by Tisha Wilson
He had never in his life seen such a sexually beautiful creature. He found it hard to compose speech for a moment. Once he got over the shock, his police training kicked in again. “Suspect. Get down on the ground with your hands above your head and don’t move,” he said in a commanding voice.
*
Al’s first impression of the uniform was not one she would have expected. At least not for this little backwoods town. He was like a diamond in the rough. He was tall, at least six foot four inches, and lean with just the right amount of muscle. He was a clean shaven white boy. The tan of his skin and his black hair suggested that perhaps he had some type of ethnicity in his background, however. His eyes were sharp as a hawk as he trained his weapon on her.
“Cher. I don’t get on the ground for no man, lessin’ he’s plannin’ on comin’ down there with me,” she said in her best Creole accent. She nearly laughed at the look on his face. So serious.
“Are you refusing the direct order of a police officer?” he asked in that tone that cops used to try to take control of a situation. She shook her head feeling bad for him. He had no idea what was about to happen, but she did. All too well.
“Naw. I’m just sayin’ that it aint very courteous or gentlemanly of you to be askin’ a lady to get down on the ground in the dirt like a dog. D’accord?” She began to remove her gloves and waited for the tell tell signs of an over anxious cop. If he was going to loose his cool his finger would begin to tighten uncomfortably on the trigger of his gun.
He didn’t move a muscle as he seemed to think over her words. She saw him come to some sort of conclusion. “Turn around and put your hands in the air as you slowly back towards me,” he changed his directive.
She couldn’t help but to grin at this. “Well well. Chivalry aint all the way dead anyhow,” she teased.
“Ma’am. I said turn around and put your hands in the air,” he repeated with more force.
He was so handsome with his strong hands and serious face. If he weren’t a cop she might have had a go at him. Maybe she would anyway and risk Bateman’s wrath later. Her mentor hated her to get involved with law enforcement. It made the clean up that much harder.
“Don’t get your cute buns in a twist. I heard you the first time, but if you are going to slap cuffs on me, then who is going to help you with them?”
*
Jerry told himself not to look in the direction to which her gaze had shifted. It was obviously a ruse to divert his attention. There was nothing and no one in this deep part of the woods but him, her, and the birds. Still, the tension that entered her body, as if she were preparing for a battle, caused him to briefly glance to his left. At first glance he saw nothing, but then… deep in the foliage he saw it. Two dots glowing red in the dark. It was like the reflection of a dog’s eyes in the darkness only instead of the iridescent green glow, these eyes were starkly and menacingly red.
He swung his gun that way just as the creature stepped out into the moonlight at the edge of the clearing they were in. His heart hammered in his chest as he struggled to see what it was. It was as big as a grizzly bear but the snout was… wrong. It was long like a dog’s, and the arms and legs didn’t look like a grizzly’s. The arms and legs looked like… like a very hairy human.
He blinked a few times in stunned silence as he watched it move steadily forward. Was he dreaming? Was he still sitting in his car on the side of the road asleep? Had the heat finally rotted his brain? His police training took over his stalled brain and before he even knew what was happening he was shooting. As far as he could tell he was making direct body shots but the thing only paused as slugs hit it.
The bullets only seemed to enrage it further. His magazine was empty before he knew it and there wouldn’t be time to reload before it reached him. He heard someone screaming as he closed his eyes. He braced himself for the attack. Who the hell was screaming? He remembered the woman then and suddenly the screaming stopped. He realized with a start that it had been his own voice screaming like a frightened woman.
On the heels of that thought was the realization that instead of having his arm ripped off like he expected, he heard a blast come from somewhere near the hood of his car. He opened his eyes to see the monster fall clutching its chest as it burst into flames. The stench that came off the burning body was putrid and he covered his nose with the back of his hand.
