Chapter 2
William was jostled awake as he was bodily lifted from the ground. He opened his eyes and looked into the face of a monster. A heavy voice said, "No, not that one, it has sickness. Take the old one." William was dropped to his side in the dust, and he could feel his hands and feet were bound. The pounding steps of the monster moved towards an old couple in front of him. The hulking figure snatched up the old man as the woman cried out in sobs. William looked into the faces of the two people remaining; their eyes were wide in horror. Behind him he could hear a knife grinding on a rock, a whimper, and then a sickening sound of crushing bone. He squeezed his eyes closed, and tried not to listen to the wet sounds of the fiendish scene taking place behind him. He heard something smack into the fire and start to sizzle. He tried to concentrate on other sounds, to take his mind off of the smell of cooking flesh drifting past. The wind didn't sound like in the movies. There was no rustling of leaves, no birds chirping, or streams gurgling. There were only two sounds; the wind whistling through the dead branches and barren rocks, and the sound of his heartbeat in his ears.
His mind now clear of the gas, images of the chaos of the vault returned to William. People were running through the vault saying something about security in gas masks, and something in the vents. Then flashbacks ripped through his mind of the battles that ensued. He remembered people tearing at each other, fighting, and dying. He vaguely remembered escaping the killer in the vault, pulling his hands away and looking at them; was that blood? He couldn't tell, he was covered in grime. What about his mother and Bethany? He had looked at the dust near the door; he saw his tracks, but no others. Had he imagined them ahead of him? Were they still inside?
He forced his eyes open and tried to assess his situation. The dark sky was beginning to brighten; he focused on the people before him in the firelight. Two were still there, but he didn't know them. They were dressed differently, but not in vault jumpsuits. The older woman was dressed in little more than rags and bound like him. The younger one was wearing boots, cargo pants, and a tee-shirt, and she was in a cage. The old woman had collapsed in sobs near him, but the younger woman was staring deep into his eyes. Her eyes didn't have the look of terror now, but of urgency. She kept shifting her gaze between him and the old woman's hair. William looked at the sobbing woman. Her hair was short and grey. It seemed unremarkable. Why was she looking at her hair? Then he saw it; one bobby pin was holding her hair back on one side. William looked at the woman in the cage. She nodded yes.
William rustled his way over to the old woman and put his head on hers, as she sobbed inconsolably. The sounds of eating continued behind him uninterrupted. He opened his mouth and gripped the bobby pin with his teeth and slid it free. He looked into the eyes of the caged woman, as he positioned the hair pin in his mouth. She looked beyond him, then quickly nodded her head. William spat the pin towards her, and faked a cough. The sounds behind him stopped for a moment, and he held his breath; then the eating continued.
The woman in the cage slid her fingers between the bars, and retrieved the bobby pin. She leaned back against the cage with her arms now behind her. Her movements were barely perceivable, then there was a small click, and a smile spread across the woman's face.
William wondered what was to happen next. He believed the woman had unlocked the cage, but she stayed there. She slid the bobby pin into her hair, and glanced over at the monsters, as if nothing had happened.
The monsters stirred, and begin to organize themselves, extinguishing the fire.
"Get them ready to move. There will be more at German Town to take to birthplace." Said one of the monsters.
One of the monsters untied the old woman's feet, then his own, but it kept their hands tied. Just as it picked up the old woman to secure her to a rope, the young woman rolled out of the cage and started running. William looked at the old woman but she looked sadly at him, and dropped to the ground.
One of the monsters yelled, "It gets away!"
William jumped up, and ran in the opposite direction, as the monsters grabbed weapons. William could hear them running back and forth, confused as to who to chase, then one said, "Leave old one! Get tied one!"
There was no sense in looking back; William knew he was the tied one. He heard a shot whiz past his ear, and he ran to his left, towards the cover of a gulley. He slid down the slope, just as a bullet smashed into the dust and rocks above him. He began racing through the wash. When it branched, he headed left again. He tried not to kick up too much dust, as he scrambled up the embankment. What he saw next stopped him cold. Overlooking the ridge ahead was a giant animal; it looked massive and muscular. It had claws and teeth, and was half-covered with bristling hair. William could hear the monsters calling to each other, and asking, "Hello? Where are you?"
William backed away from the animal before it saw him. He slid his bound hands under his legs and pulled them clear. Then he started tugging at the knot with his teeth. It reeked of the monsters nauseous smell. He heard one of the monsters say, "It's not here. Look other way."
He was trapped, if he stepped out, either the animal or the monsters would see him. There was nowhere to hide in the gulley, and it only contained rocks, too small for weapons. Then he picked up the bonds that had tied him, and looked in the direction of the animal. He picked up a rock, tied the stinking rag around it, and threw the bundle over the ridge, between the animal and the monsters. He heard it smack into a rock, and then he heard a grunt. William kept still, scanning the ridge of the gulley wondering which way to go, then he heard yells, a roar, and the rifle again.
William scrambled to the top of the ridge and looked back, as one of the monsters dropped under the animals attack. The other backed away, wildly swinging a sledgehammer.
His plan worked, but he didn't wait to see the outcome; William scrambled over the ridge, and headed back towards the campsite. When he got there, he found the old woman sobbing beside the old man's clothes.
"We have to go, it might come back!" William said, but she didn't seem to care. He untied her hands, shoved the clothes into her arms, and dragged her stumbling, in the direction the woman had gone.
