Redneck Apocalypse

by Eric S. Brown

  The rest of the folks in town talked it too. Some took Richard’s side and wondered why a vet with so much experience got turned down when newbies like Farmer and Steadson were pretty much given their jobs right off the street. Those who took Richard’s side, though, mostly kept quiet about it except amongst themselves. Most of them believed Bryson was as corrupt as they came and sure wouldn’t be voting for him when the next election came around.

  The others in town believed the reason was much more simple. They figured Richard was burnt out and dangerous. Having him as a deputy was like handing a murderer a loaded gun to them. Danny didn’t really care. He steered clear of the law and kept his head low, staying out of trouble … until tonight.

  Harold had been his best friend for as long as he could remember. Still, Danny couldn’t quite get a grip on why this was so important to him. Proving that Harold wasn’t at fault in the wreck may or may not change things for Rita, just as she said, and it sure wasn’t going to bring Harold back.

  Folks in town had never been kind to Harold. Most of them thought he was the idiot that Scott thought he’d been. And maybe that was it, Danny realized. When Scott had been so cruel right after Harold’s funeral, that was the moment Danny had known he had to stand up for his friend. Now, here he was, risking a run-in with the Sheriff, maybe jail time, and even his life if the crazy stories about the Babble Creek Monster were true and for what? To say to folks that his friend was a better person than they thought he’d been? Danny suddenly found himself wondering if it was all worth it. The money he had paid Richard was everything he had. It had taken over a year just to save up that much in this hellhole of a town. He’d gone too far to give up, though, and there was no chance of Richard handing over his money even if he did call it all off.

  “We’re here,” Richard said, stepping from the trees onto the road. The dogs had went from whining and being reluctant to follow to trying to break away from Richard’s hold on their leashes. They wanted out of this place bad.

  Danny saw the mangled guardrail that Harold’s truck had plowed through several yards up the road from where they stood. This was just the edge of the area where everything had happened. They weren’t even to the real site of the wreck yet.

  “So what now?” Richard asked.

  Danny shrugged. “I don’t know. I guess I was hoping you’d tell me.”

  Richard stared at him as if Danny had lost his mind. “What do you mean you don’t know? Don’t you have some kind of a plan or something?”

  “Not really,” Danny admitted. “I was hoping we’d see something that might point us in the right direction of what to look for.”

  “All I see is a mangled guardrail, kid,” Richard shook his head.

  Rain began to fall. Heavy droplets splattered into the ground as Richard began to curse. “Great. That’s just great,” he raged. “Figures don’t it?”

  “A little rain won’t kill you,” Danny assured him. “Besides, it’ll help dampen the heat.”

  Something shrieked in the night. The cry was unlike anything Danny had ever heard before. It sounded part animal, part human and all violence and death. The shriek was quickly followed by the sound of a weapon firing. The popping noises of pistol being discharged rapidly, again and again, came from somewhere down the mountain.

  “That’s the deputy at the roadblock,” Richard told him, but before the older man could say anything more, the dogs went wild. They snapped at him as Danny was too stunned to do anything but watch. Earl, the bigger of the two dogs, sunk its teeth into the flesh of Richard’s hand. Richard let go of the dogs’ leashes and jerked his wounded appendage away.

  “What the Hell?” Richard screamed as he watched his dogs darting off into the trees, heading back the way they had came. “Fine then, you bastards!” he called after them. “See if I hunt you down and take you home!”

  Richard cradled his bleeding hand to his chest as the gunfire fell silent.

  “We got to go help him,” Danny urged Richard.

  “Who?” Richard snapped.

  “The deputy at the roadblock!”

  “Screw that, son,” Richard snarled. “I done and lost my dogs. I ain’t about to go walking into a firefight for someone I don’t even know.”

  Danny shook his head in utter disgust at Richard’s selfishness and then started running in the direction the shots had came from.

  “Now you’re leaving me too?” He heard Richard shout but ignored him.

