by Hunter Shea
“Any guess how many are out there?” Barbara asked.
“I counted about ten of the big ones. There’s lots of smaller ones that have been popping out of the big holes the last ten or so minutes. But they can’t squash houses and people, so I’m not that much concerned with them.”
“Where the hell are they coming from?”
Sam rubbed his jaw. “For my money, it all started with that oil rig explosion. Those Earth Matters lunatics did a real number on the Gulf. I think these things have been living in some kind of pocket either under us or the Gulf this entire time. Now, all that oil has ruined their habitat and here they are.”
“You know how insane that sounds, right?”
“Not any more insane than how it looks,” Sam said, his lips set in a grim line. “I seen one come straight from the ground. It was covered in thick, black ooze. I’ll bet dollars to donuts, it was oil.”
Recalling the creatures Don had witnessed rise from the earth, he suddenly thought his neighbor might be right. Before the rains had cleansed it, its skin had been dripping black slime.
Don spotted an old woman he recognized in passing grappling with a rifle bigger and heavier than her. She could barely lift the thing, much less shoot anything with it. “We have to get away from these people.”
“Not necessarily,” Sam said.
“You can’t be serious.”
“Look, those things are living, breathing animals. I have no idea how they got so big, but I’m damn sure they’re not bulletproof. That’s no gathering of SEALs out there, but they might be our best bet. If we stay together, we can kill them or at least drive them into the Gulf and out of the town.”
Don couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “The only thing those people are going to do is get themselves killed.”
Sam put a warm hand on his shoulder, lowering his voice so Gary couldn’t hear. “Don, they’re going to die anyway. From what I can see, this is all that’s left of Polo Springs. We either take a stand, or we sit back and wait for the inevitable.”
A chorus of bone rattling roars shook the truck, stealing the retort from Don’s mouth.
Everyone outside the truck looked to the sky. Don and Sam edged forward in their seats, getting their faces as close to the windshield as possible.
Something was coming, something Don couldn’t see.
He grabbed Barbara with one hand, slipping his finger along the trigger guard with the other.
Sam rasped, “Oh dear God, no.”
Chapter 23
Ann had been shoved aside when everyone had piled into the sheriff’s office, losing track of Barbara Hendricks. She couldn’t shake the images of her parents’ deaths. Walking on legs that didn’t feel as if they belonged to her, she drifted to a parked car away from the mob, leaned against it and slumped down until her ass was sitting in a puddle of water.
In their fear, the people of her town had become wild and unpredictable. She saw the way some of them looked at her. They wanted to hurt her for not having answers, for not saving their loved ones.
Once they had guns, there was no telling what they’d do to her.
She should run.
But where to?
Anywhere she turned, those monsters were waiting.
Maybe it would be better if she just got it over with. If the priest at St. Augustine’s was right, she could be with her father and mother before the day was out. That wouldn’t be a bad thing, right?
The pall of silence that draped over the mob pulled her from her troubled thoughts. With a trembling hand, she grabbed the car’s fender and pulled herself up.
Why was everyone looking to the sky? The storm had passed. Even most of the rain had petered out.
Then she saw the shapes.
Dark, tumbling forms, much too big even for the biggest hail.
What the hell were they?
People scattered, seeking cover. The shapes were heading right for them.
Ann stood her ground. She no longer cared if she was crushed by whatever was raining down on them.
The first landed on the roof of a car across the street, glass erupting as if a bomb had been detonated inside.
The second thudded on the sidewalk, breaking apart as it rolled several yards. Its mass took a man and woman out at the knees. Ann heard their legs snap as they went down.
A piece of the object rolled her way, only stopping when she put her foot out to capture it.
It was a head.
There was too much blood and damage to know whether it had been a man or a woman. A portion of the skull was exposed, as if it had been bitten like an apple.
It took a moment for everyone to take in what had just happened. When it did, the screaming erupted.
“It’s raining bodies,” she heard someone shout. People ran for the safety of shop entrances.
Ann looked up. Only rain wept from the sky.
While everyone cowered, she walked to the body on the sidewalk. Whoever it was, it was clear they’d been dead before the fall. There were enormous bite marks on the ravaged torso.
As if in a trance, she continued on to the car. The body had crumpled the hood. She had to get up on tip-toes to see.
Her best friend Avery stared back at her with blank, graying eyes. All of her limbs were bent at impossible angles. A portion of her left hip was missing.
The monsters did this.
Avery.
They’d been in the same class since first grade. Avery, who gave her French braids, was the first to kiss a boy, cheered Ann on when she ran for mayor and did everything she could to get her elected.
This broken body wasn’t Avery. Ann took some comfort in knowing her friend was gone before she ended up like this, a bag of broken bones and savaged meat.
