NorthWest (John Hazard - Book II) (25 page)

In a shower of crimson mist, the gruesome beast closed its jaws, jerked back and cleanly ripped off the top of her skull. The clean cut of its many sharp teeth exposed the hidden curves of her still intact eyeballs.  Her lifeless body swayed, and then slumped forward to the ground. One of the other monsters slammed into her knocking her on her side, laying her out like a buffet for the ravenous aliens. They pounced, their teeth grinding her flesh into hamburger. In a few gore drenched minutes, she was gone.

Forty Eight

“How long do we have to run?… Are these things… going to keep chasing us forever?” Sherri hollered as she followed wheezing behind the others, trying not to trip while jumping over the logs and rocks beneath her feet. They had been running for some time now and everyone was fatigued.

Raj was just ahead of her, and although he realized that John and he could probably move faster if it were not for the women, he had a sudden rush of concern for Sherri. Even now, she remained strong and sweet. He knew her question wasn’t meant to complain, but he could see she was growing tired. If there was anything he could do about it, he would make sure she made it out of this.

“I have no fuckin’ idea… I figured our asses… would be overrun by now… Can anyone see… if anything is coming behind us?” John breathed hard between his words.

Raj turned his head to look behind them just as his foot hit a pile of leaves and sunk into a hole in the ground. He felt his ankle snap as he fell. “Aaarrrggghhh! Fuck!” he wailed. He felt as though he might pass out from the pain. Sherri turned back to help him. “Oh shit! Raj, what happened? John! Emily! Help!”

“Fuck! Oh my God, it hurts! Fuck! Sherri, help me get up. I can’t stay here!” The excruciating pain was evident. Tears streamed down his face as he raised his hand for Sherri to help him. He tried using his other arm to push himself up.

Emily had heard the commotion behind her and turned to go back. The shadows made stripes through the trees making it difficult to distinguish what was happening from where she stood. “John, help! I think Raj is hurt!” she called out as John continued to run.

“Damn!” He knew there was no way to convince Emily to leave them, so he turned back. Together they ran to find Sherri trying to help Raj walk. His arm draped over her shoulders, she was straining to hold him up. “Shit! Arrrh! God it hurts so bad!” he groaned at every step he took.

Emily knelt down beside them trying to assess the extent of the injury. “I think it’s broken, John. Do you think we could make some kind of stretcher? There’s no way he can walk on that.”

John was not happy and quickly weighed their options. “We’ll have to leave him,” he said somberly.

“No! You can’t be serious, John. I think he broke his ankle, not his back! He’ll be okay, won’t you Raj?” Sherri pleaded.

“Don’t you understand? He’s already dead!” John barked at them shaking his head. He understood how they felt. This wasn’t easy, but it didn’t make sense for them all to die out of sympathy for one. He held out his hand to Emily. “Come on, he’ll never make it. Even if we try to splint it or carry him, he’ll slow us down enough for them to catch us.”

Raj screamed in pain. “I’m not dead! I can walk! Look!” He pushed Sherri away and tried to take a step. Immediately he fell to the ground in agony.

“I’m sorry, Raj. I hate to sound like some kind of fuckin' beast, but there is no way you’ll be able to run, and we can’t carry you and still get away. We don’t have time man, game over. We have to go.” He squeezed Raj’s shoulder and said again with more empathy, “I’m sorry, dude.”

Emily protested, “John, we can’t just fucking leave him. Those things will get him!” She was crying now and struck out at him as she spoke, narrowly missing his jaw with her hand.

“Em, we gotta buy some time.” He put his hand on Raj’s shoulder and looked into the tear-filled eyes of his injured classmate. “Raj, you can be a hero, right here right now, maybe save lives.”

“What if I don’t want to be a fuckin’ hero, John?” Raj grabbed a handful of debris from the ground and threw it at John.

“We can’t leave him!” Sherri was trying to lift Raj to his feet again, but there was no way he could put any weight on his ankle.

