Kenn Crawford - Dead Hunt

“Sounds kinda weird to me,” Wade offered.

“And people eating people or little girls getting up when they were hit by a van is not weird?” Lauren asked.

“They didn’t really see or hear us,” Michael explained. “But as soon as one of them knew we were there and made that growl, they all knew we were there.”

“Then that settles it,” Paul announced. “If we stay here in the dark and be real quiet, they can’t see or hear us.”

“No,” Michael explained, “think about it. If they don’t hear that well and don’t see that well, then how do they find food?”

“How?” Emma asked though she was pretty sure she didn’t want to know.

“By smell.” Michael let his words sink in before continuing. “They must be able to smell food.”

“Then why didn’t they smell us when we opened the doors?” Lauren asked.

“I don’t know,” Michael answered. “That place reeked from all those dead bodies. Maybe that smell was so strong it hid our smell. It’s starting to get dark and we don’t have any lights. We won’t be able to see them coming. They could be right outside the door and we wouldn’t even know it.”

They all looked at the shattered door.

“We’re sitting ducks here,” Michael told them. “Even if we did see them coming, you saw how bad the tires spun on the gravel. When the sun goes down it’s gonna get chilly and damp, and then we’ll be spinning tires on wet grass trying to get away. It’s not safe here.”

“Where do you suggest we go?” Lucy asked.

“We can’t go back the way we came because there’s too many of them on the road. I don’t think the van could plough through them all. On top of that mountain, I saw lights. That means there’s somebody up there.”

“What if there’s not?” Lauren asked.

“Then at least we know there’s electricity. Lucy, do you know what that place is?”

“There’s a hunting lodge up there. My dad said some doctor bought it a few years ago.”

“A hunting lodge means guns,” Michael stated.

“Oh great,” Paul interrupted. “Stay here and get eaten or go up there and get shot!”

“No, he’s right,” Lucy said, “If someone is up there, I don’t think they expect those…” she hesitated and said reluctantly, “those zombie things to drive up in a van.”

“What if they are… zombies too?” Emma queried.

“It’s pretty secluded up there,” Michael explained. “We didn’t come across any of those things coming into Margaree, so it should be safe up there.”

“Should be!” Paul laughed. “That’s comforting.”

“I think we should do what Michael says,” Lucy suggested.

“Oh I see how it is,” Paul said sardonically. “Everything lately is Michael and Lucy. Where you go he goes. What he says you agree with. Something you guys want to tell me?”

Lucy shot a dirty look at Paul. “Grow up. You’re such a dick.”

“I’m telling you guys, we have to get out of here,” Michael continued, ignoring Paul’s jealous comment. “We are surrounded by houses and cabins and God knows what else. If one of them senses we are here, how long do you think it will take for more of them to figure it out?”

Nobody said a word.

“We know they don’t move very fast,” Michael added. “So the quicker we get out of here the better.”

Michael looked impatiently at his friends. It seemed like it took forever for them to make up their minds, but it was really only a few seconds.

“Ok, then,” Wade sighed, “let’s head up to the top of the mountain. That way we’ll be closer to heaven when we die.”

Lauren laughed. “If that’s the case, Wade, you’re going in the wrong direction.”

Everyone chuckled nervously as they headed out the door.

Michael noticed a butcher block and grabbed a large kitchen knife. As he was leaving he spotted a machete hanging above the door. He dropped the kitchen knife and pulled the giant machete out of its sheath imitating Crocodile Dundee, “That’s not knife. Now that’s a knife.”

Wade poked his head back in the door, smiling. “I heard that!”

Michael returned the machete to its sheath and followed his friends to the van.

As Wade pulled onto the road they noticed people covered in blood were coming out of their houses, all walking in that same unsteady swagger, all walking towards them.

“They’re all coming out at the same time. I wonder why?” Emma asked.

“We are why,” Lauren told her. “It’s feeding time.”

Wade swerved around as many of them as he could. He knew if the van took too many hits, it could crack the radiator or they could get hung up on one of them. Being outside on foot with those zombie things was not something any of them wanted to experience. Within minutes, they had passed the last of them. Michael looked out the back window and watched them slowly follow the van.

“Just like before,” Michael said to no one in particular, though everyone was listening. “They’re following us.”

The van crawled up the steep, rocky road as the sun fell behind the mountains, blanketing them in darkness.

“For Christ’s sake!” Wade said shaking his head.

“What is it?” Paul asked.

“We left the esky back at the cabin.”

“We left the what?” Paul asked.

“The esky.”

“What in the hell are you talking about?”

“Doesn’t anyone in Canada speak English?” Wade asked sarcastically. “The cooler. We left the bloody cooler of beer back at the cabin.”

“Smooth move, Exlax,” Paul snickered. “Want to go back for it?”

Wade slammed on the brakes.

“Jesus Wade, I was kidding!”

“Shut up!” Wade whispered. “I thought I saw something.”

Everyone looked. Wade flicked on the high beams, and that’s when they saw it: a huge, black bear coming towards them.

“Holy shit!” Emma squealed, too loud for everyone’s liking.

“Shhh!” Lauren warned her.

The bear stopped in front of the van, staring directly at Wade. Wade’s heart pounded in his ears and his arms started to shake uncontrollably when the bear stood on its hind legs directly in front of him. A cold sensation raced down the back of Wade’s neck and shoulders. His breath came in short bursts.

Wade saw two giant paws with terrifying claws thud down on the hood of the van. Wade froze, too afraid to even look away. He could not speak. The claws lifted and thudded down again. Its roaring breath blew spit on the windshield.

“Now what do we do?” Michael yelled over the girls’ screams.

Paul looked at Michael. “You distract him so we can drive around him.”

“Yeah, right. I’ll get right on that.”

“No, seriously, Mikey,” Paul told him, “slide open the door and lean out. When it sees you, it will go to the side of the van. Then we can drive past him. I’ll pull you back in.”

Michael looked at Paul doubtfully, “Pull me in? You’ll probably throw me out.”

“Listen,” Paul snapped back in an irritated voice, “this is fuckin’ serious, man. You said those zombie things are following us and Big Ben there is blocking the road. We can’t wait for him to move, so we have to lure him out of the way.”

The bear stood on his hind legs again and roared.

“His eyes are all fucked up,” Wade said. “He’s a goddamn zombie bear.”

“Why me?” Michael asked timidly.

“Would you prefer I hang one of the girls out the door instead?”

“No,” Michael replied uncomfortably.

“Wade is driving, and I’m stronger than you. I can pull you back in quicker,” Paul told him. “So that leaves you.”

Michael swallowed a lump in his throat.