Killer Koala Bears From Another Dimension Part 9

"Don't worry 'bout me, Frankie-boy." Outlaw shook his right ankle, reminding Frank of the revolver. "I'm covered."

"Hey... what about us?" Tim protested.

"You look like you got it under control if we come into close range a.s.sault." Outlaw pointed to the machete on Tim's hip. "Just leave the shooting to us, kid."

Tim rolled his eyes and scanned all of the people standing around them in the street. "Whatever. You said something about a mess up there? What's everybody doing just standing out here?"

"Come take a look."

Frank led them toward the wreck through the crowd with the shotgun resting on his shoulder. Joana watched him walk ahead. He looked so cute in that blue jumpsuit... or coveralls. Whatever you called them. He was a working man. Had a job, unlike Tim. They stepped past some of the people. After Joana smiled at a woman wearing a sleeping gown and slippers, she locked eyes with Tim who had walked up beside her. The look on his face was filled with dread. It was as if he knew what they were about to take a look at. The field thingy that he had mentioned. It had already closed down around them. They were stuck. No getting out. She didn't have to ask. The way his eyes glistened with worry was enough to tell her what she already knew. How could he have been so stupid to let this all happen? Her hatred for him boiled inside. If it wasn't already bad enough, when she reached the wreck, the hatred for Tim grew. The light had kept the cars from getting out.

"Wh...wh...what are we go... go...going to do?" An old man stepped up beside Joana.

"If Tim hadn't-"

Tim jabbed her hard in the rib. Joana winced at the pain.

"What's that?" Frank asked, looking away from the wreckage.

"Nothing..." Tim said, very matter-of-fact. "We just need to-"

A sudden rush of air fluttered beside Tim cutting his words short.

"Run!" Someone shouted.

"Oh my G.o.d!" Joana screamed, pointing at the old man that had just stepped up beside them.

The spear protruding from his left eye was covered in blood, the wooden handle stuck out from the back of his head. He slumped to his knees then fell flaccid to his chest on the highway pavement.

Everyone shouted and scattered in all directions. Some jumped back into their vehicles, but once inside were unable to move. The other cars had them boxed in. There was no way to turn around and head back into town. The first Arktos that came into view fell from above. Having jumped from the top of a tree near the edge of the road. It landed on its feet on top of the black van filled with people. It smashed the windshield with a glowing rock. The screams of pain and torment began after it climbed into the van.

"They're everywhere!" Someone shouted, darting into the woods.

"Back to the car!" Outlaw shouted.

When they looked up, the woman in the slippers had jumped into the patrol car. With the keys still in the ignition and the engine running, Joana, Frank, Tim, and Outlaw watched the cruiser take off in reverse. Just as the police car stopped, trying to turn around and take off, three humanoid-bears charged out from the woods on one side, throwing rocks and spears at the moving car. Gla.s.s shattered; the bears lunged at it as if it were an animal and not an inanimate metal object. The patrol car stopped and the woman's screamed filled the air for a few seconds. When her screams ended, they knew... she was dead. The car rolled to a stop not even ten feet away from where it had originally been parked.

"What the h.e.l.l are we doing standing here? Let's get the h.e.l.l out!" Frank started to run toward the Jimmy, but the three bears that had attacked the patrol car now headed toward them. And the creatures were a h.e.l.l of a lot closer to the Jimmy than they were.

"Into the woods!" Outlaw insisted, grabbing Frank by the shoulder and pulling him along.

Sharp pain ran through his body as he was pulled down the ditch and past the first few trees. Outlaw had grabbed him right where that spear had hit him. He felt the warm wet sensation of blood running anew under his coveralls.

Arrows came down around them.

"Just keep going!"

Joana screamed, trying to keep up. She could hear the pursuit of those monstrous things giving chase behind her. She stumbled forward almost losing her footing in the soft dirt. She compensated with her other foot and pulled herself forward using a tree for leverage.

She just kept running.

They all did.

With Frank and Outlaw in the lead, Tim and several other people were only a few paces ahead. She looked back, panicked. Those creatures were going to catch up, do things to her. Kill her and eat her.

"Tim! Please... Wait for me!"

Tim didn't even look back. And in moments, she lost sight of everyone else. The deeper she ran into the woods the harder it was to see past all the thick trees. The machete bounced and slapped her hip. The sound of rustling pursuit somehow had changed. It was no longer behind her, but above. She looked up, still running, and thought she saw something gray sliding across the tree line overhead. She heard grunts and that familiar hissing of excitement that the Arktos made. They were surrounded.

