have fat asses, whores!” he bellowed then pulled back inside. The two tiger families paid them no mind as the mothers led the cubs into the trees.
Tossing the shotgun on the dash with his AR, Arthur leaned back in the seat panting hard. “Holy fuck, I’ve never been that scared in my life. That tiger’s mouth was right outside my window when she roared and I swear, I could’ve stood inside her mouth and had room to move around.”
“Do we really need to look at the attack site?” Wendy asked and saw Samantha grabbing their magazines from the floorboard. All their vests were set up the same and Wendy looked down and saw all of her pistol magazines were gone, but Samantha handed them to her. “Don’t remember shooting that many times,” Wendy mumbled.
With his head leaning back on the headrest, staring at the ceiling, and still panting hard, “Yes,” Arthur replied. “I need to know who… or what attacked that farm. Shit, I wouldn’t be surprised if it was aliens right now. Tigers, fuck me.”
“You knew they were around here,” Wendy reminded him, but was in just as much shock. She didn’t like the fact Arthur was shaken, and had never seen him shaken. But in this instance, she could understand.
“Knowing and seeing, baby. Knowing and seeing,” he repeated, and everyone understood. Knowing something and seeing it were entirely different things. Reaching up to the dash, Arthur grabbed the shotgun and set it in his lap. Taking a deep breath, he grabbed the steering wheel and shoved the shifter into first. “I read a book about boys in a zombie apocalypse when I was young that had tigers. I have to agree with Ian, I don’t like big pussy.”
“I’ll take dogs after my ass over big cats,” Jason huffed as Arthur sped up to his normal driving speed of forty-five. The air rushing into the shot-out window made Jason feel very exposed. Needless to say, all four people and the four dogs were on edge as the sun neared the horizon.
After passing through the small village of Hunt, Arthur weaved along the dirt road until he reached the house Albert had reported. “Yeah, I’m pulling in close. I want to have a place to run to so we can get the fuck out of here,” Arthur told everyone, and nobody had any complaints.
The house sat at the far back corner of a field with a forest starting right behind it. Parking in the front yard, Arthur saw the house looked intact and just the same as the last time he’d seen it. All the windows were boarded up and he knew the group who’d been there had done it.
Leaning across the center console, Jason shoved Arthur’s pistol magazines that he’d reloaded back in the holsters. “You taking the shotgun?” he asked, grabbing his door handle.
“You’re goddamn right I am,” Arthur replied, grabbing his AR off the dash. Climbing out, Arthur put the one-point sling over his head and let the AR hang under his right arm but kept the shotgun ready in both hands.
They spread out and Arthur found the front door closed but unlocked. Opening the door, the smell of death washed out. “Oh, that’s rank,” Jason coughed.
“Donald, Daisy, search,” Arthur called out and the dogs bounded inside and then returned, letting Arthur know nothing inside was alive. Walking in, Arthur saw the body of a man slumped over on the couch. Pulling a flashlight off his vest, Arthur shined it over the man’s body. “Hit ‘em in the head, then cut his throat,” Arthur mumbled and then shined the light at the floor. Bloody shoe prints were everywhere. Small bloody prints.
Everyone else turned on flashlights and followed Arthur through the house. They found the body of a five-year-old little girl in the hall. Kneeling by the body, Arthur scanned it with the flashlight, “Jason, see if you can find a wound on her?” Arthur asked getting up and headed into a room. Inside, he found a fifteen-year-old boy who had been hit in the head and his throat cut.
Arthur scanned the room and saw dressers opened and clutter on the floor. “Fuck,” he mumbled and when he walked out heading to another room, Wendy and Samantha walked in.
Both shined their lights around slowly, “What did Arthur not like?” Samantha asked in a low voice.
Shrugging, “I have no idea,” Wendy replied. She could see three other empty beds in the room but nothing that seemed abnormal, except the dead teen in the bed.
Heading to the next room they found Arthur had already left, but Jason was looking at the bodies of a man and woman in a king-sized bed. Like the boy and man on the couch, they’d been hit in the head and their throats cut. “How did the little girl die?” Samantha asked.
“Blunt force trauma, she was stomped to death,” Jason mumbled, then turned away from the bed shaking his head and walking out.
They found the last man on a cot in the last room and unlike the others, his throat hadn’t been cut. There were wounds in his chest, deep wounds. “What caused that?” Wendy asked as Arthur stood up from leaning over the bed.
“Axe,” Arthur said, shining his light around the room as Jason walked in. Pulling out a digital camera, “Jason, will you take pictures of the shoe prints? Not all of them, I just want a good picture of each print so if any of us see them again I’ll know,” Arthur stated. “I’m going to patch something over my window.”
Giving a nod and taking the camera, Jason asked Samantha to come with him to shine the light so they could get good pictures. In the living room, Wendy looked over at the other room Arthur had left. It was a bedroom with five beds, and she could tell it’d been kids who’d stayed there, but there weren’t any
bodies. Remembering Arthur studying the front door, Wendy moved over, closing it and shining her light along the door slowly.
On the doorknob she saw blood, and right beside the knob on the door, she saw a small handprint. Continuing up the door, she stopped on the deadbolt and saw the lever was smeared with blood. Moving the light from the door to the floor, she saw bloody shoe prints, small bloody shoe prints. “No way,” Wendy gasped and headed outside to see Arthur at the Blazer pulling a toolbox from the cargo area.
Before she reached him, Arthur headed over to a vacant chicken coop. Slowing her pace, Wendy gave a sniff and could smell chicken shit, so the coop had held chickens recently. Watching Arthur pull out wire cutters, “Arthur, did they have chickens in there?” she asked to confirm she was right.
“Yep,” Arthur replied as he cut away a section of chicken wire.
“Arthur, do you think kids did this?”
Giving an impressed nod, “Yep,” Arthur answered. “Knew you’d figure it out.”
“Is that what has you acting…,” she paused, not knowing what words to use to describe how Arthur was acting. Finally giving up, “weird?” she asked.
“Some of it,” he said, standing up with a 4x4 foot section of chicken wire. “I told Jason if we came across another site that looked like kids hit it, we’d go back to all the sites I’ve found where people were killed and go back over them to check them out.”
Somewhat pissed Arthur hadn’t told her, “So, this isn’t the first?” she asked, and Arthur shook his head. “Just how many sites have you found people killed at?”
Picking up his toolbox, “A lot. I don’t have my map I’ve been marking, it’s in my office,” Arthur told her. “I know you’re pissed I didn’t mention it sooner but, babe, I wanted to be certain. No, fucking positive I was right before I told anyone that we have some Lords of the Flies running around,” Arthur told her stopping at the Blazer.
Viral Misery | Book 3 | Revelations Page 6