THE MAN BY THE RIVER
[Yakov]
My eyes opened slightly and I realized that the sun wasn’t even up over the horizon. The sky was foggy, and it was barely dawn. The group was still asleep, and the fire was now bright embers. My ankle still hurt like hell, but I tried to ignore it. I patched it up with the first aid kit as best as I could. Wood splints helped keep my balance and take pressure off it. It had been so many years, so many lonely years since I had seen a woman. Especially a woman as beautiful as that Nikki girl, her skin was white like fresh milk and her lips were red as cherries. I watched her curled up in her blanket sleeping her troubles away. I watched her tank top curling down to reveal her busty rack. My tongue licked my lips in lust. I felt urges in me yesterday and now I couldn’t control myself. I had to have her. I had to take her, but I knew she wouldn’t want me. What would an attractive girl like that want with a monster like me? I was the Buka of Russia, and I would have to show her what that meant. All my life I had taken love from the streetwalkers of Russia. I was a modern day Jack the Ripper, and I knew I had to have her...to taste her.
I slowly began to rise from my blanket. The pain in my ankle was shooting. I ignored it as I crept through the clearing. I saw that Jacob was lying by the fire with his stupid mutt lying next to him. I saw her raise her head and stare at me. Her brown eyes locked on me as I raised my hands motioning towards somewhere, anywhere. I didn’t want that stupid mutt to warn the others. I began to move towards Nikki as the dog put its head back down returning to its slumber. I moved towards Nikki and crouched through the grass. She was dead asleep, and I didn’t want to wake her. I had to be gentle, well at least in the beginning. But like every girl I had ever wanted during my freedom, I would have them whether they wanted it or not. I moved her body over as softly as I could turning her on her back.
She began to stir slightly as her head shook. “Wha…” she said sleepily as her eyes began to shake open. I placed my hand over her mouth, “Quiet bitch. We’re gunna finish what Yakov started.” Her eyes opened wider as she gave out a little muffled scream, “Help!” Her words were garbled as she tried to fight me off. “QUIET,” I whispered loudly at her. I watched her try and reach for her fanny pack. I grabbed her wrist with a “oh no, no, no, no sweetie!” She wrestled with me more violently trying to call for help. Releasing her wrist I began to punch her head repeatedly. Each blow shook her and each one seemed to slow her down. She struggled less and less. I gave one final punch and she let out a soft sigh and blacked out. I gazed up staring over the tall grass staring at the group. Nobody had moved, but Raska seemed to be stirring over his blanket. I waited several seconds, but he seemed to fall back asleep. I pulled off her shorts and could feel myself shutter. It had been decades since I had this moment. My hands shook with the anticipation and when they fell off I almost lost it. Unbuckling my pants I watched her face cringe as I roughly forced myself inside of her.
She lay motionless taking the brunt of my thrusts. Needless to say, it felt amazing. It was a feeling that I had forgotten as I lay dreaming about it in that abandoned basement prison. I felt surges in my body that brought back fond memories. My attention if possible was distracted by another member of our team. It was that loud mouthed black soldier Raska. I stopped thrusting and slowed to a crawl as I watched him move catlike through the camp. He made his way towards one of the white boys in our group. The white boy that thought he was smarter than Garry Kasparov. Raska moved his hands over the dark blue prison jumpsuit. It seemed that he was looking for something. Raska patted him down gently as if not to wake him. I could hear him muttering softly, muttering to the world, “where is it, where is it white fish?”
There came a loud CLICK as something white emerged from behind several bushes. It was the short Chinese man with his silver pistol pointing directly at Raska’s head. “Well looky looky,” replied Raska as he stared at the Chinese man who motioned for Raska to back away. “Alright, alright,” Raska raised his hands, “I wasn’t going to hurt him or anything.” Chris woke with a stir, “what’s going on? What the hell… Raska, what the fuck are you doing?” Chris pushed Raska back as he scrambled to his feet, “hey, hey white boy! I’m just claiming what should rightfully be mine. After all, I did ask you for it, and I told you that we had unfinished business.”
