Fatal Reaction, Battle of the Hunted

by M A Hollstein

  Catching his breath, Bill rolled over onto all fours and patted the ground for the ray gun. At some point in his descent, he’s lost his grip on the gun. He crawled up the hillside, in the direction he’d fallen, hoping to find it.

  He no longer heard the growls of the coyotes or that of the Scourge. He hoped the blast from the gun scared the alien away as well. Even though he doubted that was the case, he prayed that it was while he searched blindly for the gun.

  ***

  Pushing open the door, Susan walked over to Benjamin’s bedside. The little boy was still heavily sedated, but she hoped to be able to communicate with him. Since the little boy seemed to be connected to the Scourge telepathically, she hoped to find a way to use that against them. Maybe she could learn their strategies or unknown weaknesses. If there were any unknown weaknesses.

  Whether or not the little boy would be on the side of The Order or the side of the Scourge was unknown. She was working with unfamiliar territory. A human surviving after having been introduced to Scourge DNA was an anomaly. Benjamin was the only known human to have contracted the virus and have survived.

  On the other hand, since Benjamin survived the virus, there was probably a small percentage of other humans that had survived as well. She couldn’t help but wonder if they too had a telepathic connection to the Scourge. Or was Benjamin unique? The thought made her feel uneasy. What if the Scourge had other surviving humans under their control? It’d be hard to determine which human survivors could be trusted.

  Susan checked the little boy’s vitals. Everything seemed to be within normal range. She was manually checking his pulse when his eyes flicked open.

  “Hello Benjamin,” Susan said. She retrieved a rolling chair and sat down at his bedside. “How are you feeling?”

  Benjamin stared at her. He appeared to be confused. His eyes were a deep golden yellow. He pursed his lips together and then looked around the room. “Where am I?”

  Susan was relieved to hear the little boy speak using his normal voice. Ever since the Scourge appeared in the Earth’s atmosphere, he’d been growling, biting, and fighting his restraints. Maybe the sedative was dampening the telepathic connection to the Scourge.

  “You’re in a secure facility,” Susan said. “We’re keeping you safe.”

  Benjamin scrunched up his nose. He appeared to be mulling over this information. “Where’s my dad?”

  “He’s at his home.”

  “I want my dad.”

  “He’ll come to visit you soon,” Susan said. “How are you feeling?”

  Benjamin shrugged his shoulders. “Does he know how to get here?”

  Susan ignored the question. “Don’t you worry about that. Are you hungry?”

  Benjamin shrugged again. “I want to go home.”

  “Soon,” Susan said. “Right now you must stay here and rest.”

  “Why?” he asked.

  Susan tried to choose her words carefully. She wanted to find out what the little boy knew about the Scourge. With the tranquilizer in him, she was unsure of the connection he had with them. She was also unsure if he was aware of the connection. “Benjamin, do you remember what had happened before you fell asleep?”

  Shaking his head, Benjamin frowned. Susan wondered if he was hiding something.

  “Are you sure?”

  The little boy shrugged. He tried to move his arms, and his eyes grew large. He pulled at them. Then tried to kick his legs. “Why can’t I move?”

  “I had to restrain you for your own protection.”

  “I want my dad.”

  “Benjamin, what is the last thing you remember?”

  “I want to go home.”

  “Soon,” she lied. “I need you to answer my questions. They’re important.”

  Benjamin began to sniffle. “Then I can go home?”

  “Once we have some answers and can guarantee your safety, then you can go home.” Susan rolled her chair closer to the boy. She examined his facial expressions for unspoken answers. Humans often spoke with their expressions. She found them more accurate and reliable than words. Humans tended to lie when they felt it suited their needs. “What happened before you went to sleep?”

  “I don’t know.” Benjamin’s voice was quiet.

  “You do know.”

  “I don’t remember.”

  “Do you remember what happened at the store? Walmart?”

  Benjamin nodded.

  “Can you tell me what happened?”

