THEM

Chapter 11

This was a bad idea.

No, scratch that. The more I thought about it the more that I realized that this was a really bad idea.

We were really just supposed to walk across the lot and pray that thing didn't see us? There wasn't that much prayer or luck in the world.

This idea was sounding more and more like suicide by the second.

"We can't just walk across. There's nothing to hide behind. It's going to see us." I voiced my worries to Cory, who despite the fact that we we were planning a suicide mission, looked uncharacteristically calm.

"Seeing us isn't the problem." He said as he stuck his head around the corner of the building just enough so that he could see across the street. "We just have to make sure it doesn't hear us."

Cory turned back around to look at me only to be met with my confused stare.

"They can't see." He explained. "But they have damn good hearing. That's how they hunt. So, if we want to make it across the lot in one piece, we have to be quiet. Dead quiet."

I wasn't sure if that was meant to be a pun or not but I chose to ignore it as I glanced across the lot that separated us from the parking garage. In all honesty it wasn't that far of a distance. It would probably take us less than a minute to cross under normal circumstances but these weren't normal circumstances. This made what would have otherwise been just an average stroll across an empty lot seem like walking across a minefield.

"The offer still stands. I can go in and get the medicine myself while you wait here." Cory suggested.

I shook my head.

"And stay out here with Fido? No, thanks."

"Well, I suggest we get going then."

Without warning he bent down and started untying his shoe laces.

"What are you doing?" I asked as I watched him pull off his right shoe.

"I told you, they have ears like bats. It's quieter and safer if we go across without shoes."

I guess that made sense and I quickly followed his lead and discarded both of my shoes before tying the laces together and hanging them around my neck just like he had.

Cory glanced around the corner one more time before looking back at me.

"Ready?" He mouthed.

I nodded.

Slowly, he started forward, inch by inch until the back of the pharmacy no longer offered him its protection and his body was out in the open.

I held my breath as I slowly followed until I was standing out in the open too.

Despite my better judgment, I couldn't help myself. Slowly, I turned my head in its direction fully expecting to see it running full speed at us only to find that it was still rummaging through the trash.

I closed my eyes only for second to relish in the fact that we were still alive and still going through with this crazy plan before opening them and continuing forward, only a few paces behind Cory.

We had made it halfway across the lot, both of us now directly across from it. The only thing separating us now was a few feet of concrete and a single road.

As if that wasn't bad enough, it chose that exact moment to stop rummaging through the garbage.

Cory and I froze almost instantly, both watching with bated breath as it straightened to its full height and then titled its head to sniff the air.