What Vengeance Comes

by Strong, Anthony M.

  If he was lucky, Nancy Cassidy would have a nice fresh pot of gumbo on by the time he got back, full of sausage and shrimp. His stomach rumbled again as if in anticipation. But first there was work to do.

  14

  TAYLOR SCREAMED.

  Jake lay with his back against a tree. Straddling him, looming over his sprawled body, stood a creature that she thought, at first, must be a huge black bear. It wasn’t until the beast turned to look at her, fixed her with yellow eyes that seemed to shine with unnatural fire, that she realized her mistake.

  The scream died in her throat, the fear that gripped her so complete that her vocal chords refused to work. Only a dry terrified gurgle escaped her lips.

  The creature took a step toward her, and for the first time she got a good look at it, the thick heavy jaws brimming with teeth, the hunched back that rippled with powerful muscles under leathery dark skin.

  The beast took another step forward, giving her a better view of Jake, or rather, what was left of him.

  For a second she was rooted to the spot, her eyes on her boyfriend, on his mutilated corpse. The next moment she was running full pelt, crashing through the woods without a thought for the branches that tore at her skin and drew blood from her bare legs.

  She fled headlong toward the swimming hole, and then sprinted in the direction of the trail, Jake’s keys clutched so tight in her hand that her knuckles turned white. At the other end of the winding path was the car, and safety.

  For a moment she thought that the creature had let her go, had decided to finish what it was doing to Jake, but then she heard the telltale sound of branches breaking, and heard the thud of heavy footfalls as it gave chase.

  Up ahead she saw the end of the trail, and the parking area beyond. She burst from the path and made a sprint for the car, pushing herself forward, expecting it to catch up at any moment and lift her from the ground, close those powerful, impossible jaws around her and bite down.

  She tripped, her foot snagging a protruding root, and toppled forward, fighting to keep her balance.

  She stumbled forward, reaching out to steady herself against a tree, and then she was running again, aware that she had given her pursuer a chance to close the gap. If she had fallen it would have been over, she would be dead. But by some miracle she kept on her feet.

  Ahead, through a break in the trees, was the turning circle. The car would be there. Jake’s car.

  An image of Jake, his body torn and bloody, flashed through her mind. There was no time to think about that, not now. He was beyond help, but she was still alive, and that was all that mattered right now.

  She put on an extra spurt of speed, spurred on by the thought of reaching safety. If she could just keep up this pace she might make it, but Jake’s killer was almost upon her. She could hear the beasts’ ragged breathing, the rhythmic thump of its feet as it loped behind her. And then there was that growling snarl. That alone was enough to fill her with terror.

  She broke through the trees into the turning circle. Jake’s car was only a few feet away, but it was sure to be locked.

  She fumbled with the keys, looking for the correct one, and raced around to the driver’s side, pushing the key into the lock. It turned easily, and the door opened with a gratifying thunk. She climbed in and slammed the door just as the beast reached her. It barreled into the car with a thud, rocking the vehicle.

  Taylor screamed, shrinking back.

  The beast paused for a moment, its hot breath fogging the window glass. It fixed her with a glowering stare, and in that look, just for a moment, Taylor thought she saw a spark of something, not humanity, or even intelligence per say, but something close, something more than animal instinct. She met the creature’s gaze, almost hypnotized by its yellow eyes, until the beast turned away, backing up to take a second shot at the car.

  Reality forced its way back in. She pushed the key into the ignition and turned it. The car coughed and sputtered but that was about it.

  “Start you shit,” she shouted as the beast slammed into the driver’s door for a second time. The window shattered into a thousand fragments. She shrank back, lifting her hands against the shower of glass.

  The creature staggered away, then turned and charged the car again with a high pitched shriek.

  “Come on, please,” she begged, turning the key again. If it didn’t start this time she would be dead.

  The engine roared to life as the beast hit the car a third time, a wicked, clawed paw reaching in through the broken window to find her.