His words died when I heard a laughing in my ear. It was high pitched and made everybody in the camp rise off their blankets. They stared up into the barely rising sun. The green cloud was fading fast and was now a very fine mist. It was like the last remnants of dying candle. I turned back towards my blonde goddess and saw that she was laughing. She was laughing hysterically, “stop it,” everybody turned and looked at me. They saw me through the tall grass, pants down and between her legs. She was laughing uncontrollably, “shut up, shut up, shut up!” Her hand moved quickly, and I saw for a split second a small mason jar. It flew to my face smashing over the top half of it. My eye patch covered my eye, but the fiery sensation burned my cheeks, neck, and penetrated deep into my very skull. I screamed loudly as I recoiled backwards. Pants still down I grasped at my face in pain. I could feel my skin melting as I tore off into the trees. The pain was excruciating and beyond words. My face melted as I tore away from the group. I couldn’t even hear Nikki’s screams. I kept running into the forest until I tripped due to my pants. I felt an ice cold feeling surge through my body. I had run into a river and dunked my body underneath it. I tried to wash away the acid as fast as I could.
[Nikki]
The jar smashed over his wrinkled face. I watched his cheek singe red, but that is not what drew my attention. My hand took the acid too and I screamed as it shook violently. I screamed louder than I had ever done in my life. The pain was indescribable, and I even thought I saw a vapor coming off of my hand and arm. I didn’t mean to follow Yakov, but I ran as fast as I could. I was stumbling as I did unable to keep myself balanced. Luckily I found a river and immediately ran towards it soaking my arm in it. It was ice cold but immediately felt better when the acid was being washed off. I felt a relief take over me like the final moments of sexual intercourse. I gazed around and saw that Yakov was drifting down the rushing river. He was being carried down it and then around the bend disappearing from sight.
I heard a small splash and saw that Kiyoshi was sitting next to me. He had taken off his black sunglasses and his sleeves were rolled up. He was washing his hands and putting water over his shaved head. He turned to me with water running down his face. “Don’t think you’re getting any free looks there Shrimpy!” I watched his lips turn into a smirk and he motioned towards my arm, “yeah I’m alright.” I turned and look down the river again and then back to Kiyoshi, “I think…I think he’s gone,” Kiyoshi smirked again and just nodded. I kept my arm under the water and tried to rub it, but it felt tenderized. The cold morning wind seemed to travel down my ass crack and soon I was starting to feel extremely exposed.
“Hey Kiyoshi can you go grab my shorts, I’m feeling a little… Kiyoshi, Kiyoshi?” I saw Kiyoshi staring at something across the lake. I watched his eyes widen and his hands seemed to shake. I watched a terror seem to come over him. I turned to look across the riverbank and saw what made him shudder. It was a man, but it was not Yakov. He looked European but different. His skin was gray and dead looking. His eyes were white and milky with muddy hair. Clothes torn and raggedy looking with sprinkles of blood covering his moldy coat, “who the hell is that?” My whisper seemed to be mutually felt between the two of us. I didn’t know what to say. I felt frozen to the spot. My arm still plunged deep in the flowing river. He swayed slightly in the breeze and didn’t move. He just stood there staring at us.
“Hey guys,” trampling through the small patch of forest Kiyoshi and I turned towards the sound. It was Chris, “hey you two, I saw Yakov drifting down the river. I don’t think he’ll be back…” I turned back to the opposite bank and saw to my horror that the man was gone. I watched Kiyoshi do the same, “what the hell is wrong with you two?” I seemed unable to explain what we had seen, and Kiyoshi seemed perplexed too. Chris must have taken our silence as confusion, so he continued “look that green mist shit is about to die meaning our eight hours is almost up. We are getting together and deciding what we should do.” He stared at us both one more time before asking, “Are you sure you guys are ok? You both look like you’ve seen a ghost.” The silence continued so Chris said, “alright hurry up…oh and by the way, nice ass Nikki.” He gave a pompous look, and then turned his back heading back towards the camp. “We aren’t alone,” I finally found my voice making Chris turned around, “what do you mean?” “We saw somebody...there!” I pointed across the bank towards the patch of trees where we had seen the man. “What did you see?” Chris seemed extremely interested, and I began to explain everything.
