Authors: John James Gregory
“I’ll let you know the second I am standing on it.”
Shawn set the rifle on the top and Hadiya held on to the handles inside and steadied the craft as it wobbled as Shawn pulled himself up. Once on top he picked up the rifle. He regretted not having the tails up where he could see them.
“How far away are they?”
“Just under a hundred yards.”
Shawn looked down at Hadiya as she steadied the cage.
“Gentlemen, I am standing on the roof of our cage to get a better shot. It does appear to be strong enough if you are considering the same idea to get a better shot….”
Shawn kept looking down at Hadiya. From his point of view he could see her cleavage but it wasn’t the right time to let his mind wander.
“I need you to pretend you are a baby.”
Hadiya looked up at Shawn puzzled.
“I don’t understand.”
“I need you to pretend you are a small child and cry like a baby. Let’s see if we can draw them this way.”
Hadiya realized immediately what Shawn was asking her to do. The legend of these creatures referred to the Bunyips always going after and attacking the children. Maybe there was some truth in that folklore. She began to whimper like a small child. Crosley smiled in his unit. He knew what the lad was trying to do. He pulled out of the circle as it was being formed and also moved toward the pack of males and formed the other side of a corridor that the pack would be traveling down on their way to attack Tom and the others. He took his rifle and also stood on the roof of his cage as Chelsea steadied their roller cage. The two men smiled at each other for having the same idea. Now when the males came closer, they would pass right between the two men ready to hit the Bunyips from the side.
The alpha male led the attack and came right down the middle of the corridor. Both Shawn and Crosley fired and the creature screamed. The other three stopped but the lead male did not go down and both men fired a second time and the animal came up on its hind legs and then fell down hard in the grass with one final scream. Both men realized that when it reared up, it stood taller than them! Two more of the males then came running down the corridor and Shawn and Crosley kept firing darts until the two of them fell in the grass as well.
Crosley got on the headset set.
“Where is number four?”
Derrick was searching from his vantage point up on the ledge.
“I am scanning… Oh shit…”
“What is it?”
“Up on the other side of the valley a Meeratt is watching all of this…”
“I repeat… where is the fourth male?
Derrick up on the ledge kept scanning the grass for either the creature’s backside or its tail. Derrick believed that this one was the youngest of the attack pack and that is why he was being so difficult to spot in the tall grass.
“Damn Shawn, I got him. He is coming at your position from six o’clock. That puts him between you and my ledge.”
Shawn spun around. He could not see anything in the tall grass.
“He is twenty yards and closing quickly.”
Hadiya tightened her grip on the handles in side of the cage. She kept crying like a baby. Shawn was right about the legend. It did pull the male off course, unfortunately, that new course was to come right at them. Shawn looked down at Hadiya and smiled. Hadiya stopped making her child’s imitation.
“I don’t like having to do a head-on shot. You just can’t be sure if these darts can penetrate the skull or just glance off. If we get real lucky, he’ll open his mouth and I’ll put a dart in it. Don’t worry… Someday when the two of us are sitting in front of a warm cozy fireplace, we will laugh about this.”
Hadiya smiled and hung on.
Shawn could not see any sign of this last male somewhere in front of him. He kept scanning in the direction of the ledge.
Derrick, however, could see the creature now from his vantage point.
“He is moving slower now. He is only twenty feet in front of you, be ready.”
Shawn froze still and did not take his eyes off of the tall grass in front of him. He was waiting for it to part to the sides of the creature’s body. He didn’t see at the time that one man in each of the other roller cages had gone up on the roof of their vehicles ready to fire their rifles as well.
“I am sorry about this.”
Hadiya looked up still bracing for an impact.
“What are you sorry about?”
“Drawing this bad boy at us and putting you in danger.”
“You did the right thing. If it wasn’t charging us, it would be attacking Tom and the others.”
Suddenly, the grass began to part quickly in front of his roller cage.
“Incoming my dear.”