  She pushed her foot down hard on the accelerator. The car shot forward. She felt claws scrape her neck, and then she was skidding around in the turning circle. She turned the wheel hard, zigzagging out of the parking area, past the furious creature, and onto the dirt track that led down from Sullivan’s Pond.

  The car sped along, kicking up a trail of dust and bumping over rocks as it went. When she looked in the rear view mirror there was no sign of the nightmare creature.

  She flew down the narrow track, her wheels crunching dirt and gravel as she went. She expected the beast to appear at any moment, to charge from the undergrowth and appear on the trail ahead of the speeding car, but it didn’t. When she reached the paved road she slowed a little, all too aware that she was still half naked. Her bikini and blouse were back at the swimming hole, but Jake’s hoodie was on the back seat. Letting her eyes stray from the road for just a second she snatched it up and pulled it over her head. Now at least she could drive back to town and fetch help. Not that it would do Jake any good.

  He was dead. Gone.

  It seemed impossible, but he was dead. A sob wracked her body and she fought the urge to vomit, but she didn’t have time for that. Besides, there was no way she was stopping the car until she reached town. With tears streaming down her face and a tight lump of grief in her throat she drove on, putting more distance between herself and the murderous creature at the swimming hole. Somehow it didn’t make her feel any safer.

  15

  CHAD PARKED HIS CRUISER and was about to walk in the direction of the sheriff’s Office when a beaten up old Cadillac almost ran him over. He barely saw the car in time to jump out of the way. A second earlier and it would have taken his door clean off.

  The car screeched to a halt.

  He cursed. Whoever was behind the wheel just earned a reckless driving citation. He rounded the car, pulling his sunglasses from his pocket as he went, and putting them on. The Ray Bans made him look mean, authoritative. Plus people couldn’t see his eyes, so he could check out their stuff without giving himself away.

  He was about to tap on the window when he realized there was no window, just an empty space where it should have been. The driver’s door was crumpled and dented. The car looked like a bulldozer had gone to work on it.

  Taylor Cassidy was behind the wheel, her eyes red and puffy. There was a bloody scratch on the side of her neck. Tears streamed down her face. She was shaking.

  “Miss Cassidy?” Chad approached the car, no longer concerned with traffic tickets. “Have you been in an accident?”

  She looked up at him as if she barely recognized him.

  “Do you need some help?” Chad said, realizing how stupid the question sounded even as he uttered the words.

  He reached out and pulled on the car door. It was stuck tight. He pulled again, this time putting his foot on the body of the car to provide leverage. The door gave way with a metallic groan, swinging open and almost sending him tumbling to the ground. He regained his balance. “Are you hurt?”

  “No.” She shook her head. “It’s Jake.”

  “What about Jake?” He reached down and took her arm, helping her as she struggled to free herself.

  “He’s-” She collapsed into his arms, her head on his chest. Tears flowed freely down her face as she struggled to form the words. “He’s dead.”

  16

  DECKER HAD BARELY finished writing up his report on Floyd’s abandoned truck when t
he front door burst open, banging back against the wall with a thud that rattled the front window.

  “What in god’s name.” He turned from the computer to see Chad bearing down on him with Taylor Cassidy supported in his arms.

  “We’ve got a problem boss.” Chad said. “I found Miss Cassidy out front in Jake Townsend’s Cadillac. Damn thing looks like it got in an argument with a semi truck.”

  Decker jumped to his feet. Carol hopped off her chair. They reached Chad and the hysterical teenager at the same time.

  “Bring her through.” Decker slipped an arm under Taylor’s and together he and Chad maneuvered her toward a chair. “Sit her down here.”

  As soon as she was in the chair Decker knelt down. “Taylor honey. Tell me what’s going on.”

  “It’s Jake.” Taylor’s voice quivered when she spoke. Her face was white and she was shaking like a leaf.

  Decker looked up at Chad and Carol, then back to Taylor. “Tell me what happened Taylor. Can you do that?”

  For a moment she appeared to be looking through him as if she had not heard him. Then she took a shaky breath and spoke.

