Killer Koala Bears From Another Dimension Part 10

"f.u.c.k me runnin'!" Outlaw coughed, turning the steering wheel sharp right and left.

It worked and the bear fell out of the Jimmy, taking a thick lock of Tim's hair with it.

Tim groaned, holding his scalp and the few cuts on his chin and bottom lip. Bright red blood dripped on his lap. His head throbbed even worse than before.

The back right wheel ran over the creature, lifting the Jimmy for just a moment before dropping back down to catch traction with the road once more.

A new torrent of arrows and rocks rained down from the rear, but before all could reach the Jimmy, Outlaw had spread the distance between them. Only two of the spears thrown in the second wave hit the roof of the Jimmy, bouncing away in the road. The rest had fallen short, the Jimmy clearing their throwing range.

They made it.

"f.u.c.k you, you stupid animals!" Tim shouted, spitting blood onto the side view mirror.

They pa.s.sed the patrol car on their left. When Joana looked, she wished she hadn't. Two blood covered slippers hung out of the driver side door attached to blood covered legs. That poor woman hadn't made it. As much as she hated it, at least that hadn't been them. She looked over her shoulder and watched the distance between them and the Arktos' grow even wider.

Although not much, the tension lifted.

Frank rejoiced with a hooting call. When he lifted the shotgun, b.u.mping it against the roof of the truck, everyone chimed in with him.

"d.a.m.n that was close!" Tim smiled, still holding his b.l.o.o.d.y lip with one hand.

"Thank G.o.d" Joana breathed, locking gazes with Frank and giving him a hug.

Tim gave her a stern look, so she pulled away fast, giving Frank an awkward smile instead.

"Talk 'bout..." Outlaw coughed again, pulled a rag from his greasy jeans and covered his mouth. "... a close call."

"You okay, dude?" Tim asked, shooting Joana and Frank a worried look.

"I..." he hacked, stuffing the rag back into his pocket rather fast. "I'm fine. Let's just put some s.p.a.ce between us and those f.u.c.kin' things."

"Agreed." Frank nodded.

"Tim says they're called Arktos' or something like that," Joana said.

"How would..." Outlaw covered his mouth, "you know something like that?"

Tim sat for a minute and from what Joana could tell he didn't want to talk about it. He didn't want to admit to the blame. Didn't want to be a real man and fess up to the fact that he was the one that brought all of those d.a.m.n things here to begin with.

Just when Tim looked like he was about to speak up, which surprised the h.e.l.l out of Joana, Frank spoke first.

"The only thing I can think of is to check the Rec Center."

"For what?" Tim asked, seemingly relieved for the subject change.

Joana didn't intend for him to let it slide. It would come up again.

The Jimmy cruised down the winding road of Highway 105 at a fairly rapid speed. When the curves became too sharp, Outlaw applied ample brakes to compensate before regaining speed. At the rate of speed they were going, they would be back to town within the next 15 minutes. Joana looked over her shoulder again and sighed in relief. Those crazy bear-things were no longer in sight.

"Kathie..." Frank said. "If she isn't at the apartment and didn't make it out of 105 to her parents' house... then all I can think is that she went to my work looking for me. That's the only other place she could have gone."

"Who's Kathie?" Tim asked, clearly eager to force the conversation away from himself. Frank turned to the back, pulling a t-s.h.i.+rt from behind him and handing it to Tim. Tim nodded his appreciation and used it to stop the bleeding on his chin and lower lip. "You wouldn't happen to have some pain killers, too?"

"Kathie's my girlfriend," Frank said, pointing for Tim to check the glove compartment.

Tim dug through it and came away with Advil. Taking several of them dry, he shook the bottle with a thankful nod and put them back.

"Oh... I didn't know you were dating anyone," Joana said.

"Yeah, most people haven't met her," Frank sighed. "She isn't much for going to the parties and stuff like that."

"That's a shame," Joana breathed. "If she's anything like you, I'm sure she's a sweetheart."

"She is..." Frank agreed. "Which is why I need to find her. She means everything to me."

"Awe..." Joana said, looking to Tim with concerned filled, glistening eyes.

Tim just shook his head, shoved a finger in his throat, and pretended to gag.

