Creep World: The End (Part One)

[MalReynolds]

Before the day was done, Steven caught up on the entire goings on inside of the rest station, up to and including the biting of Fichter, who was still on his “A” game. Quiet desperation filled the back area of the car as Angela struggled to stay hidden and silent with a cramp growing in her leg; as Eric stewed about how to handle the situation of an infected friend.

His opportunity to deal with the problem came later that night, after they had decided to call it a day and sleep on the side of the road, lighting a fire. Eric volunteered to be watchman, although he knew exactly what he was going to do, and it wasn’t necessarily watch.

Everyone lay passed out around the fire as Eric stole away back to the car, opening the hatch with the utmost care so as not to wake the others. He grabbed a satchel charge, carefully unclasping the clasp and flipping the tan covering off, revealing plastic explosives and a carefully placed set of syringes.

“What are you doing?”

Damn. Eric had forgotten Angela was staying with the car.

“Making sure we have explosives.”

“You know we have explosives, Eric. What are you doing?”

Eric sighed. “Taking care of business. Working overtime.”

“Wait-“ her voice was cut off as he swung the gate shut loudly, slinging the charge over his shoulder. Gopher stirred, reaching for his gun, but did not awaken. Steven was fast asleep and Fichter had broken into a fever at some point in the night. Had he been awake, he would have killed himself despite the protest of everyone in the car.

It was Fichter’s belief that Eric could learn stick shift and driving the rest of the way to Arizona would be no problem. If not Eric, then Steven, although Eric seemed like the natural choice to replace Fichter as driver. But no matter, he was asleep now, dreaming human dreams and none the wiser as Eric crept up to him.

Eric removed one of the syringes from the satchel and grabbed Fichter’s arm quietly, in the darkness, trying to find the vein. Fichter opened his eyes as Eric plunged the needle into the arm of the half asleep young man.

“HEY! WHAT IS THAT!”

“You had a bee on you, and I just,” he tossed the syringe into the fire behind himself, “Swatted it away. It must have bitten you already, or stung you or something. Guess I failed as the watchman, huh? Let a bee into the encampment?”

Fichter rolled over, unsatisfied with the answer. Bees took it upon themselves during Fichter’s youth to sting him several times, especially after he rolled his lawnmower over a nest that was carefully hidden in a pile of leaves. What he felt did not feel at all like a bee stinger shooting into his skin. It felt like a liquid had been forced into one of his veins, but it didn’t matter. “Maybe he’s trying to kill me in my sleep,” Fichter thought to himself, closing his eyes again. “Save me the trouble.” Those were his last thoughts before sleep overtook him once again.

The light in the wagon turned on as Angela climbed over the seat and opened the back door, stepping out into the night. She carefully made her way to Eric, silently sitting on a rock, gun over his lap, watching the flames dance in the night.

“Eric, what was that?”

“What was what?”

“What was in the bag of explosives?”

“Explosives, now get back in the car before you wake everyone up.”

“What did you do to Fichter? Did you kill him?”

“No. Go back to the car, please.”

“Tell me what the hell is going on!”

Gopher rolled over into the fire, eyes shooting open as the flame began to eat at his shirt. He screamed in anguish, rolling back over on the dirt several times, extinguishing the flame. Eric and Angela watched silently as the giant put the flames out.

“Ow. Ow. Ow. Ow. Hey, Eric. Angela. Did you see that? I was on fire!”

Eric couldn’t speak; he nodded, barely able to muster the strength to do that. Fear hadn’t taken him for Gopher’s safety, but it was only a matter of time before he realized that there was one more person with them then they had taken off with. What doesn’t belong here?

“Three, two, one,” Eric thought, closing his eyes and waiting.

“HEY! ANGELA! What are you doing here?” Gopher boomed, waking Steven up.

“Bingo,” Eric smiled grimly, rising to his feet.

“Angela? What are you doing out here? I thought we left you back at the base?”

“You did, but I didn’t want to stay. First…”

“Stop,” Steven interrupted. “Why are you here? What are you doing? Are you trying to get yourself killed? What are you doing? Why do you even want to be out here?”

“Steven, stop,” Angela answered. “First, I wanted to come along. I didn’t have any say in the matter. You all acted like I can’t protect myself. Well I can. I don’t need you, Steven, to baby me and fawn over me and worry over me all the time. I’m not your property, so you can back off.”

Steven began to speak, but caught the words in his mouth as Angela made a quick hand motion for silence.

“I didn’t want to sit back in some base and wonder if the person I loved was coming back. I couldn’t take the stress that comes along with the job of waiting, and I think you could appreciate that, Steven, of all people. You all didn’t even know how to get to Arizona before I told Eric-“

Eric winced.

“To take I-55.”

“Eric knew? Since when? Eric, how long have you known?”

“I’m just as surprised as you are, Steven.”

“Bullshit. How long have you known.”

“Since we set out. I saw her in the back and didn’t say anything. Didn’t want to cause any trouble, Steven.”

“Didn’t want to cause trouble? Oh, all right, good. Keep on then, don’t clue us in on anything, Eric. Please, continue to keep secrets from the group, because God knows that we need to be hiding information from each other this late in the game.”

Fichter sat up. “Would you all please shut up, I’m trying to- ANGELA?!”

“Yes, Fichter, my wife is here. Isn’t that a happy coincidence? I thought she was safe back at the base, and here she comes, hiding from-“

“Safe at the base? Are you a moron? You were going to leave me with Fife, and if you hadn’t noticed, he wasn’t exactly the sanest person I had ever met. He might be fine, but do you want to take that risk with me, your wife?”

Gopher leaned over to Fichter, whispering in his ear, “Oh, looks like they’re having a spat. Maybe we should give them a little room.” Fichter chuckled.

“I just didn’t want you to get hurt, Angela. For the love of God, Fichter has been bitten, Eric has been attacked-“

“Since when has that been new?”

“Eric has been attacked, Gopher has been attacked, and I’m the lucky one here. I didn’t think we would make it back, and I didn’t want to put you through that. Now, we have to take you back before you get hurt.”

Fichter rose to his feet, growing dizzy as he stood. “We can’t do that. We’re already a few days out here. Taking her back would just be too much right now, considering I probably won’t be around for the return trip,” he pointed at his scar, which had stopped oozing.

