Chapter 4 – Chap 4

I pulled up closer to Mark’s car and looked inside. It was hard to see much from inside my car so I put the car in park and got out to investigate further. It was silent outside except for the beeping of the car to warn that the keys were still in the ignition. Looking around I didn’t see any people or animals that would put me in immediate danger. The baseball bat was in my hands though just in case.

I walked over to the car and peeked inside.  At first glance, nothing appeared out of the ordinary. However, upon leaning in further, I noticed the teeth marks in the seat and on the steering wheel.  There didn’t appear to be any blood that I could notice so at least that was a good sign. However, on the passenger floor mat was his cell phone. It must have been something really urgent to leave that behind. Nothing else caught my attention so I closed the door, stopping the annoying beeping.

I couldn’t leave Allie alone in the car and I couldn’t bring her with me to search for Mark so I had no choice, but to get back in the car and drive over to the meeting place.  Allie looked worried when I came back in the car.  “Is Mark going to be okay?” she asked.

“I’m sure he will,” I said.  “I’ll get some people to go searching for him once we get to the Wilsons’ house.”

“You aren’t going to go, right Dad?”

I reached back and grabbed Allie’s hand. “Mark might need some help and he saved us from knocking on the Kinleys’ door. I don’t even want to think about what would have happened had he not been there…I need to return the favor.”

She took a deep breath and squeezed my hand. “I understand, but you have to be careful.”

“Remember what I said about being afraid…the thing I’m most afraid of is not being there for you.  I will come back,” I said and gave her a smile.

We drove around Mark’s car and down the next street. There were already a few cars in the driveway and the street.  We both put our masks on as I pulled up behind one of the cars in front of the house.  Then we grabbed our backpacks and my baseball bat and ran to the door. Before we could knock, Stacy opened the door.

“Is Mark with you?” she asked, looking past us and over to the street. “I thought he would be here by now.”

“No, but I’m going to get some people to help me go look for him,” I said.

Everyone else was already downstairs so I went with Allie and Stacy down there. I counted seventeen people including me and Allie so Mark must have been able to talk to a few more people. Most were wearing masks, but there were a few who weren’t. After some very quick introductions, the names of which I will never remember, we moved on to developing a plan of action.

“Mark’s car was left empty a couple streets over. I stopped and looked around, but didn’t see any sign of him,” I said and then turned to Stacy. “When did you last see him?”

“He left about a half hour before me and said he would meet me and Anna here. He wanted to try a few more houses that he didn’t get to earlier before the meeting,” she said.

“Okay, at least it hasn’t been that long so I’m sure we can find him,” I said trying to keep an optimistic tone. “Stacy, you need to stay here with Anna and Allie. Who wants to come with me?  I’m thinking four or five of us would be good.”

“I’ll go,” said a young man who looked to be an older teenager or in his early twenties.

“Tim and I can go with you,” said a man who appeared to be in his sixties. “We always go hunting together in the U.P. in the fall so we can be of help if we come across the animals Mark mentioned. We both brought our hunting rifles.”

Tim looked to be about my age and I assumed they were father and son.

“Great!” I said, reaching into my backpack and pulling out my yellow jacket spray. “I just have this and my trusty baseball bat.”

“I’m coming too,” said a young woman who was sitting with an older couple on a couch.

The older woman next to her grabbed her arm and said, “No, you can’t go.  It isn’t safe.”

“Mom, I’m a nurse. If he’s hurt I can help,” she replied.

“But we need you. And we don’t know if he’s even alive,” her mom said.

“Don’t say that,” her dad chimed in. “His wife is right over there and we need to stay positive for her.” He turned to his daughter. “You should go with them. I know you’ll be careful.”

She gave them each a hug and kiss and walked over to me and the others that were going.

“Okay, we’ve got two rifles, a bat, and yellow jacket spray. What else can we use?” I asked.

“I’ve got a pocket knife,” the kid said.

I looked around the basement. There was a fireplace with a nice set of fireplace tools by it. “Can we take this?” I asked, grabbing the poker.

