Adrian Smith - The Rule of Three

“Ben, up here!”

She racked her shotgun and blasted at the Variants as they clambered through the holes. Ben was struggling to haul himself up as he turned and fired another burst.

She blasted another Variant, the sound deafening as it echoed off the walls of the small room.

A Variant screeched and, launching itself through the air, latched on to Ben’s back, digging its claws in deep.

Dee let out a howl in frustration and anger, jammed her shotgun into its sucker and blew its head off, showering both of them in brains and black gunk.

“Thank you,” Ben said, pulling himself up.

They climbed into the ceiling, turning and firing as they went. Variants continued to pour through the holes, chasing after them.

Dee reached a small tunnel with light shining through. Blood had pooled on the floor next to the entrance.

Jack? Are you alive?

“Get in the tunnel, NOW!” Ben yelled at her, pulling her back into reality.

Dee didn’t argue. She threw herself into the tunnel and crawled through to the end.

Ben jumped in after her. The Variants pursuing them tore at the concrete surrounding the tunnel as they tried to follow the fleeing humans. They ripped at each other in their desperation. They could have fitted easily but, in their crazed hunger lust, their cognitive thoughts were abandoned. The Variants fought each other. Dee smiled and crawled farther down the passage.

One of the Variants crammed itself in. Shrieking, it tried to tear Ben apart.

Ben fired into its head point blank, silencing it.

“Dee, get ready to jump, okay? Into the river!”

Shell-shocked from the last twenty minutes, she nodded.

Ben reached into his vest and took out a small grenade. He joined Dee at the entrance and grabbed her in a hug.

“Fire in the hole,” Ben shouted. He threw the grenade and launched into the river.

Dee felt the shockwave of the grenade as she fell towards the water, wrapped in the embrace of this gentle giant. Before she hit the water, she saw Boss coming upriver in the boat and grinned. She was still alive.

Jack took out the last of his meagre supplies and shared them with George. The poor kid sat hugging his knees, rocking back and forth. Jack wasn’t surprised. It had been a hell-filled few days for them both; he felt like doing the same. Watching George, Jack wanted more than anything to survive, to find Dee. To keep George safe.

After going through so much, and fighting every step of the way, he didn’t want to give in now, no matter how hopeless it seemed.

There is always a way out.

Jack sat listening for the creatures’ howls but could only hear them in the distance. Crawling out of their muddy root cave, he pulled George up and lifted him onto the bank.

Pop… Pop… Pop.

Jack spun around, back towards the dam. That was gunfire. Muffled, but definitely gunfire.

Hesitating, he listened as it intensified. The sounds of two distinct gunshots came down the river, reverberating off the limestone cliffs. Perhaps some kind of rifle? Jack couldn’t be sure. Then the unmistakable boom of a shotgun rang out. He recognised that straight away. His mind jolted back to a memory of Dee teaching him how to hold the gun against his shoulder. She patiently taught him how to line up the target. How to squeeze the trigger in between breaths.

Those idiots are going to bring that whole nest out…

Jack stood rooted to the spot, listening to the battle. He glanced around at the creatures as they ran howling and screeching back to the dam. Finally Jack looked down the river. “Hang on to this George, okay?” Jack said as he looped the much lighter pack over the boy’s shoulders.

The two of them waded back out into the river. He nestled George in the lifesaver’s embrace once again and let the current take them downstream, away from the gunfight. Away from the madness. Jack saw it as a slim window of opportunity. Flee while the creatures were distracted.

He could see the sun poking through the fluffy white clouds, its rays reflecting off the river and into his eyes. Jack wondered why the monsters were out in the midday sun. Normally they hid from its strong UV light.

A loud BOOM echoed down the river, breaking him from his thoughts.

Was that explosives? Hell. Whoever was at the dam, they were serious.

Jack heard the motorboat engine revving and turned his head, searching out the craft. It tore around the corner, the throaty sound of its engine reverberating around the cliffs.

The monsters’ howls and screeches followed. Jack’s eyes were drawn up. Fascinated, he watched as a black mass flowed out of every entrance of the dam and buildings. The creatures poured out of the doors. Windows. Tunnels. Everywhere. There had to be hundreds of them now. Standing near the back of the mass was the Alpha leader. It towered above the monsters. Arms outstretched like some evil priest, it urged its brethren on.

Jack raised his free arm, trying to signal the speeding boat. It was only a few metres away. He ducked under the water as it swerved around him. Jack spat out river water and hugged George closer. The craft slowed and fishtailed around. Jack could see the tall teenager and a bearded man looking at him. Slumped in the back of the boat was a smaller figure.

“Help, please… I have a boy,” Jack said, raising his tired voice.

The boat floated towards him. Or was he floating towards it? Coaxing his exhausted arms, he held George up. The bearded man frowned and hauled George into the boat.

Strong, gnarled hands grasped Jack’s and pulled him out of the water. “What the hell are you doing in the water?”

Jack flicked his eyes back to the dam and nodded. “Thank you,” he gasped.

The howls and screeches of the creatures became deafening, so loud they shuddered through Jack. He glanced up as the creatures started throwing themselves into the river like suicidal lemmings. The monsters had lost their fear of the water. His heart sank. Just for a fraction of a second he had thought he was safe.

“Boss. Get us out of here!” the bearded man yelled as he raised his rifle and began firing.

Jack felt the bow of the boat lift as the teenager opened the throttle, and he grabbed whatever he could hold on to.

He watched in horror as more and more monsters threw themselves from the cliffs, trying to reach the fleeing boat. A few managed to land on the boat. Digging their claws in, they scrambled and tore into the skin of the boat, their yellow eyes glaring at the humans.

The bearded man swung his rifle and fired. Calmly taking them out.

“Dee. We need you. Snap out of it!”

Despite everything happening around him… the boat speeding down the river… the gun rapidly firing… the creatures’ howling and trying to eat him… time slowed down for Jack. Dee? Here? After all that? Is this real?

Turning to the stern of the boat, Jack looked into those beautiful eyes staring back at him.

Covered in mud, blood and God knows what else, he launched himself into the arms of the one person who meant the most to him in the world. His rock, his shelter from the storm.

All those years alone had been worth it to spend the last three with her. She was a woman of beauty, intelligence and magic. She had taught Jack so much about life, about ways to appreciate it.

Even after these nightmares had torn his world apart, he had never given up hope of finding her again. It had been his motivation, his energy. His one ring. He had kept the image of her in the forefront of his mind. Those long, confused hours stuck to the wall. Through everything. Dee’s beautiful eyes and smiling face had kept him going.