John was shaking his head. “I’ve known you both a long time but this…this is utterly crazy. Think about what you’re saying. Do you hear yourselves?”
“If you don’t want to help, give me your badge and go home. None of us have time for this, John. Every second we waste here is one where those things could be tearing someone else apart like those kids in that store.” Jerry pointed at Mom and Pop’s. “You’re either with us or you’re not.”
John stared at the two of them and unclipped his badge from his uniform. He handed to Jerry. “I’m sorry, but I’m out then.”
“Fine,” Jerry snarled. “Get on home then and make blasted sure you stay there until this is over.”
“John!” Simon called after him as he started for his car.
“Let him go, Simon,” Jerry said gruffly. “He’s made his choice.”
“Great. We’re down an officer and we haven’t started yet,” Simon huffed.
“With cell service in the area out, the first thing we’re going to need to do is get back to the station and get geared up.” Jerry turned to head for his own car. “Follow me close and don’t stop for anything. We don’t know how many of those things may be in town already.”
“Yes, sir,” Simon said and headed for his patrol car. “I’ll radio Glenda in route and let her know what’s going on. She can get the call out for help while we’re on our way in.”
****
“I can’t believe you just left them!” Robert looked over his shoulder out the rear window of the patrol car at the beat-up truck following it as the car sped towards town.
“They caught up, didn’t they?” Roger answered, keeping his eyes on the road.
“Yeah but…” Robert protested.
“We have to tell the sheriff about what’s going on. That’s our priority,” Roger said. “If those things get into town…”
Robert decided to let it go. The girls were following them and not dead. Besides, the deputy was right. If those things got into Canton, blood was going to run in the streets. It would be a massacre. The little town would never know what hit it.
“And you’re sure the radio isn’t working?” Robert asked.
“Tried it three times. You watched me, kid.” Roger looked on the verge of losing it. “My cell’s out too. Frag, I can’t believe you don’t have one.”
“Never needed one until now,” Robert shot back at him.
“You noticed we haven’t passed a single car on this road?” Roger asked. “Yeah, this is a quiet place and it’s fragging late but not one single car, kid. Not one.”
“What are you saying?” Robert was pretty sure he understood exactly what Roger meant. He had never wanted to be wrong about anything more though.
Roger slammed on the brakes and the patrol skidded to a halt. They heard the screeching of wheels of the girls’ truck behind them as did its best not to rear end them.
The gas station on the edge of town was on fire. Embers danced skyward from the blazing building. At that moment, the pumps blew. A great geyser of flame leapt upwards into the night. Robert had to turn his head and look away from the brightness of the blast. Pieces of the pumps fell back to the ground in a rain of metal shards.
“Dear God help us,” Roger prayed out loud.
“I guess those things beat us here, huh?” Robert commented, feeling sick to his stomach.
“God help whoever was in there too,” Roger finished his prayer. “We’ve got to get to the sheriff’s station.”
“It’s like the apocalypse or something,” Robert said. “I think it’s safe to say those creatures beat us to town.”
“Shut up,” Roger snapped. “Driving through the debris on the road isn’t going to be easy.”
The patrol car moved forward at a crawl with Roger dodging flaming bits of the station that had been blown out into the roadway. Sweat dripped from his hair. He reached up to brush it away before it got into his eyes. Roger was terrified that any creatures still in the woods near the burning gas station would come after them. If they did, the two of them would be trapped by the wreckage he was navigating through and forced to abandon the patrol car. Their chances of survival would suck if that happened. On foot, they didn’t have a prayer of escaping the Sasquatch. Roger had seen with his own eyes how fast the monsters could move.
When the patrol car cleared the debris, Roger started breathing again. He let out a long breath and then stomped on the gas. The patrol car shot forward like a rocket as he resumed their course for the sheriff’s department. Roger figured it was likely about the only safe place in Canton tonight.
As they entered town, it was clear that Canton had become a war zone. Many of the shops along its streets had their windows and doors shattered. A van rested on its side in the road. Part of a man lay near it. One of the beasts looked to have torn him half. Long strands of red-slicked intestinal chords snaked over the road where they spilled out of his body. There was no sign of his lower half. His body wasn’t the only one the two of them saw either. Farther down the street was the corpse of a woman. Her skull had been crushed and her brain matter was smeared all over the sidewalk. The corpse of another man lay half-in, half-out of a store’s broken display window. The town’s diner was burning. Dark coils of smoke leaked out of it drifting upwards into the night.
Robert couldn’t take it anymore. He leaned forward in the passenger seat and threw up onto the patrol car’s floorboard between his feet.
“Frag it, kid!” Roger yelled at him.
“Sorry,” Robert said weakly, sitting back up straight in his seat as he wiped at his mouth.
The girls were still following them in Lyle’s truck. The beams of its headlights shined through the patrol car’s rear window. Somehow, they made Robert feel better. It was good to know that the two of them weren’t the only folks in town left alive.
“Stop the car,” Robert barked at Roger. “We should get the girls in here with us. There’s no point in taking the risk of being split up into two vehicles.”
“Stop the car? I know you’ve looked around, kid. I just saw you puke up your guts,” Roger argued. “If there’s one of those things—”
“Do it, Roger!” Robert yelled.
