by JE Gurley
I motioned to the rear of the SUV. “Lie down. Get some sleep.”
She nodded and crawled into the back. Within minutes, she was sleeping soundly. I couldn’t. Her return had brought up too many emotions, too many unanswered questions. I couldn’t question her like a suspect but I could tell she still wasn’t telling me everything. I needed to be able to trust her but the detective in me wouldn’t allow that. This made it difficult to resume our relationship where it had broken off by her disappearance.
I was listing the reasons not to trust her, when a familiar loud screech broke the silence of the warehouse. Then the alarm went off. Something or someone was in the warehouse. I didn’t need two guesses as to whom. Joria sat up, staring at me.
“Stay here,” I barked at her.
I grabbed my weapon and rushed to the wall switch, pulled the lever and the warehouse erupted in a blaze of light. I scanned the room for my winged friend and was devastated to see a young girl, whom I assumed was Amy Mays, dangling from the overhead walkway. She clung precariously in place by her arms. She was half-naked with parallel scratches across her chest and blood running down her stomach, but she moved and moaned, so I knew she was still alive. She was the bait to draw me out.
Now, I faced two choices: I could ignore her, let her die and concentrate on killing the creature, or try to rescue her, placing both our lives in jeopardy. I knew the greater good would be to kill the creature at any cost, but looking at her, listening to her pathetic fevered moans, I knew I couldn’t leave her there.
I slung the elephant gun over my shoulder and began to climb the ladder to the walkway, keeping one eye open for the creature. As I reached the top, I spotted the creature near the roof, cowering behind a tangle of supporting beams, watching me. I stood and waved the gun at it.
“Come on down, bastard!” I yelled. “It’s time to die!”
The creature was in the mood to talk also. “Not my death, human, but yours. I have lived centuries, waited decades to reproduce. Three of my young, my children, are dead. My vengeance upon you will be fierce. I will drink your blood slowly over many days; then I will rip your body apart while you still live.”
I was surprised that the creature’s English was so good, better than mine was in fact. Its taunts didn’t bother me. I had heard worse from streetwise punks I had arrested for pissing in public, but in this case, I assumed the threats were real. I kept the gun trained on the creature as I walked towards the girl.
I immediately saw the inherent problem in my rescue attempt – to free her, I would have to set aside the gun and use both hands to pull her up onto the walkway. This would leave me defenseless. I approached the dilemma from a different perspective. Under the creature’s watchful eye, I descended the ladder and began to gather boxes, placing them beneath the dangling girl. If I could not pull her up, I would let her drop onto the cartons, hoping they would break her fall. I considered a few broken bones better than evisceration. In the back of my mind, it bothered me that the creature had so far not attempted to stop me. It just sat and watched me with curiosity.
I climbed back up the ladder and walked out on the walkway. In a blur of gray, the creature swooped down past me and out of sight below me. At first, I thought he was after the girl, but his goal was the light switch on the wall. Suddenly, the warehouse was plunged into darkness, the only light filtering in through the skylights from a pale moon. I went to my knees and cradled the elephant gun in both hands. I waited several minutes but nothing happened. The creature was toying with me. With a sigh, I crawled to the girl. She moaned and looked up at me.
“Please help me,” she begged. Her voice was weak. She looked as if she were about to pass out.
“My name’s Detective Hardin. I can’t pull you up. I have to let you drop.”
Her eyes opened wide. “No, please.”
“It’s okay,” I assured her, hoping I was right. “I have a soft place for you to land. It’s only a few feet.”
Before she could protest, I grabbed her arms and slid her body from around the walkway brace. I watched her plunge into the darkness, her eyes staring at me. With a loud thud, she smashed into the cartons fifteen feet below and rolled off them onto the floor with an audible groan. At least she was still alive. To my horror, I noticed Joria rush from the Explorer to her side. I hoped the creature didn’t see her.