The group didn’t take well to the information that we had told Chris and many of them wrote it off as a delusion. “It wasn’t a delusion Kiyoshi saw him too,” shaking his head Raska snarled, “You’re a liar…both of you!” “Jacob you have seen footprints all over the place, right?” Jacob nodded, “but those could have been from previous groups. We don’t know how many games have been played.” “How do you explain the barefoot prints then?” Jacob quickly snapped, “I don’t know boy!” “I believe them. I don’t believe that we are alone out here.” We all stood silently around the supply dump for several minutes, “alright fine then let’s just put that to the side right now. We have only a couple minutes left. So let’s figure out what we are going to do.” Aednat patted Chris on the shoulder, “I think Chris that we should get the hell out of here!” “What about the creature,” Anton’s question seemed to hit everybody with a strange smell. Everybody looked at everybody else and then we all turned to Jacob, “why are you all looking at me?” Chris gave an exhausted, “well you’re an animal poacher, so what’re your thoughts?” “My thoughts,” Chris nodded, “is it still alive?” Jacob shrugged, “I believe we are all under the assumption that it is a werewolf…am I correct?” Everyone turned to each other again and gave very reluctant nods of agreement. “Well the only thing I have ever heard is that silver bullets kill a werewolf and since none of us have any. I guess that answers your question.” “Alright so then we can assume that we can’t kill it,” Raska’s words fell on everybody like a bag of rocks. “Well then I guess there is no point in continuing this fool’s quest to kill the creature right?” Chris had turned to Jacob who gave an angry, “I guess not boy!” Chris continued on, “So I guess that means that we look for a way out…the wall?” Everybody waited and then finally nodded in agreement, “good, let’s gather up everything! The time is almost up.”
We all gathered up our weapons, and the few supplies that we still had. Our group was ready to move within a matter of minutes. I bandaged my arm with the last of the gauze and returned my lower half to the booty shorts. “So which way to the wall,” asked Raska who double checked his banana clip making sure it was still fully loaded. “If we have just left Pripyat like the note said we should keep heading south towards Chernobyl. We can walk around it and get closer to Kiev. “I agree we go South,” Jacob stared up at the sun rising, “We followed the creature south all day and what about Yakov’s bow and…” he stopped when a red light started blinking from the laptop. Aednat made her way towards it wrapping her black scarf around her face. Chris shouted, “What’s it say?” Aednat gave a confused, “it’s counting down.” Chris waved at her, “oh it’s just saying the time we have left until the green mist stops.” Shaking her head confused, “it’s not that there’s something odd about it.” “Forget it,” said Anton as he moved away from the group, “go on Jacob lead the way.” “Lead the way, what do you mean lead the way, you’re not my boss boy!” Anton crossed his arms behind his back, “you know, do your thing and lead us south.” “Well you wanna grab your best friend Mwai over there or are we just going to leave him?” “I thought I told you guys I don’t touch darkies.” “Fine, I will,” Chris said walking over to Mwai who had seemed to recover miraculously overnight. He was sitting with his back to a tree. He sat drifting in and out of sleep. I watched him still clenching his side, but the paleness had ebbed away slightly. Chris gave him a little kick in his leg, “hey Mwai wake up, you ready were moving out? Aednat… Aednat, help me get this guy up after all you’re the one that’s all about brotherhood…Aednat?”
“GET BACK, it’s a bomb!” Aednat had risen from her knees and began pushing people away continuously screaming, “It’s a bomb, it’s a bomb!” “Relax Irish,” said Raska who immediately was pushed by her sending him tumbling backwards. The ground erupted like an earthquake. I watched several people fly through the air as I took cover hitting the ground. I watched Anton, Raska, and Hakeem do a cartwheel in the air before crumpling to the ground. The supply dump erupted into splinters and pieces leaving nothing behind but rubble. Smoke was the only thing that filled the air and it covered the area in a thick fog.
