The Azrael: Surviving the Outbreak Read Free Page A

got the jump on John for once.  She had gotten better with her movements. At a lean 5’1”of course she would make less noise sneaking around.  Their moment ceased when the sound of a tree breaking outside caught their attention.
    “Oh my God, what was that?”  Savanna squealed from the sound outside and instinctively lowered to a crouch.
    “Let’s find out.  Follow.”  John crouched as well, quietly moved towards the backdoor and tactically exited the house with Savanna in tow.
    They rounded the corner of the house and John glanced around the heat pump that had to of cost the owner a fortune, it was huge.  In the shadows of the trees two figures appeared and were struggling.  A loud growl identified one of the figures as a bear, but it was too big to be a black bear.  The other figure was nearly as tall and just as massive.
    “Holy shit, it’s a fucking bear!”  John whispered to Savanna.
    “A bear, a black bear?  They don’t get too big in this area.  We can take ‘em.”  Savanna said.
    “No, that thing is huge.  And it’s fighting something just as big.”  John said turning around and trying to see more.
    Suddenly the other figure wrapped its enormous arms around the neck of the bear and squeezed.  The bear growled and clawed at the other creature.  Its growl weakened and it began to whimper until finally John heard a loud crack as the bear’s neck snapped and it collapsed.
    “It’s some kind of gorilla; it snapped the bear’s neck!  Holy Christ!”  John said as his hands shook.
    Savanna couldn’t resist and looked around the corner.  It was eating the bear.
    “Um, do gorillas eat bears?”  Savanna asked John.
    “What are you talking about?  Is it…”  John peeked around and saw the beast biting into the bear’s neck and ripping out meat.  “Holy shit, it’s one of them.  It’s an Azrael!”  John’s face turned white and he couldn’t stop looking.
    “Quit joking, that thing is huge.  Don’t they only eat people, not animals?  It’s gotta be something else.”  Savanna said dismissing John’s assessment as they tried to work out an explanation hidden behind the heat pump.
    “Maybe it’s that bad out there that they have to eat whatever they can get their teeth in?   But why go through the trouble of eating a bear?”  John asked out loud not expecting a response.
    “Competition for food?  That’s what happens in the wild in those nature shows.  They have territories or something like that.  Maybe the bear was in its territory.”  Savanna said trying to find some explanation.
    They both turned and looked again but now the creature was standing over the bear looking right at them.  It stood at least 7’ tall and was built like an Olympic power lifter.  It was dark skinned, wearing a tattered tank top and a pair of ripped sweats.  His leg muscles were stretching the fabric to its limit. Threads that broke through the rips looked stressed.  It just stared at them.  It was silent but still continued to chew on the meat.
    “Fuck, fuck, fuck.  He sees us.”  John reacted and drew his pistol and aimed it at the enormous Azrael.  Its head cocked to the side and it stepped forward, but didn’t lunge or sprint like they normally do.  John was about to shoot but Savanna put her hand on his pistol and lowered it.
    “Don’t.  Look, he’s not attacking.  They always attack the moment they see us.  They never just stare at you.  I don’t know John, this one’s different.  Did you see any others nearby?  They always travel in packs.  Where are the others?”  Savanna said trying to make sense of the situation.
    “I, I don’t see any others.  That’s the second one today.  Shit, what should we do?”  John said lowering his weapon and looked around for any other threats.  The Azrael returned to its prey and began to eat the bear again, but still kept an eye on the two as it ate.
    “What the crap man?  We got to tell the doc