  The incline of the road was steep as Danny ran. Twice he lost his footing from the slickness of the rain and went sprawling onto the asphalt. Each time, he scraped skin off his hands and the knees of his ragged jeans became stained with blood, yet he got up and kept running.

  He skidded to a halt as the patrol came into view,. Only with luck, he kept his balance from nearly falling again. The light atop the lawman’s car was torn halfway off and lay sideways on the vehicle’s roof. Shown in the glow of the car’s headlights, the top half of deputy Steadson lay on the road several feet in front of the car. Long strands of ripped and shredded intestines sprawled over the road like red slicked, purple snakes. Steadson’s eyes were wide open and his expression, even in death, was one of utter terror.

  The patrol car’s door and part of its driver seat lay at the roadside as if something had yanked them from its frame. As if something had tossed them there. Soon any question Danny had was answered as a monster appeared. The creature rose up from where it was digging at something inside the vehicle, standing to its full height. It towered over the car. The thing was over eight feet tall and its entire body was covered in thick, red stained, brown hair. Through the rain, its yellow glowing eyes spotted Danny. From the recesses of its throat, the beast let out a long guttural growl that rose above the pattering of the rain.

  Danny retreated a step, bringing up his bow. His left hand reached over his shoulder, drawing an arrow from the quiver he carried on his back. Slowly he notched it. Danny stood like a statue, trying to stay as motionless as he could, watching the beast, letting it make the first move. There was no doubt of how strong the thing must be. What the beast had done to the deputy and the patrol car were a testament to the damage it was capable of.

  With an eerie grace, the beast slid around the front of the patrol car and moved towards him. Its pace was unhurried and calm. If the thing recognized his bow as a weapon, it remained unconcerned by it. Danny stood his ground and allowed the creature to come closer, using the time to pick his target spot on its body and take careful aim. He doubted a single shot would be enough to stop the beast regardless of where he hit it but he wasn’t about to just stand here and let it tear him apart like it had the deputy.

  The loud crack of a rifle shot made Danny jump, messing up his aim, as the beast roared and sprang forward. His arrow flew wild, barely grazing the beast’s head as it soared passed it The rifle shot, however, thudded into the beast’s side, blowing away a chunk of flesh and hair. A second shot thundered as Danny whirled his head around to see Richard nearby and jerking back the bolt of his rifle to chamber a third round even as the second one struck the monster in front of them.

  The second bullet caught the beast in its right temple, caving in that portion of its skull. With a loud, pained grunt, the beast staggered sideways and toppled to the road. That didn’t stop Richard from taking another shot though. The older man marched right up on top of the thing, pressing the barrel of his .30-06 into its face, and then fired. The beast’s face resembled a squashed pile of ground beef as Richard shouldered his rifle and looked over at him.

  “Well, what do you know?” Richard shrugged. “This bastard was real after all.”

  Danny didn’t have a clue what to say. He just stood their staring at Richard in shock.

  Richard snapped his fingers. “Earth to Danny! Come in boy,” he shouted. “Stop standing there and get a move on.”

  “What?” Danny stammered.

  “That car, son,” Richard pointed at the patrol car. “It�
��s got a radio, don’t it?”

  “Yeah,” Danny said, “Yeah, it does.”

  “Then I suggest you get on it and call this in. We sure ain’t hauling these bodies into to town by ourselves. This guy here, why, we couldn’t even get him into your pickup’s bed if we drove it up here.” Richard poked the beast’s corpse with the tip of his rifle. “I’d wager he weighs a good nine hundred pounds or more on his own. Besides, I want to see the look on Bryson’s face when we show him this thing.”

  “Right,” Danny nodded, still feeling too numb to think much for himself. He regained what composure he could and started for the patrol car.

  The town of Sylva was in an uproar. There hadn’t been a snowball’s chance in Hell that Sheriff Bryson could keep the monster a secret, not with Richard telling everybody about it after they had gotten the thing into town. There wasn’t a damn thing Bryson could do to stop Richard from doing it either. He wasn’t about to come down like a hammer on the vet.