He turned to see the woman standing up on the hood of his car. She had pulled the flaps of her jacket back to reveal a small arsenal of guns, knives, bullets and grenades. For the second time his jaw nearly hit the floor. She had two guns, both the size of cannons, one in each hand, and she was taking aim into the woods. As she fired again he turned to see two more figures in the woods burst into flames.
“What the hell are those things and who the hell are you?” he screamed as he turned back to her.
“Right now cherie… I’m here to save your tight little ass and that’s all you need to know,” she said as she turned those piercing violet eyes on him. Her little smile did something to his heart that he hadn’t felt in a long time. She tossed one of her cannons at him and he was shocked by the weight as he caught it.
“What the hell! Are you crazy, you don’t just go tossing loaded weapons at people! I could have shot something important off trying to catch this thing,” he said in shock.
She laughed in the face of his concern and he knew his face had turned red. “That will work a little better than your police issued pistol I think cher. Hopefully you’re better at shootin’ than you are at gettin’ people to lie down in the dirt sugar,” she said with a wink.
He was still staring at her in astonishment when she turned and shot into the woods. Her boots left dents in the hood of the Crown Vic. He was about to demand she get down when he saw one of those creatures come running out of the woods at her back. He took aim and pulled the trigger. The kickback nearly tore his arm off as it knocked him to his ass. He scrambled back up to his feet to see that he had hit his target and it was burning in the grass.
He smiled up at her and saw her briefly roll her eyes. “Good job stud but you might want to watch your own back.”
Jerry turned just in time to see another creature burst through the trees. It released a blood curdling snarl and was so close that Jerry had to cover his ears. When it was through it came at him like a freight train. He took aim and fired. Blood, ash and saliva burst in his face. Another scream came from his right and he turned just in time to see two attacking the biker woman simultaneously.
The creatures had left the woods so swiftly that they had hit her like linebackers. He heard the breaking branches and crashing trees that indicated more of them were in the distance on their way. He jumped up on the hood and took aim. He didn’t want to hit the woman but these things were going to tear her to shreds. He took two shots and seemingly hit his mark when he was hoisted into the air.
The woman got to her feet and he saw a deep gash in her face. She had a feral angry look as she shot the beast that had gotten a hold of him and was about to toss him like a stone across his car. He fell to the ground with a thud and rushed to his feet to avoid getting burned by the rancid smelling burning body. He had just gained his feet when he was hit on the right side. He was hit so hard that he fell into his car across the front seat.
The gun was knocked from his hand into the floor board and the creature was on him in that same second. Jerry used all of the strength in his arms to keep the thing off him. He cried out as the thing leaned down into him, digging into his shoulders with its big claws. It was slimy to his touch and it stank of dead bloated flesh. It breathed on him as it got closer and closer, its rows of razor sharp teeth inches from his face.
He turned away and realized too late that he had just left his neck open and exposed for the creature to rip out. This was it. This was the end of his life here in this old broken down cruiser with this big stinky freak show chomping on him like a buffet. Just when his strength was going to give out the c
reature burst into flames on top of him. He hurried to push it out and slam the door. The biker woman slid into the passenger side and closed the door behind her.
He was about to ask her if she was all right when he noticed the smooth skin of her face. Hadn’t he seen a big gash there a few minutes ago? She took one look at him and then reached for his shirt. She unbuttoned his uniform shirt and began to pull it from his pants. And then down his arms.
“Is this the part of the dream where we make out?” he asked. Why he had said it he didn’t know. Maybe his brain had shut down with shock.
She laughed with a husky laugh that did all sorts of things to him. He had too many emotions running through him all at once. Adrenaline, fright, arousal. He didn’t know what to latch on to so he found himself focusing on her beautiful face. She was more beautiful than any woman had a right to be. Her beauty was at odds with the hellion that he had just seen standing on the hood of his car looking like an Amazonian princess.