“We have to vote, then,” Steven said, all of a sudden becoming democratic. It was a fruitful attempt to rectify the situation that he had considered extremely bad that had just gone to worse. “We’ll vote, majority rules, and then we send her back or she stays. Alright, who wants her to go back?”

Gopher and Steven raised their hands.

Eric laughed. “Gopher, why do you want her to go back?”

“Oh, I don’t really. I just knew you guys were going to win the vote and I didn’t want Steven to feel all alone on the matter.”

Steven released a frustrated grunt and sat down on the ground, grabbing a stick and poking the fire. “Alright, but if something happens to you, you can’t hold me, Eric, Fichter or Gopher responsible. Whatever happens, you’re bringing it down on yourself.”

Angela sighed. “Nothing is going to happen to me, Steven. I can take care of myself.”

“Oh, please. You don’t even have a gun.”

“Yes, I do. It’s in the car. Eric’s shotgun, remember?”

Steven flung the stick in the distance, briefly illuminating the sky before the stick hit the ground, burning faintly on the horizon. “I’m going to sleep. Wake me up when we’re ready to leave, alright?” The disgruntled man stretched out, feet towards the fire, head towards the burning twig.

“I think he’s right. We all need to get some rest. Tomorrow is a big day. Anyone know where exactly where we are?”

“On the way to Arizona, Eric,” Gopher coughed. “Thought you knew that.”

Eric’s shoulders heaved as he let out a heavy sigh. “Everyone, just get some rest. Tomorrow will be better, especially for you, Angela, considering you can actually take a seat at some point instead of riding around in the back like the kid in the family no one wants to talk about.”

She laughed quietly, lying down on the ground across the fire from Steven, the burning flames creating a barrier between their problems, and for the first night since the trip began, she slept soundly.

-

The strange light woke her up, coming from the distance. Eric was already alert, gun raised, the faint circle of luminosity creeping towards them slowly. A strange machine sound accompanied the light as it traversed the distance, bouncing slightly and creating a low rumbling sound.

“What is that,” Angela leaned over to Eric. “Do you know what it is?”

“Well… I think I have an idea. I don’t think it’s dangerous, either. Just hold tight for a second,” he clicked his light on, moving beside the burning embers of the now dead fire to Gopher.

“Gopher, wake up. What does that look like?”

Gopher strained his eyes, watching the bobble move in the expanse. The rumble was growing louder as the ball stopped moving. The noise died down and the light shut off. Gopher grew excited.

“Is that what I think it is?”

“What do you think it is, Gopher?”

“C’mon, Eric… You should know.”

“I should, but I don’t. What is it, Gopher?”

Gopher grabbed his light, turning it over the group, rousing them from their slumber.

“What are you doing, Gopher?” Fichter asked quietly. He was feeling better, but didn’t want to count his chickens.

“Everyone, grab their gun and follow me. I’ve got something to show you,” he grinned, holding the light under his chin, changing his face from the moon shaped oaf to a twisted grin. “I think you’ll be happy, too.”

Eric took point, walking past the burned out twig and making his way to where they last saw the light. Angela walked in the middle, the gun heavy in her hands, with Steven bringing up the rear, alert yet tired.

Eric’s light beam bounced over the pebbles that lined the ground as he carefully stepped over pieces of twisted metal and discarded branches. A shape begin to grow in his eyes as he looked ahead, trying to mentally figure out what the light belonged to. He broke out into a cold sweat, thinking about Danny’s words, if this could be the thing they were bringing in.

The large, bulky item was completely dark, but the outline was visible against the backdrop of nature. It was long, like a Lincoln Log, with a rounded end. Several pieces composed this object, lengthy and attached at intervals by a small coupling.

Stopping in his tracks, Eric’s heart skipped a beat.

“Gopher, is that…”

“Yes it is, yes it is…”

“What, Eric? What is it? Fichter? Angela? What is it?”

“Shut up, Steven, it’s…”

“I know what it is,” Fichter said.

The light came back on, bathing the ground in solid light. Systematically, lights emerged in all the pieces, creating a chain of windows and doorways.

“Oh, crap,” Steven said, “It’s a-“

“Yessir,” Gopher said. “A train.”

It stood on the tracks unmoving, the lights blinking on and off as Eric approached the door in the main car. A solitary Creep stood inside the conductor’s chamber, fiddling with levers and pressing buttons. He shrieked once before the small explosion of a bullet threw him to the wall.

“Well, this is quaint,” Eric said, motioning for the rest of the group to follow. Gopher stayed outside, looking over the car model, coming across the faded decal on the side.

“Hey, guys, take a look at this!”

Eric stepped down and out of the train, making his way over to Gopher. His light slid across the indentation on the side of the train revealing the words, “Arizona Express.”

“So, this is an express train to Arizona?” Eric asked. Such a Gopher question.

Gopher nodded.

“Well, this is rather convenient, I’ll say,” Fichter stepped out of the car, joining with Eric. Steven followed Fichter as Angela examined the conductor’s office, pouring over the room looking for a map.

She carelessly lifted the “Destination Guide” book and tossed it across the room, half the pages torn from the binding. It hit the acceleration lever solidly and the train began to move.

“Why is the logo moving,” Gopher asked.

“It’s not… The train is moving! ANGELA!” Steven cried out, running to catch up with the conductor door. The train continued to gain speed as Angela fervently grabbed the acceleration lever and pulled towards herself, snapping the bar in half.

“Good. A quality train,” she thought dismally to herself as it picked up speed, moving along the almost hidden track into the distance.

Eric bolted back to the car, pulling Fichter along with him.

“This is your fault, Eric! She’s going to… And it’s your fault! What are you doing? Running away from your problems, Eric? ANSWER ME!”

“Steven, shut up,” Eric said, sliding into the shotgun seat. “We have a train to catch.”

-

Mal

[ddrruler]

Very nice.

[Eyoshi]

Oooh, long chapter.

So, I smell a fast-paced next chapter. Seeing that Eric's going to get on that moving train makes it interesting.

