The Guard

by Eric S. Brown

  In an attempt to get her out of her funk, he said, “Tell you what. If we do get out of here, I am moving to the biggest city I can find. As much as I hate liberals, California is looking pretty nice at the moment. Bet there’s some beautiful beach front property just waiting there with my name on it.”

  “Like you could afford it,” Lancaster snorted, stifling a laugh.

  Deputy Cato was glad to see her lighten up. They all needed a break from the constant stress of just trying to stay alive tonight. The coffee was done so he got three mugs out of a cabinet. He filled them and offering Lancaster one. She took it, smiling at him.

  “Thank you,” Lancaster said she called after him as Deputy Cato walked out of the kitchen.

  He found Evans sitting a chair, staring at the house’s front door. His CZ-550 was lying across his lap. Deputy Cato didn’t doubt that the high-powered rifle had a round in its chamber and was ready for use.

  “Oh, man, is that coffee?” Evans looked over at him, perking up as he approached.

  “Thought you could use some too,” Deputy Cato said, passing a mug to Evans. “You heard anything out there?”

  “Nope,” Evans answered, trying to sip at the scalding hot coffee in his mug. “It’s quiet. Think we should open up the shutters on one of the windows so we can get a look?”

  Deputy Cato shook his head. “Leaving those shutters closed is the smart way to play it. They keep those things from seeing the lights on in here and they’re fragging metal too. Might not keep those Sasquatch out but they will buy us some time if the crap hits the fan.”

  Something outside roared in the night. Evans’ dropped his mug as he jerked up his rifle. It shattered into pieces on the wooden floor, splashing coffee everywhere.

  “Whoa,” Deputy Cato cautioned the private, motioning for him to stay where he was. “Just because we heard one of those things doesn’t mean that they know we’re in here yet. No reason to go letting them know that we are.”

  Evans nodded, trying to get his fear under control. “That sounded pretty fragging close to me, man.”

  “I’ll let Lancaster know what’s going on,” Deputy Cato told Evans. “You just watch that door and don’t start shooting with that cannon of yours until you see them coming through it. Got it?”

  “Yes, sir,” Evans assured him.

  As Deputy Cato walked back into the kitchen, he saw that Lancaster was on her feet with her Barrett M82 aimed at the house’s back door.

  “There’s something out there,” she whispered. “I heard it clawing at the door while you were gone.”

  “Clawing?” Deputy Cato repeated the word, trying to make sense of it. That didn’t sound like the Sasquatch they had been dealing with all night. The things weren’t too keen on being subtle. Their style was more just to come barreling in, tearing through whatever was in their way.

  “Shut up and listen,” Lancaster snapped at him.

  Deputy Cato and Lancaster stood silently, waiting for whatever she had heard to happen again. Neither of them expected what came next. Something huge and powerful slammed into the door. The door shook in its frame, barely managing not to be knocked inward. The metal reinforcement that lay beneath its wood was dented outward toward them from the blow. That was more than enough to convince Deputy Cato that the monsters had found them.

  “Get out of here!” he shouted at Lancaster, moving to where he had a clear shot at the back door as he grabbed up the automatic shotgun that sat propped against the kitchen’s counter.

  “I don’t think so,” Lancaster told him sharply. “We’re in this together, Deputy, no matter how it plays out.”

  Deputy Cato respected her for that but he had wanted her to go into the living room in case the things hit both sides of the house at once, not because he was concerned about her. Evans seemed like a fine kid, but Deputy Cato didn’t trust him to hold the front door on his own. There was no time to explain that to Lancaster though.

  The beast outside rammed into the back door again, knocking it off its hinges. The door came crashing down onto the kitchen floor as the Sasquatch entered the house. Its yellow eyes burned hot with animal rage as it saw them. Lancaster beat him to the punch. Her Barrett thundered. The high-powered round it fired blew completely through the Sasquatch’s chest and out its back in a shower of gore. The Sasquatch fell sideways, bouncing off the kitchen wall before thudding onto its face. Lancaster had killed it in one. Such was the power of the weapons they were now armed with thanks to Tim and the old man’s decades of getting ready for the end of the world.