“Fine!” Roger hit the brakes. The patrol car came to a stop outside of Reed’s used bookstore. Robert hopped out of the car, waving at the girls and gesturing at its backseat.
Carolina jumped from the truck’s bed onto the street, crossbow in hand. Sarah flung the driver’s door open and came running. The two of them hurried to the car and got into it. Robert took a final, sad look at the bookstore. He had grown up going to that store buying used SF and horror books before Will had opened up his comic shop. His parents had taken him to the store several times a week. Mr. Reed had always said that Robert was his best costumer. Before Mr. Reed had lost his battle with cancer, he had told him how proud he was of him. No one else in town except his mother was prouder of what Robert had accomplished as a writer than Mr. Reed. Mr. Reed had passed on months ago and Robert was glad of it. Seeing his store torn apart like it was tonight would have killed him.
“What are you waiting for?” Roger shouted at him from inside the car. “Get your butt back in here, for frag’s sake!”
Robert leaped into the patrol car and slammed his door. Roger got the car moving again as Robert twisted in his seat to look at Sarah and Carolina. Carolina looked as if she had been through hell and Sarah didn’t look much better. He supposed Carolina had.
“Where’s Ashley?” Robert exclaimed, realizing the hot blonde wasn’t with them.
Sarah started to say something, but it was Carolina who answered. “We lost her getting away from her house.”
“We… We tried to go back for her,” Sarah stammered.
“Mother…!” Roger shouted and slammed a fist onto the car’s dash. He had managed to catch himself before he really cursed in front of the girls but only just barely. His level of control in that moment impressed Robert. He knew the deputy had
to be blaming himself despite the fact that he hadn’t even been there.
“Forget it,” Robert told them. “I know you did all you could.”
“No, we…” Sarah’s sentence was cut short by Carolina stepping, hard, on her foot. Her words changed to a cry of pain.
“Just forget it,” Robert told Sarah again.
****
Glenda was dead. Jerry stood staring at her headless body where it was sprawled out on the floor of the department’s foyer. There was a Glock near one of her hands. A tear leaked from his right eye. He quickly wiped it away. At least she had tried to put up a fight, he told himself.
The monsters had beaten them to town. The war had been lost before it had even started. Jerry’s fingernails drew blood from the palms of his rage-clenched hands. He blamed himself. It was his job as sheriff to keep the people of Canton safe and he had failed them.
Herald had apparently come back to the station too. He had made it back in before the creatures hit the place. There were pieces of him scattered all over the place. Glenda must have managed to get in touch him somehow before things had gone to hell here. There was blood everywhere and Jerry hoped that some of it belonged to the monsters that had killed the two of them. The bastards needed to pay for what they had done to his staff and his town.
Simon was looting the department’s armory for the firepower they needed. Jerry felt broken but he had taken an oath to protect the town and surely out there somewhere there had to be others left alive. He would be damned if he didn’t make an effort to find them and get them somewhere safe.
“Hey, boss!” Simon yelled at him as he emerged from the small armory and tossed an M4 in his direction.
Jerry caught the rifle. He quickly checked its magazine and readied it for action. More of the Sasquatch could wander back into the station at any moment, and he was determined to be ready for the monsters if they did.
Simon was carrying an M4 slung onto his shoulder as well. The deputy also carried an automatic shotgun in his hands along with a bag of extra mags for the rifles and the shotgun. He dumped the bag on top of a blood-smeared desk so they could load up. Jerry started stuffing his pockets full of the mags as Simon did the same.
“These aren’t the only things I got.” Simon grinned at him. The deputy flashed a bandolier of grenades. “I knew these would come in handy someday.”
“We’re gonna need to make them count,” Jerry cautioned him. “We still don’t even have a clue just how many of those blasted things are out there.”
“You try the radio?” Simon asked, continuing to gear up.
“It’s smashed like the rest of this place,” Jerry replied. “There’s not going to be any help coming.”
“So what’s the bad news?” Simon laughed.
Jerry didn’t get the reference the deputy was going for so he ignored the joke.
“Our handhelds are still working,” Jerry told him, tapping the radio that dangled from his belt. “Can’t get anybody on them though, I tried. If Roger and John are still alive, they aren’t responding.”
“I had forgotten all about Roger,” Simon admitted. “Wasn’t he out at the Meadows’ house with a group of kids claiming that had killed one of the monsters we’re dealing with?”
“You’d know better than me, Simon,” Jerry said. “I headed straight for Higgins’ Point when I came back in and then high-tailed to you guys over at Mom and Pop’s.”
“Roger’s a good officer for someone as young as he is,” Simon said. “I hope he’s okay.”
“Me too,” Jerry agreed wholeheartedly. “We could use manpower.”
“So what do we do now? Cell service is out, the radio is busted, we’ve got no real communications with anyone,” Simon reminded him.
“We do the only thing we can do,” Jerry answered. “We go hunting.”
Both of them swung their guns towards the front door of the station as a car came squealing into its lot.