[MalReynolds]

The old station wagon cut across the desert floor at speeds unimaginable to all occupants of the vehicle, trying to keep track of the train that was rapidly gaining more ground into the distance. The occupants of the vehicle didn’t worry; the train was following a track and even if it completely disappeared beyond the horizon they would be able to locate the train with relative ease by following the metal lacing on the ground.

Steven sweat profusely from the back seat, stuttering out insults and half curses towards Eric about his wife and why he didn’t mention her. Conspiracy theories began to fill his addled mind, thinking of that night at the hotel where Angela went out for some air, what could have happened? Did she love him? Did she still love Steven?

Eric was calmly reloading his gun, sliding bullets into the magazine efficiently and quietly as Fichter’s hawk eyes scanned the horizon, following the trail of dust kicked into the air by the train. He didn’t say anything, but it had been several minutes since he had last clearly seen the train racing along the track; since then it had disappeared.

-

Over the next hill, in the cabin of the train, Angela crouched, clutching her shotgun against her shoulder, nervous. The first time she had ever been nervous on this trip, the first time she had been completely alone. She closed her eyes and hoped that they would just go ahead and blow the gate up, leave her alone. She could fend for herself and they had a job to do.

Angela quietly rose to her feet, looking around the cabin, kicking the broken lever and sending it spinning across the floor of the train, hitting the far wall with a dull thunking sound. A paper fell from the wall onto the floor as the lever hit, the words across it small.

“Emergency Braking Procedure: In the even of train malfunction, use intercom and alert staff in caboose of train. Emergency brake is located in the back of the train, past the kitchen.”

Calling all of her resolve, Angela quickly opened the door to the first car. She hadn’t counted, and this wasn’t a passenger train, so she really had no idea how to gauge the distance to the final car where the emergency brake was located.

The car she stepped into was bare, save for three benches and what looked to be the conductor’s living quarters. The door was slightly ajar, blood on the floor, the body of the conductor slouched over the single bed that adorned the room. He was stripped of all clothes save for his shoes, the papers in his room in complete disarray.

She moved on quickly, knowing that stepping into the room would invite in more trouble than she could possibly want… All deviations from the set path never ended happily, she thought to herself. Her trip to Europe was fine, but the feeling of excellene deserted her when she returned home to fine her husband had been cheating on hre.

“Well, I thought that’s what you were going to be doing in Europe, Angela!”

Angela had had nothing to say to that. She had wanted a divorce at the time, but when Steven wanted something, he could be persuasive. He made her think of all the good times they had together, and after forgiving him, she had begun to feel guilt for the situation, just as he had planned. Living with Steven was like living with the ultimate guilt trip, except the sex was worse with Steven.

Angela opened the door at the end of the car to be greeted with the loud whooshing sound of the landscape passing her on either side. In front of her, a rickety ladder and a car bed full of coal.

She swallowed, feeling all of the pressures of the day escape in a single click that was lost to the wind as the door closed behind her. She turned around and tried to open it, to no avail. It was locked.

“I can always shoot the door open,” she thought to herself as the began to climb the ladder. “I can always run away from my problems,” she smiled sadly to herself as she began to traverse the bed of coal, the loose pieces tumbling off of the sides and making her incredibly uneasy.

“Why is this train moving so fast?” Angela thought to herself briefly as she ducked down, shearing the wind resistance.

-

Steven had finally managed to verbally berate Eric to the point that Eric was getting upset, offended, and most importantly, pissed off.

“Couldn’t have jumped on the train, Eric? Too busy playing the hero, chasing after the train, Eric? Couldn’t have gone after her?”

“She’s your wife, Steven! What about you? You were ready to let the train go!”

Steven moved back in his seat. “I see how it is.”

An empty sentence spoken by an emptier man.

“Steven, you should just calm down. There was nothing any of use could have done to stop the train. Throwing blame around isn’t going to catch us up any quicker.”

Steven leaned forward, a blue vein popping out of his neck. “Yeah, well it’ll sure make me feel better!”

Eric swung around, as best he could in a car with those dimensions, and brought his fist within an inch of Steven’s face. If Eric had felt any responsibility up to this point, he was vindicated as Steven showed the mark of a true coward.

Steven gasped and said “Ow,” even though the fist never connected. Eric slid back down in his seat as Steven looked from side to side, not at all surprised to see Gopher sleeping.

Fichter leaned over to Eric quietly as Steven was reassessing the situation. “Bad news, Eric. We lost the train.”

Eric smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Just keep following the tracks. We’ll find her. I know we will… I’ve got a feeling.”

-

Angela was dangling off of the side of one of the coal cars in the middle of the train when Eric expressed his hunch to the group. Angela, of course, could not hear him, but it probably wouldn’t have helped, all things considered. She tossed her gun back onto the coal and slowly shimmied to the other side, her fingers red and sore from gripping the top of the metal car. She reached the ladder on the far end.

A Creep opened the door and quickly pulled her leg, trying to pull her into the car behind it. She swung out with her left foot, missing the creature and landing her leg on its shoulder. She pulled her foot forward, bringing the creature onto the car coupling. It lost its footing and fell under the train, shrieking.

The gun was covered in coal dust as Angela lifted it and moved back to where the Creep had tried to pull her in. She hadn’t gotten a chance to look at it, but it had been wearing the conductor’s clothes, traipsing around the train, recognizing the importance and formality of such fine wear.

Angela, for the first time since she set foot on the train, looked at the coupling between the cars. They were locked tight. She reached down and tried to pull the pin to uncouple the old cars, but it wouldn’t budge. They were rusted together, in a death grip, refusing to separate.

“Till death do us part,” she grimaced, walking into the next car. It appeared to be the dining car, tables set up and people hunched over them. Workers with dirty clothes eating off of table without tablecloths, plates scattered along the floor and forks sticking out of the common man. It was a grisly sight, but to one who had seen so much death, it made no further impression on her. All she could do was look under the tables and try to see where the next threat was coming from.

There was nothing under the tables. “Almost there,” she thought to herself, walking carefully between the tables and stepping quietly over the bodies, making her way to the back door, hoping that it would be the last door.

-

Steven had finally taken the hint and sat in the back, silent, stewing in his own self pity. His aggression was mislaid. He did not know it, but he was angry at himself instead of Eric. He was angry that he let his wife slip away like that, he was angry that she would have the audacity to sleep with someone else, he was angry that he did not control her the way he had originally thought. It was upsetting to him that he did not have the absolute possession that he so wanted, that he did not have a hold over her like he thought.

