"It's okay," Julie said. "We'll be okay."
Scooter stared at them for a moment. He thought about turning on his flashlight, but he didn't know what good it would do. He didn't need to see the little girl crying. Instead, he kept his hands on his axe.
*
It was a while before the banging and screaming stopped. When it did, Scooter heard th
e
thing'
s
feet scuffle away. He didn't know where it went. Or why.
"Do you think it's gone for good?" Julie asked.
"I don't know," Scooter said.
"What should we do?"
"I think we should wait a little longer."
They did.
*
"I think it's okay," Scooter said after a while.
"Are you sure?" Julie asked.
"No, I'm not sure. But we have to try sometime."
Scooter grabbed the door handle and unlocked it. He opened the door. Only a little. He wanted to see if the thing was out there. He also wanted to be able to close it quickly if it was.
He looked out of the crack in the door. There was nothing there.
"It's all clear," he said.
Julie nodded her head. "Okay."
Scooter opened the door all of the way and walked out. Julie followed with the little girl in her arms.
"We have to be quiet," Scooter said. "It might still be around."
Julie nodded her head again.
They made their way into the hallway. Not much had changed. Though there was new body lying on the ground. It had a fresh pool of blood underneath it. Scooter couldn't be sure if it was the same one that had attacked them. Except that didn't really matter. It had been killed. And that meant that there was another out there.
Scooter raised his finger to his lips. Then he tightened his other hand around his axe.
He took a few steps forward. Julie followed.
There didn't seem to be anything out there. Whoever
-
wha
t
ever - had done this was gone.
Scooter turned around. He had forgotten to get the bag of food.
There it was in Julie's hand.
With a brief nod, he turned back around and led them out of the airport.
Chapter 7
Scooter raised his hand to tell Julie to stop walking. They had been at it for a while now. The little girl in her arms. The axe in his hand. He could see something up ahead. One of thos
e
thing
s
. Over by one of the cars. Not too close. But close enough.
Julie came up behind him. "What is it?" she asked.
He placed his finger to his mouth and pointed it at the creature. "Over there."
They could see it bending down by the car. Pulling at something. Eating.
"Is that what I think it is?" Julie's voice was panicked, disgusted.
"I think so."
Scooter was pretty sure that the creature was eating someone, even though he couldn't actually see the body.
"What should we do?" Now her voice was now nothing more than a whisper.
It was hard for Scooter to hear. He turned to look at her. "What?"
"What should we do?"
Scooter didn't know. They were on a high-rise bridge. There weren't a lot of places for them go. They could go back the way that they had come. But that would take a long time. It was pretty far to the last cut-off. At least twenty minutes on foot. Then they'd only have to find another way to get back on track to where they were going
-
the small airpor
t
.
Scooter looked around. "We could hide in one of the cars," he said. His voice was just as quiet as Julie's had been, but she heard.
"What about tha
t
thin
g
?"
Scooter looked at it. He didn't want to be stuck in a car if it attacked. He wouldn't be able to swing his axe. He wouldn't be able to protect them. Though he didn't know what else to do.
"I don't think it'll see us," he said. "We just have to be quiet and move slowly."
Julie didn't respond. Scooter took that to mean that she was okay with the plan
.
She'd argue if she wasn't, wouldn't she?
He walked back a few cars. He didn't want the creature to hear them. He knew that opening a car door might be a problem, so he looked for one that was already open.
"Here," he said. It was a small car. He had hoped to find something bigger. An SUV or maybe a camper, if they were lucky. But the first one he had come upon was a tiny little thing.
He supposed that he could keep looking. And maybe he should. But, the more he moved, the more chance there was for tha
t
thin
g
up there to see them. There might be others also. He wasn't sure. And he didn't want to take the chance.
He led Julie and Emily over to the car. No one was inside it
.
That was good, at least.
"You two go in first," he said. "You can take the back seat."
The back seat wasn't big, but it was bigger than the front ones. They could even lie down on it. Somewhat comfortably.
Julie nodded her head and went into the car. It wasn't as easy as Scooter had hoped. She had to bend forward, crouch down, slip in behind the driver's side seat. He had to pull the seat forward to help.
