Dead Hunt

CHAPTER 5 – Margaree

The van pulled to a stop at the Irving station at the Inverness turnoff.

“Why are we stopping?” Michael asked.

“We need petrol,” Wade answered. “You pump in twenty bucks worth. I’ll go pay.” He looked at the price. “A buck forty-five a liter! Christ,” Wade said sarcastically. “That’s highway robbery. How do these cockies afford to live up here?”

Wade walked inside the station. “Oy?”

No one answered.

“Paying customer here, Mate?”

Still no answer.

“For what you are charging for petrol, Mate, you should be out pumping that crap yourself!” His voice echoed off the concrete walls.

“I’ll leave some moolah on the counter, all right?” Wade yelled as he slipped the twenty back into his pocket. “Stupid nongs,” he laughed as he walked back to the van, jumped in and drove away.

A neon “Open” sign on the local co-op grocery store caught Lucy’s eye.

“Stop here,” Lucy ordered.

“For what?” Wade asked.

“Duh, for some food. There won’t be anything to eat at the cabin.”

“Food is good,” Emma agreed. “I’m hungry.”

Wade spotted the Nova Scotia Liquor Commission sign on the side of the Co-op building and slammed on the brakes, jolting the teens forward. “Good idea, grab some grog too.”

“Some what?” Lucy asked

“Some beer,” he answered.

“Like they’re gonna sell me beer,” Lucy replied.

Wade reached into his wallet and pulled out his fake I. D. “No worries.”

“How in the hell did you get a fake I.D.?” Paul asked.

“Connections, Mate. I know everyone.”

The group of teens walked into the store. It was empty. Not a single customer was there, not even staff.

“Hello?” Lucy yelled. “Is anyone here?”

“Christ,” Wade said. “Is this some holiday out here in the back of beyond?”

“What do you mean?” Lucy asked.

“Same thing back at the servo. Nobody around,” Wade answered.

“Hello?” Lucy yelled again. They heard a noise.

“See,” Lucy told him, “they’re out back, probably having a meeting or something.”

“A meeting. Yeah, that’s it,” Paul laughed. “A meeting as to why shit keeps getting stolen.” Paul yelled in the direction of the store-room door, “It’s because you leave everything unattended for people to steal, you dumb hicks.”

“Knock it off,” Lucy said elbowing him in the ribs. “Let’s go see what’s going on. Maybe somebody’s hurt.”

“What are you, a doctor?” Paul asked sarcastically. “Let’s just leave the money on the counter and get the hell out of here. This place creeps me out.”

“I’m with you, Mate,” Wade agreed, pulling out some money. “Screw it!” he said with a grin, putting it back in his pocket. “Let’s just go.”

Paul and Wade headed for the door.

“Assholes,” Lucy shook her head in chagrin as Wade and Paul left with the beer.

“I’ll go with you, Lucy,” Michael offered, following Lucy to the back of the store.

Lauren watched the scene without saying a word as her friends scattered in different directions, leaving her standing alone in the unnaturally quiet store. Emma walked around the corner from one of the isles holding a couple bags of potato chips.

“What’s going on?” she asked.

“Nothing,” Lauren answered. “Let’s go.”

“What about these?” Emma asked, holding up the chips.

“The hell with the chips. Let’s go.” She grabbed Emma by the arm and started to lead her out the door.

“But I’m hungry,” Emma pleaded.

Lauren threw a five dollar bill on the counter. “Take the damn things. Now c’mon. Let’s go.”

Lucy and Michael approached the door to the back of the store cautiously, a product of watching too many horror flicks. They slowly eased the door open and thought they heard something that sounded like gnawing sounds. They opened the door a little more. The back room was dimly lit but they could just make out the back of what looked like an employee kneeling over something on the floor.

“Hello?” Lucy asked sheepishly, barely louder than a whisper.

The employee didn’t move.

“Hello?” Lucy said again, slightly louder. “Is everything Ok?”

The employee turned his head sideways but didn’t look at them. His mouth was covered in blood as he continued to chew. Lucy’s breathing quickened as she lowered her eyes to what he was holding in his hands. It was… an arm. Her eyes widened, her heart pounded in her chest as she looked back to the man’s face in horror. He opened his mouth for another bite and a finger fell to the floor. Lucy screamed. The employee turned towards her and let out a weird, groaning yell.

Lucy stood frozen in horror as Michael pulled on her elbow. Another employee appeared from behind a stack of boxes, chewing on a severed leg. He let out the same groaning yell as Michael pulled Lucy through the door, dragging her to a run. They raced out of the store and towards the van.

“Go! Go! Go!” Michael yelled as he pushed Lucy into the van.

“What’s wrong?” Wade asked as Michael slammed the door shut.

“Go!” Michael yelled again.

Wade raised an eyebrow questioningly, then looked towards the Co-op. Two blood-soaked people wearing Co-op aprons came out. They were both covered in blood, one still chewing on a half-eaten arm.

“Christ!” Wade yelled, flooring the van, throwing the teens backwards, and spraying the approaching employees with rocks.

Michael looked out the back window at the grotesque people. He noticed they barely flinched when Wade showered them with rocks, they just kept walking towards the van. They didn’t run, they staggered slowly after them.

The van went over a steep blind crest, lifting all four tires in the air.

“Slow the fuck down!” Paul yelled. “Who the hell were those people?”

“They were… eating… people!” Michael responded, trying to collect his thoughts.

“They were eating people?” Lauren and Emma asked in unison.

“What the fuck kinda hillbillies live here?” Paul asked as he looked in the rearview mirror.

“Something’s wrong,” Lucy mumbled to no one, her eyes still wide in disbelief.