“I’m afraid that this is not that kind of dream shug.” She pulled a knife and began to cut his shirt into strips. His arousal turned to trepidation as he saw the size of the knife. At that moment he realized that his police issue pistol was lying out on the ground and he had only his flashlight and baton for defense. He was a flashlight cop at the moment. He swallowed hard to which she chuckled again.
“Not to worry mon petit. It ain’t that kinda dream either.” She slipped the huge knife back in her boot and he was surprised that it fit. The thing didn’t look like it should be able to fit next to the slender ankle.
She leaned forward and quickly bandaged the wounds on his shoulders and forearms where the animal had torn into his flesh with its nails. He hadn’t realized how much blood he’d lost until that moment and he was suddenly light headed.
“It’s okay if you want to sleep now,” she said.
“Sleep? Are you crazy? What the hell were those things?” he asked. He was trying to keep his wits about him as her hands brushed him in certain places where she tied bandages. When she was finished she looked away from him out the passenger side window. She said a curse as she reached across him and buckled his seat belt. Something hit the car with the force of a jumbo jet.
He saw dirt and then sky and then dirt and then sky as glass shattered and seemed to rain all around him. When the car finally stopped he felt blood trickle from his nose. He blinked a few times as his ears buzzed. He wanted to sink into darkness but the cop in him wouldn’t allow it. His first thought was for the woman who had reached across him to buckle him in, forsaking her own safety. His head neck and shoulders screamed against the motion but he turned to the passenger seat.
He nearly threw up at what he saw. She was draped across the back of the bench seat as if she were lying on her stomach slung over someone’s shoulder, only she wasn’t on her stomach. She was on her back. There was no way that she survived. Just as that thought hit him he saw her foot twitch. When she lifted her arms and pushed her broken back up off the chair he leaned far away from her against his door and stifled another unmanly scream.
He wanted to scream like a little girl this time. Instead he said, “What the hell is going on?!” The quiver in his voice would have to suffice in conveying his unease. A growl outside the front windshield, which was now shattered into a million pieces, took his attention. Just as he turned to look, the monster crashed down on his hood. There was blasting from her side of the car and he watched the mutated beast burst into flame.
“I crashed... I was chasing you on your motorcycle and I ran right into a tree and I’m dying on the side of the road. I should have given more to charity. I should have helped old ladies across the street or something. This is my penance, purgatory, whatever, right? Or maybe it’s just a joke. I-is my uncle watching somewhere? Are there cameras hidden because I-” He stopped rambling when the beautiful woman with the violet eyes reached across the seat and slapped him across the face.
He paused for a moment to collect himself. He forced his racing thoughts to settle down. He couldn’t handle trying to think of what was happening. He had enough just dealing with the moment. He looked out towards the woods and his heart nearly stopped. The red glowing eyes were everywhere. He swallowed all his fright and attempted a clear thought.
“Okay. You’re right. I deserved that. What the hell is going on?” he asked her again in a calmer tone.
*
Al watched him. So far he’d kept a far cooler head than some of the other innocents she’d dealt with. Most of them would be passed out cold by now, especially at the sight of their own blood. She had really been impressed by the way he’d handled himself with that wolf. Most she had come across wouldn’t have even tried to fight back, not against such a grossly grotesque looking beast. It was like they knew they would be ripped to shreds and didn’t even try. Those who did fight back usually didn’t have the strength to hold them off.
It was amazing that he hadn’t been bitten and she was grateful for that. He was way too beautiful of a man to turn into one of the ugly creatures. Had he turned, she would have had to smoke his ass. “This is not a joke and you have been in a car crash,” she answered both honestly and evasively.
She was taken aback by the look he gave her. It was a look that said she was full of shit and they both knew it. “I haven’t been in a crash. My car was sitting still when one of those… those… whatever they are hit it, so I ask again. What the hell is going on?”
She shrugged as she dug in the pocket inside her jacket. She found what she was looking for and then held it out to him.