He was also upset at himself because for the first time since he laid eyes on her, he was in love with her again. It takes so little to envoke such old feelings, but the separation anxiety did the trick. He thought of her smiling and that, in turn, made him smile. If he saw her again, he would let her know he was sorry, he would let her know that everything was going to be all right. He would be the hero that she was looking for.

These feelings were pushed back again by the anger at Eric, for Eric let her slip away, for Eric, in all likelihood, slept with her, and because Eric was the one person in the world that let Steven’s hold over Angela dissolve into a cloud of springtime-like emotion.

Fichter turned the music on the CD player down, trying to hear the train. There was the steady chugging in the distance, and the faint sound of echoing gunshots.

-

The caboose had been absolutely full of them. It had taken a fair amount of strategy to kill them all without being hit by flaming knives or short swords. She had swung the door open and been greeted by the smiling faces of eight tiny creatures that were all pulling on separate levers that lined the wall. She had shut the door as the first volley of knives hit and swung it open firing one shot. Around the corner she ducked as a second volley of knives flew in her direction. She doubled back to the dining cars, the creatures hot on her heels. She threw the body of a short man off of the table and flipped it, hiding behind.

One creature vaulted over the table and was met quickly by her shotgun pointing up. Two more tried to flank her, but she fed them both barrels. The remaining four tried to move the table from the wall, but Angela stood and fired, taking down two. She cocked the gun and fired one more shot, hitting the creature on the left and sending it spinning across the floor. The gun clicked empty as the last creature dove at her, knife drawn.

She swung the gun like a bat, catching the Creep in the gut and sending out of the window, onto the moving ground below.

-

Fichter knew they were catching up when he saw the body of the Creep on the ground. The train was stopped in the distance, the lights off.

-

Angela had pulled all of the levers, cutting the power to the train and stopping it at the same time. It was too dark to see her way out, so she sat and waited.

-

Eric clambered out of the car, racing the middle of the train. “Alright, everyone, we’re going to split up and search this thing. I’m going to take the front end, Fichter, I want you to check all the coal beds, Gopher, Steven, check the back area. If she’s alive, we’ll find her.”

Fichter climbed onto the top of one of the coal cars, noting the footprints on the ground.

Eric walked into the conductor’s cabin and made his way through to the sleeping quarters for the man that used to run the train. He saw his body slumped over the bed and stepped into the room. The same memo that Angela had read on stopping the train lay on the desk.

His heart raced. If she was alive, that’s where she would be.

-

“Gopher, I want you to take the dining car. I’ll take the caboose. There’s three cars between us, we’ll meet up in the middle.”

Gopher hadn’t recognized the signs of the struggle that had less than an hour ago occurred in the room. He had seen the bodies of the Creeps on the ground, but did not put together that they were killed by the same gun that he last saw Angela holding.

-

The door to the caboose swung open, the light from Steven’s flashlight pouring over Angela’s eyes.

“Eric?”

Steven bit his tongue. “No, honey. It’s me.”

“Oh, Steven!” Angela rose to her feet, running to her husband. Never in her life had she been happier to see the man. She wrapped her arms around him and he smiled. She was close again. He was happy.

“Everything is going to be alright, Angela. Everything is going to be just fine. I know it will be.”

-

The gunshot and the smell of cooking meet flooded the cars. Panic alarms sounded in the recesses of Eric as he raced along the train, following the sound of the gunshot. He didn’t need to reach the car; he already knew.

Angela was slumped over the controls in the caboose, her beautiful frame ablaze. Steven stood crying, his gun limp at his side.

“I found her… I found her and there were things. I thought she was all right. She said ‘Steven!’ They came out of nowhere, they came from behind the train and they stabbed her. They stabbed her and they did that,” he motioned at her burning body, “But I shot them.”

The bodies of two Creeps hung out of the back of the train. Gopher burst through the door, stopping. “What’s cooking?”

Steven broke down again.

Eric stood, dropping his gun to the ground. They all stepped out of the car, greeted by Fichter. They didn’t have to say a word.

A gust of wind knocked through the caboose, feeding the flames and knocking broken pieces of her life off of her, her ashes scattering around the car.

“I’ve got something to show you all,” Fichter said. Steven slumped against the train’s side and put his head in his hands. Eric nodded and followed him.

There was a sign, dead ahead.

“Cactus National Park Train Stop.” The letters were faded. Eric motioned wordlessly behind him to Steven. Gopher helped him to his feet and they made their way back to the car. The engine sprung to life as the car, once again filled with grief, made its way to the park. The passengers in the car stayed silent, discontent and heading to their fate.

-

Mal

[Lightknight924]

Ooh very nice can't wait to see what happens to them in the train.

[esupin]

Angela's Ashes... have you read Frank McCourt's book?

[Eyoshi]

Whoo, I liked the action that happened in this chapter.

However, I felt that the death of Angela was a repeat of a "just when everything was safe..." death. If I remember correctly, the last supporting character death (excluding those who only appeared in one chapter), which was when Iggy died after a Creeper stabbed him while they were driving. As a result, this death didn't really pack the same punch as the last for me.

However, it was still a high quality read.

P.S. What was with the code commands you put in the text, Mal? It made the chapter itself hard to read.

[Tasuke]

I like the way the story is coming along, but with only four people
left I'm wondering if it's just gonna be eric left.

[MalReynolds]

The desert park had been a huge draw when it was operational. The hiking trails, the horse riding, and the ever-abundant cactus plants from whence the name of the park sprung littering the bed of the desert. Children laughing, running, playing, galloping.

The echo of all that was good carried on the wind that the wagon drove through, bouncing roughly against the less than friendly terrain. The passengers inside unhappy at the recent turn of events, but watching out across the distance for the large gate.

“The St. Louis Arch?” The first words from any rider to quell the deafening silence came from Fichter.

“Yeah. Or something like that,” Eric responded, alerting himself to the horizon.

They passed a sign as Fichter turned onto solid road.

“Scenic Route Drive.” The visitor’s center lay just ahead. They stopped, deciding it would be best to rest before moving on.