Emily had an idea and asked, “What if we cover him with some leaves and branches, you know, hide him?”

“Don’t just leave me! Fucking please don’t leave me.” Raj was trying like hell to stand on his own. “Give me your belt, or wrap something around it!”

“Come on, Raj. A belt is not going to help a broken ankle.” John was shaking his head.

Sherri looked at him sternly, “I thought you were a Marine, John. What about all of that ‘hoorah’ shit and ‘no man left behind’? What about that?”

John matched her glare saying, “Listen, that shit is for the battlefield, and the saying is, No marine left behind, and Raj is no fuckin’ marine!” He had a flash of remorse as he said it, and looked at Raj. “Sorry, buddy.”

“Buddy? You gotta be shittin' me!”

“No Raj, I am not shittin’ you.” John turned to Sherri. “Look, I’ll help you cover him up, but that’s it. No carrying, no carving him a walking stick, no lean on my ass and we’ll get through this together.” He looked around to his right and left, then pointed at a low spot in the bank. “Get him over there! Then, Raj… Lay the fuck down!”

“But John…” he sputtered.

“Shut up and lay down over there, or I’ll knock your ass out!” He pointed again.

Raj moaned as he crawled to where John had directed while Sherri tried to help him. He reached the low spot on the ground and lay back huddling himself into it. Sherri and Emily began gathering branches while John dropped to his knees and began digging up large handfuls of partially decomposed leaves and sandy dirt, throwing them on Raj.

“Cover your face now. We gotta get out of here, and I don’t have the time to be careful about where I’m throwing this shit.” John was scooping up large handfuls off the forest floor. “The rotting smell of this stuff might cover your scent.”

Sherri and Emily brought quite a few branches and laid them over Raj while John brushed the dirt around to try to make it less obvious that something was hidden there. By the time they were finished, it was hard to tell there was anything there but a pile of dirt and branches.

“You’re going to have to stay there for as long as you can, Raj. Try not to piss yourself, because if you do, it will give those fuckers something to smell. When we find our way out of this mess, we’ll send somebody back for you. Okay?”

John knew that there was only a minute chance in hell that they would ever find him. If they were able to get out of this alive and sent a search party back, it was highly likely that wild animals, exposure to the elements or even the bastards they were running from would have already killed him.

“Sure,” came a muffled response through the leaves.

“Bye Raj. Just do what John said, and you’re gonna be okay. Stay still.” Sherri looked for his hand or a shoulder or something she could touch to reassure him, but there was nothing left exposed. It gave her some small comfort that she couldn’t see him as she stood beside Emily.

“Good luck, Raj.” Emily said as she and Sherri turned and walked away. Like John, she figured they would never be able to find him again and a tear rolled down her cheek. She understood why they had to do this, but she hated that there wasn’t a damn thing she could do about it. John was right, just as he had been all along, and she wasn’t about to start doubting him now. Raj could never walk out with a broken ankle. If they had taken the time to build a stretcher or even tried to carry him, they wouldn’t be able to get away.

They picked up their pace and caught up to John, who was quickly walking away. As the two of them came up beside him, he turned to them and asked, “Are you able to run some more? We need to regain our lead on those bastards. We lost a lot of our advantage helping Raj. I just hope it doesn’t get us killed.”

Still conflicted, Emily didn’t feel like talking. She just nodded and began jogging out ahead. Sherri was trailing behind John silently praying for Raj. They ran for about a hundred yards before Sherri finally spoke up. “Hey, John… Emily…” and she slowed to a stop. “I can’t leave him alone like that. I’m going back.”

John stopped and snapped at Sherri, “Don’t do it! If those things find you, you’re dead. Raj is hidden, and he’ll be okay.”

“I’ll cover myself too, John. They won’t find us.” She started to head back.

Emily heard the discussion and came back to intervene. She caught Sherri by the shoulder. “Look, Sherri, John is right. You don’t have to go back.”

