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world renowned whogivesafuckologist
retired moderator
Original Poster
#1 Old 16th Aug 2011 at 11:55 AM
Default The Hunted
"Go, go!" David gave me a shove from behind. I dashed across the street, dodging chunks of broken concrete and burnt-out cars. I could hear his footsteps right behind me and the panting of his breath. I reached the far side of the street and pressed myself against a recessed door of a storefront. The glass display window had been broken and the place had been completely looted. David reached me a moment later. His hair stuck to his forehead with sweat and grime, and his eyes flicked over the deserted street. I took the opportunity to reload while we caught our breath.

"I can't hear it," he whispered, "But I can smell it."

I gave a short nod. "Wind's still out of the east. It's still after us."

David looked down at me with a wild-eyed grin. "Good."

"We need to get off this street," I said. "Ideas?"

"I think I saw some kind of old building a little ways down. Maybe a library. Looked sturdy."

"Okay." I sniffed the air. I could smell it; the reek of rotting meat and sulphur, but it was faint.

"Ready?" I nodded, and took a deep breath. David took off, and I followed. He was fast, his long legs eating distance quickly. Back in the day, he'd been a sprinter. But we'd been doing this a long time, and he knew my pace. He would not outrun me, even though he easily could. I was fast now too though... faster than I'd ever been running for the elevator back when I was a legal secretary. It seemed like a lifetime ago.

I could see the building he was talking about. It was huge, with great stone pillars at the top of stone steps. Sturdy. Defensible.

Three paces in front of me, he raised a hand, and simultaneously, we both dove behind a rusted delivery truck that lay on its side across both lanes of the street.

We were perfectly still, holding our breath even though our lungs ached from the run. We listened. Nothing but the wind. We sniffed the air. Still just a faint smell. We let ourselves breathe, and David leaned around the side of the truck, looking back at the way we'd came. After a moment, he sat back, and gave me a nod. We were okay.

He got to his feet, still crouched, and took off running again. Again, I followed close behind.

We made it to the building, taking the steps at the front three or four at a time. David got down low behind one of the stone lions at the top of the steps. There wasn't much room behind it, but I crouched beside him, pressed close to him and the stone. The lion was frozen in a roar.

The front of the building was all great wooden doors with small windows. Most of the windows had been broken, and beyond them we could see they had been barricaded. Above the doors, the remains of a banner flapped in the breeze, green faded to yellow in the sun. "Treasures of Tutankhamun," it read.

The barricades were worrying, but not surprising. "Still inhabited?" I whispered.

David shrugged. There was no obvious activity from the inside, but that didn't mean anything. We sure as hell didn't want to have to fight our way in. We weren't in the business of killing humans... but that didn't mean we wouldn't to save our own asses.

David pointed. The last door on the left had its window broken, but it didn't seem to be barricaded. I nodded, and we dashed for it. David tried the door. Locked.

The window was small, but so was I. David shook his head. He always seemed to know what I was thinking. "We'll find somewhere else."

"Did you see anywhere else?"

He scowled and said nothing.

I stepped back from the door and kicked out the remaining bits of broken glass clinging to the window frame. I handed David my pack, unholstered my gun, and slowly peered through the hole in the door.

It was dark inside, and it took my eyes a moment to adjust. Broken glass and trash littered the floor inside, but I didn't see anyone. I glanced around the door, and I didn't see any tripwires. A huge, grand staircase led to a level above, its carpet rotted away.

"We are hunters!" I called, and my voice echoed in the cavernous interior. "We are not here to loot, and we will not harm any non-hostiles! If there is anyone here, make yourself known or you will be considered hostile!"

The response was nothing but silence. I waited another moment, and then reached down and unlocked the door. I stepped back, and pushed it open, the broken glass on the floor clinking softly as it was swept back by the bottom of the door.

David followed me inside and locked the door behind him. I didn't have to look back at him to know he had drawn his gun too. Just because we'd given anyone inside the chance to come out didn't mean they would. Sometimes they were just scared. Sometimes, they had more ominous intentions.

"You really should let me do that," David whispered to me, his boots crunching in the glass. He went right, I went left. I always went left. "Hearing a woman's voice might give someone... ideas."

"I can handle myself."

"It's others wanting to handle you that worries me."

I shot him an annoyed look... but he was right. Women were fiercely guarded, often kidnapped to be taken as wives, or raped and often killed. I kept my hair short and wore loose clothing to disguise my shape. I could pass as a young boy, though that wasn't much better than being a woman. But I couldn't disguise my voice.

The foyer was secure and deserted, and we joined up again in front of the doors. "Upstairs, I think," he said. "We can trap the stairs behind us."

I nodded, and scanned the floor. There were some bits of cardboard, and I grabbed several large pieces. David headed up the stairs, and I followed. I unshouldered my pack, unzipped one of the side pockets, and removed a handful of mines. They were tiny, each only a few inches across, but they packed a solid punch. I knelt a few steps up and placed one, twisting its casing a half-turn. There was no indication it was armed besides a soft click. Carefully, I lay a piece of cardboard atop it to hide it.

David had reached the top of the stairs and was clearing that area as I finished laying another four mines. I joined him at the top of the stairs, and we moved slowly and cautiously through the upper level. The place was in relatively good condition, mostly just needing a good sweep and polish. There was no food or useful weapons here. Few had any use for dusty old statues and stone arrowheads.

We moved deeper into the upper level, past a rack of headphones and tape players, and into a huge room toward the rear of the museum. A row of slim windows on the far wall lit the room enough to see silhouettes of the artifacts within.

I gasped, and put my hand over my mouth. "David, look," I whispered.

