by Victor Cruz
Maxson could see the circle of dead slowly, but surely, overcoming the open space and obstacles around Diesel. One came forward, but this one was one of the larger sized ones that Maxson had nicknamed captains, in his mind. They weren’t as big as the alpha leader in the center, but were large enough to herd the normal sized ones in a circle.
Diesel used the pipe to hit in in the head and it stumbled backwards, but did not fall like the average sized ones would. He tried to hit it a second time, but the creature still didn’t die. The captain reached out and grabbed Diesel by the shirt and began to pull him towards itself. Maxson could see Diesel was built strong, but the creature was strong too. The man-eater’s arm grabbing at Diesel was abnormally long and covered in black veins that branched up its arms, neck and ended on its bald head. The surrounding dead were now within inches of Diesel, but he managed to pry open the fingers of the leveraging arm and broke free at the last second. By this time, he had lost so much ground that he had to retreat. He back peddled as far as he could until his back slammed against the dump truck that he was once hiding behind.
The familiar growling shriek from before came from the apex beastly corpse that began to easily push through the crowd. All of the dead reluctantly stopped at an imaginary line drawn around Diesel by the leader as it made its way effortlessly to Diesel. Maxson wasn’t sure what was going on, but it looked like they were actually waiting for the leader to make it to the front.
Diesel had nowhere to run and could only wait while the leader approached him. Breathing hard and gaining his strength awaiting the force of darkness stomping towards him. When it arrived, Diesel’s head had to lean fully back to stare up at the mountain of a creature that dwarfed him. He swung the lead pipe and it bounced right off the side of its skull, barely making its head move.
Shocked, Diesel looked at the pipe in his hand, wondering if was actually made of lead.
“Uh-oh!” Jack mocked to the crowd’s enjoyment.
Diesel lifted himself into the air to send the bottom of its boot into the chest of the creature. Instead of pushing the creature though, Diesel sent himself back against the dump truck. Even after Diesel had used all of his strength in his drop kick, the leader proved to be far too big to move. And when it reached for Diesel, its arm proved to be far too long to escape.
The biker lifted the police baton to shield himself, and the creature grabbed it as it grabbed his arm simultaneously. Its large claw of a hand was so big that it was capable of wrapping completely around the baton and Diesel’s forearm at the same time.
The sound of the baton breaking and bone snapping was heard even over the electric guitar playing in the background. Classic rock music was always accustomed to having a solo in it at some point or another.
Diesel’s wailing falsetto serenaded the audience watching from the roof tops, those watching from the top of the construction pit and finally Maxson. And the electric guitar riffed with the man squealing in pain from his arm being crushed. The biker’s pain quickly turned into retaliatory anger.
Diesel had not given up. There was still fight in him.
The lead pipe in Diesel’s hand that was still useable came down and harshly crashed against the creature’s elbow. The blow was critical and forced the abnormally strong creature to let go of his broken forearm. Diesel instantly pulled his arm back. Broken, the limb hung awkwardly from him and flailed at his side.
He quickly turned and raised his boot up so it could step off the dump trucks side staircase that only consisted of two steps and lead to its passenger side’s door. Lifting himself into the air, Diesel leapt into the air with the pipe in his hand. While in midair, Diesel lifted the pipe high above his head.
Diesel crashed down onto the bald-headed creature. The pipe smashed down onto the top of his skull and the group cheered. The skull cracking noise was so loud that Maxson could hear it clearly over the crowd from his hiding spot on the roof. From cheers to gasps, the tone of the crowd suddenly shifted.
It barely felt that! Maxson realized seeing the giant monster standing still as tall as ever. It was staring down at Diesel cockily and the perma-smile twisted on its face almost looked intentional to Maxson.
Diesel looked up at corpse and stared up at it with a confused look.
The creature responded by grabbing the tattooed man with one arm and tossing him harshly into the truck. Diesel’s head smacked against the truck and he bounced off it with the back of his head. Bouncing off the truck pushed him back towards the powerful and famished creature.
