Fatal Green

by The Brothers Washburn

  Camm expected to hear thumping noises coming down the stairs from the third floor, but she saw the snake moving smoothly across the steps. Noiselessly, it glided down, continuing past the second floor landing towards the ground floor.

  “Watch out on the first floor!” Camm yelled. “The snake is on the stairs, headed your way!”

  A loud hissing noise suddenly threatened her from behind. She flinched, but . . .

  DONG!

  Simultaneously jumping with a startle reaction and twirling around, Camm raised her .357 Magnum, prepared to come face to face with the rat. It was not the rat, but Lenny, sticking his head out a partially opened door, trying to get her attention.

  “Hey dude! What’s going on? Is the rat here or the snake?”

  Camm marched over and planted the palm of her hand on his face, pushing him back inside the room. Once she had retracted her hand, she slammed the door closed.

  “Stay in that room and keep that damn door closed until we say it is safe to come out! Your only job right now is to keep Martha safe. Do not open that door again.”

  It so irritated her that Lenny’s thoughtlessness put Martha at risk. All he had to do, after all, was keep the stinking door closed. She turned around to find Cal smiling at her.

  Raising his eyebrows, he said, “You swore!”

  DONG!

  Cal’s friendly accusation somehow relieved a little of the tension building inside her.

  The snake continued on its way to the main floor. The new agents began firing at it from the third floor balcony on both sides of the hall. Some of their bullets missed the snake and ricocheted off the slate floor, flying away in random directions putting everyone else at risk.

  “Cease fire!” That was Granny.

  “Stop firing!” That was Mr. S.

  They yelled instructions almost at the exact same moment.

  Mr. S continued, “Sorry, Granny, you take charge. Everyone out there, including all the new agents, listen to and obey Granny’s instructions.” Mr. S’s voice was already hoarse from yelling. It was just as well that Granny was in charge.

  The heavy-set agent in a dark suit leaned over the balcony above. “I’m in charge here!”

  Mr. S stepped further out into the hall, so he could be seen more clearly in the light of the flare. “You are mistaken Mr. Williams! I am Mr. S and Swift Creek is my operation. Nothing happens here without my approval. I will deal with you, Mr. Williams, later, when we are out of danger. In the meantime, you and your men will listen to and obey Granny’s instructions without question or delay. I trust that I make myself clear.”

  Cal pulled back from the rail and indicated a direction to Camm with his head. “Let’s set up on the back balcony where we can get a better view of what’s going on down there.”

  Grabbing each other by the hand, they ran along the balcony to the far end of the main hall, where the balcony turned to run along the back wall. Both slid to a stop above the fireplace.

  DONG!

  Camm surveyed the scene, from the monstrous fireplace below to the massive front doors at the far end of the hall. For the first time, she saw Agent Allen and Mr. S. Mr. S was huddled with Granny, both pointing at the snake. Agent Kline was at the ready, a huge shotgun leveled at the snake. The snake was coiled in the middle of the main hall with its enormous head raised high above the floor as if trying to figure its next move.

  DONG!

  That was all Camm saw below before a wave of ugly washed over her. The horrible feeling sank deep, holding on to her like long, cold fingers that encircled her body, squeezing her tight. Next, it felt like someone had opened the top of her head and poured in gallons of icy, freezing hate. Like a sub-zero liquid, it filled her from her toes up to her head. Her whole body shook.

  The burning flare on the floor below began to burn less brightly. Without warning, it suddenly blinked out. Once again, the mansion was pitch black.

  “Heads up everyone!” Camm yelled in alarm. “The rat is . . .”

  DONG!

  “Huh?” Cal sounded puzzled. “I could swear that was the thirteenth chime. Why would the clock strike thirteen times?”

  Camm sidled closer to Cal, bumping into him suddenly in the dark. “Cal! Cal!” Clinging to his arm, she could hear the panic in her own voice. “It’s here! It’s here! The rat is right here!”

  In the total darkness, she could not see a thing.

  Cal swung desperately from side to side, not knowing which way to point his gun.

