Mega Cataclysm: The Last Survivors Chronicles Page 15

  "We need to check out the camp," Ben whispered, "But we really need to be looking for that creek. It should be just to the right of the camp somewhere. Since we don't see any human activity so far, let's adjust our position and move closer down a bit more and to the right, and see if we can find it." We all nodded. "Slowly and quietly, follow me," he added.

  Keeping our eyes intermittently on the camp off to our left, we ventured off down the hill slowly, and it wasn't long before he found it. "Look!" he said excitedly, pointing to a very thin trickle of water descending through the trees along a rocky creek bed. With no signs of life and all pretty much quiet, we followed it down further, and it seemed to be widening a bit, until we reached a spot near a road where it opened up into an inviting pool, plenty big enough to all climb in and bathe. It was shallow, but it would do.

  Just beyond that down the hill another forty feet or so was the remains of the access road leading up to the camp, and the creek literally went right over the road at a corner point. But it was what we saw beyond that that froze us in our tracks.

  The ocean. It had reached high up to where we were and then receded somewhat, and we could tell from water marks on the trees and rocks. It brought into question whether the pool was still salty, but it looked pretty clear. The ocean had receded back down, leaving just a corner of the road showing, and a small patch of a clearing where there were few trees. The creek went over the road and was now emptying into the new sea.

  "Judging from the flow rate of the creek here, it shouldn't be too long before it is clean again," Ben said, his eyes beaming as he stared at the pool and the ocean below.

  "Well I don't care how salty it is," Terry quickly countered. "I'm going in!" And with that she flung off her shirt, exposing her massive bare breasts, and took of her pants- keeping only her panties on until she reached the edge. And those came off too as she entered the water totally nude, except for her shoes.

  Ben looked away in embarrassment, but when Jan did the same, I saw him turn to peek. I caught his stare briefly, and just raised my hands in the air like "Well?"

  We put down the gear next to the pool, and dug out the shampoo and soap from the backpacks. We just watched at first as these two naked, beautiful women got clean. And they could of cared less. Finding that water was so crucial a moment for all of us, the rest just didn't matter. Within minutes they were looking at us staring at them, and Jan promptly said "Well? Aren't you guys coming in?"

  Oh yes. We were coming in alright. And come in, we did. What happened next is best described in the following chapter.

  Chapter 31: Only in the MC:TLSC- EXTREME Version

  Chapter 32: Death in the Window

  We all put on some deodorant after drying off, and plunged our clothes in for a rinsing. "I wish we had thought of that earlier," Terry said lightly, but she wasn't complaining. "Now we have to wait until they dry." Ringing them out best we could, we spread all the clothes out on some rocks, to catch the rest of the day's sun.

  The fact that we were all nude didn't seem to bother anyone anymore, but it was starting to turn colder. Jan wrapped herself up in a blanket, and Terry up in a towel. They had thought pack them in the backpacks, hoping we would find the springhead.

  "We are looking at a couple of hours... At least... Before those clothes dry," Terry pointed out.

  Ben and I put on our underwear and just dealt with the colder air while we waited for the clothes to dry more. We both secured the guns, and tuned back in to our surroundings. All seemed relatively quiet for the moment, and we hadn't even had another tremor in the last hour.

  Then we both looked at each other, and realized how ridiculous we looked- two guys with guns, in just their underwear. The women caught that moment, and giggled at us.

  "Very funny..." Ben said with a light disgust. "Just keep in mind that predators- yeah those beasts up there fighting- need water too. And they'll be looking for it- sooner or later."

  The women's faces changed from mockery to fright in an instant, and they quickly grabbed their weapons. Jan's blanket accidentally slipped off while she reached for her hunting knife, exposing her briefly. Ben smirked back, and Jan looked up in embarrassment.

  "Don't worry, that's nothing to be embarrassed about," I remarked with a devilish grin to Jan. She just rolled her eyes at me, and quickly covered herself back up.

  Terry seemed captivated with the 38 for a minute as she held it, and sighted down the barrel again. Then looking up, she said "Well I better make the water filter and see if it works. We need a fire to boil some of this water before we filter it."

  "Yes, I suppose we need to check out that camp," Ben said. "We can probably make a fire up there." Camp Alice was just a few hundred yards away, obscured by some trees. Ben looked back down at his clothes on the rocks. "Well, I guess I'm going to put them back on wet, cause we really need to get moving. It will be dark soon."

  So we proceeded to all get dressed again, despite the clothes being wet, and headed cautiously towards the camp. All looked pretty clear as we entered it, and we noticed the destruction again of the larger, far building. It was consumed in a landslide. But a smaller building in front of it was still standing. We peered through a window and tried the door, but it was locked. Ben grabbed a big rock and smashed the window, getting access to the latch, and opened it. Climbing in, he was able to open the door from the inside.

  "Welcome home!" he said excitedly, letting us in and looking around. It was small, but it had a cement floor and some tools were hanging on one wall. There was a workbench with a couple of table tools along another wall. It looked like it hadn't been used in a long, long time.