  “Bad guys were going to hurt Amanda,” he said and closed his eyes.

  “And you protected Amanda?”

  Again, Benjamin nodded.

  “Were you frightened?”

  He shook his head, no.

  “You are a little boy. You must have been frightened.”

  “I wasn’t.”

  “Why not?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “How’d you know how to protect Amanda?”

  Shrugging, the little boy opened his eyes.

  “You don’t know how you protected her?”

  “I’m strong. I just did it.”

  “Yes,” she said. “You’re very strong. How did you get so strong?”

  “The voices,” he said. “They make me strong.”

  “What voices?” she asked.

  “I don’t know. They get loud sometimes.”

  “Do you know who they belong to?”

  Benjamin shook his head. “I think the ship in the sky.”

  “What ship?”

  “The new ship…”

  Susan thought about this for a moment. The Scourge appeared after Benjamin was confined. There was no possible way he could’ve known about the Scourge ship except through a telepathic connection.

  “What do the voices say to you?”

  Again, he shrugged. “They talk to each other. Not me.”

  “Can you understand what they say?”

  Benjamin closed his eyes. Susan was afraid that the sedative was pulling him back under. She was afraid to let it wear off in case the Scourge could somehow use him to find their underground refuge.

  “Benjamin,” Susan said, shaking his shoulder. “This is important. What do to the voices say?”

  Benjamin mumbled, “They don’t use words. And they don’t know that I’m listening. They only talk to each other.”

  “Please, try to focus. What do you mean?”

  “I feel them.”

  “What do you feel?”

  “Hungry…”

  Susan watched as the boy drifted off to sleep. She knew the Scourge were hungry. What she didn’t know was how to stop them from feeding. There had to be a way to use Benjamin’s telepathic link to destroy the Scourge before they devoured what was left of humanity, and re-enslaved The Order.

  ***

  Ronnie followed in the direction of the screams. Every once in a while, one of the women or both would scream.

  Thick fog rolled in from the direction of the beach, creating a dense, wet mask that was impairing his senses.

  Standing in a park, a mile or two from the house that he’d taken up residence in, Ronnie listened while he took in his surroundings. To his right, he could barely make out a streetlamp through the haze. He’d seen this park many times from the road but had never actually been in it.

  The fog seemed to have made the night abnormally quiet. No crickets chirping or bugs buzzing. Not that anything had been normal since the virus hit. No sounds of traffic, trains, helicopters or planes flying over, or ships in the harbor. The only sound was a foghorn going off in the distance, several blocks from there. Ronnie wondered if it had a sensor to automatically turn on when it was foggy. He couldn’t imagine a survivor of the virus manning a lighthouse or worrying about ships in the fog when practically everyone was dead. What’s the point?

  Crazier things have happened, Ronnie thought. So why the hell not?

  Turning in a circle, Ronnie tried to scope out his surroundings. He could just make out trees to h
is right and possibly a picnic table to his left. It was so hard to see. Squinting didn’t seem to help any. He could only see the fluorescent lights of the lamps on the lampposts, bouncing off the fog.

  Gathering his bearings, Ronnie closed his eyes and concentrated on listening.

  After a few moments, he heard what sounded like a twig snap behind him. Careful not to make a sound in case one of those alien bastards was lurking in the fog, Ronnie turned toward the sound. There was another cracking noise.

  Aiming his gun in the direction of the sound, he squinted. He still couldn’t see a damn thing.

  Walking forward, he felt a sudden sharp pain just below the knee and prematurely fired his gun. He grunted while grabbing his leg. He felt idiotic for shooting at nothing. He’d rammed his leg into a park bench that’d been concealed by a thick pocket of mist.

  “Damn fucking thing!” he barked, leaning down and rubbing the sore spot just below his knee.

  Swish! Something zoomed right over him as he was bent over. He could feel the breeze as it flew by.

  “What the hell?”

  Whomp! Something heavy landed behind him. Ronnie spun around and fired his gun. A high-pitch screeching sound filled the night.