Once she was there, she settled into the back and raised out her arms. Scooter passed Emily into them. That par
t
wa
s
easy.
Scooter went in last. He pushed the front seat back. It made a soft click. Nothing that the creature could hear. Then he sat down.
"You guys okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," Julie said. "We're fine."
Now, time to shut the door. Scooter was worried about this. If the creature was going to hear them, this would be the time.
He stuck his head out the door and looked back. The creature was still there, bobbing its head up and down.
Scooter had to be quiet. He also had to be fast. He didn't like sitting here with the door open. There was just something about it.
"Okay," he said to himself. "It's time."
He placed his hand on the door handle. More thoughts ran through his head
.
He needed to be quiet, so he should pull it slowly. But if he did, the door wouldn't close all of the way and he might not be able to lock it. Then again, if he was too loud...
"Okay," he said, putting an end to the debate. He turned to look at Julie and Emily in the back seat. "I want you two to lie down. Don't move."
Julie and Emily did as they were told and laid down. Julie wrapped her arm around the little girl. "It'll be all right," she whispered into Emily's ear.
"Okay," Scooter said once more. The girls were in place. Out of the way. The creature wouldn't see them.
He turned back to the door. It was time. He reached out and grabbed the door handle again. Then he brought the door closer to him. Slowly. It creaked a little. Nothing too much. The creature didn't seem to notice anyway.
The door came closer. Almost shut.
Scooter stopped. He knew that he'd have to pull on it quickly, forcefully. It wouldn't shut otherwise.
He took a few deep breaths.
One, two, three.
He slammed the door. There was a loud bang as it closed. He reached up and placed his hand against the lock. That too made a noise. But he couldn't do anything about either of them now.
He sat down further in his seat and looked out of his rear view mirror. He could see the creature. It had stopped doing whatever it had been doing and was looking around. It had heard the noise.
"Fuck," Scooter said under his breath. He didn't want to alarm the girls, but he was worried. He grabbed the axe and squeezed it tightly. It was lying in between his legs. The head of it rested on his chest.
Scooter continued to watch. He felt sick. He didn't want to have to go through another fight with one of these things. The old woman had been enough.
He continued to look. The creature continued to look as well. Though not at him. It was looking around, searching for what made the noise. It knew that it had heard something, Scooter could see. It just didn't know what.
Scooter waited. And waited. Then the creature moved.
It didn't come after them like Scooter expected. The creature simply bent down again to take another bite of whatever it was that it was eating.
*
Scooter sat up after a while. He thought that it was okay now. The creature had moved off. Or so he thought. It was a little bit difficult to be sure since it was getting dark and harder to see.
"You two okay?" he asked.
"Yeah," Julie replied. Emily didn't say anything. He thought that maybe the young girl was asleep.
"I guess we'll have to wait here until morning."
"Yeah," Julie said again.
Her response bothered him. He didn't know what she really could have said differently. He wasn't asking her anything. He was just stating a fact. And she was agreeing with it. But it bothered him anyway. It made him feel as though he had to decide everything. That he needed to get them through this. That she was just going to follow and do what he said. And maybe that would be the case.
Scooter turned around and looked at her. She was staring out of the window. Obviously thinking about all that they had seen, all that had happened.
"Try to get some sleep," he said. It was his way of trying to apologize for the things he had thought. Things that she didn't even know about.
"I will," she replied.
Scooter saw her turn to look at him. She tried to smile at him. He tried to smile back.
He turned back in his seat and closed his eyes. Though sleep was a long way off.
Day 4
Chapter 1
Scooter woke up and saw that the sun was starting to rise. He stretched and sat up. After, he looked through the car windows to see if he could see any of the creatures. There didn't appear to be any around.
He turned his head and looked at Julie and Emily in the backseat. They were still asleep. They looked peaceful.
He hated to wake them, but the car was getting hot and he needed to get out of it. Besides, he thought that they should get moving soon. They still had a long way to walk. They also had to look for some more food. More than anything though, he had to go to the washroom.
He grabbed at the car door handle and pulled it open. There was a loud thunk as the door unlocked. Scooter looked back and saw Julie and Emily opening their eyes.
