It appeared to be clutching its arm as it let out another bellow. It didn’t take a genius to figure out why. Good! I hope that hurt, fucker! Harrison thought, listening to its screams. Unfortunately, it didn’t fall. A second later, a smaller figure darted out from the beast’s shadow and ran for the place they’d been staying at. He couldn’t see much detail from this distance, but it looked to be about Derek’s size. The person ran up the stairs, disappearing inside the doorway as the creature roared again and took off in pursuit.
Harrison debated his course of action for a moment, then stepped to where Francis lay – not to help him but to reach for what he was still holding. He pulled the rifle from the unconscious man’s limp grasp before turning back toward the bed and breakfast. Hefting the gun, he began walking down the street.
Time to return the favor.
Chapter 35
Derek really hoped he hadn’t just run into his own tomb. He knew full well that at least one of the creatures had been in there tonight. If another was waiting for him, he’d be absolutely screwed. If not, though, then he might have a chance. Out in the open, he knew he couldn’t outrun the squatch. Despite their immense size, they were capable of hitting speeds only the best of Olympians could match. Fortunately for him, most buildings hadn’t been designed with nine-foot giants in mind. The low ceilings and narrow hallways of the B&B would hopefully hamper its progress, or so Derek was betting his life on.
He skidded on something slick, almost lost his footing, but then managed to ride it out. Glad I skateboarded as a kid, he mused, his feet hitting dry floor again, allowing him to continue onward. Entering a large room, the lobby it seemed, he saw a choice of either going up the stairs or continuing on toward the rear of the building.
He heard a noise behind him, the squatch no doubt. It was coming after him – quickly, too, from the sound of it. A moment later, there came a bellow, followed by a crash. “Watch your step!” he called over his shoulder with the manic laugh of a man close to coming unhinged.
Derek didn’t like his chances going forward. If the back of the B&B was fenced in, that could be trouble. With his smashed hand, he wasn’t in any shape to be climbing. There was also the fact that, out in the open, the creature had all the advantages. A thought hit him: If it worked for that other squatch, maybe it’ll work for me. A second later, he was vaulting up the stairs.
♦ ♦ ♦
Two more shots rang out in the night. Danni didn’t really know guns, but nevertheless it sounded different than the earlier one. The second gunshot was followed immediately by the scream of one of those monsters. There was no mistaking it. She was certain she’d be hearing that sound in her nightmares for the rest of her life.
Pushing herself onward, she realized she could see light ahead. Shortly thereafter, she noticed there was a flickering quality to it as the smell of smoke drifted toward her. Fire. She didn’t know whether it was caused by the creatures or set by another survivor. Either way, there seemed to be a fight going on. Unfortunately, she had no idea who was winning.
Looking down at the axe in her hand, she realized how small it seemed – surely insignificant against one of those giant apes. No! She shook her head and cleared that thought out. It might be small, but that didn’t mean it wouldn’t be enough to tip the odds. She had to keep positive thoughts like that in mind. Holding her head up high, she continued toward the battleground.
♦ ♦ ♦
A mere scream wouldn’t have done the pain justice. Fate, it seemed, had a cruel sense of irony insofar as Derek was concerned. As he had raced along the second floor, still chuckling at the spill the squatch had taken downstairs, he’d tripped over something in the hallway and tumbled ass over teakettle. Landing on his bad hand, the feeling had been so intense that, for a few moments, all he could do was lie there and gasp for breath. Tears were still streaming down his face when he heard it clambering up the stairs after him. Whatever it was he’d fallen over, it had erased his lead. The creature was mere moments from ending this in its favor.
He gritted his teeth to deal with the pain. It was incredible, but at least he was no longer in danger of passing out. Not without half a bottle of Percocet. Pulling his hand out from under himself, he used his intact appendages to crawl over whatever had tripped him up – focused on his own survival. Regardless, as he made his way slowly forward, he became aware that he was crawling over a body. If anything, that steeled his resolve to make it out of this alive. He had no intention of being another name on the mass grave this town had become.
He finally pulled himself over the corpse and found the floor again. It was slick and sticky, which didn’t come as a particular surprise. At least it was solid, allowing him to get back to his feet. A creaking of the floor boards behind him, though, told him that he was out of time. The beast had caught up to him.
He felt a puff of rancid breath on the back of his neck and instinctively ducked. Just then, something large swung over his head, crashing into the wall. Studs cracked like toothpicks as a rain of drywall dust settled upon him, prickling his nose. Great, I get to die sneezing, he thought, launching himself forward out of its reach.
