THE WOLF BOYS By: Eric S. Brown
Friday, April 17th, 2009The camper rocked back and forth as the two dozen or so dead who’d encircled it hammered and pushed against its sides trying to get inside. Muzzles flashes lit the night from its singular window as Paul fired round after round into the things trying to pull themselves up and crawl in to get at him and Burt. Burt angrily shoved Paul out of the way. “Stop messin’ around with that little piece of crap pistol! We got a whole freakin’ arsenal in here and you’re pussy footin’ around with a 9 mm!” Burt leveled his M-16 at the creatures and let loose on full auto. Paul struggled to keep his balance as he popped the clip from his pistol and slammed a fresh one home. “What the hell are those things Burt?” he demanded.
Burt’s rifle clicked empty. “How the devil am I supposed to know?” he snapped.
“You said this would be easy Burt!” Paul raged. “You said there would only be two of them. You didn’t say nothing about them being able to conjure up the dead!”
“You idiot!” Burt screamed as he swung the butt of his M-16 into the snarling face of a dead woman wearing a pink sundress who was halfway inside the camper. Her nose caved in from the impact and the force of the blow sent her toppling back out the window. “This ain’t them! This must be that shit they were talking about on the radio as we drove up here!”
Paul stepped forward raising his pistol, popping off a trio of shots as Burt tossed his M-16 aside and snatched up a shotgun from where it lay in the floor.
In the darkness of the woods, Eddie and Steve watched it all. “Poor bastards,” Eddie commented. Steve shot him a glare. “You’re kidding right? Those buggers came up here to hunt us.”
“Still nobody should die like that. It’s not right for the dead to be eating the living.”
Steve shook his head. “It was their own science and pollution that caused the dead to get up. Smell of those things. They stink of man’s crimes against nature.” Steve saw the look on Eddie’s face. The younger boy was completely tuning him out, lost in his own holier than thou thoughts. “I can’t believe it,” Steve said, “You’re going to help them, aren’t you?”
Eddie didn’t bother to answer. He started running towards the battle and the pack of the dead. “Nice knowing you bro!” Steve called after him. Steve sighed and walked on into the deeper part of the woods. Eddie was old enough to make his own choices however foolish they were.
“Toss me a clip!” Paul demanded as Burt stood shoving shells into his shotgun. By luck more than skill, they’d killed over half of the rotting men and women surrounding them. They’d finally figured out that if you shot the things in the head, they went down and stayed there. An inhuman growl echoed in the night.
“What is that?” Paul yelled as the camper suddenly stopped rocking. Burt pushed his last shell into the shotgun’s chamber and raced over to the now empty window. Outside the camper, a hulking, half wolf-half man monster tore into the remaining dead. It lifted one of the things off the ground, tearing it in half with ease.
Burt smiled. “It’s one of them! He’s helping us!”
Paul peeked through the window as Burt lunged for the cases of weapons they’d brought with them. “Where are the damned rifles?” he complained shuffling through their stockpiles. Finally, he stood up with a .30-.06 in hand, darting back to the window. The battle had stopped and the night was quiet again except for the wolf-thing’s heavy breathing as it stood among the now unmoving corpses of the mutilated dead which littered the forest floor.
Burt jerked up the rifle as the monster looked at him with surprise in its yellow eyes. The rifle cracked and a silver cased bullet caught the monster in its throat. Its howl of pain sounded like a demented gargle as it collapsed.
“Get the camera! Get the damn camera!” Burt ordered Paul as he ripped the camper’s door open and jumped outside. “We got the A-hole!”
Paul and Burt filmed the transformation as Eddie’s body reshaped itself from wolf to human. “Whoo-ee! Those boys in town will have to believe us that those freaks are werewolves now!”
Paul tried to smile but found he couldn’t. “What if there’s not a town to go back to Burt? What if those dead things are everywhere like the radio was saying?”
Burt laughed. “Don’t you worry none. We’ll kick their stinking asses too if we have to!”
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© 2009 Eric S. Brown
For more great Eric S Brown stories, check out. “Unabridged, Unabashed, and Undead: The Best of Eric S. Brown” from Library of the Living Dead Books. Eric’s other works include Season of Rot from Permuted Press, and Zombies: Inhuman (the second edition) from Black River Publishing, all three set for release in 2009. His short fiction has been published hundreds of times in markets ranging from Dark Wisdom to Ethereal Tales. Some of his past books and chapbooks include Cobble, Madmen’s Dreams, The Queen, Dying Days, Zombies: The War Stories, As We All Breakdown, and Viruses and Vamps to name a few. Eric also writes ongoing comic book columns for Abandoned Towers Magazine and a local entertainment paper called The Guide. Find out more at www.myspace.com/esbrown4