  Danny suspected that Bryson was scared of Richard on some level. He, himself, however, was done with all of it. He left Richard to his gloating and the Sheriff to his headaches as soon as Bryson would let him go. Harold’s name had been cleared. That was enough. The evidence that the news people pried out of Richard and Bryson proved the beast had likely been a part of the accident on the Parkway. Bryson had bigger problems to worry with now than the details of Harold’s wreck.

  Scott was waiting for him when he got home. He sat on the porch swing with a beer nestled in his lap as Danny parked the pickup and got out.

  “Heard about what happened,” Scott said to him as Danny made his way onto the porch.

  “Word travels fast,” Danny said, collapsing into the chair across the porch from the swing. He was exhausted and just wanted to go to bed, but he knew there was no chance of that until he had talked with Scott.

  “Did you and Richard really kill the Babble Creek Monster?” Scott leaned forward, “The radio is saying it’s all some kind of hoax.”

  “Let them say what they want. I don’t care.”

  “You should,” Scott rocked back into the swing again. “Something like that could be your ticket out of this hellhole of a town. Just think about the—”

  “Who says I want out?” Danny interrupted him.

  “I’m not stupid, boy,” Scott frowned. “And neither are you. Do you really think Bryson is just going to let this slide? You just showed him in front of the whole town.”

  “I just showed folks the truth. Ain’t no law against that,” Danny argued.

  “Might not be, but Bryson will come after you all the same when things blow over a bit. You know I’m right.”

  Danny shrugged. “Not much I can do about that, Scott. What’s done is done, and on all accounts it needed to be done for a long time I reckon. All those animal mutilations, the missing campers and tourists … How much of that was the work of that … that thing. And did Bryson do anything about it? I almost wonder if he knew that the thing was real this entire time and just covered it up because he was too scared to deal with it.”

  “That’s my point, son,” Scott sipped at his beer. “Ain’t nobody gonna trust him anymore and who’s he got to blame for it?”

  The two of them sat in silence for a few minutes before Scott nodded at the pickup. “You fill it up like I asked?”

  “Yeah,” Danny answered. “Thanks for letting me borrow it.”

  Danny stood up and pulled out Scott’s Magnum, handing it to him. Scott grinned and took the gun.

  “Knew you had it,” Scott commented as Danny walked on into the house.

  Danny headed straight for his bedroom. He threw himself onto the covers, too tired to strip off his clothes or even his boots.

  Sheriff Bryson slammed his office door in the face of Joseph, the reporter from the Herald. The man simply didn’t understand the words “no comment” but maybe he would get the message now. The reporter was still yelling at him as he locked the door and lowered the shades over its glass before taking a seat behind his desk.

  Scott’s kid, Danny, and that crazy old vet, Richard, sure had stirred up a hornet’s nest of trouble. The press were all over what had happened on the Parkway last night. And it wasn’t just the local press either. Calls were coming in from as far away as Charlotte. Hell, some reporter from NBC had even called. They all wanted the story but even more so they wanted a look at the body he had tucked away over at the morgue. He hadn’t believed it when he had seen it himself.

  On some level, he had always known the thing was real and out there in the woods somewhere. There was too much evidence for it not to be, but seeing it first hand, well, that was something else. It scared the crap out of him and not just because it trashed his chances for re-election. That thing was really a monster. The only good news of the day was that the thing was finally dealt with. It wouldn’t be terrorizing the folks of Sylva, or Babble Creek for that matter, anymore.

  He slid open the drawer of his desk and took out the hidden bottle of Vodka and its companion glass he kept there for such stressful occasions. He poured the glass full and knocked it back in a single shot. The liquor burnt his throat but had that nice, smooth kick to it. The question was what did he do from here? There was no hope of him taking credit for the monster’s death not with Richard out there telling the story of what happened to anyone who would listen. He and that boy had to pay for what they had done, but Bryson knew he couldn’t move against them now. They had put him in the spotlight and not the good kind either.

