She peeled open a protein bar and ate it, and then put her plan of action into place.
First, she took two safety flares and cut them open with her Swiss Army knife and emptied the powder into two large plastic cups. Though tempted to tip back the bottle of vodka for a shot of liquid courage, she instead carefully poured each cup nearly full.
The inert materials in the flare compound that transformed the explosive mixture into a slow burning torch floated to the top. She used a spork to skim off the plastic polymers and sawdust, leaving only the volatile components in the bottom. Once that was done, she poured the vodka from each cup back in the bottle, and spread out the wet powder on a paper towel to dry.
Abe’s flashlight best suited her needs to use as bomb housing. Lauren removed the batteries and pried the power switch off. She cut a string off a tampon, tied one end in a knot, and threaded it from the inside of the battery casing to the outside.
The vodka evaporated quickly off the powder. Lauren shook the powder from the paper towel into the battery casing until it overflowed. She tightened the end cap so hard she thought the skin would peel off her fingers.
With the last remains of light quickly fading, she stuffed a backpack with her improvised weapons.
The flashlight was now a bomb with an explosive force of something close to a quarter stick of dynamite. She brought a Taser for the climb, a gift from her father in case she came across dangerous wildlife. Lauren preferred carrying her pistol, but other climbers always made a big deal against it whenever they would find out that she was packing heat.
The makeshift bomb and the Taser were her most powerful weapons. Along with them, she included Donna’s pepper spray, six of Cecil’s condoms, a box of kitchen matches, two eighteen inch ratcheting cargo straps, and the vodka.
Lauren set her watch to wake her in enough time to be at the mouth of the cave before sunup. She needed to have everything in place when she made her move. Surprise would be another element in her favor.
She rolled up a blanket and made a makeshift pillow for the night, and chuckled to herself. None of her classes in college had prepared her for the situation she now faced. The whole plan of action for the attack came from playing Xbox games. Converting a flare into a bomb, she had learned from a video on the internet.
* * *
The sun cast an orange mystical glow as it rose to greet the mountains. Lauren was in position behind a ten-foot tall boulder not twenty feet away from the mouth of the cave.
Bigfoot slept soundly just inside the entrance. Lauren couldn’t see beyond it through the darkness. She hoped and prayed her friends were alive and unharmed.
Raising its arm and scratching its chin, the Bigfoot began to stir from its night of rest.
Lauren’s heart pounded in her chest. She concentrated to keep her breathing slow, with long inhales and exhales. Her hands shook so badly she didn’t think she was going to be able to go through with it.
Peering around the boulder, the last thing she expected to see deep in the woods of Arkansas wandered in front of the cave’s entrance. It was an ordinary house cat.
Bigfoot stood, stretched, and looked down as the orange tabby walked sideways and started rubbing on its leg.
It reached down and grabbed the cat by the scruff of the neck. Holding it eye level, the cat pawed the air and uttered a sweet and innocent meow.
Bigfoot wasn’t amused in the least. It ended the cat’s life by biting of the head, crunching it between its teeth as it chewed. Bigfoot curled its upper lip and spat out what was left in its mouth, displeased with the taste.
“You son of a Bitch!” Lauren said under her breath. This thing killed a harmless cat. Lauren was the proud caretaker of three cats, and found she preferred their company to most other humans.
Finding her resolve, she took one of the condoms filled with vodka and splashed a little more vodka on the outside, lit a match, and set it on fire. She stepped from behind the rock and lobbed the projectile at him.
Bigfoot turned and watched the flaming condom fly through the air and land at its feet.
It burst, setting the vodka on fire as it splashed over Bigfoot’s feet and legs.
The monster yelled and tried to slap the fire out.
Lauren hurled another flaming condom at it and hit it in the side. Then followed that with another, and then another.
Bigfoot moved and the last one missed its target. It yelled furiously as it beat its burning hair with its hands.
Lauren couldn’t tell if it was feeling pain or just mad. Less than half of the monster was burning. She didn’t know how thick its skin was or how long it would have to burn before it really hurt it.
Deciding to attack with overwhelming force, she lit the vodka soaked tampon string and rolled the flashlight/bomb towards Bigfoot. It came to rest just behind its right foot before exploding.
The shock wave knocked the Bigfoot on its back. Its arms flailed in the air as if it were being held under water and drowning.
Lauren ran to its side and pulled the trigger on the Taser. The nitrogen cartridge propelled the two tiny darts in the less hairy part of the creature’s breasts. One hundred and fifty thousand volts of electricity flowed from the gun into the Bigfoot for thirty full seconds. It was enough charge to drop a full size moose. She hoped it was enough for a Bigfoot too.
The creature shook violently and gagged as it choked on its own tongue while howling in pain.
While the beast lay immobile, Lauren took the two cargo straps she had already connected, and strung it around the Bigfoot’s neck. After pulling it as tight as she could, she cranked the ratcheting buckle until it dug deep into its throat.