"I'm just gonna take a leak," he explained.
He was embarrassed as soon as the words came out of his mouth. This wasn't the type of thing that you said to a woman. It wasn't mature. It wasn't sophisticated. It sounded like an uneducated idiot
.
Which maybe he was.
"Okay," Julie replied. "Wanna get up?" She was talking to the little girl. She didn't seem to notice Scooter's choice of words. Or, if she did, she wasn't bothered by it.
"Where are we?" Emily asked. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.
"We're in a car," Julie said. "We had to sleep here."
Emily thought about it for a few seconds, then replied, "Oh…yeah."
Scooter hoped that she wasn't going to ask about her father. He couldn't her that her dad was dead. Not again. The first time had been hard enough. And he hadn't really even said anything then. Most of it had been Julie. He had just stood there and been quiet.
Scooter pushed the door open all of the way after a moment. It didn't look like Emily was going to ask anything about her dad. Maybe she had come to accept it.
"All right," he said, "let's go."
The two followed him out of the car.
Scooter continued to look around, making sure that one of thos
e
thing
s
wasn't around.
There wasn't.
"How about you two go over there," he said. "I'll go over here." He pointed to two different parts of the highway. They were far enough apart for privacy, but not too far for him to run to them if they needed him.
"Sure," Julie said. She led Emily off to the car that he had pointed at.
Scooter watched the two walk behind the car, then he turned around to go to his spot. He grabbed his axe as he went.
Once there, he leaned his axe on the car beside him. He unzipped his jeans, pulled out his cock and pinched it out away from him. He directed it toward the street and let out a deep breath. He waited.
Nothing came.
Scooter knew that he had had to go. He had felt it in the car. But, out here, it wasn't co-operating. He took a few more deep breaths, then tried to push it.
Still nothing happened.
He tried again.
Nothing.
He tried to relax. He told himself that he had to go. That it would come.
Eventually, it did.
His piss shot out on the ground. It pattered in front of him.
Scooter was conscious of the sound and hoped that it wasn't too loud. He didn't want Julie and Emily to hear it
.
Though, really, what did that matter
?
They were taking a leak too
.
It made sound. Water hitting the ground. He tried not to worry about it. He focused on getting it all out of him.
Scooter's head lolled from one side to the other as he continued to piss. As it did, his eyes came upon something in the car. A man was staring up at him.
Scooter jumped back and let go of his cock. His piss started to spray wildly until he grabbed hold of it again. He pinched it off and looked back into the car. There was a man in there, dead. Scooter didn't know how. There weren't any signs like he had seen on the other bodies. No blood. No open wounds. But the man definitely wasn't alive. He was resting against the car door, his face pressed against the window.
Scooter turned from the body
.
Fuck, it had scared him
.
He started to laugh. More of a nervous laugh than anything else.
He looked back at the road. He could see the spot where he had been pissing. He could also see where his piss had gotten out of control.
Scooter looked down at his pants, hoping that he hadn't pissed all over himself. He hadn't. He let out a sigh of relief. He wouldn't have wanted Julie and Emily see it
.
That would've sucked.
He looked back at the puddle on the ground and he aimed his cock at it once more. There wasn't much left in him. Only a trickle. He shook it off and stuck it back into his pants. Then he turned to the car and picked up his axe.
"All done?" he shouted to the girls. He shouldn't have. He needed to keep quiet. But he didn't want to walk over there if they weren't finished. And he didn't want to wait anymore.
"Yep," a voice came back. It was Julie. "All done."
He walked over to them. They were making their way toward him too.
"Ready?" he asked.
"Yep," Julie said again. Not Emily. She didn't answer. Instead, she looked around. Julie looked down at her. "What's wrong?"
"I'm hungry," the little girl said.
Julie smiled. "Me too."
"Can we eat?"
"Sure." Julie looked at Scooter.
"We'll be able to find something in the cars," he said. "We'll just have to search for it." Then he changed his mind.
"
I'l
l
search for it," he said. He didn't want the little girl looking in the cars. Not if there were going to be a bunch of dead guys in them
.
H
e
'd look
.
H
e
'd find them something to eat.
Julie and Emily nodded.