“No shit, Sherlock!” Paul growled. “How the fuck do we get to your cabin?”

“Something’s wrong,” Lucy repeated.

“Oy! Bambi!” Wade yelled. “We know that already. How do we get to your cabin?”

Lucy did not answer. Wade cut the wheel hard to keep from going off the road, then slowed the van down to a manageable speed. As the van raced up along the winding, country road he spotted a few dozen cars parked by a building next to a church.

“Oy, car park up ahead is full. Looks like there’s something going on there.”

“Thank God!” Lauren answered. “Civilization!”

Wade slowed the van down and pulled into the parking lot as the tires crunched in the thick gravel. The large community center that sat next to the church didn’t show any signs of activity. They stared at the quiet building skeptically.

“Somebody has to go check,” Wade suggested.

“You go check,” Paul said as he moved to the back to sit with Lucy.

“I’m driving!” Wade answered.

Lauren shook her head. “My heroes. Big on muscles, short on courage.”

She opened the van door, looked in the direction they had just come, and stepped out of the van. She looked back at her friends. Nobody moved.

“Y’all just gonna sit there and let a girl go by herself?”

Michael swallowed a lump in his throat.

“I’ll go with you,” he said as he stepped out of the van. “Keep the door open and the engine running,” he ordered, looking at Wade.

Wade nodded in agreement.

Michael turned to Lauren, “All right then, let’s go.”

Emma jumped out of the van. “I’ll go too.”

The three teens looked once more in the direction they had come from, then back at the van where Lucy rocked back and forth in Paul’s arms, mumbling “Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong.”

They hesitantly walked towards the door of the building. The sign on the door read, “St. Patrick’s Ceildh. Admission: Good Will Donation.” They stopped, staring at the sign.

“Awfully quiet for a party,” Emma suggested as she pulled the door open.

The stench hit them like a slap in the face. Bodies covered in blood lay everywhere. Emma and Lauren covered their mouths to keep from gagging. Michael noticed that not everyone was lying on the floor; some were kneeling over the bodies, just like at the Co-op. One of the kneeling people was a small child, a little girl. She didn’t look to be more than ten years old. Her little face was covered in blood.

Emma noticed it first. “Is she eating a…”

Lauren finished her sentence. “A baby. Oh my God, she’s eating that baby!”

Emma let out a piercing scream. The little girl turned to face them, still chewing. Michael heard the same groaning yell from the little girl. The rest of the people in the hall turned to look at the teens standing in the doorway.

“We gotta go! Now!” Michael shouted as more of them emitted their groaning yell. He pulled on the arms of the stunned girls as the people in the hall started to move towards them.

“Run!” he shrieked, dragging them out of the doorway.

They raced across the parking lot as a hoard of blood-soaked people flooded out the door, walking towards the van in the same unsteady swagger as the employees from the Co-op.

Emma was still screaming uncontrollably as Michael shoved her into the van. Wade floored the accelerator. The tires spun in the deep gravel.

“Go! Go! Go!” Michael yelled.

“I’m fuckin’ trying!” Wade yelled back as the tires finally grabbed hold and the van peeled onto the road.

The sound of screeching tires drowned Emma’s screams. Michael watched the people barely flinch as they were showered with rocks. The van fishtailed down the road as Wade tried to bring it under control.

“It’s like they don’t even feel pain,” Michael mumbled to himself as the van sped away.

Paul returned to the front seat and looked at Wade who shrugged his shoulders. He didn’t know what in the hell was happening either.

Emma’s screams were replaced by a steady stream of tears and sobbing. Lauren looked as if she was about to throw up. Michael looked like Michael always looked. He had that weird, dazed but concentrated look on his face, the kind people get when they run into somebody they know and their name is right there on the tip of their tongue, but they can’t quite say it. That’s the look Michael had on his face.

“Turn at the fork in the road,” Lucy announced weakly.

“Look who’s back,” Paul said. “Welcome to Margaree. I hope you know coming here was your fuckin’ idea!”

“Leave her alone,” Michael glared at him. Paul stared back.

“Don’t look at me with your macho, He-man bullshit,” Michael argued, “we’ve got bigger problems right now than your stupid jealousy.”

Paul said nothing. No one said anything. They all knew Michael was right. They did have bigger problems. Bigger than anything they could ever have imagined.

“Christ!” Wade yelled, slamming on the brakes and lurching the teens forward in their seats.

They all stared out the front window. A small child, maybe only six or seven years old, was standing on the road next to a crashed car, her tiny mouth covered in blood.

“She’s one of them. What do I do?” Wade asked.

Paul stared at the little girl, then answered in an emotionless, monotone voice, “Run her the fuck over.”

“What?” Lauren yelled. “She’s just a child.”

Paul spun his head glaring at her.

“She’s just a child that eats people!” He turned back to Wade. “Listen to me. Those things are everywhere. We can’t stay here waiting for little miss I-want-to-eat-your-fucking-heart to get out of the way. So floor it and run her the fuck over.”

Wade looked back towards the others. They lowered their eyes. They all knew Paul was right, but none of them wanted to say it out loud. Wade looked back to the little girl staggering towards them.

He floored the accelerator.

“Move kid,” Wade mumbled. “Come on kid, move.”

She didn’t move. Wade closed his eyes as the van slammed into the little girl with a sickening thud.

“Fuck!” Wade cursed, his eyes watering up. “Why didn’t you move?”

“Ho-ly shit!” Michael announced as he looked out the back window.

“What?” Wade yelled back.

“She got up!” Michael explained excitedly.

“She what?”

“She got up!”

Wade looked in the mirror in disbelief. The little girl was on her feet, walking towards them as the van sped away. Wade said the only thing he could think of saying.

“What the hell do these people put in the water?”