Wildlife - A Dark Thriller

by Menapace, Jeff

  Another shot echoed. Everyone flinched.

  Ethan peeked towards the stern, still only the one hole. “We need to get out,” he said.

  “Out where?” Liz asked.

  “In the water.”

  Another shot fired. Another group flinch. Another miss.

  “Are you crazy!?” Liz said. “I’m not going in that water!”

  “And if we stay put?” Ethan said. “How much longer until he stops missing?”

  Two more shots in quick succession. Two more misses.

  “Why does he keep missing?” Noah asked. “Managed to shoot Mrs. Burk’s hand off.” Then a quick apologetic glance at Russ. “Sorry.”

  Russ said nothing.

  “Maybe he’s too far behind,” Ethan said. “Either way, it’s only a matter of time until he don’t miss. We need to get in the water now.”

  “Oh God…” Liz said. “There could be anything in there...”

  “Don’t think. Just jump in and swim like hell. Go!”

  Russ and Liz jumped together. Then Noah. Ethan was ready to go when the fan boat lit up in the distance. He spun wide-eyed, fear catching in his throat. The boat was maybe a good one hundred yards down the river. The lights meant Harlon had abandoned his game of stealth and was now planning to approach. And in Sam’s fan boat, approach quickly. Ethan spun back towards the river’s edge. All three were determinedly swimming to shore, not daring to look back. They were almost there. What then? What then when they all got to shore and Harlon was close once again? Close enough not to miss this time?

  “I’ll fucking tell you what,” he muttered, grabbing the crossbow and grappling hook, and then diving overboard.

  ***

  “Hold on to something, Mama,” Harlon said.

  “Just what the hell do you have in mind!?”

  “Grab hold of something, I said.”

  Ida refused to sit. She gripped the railing tight with both hands and widened her stance. “I swear to Christ if they get away, Harlon Roy…”

  “They ain’t going nowhere, Mama.”

  Harlon hit the gas. The boat roared and shot from its idling spot, speeding towards the empty boat and its abandoning passengers ahead.

  ***

  Russ, Liz, and Noah made it safely to shore. They now stood fidgeting, anxiously waiting for Ethan to join them—all eyes on the fan boat’s lights in the distance; eyes back on Ethan swimming; eyes on the fan boat; eyes back on Ethan…

  Russ was surprised Ethan was moving through the water as slow as he was. If anything, he should be the fastest swimmer of them all. He wondered if the boy had been hit by one of the bullets. When Ethan came closer, he noticed why the boy’s stroke had seemed lumbering and awkward. He was carrying something with him as he swam.

  Finally to shore, Ethan hurried towards the group, carrying what Russ could now see was the crossbow with hook and rope that had snared his wife.

  “What are you doing!?” Russ asked, gesturing to the crossbow. “Why did you bring that!?”

  Ethan ignored him and began pushing the group towards the trees. “Go towards the trees and take cover. Keep low. Noah, you take lead.”

  “Where are you going?” Russ asked.

  Ethan ignored him again. “Go on, Noah!”

  Noah began urging Russ and Liz to follow him up the embankment. They followed half-heartedly, eyes stuck on Ethan who was now sprinting down the shore line—towards the advancing fan boat in the distance.

  ***

  Harlon had no idea how fast they were going, but it was fast enough to blow his hair back and make him squint through the breeze. Fast enough to cause Ida to widen her stance and grip the rails tighter before shooting a quick glare back at her son. He thought of the possibility that some would struggle to swim to shore. The girl especially; her leg was injured. Suppose they would still be in the water when he arrived? He could run the fuckers right over, take their heads clean off.

  He all but squealed at the thought and cranked the throttle more so. Ida screamed and cursed her son as she nearly lost her balance. He didn’t care. He could finally see his boat in the distance with his naked eye. Too far to spot swimmers just yet, but they were getting closer.

