“We’re sitting ducks here,” Michael told them. “Even if we did see them coming, you saw how bad the tires spun on the gravel. When the sun goes down it’s gonna get chilly and damp, and then we’ll be spinning tires on wet grass trying to get away. It’s not safe here.”

“Where do you suggest we go?” Lucy asked.

“We can’t go back the way we came because there’s too many of them on the road. I don’t think the van could plough through them all. On top of that mountain, I saw lights. That means there’s somebody up there.”

“What if there’s not?” Lauren asked.

“Then at least we know there’s electricity. Lucy, do you know what that place is?”

“There’s a hunting lodge up there. My dad said some doctor bought it a few years ago.”

“A hunting lodge means guns,” Michael stated.

“Oh great,” Paul interrupted. “Stay here and get eaten or go up there and get shot!”

“No, he’s right,” Lucy said, “If someone is up there, I don’t think they expect those…” she hesitated and said reluctantly, “those zombie things to drive up in a van.”

“What if they are… zombies too?” Emma queried.

“It’s pretty secluded up there,” Michael explained. “We didn’t come across any of those things coming into Margaree, so it should be safe up there.”

“Should be!” Paul laughed. “That’s comforting.”

“I think we should do what Michael says,” Lucy suggested.

“Oh I see how it is,” Paul said sardonically. “Everything lately is Michael and Lucy. Where you go he goes. What he says you agree with. Something you guys want to tell me?”

Lucy shot a dirty look at Paul. “Grow up. You’re such a dick.”

“I’m telling you guys, we have to get out of here,” Michael continued, ignoring Paul’s jealous comment. “We are surrounded by houses and cabins and God knows what else. If one of them senses we are here, how long do you think it will take for more of them to figure it out?”

Nobody said a word.

“We know they don’t move very fast,” Michael added. “So the quicker we get out of here the better.”

Michael looked impatiently at his friends. It seemed like it took forever for them to make up their minds, but it was really only a few seconds.

“Ok, then,” Wade sighed, “let’s head up to the top of the mountain. That way we’ll be closer to heaven when we die.”

Lauren laughed. “If that’s the case, Wade, you’re going in the wrong direction.”

Everyone chuckled nervously as they headed out the door.

Michael noticed a butcher block and grabbed a large kitchen knife. As he was leaving he spotted a machete hanging above the door. He dropped the kitchen knife and pulled the giant machete out of its sheath imitating Crocodile Dundee, “That’s not knife. Now that’s a knife.”

Wade poked his head back in the door, smiling. “I heard that!”

Michael returned the machete to its sheath and followed his friends to the van.

As Wade pulled onto the road they noticed people covered in blood were coming out of their houses, all walking in that same unsteady swagger, all walking towards them.

“They’re all coming out at the same time. I wonder why?” Emma asked.

“We are why,” Lauren told her. “It’s feeding time.”

CHAPTER 7 – Big Ben

Wade swerved around as many of them as he could. He knew if the van took too many hits, it could crack the radiator or they could get hung up on one of them. Being outside on foot with those zombie things was not something any of them wanted to experience. Within minutes, they had passed the last of them. Michael looked out the back window and watched them slowly follow the van.

“Just like before,” Michael said to no one in particular, though everyone was listening. “They’re following us.”

The van crawled up the steep, rocky road as the sun fell behind the mountains, blanketing them in darkness.

“For Christ’s sake!” Wade said shaking his head.

“What is it?” Paul asked.

“We left the esky back at the cabin.”

“We left the what?” Paul asked.

“The esky.”

“What in the hell are you talking about?”

“Doesn’t anyone in Canada speak English?” Wade asked sarcastically. “The cooler. We left the bloody cooler of beer back at the cabin.”

“Smooth move, Exlax,” Paul snickered. “Want to go back for it?”

Wade slammed on the brakes.

“Jesus Wade, I was kidding!”

“Shut up!” Wade whispered. “I thought I saw something.”

Everyone looked. Wade flicked on the high beams, and that’s when they saw it: a huge, black bear coming towards them.

“Holy shit!” Emma squealed, too loud for everyone’s liking.

“Shhh!” Lauren warned her.

The bear stopped in front of the van, staring directly at Wade. Wade’s heart pounded in his ears and his arms started to shake uncontrollably when the bear stood on its hind legs directly in front of him. A cold sensation raced down the back of Wade’s neck and shoulders. His breath came in short bursts.

Wade saw two giant paws with terrifying claws thud down on the hood of the van. Wade froze, too afraid to even look away. He could not speak. The claws lifted and thudded down again. Its roaring breath blew spit on the windshield.

“Now what do we do?” Michael yelled over the girls’ screams.

Paul looked at Michael. “You distract him so we can drive around him.”

“Yeah, right. I’ll get right on that.”

“No, seriously, Mikey,” Paul told him, “slide open the door and lean out. When it sees you, it will go to the side of the van. Then we can drive past him. I’ll pull you back in.”

Michael looked at Paul doubtfully, “Pull me in? You’ll probably throw me out.”

“Listen,” Paul snapped back in an irritated voice, “this is fuckin’ serious, man. You said those zombie things are following us and Big Ben there is blocking the road. We can’t wait for him to move, so we have to lure him out of the way.”

The bear stood on his hind legs again and roared.

“His eyes are all fucked up,” Wade said. “He’s a goddamn zombie bear.”

“Why me?” Michael asked timidly.

“Would you prefer I hang one of the girls out the door instead?”

“No,” Michael replied uncomfortably.

“Wade is driving, and I’m stronger than you. I can pull you back in quicker,” Paul told him. “So that leaves you.”

Michael swallowed a lump in his throat.

“Michael,” Paul said, placing his hand on Michael’s shaking shoulder, “it’s no big secret that you get on my nerves, and sometimes I’d like to kick the shit out of you, but, like you said, we got bigger problems right now. And right now, our biggest problem is that bear. You have to trust me.”

Michael looked at Lucy. Lucy looked at Paul, then back to Michael and nodded.

“Somebody do something!” Wade’s voice cracked.

“Give me your belt!” Michael said to Lucy.

Michael looped her belt around his wrist and offered the other end to Paul.

He forced a smile, “Paul, if you let go, I will kick the shit out of you.”

Paul smirked and wrapped the belt around his own wrist.

“I won’t let anything happen to you,” Paul promised.

Lucy slid the door open and Michael hung out of the side of the van, holding on to the belt for dear life. Michael yelled at the bear. It looked at Michael for a brief moment then turned his attention back to Wade.

Michael picked up a rock and threw it. The rock bounced at the bear’s feet, but the bear still didn’t move.

“Big Ben doesn’t like your plan.” Michael tried to sound brave but his shaky voice told the truth.

He threw another rock, and it hit the bear in the head. The huge bear dropped to all fours, let out a blood curdling growl and started to move towards Michael. Paul pulled Michael back in as Lucy slammed the door closed. The bear stopped, then turned its attention back to Wade.

“Umm, guys,” sweat was running down Wade’s forehead, “he looks really pissed now, like he wants to come through the windscreen. Do something!”