Sam was right. If they were to fight for their lives, knowing
their enemy might mean the difference between living another day or dying an
excruciating and spectacular death. Nathan knew why Maalik wanted them as
ignorant to the situation as possible. If the humans were aware of just how
fucked they were, then they would all freeze up, making them easy pickings for
the Horde. That was a real possibility, of course, but Sam had a valid point.
Nathan let out a long sigh and looked the man in the eyes.
"There seems to be a single person responsible for the
outbreak. A creature like me. Like Eve. But she holds more power than all these
things combined. She is their queen. I've been calling her Sunshine, because
she wears a knit hat with a smiling sun on the front of it."
Sam processed this for a moment. "She's wearing a hat
with a smiling sun on it?" he asked.
"Yes," Nathan replied. "She's a little girl.
Roughly eleven or twelve years old by my estimation."
"So you’re sayin’ that a little girl is destroying the
world?" Sam chuckled. "You gotta be fucking with me."
Nathan didn't crack a smile. Not even a smirk. "That's
exactly what I'm telling you."
Sam's smile faded. Nathan continued. "I need you to keep
the others safe. Make sure everyone huddles in the far back corner of the
trailer. Shoot anything that opens that door. I mean anything."
Alison yelled from the back of the trailer. "Where's Theresa?
She was right behind me!"
Sam moved towards the bunker entrance and the large wolves
than now cleared debris. Nathan raised his arm in Sam's path.
"There's no time. I'll find her and keep her alive. Stay
here."
Nathan watched Sam back away from the open end of the
trailer. He faded into the shadows as he back-stepped. Nathan closed the
trailer door and grabbed a broken piece of re-bar that was nearby. In one swift
motion, he threaded it through the door latch and bent it around itself into a
loop. The humans wouldn’t be getting out. With a little luck, the nasties
outside wouldn’t get in.
The snow continued to fall around them; the trolley tracks
and surrounding overpasses did nothing to shelter them from the onslaught of
the Arctic storm. Maalik and Bataviah continued to clear away the mass of
debris that continued to block the unseen passageway below the tracks. A sound
carried on the wind of the storm; a low rumbling of trampling limbs.
In the distance, a penetrating howl sounded through the pale
haze of the falling snowflakes. Its echo reverberated across the river.
Bataviah paused, registering the unseen wails originating from the empty
skyscrapers of downtown. Throwing her head back, she belted a response.
Boomer stood transfixed; his eyes peering northward. He pawed
the ground anxiously. By nature, the dog was the most lovable ball of fur in
the world. As he stood there waiting, he felt massive amounts of adrenaline,
along with the virus which had mutated his DNA and had saved his life. The new
power that surged through his body now instructed his instincts to destroy
whatever emerged from the frosty gloom ahead. The rumbling grew louder.
From the south, large gray forms began to emerge from the
whiteout. More wolves. Lots of wolves. Hundreds of the hulking creatures
surrounded them. They encircled everything from the blocked entrance to the
humans now contained in the inconspicuous trailer. The rumble continued to grow
louder. The wolves began to tighten their ranks, shrinking the circle as much
as possible.
An idea struck Nathan at that moment. He ran towards Maalik.
“We need to put the trailer outside of the defenses. Outside of the circle,”
The large wolf-form of Maalik ceased work on the debris and
looked Nathan in the eye with a silvery gaze. Words sounded in Nathan’s head as
Maalik communicated with his thoughts.
[“We will protect the humans,”]
he stated.
“No, that will just give away their value,” Nathan continued.
“If we pretend not to care about the trailer, the Horde won’t care about it
either. The trailer looks like all the other debris. They won't even know
they're there. Attention will be on us and your people.”
Maalik weighed Nathans words. Looking towards the wolves that
encircled them, he commanded the line to pull back. Immediately, the circle
broke and the ranks folded the ring in on itself, constricting around the
bunker entrance until it finally stopped. The large ring of wolves was now four
smaller rings which provided a one hundred fifty foot safe zone.
“Thanks,” Nathan said as he headed back to Evelyn’s position.
“What are they doing? Why have they moved?” Evelyn asked
urgently, pointing at the gargantuan wolves.