A switch flipped in Ann’s brain. She’d read plenty about crimes of passion in the news and the criminal justice elective she took in her senior year. Normally straight-laced, timid people could morph into crazed killers if certain triggers were pulled.
Ann was most certainly triggered.
She heard a popping sound and realized it was her teeth as they ground against one another.
The townies watched her, weapons clutched to their chests, dangling from their hands, one eye on the sky.
“Enough,” Ann whispered.
She’d lost everyone.
The people of Polo Springs had suffered like no other.
No more.
The phones were out. The road inland was impassable. The town was cut off from the rest of the world.
Which meant they were going to have to do this themselves.
“I need a gun,” she said.
No one moved.
“I need a gun!” she shouted.
A girl who was a sophomore in Ann high school stepped out from under the portico over the flower and candy shop. “Take it,” she said, offering up the rifle she’d pilfered from the sheriff’s office.
“Thank you.”
All eyes were on her. She could smell their fear and feel their tension, but also their hate.
“What are you all waiting for? Let’s kill these motherfuckers.”
Ann stepped into the street, turned and strode down Main, not bothering to see if anyone was following her.
Her father used to tell her that she would best serve the town if she led by example.
“Dad.”
She fought back tears.
The time for running was over. She would lead them. And she would fight.
The monsters that had destroyed her life, her town, would pay. Whether she survived this day was of no consequence. She and everyone else would go down fighting, her at the front line, showing them the wonders of what rage could do.
Chapter 24
Sam and his friend kept the trucks at a crawl directl
y behind Ann. No matter what Don said to get his friend to change his mind, their course was set.
He got the feeling that if they even tried to break away, the mob would make them pay. It was amazing how quickly everyone had rallied around Ann. Poor, broken Ann who no longer remotely resembled the bright teenager he knew.
As they turned onto the southern side of Main Street, Don saw a man running up ahead. One second he was there, the next he’d disappeared. An enormous lizard blocked the street. It bent down towards where the man had vanished.
“Where did he go?” Barbara said.
“I’ll bet he jumped into the sewer,” Sam said. “Smart man.”
Smarter than this sad posse trying to take down a lizard the size of a storage facility, Don thought.
“You know, he might have a good idea,” Don said. “Those lizards can’t possibly get down there. Sooner or later, help will come. Maybe we should hunker down there.”
“And risk getting some kind of disease?” Barbara said.
Don was doubly alarmed at how quickly his wife had fallen in line with everyone else. Sure, she was scared, more for Gary than herself, but she had to see that firepower in the wrong hands could be worse than no firepower at all.
“Better a small chance at catching something than facing that,” he said, pointing at the monster in their midst.
The creature towered over the shops that lined the street. Like all reptiles, Don could read nothing in its expression. It eyed them coolly.
Ann stopped and Sam jammed the brakes to avoid hitting her.
He rubbed the whiskers on his jaw and said, “You know, Don, you may be right.”
Gary pulled away from his mother, saw the lizard and screamed.
“Go away! We have to go away, Daddy! We have to go away!”
Don and Barbara tried to soothe him, but he was just speaking aloud what they were all thinking.
“Those guns will be like pea shooters against that thing,” Don said. He looked behind them to see if there was a way for Sam to maneuver around the crowd. Shit, they were penned in.
The creature stood directly over the nearest access point to the sewer that they could fit within.
Ann lifted her rifle and yelled, “Fire!”
Everyone in the truck jolted as dozens of guns fired off at once.
The lizard flinched, most of the bullets hitting the large target. It started to back away, spots of blood erupting on its rough hide.
“It’s working,” Barbara said.
Gary’s cries escalated, fear of the gunfire added to the mix.
“I’ll be jiggered, it really is,” Sam said, his jaw dropping as they watched the lizard start to retreat.
Crack after crack deafened them as the surviving citizens of Polo Springs gave the beast all they had.
Still, it remained on its feet, tail thrashing now, turning shops to rubble with each hammer blow, parked cars flying.
“I don’t know about this, Sam,” Don said.
His neighbor gripped the steering wheel, honking the horn to encourage everyone.
“Look, it’s running away,” Sam said.
“But it’s not dropping dead,” Don said. “And if they keep this up, they’ll run out of ammo. And then what?”
Barbara grabbed Don’s arm. “My God, you’re right.”
With speed that defied its size, the lizard spun back around, staring down the shooters. Rivulets of crimson ran down its hideous face. One of its coal-black eyes leaked a thick, gray mucous. It darted forward, the ground jumping from its thunderous advance. The sounds of shooting were replaced by worried screams as the townies scattered, dashing back from where they’d come, down alleys between the shops and one even up a tree.
“Sam!” was all Don had time to blurt before the beast struck.
With one swipe of its imposing head, it took out four people who had steeled themselves enough to stand their ground and continue pouring lead into the lizard from hell. Their broken bodies flew into the remains of the post office, splattering like bugs on a windshield.