It grabbed him once again with one arm and repeated the same action. Again, and again, it continued to throw Diesel against the truck, like it was playing with a small toy. Maxson witness the powerful creature ragdoll the built biker brutally and it was nearly surreal to him.
Diesel remained on his feet the entire time, trying to keep his balance until his head went first into the dump truck. His skull dented the door of the truck and Maxson could see it shaking from his hiding spot.
Diesel was near unconscious by the time he fell to his knees at the feet of the creature’s feet. The lead pipe finally falling out of his hand and rolling a few inches away. Diesel was trying to lean back and look up the creature towering over it. However, his face was already swollen and his eyes barely could open. Black and blue, he was hardly recognizable. Red blood pouring from his ears, nose, and cuts that covered his face. It took one last step forward and Diesel tried to lean farther back to stare up at him from his knees, but he was in so much agony from all of his broken bones and internal bleeding that he began to groan. Maxson thought he might be trying to talk, but he wasn’t even capable of doing that anymore.
This isn’t right, Maxson felt so useless and so cowardly that he was beginning to feel sick.
The half-smiling bald goliath reached down, but didn’t grab Diesel. Instead, it grabbed the lead pipe that was right next to him. It looked at it as though it was inspecting its dimensions, like a plumber might before checking if a pipe would fit or not. After the creature was satisfied, it brought crashing down the lead pipe on the top of Diesel’s head.
The crowd gasped and Maxson’s heart sunk as Diesel’s head split wide open and down the middle. “Woooooo! Ya’ hear that Loverboy!?” Jack hollered. “That was the sound of your skull being cracked wide open like a breakfast egg!”
Piece of shit…, Maxson wanted to end Jack’s taunting right then and there. His hands clenched the wooden rifle tightly as he restrained himself.
Diesel’s eye went so wide open that Maxson could see the white in them, even though his face was swollen. From his hiding spot, Maxson could see the blank stare that they contained while he gazed up at the creature that just hit him with the lead pipe. Maxson presumed that the only sounds filling his ears, were Jack’s antagonizations and his old crew cheering on his inevitable ghastly death.
“Don’t worry, Diesel. When I find that little sweet deadly bitch, Alexandria… and I will find her. I’ll make sure the first time I plug her tight little snatch with my fat old hog; I will explain in gruesome detail how you died.”
Everyone reacted to the violent act, but nobody seemed to comprehend what just happened. But Maxson realized. It just used a weapon. Just like I thought!
The alpha corpse grabbed Diesel from his knees and opened its mouth wide, real wide. So wide that it caused the other side of its cheek to rip in the same manner and now had a full on permanent wide smile ripped on its face. The smiling monster shoved its jaw with an underbite into the top of Diesel’s opened head and began to feast ravenously. Diesel tensed up firmly and within a minute, the tension in his body had released along with the life in his body.
The entire time, the dead swayed back and forth to watch its designated alpha fill itself first. The larger ones in front of the average ones and the smallest ones at the back. Maxson was believing more and more that the creatures had a hierarchy; at least the ones in the pit seemed to.
The leader finally stopped eating the
brains to give a gurgling howl, with its mouth covered in the inside bits of Diesel’s head. When his groaning into the air was over, it dropped Diesel’s cold body to the ground along with the lead pipe.
The larger ones immediately swarmed in, grabbing at Diesel’s limbs and his head to play tug of war with his lifeless body. Ripping and tearing turned Diesel into multiple pieces and a pile of entrails on the ground. Before long, the entire pit was fighting to get a piece of the human flesh, guts and meat. The frenzy ended fast and resulted in Maxson no longer seeing even the smallest remains of the once fearless man.
The giant creature that was permanently smiling looked all too pleased with itself as it near strutted back to the middle like it was its throne. Looking satisfied with its own victory, even without moving.