-

A sweep of the old building turned up nothing. A few beds in the back near the emergency medical station. Old gurneys. Gopher was nervous as to whether or not they would be able to support his large frame. He quickly picked the mattress off of the gurney and put it on the floor of the small room, closing his eyes and falling asleep in a matter of seconds.

Steven rolled his gurney out the door and down the hall, leaving Eric and Fichter alone in the nurse’s office. Eric briefly chased after him before Fichter grabbed his shoulder.

“Let him go. The man just lost his wife. I doubt he wants to be with anyone but her right now.”

“If he gets killed, I’m not shedding a tear over it.”

“You would too, Eric.”

“Not in front of you all.”

Fichter laughed, clapping Eric on the back solidly, before coughing.

“Fichter, there’s some stuff I got to clear up with you. About the infection. The whole zombie thing.”

Eric sat on the edge of the gurney and began to tell him about the military tests and the purpose behind turning people into monsters like that. He finally finished with the cure that he had pumped into Fichter’s veins mere hours ago. Fichter sat down on the other end of the gurney, which promptly collapsed.

Gopher stirred. “Glad I didn’t take one.”

Eric gave him the finger from the floor, turning to look at Fichter.

“Yeah, after the ‘bee’ stung me at the camp fire I started feeling better. I know what a syringe feels like; I know what a bee feels like… I put two and two together. My only question is, why did you wait so long to tell me?”

Eric sighed. “Because of the sheer amount of innocent people I’ve killed. You can’t do something like that and then go back and pretend everything is normal again. I killed Iggy’s sister… I killed that Gettings kid, all under the pretense that they would never be what they wanted to be, ever again. Could have been an astronaut if I hadn’t-“

“Bull. You’re just surviving. You have as much blame as the government does for creating it. They didn’t release it. You’ve only got one thing to blame: Them. They came in, they screwed everything up. If it weren’t for them, you’d be sitting pretty back at your apartment or something. I’d be back with my wife. Iggy… Well, he’d probably be around annoying his sister.”

“You think once we take care of this gate, things can go back to the way they were? We could have people running around again. There’d have to be cleanup, God knows… This gate’ll only stop them from coming through, not send em’ back. But I think… Once they stop coming in, it’ll only be a matter of time before more people like us come out to fight.”

“We can only hope.”

“Sometimes, that’s all you’ve got and that’s all you need,” Eric said, climbing to his feet and heading for the door.

“Where are you going?”

“Find Steven. I need to have a chat with him.”

“Why?”

“Can’t have him getting his ass killed, can I?”

Fichter laughed as the door swung shut.

-

Steven had found a private administrator's office across the hallway, setting up the gurney against the far wall, staring at the repeating pattern on the wall. Half in, half out of sleep when he heard the door open.

“Go away. I’m not in the mood right now.”

The door closed.

The next thing Steven felt was a sharp pain in his back. He rolled flat on his back, snapping the tip of the dagger off inside his flesh. The creature, gurney height, smiled and jumped, clapping its cracked hands.

And on the desk, Steven’s gun sat.

-

The hallways were dark and the flashlight didn’t help tremendously. They branched off every ten feet, leading to different exhibits for visitors to look at. Eric didn’t have a clue where Steven was until he cried out.

-

The creature was on top of him, bringing the fresh dagger down quickly against his arms. Steven held it off, cutting himself in the process, the deadly tool sinking into his arm once, twice. His arm fell, cut and bloody, useless for defense. The creature raised the dagger one final time.

There was a loud bang as the door swung open and Eric fired across the room, hitting the creature in the gut. It squealed and laughed, falling off of Steven, onto the floor, gasping for breath. Pitiful.

“Hey, Steven. Wonder if you’d like to join us in the Nurses station?”

“That’d be… Good,” he called out, losing consciousness.

-

Eric wheeled him back to the Nurses station on now, the only functional gurney that they knew of. Fichter held the light as Eric tried his best to bandage Steven’s arm, bit the low quality of the supplies made it nigh impossible to get the gauze to stick properly. After a fair amount of trial and error, the bandage lightly stuck. Eric rolled Steven on top of his arm, applying constant pressure to the wound.

“Well, looks like you got to him in the nick of time, Eric.”

“Seems to be a trait, doesn’t it. Every time we could sit down and grieve about someone, they go ahead and pull through. Only get taken when we’re in a rush.”

“Damn shame, isn’t it?” Fichter laughed.

“No. No it’s not,” Steven said drowsily from his bed.

There was a pause before Steven, Fichter and Eric began to laugh.

“Could you morons keep the laugh track switched to, ‘off’ until morning? Some of us have to sleep on account of blowing shit up tomorrow,” Gopher rolled over.

-

The sun rose and they piled back into the car, their mood lighter than the morose tone of yesterday. The wagon continued down the Scenic Route Drive for an hour, avoiding potholes and what looked the be the skeletons of horses.

“They probably rode the things to death,” Eric motioned to one of the bodies.

“What do you mean?” Gopher asked from the back.

“You spur a horse too much, you’ll cut into it pretty deep. Could kill it that way. They either rode the horses to death or just came in with swords blazing and killed the majority of them.”

“Which raises the question,” Steven began, “If they’re so fierce in number, how come we’ve only run into small groups? They’re ferocious, yet they’re having trouble killing our small group. I don’t get it.”

“They’re not trying to kill us. If they were, we’d be dead. ‘Sides, they probably have most of their forces concentrated on… Well, not where we are. They’re trying to set something up; it’s a fair bet that they’ll set it up somewhere else. Simple. We’re probably going to run into a fair number when we reach-“

“The Arch,” Fichter called out, pointing through the windshield at the distance.

It wasn’t quite the St. Louis Arch, but a sick defacing of what it used to be. Once pristine white, now red and purple in color, a poor mans graffiti covering the towering structure.

“Holy hell, that’s far away. Do we have any binoculars?”

“I don’t think so.”

“Damn. How far away is it, do you think?” Eric turned back to the front, eyeing the distance.

“More than ten miles, most likely.”

“Alright. When we get close, about two miles away, I want to find a place to leave the car. If they’re bringing things in through the arch, there’s going to be a large number of them. Don’t want em’ to disable the car. So we’ll leave the car behind and hit em’ on foot.”

