The Bushman, Part Two

Meg

Everyone in the survivor camp had a sense of dread during the following hours. Having a new killer meant that in the coming trials people are more likely to be sacrificed. Meg doubted that Feng would volunteer for the next trial, which meant that David wouldn't go either. That meant that four people would be chosen to go. What made Meg concerned is that she read Dwight's list, and she was in the next batch of survivors.

During her time in the Fog, Meg had busied herself with drawing. By now she had gotten pretty good at using charcoal for her art. Charcoal was not hard to come by, and anyone could grab paper from the hospital area. By now, all survivors had at least one hobby. Jake's was building things. Pretty soon every survivor here would have their own sturdy cabin. Claudette and Bill had both taken up gardening, but for different purposes. Claudette liked the flowers, while Bill thought that it would be easier to grow his own tobacco than to snag the rare pack of cigarettes from the Entity. Nea's been tailoring some clothes, and Dwight had been reading the books he had stolen from the Doctor's office. One could say that Dwight had taken an interest in neuroscience since he was quite content with reading every book he could get his hands on.

Meg was sitting by the river, working on her picture of a landscape. The open sunny fields that she was depicting seemed so alien to her now that she had been here so long. She accepted long ago that she would never get to leave, but as long as the Entity keeps bringing in more and more new survivors, Meg figured that the camp could turn to a town, then to a city. When you have a city, you may get to have its amenities. Meg paused from her work to observe Jake wandering the forest a short distance away. Meg could tell that he was worried, as he always took walks in the forest when he needed to think.

Meg heard the bell in the distance. With some dread, she hung her head. It was time for her to go. She quickly packed up her art supplies, and she walked the walk to the campfire. She was second to last when she saw that Nea was late to the crowd.

"I know everyone's a bit nervous to face a new killer, I am too, since I'm taking part in this trial." Dwight said, holding his clipboard, wearing a nervous smile.

To the surprise of the group, Bill walked over to his pile to grab a toolbox. Why would Bill volunteer at a time like this? What was he trying to prove? That he was brave?

Dwight continued speaking. "With Bill volunteering, that leaves Meg, Tapp, and myself." Said Dwight, as he gently put his clipboard on the ground.

Meg let out a little sigh as she grabbed one of her flashlights. She then stood next to the fire. For a trial where things were uncertain, this was the team that you wanted. Both Tapp and Bill hated the thought of leaving someone behind, but Meg feared that they would just be sacrificed as well. Dwight was a nice addition, since Meg loved the man's nervous puppy like face.

Meg watched as the fire rose. She looked to Claudette before she closed her eyes. Meg took comfort that she would be there when Meg got back. Meg really hoped that they would not be taken to the place that Ace and David were describing, as Meg really hated overheating when she ran.

She opened her eyes, and she breathed a little sigh of relief. They were at the Asylum, things were plenty temperate here. Meg, clutching her flashlight, made a quick look around. No Jigsaw boxes, two generator poles, and Tapp just a short distance away. Meg smiled, as she really hated being alone in these situations. The two exchanged a look, and they walked to the nearest generator. The two had just started working when the two were startled by a large bang somewhere a good distance away.

"That did not sound like a generator blowing up." Meg said as she instinctively tensed her leg muscles.

"No, I think that was a gunshot." Tapp said, a little hint of dread in his voice. "I think we have the new killer, and it has a gun."

This made Meg a bit fearful. How could she possibly outrun a bullet? She looked over to Tapp. "You shouldn't be worried. You have a bulletproof vest." She said sassily.

Tapp smirked as he worked. "This vest is only meant for pistols at a medium range. That sounded like a rifle." The two were almost halfway done with the generator when Meg spotted Dwight in the distance. He was hunched over and running for his life. He was probably the one that just got shot. Both Meg and Tapp jumped when they heard another shot, with Dwight falling down with a yelp. Meg had two different instincts. One was to run away, the other was to run to Dwight. Tapp put his hand on Meg's shoulder before she could choose.