It took me a while before I started to gather myself together. I wiped dirt from my body as I saw our group scattered over the area. Everybody seemed to be shaken up and taken off guard. I could start hearing groans and moans from the others as they began to stir. Everybody seemed to have been taken off guard. I was the first to start getting to my feet. I continued to wipe the dirt away, and I didn’t even notice the trees beginning to part. I didn’t even notice the sun turning slightly black from the giant beast leaping through the air. It crashed onto the rubble, and I didn’t have anytime to acknowledge its presence. I felt its steel plated paw backhand me and send me flying backwards. It roared loudly and slashed at Raska whose weapon flew like a Frisbee from his hands. The werewolf turned and snapped at Anton who tripped over several pieces of broken wood avoiding the massive jaws. Raska had removed his throwing clubs on his back. He smashed one on the werewolf’s head. It broke sending the club head to fly in the air and become lost in the scuffle. The werewolf slashed its claws, which Raska avoided with a limbo like duck. He sent his other club smashing across its jaw. It snapped just like the first club and seemed to have broken the beast’s lower jaw.
The werewolf must have taken everybody by surprise because nobody seemed to have been firing their weapon. I instantly turned to the first shots and realized that it was Mwai. He clenched his stomach like he did yesterday and raised his machine gun with one hand shooting wildly at the creature. His shots were scattered, and the gun shook violently. The creature seemed attracted to the noise and turned with a roar at him. Mwai began to run from the group. He pushed off of trees and seemed to run as fast as he could. The creature ignored the other shots and the other members scrambling to their feet. It chased after Mwai smashing down small bushes leaving large gashes in the thick trees. Mwai was running wildly and pretty soon I lost sight of him. I saw a person leap over me. It was Aednat followed by Jacob. Anton shook his head in disbelief, “I’m not chasing that thing to help some darkie!” Now I had to decide, do I stay with the rest of the group or follow Mwai?
[Mwai]
I ran knowing that my life was about to end. I ran until my legs hurt. The pain in my side was beyond words, but I kept running. I couldn’t remember much of yesterday, frankly I thought I had died. However none of this mattered at the moment. I was running towards anything, running for my life. I heard the creature’s ragged breathing behind me as it was gaining on me. A rift in the ground was approaching. It seemed to be a deep valley, and I was running out of land. It was a dead end, and the other side was too far to be jumped. I pulled out my pistol and turned as quickly as I could firing wildly at the approaching creature. I fired until my pistol ran dry, but the creature was not there. It had disappeared. I stared up at the treetops, and there it was hanging off of them snarling down at me. Its red eye swirled as it stared at me. It bared its teeth eerily as I dropped my pistol. I was shaking violently and grabbed a magazine from my belt buckle. I dropped the first one and then reached around grabbing another one. My eyes never left the creature as I struggled to put it in. I slammed it in my AK and clicked back the chamber. I watched the creature dig its claws into the tree preparing to lunge at me.
I noticed the ravine and then the tree. It only took a second for a plan to develop in my head. I shot wildly at the tree trunk just below the creature. The tree shattered and a loud cracking could be heard. The tree began to tilt and fall towards the ravine. The creature clenched on tighter but finally let go falling with it. The tree crashed over the ravine taking the beast with it. I watched it disappear from sight and felt a sigh of relief escape me. I reached down to grab my magazine and pistol when I stopped suddenly. A sharp pain shot through my body, and the world seemed to have gotten colder. I stared at my hand and saw it turning gray. It seemed as if it was dying. My insides began to burn, and I clamped my wound tighter across my side. My body felt like it was turning to ice. I began to shake violently as my vision began to grow cloudy. I began to walk thinking maybe if I kept moving the pain would ebb. I began to walk. I had no idea where, but I kept moving. My breathing began to grow shallower. I felt like I was dying.
