4 | Heavy Metal and Hides

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**Thank YOU all so much for the comments, the views and of course the votes. Most of our votes from last chapter went for the rambler...so...you're curiosity will be satisfied soon :) Please continue to comment and let me know your thoughts because I love to hear feedback!

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TAKING A SECOND GLANCE at the house, I swallow my fear and sprint full speed across the asphalt, not even looking for cars at this point. Coming to the dirt road that dodges back and forth through the dense pines, I plant my feet in the dirt, nearly stumbling on a large rock.

This place isn't made for anyone to enter...

A kaleidoscope of "No Trespassing" signs and barb wire fences set up against wooden platforms interspersed in the trees doesn't exactly me the honey glow. But I can still see the candlelight in the window, and I know someone must be waiting. Would they be waiting to help me, or kill me though?

Another howling, now probably within a football field's distance rings out. This time, it sounds less like a wolf howl, and more like something bigger and scarier.

So I run. Throwing caution to the wind, especially as dark shadows start to coalesce, making it seem like every little bush is suddenly a hulking monster ready to eat me.

Ten steps down. Probably another hundred or so feet to the house. Nothing exploded yet, so we're good.

My senses are heightened, my blood coursing through my veins like river rapids and my breaths shallow, as if breathing is secondary to my survival. Thundering in the hills behind me make the setting even more ominous.

I just keep running toward the candlelight. Just ten steps at a time.

I start counting them as if I'm working out.

Five.

Six.

A branch whips across my face, and I duck just in time before it hits into my eye, but it still leaves a stinging gash across my forehead. Warm blood begins to drip into the wind behind me as I keep running.

I'm about twenty feet away from the rambler – I can see boarded windows, doors that have been repaired with all manner of scrap metal and wood, and heaps of garbage stacked in mounds like walls along the perimeter.

Almost there. But not close enough.

Searing pain tears across my right foot as I tumble face first into the rocky dirt in front of me.

I quickly turn around in the dirt, awkwardly shifting my weight on my hips because my foot is stuck in something. And then I see it.

Trip wire?

I try not to vomit as I see where my leg is trapped. Lodged halfway through my leg, and definitely hitting the bone is a thin strand of wire illuminate in the moonlight. It stretches between two trees about six feet apart.

Panic grips its needle fingers into my stomach as a sickening realization occurs.

I'm going to die. I'm gonna die in this nightmare.

I hear the thundering once again, only this time it's much closer – just at the edge of the dirt path I came down. In fact, it isn't thunder at all. And I almost realize it too late.

Because down the path, two enormous glowing eyes shine in the darkness. They stop briefly, but as they raise up and I hear a deep snort, the eyes get closer and closer as they race through the trees at blinding speed.

My hands are shaking. Heart racing.

I reach for the hunting rifle. I cock it back.

And I shoot at the eyes, which are now just about twenty feet away.

A flash. A bang. And then I hear the deepest, menacing roar I've ever heard in my life – it's sickening, deafening. It's deadly.

I quickly cock back the gun again, realizing I probably only have about five bullets in the magazine, so I better do some damage before it gets to me.

Another shot sails off toward the eyes. This time though, I see one of the glowing eyes disappear. Maybe I hit it?

My victory is short-lived though.

Jumping into the patch of moonlight where I now lay, stuck on freaking wire as my leg bleeds, I see the most massive creature I've ever laid eyes on. I've seen documentaries about bears, but nothing like this.

It's a grizzly. At least it was...at some point. What's before me is a monster – through and through.

"AHHHHHHH!" I can't help screaming.

A massive bear head, about three feet wide foams at its mouth with fangs longer than my outstretched fingers. One eye glows yellow-green, and now that it's closer, I can see glowing blood vessels coursing throughout the bear's massive form. Pale light reflects off patches of white where no fur is visible on the beast. One of its ears is missing, and that same side of its face looks as if its been burned off to the point that white bony shapes glow in the light. In total the bear must be about five feet tall just standing on its four pillar-sized, jagged legs. Add to that the-foot long bayonet claws that jut out from the giant bear paws, and you have the definition of a monster.

I remember advice about playing dead to get away from bears, but I don't think this applies this particular time.

Shaky hands cock back the gun again and I let it fire into the neck of the beast. It only growls and foams out of its mouth in reply. "Come on – Die already!"

This is it. I'm Dead.

I flinch back as the bear stands on its back two legs, revealing a twisted mass of fur, burnt flesh and glowing veins. The monstrous thing has to be about twenty feet tall.

It lets out one final, crescendo of a roar and lunges toward me.

I close my eyes, thinking only about Celeste. Her beautiful smooth skin and wavy blond hair.

I wondered how it would feel to die – probably like the sleep I just woke from I imagine.

A flash of heat rushes by my face. Bright light floods my closed eyelids and they blink open to see a flaming ball of light sailing through the air. It crashes into the belly of the beast, glass shattering everywhere as it does so, and flames spread out all over the monster like tendrils.

Incredulous, I blink my eyes again. I'm not dead after all.

