Forgetting the Apocalypse

23. Gone Too Far

Four days had passes since we had our first encounter with the new predator of the apocalypse. Riva so rightfully called them, Crawlers. They were stronger, faster and a lot heavier than that of a freshie. Most likely they had much higher bone density. It was as if they leaner, more in shape. They also seemed to be more aggressive. It wasn't long that we began to find some unnerving scenes.

Half a mile up the way we found zombies and animals alike butchered along the forest. Every time we came across another corpse our fear multiplied enough to all but cripple us. The zombies had simply been slaughtered, with a lot of brute force. No evidence that a weapon had been used. Same with the animals, they were half eaten and scattered. An overwhelming sense of de ja vu was flooding my system.

Roone picking up on my nerves grabbed my hand and led me away, turning my head to the side. "Just keep walking Mara. Don't look at it. Make sure nothing comes up on our rear, alright?"

It wasn't just me who had a hard time keeping calm. Blackie didn't even want to wag his tail as he walked, like he was afraid it being grabbed again or the swooshing of it would make too much noise. He stuck really close to Fredi, practically glued to his leg.

Then, as if the newcomers, the Crawlers, weren't bad enough, we were presented with a whole other problem. Because why would we be given a break?

Remember how I told you that when everything went to shit, a lot of animals had escaped zoo enclosures? How now their population was beginning to increase because of lack of human involvement? Yeah I wasn't exaggerating about that. You had much higher chances of running into some predators that you never would have before. A tiger, mountain lion. Or the bear that is twenty yards ahead.

This bear wasn't like most you would encounter. For one, he had most of his back left leg missing, chunks of it really. His stomach was practically disemboweled, his fur was almost all gone, and his face chewed off. Half of his bottom jaw was hanging off like someone tried hacking it off but didn't finish the job.

One sniff and it gave a howl, and it didn't sound like a bear but more like one of them crawlers.

"No, no, that's too much. Mother nature has taken it too fucking far!"

Without thinking or using any sort of communication or confirmation we all fired upon the dead animal. If anyone were able to see us it would be very hard to convince them that we are not ammatures who simply came across our weapons. We couldn't get a headshot with the fucker coming right at us. The only one who got close to the kill shot was Roone when he shot off the dangling jaw, sending it flying in the air.

The bear stilled and then fell forward with a big thud hitting the ground. None of us moved as we watched it twitching until it finally stopped moving. We were turning to be on our way when Blackie zipped right around and started growling at it.

In a fraction of a second, the bear stood on its hind legs and attempted to roar. Instantly, Fredi grabbed Blackie's leash with both hands struggling to stop him from attacking. That left us three to finish him off. I was so close to raising my gun like the brothers had when I saw the broken blade of what was perhaps a sword. So instead of my pistols I grabbed my two tomahawks and tried running around to get behind the bear.

Almost sensing what I was doing, it tried to take a big swipe at me with one of its paws. The boys were able to keep it distracted once more long enough for me to use my tomahawks to climb onto its back. That's when it started shaking trying to get me off or eat me. Unfortuntately, with me and the bear in this position, the boys could no longer shoot without risking hitting me. It was a struggle to hold on with only one hand as I tried to swing the other to hit the spike end into its brain. But with one lurch that he did gave me enough moment to propel myself foward and stick the spike in.