  ***

  Panting and dripping wet, Ethan reached his mark along the shoreline. He’d left the group a good ten yards behind. The fan boat powered forward maybe fifty yards ahead, closing fast. Faster than he’d hoped. But why wouldn’t it? Harlon had no handheld flashlights like they’d had, only illuminating so far, forcing them to maintain a cautious speed. The fan boat was adorned with spotlights, giving him vision for several feet, hell, maybe even yards at a time. Harlon could afford to gun it.

  He needed to work fast.

  Ethan set the crossbow and hook down then took hold of the thick coil of rope fixed to the iron hook. He ran it a few feet up the embankment to the mark he’d spotted before sprinting away from the group: a fallen cypress. A damn big one too. Ethan immediately began looping the coil of rope around the thickest part of the fallen cypress he could reach. He wanted two passes, but Harlon was closing in. He could hear him; see the lights in his peripheral vision. Ethan’s hands shook and his heart pounded in his head and neck and chest. One pass would have to do. One pass or he wouldn’t make it.

  Ethan knotted the loop several times, pulling the rope on the final knot for all he was worth. The boat’s rumble, the lights, all frighteningly close, faster than he could have ever fathomed. The boat’s speed would make his goal that much more difficult…but the reward that much greater.

  Ethan hurried down the embankment and reclaimed the crossbow. He gave it a quick study to ensure the iron claw was loaded.

  The fan boat was almost upon him now, speeding towards the discarded boat twenty yards ahead. Harlon could not see him; of this Ethan was certain. His speed was too great to suggest otherwise. Harlon was heading straight for the boat, straight for the group. His rage and blood lust giving him tunnel vision.

  Ethan steadied the weight of the bow on his hip, aimed it as straight as his straining muscles would allow.

  Shoot before it appears straight ahead. Before. The boat is going too fast, the hook’s trajectory will be too slow; it will sail right past them. Shoot before. Before.

  His pulse pounded in his ears like drums, all but trumping the fan boat’s monstrous engine. His peripheral vision was now his only guide.

  It was nearly there. Ten yards tops. It would pass him if he blinked.

  Shoot now.

  Now.

  NOW!

  Ethan fired.

  ***

  Ida was screaming—shrieking—for her son to stop. The fan boat’s speed was so great she had resorted to gripping the railing with her forearms, her feet constantly shuffling in place, desperate for better balance.

  Harlon heard none of it; he was getting too close to his prey. He hoped there were stragglers still in the water. Hoped that he would run one over, just as he’d envisioned. Run two over. If he felt he’d missed he would cut it inches from his boat and create a disorienting wake that would toss them, drown them, buy him time to take his time.

  Ida shrieking louder.

  Harlon grinning wider.

  He was heading straight for his boat, and he hit the throttle more so, his drunkenness causing him to abandon all reason. More speed meant more dead. He would plow right through his fucking boat if he had to.

  More speed, more dead.

  Ida shrieking in absolute terror…

  Harlon grinning with maniacal glee…

  The boat’s giant fan roaring on approach like a primordial beast…

  Almost there, almost there, almost there—

  Something big shot across Harlon’s field of vision, sailing past him. A bird?

  Something suddenly on his lap now. Rope?

  Rope now sliding off his lap with furious speed, burning his thighs. And then the giant bird again, appearing out of nowhere as it clamped onto his side with impossible strength, what fel
t like steel talons sinking into his flesh and bone, ripping him from the driver’s seat, tossing him thirty, forty feet into the night sky.

  The fan boat flew towards Harlon’s boat unmanned, Ida Roy at the bow shrieking uncontrollably, the two boats colliding, Ida being pitched from the fan boat’s bow, her frail body sailing through the air until landing on a bed of rocks in the shallows, the impact shattering everything, killing her instantly.

  The fan boat’s size and speed caused it to hop Harlon’s boat and slam to shore, its momentum carrying it up the embankment several feet, the giant fan eventually slowing to a stop until it was suddenly very quiet.

  Russ, Liz, and Noah watched it all from a safe distance farther up the embankment, each of their faces painted the same picture of disbelief.

  Ethan was busy with something farther up shore.