  Private Evans jumped out of the chair was he sitting as the front door of the house flew inward. The door itself held just fine. It wasn’t even dented. But the wall surrounding it had given way as a Sasquatch came plowing into it. The door thudded onto the floor as the thing that had torn it from its hinges came snarling inside. Evans nearly wet himself at the sight of it. The thing whirled about as it saw him and reared its head back in a roar that seemed to shake the very walls of the house. Evans’ jerked up his rifle, bracing it against his shoulder as he fired at the monster. The CZ-550’s kick nearly broke his shoulder with its recoil. He grunted, wincing in pain. The Sasquatch’s entire upper body blew apart, splattering blood all over the floor, the walls, and Evans. What was left of the thing toppled back through the door it had come through. Evans worked the bolt of his rifle, chambering another round as a second Sasquatch bounded into the house. The CZ-550 spoke again. The Sasquatch died just like the first had in a shower of exploding gore. Evans started to call for help but knew the others surely had heard his two shots as they boomed like thunderclaps. Only then did he hear the gunfire coming from the kitchen. The things had to have gotten inside there too. Knowing he only had one round left in his rifle, Evans bolted for the kitchen.

  A dead Sasquatch lay on its floor and another died in the exterior doorway as Evans watched Lancaster take it down with a shot from her Barrett M82 that blew apart its snarling face.

  “Evans!” Deputy Cato cried out in warning. The young private whirled about to find a Sasquatch towering over him. The thing was so tall its head scraped the ceiling. A low growl rumbled out of its throat.

  Evans ducked as the monster took a swing at him. Its fist smashed into the wall, leaving a giant hole behind as the beast yanked its hand free. Evans leveled the barrel of his CZ-550 directly at the monster’s stomach and pulled the trigger. The recoil of the insanely powerful gun caused him to drop it but the shot he had fired cut the Sasquatch in half where it stood. Its top half slid away from its legs as blood poured from the monster’s open mouth.

  There were other Sasquatch in the living room now and Evans was out of ammo. His hands ached from the kick of the CZ-550 as he fought to draw the .44 Magnum holstered on his belt. As the heavy pistol cleared its holster, one of the Sasquatch reached him. Evans started to scream but one of its overly large hands grabbed him by the low jaw and tore it from the bottom of his face.

  “Holy frag,” Deputy Cato muttered as Evans turned to him and he saw what was left of the young private’s face. Blood ran from where his lower jaw had been attached and his upper teeth looked as if they were jutting outward from its absence. Evans’ tongue flopped about in the open air as if he was trying to say something before the monster grabbed him again. It caught the back of his head by his hair and slammed his already torn up face into the wall. Deputy Cato heard the crunching noise of Evans’ skull fracturing as the beast’s hand pressed harder onto it.

  Deputy Cato’s automatic shotgun roared as he emptied half its magazine into the monster that had killed the young private. Chunks of meat and blood flew where the heavy slugs from the weapon tore into the thing’s arm and shoulder. The Sasquatch shrieked and dove away from the doorway leading into the kitchen back into the living room out of sight. Deputy Cato turned and saw the expression of utter horror that Lancaster wore. Losing Evans had hit her hard.

  “We’re gonna have to fight our way out the back!” Deputy Cato shoute
d, advancing on the back door. The door was clear when he reached it. He could hear several of the Sasquatch in the woods and around the corner of the house closing in fast though. Motioning for Lancaster to follow him, he darted out the door. A Sasquatch hurled itself out of the trees, sprinting at him. Lancaster’s Barrett M82 brought the beast down. The shot she fired blew away one of the great beast’s arms and a chunk of its upper body on that side. Another Sasquatch came bounding around the corner of the house and Deputy Cato emptied the rest of his automatic shotgun’s magazine into it. The Sasquatch was flung backward as the heavy slugs tore holes across its chest. Deputy Cato reloaded as Lancaster caught up to him.

  The jeep was parked in front of the house and Deputy Cato figured it was their only real shot at escaping the monsters. Getting to it was going to be a problem. The front of the house was where most of the Sasquatch seemed to be. He stood at the corner of the house preparing to make his move when went Lancaster ran by him. Yelling a battle cry, she rounded the corner, her Barrett M82 booming in rapid succession.

