The Returners (15 page)

After a short hike Chris Dodge and his group arrived at their vehicles. With him the other three men who had gone to the cabin, as well as two more from the camps. Chris had picked the two new men for their particular skill-sets. He felt they would both come in handy if things got out of hand.

The first man, Bryce McIntire was a stocky man in his late thirties with short black hair. Bryce had been a sniper in the Marines for eight years and had done two tours of duty in Iraq. The other man, Mike Blackman was a big guy who stood over six feet tall and had worked in the woods all his life. A gentle giant his friends always called him. Not the best person to have in a fight, but capable of taking care of himself when need be.

The main reason Chris had brought Mike along was his ability to track. He could pick up on small things most other people would miss. It was an ability Chris figured might come in handy if they were going to find these people.

The vehicles had been left a few miles from the camps because the road had washed out and they could no longer drive in. There were four vehicles total, an old rust colored SUV, a small green pickup truck, a red van and a larger black full size truck. The SUV and small truck were the two primary vehicles they used for runs and gathering supplies. They mainly used the SUV to transport people during the runs, and it had some storage capacity in the back. The small pickup was good on gas and had an open back end to put large amount of supplies in.

Most of their gear was packed in the SUV, only keeping a few items on them like weapons. They had brought a small supply of food and emergency gear in-case they had to be gone for multiple days. Chris, Clayton, Mike and Bryce piled into the SUV, while Damien and Andrew took the truck. Within minutes of arriving both vehicles were moving towards the main road. There they hoped to catch up to Ray's and the others killers.

********

The air was dry and crisp this morning despite the previous nights rain. Emily sat with Briella by the fire as the rest of the group slept. Joe and Briella's idea for the fire had worked great and the trailer had remained comfortable throughout the night. The wood chips burned well and provided enough heat to keep the chill off, but you had to pay attention to it and keep it well stocked or it would quickly go out.

The two girls chatted about random things to help pass the time and were enjoying each others company. Emily was especially enjoying it, it had been a long time since she'd been able to chat with another woman other than her mother. She missed being able to talk about girl stuff with her friends and missed them dearly.

"So is Joe your boyfriend?" Emily asked Briella, giggling when she asked the question.

"I'm not sure," Briella said. She was caught off guard by the question, it wasn't something she'd expected to be asked.

"Do you like him?"

"I do, he's a really nice guy and he's always been kind to me. Plus I think he's wicked cute," Briella said. Giving Emily a wink and smile too emphasize her point.

Emily began to giggle and Briella couldn't help but start as well.

"He sure is, I think he's handsome," Emily said as she put a handful of wood chips on the fire.

"Me too Emily, me too."

They both continued to giggle, but Emily stopped, her demeanor changing. Briella could tell something was bothering her. "Is something wrong Emily?"

"I'm kinda scared to go back to town," Emily's voice became rattled as she spoke.

"It's okay to be scared. We have each other and that makes me feel less scared." Briella understood where the girl was coming from. The things they might face when they arrived in Greenstone made her nervous as well.

Emily didn't say anything for a second, and then started to speak again. Briella's words seemingly having a positive effect of not making her worry so much.

"I guess you're right, we shouldn't....." Emily stopped in mid sentence and stood up as movement caught her eye near the back of the trailer.

Briella noticed it as well and stood up with her as a decaying hand reached around the edge of the trailer. Both girls backed up a few steps, there was now a head poking around the corner, it's eyes blotched white and skin a sickly yellow color. The Returner saw the girls and began to move to the back of the ramp. It's movements slow and uncoordinated.

Emily pulled her single shot shotgun up and Before Briella could tell her not to shoot she pulled the trigger. The Returner’s head exploded as the buckshot from the gun slammed into it. Blood sprayed on the back walls of the trailer as it fell backward. It crashed to the ground and rolled into the ditch beside the ramp.

Jacob and the others woke to the blast of the shotgun, the metal walls magnifying the sound ten fold. Each of them were brought to their feet in an instant. The blast causing instantaneous confusion and disorientation, making them pause to get their bearings.  

"What the hell?" Joe screamed out, unaware of why the shot was fired. He held the ax in his hand ready to use it if needed. He had given the 30-30 to Briella and could see she had it in her hands, but not aiming it at anything. 

Briella hollered out to them, "It's alright, Emily got it."  

Her voice seemed muffled as everyone's ears were still trying to adjust from the gun blast. 

"You okay Emily?" Jacob could see she still had the gun to her shoulder.

"Sorry, I shouldn't have shot." Emily lowered the gun and turned to look back at the others. "I'm so sorry." Tears began to fill her eyes. She knew she'd made a mistake by firing the gun. Wiping them away she apologized again. “Sorry everyone.”

Jacob walked over to her and put his hand on her shoulder. "It's fine Em, no one's mad. Just kinda jumped us waking up like that," Jacob said before looking back at Jessica and Joe who were still trying to get their bearings. "Well I guess now that we're all up we should get going. I don't feel safe sitting here, especially with the gunshot echoing through the woods. Bound to draw the attention of any Returners in the area."  

Everyone quickly gathered their things and they were soon headed down the road. A sense of urgency in their step.

********

The vehicles continued to chug along towards their destination, they had been riding for just under an hour. It was light enough that headlights were no longer required. So far the traveling had been smooth, no obstacles to delay their progress making it to the main road. The SUV was in the front with the pickup following closely behind it.

