Quality and Quantity Read online

catching Laura and Kristen in it!

  “Was anyone in there?” Will, Amanda, Sam, and Lola calmed down outside of the fire.

  “I don’t know.” Sam said. “The flames are quickly spreading.

  “Brandy is dead!” Nate, Kyra, Tom, and Kyle appeared with sweat dripping from their heads. “Oh god.” Kyra collapsed. Her heart was racing and sweat was soaking her.

  “Roy, Chey, Lewis, and Eden are also dead.” Harold, Helen, Joe, Fred, and Cory arrived as well.

  “I guess everyone else is dead.” Nate said with fear in his voice. They took a moment of silence.

  As the girls sat in a group in tears and comfort, the guys gathered to chat about the earlier events. “Who would do this?” Will wondered. Nate opened his mouth, but Will stopped him. He knew Nate was going to blame the Muroshis and Will suspected the same.

  “We found Kristen.” Joe and Cory returned with a distorted body. The flesh was rotted off and it was blackened.

  “Oh crap!” Nate stumbled and tripped over Amanda.

  “Nate, what is it?” Harold was concerned about his reaction.

  “The …body. The sign!”

  Fred looked closely. “There is a large M engraved into her back.”

  “The Muroshis have special markings.” Nate said. “I didn’t tell the whole story. They would carve an M in most of their victims. That’s how they tell their victims apart from other bodies.”

  Helen kept staring at Kristen’s body, which stared back. “Who are the Muroshis?” she asked.

  “There’s the father, Bert. He has a brother, Ken. Bert has two daughters, Amy and Rosa. Mark is his only son. The mom died 11 years after Mark was born. They all fell silent for deep thought.

  “So now they’re killing us off like flies.” Lola said, rocking back and forth. ‘We need to stick together.” Boom! Another gunshot went off. Crack! “Ah!” Kyra shrieked as the bullet exploded into a tree behind her.

  “We can’t stay together or we’re dead for sure. Divide and run!” Nate cried out. He knew they wouldn’t last till tomorrow night, let alone tonight. He wanted to live, though. He grabbed Helen’s hand and ran. Helen knew Nate liked her now, but now wasn’t the time to think about doubtful love.

  “Make room for us!” Will and Amanda dived into the bushes where Helen and Nate hid. Fred, Cory, and Joe took off over the bank and vanished. Lola hid in some nearby bushes too. Tom shimmied up a tree and watched from a branch. Harold and Kyra hid behind a wall of small trees. Sam and Kyle had run off to somewhere else.

  “Quiet, I hear them.” Nate took watch as the others crouched down to wait it out. “I’m going to hit them when they pass. Otherwise, we’re dead.” The figure grew closer. Tom saw it in view and tried not to give himself away.

  “You can’t. You’ll never…” Helen never got it out. Nate had tackled the figure and was wrestling with him.

  “Hold him down!” Harold jumped in and pinned him down. “Sam?”

  “Yeah! I was chased down so I came to find you. Man my head hurts.”

  “Sorry.” Nate and Harold apologized.

  Sam sat down to heal. “We should probably go back to hiding. I’m sure that….”

  “AH!” Lola tore off in screams until Will brought her back.

  “What?” Will asked her. She pointed toward Tom’s hiding place. A shadow was creeping up behind him. “Tom, jump down!” Tom turned and lost his balance! He fell over 11 feet toward the ground. Crack!

  “Don’t look.” Harold turned the girls’ heads as Tom lied in a pile.

  Helen’s attention was drawn to the figure. A silver object slid out from the pocket. It was a gun! She was scared to say anything. Everyone else saw it too. They backed away, ready to run.

  Nate whispered, “If he fire at anyone, we run. He can’t get us all at once.” They watched the figure pull back the safety and wave it around.

  Harold was sure he was dead. His body was too stiff to move or even speak. He remembered his close-to –death experiences in the fire company and braved up.

  As the gun was pointed at Lola, Kyle ran in! “Look out!” Boom! “Go, run!” Kyle dropped with a hole in his forehead and Lola almost tripped over him. “Oh my god. Blood! I’m going to die!” Lola took off into a sprint over the bridge as everyone else scattered. “Where do I go?” Lola spun around and backed up. She didn’t to die here. She had a rough life so far, but she didn’t want it to end so early. She was single, somewhat cute, and smart. Then he heard the snap of a twig. “It’s him.” Death was behind her! A person in a festival mask stood with a long kitchen knife. Lola knew he was exhausted by the sound of his heavy breathing. “Don’t kill me please. Why do you want to kill us?”