  “Don’t!” Deputy Cato screamed too late, following after her.

  Lancaster’s insane charge had cleared out most of the Sasquatch at the front of the house. He counted three dead and one wounded lying in the grass as the jeep came into sight. For all her effort though, there were still two more of the monsters left. Lancaster had skidded to a halt as her rifle’s magazine had run out. She was trying to reload her weapon as one of the remaining Sasquatch closed on her. A swipe of its claws turned her right arm and shoulder into shredded meat. Howling in pain, Lancaster threw herself away from the monster. She had lost her rifle when the thing had slashed up her arm. Deputy Cato moved in, trying in an attempt to cover her but couldn’t get a clear shot. The other Sasquatch came roaring in his direction. Forced to turn his attention to it, he whirled about facing the approaching monster. His automatic shotgun barked in a series of continuous thunderclaps. The Sasquatch took rounds to its left shoulder, chest, and head. The wounded monster reeled and stumbled, collapsing onto the grass of the house’s front yard. Deputy Cato slammed his last magazine into his automatic shotgun as he heard Lancaster screaming. The Sasquatch that she had been engaged with had her clutched in a vice-like grip, crushing her against its chest in a bear hug. Deputy Cato almost threw up as he watched her spine snap and blood spurt like vomit from her open mouth. The Sasquatch dropped her corpse, stepping over it to come at him.

  Taking the Sasquatch by surprise, Deputy Cato ran straight at the great beast. It recoiled out of shock, surely wondering how its prey could be so stupid. Deputy Cato fired a single, near point-blank shot that struck the Sasquatch dead on in its mouth. Teeth and blood flew as the heavy slug punched its way through to explode out the side of the monster’s jaw. The Sasquatch tried to roar its fury but all that came out was a sickening, wet noise. Deputy Cato finished the monster with a second shot that blew out its throat.

  Deputy Cato reached the jeep and leaped into its driver’s seat. The keys were still in the ignition and he cranked it up, throwing it into reverse. The jeep’s wheels spun out, flinging gravel as he turned it to face the road leading toward town. Deputy Cato’s foot shoved the gas to the floor again and held it there as the jeep shot forward. It picked up speed as it went, bouncing dangerously along the gravel road. Deputy Cato didn’t see the Sasquatch ahead of the jeep until it jumped out of the trees directly into the vehicle’s path. The Jeep slammed into the monster, crashing to a halt. The impact killed the Sasquatch instantly and sent Deputy Cato flying through its windshield. He landed on the road, several yards beyond the wreck and the body of the dead Sasquatch. His entire world was pain. It felt like every bone inside of him was broken. Deputy Cato tried to move and found that he couldn’t. It took everything he had just to move his head enough to look around. There were Sasquatch everywhere he could see, surrounding him. The beasts all came at him at once, each of them reaching greedily to try to get a piece of his body. Deputy Cato screamed as the monsters tore him apart.

  Epilogue

  Colonel Jones couldn’t believe what she was seeing as she stepped out of the APC onto the streets of Canton. The small town brought back memories of the war-torn cities she had walked through in the Sand Box. There were no terrorists or religious extremists here though, only monsters. Her unit had fought its way into town as the sun rose above the mountains, leaving dozens of dead Sasquatch in its wake. According to the latest reports she had gotten, the town itself was secure now. There were still plenty of the monsters out there in the woods that remained to be dealt with but that would have to come later. Right now, she needed to get her people regrouped and consult with her superiors on exactly how to handle those remaining monsters.

  The story being fed to the press was that there had been a biological attack on the town by an unnamed terrorist group and no one was being allowed into it. No one. Colonel Jones had her doubts about whether or not the powers that be could truly keep the truth of what happened to the small town of Canton from going public but that wasn’t something she had to deal with. Her job was simply to make sure however many of the Sasquatch were still alive out there met their end. She could only hope that she and her men were up to the task. It wasn’t going to be easy. Even with all the tech at her disposal, taking on the Sasquatch in their natural element would put her people at a huge disadvantage.