Fichter nodded, shifting the car into high gear and speeding into the distance.

-

The cliff they stopped on overlooked the camping ground of the Saguaro Cactus, where the arch supports stood. The wagon was parked directly in front of another car with a towing hitch and a speedboat directly behind it. Fichter had laughed. Why did you need a boat like that in the middle of the desert?

“That’s not the real Arch, is it?” Gopher asked.

“It doesn’t look like it. Not… Well… It does. It’s a big arch. It’d bet money to say it’s the same and that these little Creeps just painted it over with something.”

“How did they get it out to the desert,” Gopher once again, rapid firing with the questions.

“I don’t think they needed to. You heard Fife back at the bunker. He said, ‘science,’ but I think we can all read into that a little more. There’s no way these things would come through unless they knew something was on the other side. The US was probably working on faster than light transport or something equally as strange. And the Arch got involved through no fault of its own.”

Fichter and Steven crawled up to the others, who were staring down the sheer cliff at the encampment below.

Three buildings, long, like the big Tetris pieces in a row. About a football field of desert ground, and then the Creeps. Numbering in the upper hundreds, the creatures were dancing around the base of the structure, throwing balloons filled with colored substance against the Arch.

Eric sighed. “There’s a ton of em’.”

The group remained motionless, waiting for Eric to get his bearings.

“Okay. Steven, Gopher and I are going to go down behind those buildings and draw some of em’ out. Only try to draw out as many as you can take with your gun or hand to hand. Biting off more than you can chew now is going to be fatal. If we manage to thin the numbers enough… Gopher, you’ll have the explosives-“

“YES!”

“- and you’re going to plant a charge on the inside of both legs of the arch. Since we only have the two charges, one on each. It should be enough to make the arch collapse on itself, destroy whatever machinery they have working up in there. Knock it out for good. Steven and I will cover you while you do this, if we’re both… You know, still around.”

“So, you think we’re going to be able to do this?” Steven asked tentatively.

Eric laughed. “Honestly? No. Best case scenario, we’ll still be walking away from this minus one.”

Fichter turned to Eric and raised his hand. “Alright, I think I understand. You three go down the cliff, across a mile of desert terrain to those houses that will provide almost no safety. You’re going to draw these things out in small groups and eliminate them until you can get Gopher, the most technically un-savvy person in the group, to plant explosives on the Arch, assuming everyone is still alive. You blow the arch, and walk back to the car. I have no problem with the plan, it just raises one question: Where the hell am I going to be?”

Eric laughed. “Watching the car, of course.”

Fichter grimaced. “Of course.”

“I’m not technically un-savvy. I worked with a construction and demo crew back when I lived in Manhattan. I know some things about planting charges. I’m not as inept as you all seemed to have painted me.”

“Sorry, then. Seems like a solid plan, Eric.”

“Don’t lie to me, Fichter. My dad always used to say that people went gambling because gambling is more fun than just throwing your money out the window of a speeding car. I guess what I’m trying to say is, trying to take this gate out is a lot more fun than just turning my gun under my chin and pulling the trigger. I’d rather go out trying.”

There was an air of dignified silence as the group began to say their final prayers.

“Alright. When are we heading out, Eric?” Gopher asked.

“No time like the present. Make sure we have everything we need from the car. Spare clips, the charges, bandages. Whatever we’ll need.”

And so they did, grabbing spare weapons and the C4. Eric stepped onto the footpath down the side of the cliff, knocking the pebbles from their place.

The car door slammed as Fichter edged it closer to the drop off, watching the three head down the side of the mountain. He reached into the sun visor, pulling out the unmarked CD, sliding it into the player and praying to the sound of his wife singing.

It was going to be a long day.

[mead1]

Today I sat down and read all of the CW series up 'till now.

Mal, you rock.

+1 fan

[CypherToorima]

This chapter or section or whatever it is has me more exited than before.
Screw Stephen King, you're the king of suspence.

[mead1]

No, Dark Tower>>>>>>>Creep World

[whiteflame]

I'm a cunt..

[MalReynolds]

Fichter watched anxiously as the group made their way across the long, lone stretch of desert to the camping cabins. The three hit the middle cabin and slumped to the ground. Fichter closed his eyes, not being a praying man, but deciding to take up arms in prayer to support those three.

-

The St. Louis Arch, the gateway to the west… Featuring five elevators departing all hours to the observation deck. Admire the splendid view and head to the underground tram station to have authentic old west food and shop at a real trading post! Visit the museum of the west and watch an informational video of the construction of the arch. By a ticket to a steamer along the mighty Mississippi, leaving the dock when you’re ready to leave. Fine dining, excellent photo opportunities, and an authentic old west feel.

At least, that’s how it had been before it had been violently uprooted and moved into the desert in a hurry.

-

Eric slid to the ground quietly as Gopher looked out behind the cabin to the Arch.

“Guys, look at that.”

Steven and Eric peeked out the other side, head on top of one another and stared intently, trying to figure out what exactly Gopher was trying to get them to see.

“What, Gopher. Is it a train? I don’t get it-“

“Don’t be a smartass, Steven. Look at the Arch legs,” Gopher interrupted.

The legs weren’t buried in the ground like they had been at St. Louis. The Arch was on a half sway, looking to fall over with a gust of wind. Beneath the highest point, down six hundred feet, the army of Creeps stood, dancing.

“Why isn’t it rooted? Anyone have an answer?”

Steven and Eric both slumped against the cabin.

“Alright, next question. How are we going to draw them out?”

Gopher’s head still stuck around the corner. Eric chucked a small rock at his back.

“Fire your gun around the corner. See if they take the bait.”

-

The gunfire was a small burst of light from where Fichter was sitting. He saw Gopher leaning out around the corner with his machine gun at the ready, firing a quick burst at the encampment. Dirt kicked up at the halfway mark, drawing the interest of a small pocket of the creatures that looked terminally bored. They jumped and danced across the small stretch to the cabin.

Fichter watched Eric jump out beside Gopher and fire four bursts, dropping the majority of the creatures. The four remaining shrieked and began to run back to the camp.

-

“Gopher, shoot them! Jesus!”