“We’re going to bluff them,” Nathan answered. “The Horde
shouldn’t pay any attention to the group as long as we ignore them as well.
They should be safe, so long as they stay quiet.”
Evelyn saw Nathan’s logic, and although it was a gamble, he
was right. With all these werewolf creatures around, none of the zombies should
give the overturned semi-trailer a second thought. She chuckled to herself. She
had used a similar ploy in her last best-selling novel. Her heart warmed at the
thought of Nathan gleaning his inspiration from her.
He really does pay
attention
.
“C’mon, let’s find Theresa,” Evelyn said.
“Eve,” Nathan started, touching her elbow. “I love you.”
She could see the fear in his eyes. Not the fear of what was
coming for them, but the fear of losing her. She pushed thoughts of failure out
of her mind and focused on the task at hand.
“I know,” she replied with a wink. “Now let’s go, before I
throw up.”
Nathan paused. “Wait, where’s Ronnie?”
Nathan looked around for his friend. He was usually pretty
hard to miss, but Nathan had observed Ronnie slipping away piece by piece as
time went on. Despite his best efforts, it was getting harder and harder to
prevent him from chewing on the random corpse. The hunger was taking him. His
humanity had been ebbing away since he turned. Ronnie was quiet the whole
journey through the Mexican War Streets and Nathan was now wondering if he was
undergoing the rest of his transformation.
There he was. Standing against one of the large support
struts that held Route 65 high above. He stood still, staring out towards the
north. The large rubber dildo was still clutched in his hand.
“Ronnie!” he yelled. “Dude, get over here!”
The hot dog vendor turned towards them. The vacant expression
on his face came to life.
“Yo, yo! Sorry bro, I kinda zoned out for a minute there,” he
called back.
“Hurry up, we don’t have much time left!”
Ronnie jaunted over to Nathan and Evelyn, the large black rubber
member bouncing in stride.
“Where do ya want me bro?” Ronnie asked as he hustled towards
them.
“We need to find Theresa. She got separated from the others
and must have run off.”
“Oh, she's right over there,” he replied, pointing to the
garbage can which sat across the street, beyond the elevated trolley tracks.
They looked in the direction Ronnie pointed and saw the
petrified housewife huddled behind the garbage. She wouldn't survive long
sitting there.
"Ok great. You stay with the wolves and help them hold the
line. We'll go get Theresa."
“Sure thing man," Ronnie replied. "Man, this is
some shit, isn’t it? I mean, I never thought I’d be standing here in the middle
of a werewolf army, fighting zombies. Fucking awesome!”
“Are you going to hang onto that the whole time?” Nathan
asked, pointing to the sex toy dangling from Ronnie’s hand.
“What, this? Hellz yeah I’m going to hang onto it! I’m the
new Ninja Turtle, Dongatello!” Ronnie said with exuberance.
“Fantastic. Stay here, help the wolves, and kick some ass,
alright?” Nathan asked. “Buy us the time that we need, man.”
A look of proud determination spread across Ronnie’s face.
“You got it, brother!”
Ronnie positioned himself in the front line of wolves and
began performing his version of an epic movie-battle speech.
“Hey guys, you ready to bitch-slap these fuckers back to
Hell?” he asked.
The wolves on either side glared at him with silvery eyes.
The one to his left let out a snort.
“That’s the spirit, boys!” he yelled as he hoisted the giant
black dildo into the air like a broadsword poised for battle.
Nathan and Evelyn ran towards Theresa. When they arrived, the
haggard woman was babbling incoherently. Evelyn knelt beside her and gently
touched her shoulder.
“Don’t forget, you need to be careful. One scratch from your
claws and she’s a goner,” Nathan reminded her.
Evelyn nodded in understanding. "Theresa, it's me. It's
Eve, can you hear me? It's not safe here. You need to come with us. We'll keep
you safe."
Theresa looked at Evelyn. "Eve?" she asked in a
trembling voice.
"Yes, it's me. We need to move now. You must stand up
and come with us."
The woman rose and took a few uneasy steps, leaning on Evelyn
for support. When she raised her eyes to look around, the werewolf army
sprawled before them.
“Monsters...Monsters...Everywhere!” Theresa said in a panic.