I heard the flapping of the creature’s wings and swung around just in time to see it rise above the walkway. I fired wildly and missed, blowing a large hall in the metal wall behind it. The recoil jarred my shoulder savagely. The creature seemed to sense or perhaps had seen that the elephant gun had two barrels. It did not attack but flew away. I lost it in the darkness. I raced to the ladder, holding the elephant gun in one hand as I slid down the ladder. I had to get Joria and the injured girl back to the relative safety of the SUV. I couldn’t cover them and fight the creature.
Suddenly, the ladder shifted. I looked up into the eyes of the creature on the walkway above me as it used its enormous strength to wrench the ladder away from the wall. The ladder began to tilt backwards with me on it. I had no choice but to jump.
I landed hard and rolled but the creature wasn’t finished with me. It flew into the ladder as it fell and shoved it toward me. I scrambled out of the way but not quickly enough. One of the rails clipped my back before lodging across a wooden crate. If not for the crate, the entire weight of the steel ladder would have crushed me beneath it. Nevertheless, my back exploded in pain. I rolled to the wall, crouched and flattened myself against it cool metal, tears streaming from my eyes while I held the elephants gun out in front of me. If the creature had chosen that moment to attack, it could easily have killed me. I pulled out a flare, struck it on the floor and tossed it into the center of the warehouse. The corners remained in shadow but the flare provided enough light to see the immediate area.
The girl was lying on the floor, moaning, while Joria cradled her head in her arms. They were both fully exposed to the creature, outlined by the flare. Ignoring the pain in my back, I crawled over to them. Joria searched the air above us frantically while I examined the girl. The gashes on the girl’s abdomen were deep and no longer bleeding but they were obviously infected. Her entire chest was an angry red and swollen from capillary damage caused by the venom. I didn’t know how much blood she had lost, but at least she had no major neck wounds as had the others. The creature had taken her strictly to use as bait. Or, I reminded myself, as a snack after it was through with me.
I needed to get her attention. “Amy, listen to me. I’m a detective. I’m getting you to a safe place. Okay?”
She tried to focus on my face but failed. I couldn’t understand her mumbling. While Joria watched our backs, careful of any possible broken bones, I picked up the girl and carried her to my SUV. I placed her in the back, motioned Joria to join her. I quickly crawled inside and closed the door. I grabbed a bottle of water and a towel handed them to Joria. She cleansed the girl’s wounds as best she could and wiped her brow with the wet cloth. She was burning up with fever. I took an antibiotic ointment from a first aid kit Lew always carried in the Explorer and rubbed it on her wounds. I knew that it was a futile gesture, but I had to do something. Then I packed the gashes with gauze and taped it in place.
“That’s all we can do for now,” I told Joria.
“Will she live,” she asked.
“I don’t know.”
“She needs medical help.”
I realized my first priority should have been to get her to the hospital as quickly as possible, but if I knew that if I ignored this opportunity to kill the creature, more women would die. I handed Joria my keys.
“You take her,” I said.
She didn’t take them. “I can’t,” she protested. “They’ll ask questions.”
Her selfish refusal to help only reminded me that it was responsibility, but I dumped on her. “Drop her off and leave, then,” I roared, “but for God’s sake do something.”
&
nbsp; She took the keys.
“Let me get the bastard’s attention, then drive like hell.”
She swallowed hard and nodded.
I opened the door cautiously and stepped out. The creature had disappeared but I knew it was still in the warehouse, lurking in the shadows and watching. I stood in the middle of the warehouse, half-crouched because of the pain in my back, and taunted it by the dying light of the flare.
“Come on and get me, bastard! Here I am!”
I heard a high-pitched scream from one corner of the ceiling. The creature dove at me out of the darkness. I raised the elephant gun and fired, rolling to the ground just after pulling the trigger. The creature swooped over me, missing me with its claws by inches. My shot had gone wild but by the sounds the creature was making, I had managed to anger it. I heard it hit the wall near the sliding front door. Suddenly, the SUV cranked and the headlights flashed on high beam, spotlighting the creature against the door. I silently thanked Joria’s quick thinking and I fired from the hip. The gun bucked wildly, almost dislocating my wrist but I managed a lucky shot. Blood and gore exploded from its right leg just above the knee. The creature screamed and fell forward onto the concrete, its leg shattered. I reloaded quickly but the creature’s wings were still functioning. It ignored the pain and rose amid a cloud of dust kicked up by its wings and shot into the darkness. I hit the switch to open the door and watched as the Explorer shot through the narrow gap, barely missing the sides. I immediately closed the door behind it.