In front of me, just visible in the half-light, was a golden throne, adorned with two lions and intricately detailed figures and hieroglyphics. It was behind dusty glass, glinting in the dim illumination. The room was full of glass cases, and behind each one, I could see more incredible wonders. Gold sparkled everywhere, and alabaster seemed to glow from within. I went from one to the next, peering closely at each beautiful item. My chest ached and I shook my head in silent wonder. So much beauty waiting here untouched, as if it were expecting us.

"Stay focused," David said to me, gruffly, as he moved through the room with his gun drawn. He was right, of course. I swallowed hard and helped him clear the room, scanning for any sign of movement or traps. There could be fine tripwires anywhere, or mines covered by trash, so we were always careful not to step on anything but bare floor, and to unfocus our eyes to catch the almost undetectable lines filaments stretched across our path.

The room was clear, and David seemed to relax. He removed his pack and set it on a bench along the far wall. He took a sip from the canteen on his hip and sat down.

"How long do you think we have?" I asked, still quiet but not whispering anymore.

He shook his head and rolled a shrug, pushing his hair back from his face. "Five minutes? Five hours? Depends on whether it can track our scent. It's a windy day and we were upwind, so it'll take it longer, but this one's tenacious."

"How's your wound?" I sat down beside him.

David leaned back and pulled up the bottom edge of his shirt. He was bandaged around his midsection with scrap cloth, torn and wrapped around him with the ends tied together. He pulled down one edge of the bandage. The wound was a gash as long as my palm running diagonally from his hip across his belly. I had stitched it back together with sewing thread and disinfected it with vodka, but it was still an angry red, and it didn't look to be healing very well. It seeped thick, foul-smelling pus. I looked up at him, frowning, and put a hand on his forehead. We'd been in the shade and sitting for several minutes now, but he was still hot and sweating.

Neither of us said anything. We both knew what it meant. He put back the bandage and pulled his shirt back down, and slumped back on the bench, closing his eyes. We sat in silence then, grateful for a rest. We'd been going since before dawn, and it'd been three days since we'd found any food. I leaned my head against his shoulder and closed my eyes too. We dozed, never truly falling asleep, just letting ourselves relax a little. I couldn't remember the last time I'd actually slept.

There came a crash from downstairs; breaking glass and splintering wood. We were both fully awake again, guns drawn, hearts pounding. We grabbed our packs and got low behind one of the displays.

There was a loud bang, and a growling roar of pain and anger. Silence... And then three more bangs in quick succession. I started shaking.

"David..." I whispered, my voice cracking.

"I know." He sounded just as terrified. "They've formed a pack."

The fifth mine went off, and I put down my gun on the floor. At least five of them. We could take one, maybe two if we were really lucky. I reached into my pack, and pulled out our last resort. David sat down on the floor and put his gun down too. We could hear them snarling from downstairs, snapping at each other. I could smell them now, reeking of death and decay. They were getting closer.

I opened the case I held in my hands, and withdrew the device. My hands were trembling so hard, I nearly dropped it on the floor. David grabbed my wrist to steady me, and pressed the arming button. There was a quiet beep, and a glowing red display flashed "0:00". He pressed the button again without setting a delay.

"It's been an honor," I said as I unwound the detonator, a slim black cylinder attached to the device with a wire. I slid it into my palm, my thumb over the button.

I could hear their claws on the marble floor of the upper level now, and low growls as they hunted us. They could smell us just as surely as we could smell them. It was only a matter of moments before they found us.

"Natalie, I..." David looked into my eyes, and there was a strange calm in him as he looked at me.

"I know," I whispered. "You don't need to say it. Me too."

They were in the room now, and there was a crash as one of them broke a display case. A clatter then, as the ancient golden throne tumbled to the floor and shattered, its brittle wood as fragile as glass.

I wrapped my free hand around the back of David's neck and pulled him to me, kissing him hard. His response was hungry, almost frantic, and he wrapped his arms around me, crushing me to him. The device was between us, a cold, solid lump against our chests. I tangled my fingers in his curly, sweat-damp hair as hot tears welled in my eyes.

They were upon us.

I pressed the button.
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Test Subject
#2 Old 29th Aug 2011 at 1:30 PM
Really good! Zombie Apocalypse, I like it.
world renowned whogivesafuckologist
retired moderator
Original Poster
#3 Old 29th Aug 2011 at 1:31 PM
Actually, not zombies.

my simblr (sometimes nsfw)

“Dude, suckin’ at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.”
Panquecas, panquecas e mais panquecas.
Test Subject
#4 Old 29th Aug 2011 at 2:02 PM
Hmmm, what then? I just quessed zombies 'cause you talked about smelling decaying. Oh, and I love 'keep calm and carry yarn'. Thats awesome. Wait, I just reread it, werewolfs?
world renowned whogivesafuckologist
retired moderator
Original Poster
#5 Old 29th Aug 2011 at 2:51 PM
Nope. Not werewolves either. It's meant to be rather ambiguous. More... demon-like creatures. Think BIG nasty bull-sized critters.

my simblr (sometimes nsfw)

“Dude, suckin’ at something is the first step to being sorta good at something.”
Panquecas, panquecas e mais panquecas.
Test Subject
#6 Old 30th Aug 2011 at 5:42 AM
Oh, I never would have quessed. Good job!
Test Subject
#7 Old 8th Jul 2012 at 11:16 PM
This was SO AWESOME! You had me scared, man! You are really good at writing suspensefull stories! Keep writing, I need to know what happens!!!!

:) Sarah (:
“The positive thinker sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.”
-Unknown
Test Subject
#8 Old 9th Jul 2012 at 12:36 AM
Wow.... that was amazing!! I loved it! I really love your writing, its so professional!! x
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