  “Take that alien bastard! You’re messin’ with the wrong man, mother fucker!” Ronnie yelled with satisfaction, glad to hit whatever it was that’d been stalking him. “You want some more? Huh? Come at me!”

  Standing still, he listened for the creature. Everything was quiet. Growing impatient he bellowed, “Show yourself, you fucking coward! You got the balls to take me on?”

  When he got no reply, he stormed off in the direction he’d come. Trying to find his girls in the fog was a waste of time. He’d send his men out in the morning to search for them. He’d had enough of this crap.

  Heading in the direction of the streetlamp he’d passed when entering the park near the street, he heard a strange sound. At first, he’d thought he’d heard a couple of clicks and then it became an array of clicking noises. Immediately, he remembered where he’d heard those sounds before. The alien creature he’d encountered near his house was making all kinds of strange sounds.

  Keeping his eyes on the streetlamp, Ronnie kept walking when a large, dark figure stepped out of the fog, near the lamp pole. Golden eyes were glowing fiercely. Ronnie was unsure if it was the same alien he’d just tagged with his gun. If so, the damn thing was asking for another bullet. Maybe there were more than one of those creatures lurking about.

  Aiming his gun, Ronnie fired.

  With animal-like reflexes, the creature jumped out of the way, disappearing into the fog. Ronnie could no longer see it.

  “Don’t mess with me unless you want some lead in your ass!” Ronnie barked, marching past the lamppost. “Stupid mother fucker!”

  Suddenly, he heard clicking sounds behind him, and then some more to the left of him.

  Crap! he thought. There were more than one of those alien bastards, and he was low on ammunition. He hadn’t thought to bring more with him.

  The clicking turned to deep rumbling growls. The growling reminded him of the infected before they attacked, but he knew it was an alien. He wondered if there was a connection between the virus that’d infected everyone or if it was just a coincidence that they both growled and had yellow eyes. He was smart enough to know it wasn’t a coincidence. After becoming ill, the infected grew violent and bloodthirsty. And right about now, it was as if a pack of rapid aliens were hunting him.

  Shit! he thought, putting all the pieces together. The infection had something to do with these alien bastards. At that very moment, he knew he was screwed. These mother fuckers were gonna shred him to pieces.

  For the first time, in a very long time, he was feeling frightened. Turning to his left, he fired his gun at the clicking sounds. He then fired his last bullet in the direction of the growling behind him. Doing something he hadn’t done since he was a child because he felt only cowards did it, Ronnie ran. His legs moved faster than he’d ever known they could. All he could do was hope his bullets had hit their intended target and run like freaking hell.

  Chapter 6

  Jack Travert followed the horrific screams of his niece. He stayed far enough away from the alien creature to keep from drawing attention to himself. The alien was too quick for him to catch up to, which made keeping a distance easier, and after encountering one earlier; he knew he was no match physically for hand-to-hand combat with one.

  His shoulder hurt like fucking hell, but he tried to ignore it as he followed them. There wasn’t any time to nurse his wounds that’d been inflicted by the alien’s razor-sharp claws. Somehow, he’d managed to get away from the frenzied beast, and it wasn’t easy. Shotgun blasts to the chest didn’t stop the predator; however, it wounded it enough to allow him to get away. Unfortunately, his battle with the alien, allowed another one of those creatures to enter his home and kidnap his niece while he’d been preoccupied. He could only imagine what the hell the thing wanted with her. Hell, he wondered what they wanted period.

  Were they here to take over the Earth? They wouldn’t have much of a fight considering almost everyone was dead.

  Why take Kylie? What were they going to do to her? If they wanted to take over the planet, wouldn’t they just kill everyone?

  The one that attacked him was vicious as hell. There was no doubt in his mind that the Goddamn thing wasn’t planning to keep him alive.

  So, why Kylie?