  Chapter 53

  Ethan grunted as he pulled the rope, and thus his catch from the river. Russ, Liz, and Noah arrived at his side just as Ethan dragged Harlon’s body to shore. His body was still impaled on the iron grappling hook. He was also still alive, coughing and sputtering both blood and water.

  Ethan rolled Harlon onto his back with his foot, bent and ripped the big hook from Harlon’s body. Curiously, Harlon did not cry out. Instead, he went to move but could not. Only his head was capable. It whipped left and right, up and down on the muddy shore with interchanging expressions of anger and fear.

  “What the fuck is…?” His head flopped left. “Why can’t I…?” His head flopped right. “Why can’t I move my fucking arms and legs!?” He spat more blood.

  Ethan tossed the iron hook aside and then looked over at Russ. “What do you reckon, Mr. Burk?”

  “Spinal cord injury most likely,” Russ said.

  The anger on Harlon’s face was now replaced entirely by fear. A frantic fear. “I need a doctor,” he said. “You need to take me to a doctor.”

  Ethan laughed. “We need to, huh?” He then looked down shore and fixed on the fan boat, where it had hopped up onto the embankment. “Think all four of us can drag that back into the river?”

  Everyone, Harlon too, looked toward the fan boat in the distance.

  “I think so,” Russ said.

  Ethan nodded. “Let’s get a move on then.” He huddled everyone together and began to walk them towards the boat.

  “Wait!” Harlon cried. “Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait…! You can’t just leave me here, boy!”

  Ethan glanced back at Harlon. From the knees on up his body lay on shore; only his feet, or that is, foot was submerged—his prosthetic lower leg was gone. “You won’t drown,” Ethan said.

  “You know that’s not what I meant, boy!”

  Noah chuckled behind Ethan. Ethan turned and saw Noah pointing out on the river. “His leg!” Noah said with delight.

  Sure enough, Harlon’s prosthetic leg was floating on the river.

  Now Ethan laughed too. “Well, there’s some good luck for you, Harlon,” he said. “Not that you’ll have much use for it anymore.”

  Harlon ignored the quip, looked as if he didn’t even care; something far more serious was weighing on his mind. “You can’t just leave me here, boy—you know what’ll happen.”

  Ethan glanced down the shoreline, back the way they’d came. In the distant dark he could just make out the long thick shapes gathering on the shoreline, some emerging from the water, some crawling down the embankment. Likely, they’d scattered from the chaos of the crash. Now their actions suggested curiosity.

  Ethan turned back to Harlon and found that his head was flopped in that same direction, the moonlight catching his increasing fear like a spotlight.

  “What was it you said before?” Ethan said. “Fresh fish?”

  Liz stepped forward and spit on Harlon.

  Harlon started nodding emphatically. “Fine, fine, I deserve that, I deserve that…I deserve all of it. Get me out of here and I’ll tell the police everything, I swear…everything.”

  Ethan glanced back down the river’s edge towards the congregation of alligators in the distance. He could hear their faint hisses and growls as they jockeyed for dominance among their flock, yet they continued to keep a cautious distance—for now.

  Ethan turned back to the group and huddled them together again, gesturing towards the fan boat. “Let’s go.”

  “Finish me off then!” Harlon said.

  “Not much in the mood for favors right now, Harlon,” Ethan said over his shoulder as they started towards the boat.

  “You can’t leave me here like this, boy! Finish me off goddammit! Finish me off!”

  They arrived at the fan boat.

  “I’m sorry, okay!? I’m sorry! You can’t leave me here to be eaten alive!!!”

  All four managed to drag the fan boat down the embankment and into the water. Liz spotted Ida Roy in the distance. She lay motionless, face down in the shallows. Liz pointed to her and asked: “Think she’s still alive?”

  “Not unless she’s breathing water,” Ethan said.

  “You can’t leave me like this!!! Please!!! PLEEEEAAAASSSE!!!”

  They all climbed aboard as if they heard nothing. Ethan climbed into the driver’s seat. “Everybody good?” he asked.

  They all nodded.

  Ethan gave one final glance back at Harlon. He smiled a little. The gators were getting closer.