Joana rolled her eyes at him and turned to Frank. "I'm sure Outlaw wouldn't mind making a stop at your work to look for her before we go to Miss Yortsdayle's house."

"Miss Yortdayle's house? Why the h.e.l.l would we need to go there?" Frank raised a brow. "That crazy old lady is-"

"Uhh... guys?" Tim interrupted.

Joana scolded him with gritting teeth and disdainful eyes. He just needed to grow up and confess that it was he who opened up all those portals.

"We're slowing down and Outlaw don't look so hot." Tim pointed.

Frank jumped forward in his seat, grabbing Outlaw by the shoulder. The Jimmy was slowing down-fast. The grease covered man lay limp against the driver side door, his eyes closed.

"Outlaw..." Frank shook him.

The truck started to veer hard to the right, Outlaw no longer held the wheel. Tim leaned over the large man taking the wheel as it started to slow to a stop.

"Outlaw!" Frank shook him again, still not getting a response. "David... wake up!"

"What's wrong?" Joana panicked.

"The front of his s.h.i.+rt is covered in blood, man," Tim gasped, only taking his eyes off the road for a moment, still steering from the pa.s.senger seat. "I told you I thought I saw him take a hit when we came out of the woods."

"f.u.c.k..." Frank breathed, leaning back in his seat. "Just stop the car."

"I am... I am..." Tim said, keeping the Jimmy centered on the road as it slowed.

Joana hesitated before glancing over her shoulder at the winding road behind them. She just knew that if they stopped, those things would be on them the minute they stepped out of the vehicle.

The Jimmy rolled to a stop. Frank opened his door and stepped out.

"Wait... what are you doing?" Joana said, her tone frightened.

"What does it look like I'm doing?" Frank barked, slamming his door and rounding the Jimmy to the front with the shotgun in hand.

Joana stared at Tim, who stared back still leaning over an unmoving Outlaw. "What the h.e.l.l happened?" She whispered with wide eyes.

Tim shrugged, returning the facial expression. He reached over Outlaw's body, put it in park and sat back into his seat.

Frank reached the driver's side door, put the shotgun on the roof and pulled the door open. "Come on, Outlaw. What the h.e.l.l happe... wow!" Outlaw's limp body slumped toward Frank almost falling to the pavement outside the car. Frank grunted when he caught him. "Help me... He's heavy."

Tim just sat there, staring at the lifeless man, Frank trapped under his weight.

"Come on... help me with him."

Tim looked on, shocked.

"Tim..." Joana leaned forward in her seat nudging her boyfriend. "Go!"

Tim seemed to snap out of it and jumped to attention. Climbing out of the car, he ran around to the other side to help Frank ease Outlaw onto the road.

"Here... Set him down there," Frank said, setting him down slowly.

They both stood and looked down at him.

"Is he dead?"

"I don't know," Frank said, leaning down to take a closer look. "What the h.e.l.l happened?"

"I don't know, man," Tim protested. "He was there one minute, fine... just driving... the next out f.u.c.kin' cold."

"You said you saw him get hit when we left the woods?" Frank asked, examining the small tear in the large man's s.h.i.+rt.

He started unb.u.t.toning Outlaw's work s.h.i.+rt. There was a small tear the size of a quarter just above his nametag. The front of it was soaked with blood. Blood that looked like it had seeped its way into the fabric from the inside rather than out.

"Well, yeah." Tim nodded, putting both hands into his jean pockets.

"What hit him?" Frank said, peeling the s.h.i.+rt away from Outlaw's chest. The blood made the fabric stick to the skin, pulling on the large amount of chest hair.

"How the h.e.l.l should I know? There was s.h.i.+t falling down all around us."

Frank looked up at Tim, aggravated at his lack of sensitivity. But rather than chew him out, the clotted blood on the side of his face, the patch of hair where that bear had taken a big chunk and the swollen lip and cut chin, made him realize Tim had been through enough already. They all had.

"You got that s.h.i.+rt I gave you?" Frank said, calm yet a.s.sertive.

"Yeah, but it's pretty much covered in blood."

"Go get it anyway."

Tim nodded and rounded the front of the truck.