  “Are you sure? I don’t hear it.” He hesitated. “But I smell it. Camm, the rat is nearby.”

  A hellish rotten-egg smell permeated the air—it was the rat’s signature stench.

  Camm could barely breathe. “I smell it too. It’s freakin’ here, really close.”

  For an instant, a flash of lightning lit up the hall. In the brief moment, between the flash of light and inevitable thunder, the rat’s malevolent thoughts and feelings spoke in Camm’s mind.

  . . . see you!

  It was an evil whisper only she could hear. Thunder boomed across the hall.

  Camm’s head spun back and forth, but the mansion was pitch black again. She saw nothing.

  “Cal, the rat can see us. I don’t know where it is, but it has to be close.”

  A chill ran down her spine. Knowing the rat could see her, while she couldn’t see it, was unnerving.

  Using the brief instant of light during the next lightning strike, Camm tried to survey her vicinity and discover the rat’s hiding place. It was in vain. The light was gone too soon.

  Before the thunder could respond to the lightning, the rat spoke to her mind again.

  . . . see you!

  Camm saw herself through the rat’s eyes, turning in circles, her skin pale, eyes wide in fear. She froze and was looking at her own back. Cal stood clueless next to her, aiming his gun the wrong way down the hall. The rat pounced on her from behind. Blood filled her vision.

  BOOM! BANG! Thunder roared and echoed through the great hall.

  The rat was mocking her, filling her mind with visions of her own destruction. She could feel its presence close enough to attack. Camm whirled around, but she could sense nothing where the rat’s vision hinted it was hiding. Instead, the vision changed. She saw the top of her head as if the rat now stared down at her from the balcony above.

  Vision Camm and real Camm glanced up at the same time, but saw nothing in the dark. The rat leaped down from the balcony above landing on Camm and Cal together, crushing them both beneath its girth, and simultaneously ripping Camm’s head off with a single vicious bite.

  Camm staggered into Cal. “Cal, it’s close enough to attack, but it’s teasing me, mocking me.” As she spoke, she sensed an evil glee in the feelings she received from the rat. It was going to eat her, but first, it had to play with her feelings, like a cat played with a mouse.

  “Camm, what do we do? If I can’t see it, I can’t shoot it.” Stress and desperation filled Cal’s voice. He wanted to help her, but didn’t know how. Her mind zoomed in circles a million miles a minute. She didn’t know what to do. What could she do?

  Another burst of high-energy electrical light flashed outside, so close the static caused the hairs on her arm to stand on end. Stepping away from Cal, Camm spun around three hundred and sixty degrees, searching without success for the rat.

  The rat’s malicious thoughts filled her mind.

  . . . see you!

  Camm saw herself as if from one of the peepholes in the wall. The rat was in the secret passageway she had once used to escape the mansion. She heard the rat’s bloodthirsty screech as it crashed through the wall, grabbing Camm by the throat with a vice-like bite that crushed her spine.

  Boom! Boom! Boom! The thunder was so loud and close she felt the compression of each shock wave hit her chest. Cal grabbed h
er arm as she staggered into the banister.

  She shook her head to clear her thoughts. Why was she standing here, waiting for the rat to attack? She had to do something—she had to take charge.

  “Camm, are you okay?” Agent Allen’s voice drifted up from far away, from somewhere down below. How reassuring to hear her friend’s voice! It calmed her.

  Her mind clicked into gear and the fog of fear lifted. “Linda, we need your help! The rat is here. We can’t see it, but it’s very close, almost on us, ready to attack!”

  “Coming!” What a relief to hear that one word. “Hang on Camm! I’m coming up!”

  Next came Granny’s voice. “Kline, get up there too!”

  Already moving, Agent Kline responded, “On my way.”

  Panic and desperation disappeared from Camm’s voice. She was ready to take charge. “Granny! We could use some light up here.”

  “Got you covered!”

  Granny tossed one flare after another far out onto the stone floor until three flares bathed the great hall with much needed light. Smoke bubbled up from each flare.

  The giant snake hissed in anger, moving aside, staying away from the brilliant, hot lights.