  “I’M SORRY!!! I’M SORRY!!! I’M SORR—”

  Ethan started the engine and Harlon’s shouts went away.

  After only five minutes down the river, the big ship came along and rescued them. Ethan finally broke down and sobbed in Russ’ arms.

  Chapter 54

  Travis paced back and forth by the window of his shack, willing the sun to rise. If he’d still had it, his fingers would have been anxiously working on the gator tooth that once hung from his neck. No longer. In exchange he sported a sore nose crusted with blood and what felt like a sprained wrist. All courtesy of Noah Daigle.

  He was not to move from his shack until sun up. That’s what Noah had told him. Don’t move or else.

  So Travis had stayed put. He was not keen on a third beating at the hands of Noah Daigle. Why did Noah take his necklace from him though, he wondered? He was going on about something Travis didn’t understand. A trade? A family trade? What did that mean? He’d been scared and confused and pulled his pen knife as a threat, but this only seemed to anger Noah further. The knife was violently wrenched from his hand and a few good whacks that had Travis counting stars had been his reward for posing such a hollow threat. That and his prized gator tooth ripped from his neck along with his pen knife tucked into Noah’s back pocket for the keeping.

  The light was beginning to gray. Sun up was close. Travis paced faster. He wanted to go home more than anything. He wanted to see his daddy, to see if he was feeling better. Harlon and Meemaw were probably taking good care of him, but Travis wanted to be by his daddy’s side, ask his daddy why Noah would want to steal his necklace and say all those strange things he’d said about trading families. He didn’t want to trade families. He liked his family.

  The gray dissolved. Morning light poked through openings in the swamp that foliage allowed. Travis hurried home.

  Chapter 55

  “Daddy?” Travis called the moment he stepped inside. “Daddy?”

  “Travis!?” Tucker Roy’s voice was weak and strained, but the surprise of hearing his son’s voice had given it a momentary boost. “In here, son! I’m in here!”

  Travis followed his father’s voice to Harlon’s room. Tucker was slumped in the corner, his hand pressed to his stomach, the bottom half of his shirt long since soaked through with blood. Excessive paleness from blood loss heightened the coloring of the wounds on his face, wounds given to him by both the Daigle boys, and his own brother.

  “Daddy…” Travis said at the door, his voice low and soft with shock. “Daddy, you look worse.”

  “Get in here, son.” He grimaced as he patted a spot next to him on th
e floor. “Come sit by me.”

  Travis knelt next to his father. “Why do you look worse, Daddy? Didn’t Meemaw take care of you?”

  Tucker ignored the question and instead asked: “How did you get free?”

  Travis frowned. “Free from what?”

  “Noah Daigle and that girl come here with your necklace, saying they got you tied up somewhere.”

  “Well, yeah, Noah come by my shack and took my necklace…took my knife too.”

  Now it was Tucker that frowned. “And…?”

  Travis shrugged. “And then he warned me to stay put ’til the sun come up.”

  “That’s it? They didn’t take you somewhere? Tie you up?”

  Travis shook his head.

  “You was free to run away after they left?”

  “Told me to stay put or else, Daddy.”

  Tucker closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the wall. He kept it there and said: “Noah took your necklace?”

  “Uh huh.”

  “Took your knife too?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Noah warned you to stay put or else?”

  “Uh huh.”

  Tucker lifted his head off the wall and looked directly into his son’s eyes. “Noah done all this by himself?”

  Travis started to nod and then stopped suddenly, his father’s implications finally hitting their mark. Travis dropped his head.

  Tucker leaned his head back on the wall again and let out a long, defeated sigh. “Well, if this ain’t the fucking boy who cried wolf, I don’t know what is.”

  Chapter 56

  It was their Sunday tradition. A trip to the cemetery so Ethan and Noah Daigle could visit with their mother and father, and then lunch at a little fry up spot the Daigle boys enjoyed.

  Russ Burk had been true to his word and saw that Ron and Adelyn Daigle had received an exceptional service, and the boys were grateful. Though much of Ron and Adelyn had been recovered, a closed casket for each had been the end result.