Gopher fired a burst knocking three of them down. The solitary Creep turned around and hissed, running back towards the cabin at a frightful speed. Gopher fired a single bullet, knocking the Creep to the ground.

-

The lone driver bit his lip as the Melder began to make its way across the desert towards the cabin. He turned the music down in the car, leaning on the horn. He could see Eric turn back and look up. Fichter honked again. Eric looked around the corner and ducked back after seeing the Melder and squadron of Creeps.

-

“Alright. I’m going to run out on the side of the far Cabin and try and draw the Melder away. Steven, Gopher, I want you to get the tiny things behind here. I’ll be back as soon as I take care of that son of a bitch.”

Eric began to run to the other cabin.

“Don’t let it look you in the eyes!” Steven called out after him.

“Yeah… No shit,” Eric muttered under his breath, rounding the corner of the cabin. He peeked out, watching the Melder float towards the center cabin. Eric fired at the body of the creature, watching it rock back and forth, thrown slightly off balance. Its long, snakelike head now changed directions, staring towards him. He ducked back behind the cabin as the Melder began to briskly float in his direction.

Gopher leaned out from one side of the center cabin, Steven the other. They both fired into the squad of Creeps simultaneously, knocking them to the ground, watching them writhe. Gopher let out a tiny giggle as he hit one of the flame pouches and watched as the creature burst into a blue blaze, setting the near by fiends on fire as well.

Eric ducked into the cabin, throwing a box spring against the door and ducking behind it. He heard the creature glide past, and looked up through the window. The thing was inspecting the cabin, looking for any signs of Eric. Quickly, he turned and drew his gun to his shoulder, sighting the head and burst firing. The Melder’s head flew backwards and off of its jelly-neck, the body collapsing to the ground.

The ten remaining Creeps were closing the distance between themselves and the center cabin. Gopher was fumbling with a new clip while Steven was desperately trying to pick them off one by one.

“They’re a lot easier to kill when they’re in a group.”

“Oh, come on, Steven! Haven’t you ever played a video game before…”

“Funny. This is my third clip and you’re having trouble reloading your second. You have no room to talk now, do you?”

The Creeps reached the cabin and began to bat their swords against the wooden planking. Eric ran out across the open area, firing his gun from his hip, hitting three of them. He ran through the side view area and stopped to watch Gopher fumble with his clip.

“Here, take mine,” Eric said, handing the gun over to Gopher. “Gimmie yours.”

Eric reloaded the gun easily, and ran back out, shooting four more. The other three had worked their way down the other side of the cabin to where Steven was firing shot after shot, desperately trying to hit one. Eric leaned out beside him and fired six times, taking the remaining three out.

“Steven, I’m just going to recommend this little piece of advice to you. Aim a little bit.”

“Aim a little bit,” Steven repeated, an acrid air in his voice.

“How many do we have on the other side? Anybody? A big number?”

“You were just out there! Didn’t you look?”

“I was too busy trying to save your sorry ass, Steven.”

Gopher leaned out and began to count.

-

To Fichter, it looked like there were a little over a hundred left. A group of them had broken off and wandered into the desert, and others had walked through the Arch, disappearing from sight. If they were going to do it, now was the time. Now was the time to –

-

“Charge. Just stay behind me. Gopher, that’s double important for you. Isn’t no one else knows how to work those explosives, so you getting to the legs is imperative.”

“Right.”

The sun began to set as the trio began to run across the empty space littered with small corpses, guns blazing. The final approach had begun.

-

Fichter slammed the door to his car, approaching the edge of the cliff, watching them run, and closing the distance between the cabins and the Arch. His pulse quickened as he saw one of the groups re-emerge from behind the leg of the Arch, numbering in the fifties. Eric dropped to the ground and fired from the prone position, sweeping left and right with the firing gun. The others behind him followed suit, trying to take out as many of the charging creatures as they could.

Fichter couldn’t take much more. He backed up to his car door and reached for the handle, cutting his palm on the blade that was stuck in the door. The distinct cackle behind him.

Without looking, he ran to the next car, ducking inside and shutting the door, watching from the inside with horror as the group of creatures began to pick at the doors and lick the glass. Fichter reached out, stretched, and pressed the lock down on all four doors.

He looked at his station wagon, solitary, his gun resting peacefully in the passenger seat.

-

“Yeah, now is the time to charge,” Steven called out over the gunfire.

“I’m sorry, Steven, I can’t hear you. I’m too busy killing shit!”

The creatures fell, but each one the dropped was replaced by two more from behind the Arch.

Gopher rose to his feet quickly, sprinting across the groups of Creeps as they cut at his legs, most of them missing. Eric tried his hardest to cover Gopher, but his running was so inconsistent it was hard to fire at the creatures without running the risk of hitting Gopher’s legs.

Eric jumped up, pulling Steven and dropping an empty all at the same time. He slid another into the chamber and coughed, firing at the group again as they began to advance on Eric and Steven.

“When they get close enough, just start hitting them with your gun. Or shoot em’ in the flame pouch. Hilarious and effective…”

“Can’t hit the broadside of the barn, Eric…”

“Just shut up and take as many down as you can…”

“I’m working on it…”

Gopher reached the edge of the first leg, drawing the C4 out of the pack and sticking it to the leg, priming the charge. He gasped as one of the creatures cut into his leg quickly, disappearing into the fray. Gopher turned, back to the first leg and stared at the wave of creatures. He fired his gun through them until it clicked empty, and tossed the gun into the crowd. His legs pumped and he began to run through the path he had just cleared.

-

The knives ran across the windows, nails on the chalkboard sounding inside the car. Fichter ducked down and looked in the ignition, the keys still in place. He tried it once… Nothing. Damn.

The Creeps began to hit the back window fiercely with their blades. Playtime was certainly over. It was time to grab the prize that sat inside the hard, outer shell.

-

Gopher reached the other leg, the bottom of his pants a mess with blood and various cuts that barely touched the jean. He drew the explosive out of the sleeve and placed it against the wall, putting the primer in. He looked back over at the other leg.

The explosive was gone.

“Sunnofabitch,” he gasped. He saw the creature run away with the plastique in its hands. Gopher drew the detonator out pressed the first glowing button, sending the tiny creature into a thousand pieces, decimating the group around it.