  “Jake. Something attacked him. A monster.” She broke down, tears streaming down her face. She spoke again, the hysteria in her voice growing. “Oh god, you have to do something. I’m so scared.”

  Decker placed his hand on Taylor’s arm. “You need to calm down.” He stroked strands of hair from her face. “Where is he Taylor? Where’s Jake?”

  “Don’t let it get me. Oh god, please don’t let it get to me.” Her eyes were wild. She tried to stand up, but Decker put a hand on her shoulder and guided her back down to the seat.

  “Taylor, I need you to take a deep breath. Where is Jake?”

  “Sullivan’s Pond. We were swimming. He was fooling around, and then it attacked him. It killed him.” Tears streamed down her face.

  Decker exchanged a glance with Chad, and then turned back to Taylor. “What did Taylor?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t seen anything like it before. You need to go up there before it escapes. You need to shoot it. Oh Jesus, the things it was doing to him.” She sobbed. “You need to kill it.”

  “We will Taylor.” Decker motioned Chad to get the guns. “Now you stay here with Carol and she will look after you.”

  Chad sprinted toward the firearms locker. He took out a key and unlocked it. Carol was already on the radio dispatching paramedics to Sullivan’s Pond.

  Taylor spoke again. “It chased me, it tried to kill me too. If I didn’t have Jake’s car keys it would have gotten me.”

  “Can you describe what you saw?”

  “I don’t know,” she sobbed. “It was big, and it walked on two legs. It had these awful yellow eyes, when it looked at me I knew it wanted to kill me,” she howled.

  “Alright Taylor. Carol is going to call your mother and have her come over here and pick you up.” He stood up. “We’re going to go up to Sullivan’s Pond and take a look around. Where did this happen Taylor? Was it by the water?”

  “No, in the woods. He went to the bathroom. Please tell me you’re going to kill it?” She pleaded. “I’m so scared.”

  “You’re safe now.” Decker turned to Carol. “Keep an eye on her will you?”

  “Sure thing.” Carol knelt down next to Taylor and stroked her face, clearing the hair from her eyes.

  Chad came up behind Decker and handed him a shotgun. “Been a long time since we’ve needed these.”

  “Tell me about it.” Decker took the weapon and checked it, making sure it was loaded. “You good to go?”

  “Just say the word.” Chad stuffed several extra rounds into his shirt pocket and offered a handful to Decker.

  “Then let’s go see what we’re dealing with.” Decker walked toward the door, then turned back to Carol. “Can you tell those paramedics to hold back? Make sure they don’t go up to the swimming hole until we get there. Just to be safe.” With that he pulled the door open and stepped out into the bright sunshine of what should have been a perfect summer day.

  17

  THE AMBULANCE WAS waiting when Decker and Chad arrived at the parking area below Sullivan’s Pond. The sheriff pulled up next to the idling vehicle and killed the engine. The two cops climbed from the car and retrieved their hats from the back seat. Chad took the Ray Bans from his pocket and put them on.

  Decker rounded the back of the vehicle, opened the trunk of the cruiser and pulled out the shotguns. He kept one for himself and handed the other gun to the deputy.

  Next he turned to the paramedics, giving them instructions. “Stay here until we need you.” There was no way he was going to let unarmed civilians wander around up at the swimming hole until he knew what they were dealing with.

  His mind flashed back to the claw he had pulled from the bed of Floyd’s truck. Did that have anything to do with this? He had a feeling it might, given Taylor’s account of a monster attacking them.

  “Ready?” he asked Chad, a grim look on his face.

  “Sure thing.” Chad raised his shotgun and checked that the safety was off. “Whenever you are.”

  “Keep your eyes peeled. We don’t know what we’re going to find up there.” Decker moved off in the direction of the trail with Chad following close behind.

  Before long the trees closed in around them, blocking out the sun. They moved with caution, ready for whatever might be waiting in the woods. The path was narrow, with tall pines and dense undergrowth on both sides. It was perfect cover for an animal, even a large one, to hide out. Above them, in the thick canopy, birds twittered, calling back and forth among themselves and crickets chirped happily in the brush. Insects buzzed around the officers as they pushed forward. Everything seemed serene and tranquil, except for the terrified kid back at the sheriff’s Station.