Everyone on the roof was silent as they watched the feeding, but Jack ended that. “That one in the middle right there is one badass motherfucking rot head! How ‘bout we recruit him? Seeing that we haves ourselves a sudden opening.”
Jack laughed and got even a few chuckles from the more hardened members of the gang. His grumbling laughter was sinister and genuine.
The Cowboy looked over to his fellow man and woman. They were all looking back at him cautiously and with a stiff anxiety, unsure of what he would do next. “I’m not fuckin’ around! Capture that big motherfucker, and bring him back to The Ranch with us.”
Maxson continued to eavesdrop and connected the dots, The Ranch must be south.
“Konrad?” Jack grabbed his attention.
“Yeah…” Konrad replied dazedly.
“We clear? I don’t want any of my subtleties to be lost upon your simple mind,” Jack asked nonchalantly.
“Yes.” Konrad nodded slowly, but added for good measure. “Crystal clear, Jack.”
“Good. Now go grab a tent and take a woman. We’ve got a few of each.”
Maxson had to leave to get home before Konrad and Eddie, but had a lot to think about on the ride home on the dirt bike. The Riders seemed like they had numbers and though they weren’t well organized, they were all well-armed. For every man that was Maxson’s age looked to be four- or five-men Belle’s age. An army of a bunch of younger men with guns and a few older guys running the show.
Maxson had many questions regarding Konrad’s relationship with The Riders. When did he run into these guys? How did he run into them? How did he keep it a secret? What is their business with them?
It seemed like hundreds of questions were racing through his mind, but most of all. What the fuck is your plan Konrad?
Maxson began to leave his hiding spot. He could see a few more guys walking on the ground level and talking. One of the voices sounded strangely familiar. Slowly peeking his head over the ledge, he looked down at the voice that he recognized.
He stopped, frozen in his tracks when he recognized the face that belonged to the voice. It was the face of the second man that was in the car with Konrad earlier and it wasn’t Eddies.
What the fuck are you doing out here, Tyler?
Not on Maxson’s watch
Maxson returned to the farm with everything he had just witnessed on his mind. Konrad, The Riders, Diesel and Tyler weighing heavily on his mind as he reached the last mile marker before the farm. Killing the bike, he silently rolled until the bike came to a stop and walked it the rest of the way to avoid being heard or seen by Scott.
He had no idea if Cat still had his attention so stealth was paramount. As he got closer, he could see the two of them talking on the other side of the home. She was reliable and always made sure she saw the job through the end.
Like a pro, Cat, Maxson admired.
Putting the bike away, he began to walk towards the home. Normally he would walk into the back door of the home to the entrance. However, he noticed the entrance to the basement was opened. The basement had belonged to Pete, Dustin, the Essex brothers and the Richardson’s. It suddenly hit him that he hadn’t been in the basement since they all moved in down there.
Alright Cat, buy me just a little more time. Hoped Maxson.
There were stairs that lead down into the ground from outside which made the third entrance and exit to the home. Maxson approached the descending stairs cautiously and unsure of what he was looking for and what he would find. Using the sling, he put the .22 over his shoulder and pulled out the same .38 that had ended both Arthur and Marge Parson’s life.
Twisting the door knob he entered with the revolver lowered. He peaked in and saw nobody, but could hear scuffling inside in the back. Slowly stepping into the room, he noticed that it was messier than the rest of the house that was baron. Garbage of opened chip bags, beer bottles, cans, wrappers from an assortment of snacks and scavenged jerkies. A lot of the items Maxson had never seen before and he realized that the group living in the basement had been holding out on the rest of the group.
Lazy bastards didn’t even try and hide the evidence. Maxson shook his head in disgust at their clumsiness as well as their filthiness. A criminal’s number one priority after committing a crime is to destroy any evidence leading to them. Both his father and Mason had taught him that one early in life.