"No, we need to see the killer." He said.

Meg nodded, and they both hid behind the generator. A few seconds later, they spotted the killer. The killer was a male, and he was not overly tall like most of the other male killers. In fact, from a distance Meg almost mistook him for Bill. He was a stocky man, wearing a dark brown wide brimmed hat. The killer got close enough for Meg to hear the heartbeat, and close enough to see more detail. On the killer's back, was a rifle. In the killer's right hand, a very scary looking knife. The man wore a pair of worn work jeans, and a strangely friendly looking red flannel shirt. The oddest thing about this killer however, was the lack of the red stain coming from the man's eyes and face. Meg looked over to Tapp, who seemed to share the confusion. If Meg didn't know any better, this man would seem like the kind of person to help someone change a tire on the side of the road.

The killer picked up Dwight, and in the distance a generator was started. Good job Bill. The killer did not put Dwight on his shoulder immediately however, instead Meg heard some talking in the distance. She couldn't believe it, this killer was speaking! They never did that!

After some more talking that Meg could not hear, the killer let out a weird laugh before putting Dwight on his shoulders and walking a direction opposite of Tapp and Meg. Did the Entity have no control over this one?! Tapp frowned and continued to work on the generator. Meg however, crept towards where Dwight should be. If she was silent and moved slowly, the killer wouldn't see her. Meg moved slowly, even after she saw the killer walking to Meg's left side towards the ruined asylum. It took a while longer until Meg could hear Dwight.

Meg could hear that Tapp finished the generator, which gave her a bit of hope as she approached Dwight. Pulling him off the hook, the two ran towards some of the ruins opposite of the asylum.

"He.. Spoke to me." Dwight said slowly, as Meg did what she could to stop the bleeding. Another thing about this place, any injury could be fixed by putting grass or dirt in the wound. An odd reality this was.

"What did he say?" Meg asked.

"I couldn't understand him fully. His accent was too thick."

"Australian?"

"Yeah." Dwight said, standing up straight as soon as Meg was finished. Dwight's head turned, and he looked up to the asylum building. His eyes widened, and he dove to the ground, pulling Meg with him. Just a short moment after, another shot was fired, and there was a noticeable mark on the brick wall that the bullet hit.

There needed to be no communication between the two, they just crawled to a rock that obstructed the view between them and the asylum. "Of all the things that could kill us, why does it need to be a sniper?" Dwight complained.

"While he's pining us down, Bill and Tapp are fixing generators." Meg said as she sat up, with her back to the large rock. She held her flashlight in her hands, and she had a bit of an idea. "His gun had a scope right?"

"Yeah, why?" Dwight asked.

Meg held up flashlight to Dwight. "I might be able to blind him."

"And risk getting shot?"

Meg frowned. Another generator was fired up. That made just two more. She thought for a moment, and she made up her mind with resolve. "I'm going to do it."

Meg took a deep breath in, and she sprang from the cover of the rock. She then flashed her flashlight, not fully knowing where she was supposed to be aiming. Out of pure luck, she happened to spot the glare of the killer's scope. She pointed the light at it, and she almost thought that it worked until she heard the gunshot. The bullet went straight through the flashlight, and Meg out of instinct sprinted for the ruins to the left of her. She didn't even notice that Dwight was right behind her. Meg was almost safe in cover when she heard another gunshot. At the same time she felt a blinding pain in her side. She's had a hatchet thrown at her, but she's never been shot until now. The pain was sharp, and Meg cried out as she dived for cover. She noticed that her flashlight had disintegrated, never before had a killer destroyed the equipment that the survivors had. Meg slowly lifted herself to a knee as Dwight came to her side. Behind Meg was one of the hooks, and a generator. To the front of Meg, a window opening that she hid behind. Dwight did what he could, and as usual the healing was enough. Who knew that rubbing some dirt and grass into the bulletwound would solve everything?