What happened next happened in a blur. The brakes of the SUV slammed on and it came to an abrupt halt. Glass, debris and blood went flying everywhere, covering the window of the pickup. Damien who was driving the pickup truck had only moments to react and swerved to avoid hitting the suddenly stopped SUV. The front drivers side wheel of the pickup truck caught the edge of the narrow road and flipped end over end twice. Damien threw his arms up and felt his body fly forward through the windshield. The last thing he saw as he hit the ground was the truck coming down on top of his legs. His world went black as extreme amounts of pain ripped through his body.

"What the fuck?" Damien muttered as he began to regain consciousness.

His ears were buzzing with static noise from the crash, his world spinning black. What the hell had just happened? When he was finally able to open his eyes and focus all he could see was the early morning sky above him. He could hear one of the other men in the group screaming behind him, but couldn't tell who it was. They sounded like they needed help. He needed to get to his feet before he could do that. It was then he realized something was wrong, when he tried to move his legs they wouldn't cooperate. Pushing himself into a sitting position he looked down and froze. The reason his legs wouldn't move was they had been crushed and mangled. He then remembered the truck coming down on top of them.

“Fuck me!”

This wasn't a good situation to be in with no medical care available. Pain began to coarse through his body as his adrenalin began to wear off. Looking down at his legs and the large pool of blood he lay in, it wouldn't be long before he died of blood loss. The last thing he wanted was to become one of those monsters. Reaching down to the holster at his side he felt the grip of his 9mm pistol.

Looking to the sky he mouthed the words,
“I'm sorry.”
Unclasped and removed the gun from its holster, clicked the safety off and put the gun in his mouth.

A gunshot brought Chris Dodge back from darkness. The last thing he remembered was a large black figure running out in front of them. They hadn't had time to react as the vehicle and the moose collided. Blood ran down the side of his head, its sticky warmness caressing his skin. Looking to his left he could see Clayton who'd been driving hanging half way out the front window. He lay motionless, and made no noise to indicate if he was still alive or not.

Chris grabbed the handle of the door and pushed, but it wouldn't budge. After several tries and a few hard shoves the door finally swung open with a loud creek. It took every ounce of his willpower to get out of the vehicle, but he did. When he finally looked in the back seat he could see Mike was starting to come to. He walked to the back door and opened it and shook the man.

"Mike, ya still with me buddy?" All he got was a incoherent semi-moaning response. Mike was still obviously dazed.

Chris's head snapped to the front of the vehicles as screams filled the air. A Returner stood in the road about thirty feet away, it was Bryce McIntire, the other man who had come with them. Reaching into the vehicle and grabbing the twelve gauge semi-auto he'd brought with him. He slowly walked towards Bryce, the gun to his shoulder. He wanted to be one hundred percent sure Bryce had turned. It was possible he was just dazed and confused from the accident. He wouldn't pull the trigger until he was sure, they couldn't afford to lose anyone else.

Andrew Smyth felt tremendous amounts of pain running through his whole body. His left leg was pinned underneath the truck. He'd been tossed out the window and the vehicle had landed on him. Surprisingly he was calm, focused and aware of his surroundings. Because of that focus he was able to see the reanimated corpse of Bryce McIntire slowly ambling towards him.

A few moments ago he'd heard a gunshot on the other side of the truck, which meant someone was alive. The only thing he could do was scream as loud as he could and hope someone heard him before it was too late. Taking a deep breath, he leaned his head back to scream again,  but stopped when he saw Chris walking towards Bryce. 

"Shoot him!" He used every ounce of his strength and energy to holler those words. Everything began to go dark as his world began to spin. The last thing he saw before consciousness left him was the head of Bryce McIntire explode into a bloody mist.

Chris pulled the trigger of the shotgun and watched the Returner's head explode. All he could do was stand there motionless trying to absorb the situation and regain his faculties. When he finally looked back towards the SUV he saw Mike standing outside the vehicle and leaning against it. It looked like his legs had all they could do to support him standing.

"Stay right there Mike," Chris hollered. He hoped Mike was coherent enough to understand what he'd said. 

Everything was spinning as Mike tried to focus and get his bearings. All he could remember was violently slamming into the seat in front of him. As he finally starting to gain his senses he heard Chris holler something, but wasn't sure what. He saw Clayton hanging out of the front window and Chris walking towards the truck that was flipped onto its side. A dead Bull Moose lay in the road just past where the truck had come to rest. Worried about whether Clayton was alive and injured, he moved towards the front of the vehicle to see if he could help.

Chris moved towards the truck and could see Andrew’s leg pinned under it. The boy wasn't moving, but he could see the kid’s chest moving up and down so he wasn't dead. Going around to the front of the truck he saw Damien's body. Damien had ended his own life, the gun still in his hand, that accounted for the gunshot he'd heard. Leaning against the truck, everything that had transpired hit him at once. It made him dizzy and sick, he felt the contents of his stomach coming up as he leaned forward and wretched. When he was finally able to stand up straight, he wiped his mouth and just stood there letting his mind absorb the situation.

What the hell was going on? Everything wasn't going according to plan that was for damn sure. Maybe they'd made a mistake going after these people, maybe he'd fucked up by making that call. The sound of Mike's voice caught his attention and brought him back to reality.

"Clayton's not dead Chris," Mike hollered as loud as he could. Trying to make sure Chris would hear him. Just as the words escaped his lips he felt hands grab his arm and teeth sink into his flesh.