Chapter 40 A Surprising Kiss

I could see clearly the menacing creature hanging around behind the building. It"s already hot, almost in the afternoon but the sweat on my forehead feels cold and my hands are trembling. With eyes wide in terror, I watched the mutated creature puffing air from its nose when it"s too obvious air isn"t necessary for it since it"s an undead. Must be like a muscle memory since it is part of its nature. Its belly is a little round and bulging. Is it a female? It"s horrible to think that this animal is pregnant while it turned into this. Or perhaps, it"s the gas inside its belly that made its inside expand. Maybe there"s a soft spot in there that the bullet of the rifle could penetrate. Then I realized it is not good to target it on its belly because there"s a tendency that it might explode and we don"t want any fluid from it splashing on us. The virus might pass down to us and it"s the last thing we want to happen.
The bulking, red, meaty muscles on its body are waving at me like a red flag. It must be hard to penetrate those hard, compressed muscles with a bullet even with a rifle. Its bulging eyes are so obvious that it is looking for prey. It made a short leap and the ground vibrated under our feet, the walls and the ceiling of the building had shaken. Based on what I see, it could easily trample and crush a huge truck loader without giving its best effort. This creature will be the death of us if we won"t be very careful. I hope it doesn"t smell like humans because if it does, we"re already doomed. I am also hoping that its ears are only as sensitive as the Creepers too. It would be hard to move around, plotting a way to take it down before Tim appears and be rammed by this creature.
Unbelievable that even animals like this could be affected by the virus. So it means that it is not just applicable to humans? Now that we see the evidence, we must be careful next time when we see any stray animal if it is infected or not. Or maybe there will be signs that they"re not fully transformed but still carrying the virus. We"re not safe from anything anymore.
"Have you any idea where Timothy went?" I asked Li. He curled himself into a ball, trembling with fear. But who would not be scared of a creature such as that? All this time we have been very lucky to survive the hordes of Creepers that came our way but this one, I am not too sure how we are going to overcome.
"Li!" I hissed, shaking his shoulder.
"I-I don"t know! He said he"s just going to look for any car that we could use." Li answered me, his face contorted with fear.
I exhaled sharply. Jayson couldn"t even react to what was happening. He must be shaken by the looks of the monster and the fact that such a creature exists made him baffled in fear. His shoulders are heaving fast; his eyes are blinking rapidly, trying to calm himself down.
We can"t waste any more time now. I stood but Jayson"s hand was quick and grabbed me by my arm and said, "Don"t be too much into haste, Harriet. It"s not an ordinary monster we encounter every day. Slow down. We"ll try to figure this out."
"But there"s no time!"
"I know! Just let me think..." he pushed me down to crouch with him.
His face is still smeared with the car grease mixed with his sweat. His breathings are ragged. It"s the first time I ever see Jayson look scared and trembling since we met from the airport. I guess I should believe him that this thing is not easy for all of us to take down, I should trust his instinct.
I just hope that Timothy won"t appear suddenly in front of this creature.
"Li, Mona. Get behind anywhere or something that could cover you both. Never make any noise, do you understand?" Jayson ordered Mona and Li. I watch the two silently walk towards the comfort room where they can both hide behind the cubicles. The safest plan in case the beast decides to enter this place.
Jayson bid me to come with him and we walked towards the tent, ducking our way through the stalls of snacks and goods. He handed me the rifle and we hurried through the entrance, towards the side of the building where we could see the beast scratching its hooves on the dry, scorching ground. It gave out a gurgling sound on its throat as black fluid trickled from it. I have a speculation that its neck was lacerated by something before the virus mutated its body.
Nervous and scared, I waited for Jayson"s order but he is still silent, measuring the consequences of our plan to attack. He inhaled deeply and I knew he"s not confident of his decision right now but we must move quickly. I doubt this thing will go away on its own because I feel it could sense our presence. I just wonder why it"s not attacking yet. Maybe it"s already weak by the wide laceration on its neck? If so, we have the advantage in this situation then.
Jayson finally had the courage to engage his plan and bid me to run quickly behind a boulder of rock while the beast was busy sniffing on a dead body beside the trash bins. With haste and the adrenaline kicking on my veins, I rushed to the boulder, ducking low. I did my best not to make any sound as I carried the gun in my hand and felt the small rocks underneath my shoes. With every quick step, I tried to stop breathing momentarily, thinking that the sound my mouth makes will catch its attention. With relief, I exhaled when I reached the boulder successfully, leaning my back against it.
Safe and confident, I nod at Jayson. He gripped his blade on his left hand while he steadied the gun on his right. We both know that the rifle will make an overwhelming sound in this area and in case the creepers swarm and run towards here, we have to face and deal with them one by one until we finish all of them.
We just hope we have enough bullets for each of them.
"HEY!!"
Jayson revealed himself from his hiding spot and shot the beast on its head when it glared at him, its crimson eyes showed its desire to gormandize anything that it sees. It even ate the corpses piled on the trash bin and I tried my best not to retch from the sight of the ravished dead bodies.
The mutated beast took three bullets on its head but it didn"t even budge. Before Jayson get discouraged and eaten by fear. I shot the mutated bull on its head twice and it budged, growling and irking with pain as dark fluids spurt from the holes made by the bullets. It scratched its hooves on the ground and is about to ram towards Jayson, but I gave another shot straight to its right eye, bursting its eyeballs like pierced balloon with water. It fell on the ground, moaning and grunting.
"Harriet..."
"Yeah, I"m here." I ran beside Jayson. When I checked if he"s ok, he stared at me, his face pale with fear. He must have thought he was going to die when the creature glared at him. Well, it"s good I have excellent sight at aiming.
I thought of embracing him... tell him that everything is already under control. But in my horror, the creature slowly stood up and disgorged an awful vomit of things it consumed. I feel like my stomach made a violent push up to my throat, making me feel sick. It caught us off guard and before I could even position the gun on my hands, it already ran towards us, ready to break our bones with its tough head.
"JAYSON WATCH OUT!!!"
He pushed me away from him and before the creature reached him, it opened its mouth, tearing its cheeks apart, making it wider. Its square teeth are protruding from its mouth, a terrible sight to see as it heads in Jayson"s direction.
But Jayson is also fast. After he pushed me away from him, he grabbed the horns of the monster and jumped. He landed on its back, balancing himself to it as the bull kicked to get rid of him. I watch Jayson with unbelievable eyes on how amazingly he stayed on top of it while standing and fired three shots against the back of its head.
"AAAAHHHH!!!!"
Jayson screamed as he fired four more shots, shattering the skull of the bull. I almost forgot to breathe as I watched him jump down the carcass of the mutated bull, his face looking more pugnacious and confident. His face looked baffled too.
"Jayson—"
He ran towards me and pulled me from the ground. Before I knew it, he had already kissed me full in my mouth and out of surprise; I couldn"t do anything but hold on to his arms.