Some parts of the floor were so dirty that he had to walk in patches of open ground where he wouldn’t make any noise. Random carpets had been placed all over the floor to cover the concrete, but it wasn’t entirely covered. There was a table off and into the corner and Maxson noticed what was on it. Torch lighters, glass bulb pipes along with needles and syringes that they probably stole from the bag he took from Bookers. He got closer to the table and noticed a few rolled up papers that had some herb inside of them. Picking them all up in one swift motion, he delicately put them in his shirt pocket.
I’ll take those, Maxson couldn’t remember the last time he had any good fine herbal medicine. Finders. Keepers.
The group had put up sheets and used furniture to make themselves rooms in the unfinished basement. The Essex had one corner and the Richardson’s had another. Pete had a small pallet that was made of an assortment of cloths that he had made into a bed. Dustin was the only one without a bed and slept on a dirty couch that smelled musty.
In Konrad’s and Eddie room, Maxson could hear multiple voices talking. It sounded like Dustin and Eddie, but there was a woman with them. She was younger and Maxson started to worry that it was Belle. The door to the room was simply where two hanging sheets met at an angle and allowed enough room for Maxson to see through.
“C’mon…” Eddie urged.
“Eddddie,” The female’s voice giggled.
“Please!” Dustin pleaded.
Eddie and Dustin were urging the female to do something, but Maxson couldn’t see far enough into the room to see who they were urging and hadn’t been there long enough to know what they were urging her to do He leaned a little closer to see what he could uncover and saw Eddie on the bed and Dustin standing in front of him. The female on the bed wasn’t Belle, but could now see that it was actually Krystal.
She was sitting next to Eddie and Dustin was standing right above her with his hands rubbing one another out of excitement. Eddie was tickling her with his hands all over her torso and she was squirming.
“Take it off,” Eddie told her as he squeezed playfully at her sides and her thighs that were uncovered due to her shorts.
“It ain’t like we haven’t seen them already,” Dustin said. He then nodded to someone else that was standing outside of Maxson’s view. “He’s the only one who hasn’t seen them.”
There’s a third person? Maxson didn’t want to risk being caught and lean too much further inwards. He would have to wait.
“Ugh! Fine… but fast,” She said hastily.
Krystal began to lift her shirt over her head and tossed it aside. She reached behind herself to unclasp her bra and dropped it to the floor to reveal her perky, but very small breasts with large nipples. Dustin’s jaw dropped and his eyes went wide from the thrill. Eddie’s eyes glazed over and he looked like he h
ad something more in mind. One of Eddie’s hands was on her thigh and rubbing the inside of it as Krystal pushed her chest out for the men to stare at. Eddie reached up and grabbed a handful of her breasts and Krystal let him.
“Wanta’ feel?” Eddie said to the third person who still remained unidentified to Maxson.
There was no response, but Maxson saw the third person reaching into view. His blonde medium length hair came into view and Maxson’s jaw almost dropped on the floor just like Krystal’s bra.
Colton!? Maxson was stunned to see him hanging out with Eddie and Dustin.
Colton easily grabbed Krystal’s entire breast with one hand. He held it and moved it around before letting his thumb and index finger play with her nipple.
“Been a while since you felt any?” Krystal asked in a friendly manner.
“About two nights before we got to the rec-center,” Colton replied.
Maxson remembered the woman in question. It was during a night down at one of Rockport’s trendy rooftop bars where the woman was celebrating a birthday party of a friend or sister. She wasn’t necessarily out of Colton’s league, as he had always been a playboy, but she was one of his best conquests that he had seen.
“Wow, that really has been long… I bet there’s lots of other things that have been a while for you, huh?” Krystal flirted with Colton who was a handsome guy. He had an innocent boyish southern charm and a hard body body that women loved.
“You could put it that way,” Colton said as he continued to massage her breast. Even if Krystal couldn’t tell, Maxson could see it in his friend’s eyes that he was as disappointed by Krystal’s breasts.
“How would you like to put it? Or where would you like to put it?” Krystal replied.
It sounds like she’s said that a few times before, Maxson commented to himself.