  She looked up as a tank came rolling along the street, passing her and heading on deeper into the town. Shaking her head, Colonel Jones sighed. A new kind of war had come to rural America. One that was likely going to be costly even in victory. God knew enough people had died already and she didn’t want to think about how many of her own men would be lost in the woods around the town as they took the battle to the monsters that lurked out there, waiting for them.

  Read on for a free sample of The Beasts Of Stoneclad Mountain

  Author Bio

  Eric S Brown is the author of numerous book series including the Bigfoot War series, The Psi-Mechs Inc. series, the Kaiju Apocalypse series (with Jason Cordova), the Crypto-Squad series (with Jason Brannon), the Homeworld series (With Tony Faville and Jason Cordova), the Jack Bunny Bam series, and the A Pack of Wolves series. Some of his stand alone books include War of the Worlds plus Blood Guts and Zombies, Casper Alamo (with Jason Brannon), Sasquatch Island, Day of the Sasquatch, Bigfoot, Crashed, World War of the Dead, Last Stand in a Dead Land, Sasquatch Lake, Kaiju Armageddon, Megalodon, Megalodon Apocalypse, Kraken, Alien Battalion, The Last Fleet, and From the Snow They Came to name only a few. His short fiction has been published hundreds of times in the small press in beyond including markets like the Onward Drake and Black Tide Rising anthologies from Baen Books, the Grantville Gazette, the SNAFU Military horror anthology series, and Walmart World magazine. He has done the novelizations for such films as Boggy Creek: The Legend is True (Studio 3 Entertainment) and The Bloody Rage of Bigfoot (Great Lake films). The first book of his Bigfoot War series was adapted into a feature film by Origin Releasing in 2014. Werewolf Massacre at Hell’s Gate was the second of his books to be adapted into film in 2015. Major Japanese publisher, Takeshobo, bought the reprint rights to his Kaiju Apocalypse series (with Jason Cordova) and the mass market, Japanese language version was released in late 2017. Ring of Fire Press has released a collected edition of his Monster Society stories (set in the New York Times Best-selling world of Eric Flint’s 1632). In addition to his fiction, Eric also writes an award winning comic book news column entitled “Comics in a Flash” as well a pop culture column for Altered Reality Magazine. Eric lives in North Carolina with his wife and two children where he continues to write tales of the hungry dead, blazing guns, and the things that lurk in the woods.

  1

  James Payne lounged in his lawn chair under the overhang of the cave, reading one of his Louis L’Amour westerns. The paperback was missing the front cover, and the pages were about to fall out of the spine, but that didn’t deter him from continuing the saga of the marshal
single-handedly trying to protect the townsfolk from the ruthless outlaw gang.

  He flipped the page, bumping his elbow against the barrel of his 30-shot magazine Bushmaster automatic rifle leaning against the armrest.

  It could hardly be called a sporting hunting gun—more of an essential weapon for protecting one’s property.

  He took a break from his book, dog-eared the page, and tossed the reading material onto the backpack just inside the cave. The cavern went back twenty feet, was ten feet wide, and was high enough to walk upright to the rear of the hollowed rock.

  Marijuana stalks hung from clotheslines stretched across the width of the cave, the ends anchored to carabiners wedged in the crevices in the walls. A large blue tarpaulin was on the ground where James would bring in his lawn chair and trim the buds off the stalks. A couple canvas picking sacks with neck straps were on the ground next to some tilling spades, shovels, rakes, and hoes leaning against the cavern wall.

  He had a modest setup for cooking: a frying pan and a pot for boiling water and a double-burner portable Coleman camp stove. For lighting at night, he had one flashlight and a kerosene lantern. His sleeping accommodations consisted of a dirty mummy goose-down bag on top of an inflatable air mattress that demanded to be frequently filled up with air with a foot pump as it had a slow leak.

  Besides preparing the next shipment for transport down the mountain, eating, sleeping, and suffering mind-numbing cabin fever, even though he was in the great outdoors and it was a cave, there wasn’t much more for James to do during his solitary five-day durations sharing the duties of the family business, other than to read.

  James raised his arms and stretched. He got up from his chair, leaving the slumped webbing in the shape of his butt.