Elated I glance over to the figure who stands above me, while the bear shrinks back into a patch of trees.

"Get out of here!"

"Yeah, you better run!" I yell out, still stuck to the trip wire.

Stepping into the moonlight, I see a woman, dark-skinned with matted black hair standing up on her head like a curled afro. A nose ring shines in the moonlight, and her huge dark eyes assess me as a threat. I can see a large, red mark like a handprint covering her left eye. Her face is gaunt and wearied, and her expressionless face and skinny body make her seem like a gazelle, ready to bolt at any moment. Her skin appears to twitch, and her leg restless from what I'm assuming is more than one encounter with monsters like these bears. She's wearing army camo pants and a white tank with holes all over - she looks way more ripped than most women I've ever dated.

"The signs said no trespassing," she says, leaning down close to my face. I don't know if she's going to spit at me or kiss me. "Can't you read? Or you here to steal from me?"

I fumble, throwing my rifle behind me. "Uh, no," I say, trying to return her glare with my own. "No way – I just want to charge my phone. THAT'S ALL I WANT! I JUST WANT TO CHARGE MY DAMN PHONE! NOT GET MAULED BY FREAKING DEMON BEARS!"

My rant takes her by surprise, and she just spits on the ground near my leg.

"Rich boy has a phone, eh?" She speaks as if cursing. "Must be nice having all that money, and electricity."

I want to stand and confront her but doing so only sends a shock of pain up my leg.

Crinkling my nose, I reply, "Doesn't everybody in the United States have electricity? What happened to this place? It's just Idaho – I mean come on!"

She stands, surveying me as if I'm the biggest idiot on the planet or steal trying to rob her. Her gazelle face tightens even more. I can see her fingers twitch against a knife hanging across her belt.

"You ask too many questions."

I reply, my face getting hot. "Well, I think I have a right to ask a lot of questions! I just woke up in some ice chamber, almost got killed by some murderers, walked down a hill and got hunted by some monster from The Shining, almost got killed again - so yeah I have a lot of things on my mind today!"

She bends down again, her fingers pinching my chin so much it stings. "You must be a fool, boy." And I instantly hate the way she says "boy" with disgust since she must only be about thirty years old at most. "I don't believe you. Get out of here."

I bring my leg up, stubbornly enduring a sharp twinge. Blood is now caked on my forehead, and still trickles through the jumpsuit's pant leg, darkening my right calf.

"I'm a little preoccupied at the moment. Sorry – can't move."

"Right," she says, shrugging. She starts rummaging through the backpack slung around her back, until she pulls out a small hacksaw.

"No!" I yell, trying to scoot away. "Don't cut it off! I'll freaking sue you and get your ass in jail so quick if you do!"

She chuckles, and I realize she's absolutely maniacal. I'm bound to die one way or another today.

"Hold still, boy."

I try to kick at her, only making her curse.

She doesn't cut off my leg, but comes to the side of my leg where the wire passes through. With two quick sawing cuts, she frees my leg from the wire.

Grabbing my arm with her free hand, she rips me upward, until I'm on my feet again. She says, motioning toward the beater house, "One minute – that's all I'll give you. One minute to clip out the rest of the wire and get you out of here to whatever La La Land you climbed out of. That radiated bear will be back for you if we don't get you inside. They love blood, crave it, seek it out."

I want to thank her, but I'm still annoyed about her trip wire being lodged in my leg. So I try something else. "Can I at least ask your name before you invite me in for the night?"

Spitting on the ground, she laughs in the air. "Name's Brigadier General Josephina Elliot, Air force. You can just call me Brig for short. And just to be clear, I'm not into your kind – men are disgusting pigs, grosser than that radiated bear so the only action you'll be getting tonight will be me ripping out a piece of steel trip wire before it becomes infected. We clear?"

"Yeah, crystal," I reply. "Best date ever."

She looks over at me, gazelle face smiling with crooked teeth. "Glad we got that settled. And what's your name La La?

Trying not to wince as I drag my leg along, I reply, "Name's Quinn York, First class Private when it comes to the ladies." I smile widely, showing my dimples.

She laughs loudly and deeply.

"I think I like you, boy."

We're about to the steps leading up to her boarded and broken wooden door, when I hear the thundering.

I turn but it's already too late.

A dark, shadowy beast with one glowing eye, burnt-smelling flesh, and huge gaping jaws grabs Brig by the leg, throwing me against the steps.

"Brig!" I yell, reaching around to my rifle. Blood starting to trickle again.

The last thing I see is her wide-eyed face silently screaming for help while her free hand reaches toward me, grasping the air wildly.

Within seconds, she's gone.


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***There's really only one choice this time :) Quinn is of course going to go after poor bear-bitten Brig. Hopefully he gets there in time to save her though! No good deed goes unpunished!

In reality, he does have a choice to just let her die, but that wouldn't be very nice would it?

Also - if you'll just hit that little start button for me if you've enjoyed reading, I would be so grateful! THANKS IN ADVANCE!

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