Then the trees parted and gave way to a clearing. She fell to her knees nearly out of breath and screamed in terror. Frank pointed the shotgun right at her.

"Duck!"

Just as she did just that, the shotgun fired. The deafening report bellowed out. The creature that had been right on Joana's tail crashed to the ground, its chest blown to bits from the close range gunshot wound. The leaves crunched under its weight as it fell to the ground dead. The glowing stone it held slowly faded, the light leaving it just as the life had left Joana's attacker with the pull of the trigger.

"Thanks..." Joana wheezed, out of breath.

"Don't mention it," Frank said, pointing the shotgun up as he scanned the trees above them.

"How many are there?" A fat man wearing a wife-beater, shorts, and one sock, panted.

"Does it really, f.u.c.kin' matter?" Tim said, his machete unsheathed and gripped tightly in both hands. "We're dead."

"Don't say that, kid," Outlaw said, the revolver in his right hand.

All together there were seven of them stuck standing in the clearing waiting for the next thing to happen. There was Tim, Joana, Frank, Outlaw, the fat guy with the one sock, and two other women. One of the women had blonde hair. The other was wearing a tie-dyed t-shirt. Everyone else had either taken off in another direction or was dead. The sound of pain-filled screams echoed out across the woods. From what they could tell it was coming from the road. Frank thought of all those people in that black van and the old man that had the stuttering problem.

"We can't just stand here," the fat man shouted.

"We can't outrun them," Outlaw said, pointing his revolver toward a sudden noise in the woods off to his right. "Our best chance is defense in numbers. We stick together."

"He's right," one of the women said.

"f.u.c.k this... I'm out of here," the woman wearing the tie-dyed shirt said. "I'm leaving before those things realize we're back here."

"That's not a smart move, kid," Outlaw reasoned.

She wasn't listening, and in fact, had already started jogging deeper into the woods.

"Idiot," Outlaw breathed.

"Just let her go," Frank said. "You tried."

Just as those words left his mouth and as soon as the girl was out of sight the screams began. They came from the direction she had just gone. They started out high pitched and terrified. After a moment, they became m.u.f.fled and gurgle-ish. The screams of death faded and the woods fell silent, but only for a moment. They could hear the bears moving about all around them. Both on the ground and in the trees.

Joana looked to Tim, whose fear filled eyes matched her own. She saw the machete in his hand and followed suit, pulling hers from its sheath. She thought it would make her feel a little better. At least a little safer. It didn't. Not one bit. If anything, it made her more afraid. Afraid that she would have to do things she wasn't prepared to do.

"How many of them do you think there are?" the lady with blonde hair asked, her voice shaking with fear.

"I don't know," Frank said.

"If I had to guess..." Outlaw whispered, scanning the trees and beyond, "At least ten. Yeah, definitely at least ten. And trust me... they know we're out here."

"How do you know that for sure?" the fat man scoffed.

As if to answer his question on cue, a spear flew through the air from the trees above hitting the fat man in the throat. Blood gushed from his neck. He tried to scream, grabbing at the spear jutting from his throat, but couldn't. He just gurgled. Blood bubbled from around the spear's point of entry. The blood pooled around his throat and down his hands to his elbows. It ran down his double chin and plump neck onto his hairy chest, staining the white wife-beater.

The blonde screamed.

With both hands clutching at his throat, the fat man wearing one sock turned and started running in the same direction that tie-dyed had gone. Before he even had the chance to get out of sight, the bear that had thrown the spear fell on him from above. The fat man crashed on his back and the Arktos yanked the spear free. The man gagged against the pain, blood and plasma spraying across the bear. The creature wasted no time striking the fat man in the chest, not once, but countless times. With the spear in both hands, the Arktos enraged, it stabbed the man over and over again. Blood splattered from his chest with each forceful strike.

"Dear G.o.d... please help us!" The blonde just started running.

"s.h.i.t... what do we do?"

"Back to the car!" Outlaw shouted. I'm taking point. Frank, you cover the rear. You two... just keep up!"

With revolver at the ready, Outlaw took off in full sprint, not even bothering to look back to make sure that the others had followed.

Screams of the blonde that had taken off on her own filled the woods. It seemed painful. Horrid. Agonizing.

"Tim..." Joana cried, grabbing Tim by the hand, determined not to let go.