  "If I'm not mistaken, these look like woodworking tools of some kind," Ben supposed verbally. "I wonder what this place was used for... These might come in handy sometime."

  "Don't we need to make a fire?" Terry asked, jerking Ben out of his contemplation.

  "Yes... Yes, you're right," Ben replied, returning to reality. "I was just thinking... Anyway... So we need rocks, and some kindling, and some dead wood... And hopefully, as dry as possible."

  "That means we'll need to go up the hill more away from the water soaked areas for that, doesn't it?" I asked.

  "Yes, but for the rocks we need to go back down to the stream. There were plenty there, remember?" answered Ben. "But we need to stick together. So how about the rocks first?"

  We all agreed, and headed back down to the stream and pool area, carrying what rocks we could back to the camp. After that we managed to collect enough wood and pine needles up the hill, and brought those back too. Within an hour we were building a makeshift campfire right outside the door that could support the metal pail, and in another 30 minutes, we had boiling water.

  But the day was quickly leaving us, and we struggled with whether to stay or leave for the night. If we stayed it was going to be an extremely uncomfortable night with no beds to sleep on. If we left to hike back to the cars, we'd have to contend with beasts.

  We ate the last of the food we had with us, as we only came supplied for the trip to the camp. But perhaps a bright spot came when it was time to filter the boiled water.

  Terry carefully took out all the plastic bags of the components, and proceeded to reassemble the filter. Once she had it made, she started pouring some of the boiled water into it. "Well, here goes," she said, putting another plastic bottle under it to start collecting the filtered water. "So who wants to be the guinea pig?" she said with a smirk as she held up a near full coke bottle of filtered water. She put a tiny pinch of salt in it.

  "Well that's about as safe as we are going to get," Ben said, taking the bottle from her. Putting his head back, he poured a nice swig down his mouth, without even touching the bottle.

  "Mmmm," he quickly said. "That tastes better than the stuff we used to get in bottles! That gets an A plus for taste! BUT, I'd suggest the rest of you wait a while to see if I get sick. In the meantime, I guess we'd better head back? Or are we staying? What do you gu
ys think?"

  Terry kept filtering more water, and we quickly exhausted our empty bottle supply. We now had several bottles of the stuff. We just weren't sure if it was going to be safe.

  "I vote we go, while we still have the energy. Cause if we don't, we might not make it in the morning with no food," Jan offered up.

  "She's got a point," I concurred. I was tired, but realizing the truth of her statement, I had to agree.

  "She's right," Terry concurred. "We'd better go, as much as I hate the thought of..."

  A noise near the broken window suddenly silenced her. And no sooner than Ben arrived at the window to investigate, a huge, hungry paw came through it, trying to find flesh. Ben was knocked off his feet from the blow, and his rifle went flying to the other side of the room. Jan and Terry recoiled in fear, paralyzed.

  Wasting not an instant, I went for the gun, while the window was making awful noises under the strain of a monster trying to force its way through. And the second that huge bear head broke through the window, I took aim and fired right at one of its eyes. But as if driven by some supernatural force, it just kept coming, despite a piece of its head missing. So I fired another shot, and then another, and it finally went limp, stuck halfway in the window. The bullets had nearly destroyed its head, and there was blood everywhere.

  Ben got back up a bit shaken, checking the surface wound on his shoulder and torn shirt. "I got lucky those claws didn't dig in too deep," he said grimacing in pain. "But I'll be ok I think." Terry immediately had him bandaged up with supplies from the first aid kit she had pillaged and brought with her.

  Jan just looked at us with a blank expression on her face, and looked back over at the dead beast. She was about to say something, when all of a sudden we heard a loud snarl. Or maybe it was two. We didn't know. But before anyone could even react with fear, the dead beast in the window disappeared with a loud crash, as its body was summarily removed from the window frame.

  We stared transfixed at the open hole. I was ready with the rifle, but my hands were shaking, and I was having a hard time keeping it steady. Ben grabbed the 38 from Terry and backed up, pointing it at the hole. He made his way slowly towards me, and then grabbed the Glock from my pants.

  "You just keep pointing at that hole," he whispered, as he pointed both pistols at it too. I glanced at Jan briefly, who had her knife raised in the air to make one last desperate stand. She looked like a crazed, wild savage woman. And that was good. Because whatever was coming through that window was going to pay dearly for it.

  We waited. And waited. Then we heard more snarling outside, startling us, but it quickly became more and more distant with the passing minutes. And then there was quiet. Just deadly silence. And it was getting near dark.

  Ben finally moved cautiously towards the window, and motioned slowly for us to follow and come see, as if unsure of what he was looking at. And moving over to the window, I understood his concern and unease. Because all we saw was a thick, wide trail of blood leading off into the woods.

  "Jesus," was all he could mutter. The women stared at the death trail, transfixed. "They did that with such ease," Terry finally said in horror and amazement. "That bear had to weigh as much as the other one... How could...?"

