The Doomsday Shift

Dan and Gary had left the military base the night before, so that they would see their father early enough so that they would have time to try and find out what was bothering him. The last time they were up at the cabin together, they could see that something was bothering their father.

Both of them figured that it was something pretty bad when he wouldn't talk about it to them. The three of them had become really close since they returned from the war.

Dan was a martial arts instructor, who was in charge of training the new recruits. Gary was also in the army and he taught the recruits on survival. After the war they both decided to remain in the army.

It was just over a month since they had been up here. trying out different techniques to get the soil able to produce vegetables that were not the color of rust and that nobody could eat.

As they were waiting for their fathers arrival, they started mixing the different vitamins and special fertilizers that they had not tried yet. They both knew that they would be court-martialed if the government or military found out what they were doing. Their father would have his doctors license taken away as well. Gary had overheard one of his commanding officer talking to another officer about a food shipment that they had just sold to China. They had made a big profit off the people who were running the operation at all the greenhouses. Once Gary told Dan about this, they both decided to watch the trucks that were going out to the greenhouses for the pick-ups. Both brothers had seen the load of trucks leave for the pick-ups and they had noticed that the trucks would return, full of vegetables within a few hours. They started to trace the shipments and they soon found out that the food was going to the country that offered the highest price.

This was when they confided to their father. Their father had told them the people in the city were fighting and killing each other just to feed their families. That was when they had decided to try this new mixture on their land. Their cabin was far enough north and it was isolated enough for them to attempt this without the fear of getting caught.

All the land was infected when the germ bombs had been released. Nothing would grow that could be eaten. This country that used to be so plentiful had become as bad as a third world country with everyone starving to death slowly.

That morning, Dan and Gary spotted four mutants on their property. They had taken some of the vegetables that had grown in their greenhouse. These vegetables had grown and had ripened, but they were the color of rust. Gary had fed some to the wild animals with this new crop and they had become sick.

Both brothers knew that the mutants were not to be running around on open land. As the mutants headed south, both brothers decided to folloe them. Dan and Gary hurried inside the cabin, Gary was grabbing what they would need as Dan scribbled a note to their father. They wanted to warn their father in case anymore mutants showed up.

They headed out to the back of their property, where they had seen the mutants last, when the ground beneath them started to shake. Both men stopped in their tracks and looked at each other wondering what was happening. They had noticed the wind had picked up since they had come back outside, but the wind was turning into a gale and the tree branches were being torn from the trees. Gary shouted to Dan that they had better take cover until the storm or quake passed. With the ground shaking, they headed for the root cellar that was close by. It took both brothers strength to lift the root cellar door because the wind had picked up more force in the short span of time. Once they were inside the cellar, it took them a few seconds to catch their breath. Gary dug in to the knap sack that he had with him and pulled out the flashlight. The ground beneath them started to shake and rumble. Dan and Gary thought that they were having an earthquake, but both of them knew that in this part of the country there was never an earthquake with this much force. They both knew that if the mutants survived this disaster, they would be able to catch up to them in no time at all. The mutants would have to take cover and wait it out just as they were doing.

Once the shaking and rumbling stopped, Dan and Gary tried to open the cellar door but the wind was still too strong. They knew that it would be useless to try and follow the mutants until the wind died down some more.

Gary picked up the mutants trail in a matter of minutes. Just as they thought, the mutants had taken shelter from the storm somewhere and were just a few hundred yards ahead of them. They could only see two of the mutants so either two of them had died or they had gone elsewhere. They continued following them for some time, when the mutants came to a stop to rest. Dan and Gary took cover in the trees. They had never seen so much damage done by a storm before and they both knew that they were lucky to be uninjured. As they looked around they could see trees that were uprooted, there were large chunks of concrete and lengths of steel scattered all over the place. Where this stuff came from they had no idea.

Soon the other two mutants reappeared and with them they had a young girl who looked to be about eighteen years old. Her hair was as black as a ravens wing, her face wore a blank expression and her eyes looked empty. She was only about five feet tall if that and she looked to weigh about a hundred pounds if she was lucky. Shortly after they joined the other two mutants it started to get dark. The mutants and the girl started to leave their resting area when the one that seemed to be in charge shook his head and pointed to the sky and then to the place that they were at. Dan and Gary decided that it would soon be too dark to try and follow them if they decided to leave their resting place , so they decided to settle themselves down to wait until daylight came. Dan and Gary took turns watching the mutants camp. Gary told Dan he was a little worried about their father m Dan said

that he shouldn't be worried about him because he was a survivor because he was just like they were. They both knew that their father was going to take the mountain road and if he stuck to his route then he would be alright.

