The Oasis Read Free Page B

silently asking her to hide. She stood where she was, determined not to go anywhere.
    “It couldn’t be—” she said but he quickly shushed her. An ear-piercing cry came from outside—one loud, quick moo, and then silence.
    “Bertha!” Lena screamed and tried to break from Jasper’s grip. Tears streamed down her face as he tried to keep his eyes on the door. She buried her face into his back and tried to silence her cries.
    They could hear the others outside before the face of one of them appeared at the door of the barn. Or what was left of his face. The man’s body was covered in blood, and his face smeared with more than just blood.
    Lena thought she would be sick. The man barely looked human. He glared at them but remained standing at the front of the barn. Jasper didn’t hesitate as he aimed his gun. As he did the man bared his teeth and growled at them before lunging forwards quickly. Lena raised her gun and began firing, tears running down her face, her emotions consuming her. She dropped the gun as the body hit the ground.
    “Jesus, woman,” he said as he stood up from his crouched position. He had ducked the moment she began firing. Racing forward he glanced outside to see if there were any more others , then stepped over the body as he walked back towards her. “I have got to teach you how to shoot that thing properly. I’m surprised you didn’t shoot me!”
    Looking at the crumpled corpse, she saw several bullet holes in him; thankfully one had penetrated directly through his skull. Furrowing her brow, she looked around the room and saw an array of bullet holes randomly marking the walls. When her eyes met Jasper’s he was smiling at her. “Well,” she said, more than a little embarrassed. “I’ve never been a very good shot. I usually just try to avoid them, really. But this guy,” she looked down at the creature at her feet. “He doesn’t even look like my local others .”
    Jasper had noticed that too. Experience had taught him that each other ’s level of aggressiveness differed, and something about this one was off. He feared that the more animalistic ones had started to obliterate the less aggressive others , leaving behind a collection of maniacs.
    Abandoning her gun, Lena moved towards the door, afraid of what she would see. He caught her by the arm before she could see the destruction outside. “Are you sure you want to go out there?” he asked quietly, knowing how she felt about her cow. She nodded, and they stepped out of the shadow of the barn.
    There was blood everywhere. The grass was saturated with it. Bertha’s body lay lifelessly in the sun, and Lena resisted the urge to touch her.
    Jasper saw movement in the tree line and quickly tried to guide Lena back to the house. There were more others in the woods. Seeing so many of them out during the day only solidified Jasper’s suspicions that things in Lena’s relatively quiet town were getting extremely hostile and quickly. Reaching for her arm, he guided her away from the carnage. Saddened by the death of her only companion for years, she let him pull her along, her eyes never leaving Bertha’s body.
    When they got into the house he shut the door and locked it quickly. He pulled back the curtain and looked out. Lena finally came to her senses but didn’t understand his rush. “Are there more?” she whispered, afraid of the answer. “How many?”
    “I don’t know,” he answered, not looking at her.
    “What do you think they are looking for?”
    He let the curtain fall before turning towards her. “I don’t know,” he repeated, stroking a finger across her cheek. “We need to get out of here.”
    He walked past her and searched for his bag. Lena hadn’t noticed it before then. “It won’t be long before they attack. We need to get our supplies together and get out of here.”
    Dropping onto the couch, Lena tried to understand what he meant. “They’ve never been that violent here; maybe that one was a fluke.