The creature lunged up and landed its left paw on Shawn’s shoe and he was looking at the Bunyip directly in it’s the face. The creature swiped its other paw across his chest and Shawn fired. He fell backwards off of the cage and knew that his shot had glanced off the animal’s shoulder. He fell backwards in the mud and tall grass. His years as a guide kicked in and he did not let go of the weapon as he fell. He could see the creature growling at him as a volley of darts came whizzing by. The creature dropped off of the cage and Hadiya screamed. Shawn jumped up and was somewhat light headed. The cage was over on its side and he saw the creature pulling Hadiya out with her boots in its mouth. She screamed and Shawn fired his weapon so fast, an untrained observer would have thought it was on full automatic rather than a volley fired by a semiautomatic. The creature whined and growled and fell over on its side. He felt the urge to black out and his chest felt like it was on fire. Instead of passing out, he was determined to sit down on his back side and kicked the mouth of the drugged attacker over and over until Hadiya’s boots were free. He could see the bones in her leg, but she was free from the animal’s grasp. He leaned back against the bottom side runners of the cage. Hadiya got up and tore off her blouse off and pressed it hard against her chest. Shawn smiled.
“I am truly sorry dear… (cough) but as much as I would like to make love to you.. And I can’t believe I am saying this, I am not in the mood.”
The bleeding from the deep gashes across his chest caused heavy gushes of red.
“Mood for what?”
“You know…(cough)… a few moments of intimacy.”
Hadiya forced a smile as she continued to apply her blouse to his wounds.
“Did you ever consider wearing a bra?”
“No. It requires us to waste more time if we need to shape shift.”
Shawn never thought of her as a vampire but it did make sense once he realized her condition.
Hadiya could hear several conversations on the headset but Derrick drowned out the small talk about relocating to Shawn’s position.
“Gentlemen, you have incoming males from the other pride!”
Shawn interrupted their conversation.
“Jerrick, you and Crosley should form a ‘V’ pointing away from the second group with Tom’s cage at the point. That will put you all forming a corridor for a side shot. It’s the only way to stop them in a hurry.”
“Shawn we have to take care of you boy…”
Hadiya came on the headset.
“I’ll take care of him… Do what he is suggesting before more of you get hurt.”
“Roger that… Ring us back dear if you need help.”
There was several simultaneous radio messages going back and forth as the team began to form the pattern as Shawn suggested. Shawn looked up at Hadiya.
“Under my hat...”
“What?”
“I have a bandana under my hat. Wrap up that leg of yours.”
“No, first I get you out of here.”
“I am sorry dear.”
“You already said that.”
“No, I am sorry you didn’t have one of the others. They would have been smart enough to turn the cage so that the razor blade front would have been pointing at him and we wouldn’t have gotten pushed over so easily.”
“I kind of like the guide I’m with…”
“Hadiya, this is Elizabeth.”
“Where are you?”
“Maybe a few city blocks away from the ledge... Can you get him up here?”
Hadiya could tell that Elizabeth’s communication contained heavy breathing. Elizabeth was running now as fast as she could.
Hadiya tied her blouse sleeves tightly around Shawn’s back.
“I’ll get him there.”
Hadiya had the strength of ten men as a vampire and threw him over her shoulder in a fireman’s carry position.
“Hang on my dear.”
“Did I mention how much I like forceful women with dark hair?”
Hadiya could feel the warm fresh blood on her back as she darted through the weeds as fast as she could. Even with her ankle cut to the bone, she was at the base of the narrow steps in the blink of an eye. She examined the narrow steps upward and fought to retract her fangs. She pulled him closer and shot up the steps on to the ledge. Elizabeth hadn’t got there yet and she flew past Derrick with his mouth still open. She went down the tunnel in a blur and stopped in front of Elizabeth. She gently lowered Shawn and knelt down placing his head on her knees. Shawn looked up at the bare chested Hadiya.
“It was worth it just to see you from this angle.”
That last thing Shawn said before he blacked out and putting a smile on Hadiya’s face. Elizabeth kept tearing open packages of bandages as well as tape and gauze. She had Hadiya hold the material against Shawn’s chest. Elizabeth taped the side of a glass syringe and with a quick wipe of alcohol, gave the lad an injection.
“We’ve got to stop this bleeding.”
Elizabeth examined the claw mark wounds.
“Okay, the scratches are deep and broke through his Sternum. We can’t move him and even if we did, with your blinding speed, he might not make it up to our camp.”
Just then, Chelsea appeared using her blinding speed appeared alongside the doctor.
The second pack of males stopped and for a short moment contemplated running Chelsea down but she went so fast, all she accomplished was delaying the pack of males from attacking the others for a few seconds. She knelt down and examined his wound as Elizabeth was trying to apply a clamp to a gashed artery in his chest.
“I wish I had a pair of chest spreaders in my bag.”
“Hadiya, you have to change him.”
“What are you saying?”
“You have to change him into one of us. If you don’t, he is going to die anyway.”
Hadiya knew her close friend was right. Iolana heard the conversation on her headset.