At first light, Gary shook Dan and told him " the mutants had moved out about ten minutes ago". They got to their feet and Gary handed Dan a flask of water to have a drink before they headed out after the mutants.

They were following their trail for an hour when they came across a dead mutant. This one had his throat torn out. You could almost look into his chest, the cavity was that big. One look at the wound, you knew that the another mutant had done it. The body was still warm so they knew that it must have happened a short time ago.

It took everything that Dan had to keep Gary from charging head on into the mutants. Gary was so concerned about the girl that the mutants had and he knew what they could do to a body because he had seen it before. They took great pleasure in seeing pain on the faces of their victims. Dan told Gary if he wanted a hope in hell of trying to save the girl from the mutants, they would have to go slow and with great caution. Gary knew that his brother was right and with this thought alone is what calmed him. He knew that they would have to wait for the right moment to come before they could even attempt to save the girl.

They followed the mutants for another three miles when they had come to where both Dan and Gary knew that there should be a bay. The mutants started to cross the white sand and were headed for the other side. Dan and Gary had to wait for the mutants to cross to the other side before they could attempt to follow.

As Dan and Gary came to where the shore used to be, they saw the mutants head towards the trees. Once the mutants were out of sight, they could move faster. They were across the bay in record time, by then the mutants had entered the trees. With the trees as cover and with the mutants leaving a trail that anyone could follow, they were right behind them, less then a hundred feet.

The mutants forced the girl to sit on a rock shortly after they entered the clearing in the trees, just beyond the trees that Dan and Gary were taking cover from. Apparently two of the mutants were having a disagreement over the girl. The third mutant was standing too close to the girl for Dan or Gary to get near her. The two mutants who were arguing, started to fight with each other. The large one grabbed the smaller mutant and had thrown him to the ground and it seemed that the larger one was trying to bite the others throat. They were wrestling on the ground and the smaller one somehow got away from the larger one. Before the large one could get up, the smaller one jumped onto his chest and was pounding him in the face and neck. The large mutant got a good hit at the small one and he was sent flying into the air and landed with a loud thump on his rump. The large mutant got to his feet and charged towards where the small mutant was sitting. When he saw the large mutant put his head down and started to charge towards him, he rolled out of the way and was on his feet in a blink of an eye. The large mutant stopped short of hitting the tree and swung at the small mutant. The small one jumped out of the way and when his chance came he took a swing at the large mutant and then jumped out of the way from the powerful fist that the large one swung. This went on for several minutes more, when the other mutant that was watching, finally took hold of the small mutant and sent him flying right into the arms of the large one. It took him only seconds after that to finish the fight with one powerful bite to the small ones throat. It took less then two minutes for it to bleed to death. As the mutant laid on the ground in a stupor, the other ones started to kick him until he drew his last breath. Then the other two snickered and sneered.

At that moment the girl started to scream and scream. Dan and Gary figured, that until that moment the girl had been in shock. The large mutant who was in the fight, walked over to where the girl was sitting and gave her a loud slap across the face. It was so loud that you could hear it echoing throughout the trees. The screaming came to an abrupt end. The girl raised her hand and touched the side of her face gently. She started to look around her for the first time since the mutants had taken her. She couldn't remember her name or where she had come from. She couldn't even remember how she got here with these mutants. The girls face was stinging like crazy and her head started to ache. She could feel the welts raising on the side of her face. At one point she thought that she was going to faint. She had a sick feeling in her stomach, and she was afraid that she might vomit. She took several deep breaths with her eyes closed and started to think of something pleasant until her stomach started to settle.

The mutant that hit her, grabbed her by the arm and yanked her to her feet. They had tied her wrist and her neck with rope. The large mutant had a hold of the rope that held her captive. If she tried to run, would strangle her or worse then being strangled, the mutant would bite her throat out. The mutants seemed to be in no hurry to get to where ever they were headed. They were taking their time so the girl could keep up with them. This had puzzled both Dan and Gary. Most times the mutants were cruel and unfeeling towards anyone or anything except themselves unless they had other plans for their victim.

Every time Dan or Gary got a look at the young girl, you could see cold terror on it. The girls eyes had lost the blankness, but in it's place you could see fright.

The mutants had travelled another couple of miles or so when they stopped to let the girl take a rest. As they walked away from where the girl sat, Gary could see that they has tied the girl to a tree. Gary thought that if the mutants walked far enough away from the girl, then he would be able to get her from their clutches.