  Jack didn’t like it. Not that he wasn’t relieved every time he heard her scream because that meant she was still alive. What he didn’t like was the why? There was a reason why they didn’t kill her. When they went after him, it was a different story. They weren’t trying to capture him. It was almost like he was being hunted. He knew it sounded crazy. Heck, even in his head it sounded crazy, but he sensed that those creatures wanted to attack and eat him. Their actions and reflexes were very similar to the infected, except natural. The infected weren’t created to be that way. These creatures were. They were born both vicious and hungry. He could tell.

  The reason they wanted his niece gnawed at his insides. Kylie was young and healthy. They wanted her for something other than eating. The thought made his stomach turn. There was only one reason he could think of, and it wasn’t good. Kylie was young, healthy and fertile.

  Another scream rang out and then ended in a gargled cry that made the blood drain from his face. Kylie sounded farther away and in massive pain. Jack could no longer see the alien through the thick fog. It was moving faster now. Maybe it sensed him.

  A strange clicking sound came from somewhere behind him. The little hairs on the back of his neck stood on end. Jack didn’t turn to look for the source. He recognized the sound. An alien was hunting him. Picking up his pace, Jack increased his gate, shotgun still clutched in his hand, continuing in the direction he’d last heard Kylie’s screams.

  Trying to lose his stalker, he ducked through the side yards of some houses a couple of miles away from the neighborhood Kylie lived in. Jack came to a chain-link fence with a gate. He shook the gate and noticed the thick chain with a lock dangling from it. Quickly, he decided to climb over the fence, rather than finding another way around. The clicking sounds were growing louder.

  Glancing over his shoulder, he looked for the predator before climbing the fence. The last thing he wanted was to be attacked from behind while climbing. From what he could tell, no one was within eyesight through the fog. He hoped that meant he’d have enough time to scale the fence. Quickly, he tossed the shotgun over the chain link into the thick overgrown grass and scurried over.

  Grabbing the gun, he ran through the backyard, passed by a swing set when he heard rattling from the fence. Whatever it was that was hunting him, was now climbing over the fence.

  “Shit!” Jack cursed under his breath and ducked into some trees at the back of the landscaped yard. He followed a path to another fence at the far end. Again, he hopped over, this time with
more ease. The fence wasn’t as high.

  Running through another backyard, Jack could hear the alien as it scaled the fence. If it’d been easy for him, he knew it was more than likely easier for the alien. He didn’t look back for fear that it’d slow him down. He ran around the side of a beige stucco house with brown trim, and noticed a side door leading to a garage. Deciding to try it, Jack grabbed the knob. To his surprise, the door was unlocked. Jack let himself into the garage and turned the lock on the knob, securing it shut. He was unsure if the alien had seen him disappear into the garage. There was a small decorative window at the top of the door.

  Jack scanned the garage. It was dark inside and hard to see. He was standing next to the front end of a white Mercedes convertible. The wall near the driver’s side door was lined with industrial shelving and filled to the ceiling with cardboard storage boxes.

  Trying to choose his steps carefully and quietly, he edged himself around the car to the driver’s side. He lifted the handle. The door was unlocked. He opened the door and scooted inside. No keys in the ignition. Frowning, he doubted the battery would be good anyhow. Probably needed to be jump-started.

  Jack heard a bang outside the side door he’d used to enter the garage. He held still, sitting in the driver’s seat and stared at the door. The tall, dark figure of the alien creature blocked the decorative window.

  Jack slid out of the car and stood there for a moment, contemplating his next action. He then felt around the side of the car to help guide him to the front of it. The alien’s body was blocking out the fluorescent light from the security lamp secured to the stucco just outside the door that’d been streaming in through the little window.

  Working his way to the wall, Jack felt around a workbench and then followed it until he found the door leading to the house. Gripping the doorknob, he grimaced when it wouldn’t turn. It was locked. His heart plummeted into the pit of his stomach. He was trapped in the damn garage.

  “Fucking figures,” he seethed.

  Bam! Bam!

  Jack’s heart flip-flopped as the alien pounded on the side door.