She halted, refusing to budge from where she stood.
Evelyn knew they didn’t have time for this. She was leery of
forcing Theresa to move, for fear of inflicting a deadly scratch. She helped
the woman shamble towards the bunker as much as she dared, but if they didn’t
start moving fast, they’d be out of time.
The ranks of the wolves swelled as they became more restless
with the impending battle. Their armor quills rippled and moved as muscles
flexed and relaxed in anticipation. They pawed the ground with their immense
claws. The rumble grew louder. It sounded like rolling thunder, but everyone
knew that the storm that drew near was one of blood and death. There was no
time to get Theresa to the trailer before the Horde arrived.
Boomer barked ferociously. Nathan looked towards his loyal
dog, who continued to stand beyond the defensive lines of the wolf warriors,
barking at the nearing danger. He gave a loud whistle.
“Boomer, come!” he yelled.
The wolf-dog immediately turned and bounded for his master.
The huge dog skidded to a stop before his master. His quill-covered tail
swished back and forth. The quills sounded like faint wind chimes; a long,
massive tongue flopped happily to the side of his large fangs.
“Good boy!” Nathan praised, patting him on the head. “You stay
with us. STAY! Protect us.”
Boomer gave a grunt in understanding and took a defensive
stance between the approaching thunder and his family.
“Good boy, Boo,” Nathan whispered.
Maalik continued to heave and dig at the massive debris pile.
Batavia assisted, keeping a watchful eye to the north. The wolves were severely
agitated now. The Horde was almost upon them. She could feel it. An instant
later, all the wolves erupted in a single howl. A battle cry which reverberated
throughout the skeletal towers of a once great city. All eyes watched the
fallen gap of the roadway high above; then, it finally came. The deluge of
tangled bodies of the Horde began to pour over the edge.
“COME AND GET IT, FUCKERS!” Ronnie screamed.
Bodies by the thousands rained down onto the snow-covered
ground, as the Horde overflowed over the broken overpass. The wolves closest to
the zombies lunged forward in one unified attack while the second circle stood
their ground. Now that it was clear where the attack was coming from, the far
side of the circle began to collapse in on itself. The defensive ring quickly
became a large semicircle of intimidating creatures. Their ranks were now eight
deep, providing a much more imposing barricade against the onslaught. Each row
of the warriors took turns lunging at the onslaught, causing the phalanx to
ripple in waves.
"Monsters...MONSTERS!!!" Theresa screamed as she
watched the wolf army meet the tidal wave of the dead.
****************
Sam’s shotgun shook as he kept it trained on the trailer
door. He had moved everyone back as far as they could. Using the various boxes
of goods that were already in the trailer, they had built a crude barrier to
hide behind. The old man peered down the barrel of his gun, which jutted out
through a small hole in the cardboard fortifications.
The loud battle cry of the wolves had sounded. The terrified
humans had no idea that the army of lupines had arrived. Nor did they know the
extent of the war that was about to ensue outside. Daniel, Suresh, and Carlos
stood on either side of Sam; each clutching a firearm to their trembling
bodies. Pete sat with Alison in the back corner. He held onto a large machete
for dear life. Alison sat with a vacant expression, too scared to even react.
Between hyperventilated breaths, she recited the Lord’s Prayer in nothing more
than a panicked whisper.
“Hey,” Pete whispered. “Hey, knock it off! They’re going to
hear you!” he chided Alison.
“Shhhh!” Sam hushed. “Everyone shut the fuck up for God’s
sake!” Sam commanded in the most forceful whisper he could manage.
A single green glow stick illuminated the back of the
trailer. Sam turned towards the others. He looked at them all there, huddled
around the chem-stick in the back of a sideways trailer, petrified at the prospect
of their impending doom.
“Nathan told me what’s out there before he closed us in,” he
said, keeping his voice just louder than the inhuman screams and carnage
outside.
“All this was caused by some little girl that he calls
Sunshine. He says that she’s patient zero, that she’s controlling all those
zombie-things,” Sam continued.
“He doesn’t know why this girl is chasing him or what she
wants. He told me to keep us in here and to shoot anything that opens that
door. So that’s what I’m going to do. We’re going to hunker down here and stay
put until he comes back for us.”