  Decker scanned the terrain ahead, looking for any sign of whatever put the fear of god into Taylor Cassidy, but saw nothing out of the ordinary.

  When they reached the swimming hole it didn’t take long to find evidence of the teenager’s activities.

  “Looks like they were having quite the party.” Decker picked up the half empty bottle of wine.

  “You’re telling me.” Chad was eyeing the pile of clothes and the discarded bikini. “Guess they fancied a little skinny dipping.”

  “Teenagers.” Decker muttered. “This is why I don’t have kids.”

  “What, you never did anything like this when you were young?”

  “That was different.”

  “Sure it was.” Chad grinned.

  Decker shot the deputy a look. “Let’s keep focused on the job at hand shall we?” His thoughts turned to Taylor. By now Carol had surely called Nancy. She’d gone through so much already, what with her husband skipping out on them and leaving her to run the diner all by herself, and then Taylor’s troubles at school. Not that the girl was a bad kid, just acting out. It had been a tough few years, and now, just when things seemed to be improving, this happened. He would drop by and check on them later. But right now there was a missing kid to find.

  “Taylor said Jake went off to pee,” Chad said, looking around. “We should probably search the woods. There’s no sign of him down here.”

  “Good idea.” Decker examined the area, his eyes roaming the tree line. Everything seemed normal, nothing out of place. He placed the bottle back down on the ground and started toward the trees, walking along the edge of the woods until he saw a path through the tangle of undergrowth that pushed out from between the pines.

  He stepped into the pinewoods, following the trail as it meandered between the trees. He wondered how many kids had come up here to make out over the years. Certainly the swimming hole had been a popular spot to bring a girl since he’d been a teen. It was where he’d taken Nancy the night of the senior prom. They’d snuck up the dark trail to the water, and made a campfire out of twigs and branches he collected. He’d lost his virginity that night in almost the same spot that Taylor and Jake had laid t
heir blanket out. Judging by the copious amount of trash that littered the ground he had to assume the popularity of the spot had not waned.

  He spotted a crushed beer can, the printing faded and unreadable, and then another. A few feet further on a candy bar wrapper was half covered by dirt. Next to that, a discarded condom wrapper flapped in the breeze.

  It was what he saw next that made him stop in his tracks.

  “Oh sweet mother of god.” Chad came up behind him, a look of horror on his face.

  Jake lay across the path, his body twisted at an impossible angle, his glazed eyes staring up past the trees, toward the sky. He was naked, his pale skin mired in dried blood and mud. A gaping hole marked where the boy’s stomach should have been. A mess of guts spilled out onto the ground, attracting a swarm of blowflies that buzzed around it in haphazard circles. His mouth was open in a silent, frozen death scream.

  Decker took a deep breath, fighting the urge to turn and run. He lifted the shotgun, suddenly aware that whatever had eviscerated Jake might still be lurking around.

  He turned to Chad. “Better get the crime scene tape from the car, and notify the M.E., tell them to get up here.” He knelt down, examining the wounds, ignoring the pungent odor that assaulted his nostrils. “And tell the paramedics to stand down. Doesn’t look like we’ll be needing their services today.”

  18

  JEREMIAH BOUDREAUX PACED back and forth inside his trailer on Black Bayou Road, a few miles north of Wolf Haven. He was not a happy man. His son Terry was nowhere to be found and he needed someone to drive a load of scrap out to the junkyard in Bogalusa. He would have made the trip himself, but he had already spent the entire morning over at the landfill hauling whatever metal he could find into the back of his pickup.

  He wasn’t supposed to scavenge the mounds of trash, there were big signs up all over the place warning people that removing items from the landfill was an offence punishable by a fine of up to $500 or three days in jail, but that was just stupid. Why leave good stuff, valuable stuff, to be buried when it could be sold for cold hard cash.