  “My mom told us to kill those luck to live. You’re next.”

  “No.” He took a swipe, slashing Lola’s back. Warm blood soaked her sweatshirt and slowed her down. “AH!” She tripped over a stump and tumbled down a hill. “Help me!” He attacked Lola and slashed her all over. She let out one last bloody scream and was silent. He whipped the blade off on her sweatshirt and hid it in his pocket.

  “I can’t go.” Cory complained. They had been running nonstop for almost an hour. Sweat soaked their bodies and their lungs were ready to explode.

  “We can’t keep running. We’ll run into them and end up like….” Joe couldn’t stand to remember the fire and bodies. “We’ll stay and rest here for awhile. They’re miles behind us now.” They sat around an old tire swing and just relaxed for once. It was the first feel of comfort for four hours.

  “I wish I was back home in the woods just hunting some deer. This is wrong…we’re being hunted now. How about you?” Joe and Fred weren’t listening to Cory. Their eyes were blank and staring behind Cory. He turned to see a tall man in with a black mask. “You must be Bert. I’m Cory.” Cory threw a fist, but Bert drew back. He lifted his fists to show off his shiny brass knuckles!”Pretty tools.” Cory swung again and Bert circled him. Crack! Pain shot up Cory’s right leg as Bert struck his kneecap. “You don’t scare me.” Crack! Blood poured from Cory’s nose as it was crushed under the metal.

  “Leave him and let’s run.” Joe took off out of Bert’s sight. Fred watched as blood and bones were split and crushed under Bert’s muscular arms. Cory was now a mess of skin and crushed bones.

  “Cory.” Fred looked into Bert’s evil eyes. He rolled up his sleeves and searched for a weapon. He picked up a large branch with thorns. “Bring it tough guy.” Fred charged full speed and lifted the branch over his head. Boom! Fred dropped with a hole in his chest.

  “Can’t watch your back all the time dad.” Mark, in his mask, reloaded his pistol and hid it away.

  “They’re giving us a run.” Bert said exhausted.

  “Leave them for now. They’ll live the night, but come noon….” They gave out a disturbing giggle and left their prey.

  “Do we keep going? It’s getting late.” Amanda’s feet were blistered and her hair was ragged.

  “I don’t know. They might still be out there. Yet, they are human and need rest.” Will and Amanda found a thick area where they could be invisible. “We should be safe tonight.” They sat on a soft grassy spot and rested their sore, exhausted bodies. For awhile, they were silent and awake. “I didn’t even want to come along.”

  Amanda stared at Will and said, “What?”

  “I only came because you came.”

  Amanda blushed and turned away.

  Will whispered, “I knew it, you don’t like me.”

  “No, it’s not that.” Amanda snapped. “It’s just I thought you would be into a more athletic person.”

  Will gave a weak smile. He felt good about their chat, but wrong about their situation. They probably would die, but he loved Amanda. He would continue to protect her by any means. They just had to stay awake and live through the night.

  Near a small stream, Harold and Kyra stopped to rest. They hadn’t stopped since Kyle…they both tried to block
that from those memories from their mind. They just wanted to survive the night. They spotted a small cave between two large trees. It was about nine feet tall and seven feet deep. As Harold searched for wood, Kyra was thinking. She thought about her whole life. Her parents were…good parents. They weren’t rich or poor, but happy. She was captain of her school soccer team which had playoffs next week. In 8th grade, she met her first love, Zane. They went everywhere together. That lasted two months. Then she met Harold. She loved his firefighter figure and tall posture. They’ve been off and on for over four months.

  Harold, of course, had something on his mind. “What would happen to Kyra?” the words were stuck in his head, repeating over and over. Then he remembered his first, near death experience.

  He was thirteen and it was his second year in the fire hall. It was July 4th, about midnight, and a call came in. A fireworks display had caught fire to a church. Harold struggled to keep his eyes open as they soared through traffic. Six trucks circled the blazing temple.

  “Harold, go in and check for survivors!” the chief called out to him. Braved up, Harold charged into the flames. Suddenly, his lungs exploded. Smoke leaked into his cracked mask and was suffocating him. He coughed wildly and stumbled. Crash! The floors caved in and formed into a pit of fire. His head hit a beam and blacked out. “I’m dead.” He thought to himself. “I’m dead. I can’t….” He was awakening when a splash of water hit his face. He was on a stretcher with officers around him. His uniform was