“Yes, I do. I’m going, and don’t bother arguing with me. Just go get us some help!” The tears were streaming down her face as she turned to run away.

John shook his head and took Emily by the hand. “Come on, Em. Let’s go. Good luck, Sherri! We’ll send somebody back when we get out of here.” To find the bodies if there’s anything left to find, he thought as he pulled Emily along behind him. Reluctantly, she followed.

Forty Nine

Raj lay very still as he sensed someone or something nearby. He was very well covered and outside sounds were quite muffled, yet he had the feeling he was not alone. His ankle was throbbing and it made no difference whether he moved or not, the pain was excruciating.

“Raj? I’m back.” Sherri nearly passed him by as she looked for the mound they had made to cover him. This looked like the right spot and she patted the top of the mound to let him know she was there.

Raj jumped and the branches covering his head slid away enough that she could just make out his face. Muddy streaks across his face made it clear that he had been crying. “Why did you come back? You should have stayed with them.” He was both surprised and dismayed.

“I just couldn’t leave you like that, Raj. It didn’t seem right.” She tried to wipe the dirt from around his eyes without getting it in them. You hold still now, I’m going to cover you back up then I’m going to cover myself too.” She put the branches back over his face and wedged them against each other so they would stay in place better than before.

“Okay, Raj. I’m going to go get some branches for myself. Hang in there, I’ll be right back.’’ She walked into the wooded area where she and Emily had found the other branches. Her mind wandered to thoughts of her son as she pulled some dead branches from a tree. She hoped she hadn’t let him down by coming back here to stay with Raj. She wondered if anyone had yet reported them missing. If Shandre had heard about it on the news, she knew he’d be worried about her.

She had a good armload of sticks and branches, which she carried over and dropped on the ground next to Raj. “First load, Raj. One more and I’ll be good to go.” Raj mumbled something in response and she headed back into the nearby trees.

She was reaching to pull a low leafy branch from a tree when she saw a movement to her right and turned to look. “Oh God,” she whispered out loud, “please let it be a rabbit or…” Then she saw them.

Four aliens were standing nearby, and they looked hungry. They always looked hungry, and they were even bigger now, standing nearly five feet tall. She was so startled, she let out a scream. For a moment, they just stood looking at her.

With no time to think, she had to decide what she should do. It was obvious that there was no way to hide herself now. If she ran after John and Emily, she would lead these bastards right to them. What should I do? Gran? Nana?

Finally she yelled out, “Raj, they’re here! Don’t move! I am going to draw them away from you. I’ll circle back after I lose them.” With that, she started running. She ran away from the trail and deeper into the trees as fast as she could with the monsters in hot pursuit.

She was not sure how she could be running with such speed and agility - she should be exhausted by now. They had been going hard at it all morning, but somehow with every step she found more energy. She was running for her life and she knew it. She was putting distance between herself and the creatures and she was running uphill!

She could see the top of the ridge and those snapping jaws were now far behind. If I can keep up this pace, I might be able to outrun them, she thought as she jumped over a fallen tree like an Olympic runner.

Meanwhile, Raj was lying as still as he could under the pile of debris. He could feel his heart pounding in his throat, and he was having trouble breathing with the branches covering him. He figured Sherri must have gotten away. If she hadn’t, he should have been able to hear her screaming by now. There was no way to tell how far away she had gotten or if she was even still alive.

Raj tried to suppress the feelings of panic that were growing inside of him. What if I just can’t hear anything under this mess? What if she let them get her to save me? He thought about it. She may have actually saved his life. She might be sacrificing herself for him right now, something he had never thought possible, never expected such a thing from anyone. He knew he didn’t deserve this, and again the tears started to stream.

Calm down, Raj. Don’t think about the worst that could happen. It’s going to be okay. He fought the feeling of his throat closing off the way it does when someone is about to begin sobbing. His mind was racing but he tried to reassure himself and slow his mind to a state of calm.