Dan and Gary decided that this was the time that they had been waiting for. As each brother went in different directions, the girl caught a glimpse of them. She just knew that they were there to try and help her. She kept her eyes on the mutants, she could see the two men advancing closer to where she was sitting. Gary got to the tree that the girl was tied to and looked over to where his brother was, Dan gave Gary the signal, Gary cut the rope with one swift movement and at the same time told the girl to slowly inch her way to the back of the tree where he was. She kept her eyes on the mutants as she slowly moved to the side of the tree where Gary was waiting. He grabbed her wrist and cut the rope as if it were butter, then he took hold of her hand and told her to move very carefully and as quietly as possible. As he started to move with the girl beside him, Dan started to inch his way away from where he was perched, ready to attack. This time they were lucky in getting the girl away from the mutants without any problems.

Gary, Dan and the girl were gone for ten minutes before the mutants realized that she was gone. The large one went over to where he had left her tied up. he found a piece of rope that had been tied to the girl, this had puzzled him. The large mutant was called George and the smaller one was called Harvey. George turned to Harvey and told him that they better find the girl or else their leader would kill them for letting her escape.

As they started back down the side of the mountain they could hear noises they never heard when they first came into the trees. George and Harvey were looking for signs of the girl, but couldn't find any. They started to sniff the air, for a scent, when all of a sudden Harvey pointed in the direction that held the scent of the girl. The mutants were hot on the trail of the girl when they picked up three more scents. They were trailing the scents for a time when out from nowhere came one scent that they had been following. It came at them swiftly and in a blur, the mutants had never seen anything like this creature, that was attacking them with such force. The creature at one point was a bear but it must have been infected from the bombs because it had fur at one time but now the fur was only in certain spots and the creatures skin was raw with blisters, it's ears looked as if they had melted down like wax nd then someone had smeared the melted skin onto the forehead of the animal. The creature walked on two legs and it's arm span was enormous. The creature was on them in a flash, snarling and gouging at their flesh, ripping off pieces of them in seconds. George put up a good fight and was able to escape the jaws of the creature, but Harvey wasn't so lucky. Once the creature had Harvey where it wanted him, the creature stopped going after George, and George got away as swiftly as he could go. The creature was content with the meal that it had snared.

As George ran through the trees looking for a place to hide, he could hear the last dying sounds from Harvey. George had never known fear up until now, now he was filled with a fear so great that he thought of returning without the girl to the compound. The fear of facing Link without the girl was nothing compared to the fear that he felt every time he thought of the creature that he had just escaped from.

George was getting tired from running, he stopped and was leaning against a tree, catching his breath and trying to calm down when he picked up the scent of the girl once more, he also picked up the other two scents. These scents were different then the one they had fought, but George couldn't tell what kind of creatures were out there. George took a long time making up his mind whether to go after the girl or not. If he went carefully and tracked the girl, then he could take her back to the compound and his leader, Link would reward him for his prize. He would have to go very carefully and watch out for any more creatures.

Gary and the girl met up with dan just beyond the thin belt of trees that was near the clearing where the two mutants were. Gary was in the lead and they headed back down the thick messy trail that the mutants had taken. They were almost out of the trees when they heard the growling sounds that the mutants made. Gary and Dan each took an arm of the girl and was almost carrying her so they would be out of the trees and in the open so that they would be able to see the mutants coming. They headed for the scenic cave. This would give them enough cover and they would be able to rest up before they started their trip back to the cabin.

They were hurrying along the mountain road when out from the trees up ahead they spotted their father qith a dog beside him. Their father came towards them at a run, not making a sound. When Dan and Gary saw this they knew that something was up. Their father never hid from anything in his life.

As Ron got close enough to his sons, without anyone else being able to hear them, he told his sons of the band of mutants that were together. Gary told his father about the mutants that had the girl captive, until they rescued her.

Ron took the girl and his sons back to where he and Charlie had been hiding. Charlie kept quiet while all of this was happening, but once they were back in their hiding place, he started to sniff at the strangers. After sniffing at each stranger, Charlie went back to Ron and sat at his feet, wagging his tail. Charlie liked his new masters friends.

George came out of the trees just past the spot where Dan, Gary and the girl had come out from. They watched the mutant sniffing the air this way and that way. Suddenly the mutant started heading along the mountain road towards where they were. Dan and Gary were on the ready if the mutant should happen upon them. Ron put his hand on Charlie and with his other arm he put it around the girl. Everyone was puzzled when the mutant walked by their hiding place without giving them a glance. They had all decided to wait and see what the mutants were up to.