Mr. Wilson said, “Yes. And take this too.” He walked over and gave me a handgun.

“Thanks. I’ve only ever fired a B.B gun before. Either if you know how to use one?” I asked the kid and the nurse.

The kid shook his head no and the nurse reached out her hand and took the gun from me.

“Looks like a Sig Sauer,” she said. “Is it a Nitron?”

“Yes. It’s a P938, 9 millimeter,” said Mr. Wilson. “Have you used one before?”

“I’ve used a different model. My ex was a cop and I used to go to the range with her. She taught me a lot about guns.” She looked the gun over. “The Nitron was one of her favorites.”

Mr. Wilson handed her some extra bullets, which she loaded into her backpack. It looked like almost everyone came prepared.

I handed the poker to the kid. “Looks like we’ve all got something to protect us. We should head out now…it would be safer if we drove to Mark’s car. Can we all fit in someone’s vehicle?” I asked.

“I’ve got a minivan,” said the kid, looking a little embarrassed. “My parents gave me their old car.”

“Perfect,” I said. “Let’s go.”

I crouched down beside Allie. “Can you watch over Anna while I’m gone?  Stacy is scared and she will need some help.”

“Of course, Dad, “she said. She gave me a great big hug and kiss on the cheek. “Hurry back!”

She ran over to where Anna was playing with some blocks on the floor. I ran upstairs with the others. Stacy watched us all leave out the front door.

“Hold on a minute,” the nurse said. “I need to grab my first aid kit from my car.”

The rest of us piled into the minivan while the nurse went to her car. I sat in the passenger seat and the rest went in the back. A minute later the nurse joined us.

I told the kid which way to go and we soon made it over to Mark’s car. “Why don’t you turn around and face the other way so we can make a quick getaway back to the Wilsons’ if we need to,” I said.

He turned the van around and put it in park. It was still light outside and would be for another couple hours. This gave us a good amount of time to search for him and get back before dark.

We all got out and stayed close together. Social distancing wasn’t a big concern for any of us anymore considering the other problems at hand. But we all still had on face masks just in case.

The houses on one side of the street had pretty open backyards and the other side backed up to woods. “Should we check out the woods first?” I asked.

Everyone nodded in agreement and we started walking over there. A pool sat unused in one of the overgrown backyards we passed, its filter still humming and cleaning the water.

The trees were covered with leaves that would soon fall to the ground, where they would likely stay until they decomposed into the dirt. I wondered if the same thing would happen to us if we were killed here, but then thought of how quickly the coyotes tore him apart.

We walked a little ways into the woods, our feet crunching on the sticks and leaves on the ground. After walking for a couple minutes, Tim’s dad held up his hand.

“Stop,” he whispered. “I think I hear something.”

We all stopped and listened. It was silent for a moment. But then we heard the crunching of sticks and leaves behind us.

Tim and his dad moved in front and raised their rifles. A group of raccoons were scurrying towards us from about one hundred feet away. They each fired their rifles, which in hindsight was a terrible idea, and hit two of the raccoons. The sounds were deafening at the distance I was standing and echoed throughout the neighborhood and beyond.

They quickly aimed again and fired off two more rounds, with only one raccoon hit this time. There were still four more left and they were getting closer.  Another couple shots and they both missed this time. The kid and I had our weapons ready in case they made it close.

Now that they were about halfway to us, the nurse stepped up and took aim with her gun. She fired off four quick shots, taking out three of the raccoons. Then Tim’s dad took one more shot and got the last one.

All of the raccoons were still wiggling and trying to move. I wasn’t sure if they were suffering after whatever they had become, but they were likely still dangerous as long as they were moving. “You all stay here and I’ll go and make sure they are all dead,” I said. I took my bat and went to each one, hitting them until they stopped moving.

As I walked back over to the rest of the group, I heard a shrill faint howl coming from behind me. Luckily it didn’t sound close. I kept going towards them and heard an answering howl off to my left. Then from my right. Soon the howls were all around us piercing the summer evening. I thought I would have heard dogs barking too, but all I could hear was the howls.