I heard a sound behind me that I had never heard before. It was a rustling sound, but it was accompanied by a loud grunting. I peered over my shoulder and to my horror I saw the creature. It was clawing its way back up the side and hopped onto the edge. It popped upright sniffing the air for me. It didn’t take long for it to turn its head and focus on me. I raised my machine gun, and it clicked empty. I groaned a little unable to find the words. My brain seemed to be growing slower as if I had been up for three days straight.
I stumbled as fast as I could running away from the creature. I heard a tree smash to the ground and knew the creature would be upon me in seconds. I reached for my pistol and realized that it was gone. I couldn’t remember what had happened to it. I felt my body drop as I tumbled down a hill cutting myself up even more. I fell several feet until I crashed against something metal that stopped my rolling. I rubbed my head as I struggled to my feet. I realized that it was a rail track. I didn’t have time to sit back and wonder what used to run on it or what it was doing here. I struggled running feeling my body growing weaker. I made my way through the small ravine weaving through the turns. The creature was slamming against the walls making the ravine resemble a moving snake. I thought I was going to be in the clear until my heart sank. I had reached a dead end. The rail line curved and I realized what it was for. A collapsed mine lay to the right of me, and a nine foot wall lay in front of me.
This was it, I had reached the end. I turned and saw the large creature emerge from around the bend. Its black fur was thick as it snarled at me. It seemed to smile as if it knew I was an upcoming meal. I patted over my body and realized that my AK was gone as well as my pistol. “What the fuck happened to them?” I had nothing else on me, until I felt something familiar, something that I had forgotten about. I had completely forgotten about my machete, the reason why people called me “The Butcher”. The machete that had made me a terror in my home country and feared by millions. My brain seemed unable to function anymore. I felt ashamed that I had forgotten about it. I unsheathed it from my pants and withdrew it slowly. I gave it a sloppy twirl as my vision began to blur even more. The creature resembled a giant pile of black cotton balls.
The beast seemed to have given one last snarl as it raised its head back and howled loudly to the sky. It charged right at me as I waited for it to collide into me. I saw its enormous claw slash at me as I dodged it easily. Its other claw slashed, and I dodged it too. I ducked under it and sliced the machete across the beast’s chest. The creature snapped at me and sank its jaws into my shoulder. I felt my arm break under its titanium covered teeth. My body seemed to collapse under the bite. I screamed loudly as the creature tore at me. I inserted the machete into the creature’s gut and it pulled away howling loudly into the air. It took a step back as I nearly collapsed against the dirt wall. The creature slashed again and I dodged it. Raising the machete with the last ounces of strength I had I sent it slashing towards the creature’s head. It sliced through the top of it cutting at a diagonal. The computerized eye patch flew off the top of the creature’s head sending a jet of dark blood to fountain straight up into the air. The partially decapitated body struggled on two feet until it finally moved backwards. It slumped against the opposite dirt wall dying upright.
I took a large breath and felt my legs growing weaker. It felt like I was breathing in a cold wintery air. I grasped my chest as I leaned backwards trying to stand up. “Mwai,” I gazed up and saw several figures standing at the edge of the hole. “Wow it looks like an abandoned mine.” I realized that Chris had been speaking to me, “fuck…off…white…boy!” My words were struggled as my breathing began to grow raspy turning into a slight wheeze at the end. “I didn’t think you had it left in you, but I guess the big man still has some fight in him.” I watched the black blob Raska shoulder his gun and continue, “And right at the end too. You look like you’re a breath away from death. Hell even Hakeem here looks healthier then you…AND that’s saying something!” Hakeem pushed Raska who screamed, “Keep your hands off me or I’ll make sure the last thing that you touch will be your rotting…” SLAM! The body of the beast jerked violently and then began to slam against the wall. It was twirling and spinning over the wall as if having a seizure. I watched the beast spin violently swinging its claws and sending dirt to scatter through the air. The creature twirled and slammed against the dirt wall leaving me in complete confusion. I raised my machete to strike but was unable to calculate the creature’s moves. They were random and bent on complete destruction. I eyed the spinning and watched its every move. The cloudiness in my eyes grew thicker, and I made a decision.