  With how folks were reacting to the news of the monster, he might not even be able to hold onto his badge until the next election. The folks of Sylva were not a forgiving lot. If he wasn’t careful in how he handled things, they were going to crucify him for letting that thing run free for so long. Not that there had been a Hell of a lot he could have done about the thing.

  Someone knocked on his office door. Bryson slid the Vodka and glass back into the desk’s drawer, neatly concealing them before he shouted, “Go away! I’m busy!”

  “It’s just me, boss,” Paul said.

  Bryson got up and let him in. “What is it?”

  “Mayor Thompson wants to see you pronto.”

  Bryson sighed. Some part of him had wondered if things could get any worse and this proved to him that they could.

  “Tell him I’m on my way,” Bryson ordered as he marched passed Paul, shouldering the deputy from his path as he stepped out into the chaos again.

  Danny woke up around four o’clock in the afternoon. He had Scott drive him into town. It was the last place he wanted to go but Glen had promised his car would be ready today.

  Scott dropped him at Glen’s garage and hightailed it home. Danny knew Scott was spooked by Bryson. Not that Scott and the law had ever been friends but now he had all the more reason to steer clear of anyone wearing a badge in Sylva.

  Glen emerged from one of the cars he was working on as Scott drove away. “She’s ready and in the back.”

  “How much?” Danny asked, knowing whatever Glen told him, he didn’t have enough to cover it. The money he had paid Richard was very close to everything he had.

  “Had to rebuild the transmission,” Glen told him, “I’d say eighteen hundred should cover it.”

  “You know I don’t have that much, Glen,” Danny said sadly.

  “You’ve always paid your debts with me Danny,” Glen tossed him the keys. “Tell you what? You can work it off if you want to. Business will be good when the leaves start to change and all the tourists start rolling through. Same deal as usual.”

  “Thanks, Glen,” Danny stuck out his hand and Glen shook it. “Sounds good to me. When do I start?”

  “Monday,” Glen smiled. “Be here at eight, okay?”

  “Sure thing,” Danny answered and headed for the lot behind the garage where Glen kept the vehicles that belonged to his customers when they weren’t in the shop itself. Claire was waiting for him there. Her paint sparkled in the aftern
oon sunlight. She was a sharp green with flames that ran along the length of her sides. Danny didn’t have much in this world but he had her. He’d bought her second hand when he was sixteen and had spent a fair amount of time and money making her into the car she was before him. Custom paint job and engine, top of the line stereo system, and one of the fastest cars in town. Heck, Danny figured she could outrun the new cruisers the Sheriff’s department had gotten a few months ago. He was glad to have her back.

  Danny walked over to Claire and ran his hand over the smooth, sun-heated metal of her roof. A lot of people wondered why he named her Claire. She was a muscle car, through and through, tough, fast, and pretty as all get out. He didn’t care what they thought. Claire was her name and that was how it should be. She was named after his first, real girlfriend from high school. Her namesake had gone on to that “better place”. Claire was one of those unlucky few who went into the woods around Sylva and Babble Creek and had never came out. After what he had seen last night, it wasn’t something Danny wanted to think about. He shoved the thoughts of her out of his mind and eased himself into the driver seat. He turned the key in the ignition and the engine under Claire’s hood roared to life. It purred as he let it idle before finally shifting the car into drive.

  As he pulled out of the lot, everything felt right with the world again for the first time since Harold’s death. He cranked up Dreamline by Rush and put her pedal to the floor as he hit the open road.

  The day had flown by in a raging shitstorm. The sun was setting as Bryson drove his personal patrol car up to the mayor’s big house at the top of Rhode’s Cove. It had taken him hours to get here. Everybody that saw him as he left the department tried to stop him and ask about the “monster”. Not all of them were people he could just ignore. He had to keep up appearances no matter how fragged over he was. He had posted two of the department’s remaining five deputies at the morgue with strict orders to keep everyone but Doc Mills away from the creature’s body. If he returned and learned they hadn’t, there would be holy Hell to pay for those boys and they knew it.