Bigfoot came to and instinctually grabbed for the strap, accidently coming in contact with Lauren and knocking her down to the ground.
She sprung up and dived for the Taser, pulled the trigger, and sent another high voltage shock through it.
Bigfoot went limp after the charge sent it into another series of spasms.
Lauren emptied the pepper spray straight into the monster’s face and backed away as the beast struggled to breathe.
As it started to move again, Lauren waited out of reach, and prayed that the Taser still had enough charge to take it down when she pulled the trigger.
As the body of the mighty beast shook, it let out a yell that sounded like all the vile inhabitants of hell unleashed. The Bigfoot’s head flopped to the side, the eyes sprung open and vacant of life. Its tongue draped down the side of its mouth. Its lips smeared in frothing spittle.
Lauren waited for what seemed like an eternity for the Bigfoot to move. Watching for any flinch that might indicate that it was returning to consciousness, and ready to pull the trigger again.
Bigfoot remained immobile. A breeze kicked up and blew the hairs on its face. Lauren thought in someone ways it resembled more of a human than a beast in its serene state of death.
“Hello? Anyone out there? Hello?” Donna called from within the cave.
Lauren waited for several more minutes before she was convinced that Bigfoot was dead. She stood on shaky legs and brushed the dirt off of her hands and knees.
The sun parted from behind a cloud and made Lauren feel a great weight had lifted off her shoulders. The birds around her began to sing, and a pair of butterflies flew around her enthralled in courtship.
Lauren entered the cave, and called out, “Donna?”
“Lauren? We’re back here.”
Her eyes still needed to adjust to the darkness. Lauren cautiously stepped to the back of the cave. “I’m right here. Is everyone okay?”
The light from the mouth of the cave slowly illuminated her three friends. Donna was the only one sitting up. The other two looked asleep, or worse.
“Oh my God, Donna, are they dead?”
Donna made out Lauren’s shape silhouetted in the light from the cave’s mouth, barely able to see the features on her face. “They’re still breathing. I don’t know how bad they’re hu
rt though. Jenny and Abe tried to put up a fight when Bigfoot went to tie us up. Needless to say, Bigfoot won.”
“Tied you up? You mean that animal out there tied you up with that climbing rope?”
“Yeah. That thing acts as smart as a human sometimes. I don’t know what it is capable of.”
“It’s not capable of anything now.” Lauren stooped down and untied Donna’s wrist, and then her legs. “Help me with the others.”
Donna looked up at Lauren and screamed.
Lauren jumped, before she could turn around, a massive hairy-clawed hand swept around from behind with the force of twenty strong men. Lauren’s neck buckled at the impact and tore clean from between her shoulders.
Donna watched through the veiled light as her beloved friend’s head spun in the air turning flips. Blood splashed across her face as she watched more blood shoot up like a pulsating water fountain from between Lauren’s shoulders.
Lauren’s body collapsed to the cold cave floor.
Bigfoot looked down in disgust at the lithe form of the puny female that had brought it so much pain. The human fought it with tactics unlearned from the ways of the other creatures of the woods. She wasn’t strong like the mighty buck that attacked with its rock hard antlers. Nor the black bear, which Bigfoot respected as a near equal.
Despite the superior tactics of the human, Bigfoot prevailed using the cunning of the beast of the woods. Mimicking the tiny possum and pretending to be dead until the opponent assumed victory.
Bigfoot knew itself only as Hunter and proved that it was the mightiest creature in the entire forest. Knowing that in battle, the only outcome that mattered was the one in the end.
The End
From Severed PRESS
Alien microbes mutate with the DNA of the dead, reanimating corpses to life. A cop, Rico, and a junkie streetwalker, Angie, barely escape the onslaught of zombies. As they head for sanctuary, a jealous pimp seeks revenge, and Angie’s drug addiction, become a greater threat than the undead.
From Severed PRESS
INTRODUCTION BY JOE MCKINNEY
“Scioneaux and Hatchell double-down on the horror and thrills in this gritty, action-packed zombie thriller. This one has real bite." – Jonathan Maberry, New York Times best-selling author of Rot & Ruin and Dead of night.
"Scioneaux and Hatchell give you a fast-paced narrative full of oozing bodies and narrow escapes and poignant ruminations on the fragility of a man’s body and the resiliency of his character" – Joe Mckinney, Bram Stoker award winning author of Flesh Eaters and Inheritance.
From Severed PRESS
««««« Rated “The Perfect Read” by The Bookie Monster!
“SLIPWAY GREY is just as lovably cheesy and sleazy as you’d expect from its wonderful serial killer + giant shark premise. It’s goofy, gory fun!” -- Jeff Strand, author of WOLF HUNT
Table of Contents
The Sins of the Father 6
The Art of War 30
Two Bigfoot Tales Page 5