****
Roger saw Jerry, Simon, and Herald’s car parked outside the sheriff department as he drove into it. He stomped on the brakes too hard in his excitement losing control. His patrol car when skidding sideways across the lot with its tires shrieking as he fought with the steering wheel.
“What the…?” Robert screamed at him. “It doesn’t do any good to get away from those monsters just to die in a car wreck.”
The girls had been flung about in the car’s backseat. They hadn’t suffered anything worse than a few more bruises though from Roger could see in the rearview mirror. He was out of the car and running towards the department before Robert could say anything else. Roger heard the kid get out of the patrol car behind him. He glanced over his shoulder to see Robert standing next to the car with his pistol held ready.
Roger’s hopes sank as he saw that the department’s front door had been ripped from its hinges and lay broken on the steps outside as if one of the beast’s had just tossed what was left of it aside to get it out of its path. He slowed his frantic pace as he caught sight of something moving inside the department. Roger had grabbed up a pump-action shotgun as he left the patrol car. He pumped a round into the weapon’s chamber.
“Whoa!” he heard Jerry’s voice yell at him. “Don’t shoot!”
Simon and Jerry came out of the department in front of him. They were armed to the teeth and looked ready to kick some tail.
“I can’t believe you’re still kicking, kid,” Simon said, laughing. “I figured you were dead like pretty much everyone else in this town.”
“Who are the kids?” Jerry asked, gesturing passed Roger at the patrol car where Robert stood.
“They’re the ones who made the call from the Meadows’ house,” Roger sputtered, staring at Jerry and Simon, just so happy not to be on his own anymore. Part of him had figured he was the last officer still alive in Canton. “Their names are Robert, Carolina, and Sarah, I think.”
Jerry frowned and asked, “What about the Meadows’ girl?”
Roger shook his head sadly. His voice cracked as he answered, “I couldn’t … I couldn’t save them all, sir.”
Stepping forward, Jerry placed a hand on his shoulder as if to steady him but didn’t say anything. The look he gave said more than words could have anyway. Roger was thankful for it but because of it, something snapped inside him. He burst into tears right there on the steps of the department in front of Jerry, Simon, the kids, and God. Jerry just nodded.
“Come on, kid,” Simon said. “We got work to do.”
Roger tried to get himself together, wiping away his tears, though his body was still wracked by random sobs.
“Did he just call you kid?” Robert shouted from where he stood next to Roger’s car. “That’s what you’ve been calling me all night!”
“What’s the plan?” Roger asked.
“We get the hell out of here, that’s for sure,” Simon replied.
“We can’t take those kids with us,” Jerry said.
“Take us with you where?” one of the girls in the backseat of Roger’s car shouted out its window.
“Don’t tell me someone actually has a plan?” Robert quipped, eyeing Jerry.
“I do,” Jerry said firmly. “And when you address me you call me sheriff or sir, got it?”
Robert looked to be taken aback by the tone of Jerry’s voice. When he answered, it was respectfully. “Yes, sir,” Robert said, “Got it.”
Simon glanced at Jerry. “Ain’t nowhere we can take them that’ll be safe.”
“Actually, there just might be,” Jerry said, a wry grin forming on his lips. “We can take them out to Jenkins’ place.”
Simon’s eyes bugged at the mention of the name Jenkins. “You sure about that?”
“If anyone is still alive out there, you can bet it’ll be that crabby old bastard,” Jerry nodded. “And we can gear up some more while we’re there too.”
“Assuming he doesn’t just shoot us,” Simon complained. “That guy’s never been playing with a full de
ck. Heck, even when there aren’t monsters rampaging everywhere, that guy would just as soon as shoot us than help out.”
“Who’s Jenkins?” Robert asked.
“He’s a prepper, kid,” Jerry answered. “He lives just outside the south end of town.”
“A prepper?” Robert repeated the word. “You mean he’s one of those nutjobs that spend all their time preparing for the apocalypse?”
“Yep, one of those,” Simon told him.
“Freaking awesome!” Robert laughed. “He’s exactly the kind of guy we need right now.”
“This one’s sharp,” Jerry said with a smile, gesturing at Robert.
“We can’t all fit in a single car,” Simon said, getting back to business. “We’re gonna need to take two.”
“Roger, you stick with the kids and follow us,” Jerry ordered. “We’ll take the lead out of here.”
The sun was beginning to come up as the two patrol cars rolled out of the department’s parking lot, heading towards the south end of town.
****
John’s breathing was fast as he crouched at the corner of the door that led into the street. He and the Debord family had taken shelter inside the feed store that neighbored the town’s park and were trapped there throughout the night. The sun was rising. Its early rays leaked in through the building’s windows. There were several holes in the door from one of the monsters had tried to break in during the night and another two from the shotgun blasts that had either killed it or driven it away. John wasn’t sure which. Most likely the thing had moved on in search of easier prey. There was an entire town full to be had after all. John had been on his way home when all hell broke loose. One minute, the night was as normal as any other in the small town of Canton. The next, its streets were teeming with hulking monsters intent on tearing apart anyone they came across. He had thought being in his patrol car would keep him safe as he realized that the terrors unfolding around him were real and not just figments of his exhausted mind. It hadn’t though.
Day of the Sasquatch Page 8