  "Mountain lions are extremely powerful animals," Ben said with a quiet reserve. "I just didn't realize they were THAT powerful. Had to be at least two I think."

  "So I guess only the biggest and most powerful animals have survived all of this," I murmured- contemplating the scene, and coming down from the adrenaline rush. I couldn't believe what I just had seen.

  "Yes, you're probably right," Ben agreed. "And as you said before, they are probably desperately hungry and confused, too. We've GOT to be extremely careful and never let our guard down again. What happened at the pool... We can't... That was very stupid... We can't do that again like that..."

  Terry and Jan looked up at us with a mixture of sorrow and reminiscence. "Well, we'll just have to go about it another way..." Ben clarified. "But right now, we need to go. Right now, while they are busy with that bear carcass."

  "But what about all this blood?" Jan remarked with a grimace, looking down. "Surely other animals will smell it..."

  "Yeah, you're right," Ben agreed. "We should probably clean it up, but right now we've got to go. We'll just have to deal with it when we come back tomorrow or whenever. And that hole from the window... We need to close that somehow too, or else something might get in here... But... But... Look, we HAVE to go... NOW!"

  No one could dispute the point, so we quickly headed out the door and up the hill in our line formation- weapons all back in the former hands, reloaded and drawn. Taking the rear again, I quickly realized that going up and checking our six was going to be much more difficult than descending.

  "Stay focused," Ben reminded us all quietly, as we began the desperate trip back. "Try not to let your minds wander. Cover your sides, and stay acutely aware of noises and movements, and only that. Our focus is to get back to the cars before dark. Let's make it, team!" he confided in us.

  And his words were right on time. Because with all that had happened my mind had become one big barrel of silent questions, attempted self answers, and more unanswered questions. But his words helped me to overcome that and stay focused on getting us back. There would be time later for discussions.

  What little light was left was further dimmed by the cover of the forest, making the trip back more dangerous and scary. We should have left sooner I kept thinking. And why hadn't we had another trem...

  Well I asked for it. About halfway back, another tremor shook us into reality, making us cling to trees and not lose our footing. Ben helped Terry back up, and I gave Jan a hand. Looking into her eyes for a brief minute, a silent thanks was exchanged, and I paused a second to silently admire her bravery though all of this.

  But before certain feelings started to surface, I quickly looked away and checked our rear again. "Focus," I reminded her, turning back around to see her just looking at me in contemplation. "Stay focused, remember?" I pleaded with her. "Right," she said with a reluctant nod, as she briefly put her hand on my chest in remembrance. And up the hill we continued.

  Ben was pausing intermittently to notch the trees this time with his pocket knife, leaving a marked path back to the camp. Fortunately our strategy seemed to work, as we encountered no problems with beasts. No dangerous beasts, but we did see more deer and various other animals. Despite the destruction, the hill seemed to be teeming with life.

  Finally arriving back at the cars in one piece, all seemed to be as we had left it. We rewarded ourselves with another beef sandwich each, after I dug up the container. It still tasted pretty fresh. It was actually delicious. And needed. And there was still plenty left.

  "So how you feeling?" I asked Ben, after we had devoured the meal, and anxious for a drink. I held up a bottle of the filtered water, threatening to take a drink.

  "Oh. OH," he said. "Yeah, I feel fine. I'd say it's safe I think, or I would have felt something by now."

  Relieved, we each sampled it cautiously at first, taking just a brief sip. Terry passed us the salt before we continued. "Remember, just a tiny pinch," she said. After the bit of salt, I sipped it again, and was surprised at how damned good it tasted. I started to gulp it down, but Ben was quick to react. "Easy, EASY!" he said. "We only have that until we can get more."

  So a half bottle would have to do, but even that much was so refreshing, between that and the food- my body was energized again. The others did the same, and all looked up with a satisfactory smile of relief.

  "We made excellent progress today, finding that pool of fresh water," Ben began. "I am so proud of you all. We made it there and back in one piece. With that water, we really do have a chance of surviving a lot longer..."

  He nudged closer to Terry, and put his arm around her. She responded with a relaxed sigh, and settled into his chest. "You sure do smell better," she said with a smirk. He smiled and kissed her
forehead. Jan looked over at me inquisitively, and I responded by giving her a much needed hug.

  As darkness finally consumed us entirely, we planned for the following day, and found our way into the cars for a satisfying night of sleep. Tomorrow would be another day. Maybe hell WAS livable... For the time being.

  Chapter 33: The Sinking Feeling

  As morning woke us, I got the sinking feeling that today was not going to be a good day. I don't know what it was that caused it, but that feeling was rare in me, only occurring a few times in my life. But whenever I got it, it proved to be true. Something very bad always happened shortly thereafter.

  I got it before one of my brothers died, before my grandmother died, and once before the terror attacks of 9/11/01. I also got it about a week before the president of the company I had worked for over ten years announced out of the blue one day that he had sold the company. As a top manager, I was terminated exactly one week later when the new owners brought in their own management team.