I didn’t wait for the door to close. I chased after the creature, firing as quickly as I could reload. Just before it reached the skylight, one of my shots found its mark low on the creature’s back. It fell halfway to the floor out of control, slamming into metal struts and braces in its descent, before it recovered and headed for the skylight again. I cursed as it flashed through the opening above me; then smiled as it fell back onto the rooftop and lay there.
The creature had destroyed my ladder, so I climbed the stairs to the offices, scrambled like an out of shape acrobat onto its roof and monkey walked up one of the supporting beams with the elephant gun strapped across my back until I reached the walkway. My desire to kill the creature overrode my vertigo. I scampered up the ladder to the roof and peeked out of the opening. The creature was still lying on the roof. Its chest was heaving, so I knew it was still alive. I checked to make sure my elephant gun was loaded as I cautiously approached the wounded Chupacabra. It rolled over to face me. Its leg was no longer bleeding but it was almost severed. Even with its remarkable powers of rejuvenation, it would take some time to heal.
“So, human,” it hissed through its teeth. “You think you have won.”
I smiled. “Oh, I have. I’m about to blast you back to hell or wherever you came from.”
“My kind has always been among you, since before you humans first crawled from the safety of your trees and took your first frightened steps. In time, you hunted us, your betters, as animals. We learned to hide, to bide our time. In time, you forgot about us, called us a myth. Now, your population grows so large, your disregard for your fellow human so strong, you do not blink at the loss of a few women. Our time draws near.”
“Not yours,” I said coldly, raising the elephant gun. “Enough talk.”
“Yes,” it said. “Enough talk.”
I had forgotten about its wings. It moved swiftly, far more quickly than I thought it capable, and rushed at me, easily knocking aside the gun. I fired both barrels but shot only empty sky. The creature was on me in spite of its broken leg. With one blow of its powerful wing, it slapped me so hard that it lifted me off my feet. I landed several feet away, stunned by the blow. I had also dropped the elephant gun. The creature, using one wing as a crutch, hobbled to me and stood over me. I moved my head just as a taloned foot came down where my head had been, digging into the roof, but I could not avoid the talon on the tip of the other wing. It grazed my stomach as it swept across. Fire blazed in my belly as warm blood cascaded down my side.
I rolled again and came to my knees. I had one more surprise for the creature and decided now was the time to use it. I doubted I would get a second chance. I reached into my pocket, fingered the device Escobar had given me and launched myself at it, taking it by surprise. I slipped under the creature’s wing, ripped off the paper and slapped the explosive to the creature’s back. A claw sliced into my thigh just as I pressed the thirty second timer and rolled away.
As I had hoped, the creature could not reach the explosive with its wing claw. Sensing the danger it was in, it took to the air, screaming its rage, twisting and turning in an effort to dislodge the explosive from its back. I hugged the roof and covered my head with my arms. The creature made it less than a hundred feet before the device went off, lighting up the night sky. The blast of the shaped charge was much quieter than I had expected. I looked up in time to see large smoking chunks of the creature plunging into the bay below. There was no way this Humpty Dumpty was going to put himself back together. In spite of my injuries, I danced a parting jig on the roof. The Chupacabra was dead! Long live the King! I stared at the dark water where the creature had splashed for ten minutes before I let myself truly believe it was gone.
The creature had left its mark on me. My stomach and my thigh were on fire. My back felt as if the ladder had dislodged several vertebrae. I knew I could never repeat my acrobatics to reach the floor. I walked to the edge of the roof and examined the fire escape. Looking down it to the ground so far below, a wave of dizziness came over me. I sat down on the edge of the roof to let it pass.
