NorthWest (John Hazard - Book II) (20 page)

“They might locate us by sound, or smell. They’re aliens, and we have no idea how they operate. Come on, let’s spread out now. We need to get going.” He waved for them to move out in a line. He looked again back at the direction where they had been and didn’t see anything, so they pressed on.

The alien creature now leading the pack remained unseen as it leapt onto a sturdy branch of a tree just two hundred yards or so behind them. It seemed to be waiting for the others to catch up. They had been delayed temporarily by eating the sibling creature that had been killed while attacking Marcus.

The team had positioned themselves a short distance apart as John had instructed them, and were walking at a steady pace, something short of a run. Ahead of them the forest was green with the moss that is so common in this region of the country. John thought he might actually enjoy spending some time backpacking up here for a week or so if he wasn’t running for his life. In fact, aside from the investigative work he had planned for this trip, he had hoped for just that. Not a life or death encounter with bloodthirsty aliens.

After they had gone about fifty yards, they came upon an obvious trail. “Anybody have any suggestions which way to go? I don’t want to be the one to make a decision for everyone, and then have to deal with a bunch of shit.” John looked at them, waiting for a moment before suggesting, “Okay then. If nobody wants to take a chance, I say we go…”

“Right!” Emily blurted out, cutting him off. “We go right.”

“Why do you think we should go right?” Raj asked. “I think we should go left.”

“Then why didn’t you speak up in the first place? I think we should go right because I’m sensing it’s the way we should go, really.” It looked as though Raj was going to back down since Emily seemed so sure.

Eddie looked at the two of them. “This is bullshit, John. Which way do we go? I trust your judgment.”

“We go right.” It was Macy who answered. “I have to believe that Emily would not have been so insistent if she didn’t sense something. We go right. It’s time we trust our instincts and our training.”

“Training? Would that be our survival training, or our hand to hand combat training? I’m not quite sure what training you’re referring to right now, Macy.” Eddie glared at Macy, then looked back to John.

“Right it is, then.” John confirmed and began walking down the trail. “Look, guys,” he called back to them as he went. “We don’t have too much more time before it’s going to be dark. I don’t know if those things hunt at night, but we will definitely be more vulnerable and could get really lost if we try to keep going in the dark. Keep your eyes open for a fairly flat, clear area where we can make some kind of camp.”

“What if those things do hunt at night?” Sherri was coming up right behind him and grabbed hold of his arm. She squeezed hard, nearly panicked at the thought. “They caught up with us before… John! You saw what happened to Marcus. We saw how they paralyzed Mark. If they come up on us in the dark…”

“I know, Sherri.” He patted her hand and gently pried her fingers from around his arm. “I am well aware of the risk. But in the dark it would be too easy to circle back and run right into those fuckers. Let’s face it. If that happens, it’s game over.” He continued to scan the forest surrounding the trail as they walked.

Eddie moved up next to Sherri. “John’s right. I’ve seen it in movies. People get lost like that even in broad daylight. They go walking along trying to mark their trail with strips of cloth or something. Then all of a sudden one of them notices that their surroundings look familiar just as somebody else finds a piece of the cloth!” He added, “I vote we camp, whatever it takes to find a safe place.”

They continued to stumble down the trail, mostly in silence as each one kept watch to the best of their ability. The memory of the unspeakable horror of Marcus’ death made them wary of any sound behind them and every movement in the trees kept them on the edge.

“Hey look!” Emily saw them first. The sun was low in the sky and the shadows made them difficult to make out, but there were tents, and some kind of campsite in a clearing on the other side of a stand of trees.

John moved to the front of the group and held out his arm to slow them. “Shhh.., we need to be quiet until we find out what we are looking at here. Look over there.” He motioned toward one of the tents. There were gasps as the group realized that one of the tents was partially shredded. Stains from blood spray remained on the fabric hanging from the bent frame of another, and could be seen from where they stood.

John crept closer to get a better look with the others following close behind him in silence, some out of fear, and some out of shock. “Oh shit!” Emily couldn’t help the sudden outburst as she realized that what she had thought was a branch beneath her foot was part of a human hand with three fingers still attached.

Feeling dizzy and sick to her stomach, she grabbed John’s arm and pointed down at her discovery. Karla nearly screamed in terror at the gruesome sight, but Eddie took hold of her face and looked directly into her eyes, speaking in a low voice, “Don’t look, baby.” He continued talking to hold her attention while John stooped down to investigate.

Emily backed away and leaned against the nearest tree with her mouth still gaping. John stood and faced the group.  “Now, this is what I’m talking about,” he said quietly. “We need to be extremely cautious until we find out if the killer is still around. Eddie, you come with me, and everybody else move over closer to the trees. If anything happens to us, run like hell.”

“Dude, I don’t know about that,” Eddie said, hesitating. “Maybe we should keep moving. There might be some place around here that hasn’t been hit yet, maybe some people who are alive and can help.”

John looked him in the eyes. “Don’t be a little bitch right now, Eddie. Grow a pair and watch my back while I look for some kind of supplies. There’s got to be something we can use, if not for shelter, maybe as a weapon. Tell you what… if we find another knife or something it’s yours. Deal?”

Eddie thought for a second. “Okay, you lead. I’m right behind you.”

John cautiously approached the campsite with Eddie so close behind him that he could almost hear his pounding heart beat. Step by step they drew closer to the camp while the sun slowly slipped behind the mountains. Even in the dim light, they could see the large amount of blood on the shredded tent. However, on closer inspection, they found it was dried and brown. Whatever happened here must have occurred some time ago.