"What's happening?" Joana asked Tim just as he poked his head in to get the b.l.o.o.d.y s.h.i.+rt.

"I don't know, but it doesn't look like he's breathing. I think he got hit when we were leaving the woods and he didn't say anything."

"We got to do something..."

"Can't you see we're doing it?" Tim lifted the s.h.i.+rt that he had used on his lip and left Joana sitting in the back seat.

Joana leaned up to get a better look, but was unable to see anything from her vantage point. Paranoid, she looked over her shoulder once more at the winding road behind them. This was just no good. Couldn't they just have Tim drive and let Frank look Outlaw over while the car was still in motion? Those things were still out there back at the wreckage. And with nowhere else to go, surely they would be working their way down the highway back toward town. Just thinking about it, her stomach tightened and she felt something climbing her throat to the surface. h.e.l.l, if the man wasn't breathing, then just leaving him and moving on would be fine by her. She thought about that again and realized the cruelty behind it. She was no better than Tim. The excitement he got from killing the bear on the roof. She was no different. Maybe they were actually made for each other. Tim was right. It's us or them. And the same was true for Outlaw. It was us or him.

That same feeling rose in her throat again just thinking about how much this night was changing her. Her nerves were working against her.

Joana opened her car door, stepped out, and vomited. The warm wet cascade of bile splashed across the pavement at her feet.

She groaned, wiping her mouth, and looking back the way they had come. Still no bears in sight.

With her stomach temporarily relieved, she stepped around her open door and took a look at Outlaw. He was lying on the pavement, leaning against the side of the Jimmy. His skin was pale and his s.h.i.+rt unb.u.t.toned and pulled back. His chest was covered in blood and hair. More blood than hair, at that. A quarter sized hole just above his right pectoral muscle seeped crimson. The blood flowed freely.

"What happened?" Joana asked, smacking her mouth against the foul taste of vomit.

"Something got him, but I don't know what," Frank said, leaning over the body. Both of his hands were covered in crimson like he'd been sticking his fingers in a red paint bucket. "I tried to dig it out, but whatever it is, it's in there pretty deep."

"Did it go through the other side?"

"Good question..." Frank said, nodding at Joana. "Let's have a look see. Here, Tim... help me flip him over."

While Tim and Frank rolled the large man over, Joana found herself staring down the road in both directions. This wasn't good at all. They were wasting time. And if anything, they were like sitting ducks just camping out in the middle of the road. This was not the place to be. She could just feel it.

"What the f.u.c.k is that?" Tim gasped.

"I don't know..." Frank said.

When Joana looked back down at Outlaw's unmoving body, she saw it. Whatever it was, it went straight through his chest and all the way to the back just below the skin on the other side of his body. It was round and glowing. The blue pulsing circle made Joana think of that sling the bear had thrown in the park to catch that woman. Then she thought of the stone the bear dropped right after Frank had shot it with the shotgun. That had to be what it was. But even still, how the h.e.l.l could one of those creatures throw one of those stones so freaking hard, and so freaking fast, that it would dig that deep into Outlaw's chest like that?

"It's a stone," Joana breathed, not even realizing she had spoken out loud.

"Yeah, I think you're right," Frank said, looking at Joana and then turning to Tim. "Let me see your knife."

"Please don't tell me you're going to do what I think you are?" Joana swallowed hard, watching Tim hand over his machete.

"He's already dead," Frank said, taking the blade and using the sharp end to dig the glowing stone free.

"We don't have time for this," Joana said, looking over her shoulder.

Frank groaned. "Got it..." he said, the b.l.o.o.d.y stone popping free from Outlaw's back.

It fell from Frank's hand and skittered across the pavement at his feet. Just as it came to rest next to him they all watched as the glow that had once been there faded away, making the stone just become an average looking rock.

"Here... let me see that," Joana said, picking it. She wiped the blood off it with her s.h.i.+rt and studied it. The shape, the size, the weight. It was the same. Her mind's eye flung her through the past back to old man Terry's backyard. It all seemed so long ago. All those stones she was holding in her s.h.i.+rt while Tim through them at random through the yard. They were just like this one. "These are just like the stones you got from Miss Yortsdayle, Tim."