I took a sloppy swing and missed. I spun in my spot as I felt the steel claw plate hit my back. I felt my body fly towards the mine shaft. I directed my collision and hit the wall instead. I heard a loud BANG… BANG! I watched as the beast stopped spinning and took both shotgun like blasts. It flew backwards crashing into the back of the mine shaft. I felt its large palm grip the side of the mine which meant I was stuck in the creature’s grip. I tried to slash at it with my machete, but my arm was pinned. I heard two more shots BANG…BANG and then a large CRASH! The creature’s claws dug into the side of my body. I gave a loud scream as the creature took me down the shaft with it.
[Nikki]
I watched Mwai fall through the mine shaft. The creature was taking him with letting him fall to his death. Raska was screaming loudly pointing a sawed off shotgun where Mwai once stood, “WHOA HOO! Now that’s what I’m talking about!” I realized that Mwai was now gone. The first member of our team was dead. Nobody seemed to speak as everyone stared at the mine. It was Raska that broke the silence again. “Well at least that fool took the creature with him, probably killed it too this time.” Chris began to make his way down into the ravine towards the mine shaft. “It will be back just as it did before.” Raska laughed at Jacob, “you must be crazy Dundee, a quarter of it’s skull is missing…nothing could survive that!” Aednat hopped down into the ravine and followed Chris almost tripping over the rail line. “And where, the hell have you been this entire time? The creature has come back before, and I’ll bet it will come back again.” Shaking his head Chris began to examine the computerized eye patch, “It can’t be just for vision, it’s gotta do other stuff, maybe thermal but I don’t know!”
(The Getaway)
“Thorbjorn, my friend what are you doing up here at the bar all alone, come join us in the spa!” Ron smiled idiotically as he pulled up a seat next to Thorbjorn. “Come on my friend don’t be so down in the dumps. You knew Mwai wasn’t going to last the whole time…especially, after the injury he sustained. Mwai was too arrogant to make it to the end and win.” Thorbjorn waved his hand at the bartender, “bring me another one!” Ron smiled at the man, “you know what I like boy. You are one of the few that have the privilege of serving the great Ron Reid!” The bartender gave a forced smile and began digging behind the bar. “What are they doing now,” Ron stared up at the television, “they just kicked the mechanical eye down the shaft… and now there just talking.” “And the creature,” Ron smiled at Thorbjorn, “returning to Chernobyl to regenerate and receive a new eye patch.” Slapping his back, “the doctors didn’t think about the side effects of the regenerative blood now did they my friend?” “Mhm,” T horbjorn continued to stare down at his drink, “come on Thorbjorn, don’t be so down! Come join us in the spa and we can relax.” “I lost thousands of dollars on that piece of shit,” “forget about it my friend! We all loose thousands at one point that’s the whole point of the betting. Look at me, I was upset before and I see from the charts that Hakeem doesn’t have a chance at making it. But come on Thorbjorn do I still not look worried. It’s the hunt buddy sometimes the betting doesn’t go the way you want it too. I remember this one time it was…” “That’s great Ron can you please shut up!”
Ron recoiled slightly and took the drink the bartender gave him, a martini with three olives. He sipped it and stared up at the television, “oh look they are heading south again. They are going to end up near Chernobyl soon, probably stay at the hospital. Cheer up Thorbjorn that’s always fun to watch huh?” Downing a glass of scotch Thorbjorn shook his head, “how long until the creature recovers,” “board says couple of hours, and look there is a herd of undead heading west. They might end up running into each other too.” “T hat’s great Ron, you know what I think I will go to the spa,” clapping him on the back again, “that’s great my friend, let those chinks work out your worries. I’ll order us a bottle and we can go!”