Hal didn’t want to go around him. He didn’t want to get close to him at all.
The man in the middle of the road grumbled and opened his mouth wide. The sound coming from his throat rivaled that of the truck’s engine. Hal could imagine the guy’s throat ripping with the sound, his flesh stretching and tearing as he pushed that God-awful noise past his lips.
“Clementine, you drive around him,” Grant recommended. “Sally, you slide toward the center of the seat. Stay away from the window in case this fella gets grabby.”
“Just shoot him, Grant!” Sally replied.
Grant looked to Hal for an answer.
Hal shrugged. “It’s what we came out here for, ain’t it?”
Grant agreed with him and then leaned down to speak through the window into the cab. “We’re gonna shoot him. As soon as he falls, you barrel right over him.”
“You got it,” Clementine said.
It occurred to Hal that there was no concern for what they were about to do. None as far as killing the poor bastard went. If there was any worry at all, it was for the wellbeing of the truck and its passengers. Of course, their safety was the most important thing, but for the first time since this all started, Hal wondered if this would be considered murder. At some point, if the government sorted this out and came up with a cure that brought everyone back to normal, would he and this ragtag mob be guilty of slaughtering these things?
He doubted it. That would be absurd.
His thoughts were interrupted by Clementine yelling, “Well, if you’re fixin’ to do it, do it!”
Hal aimed his rifle sight at the crazy man’s forehead, and as he did, the man lurched forward, causing Hal to hold off on his shot and re-aim.
“He’s coming right at us!” Sally yelled.
“Shh,” Grant warned them.
“Shh? You’re about to shoot a rifle,” Clementine reminded him.
Hal wished they’d all shut up. He readjusted his aim and pulled the trigger. A jet of red mist popped out of the back of the man’s head, and he crumpled to the ground. If there had been birds in the trees, they would have taken flight, but nothing living was in the nearby vicinity. Any soul not already hijacked by these creatures had long since fled the scene. Still, the boom echoed off the trees and caused Hal to wince.
For at least a full ten seconds, nobody moved.
They only listened to the crack of the rifle repeat itself. The wind blew and ruffled the trees. Branches waved at Hal as he waited.
Was anything going to come at them? He expected to hear the growling of monsters, the stomping of feet, or at least heavy panting headed their way. Yet, there was nothing.
There’s nothing because everything in these woods is probably at Stonewall Forge by now.
He remembered visiting the campus and seeing the kids walk the halls, headed toward meetings, or going to lunch, whatever they had going on that day. Those children, barely teenagers, should have chosen some other weekend to come visit. A week ago would have been fine. Perhaps a month from now and this would all be over, but this was bad timing all around.
“Holy shit,” Grant said. “You nailed that asshole.”
“We have to get to the campus,” Hal demanded.
“Did you see that?” Clementine asked, slapping the steering wheel as she hopped up and down in her seat. “Took him out quick.”
“It ain’t the first one we killed,” Grant reminded her.
“I know, but that was a perfect shot!” she called out. “Did you see the way the blood flew out the back of his daggone head?”
Hal’s gaze was fixed on the body he’d just sent to the soil. He heard a strange growl that at first seemed to be coming from the man. By the time he realized it wasn’t coming from him at all, it was too late. The pitter-patter of feet racing toward them was coming too quickly, and Hal couldn’t gauge its location. It seemed to be on the left, but he wasn’t sure if it was approaching from behind them or up ahead.
Clementine wasn’t paying attention. She’d turned in her seat to peer out the rear window at Hal and Grant. The beast tearing through the trees seemed to sense her lack of alertness. The big, grey wolf charged at her on all fours. The fur near its ears was matted with what looked like mucus and blood. Its snout seemed to have lifted up as if trying to peel off its face. The shrieking, furious monster hit the glass face first and smashed through the driver’s side window, landing on Clementine and clamping its large jaws down over her forearm. Sally screamed and kicked her feet at the wolf.
“Sally!” Grant yelled. “Get out of there!”
“Clementine!” Sally screamed.
“Get it off me!” the older woman hollered.
In her terrified craze, Clementine mashed her foot down on the gas pedal. The truck shot forward, veered left, and slammed into a tree. Hal and Grant both flew forward in the bed of the truck, hitting the cab with their bodies before falling back into the bed.
Hal climbed to one knee and saw the entire front end of the truck was crushed. Smoke billowed from under the hood and the engine hissed. They wouldn’t be driving it anywhere now.
Through the rear window, Hal saw that Clementine’s head was at an odd angle. She was in bad shape, and the wolf was still hanging on, dangling out the window, growling as it shook its mouth back and forth.
For a second, the older woman seemed to be out cold. Oblivious to what was taking place around her and what was happening to her.
The skin on Clementine’s arm came apart in the beast’s mouth. It stretched and tore. The woman regained consciousness with a screech of pain like nothing Hal had ever heard before. She screamed in agony as the wolf’s teeth ripped through her muscle and bore down on bone. Its entire snout was painted red now.
Sally went crazy when she saw the blood. Her flight instinct took over and she shoved herself backward out of her seat, tossing herself through the passenger side door and onto the hard ground outside.
The wolf gnawed on Clementine, and even when Hal pointed his rifle at it and blew a hole through its center, the beast kept its clench on her.
Clementine, her face a mask of pain, yanked and pulled, trying to shake her arm loose.
Through the smoky screen obstructing his view, Hal swore he saw the wolf’s hair move.
“No!” he yelled, fully aware of what was about to happen.
He pointed his rifle at the wolf and shot it again. This time it fell from her arm, its teeth momentarily stuck in her flesh before its body plopped to the muddy ground.
But Hal was too late. He knew it the second he saw her suddenly go rigid. Like every muscle in her body spasmed at the same time. Her back snapped into a perfect posture. Her jaw fell open and the only sound that came out was, “Ohh… ugggg.” These weren’t moans of pleasure or even pain. They were the body’s inability to rationalize what was happening. She was in total shock. In awe. Then it was like realization suddenly came over her. “Sally?”
Sally had risen to her feet and was terrified standing outside the door, and she had every right to be, as Clementine’s short-lived clarity became all-out madness. With an agonizing cry, the older woman threw her fingers to her scalp and clawed at herself.
“It hurts!” she cried.
“Get away from her!” Grant yelled at Sally as he leaped out of the bed, grabbed hold of Sally’s arm, and pulled her away from the truck.
Sally, who wasn’t ready to be yanked off-balance, tripped and fell on her ass. She frantically swatted at herself, slapping her own arms and legs, driving her fingers through her hair and scratching at herself.
“Did they get on you?” Grant asked.
His gun was pointed at Sally, and he shook with his finger an inch from the trigger.
Hal didn’t know what to do. These were his friends, and all he could do was stand there and watch them while he contemplated whether or not he needed to kill them.