*
Jerry looked at the devise she held out to him. He wasn’t a bomb expert but it looked like a detonator, complete with cheesy red button. There should have been a little sticker around it that said ‘push here to blow shit up.’ He looked at her and the number of grenades she had strapped to her chest. He then looked back out to the glowing eyes that were stepping out of the woods and taking shape in the darkness.
“You may do the honors if you like mon cher.”
He turned back to her and gave her his best ‘do I look stupid to you’ stare. “No thank you. I didn’t sign on for the death then forty virgin package deal. Some men go for that sort of thing but… I’m good.”
She looked like she didn’t follow for a moment until he motioned at the grenades on her chest. She laughed then. It was a husky sultry laugh that whispered to his senses. “Honey. You get the strangest ideas about thangs. I aint gonna blow us up but I’ll have to remember that whole forty virgins line.”
“Then what-”
Before he could say another word she pressed the button. The entire clearing was suddenly filled with a blinding light. He closed his eyes but not before the light had filled his vision and all he could see was white. He felt searing pain as he clutched his eyes.
“My eyes,” he cried out. He heard the creatures scream out from around the car and smelled that putrid smell of death as they fried. When the light finally dimmed he tried to open his eyes but to no avail.
“I can’t see,” he screamed to the woman that had been in the car. There was only silence. He pushed past the pain and did his best to open his eyes. He managed a small slit only to find himself completely alone in the stark silence.
“536,” the radio blared and he nearly jumped out of his skin. “This is 519 attempting to raise 536, respond.”
He picked up the mike with a shaking hand. “This is 536.”
“Your thirty minutes is up. You better be here in the next ten seconds or-”
Jerry stopped paying attention as he searched the floor board for her gun. It was gone. Even though he wasn’t steady on his feet he opened his car door and stumbled forward. He went to where her motorcycle had been parked when he’d pulled her over. There were so many crisscrossing tracks it was hard to say how many people had been dirt biking back here in recent days.
He found his gun and holstered it but that was pretty much all he found. There were a few
piles of burnt ash here and there, but at worst it looked like any other area where teens would come to have bonfires, perhaps a hang out for the local drunks. People would laugh him all the way back to Durham if he told them…
Suddenly his head was spinning. He sat down in the dirt and tried to right himself but before he could stop he was falling. Down, down, down, into sweet oblivion. His last thought was of her smell. A phantom woman couldn’t have a smell that would linger. Vanilla and… maybe a hint of lavender.
Chapter Two
Jerry came to in stages. First he became aware of the sawing in the next room. Then he felt a jack hammer beneath him. He groaned as he tried to move. He felt like he weighed a solid ton. Why was there construction going on in his house? Didn’t they know he had to work tonight? Plus, why would anyone be jack hammering in his house at all? And why was he so thirsty?
He tried again to lift his arm and was a little more successful this time. He froze as he realized why his arm weighed so much. It was casted. He opened his eyes fully and tried to sit up. There was no hammering or sawing. He was hooked up to some machines that where beeping and whirring and his head was pounding. He groaned again at his failed attempt to sit up.
“He’s awake. Go get a nurse.” He heard the words and recognized his Uncle Victor’s gruff voice. He tilted his head to see his uncle unfolding from the ridiculously small hospital chair. It looked as if he’d slept there.
Tonya Mahan, his Uncle’s Secretary, rose from the chair she’d occupied on his left side, and gave his hand a squeeze. There were tears in her eyes. “Thank God you’re all right. We tried to call your mother but I guess she’s still on her cruise. I’ll be right back with a nurse. Do you need anything? How about some juice. Yes. Orange juice will fix you right up. I’ll be right back.”
All Jerry could do was smile in her wake. Tonia thought that everything could be fixed with juice. Bad day? Have some juice. Sore throat? Have some juice. Nearly bitten by a deranged wolf bear… He closed his eyes with that thought. What the hell had happened out there? He couldn’t say for sure. Vanilla and lavender… had it all been a dream?