  Finally, Camm had the light to survey her surroundings and search for real threats. The rat’s game was ended. She knew the rat had to concentrate to extinguish light, and putting out multiple, widespread burning lights was difficult, if not impossible. If it tried to extinguish all three flares, it would open itself up to discovery.

  Cal elbowed her. When she turned to face him, he again jerked his head in the direction she should look. “I see it. There!”

  Her eyes found it immediately. The noxious nose dripped green slime as it stuck out the doorway of the end room in the corner of the main hall. She and Cal had run right by it.

  Slowly, it crept forward out of the room, revealing itself in all its horrid glory. The flare light from downstairs gave enough light to make out its features. In Camm’s eyes, it had grown even uglier, more dreadful. The green matted fur, the long claws, the mossy, dripping fangs, and worst of all, those horrible, red criminal eyes. There it was. And, here she was.

  . . . see you!

  She knew her gun couldn’t kill it, but she felt ready for whatever it had planned.

  Crouching on its hind legs, it prepared to pounce. Both Camm and Cal assumed a shooter position, feet spread apart, shoulders square, arms straight as they braced to defend themselves.

  BOOM! Camm nearly jumped out of her shoes.

  At first, she thought it was another thunderclap, but it wasn’t. Agent Allen had fired a round from the Smith & Wesson 500 straight down the balcony and directly into the rat’s chest.

  Camm had no idea a gun could be so loud. The rat recoiled, screeching in obvious pain.

  Agent Allen had scaled the stairs in record time to come up behind Camm, facing the rat. “Back off, you green piece of crap!” She was in full macho mode. Clearly, she knew what she was doing with the mammoth revolver. In quick succession, she let go with two more shots, both finding their target. The sound waves reverberated across the expanse of the great hall.

  Screeching, the rat twisted in agony, jumping closer to Camm and Cal, then away. Trying to hide behind the railing at the corner of the balcony, it resumed its attack stance and tensed to leap. Before Camm could react, there was another blast. This time from behind the rat.

  Agent Kline had come up the opposite stairs and was striding along the balcony toward the rat from the other side. He had hit the rat in the back with a blast from the eight-gauge shotgun. Again, the rat twisted and swirled, shrieking in deep pain.

  Agent Kline bellowed, “I would do what the lady says if I were you!”

  He fired again, hitting his target once more dead center.

  Screeching, the rat backed away to the corner again, trying to hide from the eight-gauge pellets slamming into its body. But in so doing, it re-exposed itself to the fury of the Smith & Wesson 500 and received two more direct hits from that weapon. Green fluids splashed in all directions.

  Howling now in serious pain, the rat slumped lower, not knowing where to flee.

  The rat was in an impossible position. Caught at the corner of the balcony, it faced Agent Allen with her .50 caliber handgun on one side and Agent Kline with his piece of hand held artillery on the other side. It couldn’t move around the corner to hide from one without moving into the open to be shot by the other. It was cornered.

  Agent Allen had to reload, so the rat took that brief moment to jump up on the railing and fling itself off the second floor balcony and down onto the main hall floor below.

  Unwittingly, the rat had escaped the excruciating gunfire only to find itself in a worse position. It had jumped out of the frying pan into the fire. It now had the snake to contend with, and the snake’s full attention was instantly focused on the rat.

  XXXIII

  Leaning over the balcony railing, Camm peered down as the two monstrous creatures squared off, each maneuvering into its most advantageous position against the other.

  The instant the rat vaulted down from the second floor balcony, the snake’s massive head had whipped around to face the rat. The raucous din of the snake’s giant rattles filled the hall. Head high above the ground, the snake swayed back and forth, keeping the rodent always within plain view of its remaining eye. Focused on its old enemy, it wasted no time closing in on the rat.

  While the rat did not appear anxious to engage the snake, the rat did not try to completely escape it either. Hopping warily back and forth, the rat kept the reptile at a safe distance. Both animals avoided the three burning flares lighting the whole drama.

  Tilting her head back to Cal, Camm calmly stated, “I have an idea.”