Gopher grabbed the explosive off of the second leg and put it back in the case. He ran around behind the Arch, looking for an access door… He found one. He opened the door and was met by a veritable wall of the creatures. They were coming from inside the Arch.

“ERIC! COULD I GET A HAND OVER HERE?”

Eric looked up from the bodies mounting around him and saw Gopher behind one of the legs.

“COMING!”

Eric raced over to Gopher, weapon blazing.

“Clear some room for me…”

Eric fired into the wall of creatures, knocking them down, one after another.

“Where’d the other charge go?”

“One of the things ran off with it,” Gopher called back over his shoulder. “A charge at the top should take it out, don’t worry!”

Eric sighed and ran back, firing his gun again at the creatures, behind the fort Steven had set up composed entirely of dead Creeps.

“Gopher’s going inside. He’s going to blow it from the top…”

-

The back windshield shattered inwards as the creatures began pouring in. Fichter closed his eyes, counted to ten and opened the driver’s door, sliding out of the car, locking it behind himself. The creatures tried to catch him by going out the back doors, but the child safety locks were on. Carefully, he reached through the back, slipping a pack of the blue gel off of one of the confused monsters. He emptied the gel into the car, smiling and giving the car a little push.

The gearshift was stuck in “Neutral.”

The car began to slide towards the edge of the cliff slowly, before stopping. The smile disappeared from Fichter’s face. The creatures were wedged in the back, trying to get out, but the boat was preventing the car from moving. Fichter reached into the wagon, grabbing the shotgun and firing at the hook up in the back. The boat leaned forward and pushed the car, which slowly toppled over the cliff.

“Please, buckle up… It’s the law.” He chuckled to himself as the car hit the ground below. He watched the fire spread from the back.

“That’s probably the coolest thing I’ll ever say and no one was around to hear it…”

-

The inside of the Arch was packed with the squealing creatures. Gopher tried the stairwell, to no avail. It was even more crowded than the entrance had been. He made his way through the Arch quickly and quietly to the elevators. He pried one door open and climbed inside the egg-shaped car, busting the roof off of it and grabbing onto one of the cables.

The shaft was empty. He began to climb, hand over hand towards the observation deck.

-

Eric heard the explosion of the car behind him and turned. The creatures watched the car explode and squealed, running off in the direction of the explosion. Few remained behind, and Eric quickly took care of those with his gun.

“Well… Looks like we’ll all make it after all.”

Steven chuckled. “Minus one.”

“No, I think Gopher is going to make it out alright.”

“Not Gopher. Minus one Eric.”

Eric laughed. “I’m not going to die. What are you-“

Steven turned his gun against Eric.

“Oh.”

-

Gopher’s arms burned, but the elevator cable was leveling out. He swung his legs up against the cable and shimmied the rest of the way, dropping down to the second set of doors. He pulled them open and slid inside the small stairwell that led to the observation area. A greeting party of Creeps, Melders and Mini-Creeps were waiting on the observation deck.

-

Fichter chuckled to himself once again, as he forced the boat over the edge of the cliff onto a group of Creeps that were dancing around the fire. He slid back into his own car, turning up the CD player and enjoying the setting sun.

-

“What’s this about, Steven?”

“Do you think I’m honestly that stupid?”

“Depends on how you’re asking-“

“My wife!”

“What about her?”

“You know,” he said, pressing the gun into his chest.

“I really-“

“Oh, you know what you did with her. And I know what I did with her.”

“Steven, it was one time and you were- What did you do with her?”

“She got stabbed, but it wasn’t anything fatal… The fire, however… That’s probably what killed her.”

Eric closed his eyes and tried to work it out. He opened them again, staring Steven in the eye.

“You know, you kill me now, I’ll still have the satisfaction of being the best she’s ever had… Her words, not mine.”

“You ass-“

Eric took the momentary lapse in Steven’s judgment and shoved his gun away, bringing his own up and backing away, keeping Steven in the sites.

-

The knives slid into his stomach, his back, and his legs, before he dropped to the ground. The slanted ground of the observation deck worked against him, and he began to slide backwards towards the stairs he had just climbed. The control panel for the Gate lay just out of reach… Getting smaller as he slid away.

Gopher smiled bitterly as he removed the explosive from the sleeve quickly, placing the blasting cap and throwing it into the group of the monsters. He pulled the detonator out from the Semtex sleeve, laughed, and pressed the shiny red button.

-

The explosion rocked the night sky, tearing the top of the Arch into a ball of flames that shot into the abyss. The two legs began to tilt inwards, against themselves as they fell, the smoking debris raining from center of the explosion.

“STEVEN! GET OUT OF THERE!”

“ERIC… GO TO HELL!” Steven fired one burst from his gun as a burning support fell on his fortress of dead creatures, knocking his boots off.

Eric ran back to the cabins quickly, using the shadow from the flame to watch for debris. The monsters behind him cheered at the explosion, too stupid or too entranced to run away from the raining death.

He slid around the corner and stopped, only being shaken by a large piece of the arch that fell into the camping cabin he was hiding behind. The fire raged as the hiss of squeaking metal scraping together grew louder, the two legs falling against each other and falling over, sending a wave of dust, debris, and blood into the air, coating the three cabins with a sick paint.

Eric sighed, pulling the gun up by his side. His chest was bleeding, his eyebrow was gashed, but his legs were fine. He ran as fast as they would carry him to the wagon, up the cliff pass, firing shots off behind him at the creatures that wanted to press their luck and follow.

The car light turned on as Fichter instinctively pressed the eject button on the CD player.

“How did it go?”

Eric smirked. “It could have gone a little bit better.”

“How many did we lose?”

“Both.”

Fichter sighed. “But we won?”

“We won…”

“Alright. Where now?”

“There’s a crazy scientist that I’m sure would be more than happy to hear the news. Maybe he’ll let us have some peaches.”

Fichter began to chuckle, turning into a full laugh as the car pulled away from the cliff. They left the burning, collapsed arches behind them on their way back east, a trail of bodies long enough to match their trip.

But there was only one word to describe the two occupants of the car.

Hopeful.

-

Mal

PS: THIS IS NOT THE ENDING.

[Lightknight924]

Mal your writing is so good. You should be a mod of the Literature Forum.