A malevolent cry breaks through the forest. Shrill. Pained. Evil. A chill goes down my spine, and my heart pounds rapidly inside my chest. Adam hears a chirping...no...a clicking noise? Like grasshoppers on a warm summer evening. But something's wrong. That noise...they need to run, now.
"What the hell was that?!" Carter exclaims with shaky breath, eyes wide with fear.
"I don't know," Adam shouts, "We have to get out of here. It's not safe anymore."
Carter doesn't argue. They dash over to the door of the cabin and Adam flings it open. His jaw drops the same time his heart does. Creatures of unnatural speed are dashing towards them, sifting through the overgrowth and rocketing on slim but agile legs. Carter immediately slams the door and Adam helps him move a bookshelf in front of it.
"That's not gonna hold," Adam mutters as they stagger back from the door," How far out are we from camp?!"
"A couple minutes," Carter responds, looking around for something to fight with. There's banging and clicking at the door. "We'll never make it back if they're that fast. They'll just catch us when we run out of energy."
Suddenly glass crashes in another room, and footsteps thunder across the floor.
"Look out!" Adam shouts at Carter, who's closest to the room as the door flies open, revealing a gaunt, lanky figure. The first thing that's noticeable about the creature is its eyes. They're glowing white like a dim flashlight, flickering every other second. Carter immediately kicks it in the chest and the creature stumbles back into a wall. Adam spots a small shovel next to the fireplace, grabs it and tosses it to Carter, who catches it and bashes the creature's skull in with a powerful strike. The eyes fade and the body slumps to the ground.
"They're fast, but not that strong. We can do this." Carter shouts over the growing commotion at the cabin door. Adam unsheathes his hunting knife. He takes a metal prod from near the fireplace and examines it. The rod is heavy, but has a wicked hook jutting out at a 90 degree angle near the tip. It'll do.
The bookshelf falls to the floor with a magnificent crash, and they're in the cabin. Four of them in total. Each tall, skinny, and moving with unnatural speed and agility. Adam hurls his hunting blade at one that charges him and watch as the blade sinks into the monster's neck, a little off from the head but it still does enough damage to send the thing flying back into a chair. His heart races as another creature takes the place of that one, and he slings the rod towards its skull.
It ducks. The zombie freaking ducks.
Adam's rod sails harmlessly through air as the creature tackles him to the ground, knocking the wind out of him and causing the rod to fly out of his hand. Gasping for breath, Adam tries to shove it off but it swings its hand at his head. He swiftly rolls to the side as three inch, dagger like claws splinter the wood where his head was merely a second before. With one last effort Adam throws the infected off of him, and shakily hops to his feet. He catches a glimpse of Carter, who's already killed one of them and almost has the other too. He shifts his focus back to the zombie in front of him, already rising from the floor, this time on all fours. Picking the rod back up, Adam swings down but my weapon clangs into the floor as the creature easily jumps out of range, clicking with agitation. Adam kicks a small chair towards it and the zombie leaps over, about to pounce on him. He sidesteps at the last moment and swings at the creature's head with all his strength. This time it goes down. Clicking weakly, the creature stares up at him with soulless, shimmering eyes. He plunges the rod into its skull, and the glow fades away.
Panting, Adam looks over to Carter, who stabs his shovel into a downed zombie. The only one that's left clicks quietly. The one he threw his knife at. It sits propped up in a chair, bleeding from the neck. The clicking noises that it makes seem...peaceful. Rhythmic and calm. Its eyes shift back and forth between me and Carter. As if it's observing us. Studying us.
"What are you waiting for?" Carter shouts, out of breath," Just kill it already!"
"Just a minute," Adam raises a hand to keep Carter back. "These ones are like the zombie that almost had Thomas this morning." Adam motions to its eyes. "The abnormal behavior. The heightened abilities. The glowing eyes...that's not normal. And it dodged when I tried to strike it in the head. It's like the damn creature was thinking or something."
"Well that's creepy and all, but can we kill it and be done here? I just want to get back home if you don't mind," Carter begs as he looks around the cabin, on guard.
"If there's more like them than they're going to prove far more challenging than what we've been up against. " Adam explains as Carter looks out the window behind me, "We need to figure out what's causing them to-"
Carter goes pale as his gaze rests on something in the distance. He begins trembling. Adam feels a wave of fear suddenly wash over his body. He whips his head around to sees a figure standing in a clearing not too far away. Whatever the hell it is, it doesn't look like anything he's ever seen before. Or would want to see again. The muscular creature has, from what they can see, black veins running along it's body. The only clothes it wears are a pair of tattered, faded brown shorts. And its eyes. Even from here Adam can see the glowing scarlet hue as they watch it... and it watches them.
The creature begins barreling towards them.
"Move that bookshelf over again, quickly!" Adam panics as he scurries over to the door. He peers out and the monster is still running, not as agile as the others. It's thundering through the forest, knocking over small trees and trampling bushes in its path. Another chill goes through his body as the temperature around the cabin seems to drop at least twenty degrees.
"We need to get out of this room, a small bookshelf is not going to keep that thing out," Carter calls back as he runs into the hallway, searching rooms for other possible weapons. The creature crashes against the door, the barricade holding this time. Adam ducks behind a couch near the fireplace as the door shatters and the shelf falls to the ground. Carter slips behind a counter in the kitchen.
It's too late.
The creature walks around the cabin, looking at each of the dead zombies before turning to the one slumped up against the chair. Another wave of dread washes over him, as if that monster somehow creates fear in its presence. It starts breathing heavily, building up rage. Picking up a coffee table near Adam's hiding spot, the creature hurls it with insane strength against the wall behind him, breaking it into multiple pieces. Adam grunts as a large wooden shard silent slashes across the back of his neck. The creature hears. Soon the creature is standing over Adam, and he goes completely numb. The hulking brute quickly reaches down and grabs his neck with one massive arm, lifting Adam up into the air. He kicks hard against the creature's chest, but it has no effect. He tries to shout and nothing but a whimper comes out of his mouth. The beast's mouth curls into a wicked snarl, and its breath reeks of decay. Adam feels the life being squeezed out of his body .
Is this really how I'm going to die? Angie, I'm so sorry.
"Hey ugly!" Carter shouts from across the cabin. "Over here!"
ns 15.158.61.12da2