  Twisting away from the railing, she called, “Linda.” As she took a step toward Agent Allen, Camm’s left leg collapsed beneath her, sending her sprawling out on the floor.

  Cal dropped by her side. “Camm, your pant leg is all bloody!”

  Agents Allen and Kline rushed in to see what had happened. Agent Allen pushed the others aside and knelt for a closer inspection. “You’ve been shot,” she told Camm matter-of-factly.

  Camm stared at her calf, truly perplexed. How could she be shot and not feel it? Up to this point, Camm had felt no pain. “Who shot me?”

  “I’m sure it was an idiot on the third floor,” Agent Kline offered, scowling in their direction.

  Agent Allen looked up confused. “Who are those guys on the third floor?”

  “We will tell you later.” Agent Kline examined the injured leg. “It looks like a flesh wound, a through and through. We need to get something around the wound to stop the bleeding.”

  Agent Allen produced a large handkerchief and searched for any kind of dressing. Kneeling next to Agent Allen, Cal used his pocketknife to cut strips from his shirt. Agent Kline stepped over to the railing with his shotgun at the ready, standing guard while Cal and Agent Allen worked on Camm’s wound. As Agent Allen cinched the kerchief tight around the wounded calf, a flash of pain shot up Camm’s leg. Tightening her jaw, she squeezed Cal’s hand harder, but made no sound.

  Finished with the dressing, Cal and Agent Allen helped Camm stand up. Looping her arm over Cal’s broad shoulders, she said, “Hold on to me. You’re my crutch. Let’s go.”

  Disapproving, Agent Kline shook his head. “You should not be moving around on that leg, young lady. We should keep it elevated until we can get you to a hospital.”

  Grimacing, Camm propelled Cal forward. “Not now. There will be time for that later.” Pointing to the bedroom door where Martha and Lenny were barricaded, she continued, “Take me over to that bedroom. Everybody come with me. We have some important business to discuss.”

  With Cal’s arm around her waist, Camm hobbled along, putting most of her weight on her good leg as they made thei
r way to the bedroom door. Agent Allen strode out in front, keeping her hip cannon ready. Agent Kline followed as rearguard.

  Down on the main floor, the snake and rat continued their dangerous dance. The snake struck at the rat, who leaped away barely in time to avoid being skewered by the snake’s fangs. Then, the rat jumped at the snake, clawing out bits and pieces of snake flesh. The rat kept trying to maneuver itself into the snake’s blind spot, but the snake was careful to defeat such attempts.

  Once Camm’s team reached the bedroom door, she slid the .357 under her belt and pounded on the door. “Hey you two in there, open this door. We need to talk strategy.”

  The door squeaked open a few inches, Martha’s face showing through the crack. “What’s up?” Then, Martha spied Camm’s bandaged leg and swung the door wide. “Camm, you’re hurt!”

  “It’s nothing. Just a flesh wound.” With a smile, Camm brushed away Martha’s concern. Peering over Martha’s shoulder, Camm called, “Lenny! Front and center, I need your help.”

  Camm whispered to Cal, “I was sure Lenny would be useless to us in this battle, but now, I think we can truly benefit from his knowledge.”

  Lenny stepped forward and gave a sloppy salute. “Dude?” which meant, what’s going on? “We heard all this gunfire, I mean, like really loud gunfire. Did ya kill the beasties?”

  “Not yet.” Camm glanced around as if getting her bearings. “Lenny, I want you and Agent Kline to come with Cal and me down to the grandfather clock. I have an idea.

  “Linda, will you stay here with Martha and make sure nothing happens to her?”

  Agent Allen nodded, glancing over to Martha, but Martha shook her head adamantly. “No way, Camm. I’m coming down too. I can help. Please don’t push me aside.”

  “Martha, I don’t want you to risk it. I don’t want you getting hurt.”

  Martha placed her hands on her hips and stared pointedly at Camm’s bloodied pant leg. “You mean like you? I can see you’ve already been injured. I know you think you’re superwoman, but I’m not helpless. I don’t need you to be my mother, but I do need you to be my sister, and I want to be your sister, your full and equal sister.”