CHAPTER 24 - CALL FOR BACKUP?

I followed right behind my zombies, axe up and at the ready. The house reeked. It stank of old meat and blood. The red stains on the floor in the front hall told me we probably weren’t going to find anything friendly in this place.

“Anyone here?” I called out, loud as I could. If there was a survivor in here, I wanted to let them know we weren’t hostile. It was a lot more likely there was something nasty inside, though. In that case, making some noise while I was still in the doorway meant I could get the heck out of there and call for backup.

No answer. Nobody called out, and no growls either. I beckoned my team forward. “Stay close while we make sure there’s nothing hiding in here.”

They both nodded, following right on my heels. I had Hope bring up the rear, right behind them, so nothing could sneak up on us. We cleared the downstairs first and saw more blood stains, torn and broken furniture, and a kitchen that looked like a tornado had at it. Stuff was everywhere, and it looked like the food stocks in particular were raided hard. Boxes of cereal were torn apart, bits of their contents scattered all over the floor.

From there we went upstairs, watching for attackers as we moved. Again, there were no sounds, and I was starting to hope whatever had hit this place was already gone.

The first room’s door was shattered, pieces of wood scattered all over the inside. Whatever broke through had definitely killed whoever was hiding there. Enough blood soaked the carpet that there was no doubt someone died in this room. What made it ten times worse was this was a kid’s bedroom. Two kids, based on the bunkbeds. There were no bodies, no remains. Just blood and broken furnishings.

We pressed on, finding a bathroom and storage room, both relatively intact. The attacker didn’t seem to care about toothpaste or soap. But the master bedroom was as much a wreck as the kids’ room: door demolished in the same way, interior in ruins, and blood all over. Just as in the other rooms, though, there was blood, but no bodies. Had it been an attack of zombies, maybe? That would explain why there were no remains.

“Damn, this looks like a bear ripped through this place,” Tom said in a whisper.

“Big bear,” Neal added.

I started to relax a bit, now that we’d cleared both levels without finding trouble. “I’m just as happy whatever it was isn’t still here. Let’s get back down to the kitchen, see if there’s anything worth salvaging.”

We headed back to the kitchen and began looking over the mess, but the place was in tatters. The shelves were wrecked, food scattered. Something had torn into all the family’s dry goods, eating a lot of it and scattering the rest all over the floor. That made me think it probably wasn’t zombies after all; I’d never seen the zombies go after any food besides living things or the recently dead.

Whatever it was, it had made a true mess of the place. At first I was certain there was nothing worth saving, but then Tom opened the fridge. The power was out, so it wasn’t really cold inside anymore, and most of the goods had spoiled. But there were apples, a few blocks of cheese, and a big jar of peanut butter that all looked worth keeping. We’d want to eat them pretty soon, but it was more food, which we needed badly.

I turned the tap on for a second and got some water, so there was still a little pressure in the pipes. I turned it right back off again so we didn’t waste any. We’d want to drain every tap we could for drinkable water. Soon enough, we’d be boiling stream water for drinking. A well was going to be a necessity, but I didn’t have the foggiest idea how to dig one…

“Selena,” Tom hissed.

I turned, alarmed at the tone of his voice. He was pointing at a gaping black hole in the wall, halfway down the hall leading from the kitchen to the dining room. We’d come around the other way and missed seeing it, but it was a stairwell leading down. A cellar, most likely.

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A blood trail led from the kitchen down the stairs. Something had still been bleeding when it was dragged down there. That plus no bodies upstairs didn’t take too long to put together. Whatever hit this place had taken its dinner downstairs to eat. That meant there was a decent chance it was still down there.

“Shit,” I said. Then I told the others, “Stay put.”

I snuck closer to the doorway, Hope right beside me. A glance into the dark told me there was barely any light down there. Maybe a couple of small windows were letting in some sunlight, but it wasn’t much.

“We should get help, right?” Neal asked. “Call for backup?”

“If we need to, sure,” I replied. I wasn’t so sure we did. I was tier three, and I’d been tearing up the tier one and tier two critters we’d faced. I hadn’t run into any tier three threats—yet. Was it possible this was one? Sure, but even then, I had the other two guys as backup. I felt pretty confident, especially with my Drain spell.

I picked up a chunk of broken wood from the floor and tossed it down the stairs. It clattered against the steps, banging its way down before hitting the cement floor at the bottom with a thunk.

Something below snorted.

Yup, the monster was still down there, and whatever it was sounded huge. I backed up into the kitchen and rejoined my team. “Okay, guys. We need to figure out how we’re going to fight this thing. I think we can get it to chase us up here. I definitely don’t want to go looking for it in the dark down there.”

“Right on,” Tom said.

Some backup might be useful, in case whatever it was turned out to be a bigger menace than I was expecting. Just because we hadn’t seen any tier three monsters yet didn’t mean there were none. “Tom, I don’t think your Entangle will work inside, but you’re the one best able to get away from trouble if you run into it outside. Go down the street to Alfred’s group. Tell him I need him here ASAP.”

“Got it,” he replied, then took off.

“What about me?” Neal asked.

“Ideally, you and I wait here for backup to arrive. Then we wake that thing up and get it to chase us topside, and avenge the people who lived here,” I told him.

He swallowed hard, but nodded. Poor kid wasn’t used to life or death situations. None of us really were, but I’d had more chances to face them. So when whatever was down there snarled and growled again, then started moving around, I rolled my eyes and sighed, rather than quaking in fear.

“Or it’s going to come face us sooner rather than later,” I added as the stairs creaked under the creature’s weight.

“Now we leave, right?” Neal asked. He was sheet white.

“Not gonna be time,” I said softly. Whatever it was, it was picking up steam as it moved. If we ran, it would run us down. Doors wouldn’t stop it—we’d already seen that. It was time to fight. “Whatever this thing is, it’s too fast to outrun. We need to stand our ground while we wait for help.”

Hope barked. My zombies set themselves up on other side of the doorway into the kitchen, while Hope placed herself dead center. She’d be a target, but she was fast. I hoped she could avoid whatever it was. My palms were slick with sweat, and I wiped them on my trousers one at a time in the seconds we had left.

The monster that barreled from the basement was a thing out of nightmare. It had to have been a black bear, once upon a time. Before the Event warped it into something new.

Now it was just a walking horror.

The thing shambled up out of the cellar, looking one way then the other, and spotted Hope barking at it. It turned to glare at her, and I got my first good look at its face. Tatters of fur hung from its skull, revealing red tissue beneath. It was like the bear was shedding all its fur, I realized as it lumbered into the hall, struggling to fit itself in the narrow space.

Under the fur was something slick, bloody, and disgusting. The creature had massive paws adorned with pitch-black claws that shredded the wood floor with each step. It lumbered toward Hope, grunting and snarling.

I cast Drain Life on the thing, and it staggered. The brief wave of weakness passed over me, replaced by a feeling of strength as the demon bear’s vitality flowed toward me. The moment of hesitation was all Hope needed—she darted forward, her teeth catching one forelimb just above the paw. She tore, ripping away a chunk of fur and flesh, but the bear didn’t seem to care. It swatted Hope, sending her crashing into the wall, and pressed ahead.

Hope was okay; I saw her getting back to her feet and shaking her head out of the corner of my eye. Drain Life hadn’t reset yet, so I stood my ground on the other side of the kitchen island, hoping it would serve as at least a brief barrier for this monster.

“Neal, get ready!” I called out, but when I glanced over my shoulder, he was already gone. “Figures. God damn it!”

The bear charged.