The creature snarled, still coming for him as he pushed himself into the bedroom. He saw the opening ahead of him, the frame grossly distorted from where the other beast had earlier forced itself through. Throwing caution to the wind, he jumped out of the same window that had seen almost as much traffic that night as the front door.
Several beings, both human and otherwise, had already used that egress successfully in their endeavors. Unfortunately, whatever luck was bestowed upon the previous wayfarers had been used up by the time Derek leaped from it. He hit the ground badly and felt a painful pop as his right ankle buckled beneath him. Toppling over, he once again landed on his broken hand, crying out as a rainbow of agonizing stars exploded in front of his eyes.
This is starting to become a habit. He rolled onto his back and glanced upward. The alpha was leaning out the window, watching him. Though he knew it was little more than an animal, a crazed one at that, he could have sworn he saw a look of triumph in its eyes. Had it been able to speak, Derek wouldn’t have been surprised to hear it issue a pithy comment regarding any last words.
The situation had “hopeless” written all over it, but still he refused to accept his fate lying down. Using his good hand, he rolled to his knees and tested out his hurt ankle. He put some weight on it, and pain lanced up his leg. Fortunately, it was far less excruciating than what he’d felt from his hand. It wasn’t broken, just badly sprained.
My luck is improving. If I get out of this, I’ll have to play the lottery.
His ankle was already swelling inside of his boot; however, hobbling was better than crawling by any stretch of the imagination. He pushed himself to his feet just as he heard the dull thud behind him he’d been expecting. The creature had jumped out the window and landed only a few feet away.
♦ ♦ ♦
Whatever gods protect against sprained ankles smiled more kindly on the squatch, Derek noted. Blood poured freely from the wound in its shoulder, but it still appeared to have a lot of fight left in it. Probably enough to kill me, then go strangle half a dozen bulldozers.
It bared its teeth at him, then raised its head to howl. It was long and loud, splitting the quiet of the night like thunder. It sounded of rage, of hatred, of victory. At last, it lowered its gaze to meet Derek’s. Its eyes were red and runny, but the look in them spoke volumes. This must be what it’s like to stare down a serial killer.
It took a slow step forward. Derek contemplated his next action with the speed of thought. Running was out of the question. He would have to stand and fight. Unfortunately, he doubted the creature would feel even his best haymaker. That left just one thing, he mused, drawing back his injured leg. What he was about to do would hurt like a motherfucker – hopefully for the creature, too. As a man, Derek knew that in all the world there was one universal way to slow down a bipedal male:
a good solid kick to the balls. He was preparing to do just that when a voice spoke out from behind the beast.
“Hey, you hairy asshole, forget about me?”
♦ ♦ ♦
The challenge was won. The Alpha could see it in the two-legged thing’s eyes. It had put up a good fight, had even wounded him, but there had been only one possible conclusion in the end. The Alpha was supreme, the Alpha of all other alphas. He would kill the two-legged thing slowly. Mercy was beyond his comprehension by that point. But first, he would make the stupid thing scream. It would scream long and loud, so that all others knew the futility of challenging him.
He was about to unleash his fury upon it when there came another sound behind him. It was the chatter of another two-legged thing. He did not understand their words, but he could understand the tone. It was yet another challenge.
The Alpha turned his back on his current foe. The first two-legged thing was injured, weak. It could neither fight nor run. There would be plenty of time to deal with it.
He grunted in surprise as he saw what awaited him. He blinked some pus away, clearing his vision, and saw that it was true. The original alpha of the two-legged things – the one who had taunted him, challenged him, and then somehow managed to evade him – was back. It was standing in the entrance of the dwelling he had just leaped from. It chattered some more with that same insolent tone, then raised the fire stick it was holding.
♦ ♦ ♦
“See you in Hell, Chewbacca,” Harrison said, pulling the trigger.
The response was a dry click from the rifle.
The creature cocked its head to the side, as if confused.
For a moment, time seemed to stand still.
Derek looked past the beast and saw that Harrison, his eyes wide with fear, was holding Francis’s bolt action rifle. In an instant, he realized what had happened. His cameraman had fired at the creature earlier, but for whatever reason hadn’t been able to fire again or chamber his next shot. Harrison had at some point picked it up and never bothered to check. The kid wasn’t a hunter. Hadn’t he said something earlier about not knowing anything about guns?
Sadly, whatever momentary reprieve they’d been given was up. Time resumed its normal course.
He screamed, “The bolt! Pull it back!”
Harrison was frozen in place for another second. Finally, though, the words seemed to hit home. He began frantically working the lever on the gun, but Derek could see that he was going to be too late.
