The Shape Upon the Path

Tales Of The Apocalypse: Book II - The Rift
 
Dad is gone.

The thing from the trees took him.
It attacked and then he was gone.
He never even got off a shot.
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I am continuing his Journal; I know that is what he would want.
I am in charge now; I must get us to the cabin. We have got to go forward, there is no turning back as Mom did.
Andy is crying, and I want to join her. But I must be strong and not falter.
For Dad.
And Mom.

Why did she choose to leave us...??
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I broke down just like Andy did; now my eyes feel all gritty and puffy, and my nose is full of snot.
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Ok, we are more settled now, ready to move.
I don't like this spot. I see some of Dad's blood on the ground.
I don't want to be around it.

We will carry Dad's pack between us like a litter, as we need the stuff that he carried.

He had the tent, food, water and ammo for the guns. 

I have the shotgun now, Andy has the AK. Her M1 carbine and mag’s are strapped to the pack with my Winchester mdl94 .30-30.
She has never shot the AK so I showed her how to work it like I learned in the video games.

I had to show Dad how to field strip it so we could clean it. 
Thanks’ to the videos I found on the web! 

We found ammo for it at a hardware store on our way out of town. We had to detour for five blocks but we were lucky enough to find 200 rounds for it. We have six mag’s for the AK so we were able to load them all with a box left over.

Dad dropped the shotgun when he was taken, but the AK was strapped to his pack along with the chest rig. It is kind of big on Andy, but that’s ok, she is not complaining and is getting pretty good at changing out the magazines. I have been having her practice with it for the last hour before we leave.

Once she is comfortable with it I will put on the 3 point sling for her and the laser sight. We got them both at the same place we found the ammo and I picked them up while dad was looking for the ammo. We were in a hurry so I never got a chance to show him before we left.
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We had been moving along the trail for a while and it was just before sunrise when we saw it.

A shape upon the path ahead of us.
And then there was that awful hooting followed by that mind-numbing howl. Andy dropped her end of the pack and covered her ears, as did I. Then I saw it moving towards us.

It leaped over me and knocked down Andy. I yelled at her to duck as I spun around and put 2 slugs into the dark form as it began to turn back towards us! It let out an awful roar as it staggered to the impacts of the slugs. My next 3 shells in the shotgun were 00 buckshot and I put one into the form in the darkness. It dropped to the ground and then got back up, moving toward us. Andy finally got into action and the AK roared its deadly tune several times; and then the creature dropped and did not stir again.

We decided not to approach it until daylight, which is coming on fast.

The forest is silent now, with no noises to be heard. Maybe it is just numb ears from the gun blasts, but I can hear Andy whisper just fine. 
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The sun has now risen and we can finally fully behold the horror that lies scant yards from us.