I began running back to the group and we all realized the guns were a bad idea. All at once, the howls stopped. This ended up being more unnerving than the howls.

“We have to get back to the car,” the nurse said.

We started running back the way we came, but stopped when a pungent smell overtook us.

“Great, they’ve got the skunks too,” said Tim.

This smelled ten times more powerful than any skunk I’ve ever smelled. “How many do you think there are, and where are they?” I asked.

We looked around, but didn’t see anything still. But the smell was making us gag.

Tim’s dad threw up and then cleared his throat and said, “We better go a different way.”

“Let’s go out of the woods this way and we’ll go around that house and back to the minivan,” the kid said.

The smell got a little better when we ran back, but I was sure it would overtake us soon. We made it out of the woods and into the backyard of another house with tall grass.

We continued to run through the long backyard with the kid, the nurse, and me near the front. Tim and his dad had fallen back a bit. As we got to the side of the house, I heard vicious growling coming from the front of the house.

We stopped and the nurse pointed her gun in front of her.  Tim and his dad caught up and got their rifles ready while they tried to catch their breath.

We all moved slowly forward with the kid and I hanging back a bit since our weapons wouldn’t be as effective. The growling continued as coyotes came one after another around the house towards us.  I counted five in all. They took off running fast towards us and I heard a few rounds get fired. Three of the coyotes went down with the other two still coming fast.

The nurse got off two more quick shots hitting each, bit barely slowing them down. Both coyotes lunged for Tim’s dad who was the closest. They knocked him down and furiously chomped away at him.

“Dad!” Tim yelled as he jumped down and tried to wrestle the coyotes away.

“C’mon!” I yelled to the kid who was frozen with fear. I swung the bat as hard as I could at one of the coyotes temporarily knocking it away from Tim’s dad. “Shoot it, quick!” I yelled.

The nurse was able to shoot it in the back, but it pulled itself forward with its front paws and started biting the legs of Tim’s dad, who was screaming and trying to protect his face from the other coyotes.

The kid finally ran up and tried to get it with the poker, but I think it was too late at that point. There was a lot of blood and the coyotes were ripping off some of his flesh.

Now the coyotes were turning their full attention to Tim as his dad lay motionless in the ground. The kid and I were able to take care of the more wounded coyote, but the other one continued to attack Tim.

The nurse had been waiting for a good shot where she wouldn’t be in danger of hitting someone and must have finally found her opportunity. She fired off two quick rounds getting the coyote off Tim. The kid and I quickly went on the attack until it stopped moving.

Tim’s dad was gone, but Tim still could have a chance. He was bleeding bad from his face and arms, but he had successfully protected his neck.

“We have to go,” said the nurse as the howling started again.

The three of us helped Tim up and we all ran back to the car. I stayed back making sure Tim made it…he kept slowing down and looking back at his dad. I felt bad for him, but we had to keep moving.

We finally made it to the minivan and got inside. The nurse sat next to Tim and worked on stopping the bleeding while the kid drove us back to the meeting house.

The sky was getting darker as the sun went out of view behind the houses and trees. We pulled up the driveway as close to the house as possible. Then together we went in through the garage into the house.

Stacy was waiting for us and began crying when I shook my head no. The nurse took Tim to the basement and continued to tend to his wounds.

The rest of us went down too and told the others what had happened. I learned that Tim and his dad live in one of the houses down the street. His parents got divorced a long time ago and his mom moved to Arizona where she still lived.

We all stood or sat in silence for a while and watched the colorful sky as the sun made the rest of its descent below the horizon. The beautiful painted clouds were a stark contrast to the ugliness that was facing us.

There was some small talk and a lot of words of comfort for Tim. I don’t think anyone felt safe leaving as the darkness enveloped the outside world.

I was looking outside the sliding glass door when the motion light was triggered showering the patio with light.

“Mark!” I yelled.