Launching himself at the sasquatch’s back, he tried to buy the younger man another few seconds, but the creature was crafty. It heard his clumsy attack. Without breaking stride, it swung a backhand at him. It was only a glancing blow, but it sent Derek sprawling into the street.
As Harrison frantically tried to ready another shot, the creature advanced. The alpha wrapped its arms around him as if welcoming him home after a long time away. Bones crunched as the creature began to squeeze. Harrison made a gurgling noise, but it was all he could manage before his lungs collapsed.
From his vantage point, Derek saw the squatch’s head descending, mouth open, toward the poor kid’s neck. The sound that followed was almost too much for his mind to comprehend. He turned his eyes away in horror, but didn’t close them. Something else had caught his attention.
Halfway across the street, he saw the glint of metal. It was the revolver that he’d dropped earlier. He knew there should still be four shots left in it. Mustering the last of his reserves, he began to crawl.
♦ ♦ ♦
He wasn’t going to make it. It wasn’t even going to be close. Derek heard a sound behind him, as if something wet and heavy had been tossed to the ground. He knew what it meant. There was a growl, then the creature took a heavy step forward. In another few seconds, it would be upon him.
Before that could happen, though, an unearthly scream pierced the night. For a second, he thought another of the creatures was still in the area. Then he realized he could understand it.
“HARRISON!!”
There was a primal quality to it. It was both a wail of horror and battle cry. For one surreal moment, Derek envisioned Valkyries descending from Valhalla to collect the souls of the fallen. Alas, no winged horses appeared from the heavens. Instead, a lithe form dashed past him, headed toward the creature.
“Danni?”
He was almost too stunned to process it. Sure enough, though, it was her. Not only that, but she was actually going after the squatch armed only with what appeared to be a hand axe.
Derek was almost certain that he’d gone mad. Surely, his mind had cracked in these last few seconds of life and was now filling in the blanks with some bizarre Xena: Warrior Princess fantasy to save him from the awful truth.
If that were the case, though, then it was one hell of a hallucination.
Danni dodged left at the last second, just outside of the creature’s reach. She brought the blade of the axe up in an arc and it connected with the squatch’s outstretched hand, severing two fingers in the process. The creature screamed in pain. She definitely had its full attention.
She turned, nimble as a cat, and raced back toward it.
I haven’t gone crazy. She has, Derek thought, butt-scooting backwards toward his discarded weapon, unable to take his eyes off the battle.
The creature swung again, intending to remove Danni’s head with one swipe, but she ducked underneath it and went into a baseball slide. She wasn’t going for home plate, though. As her momentum carried her forward, she again swung the axe. This time, it lodged firmly in the creature’s kneecap. The blade struck bone with a meaty thud and held fast. The beast stumbled, causing her to lose her grip on the weapon.
That was when Derek’s hand touched something heavy and metallic.
“Over here!” he screamed at her.
Danni glanced over her shoulder at the sasquatch alpha. It stumbled again, but didn’t fall. Seeing it was still very much a threat, she got back to her feet and ran toward Derek.
The creature wrenched the axe from its knee with a pained grunt. It took a step to test the leg, found that it held, then lurched after her.
They were out of time. As fast as she was, the creature’s long stride more than made up the difference. It was right behind her as she reached Derek.
“Danni, left, NOW!” he barked, still on the ground, bringing the gun up with his good hand.
Staring down the barrel of the massive weapon, Danni’s eyes widened, then she threw herself into a hard dive. Once she was out of the way, there was nothing before him except the massive form of the alpha squatch. This close up, it was enormous. Of far greater importance, though, was the fact that, in less than a second, it was going to squash him like a bug.
Derek couldn’t shoot for shit with his left hand, but he didn’t need to. The beast filled almost his entire field of vision. He fired.
The gunshot took its toll on both of them. Derek hadn’t had time to steady the shot, thus the recoil sent a shock through his body and jolted his arm upward. The creature, though, fared even worse. Its stomach exploded in a shower of blood and intestines. Gut-shot, it skidded to a halt and doubled over.
That action brought its face almost even with the barrel of the gun.
“Smile for the camera,” Derek said as he pulled the trigger again.
Epilogue
Overnight, the small town of Bonanza Creek had been nearly wiped from the maps on which it just barely existed. By the time the sun came up, several buildings on the eastern side of Main Street had been burnt down to their foundations, a result of the fire at the bar. Several smaller blazes burned elsewhere in the town. Some were the result of the chaos that the rampaging beasts had caused. Others were purposely set to destroy evidence of what had occurred that night. The smoke that rose from these particular pyres carried the distinct scent of burning hair.
Bigfoot Hunters (Tales of the Crypto-Hunter Book 1) Page 31