Sam slammed his truck in reverse just as its open mouth clamped down on his neighbor’s truck, crushing it with the ease of a junkyard compactor.
“Aw, godammit, Ed!” Sam spat, trying to keep control of the truck while watching his oldest friend perish within the mandibles of the giant.
He almost hit a man who had fallen in his attempt to escape. Don saw it was their mailman, Dave. As the truck straightened and pulled away, Dave disappeared under the lizard’s foot, spurts of crimson fanning from the footfall.
The engine roared and the back of Don’s head clanged off the small rear window. They were headed right for the iguana.
“What the hell are you doing?” Don snapped.
“Going right where that son of a bitch is leaving.”
Don’s eyes popped when he saw Ann still on her feet, staring up at the behemoth. She’d dropped her rifle, her hands balled into fists. Don poked his head out of the window. “Ann! Get in the truck!”
Either she didn’t hear him or didn’t care.
She wants to die, Don thought.
Not if he could help it.
He opened the door while the truck was moving.
“What are you doing?” Barbara cried.
“Get back in the damn truck!” Sam bellowed.
“We can’t leave her,” Don said, leaping from the truck. He fell to a knee the instant the lizard’s tail swept over him, just missing separating his head from his neck.
Blood spattered the street, leaking from the lizard. Ann was shouting something at it, but Don couldn’t make out a single word over the creature’s wailing.
He ran to her, keeping Sam’s truck within his periphery. Sam had actually made it past the beast and had stopped, waiting for Don to return.
Don knew there was no point trying to negotiate with the girl. So, recalling his days as a left tackle in high school, he wrapped her midsection up in his arms, lifted her off the ground and kept running, turning towards the idling truck.
“Put me down,” she yelled.
He was too winded to tell her she had zero chance of escaping his grip.
Just twenty more yards.
Someone screamed. A body spun end over end. Don watched in revulsion as it went through the second floor window of the VFW hall.
Ten yards.
There was an explosion behind them. Don kept running. He couldn’t afford to be curious. Ann struggled, but his grip was too tight. In fact, he was pretty sure he felt one or more of her ribs crack.
Maybe she’d thank him later.
Another explosion sent a wave of searing heat that stung his back. He lost his footing. The ground came up hard and fast to meet him.
The creature let out a cry that rattled his bones.
Ann’s face was so close their noses touched. They looked over their shoulders.
The beast was on fire.
The beauty parlor burst into flame.
Still clutching Ann, Don hurried to his feet.
“The gas lines,” Ann said.
Where guns had failed, the previous mayor’s big plan to move their commercial zone from oil to natural gas was succeeding. The giant iguana collapsed on its side. Don had just enough time to skip out of the path of one of its flaming dead limbs.
The tail unfurled like a sail.
And it was heading right for Sam’s truck.
The passenger door flew open and Gary plopped out. “Daddy!” he shouted, running toward him.
“Get back in the truck!” Don barked.
Even Ann screeched, “Gary, get back in there now!”
Barbara came out to grab him and missed.
Ann gasped close to Don’s ear.
Two more giant lizards crept into view, their heads high above
what remained of the Main Street stores.
Dual explosions turned the gloom into day, blinding Don as the world came undone.
Chapter 25
The series of explosions stopped Frank in his mad dash to keep up with Nicole.
“Hold up!” he shouted.
Looking back toward the center of town, he saw a bright, orange fireball reach for the low, heavy clouds.
“What . . . the . . . fuck?”
Had the Army rolled into town? Were they dropping napalm or some other crazy stuff on the dino-lizards?
He wished he were close enough to see the country’s biggest barbecue.
“Nicole, you have to see this.”
He was surprised to see that she had stopped her mad sprint. The rising flames reflected in her big, unblinking eyes.
“Score one for the humans,” Frank said.
She slowly shook her head.
Now that they were standing still and next to one another, he noticed her nose crinkle.
“I know I don’t smell so good. I have a reason not to be April fresh.”
“Listen. Can you hear that?”
He cupped his hand around his ear. Too many nights in loud clubs had greatly diminished his hearing years ago.
Another loud boom shook the very air they breathed.
“I heard that.”
“No. It . . . it sounds like people screaming.”
Which would mean maybe that wasn’t the Army come to save the day. Frank was beginning to wonder if Tony hadn’t gotten the better end of the deal. At least his suffering was over. Knowing him, he was at some heavenly casino, killing it at craps, looking down at his pal and saying, “I got a seat saved for ya, buddy.”
“Come on. How far is that school from here?”
Nicole wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. Unlike Frank who didn’t know a soul, the girl had just lost a crap ton of people in her life. Not to mention the one she’d been in the car with. Must have been a sister or friend.