Glancing around, they could detect no sign of life. Some of the other tents were intact but were leaning slightly as if someone had run into or out of them in a hurry. A few of the nylon stakes that had held them in place had pulled from the ground and lay where they fell.

John walked over to one of the damaged tents and slowly pulled back the flap that was unzipped and hanging over the opening. There was an odd screech as a startled raccoon scurried between his legs. He was almost sure he pissed his pants right then, but no. He just screamed like a little girl and followed it with a very manly, “Fuck me,” as Eddie stood back and let the little looter hurry off into the nearby brush.

He waited to see if anything else was going to run out before he hit the side of the tent with his hand to encourage them to do so. When nothing happened, again he pulled back the flap. The smell of death was strong and he felt his stomach begin to churn.

Inside the tent was a mess. There were remains of a shredded sleeping bag, some scattered clothes, and a very large flashlight, which he immediately claimed. He tried the switch and there was light. It seemed that the batteries were still strong, and he felt a flash of relief that it still worked. Now he could get a better look at the scene inside the tent and it wasn’t pretty. Scattered over the clothes and other items were partially decomposed bits of flesh. They were swarming with maggots and it was nearly impossible to identify any real body parts.

“What do you see, John? What’s in there?” Eddie caught a whiff of the stench but was still standing watch just outside the tent. He could see the light through the fabric as John looked around.

“Man, you do not want to see this.” He started to back out of the tent opening and bumped into Eddie. “Dude, some space?”

He switched off the flashlight as he stood up. “I don’t think anyone survived what happened here.” He looked around the outside of the tent in the fading orange glow of the sunset. “Let’s see if there’s anything else here we can use.” He flashed the light twice toward the rest of the group still waiting near the trail and motioned for them to come over to the site.

Quickly, they joined John and Eddie as they began methodically searching the other tents and throughout the surrounding area. There were no backpacks at the site. The packs they did find appeared to have been dragged off into the woods and emptied of their contents in an obvious effort to get at the food. There was a small cooler and it had a couple of plastic bottles of spring water in it, but no food.

“Pass this around.” John grabbed a bottle and handed the cooler to Eddie. To the rest of the group, he instructed, “Just a few small swallows. Make sure everyone gets a drink. And save the bottles. If we come across a source of water, we’ll need something to fill.”

He twisted off the plastic cap, took a couple of small swallows, and handed the bottle to Emily. He was watching her as she drank, and she looked at him for any sign that she should stop. When the bottle was nearly half finished he started to move toward her, and she lowered the bottle. “Come on, John! Did you really think I was going to drink it all, or what?”

He brushed her shoulder with his hand and smiled. “No, wild thing. I wasn’t concerned about you overindulging. I was just worried about the intentions of that half-dollar-sized spider that was creeping up your shoulder.”

Emily let out a squeal as she quickly handed him the bottle. She hopped around brushing off her shoulders and arms, feeling the chills creep up her spine at the thought of the uninvited hitchhiker. “You know, I never thought much about it before, but I hate the fucking forest.”

“I’m thinking that spiders are the least of our worries,” John answered. “Let’s not forget what we’ve been through today.” Protectively, he put his arm around her, and together they joined the others to continue searching the campsite. Five yards from the fire pit, John hit the jackpot. He let out a “Woo-Hoo!” as he reached for the hatchet, half its head buried in the ground.

From across the clearing, Eddie was walking toward John yelling, “The hatchet is mine!” John turned and shone the flashlight in Eddie’s face and saw the look of victory in his face, “Damn, Eddie! I guess so. We did have a deal.”

“That’s right,” Eddie replied with a huge shit-eating grin. “We did have a deal.” He reached out for it as John unwillingly handed it over, handle first. Although John tried to hide his reluctance, he let out a mumbled warning saying, “Try not to cut your leg off, buddy, cuz I won’t be carrying you outta here.”

Turning to look at the rest of the group, John was ready to call it a night. He thought how strange it is that people can become distracted with a single purpose and forget about all that’s happened to them that very day. He listened as the night settled around them realizing that while they had been searching the campsite, no one had stood guard.

Off into the woods, less than a hundred yards away, the creatures had slid into a dormant sleep-like state as the sun set over the forest. Darkness could be the enemy for humans, as the native creatures that hunted at night stirred from their rest. The alien monsters had their own problems with the dark and were paralyzed as the setting sun forced a loss of consciousness upon them regardless of where they were or who they were pursuing.

Had the team been aware of this weakness, the vicious killers could have been slaughtered while they slept. Survival would have been assured. If only they had known…

Forty

The ravaged camp didn’t offer much in the way of protection, but John felt some would not make it much farther. There was no way to know how far away the aliens were now, but there had been no signs of them for quite some time. If they were still in pursuit they could come from any direction. John talked it over with the group and everyone agreed to camp here for the night and take turns keeping watch.

Absolute darkness would be upon them soon. The clouds that had dotted the sky earlier had now merged to block out any light from the moon. There would be no stars to wish upon tonight. The only way they could be aware of any threat would be to build a fire. They would huddle around it as their primitive ancestors had done for light and protection. They would have the comfort of that if nothing else.

When John asked for volunteers to help find some firewood, they argued that he was the only one with both a flashlight and a weapon. Macy suggested that the rest of them should stay together in the center of the camp where they could defend themselves if necessary. John was too mentally exhausted to push them, so he agreed to gather the wood. “Come on, Eddie. Bring your hatchet and help me get the fire going.”

Whether the rest of the group was cooperative or not, John was determined to survive, with or without them. As the others began to rearrange the rocks and logs around the fire pit, Eddie gathered some sticks and piled them in the center of the fire pit. Ripping some dried grass out of the ground, he added it to the pile.