“In a little while,” I said to myself. I could see the ruins of the old monastery less than five miles away, only a splinter of the steeple remaining after the fire. I had lived my nightmare. Now it was time to sleep. I lay back, staring at the night sky. I was so tired. I knew I should go down and help the girl, but I had no energy. I heard heavy steps coming toward me. I looked up into the eyes of a giant – no, not a giant, but a big man wearing a dark suit. He stood over me for a moment staring down at me, then turned his gaze out toward the bay. He shook his head slowly.
“You’re a hard man to keep up with, Detective Hardin,” he said.
I detected a bit of West Virginia drawl in his voice. “Who are you?”
He reached into my pocket and pulled out my cell phone. “Your guardian angel.” He dialed and spoke into the phone. “911? I would like to report an emergency.”
I listened as he supplied the address and pertinent information. Then he hung up and handed me back my phone.
“Someone will be here soon.” He jerked his head toward the bay. “I should be pissed at you for killing the creature, but I’m not. I’m glad the bastard’s gone.”
I nodded, understanding now who he was. “Section One.”
He smiled. “Something like that.” He turned away. “I wasn’t here.” Then he was gone.
Shortly, I heard a siren drawing closer. I figured that was a good thing. I didn’t feel much like driving to the hospital. I didn’t feel much like doing anything.
18
When the ambulance delivered me to the ER, I was still conscious but just barely. The doctor took one look at me and ordered the attendants to steer me toward an examining room. I was too tired to argue. In the reflection of a glass-door cabinet, I saw the livid purple bruise across my lower back where the ladder had hit me. It was tender to the touch and I suspected it would be sore for quite some time. My right shoulder, already the recipient of so much punishment lately, also sported several deep bruises from the recoil of the elephant gun.
“You’re in horrible shape, Detective,” he said. “No kidney damage,” he said as he pressed and prodded as I winced and tried hard not to cry out in pain. “You may have some injury to your vertebral column. We can take some X-rays to check.”
Next, he examined the cuts to my stomach and thigh.
“My God,” he stammered. “These wounds are badly infected but they look fresh.�
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I nodded and pointed to the scar on my shoulder. “I’ve been through this before, doc. Just shoot me full of antibiotics and let me go home. We can hold off on the X-rays too. I feel fine.”
He scowled at me. “You can’t even sit up straight and you’re burning up with fever. You’re staying here for awhile.”
I tried to argue but he ignored my protests. I simply shrugged. “As you wish, Doc. A girl came in here earlier, Amy Mays.”
He eyed me suspiciously. “What do you know about her?”
“Is she all right?”
“She will live.”
I nodded, thankful for that. “What about the woman who brought her here?”
He glanced up from the chart on which he was scribbling. “She dropped her off and left. Very curious. Do you know her?”
I was glad Joria got away. “A little. Where is Ms. Mays now?”
“She’s in a private room guarded by the police. Is she in some kind of trouble?”
I lay back and closed my eyes. “She’s in less trouble than I am.”
****
I was getting used to awakening in the hospital. This time, I didn’t fight. I didn’t have the energy. I had hardly slept the past three days. I was sore, exhausted and still feverish from my wounds. My back felt as if someone had kidney punched me. It was difficult to find a position in which to lie that didn’t cause me severe discomfort. Still, I didn’t complain. I was alive and the creature wasn’t. I meekly let the nurses bathe me and change my dressings. I nodded silently when the doctor explained that I should take time off work to let my injuries heal.
I decided he was right. The case was solved. The creature was dead. All the guilt that had been driving me was gone, burned out by the fever perhaps or from the fact that I had satiated my rage. I had made bad mistakes but in the end, I had won. I suppose I should have felt triumphant. Instead, I felt melancholy. I could never regain the peace I had once felt when all I had to deal with were perverts and other assorted trash. I had won, but dampening my victory was the realization that nature was always one up on us, whether it be a hurricane, an earthquake or a hellish mythical creature from earth’s dawn. We were living in a different world. I couldn’t help wondering what else was out there in the shadows.