Chapter 6
Trevor turned to see Dean walk back into the room. Trevor couldn't shake the fact that there was something about him that seemed odd. He had gotten rid of his coat and bow tie, but then that wasn't that surprising. Maybe it was the fact that Dean was no longer carrying his gun, instead, for some reason, in his hand was a pan.
"You need to get them out of here now" Dean said to him.
He had walked straight towards him.
All that time, Trevor just looked at him with an expression of confusion.
"I'll create a distraction"
"But my orders…"started Trevor
"Screw your orders" Dean said taking Trevor back a step. "You get these people out of here now." Trevor hesitated and turned towards Tracy. She just nodded her head.
At that, he got up and started walking towards the main group.
Tracy left Claire, the young waitress, and made towards Dean.
"What are you doing?"
"I'm getting everyone out"
"And you?"
"I'll follow, once I know everyone is safe and faraway"
She looked at him for a few seconds before nodding her head. She then leaned in and kissed him on the cheek.
"Good luck" she said "and thanks for doing this." She then walked back to Claire.
Dean watched as she helped the young girl on to her feet and then led her to join the others. Dean couldn't help but notice the way the girl was looking at her. She had the same expression on her face as Trevor.
He watched as everyone was taken into the corridor.
Then he took a deep breath and stepped out of the door.
Dean's head felt like someone was playing the bongos in there. As if he had just woken up after a night out.
The only problem was he could feel a bump on the back of the head that shouldn't have been there. He felt it a few more times as he got back on to his feet.
It didn't take long for him to realize what had happened. Before, even, the memories of what had happened came flooding back to him. He panicked when he remembered what Brian had done; and again, when he remembered about the others.
He was about to get back to them when he found himself looking at a confused Trevor.
The two men stared at each other for a couple of minutes, with Trevor opening his mouth several times to say something but somehow not finding the words to say it.
Their moment was interrupted thankfully by Tracy.
"We don't have the time, we need to move" she said and this time it was Dean's turn to mimic a goldfish.
"Everything is being taken care of. We need to go" she said. Dean was about to protest when Tracy shoved him towards the rear door. "We don't have the time for this."
"My gun" Dean started but then he noticed it lying where he had dropped it. He looked at it confused before picking it up.
He followed the others out the door. Before walking out he took one last look back. And then a thought hit him:
'Were they missing someone?'
Brian didn't understand why Dean believed that the creatures outside were after him. But then, Dean believed in it enough to risk everyone's life on it. But then Dean never struck him as the suicidal type.
He stepped out of the door and into the open air. There was a lump in his throat as his feet touched the moist ground.
'Well unlike himself, that is.'
'What was he doing?'
'What was he trying to prove?'
It was still dark outside but he wished there wasn't a full moon. He would rather have not seen what was waiting for him.
The things looked human, well at least the one that waited for him looked, physically at least, human. But he had seen exactly what those things could do.
He felt his heart beat hard against his chest.
Felt sweat pouring down his face though the air was quite cold.
However, he kept walking towards the one that had been standing outside all this time waiting. He was one of the security guards at the ball. He was also the one he had seen mercilessly murdering one of the valets who worked with him. His colleague's dry blood still covered the man's white shirt and mouth. He tried not to think of what he had seen from his hiding place. But it was hard with the one responsible standing right there before him.
There was nothing in his expression to tell Brian what waited him.
He could hear a deep throaty rumble echoing from the thing, which suddenly stopped when he got close enough.
The thing then tilted its head.
Its eyes were white and its face expressionless. So he had no idea what the thing was thinking. Somehow though he knew, to some extent, it was confused.
His heart nearly leaped when he saw more of them walking in from behind the trees; behind the other. The closer they got the more he noticed the many oddities he had not seen before. Some actually had bullet wounds and gashes that would have stopped a normal human. What blood that covered them were dried and he had a feeling they didn't belong to them. He felt his heart leap into his throat, as the gravity of the situation dawned on him.
'At least, the first part of Dean's plan worked.'
Every one of those things, which could possibly go after the other survivors, converged on him. At least he hoped this was all.
'It wasn't like he had an actual count to work with.'
Well of cause, he also realized just what that meant for him. He tightened his grip on the handle of the pan, until he realized how useless it was and he loosened his grip.
He closed his eyes and continued walking.
However, when he got close to them, none of them made any moves for him. Instead they just watched him. They parted when he got close enough. And he continued walking past.
He felt a sense of hope.
Until something happened and the creatures all averted their eyes into some distant spot. It was as if they had all heard something that was beyond his hearing. The next thing he knew they all turned their attention back on him. The throaty rumble came back.
Somehow he was doing it.
He was fending off the creatures with the frying pan.
They attacked him with their hands outstretched as if trying to strangle him. So he was glad for the long handle of the pan; that he was able to get a good swing without letting them close enough to reach his throat.
However, they keep coming back.
He wasn't even really sending them on to the ground. More like, he was driving them back.
His shoulder was starting to hurt and so were his wrists.
Exhaustion was slowly creeping up on him. Sooner or later, he knew that, either the pan will give away or he will.
Maybe it was cowardice of him. But he figured the others probably had a good fair distance by now. So he started to make towards the trees.
Beating a line through the seemingly never ending rows of the creatures.
At least they were only coming at him one at a time.
They also so far were only attacking him from the front; so he could back his way towards the tree line.
He figured once he got there he could possibly try to outrun them. Since, they hadn't shown any signs of real pace or urgency in their action.
Then, all of a sudden they stopped.
He watched in confusion as they stood again at a distance from him just staring at him emptily.
Once again they looked away with that earlier expression, before going all numb.
He turned around from side to side to make certain. But he wasn't mistaken.
None of them were doing anything.
Some were actually staring point blankly at him, including the head security guard. But others had cocked their heads and were staring at him at an angle. A very few seemed bored and were looking all around them.
That was when he realized that those who were looking in his direction weren't actually staring at him.
His eyes open wide as the realization dawned on him.
He took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the pan.
Then he swung around with the pan, but it never reached its target. Powerful hands gripped his wrist in mid flight.
He fought the hand that gripped him, but unlike the others there was sheer power in this one. The thing was tall and lean but also strong. Also, its eyes were also not blank and white, and its face was not empty; there was an expression of pure hatred and anger masking it.
Surprisingly that was not what drew his attention, what caught his attention was the other oddity:
'The creature was sporting mutton chops!'
They had managed to put a sizable distance between them and the cabin. Considering that they were dragging along a half-a-dozen scared folks who were completely out of their element in the swamps it was quite the fete. Then there was the swamp itself. Not only did they have to worry about navigating its monotonic scenery they had to worry about the wildlife; especially the reptilian kind.
However, for all the things he had to worry about at that moment, the thing that his mind was focused more on was Brian. From the expression on Trevor and the others he had a feeling that Brian was far from human.
'But if that was true why was he doing this?'
Suddenly he was distracted by a very unnerving sound. That once again rose to shatter the silence of the night
He heard a scream in the distance.
He recognized the scream…it was his own!