With Tim in front of her, the machete in his free hand, they ran, doing their best to keep up with their new friend. Joana was afraid to look back. She could hear someone giving chase right behind her. Whether it was one of those crazy alternate universe things or Frank was questionable. She didn't want to think about it.

Then all at once, spears and rocks started falling from the sky all around them.

Joana screamed as she felt the wind rushing at her side, hearing the thudding sound the spears made as they stuck in the ground around her.

Someone shouted to just keep going. Not to stop.

Outlaw's revolver went off and it sounded like it hit its target. The guttural moan that followed the loud report was somehow satisfying in Joana's ears. The revolver went off again. This time, that satisfying sound didn't follow, no matter how hard she listened for it.

The road was in view.

They were going to make it.

"I think the tire dude got hit!" Tim shouted.

"No... I'm fine, kid," Outlaw demanded, pointing the revolver into the street and pulling the trigger.

Joana watched from over Tim's shoulder as the creature in the street took the bullet and fell to the pavement.

"Come on, we're almost there!" Outlaw jumped out the ditch and back onto the highway.

An Arktos jumped from the trees to his left throwing a glowing rock. He ducked, the rock just missing him. Then he aimed at the creature and pulled the trigger twice. The first shot hit the creature in the chest nearly dead center. The blood exploded at the opening and the bear fell limp to the ground. The second shot clicked empty.

"s.h.i.t... I'm out!" He coughed, blood spilling from his lips.

When he turned and looked back at the woods, Frank was shoving Joana up the ditch.

"Behind you!" Outlaw shouted, and wiped the blood from his mouth.

Frank spun around, shotgun in hand.

The Arktos that ran on him from behind forced Frank to the ground on his back. He almost dropped the shotgun. The creature pulled a sharp bone-type blade from its loincloth and charged. Frank aimed the shotgun up, pressed the b.u.t.t of the gun into the dirt for support and pulled the trigger. The gun shook. The loud boom reverberated off the surrounding trees. Joana was reminded of the time that Tim put a tomato in the microwave until it exploded. The otherworldly creature's head did just like that tomato. And it looked just like that tomato, too. Red. Red everywhere. The thing's head was just gone. Chunks of muck and blood rained down around it where its head had been.

Joana's stomach churned at the sound the falling pieces of matted meat made as they hit the ground.

"We don't have time to stand around!" Tim shouted, waving his machete. "Whose car are we takin'?"

"The white one," Frank barked, climbing up the ditch.

Grabbing Joana by the hand, Frank ran toward the Jimmy. Watching Outlaw and Joana's boyfriend climbing in upfront, he opened the back pa.s.senger door letting Joana in. She turned to him and found herself smiling despite everything. She had never had anyone open the door for her like that. He closed her door and ran around to the other side.

Just before climbing in, more than a dozen creatures filed out of the woods through the ditch to give chase.

"Go... go... go...!" Frank pleaded, jumping into the back seat and slamming the door shut.

A seemingly endless number of spears rained down on the Jimmy. The stone tips colliding with the metal frame sounded like they were driving through a hail storm. Outlaw put it in drive, turned sharply and spun the vehicle around.

As they drove headlong into the path of more than a dozen monsters, the only thing Joana could think about was what happened to that woman wearing the slippers that took off in the police car. She didn't make it out and there weren't nearly as many of them then as now.

"We're not going to make it," Joana breathed.

"Yes we are," Frank said soothingly. He put the shotgun on his lap and reached over, giving her a pat on the hand. "We're gonna make it. I promise."

She leaned into him tight and clenched her eyes shut.

"Hold on tight, kids," Outlaw said, slamming his foot to the floor.

Joana squeezed Frank tighter having felt the vehicle begin to accelerate.

The sound of shattering gla.s.s and Tim's sudden scream filled her ears.

They weren't going to make it.

12.

The white GMC Jimmy crashed into the torrent of gray fur covered bodies.

The car jolted violently as it pushed through the figures. Bodies rolled over the hood and along both sides, crashing across the cement. The sound of shattering gla.s.s Joana had heard had been the front pa.s.senger side window. Gla.s.s covered Tim's lap. A bear-thing reached in, grabbing a fist full of his long jet-black hair. He flailed and screamed, trying to lift the machete to defend himself. It was impossible to maneuver the large blade into a striking position in the limited s.p.a.ce. With the car still moving forward and picking up pace, the creature pulled itself deeper into the vehicle by using Tim's head as leverage. It scratched at his face with its sharp black claws and pulled at his hair trying like h.e.l.l to gain entrance.