Another generator fired up. Looked like this trial would end up being just Bill and Tapp saving the day. Such an event would really appeal to their nature. Only one generator left, and there happened to be one right next to Dwight and Meg. Meg gestured to the generator, and Dwight nodded his head.

The two sheepishly approached, careful not to leave the cover that the brick walls provided. Meg missed her flashlight, but she had more back at camp. Flashlights were not that hard to come by, so that aspect was fine at least. As the two continued working on the generator, they quickly looked to their backsides as they heard Tapp scream. He was hooked. Meg figured that Bill could take care of it, as the two were about halfway done with this generator. Sometimes when people were hooked, the survivors could see outlines of their fellow survivors. Very rarely, they could see the killer's as well. This time, no such luck. In the split moment that Meg was distracted, she connected the wrong pair of wires, and the little section of the generator blew up violently. Meg cursed as she re-focused herself. She had a way of knowing when blowing up a generator would attract attention, and she knew that this was one of the times where the killer was busy with something else. The explosion caused a large amount of damage, but after awhile the generator was nearing completion. The two were nearly finished when they heard another gunshot, with Bill being the one to yell. Another thing that Meg noticed was that Bill was running towards them. The generator just finished when another gunshot was sounded, and Bill fell down, just inches from cover. With a groan and a cough, Bill crawled to cover. It was a few seconds later that the three of them could hear the heartbeat.

Surely Tapp was opening the gates, so Dwight and Meg scrambled to help Bill so he could escape. But the heartbeat got too loud, and Dwight was the one to be stabbed in the back. Meg scrambled backwards, and Dwight ran from the tall Australian. The killer seemed to ignore Meg and Dwight as he picked up Bill as if he were a small child.

"U.S. Army…" The killer muttered as he looked at Bill's green coat. "Ah, you're a yank!" The killer exclaimed. "Ya know, I fought in 'nam as well. Killed three of the little buggers-" The killer turned towards Meg. Bill was not struggling, he's given up. "Oy, red 'ed." The killer said to Meg. "What are you waiting fer butterface? Get outta 'ere!'

Meg wanted badly to save Bill, but this was just a bad situation. She ran away, and so did Dwight. Meg was just able to see the killer throw bill to the wall, and as the killer pulled out his knife Meg forced herself to look away. She heard Bill screaming as she saw the gate opening. Tapp was injured, and so was Dwight. The three left the trial, and they left Bill behind.

As usual, there were people waiting for them. Claudette quickly lead Tapp and Dwight to the 'clinic', and Meg sat down on one of the Jake-made benches to catch her breath.

"Where's Bill?" Ace asked, looking up from the poker game he was playing with Nea and David.

"The Killer got him." Meg said, a bit of concern in her voice. This killer is different." She said, as she watched the crowd slowly gather around her. "He's got a rifle, and he actually speaks!"

"Wait he can talk?" Asked Laurie. "Could you understand him?"

"Dwight couldn't, but I could. He was talking to Bill, and he was talking about how the both of them were in Vietnam."

Ace looked around. "Bill should be back by now if he was sacrificed."

"That's the worst part." Meg said, holding back tears. "Bill was never put on a hook. The Bastard is torturing him first."

There was a bit of silence among the crowd. After about two hours, Bill was found in the forest, barely breathing and heavily bruised. His clothes were exactly the same though. Meg did not know what had happened to him, but when Tapp came back with Bill, Meg could tell that Tapp knew something horrible.

So, if you did not recognize the killer by now, his name is Mick Taylor, from an Australian horror series titled 'Wolf Creek'. It's very well done, and I would recommend it to those of you who are not faint of heart. Anyway, look up a picture if you like, or not. I would really just prefer it if you would leave a review or something, since I only have so many ideas, and I am very open to suggestions. Really, reviews are just nice, so if you just want to inform me that my mom has the big gey, by all means go right ahead.

For those of you who thought the killer was the Sniper from TF2, go ahead and keep imagining that. It may be able to work, as the two have similar facial hair, and the same accent. It won't work perfectly, but I won't tell you how to enjoy my writing. Do what you want.