by Ken Douglas
He fumbled the keys out of the ignition and stumbled out of the car. He wondered how he made it out here and how he was going to get the trunk open with his unsteady hands in the dark, but he did. He took out the carbine, the extra clip and the flashlight, then closed the trunk.
“ Prepared, like a boy scout,” he mumbled, as he flicked the flashlight’s switch. The light stayed dark. “Some boy scout,” he said, still mumbling. “No batteries.” But through the fog haze he vaguely remembered buying some. Again he fumbled with the keys, struggling with the trunk. Once it was open, he ran his hands around the interior, like a blind beggar searching for a dropped quarter.
He found the batteries and fought another dark struggle with the plastic wrap and another getting them into the flashlight, but still it wouldn’t light. He took the batteries out and reversed them. Still no light. He slumped over and started to fall, but he threw out his hands and held on to the car for support.
He stayed like that, fighting nausea and trying to hold down the vomit that wanted to come. He lost the battle and threw up. His stomach muscles clenched as great gobs of viscous vomit seemed to tear his insides apart. He fought for air, wanting it to stop, hoping it would stop, but still he heaved, spewing out the contents of his stomach and continuing on, dry heaving.
Finally it stopped, leaving him gasping for air, his body demanding oxygen. He used the car for support, bending over the right front fender, holding on to good old Power Glide. He took deep breaths, the way he’d seen Glenna do when she was doing her yoga exercises and after a few minutes he felt better.
He stood up, backed away from the car, faced into a cool breeze, forced his shoulders back and took one last, deep breath. The wind cooled his face. He felt better, less drunk and he wanted a cigarette. The stale Marlboros were in the glove box.
He slid into the passenger seat, popped the glovebox, grabbed the cigarettes and his gold Zippo. Normally he didn’t smoke in the car, but it was his rule and he felt like breaking it. He flipped a smoke into his mouth and flicked the lighter.
He inhaled deeply, sat back and closed his eyes. What was he doing out here in the middle of the night? By now Kohler had surely called the sheriff. If he was caught out here like this, it wouldn’t be hard for even the most incompetent of small town cops to stick him with the crime. It was stupid for him to have broken in that way. Even dumber to go at the video and sound equipment with the ax. It was a weakness, that kind of stuff made him go out of control.
He took another drag, held the tobacco in his lungs, exhaled the blue smoke, and didn’t feel any better. The cigarette wasn’t any help. He stubbed it out.
He should go back to the motel. Shower and sleep it off. He almost started the car to do just that, but as he was about to crank the ignition a picture of Glenna flashed through his mind and he knew he wasn’t going back to the motel. He cursed himself for drinking when his daughter was in danger, but he was confident he had purged himself from the worst of the alcohol’s effects. He got out of the car.
The dark clung to him like a second skin, blocking his vision and chilling his soul. There was just enough light for him to see the road at his feet and two arm lengths ahead, not any more. A good boy scout would have checked the flashlight and made sure it worked before embarking on such a fool’s errand, but boy scouts didn’t go on fools errands. A cop might-fathers do.
Clutching the carbine, holding it in front of himself, at the ready, he started his trek toward the gray house. He had almost made the twenty feet up to the road, when he heard the sound. A movement in the brush. He stopped and listened, more sober by the second. But he heard only silence.
He started again, eyes down, on the dirt road. He let out a sigh of relief when he reached the pavement. Easy sailing now.
A deep throated growl came from up ahead, blocking his way. Washington stopped, moving his eyes off the road, willing them to reach out through the night and bring him a picture of whatever was blocking his path, but the night armor was too strong for his vision’s arrows. Something threatening was there and he might as well have been blind.
He stopped again, tuned his ears to the dark as he chambered a round. He pointed the carbine ahead, where he thought the sound had come from, and pulled the trigger.
The gunshot ripped through the silent night followed by an agonizing howl, then by the sound of something thrashing through the thick brush, scraping and tearing along the ground, bellowing as it fled away from Washington. And the night went silent again and as if nothing had happened, he forced his eyes down to the paved road and continued his trek. Kohler’s place was a quarter mile away and at the rate he was going, it would be dawn before he arrived at the thicket.
Watch dog, wild dog, child’s pet or bear, he didn’t know or care what it was he’d shot. His only thought was of Glenna. If he wanted to get her back, he would have to be at Kohler’s when she arrived with Jim Monday. He had delayed too long already. His resolve was firm. Nothing was going to stand in his way, not animal, nor man, but his resolve was quickly tested. He heard something twisting and turning in the brush and it was no longer tearing away from him in desperate flight. It was moving toward him with deliberate caution.
He put his nose in the wind. The thing coming for him had a smell all too familiar. He had been assaulted by it before, once following a freeway accident, once when he helped a fireman drag a burning woman from a blazing building. It was impossible to guard against. There was no protection from the smell of burning flesh. This thing coming for him was no dog, or bear.
He sensed that it was hugging the ground, forcing the brush aside like some kind of great snake. He used his ears, forced himself to concentrate on the sound and not the odor, which threatened to make him sick all over again. He was alert now, the adrenaline forcing all effects of the alcohol away. And in his new state of awareness, he reasoned that the thing was using the odor to misdirect him. Odor is carried with the breeze which twists and turns through the woods. It lies. He had to depend on his ears, they would give him the animal’s true position.
He listened as it drew closer, clawing and scratching on the ground. He closed his eyes and let the sense of sound take over. Again he used his instincts and fired into the night. And again the thing screeched, thrashed and moved away. Two shots and two hits, but this time it didn’t move as far. It hissed, like a snake hisses, but sounded more like a giant boiler releasing pent up steam, and he was overpowered with the pungent burning smell. He was tempted to shoot again, but he held his fire. He was a veteran and he wanted to make every shot count.
Something in the back reaches of his mind said run, but somehow Washington knew to run was to die. He waited, motionless. And it moved in closer, stalking him. It might be tough, Hugh thought, but it couldn’t be silent. He waited till he heard it leave the brush. It’s on the road. It thinks I can’t hear if it advances along the blacktop, but it’s wrong, I can. The thing was unable to mask the sound of its claws sliding on the smooth road and Hugh’s excellent hearing guided the direction of his fire like radio guided lasers.
Five quick rounds filled the night like explosions and the roar of the beast followed like an erupting volcano. Hugh fired the last three rounds of the ten round clip, ejected, jammed in the fresh clip and, while the animal still roared, he fired five more shots into the screams, still failing to silence the howling beast.
Fighting temptation he held his fire. The animal was directly in front of him, raging and screeching, clawing and scratching, but it wasn’t getting any closer. He shot his hands into his pocket and came out with the gold Zippo. He flicked it and for a flash of a second saw the thing that had been stalking him.
Big, reptilian, cringing from the Zippo’s light, bleeding from scores of wounds, foaming at the mouth, a baseball-sized eye on both sides of its lizard-like head, eyes glowing yellow against the Zippo’s flame. It hissed foam and steam at the light and moved away, slinking on its belly, backwards, away from the fire.
Hold
ing the Zippo in his left hand with his arm extended forward, Hugh tucked the carbine into his side and fired the last five shots into the head of the beast. All direct hits, causing it to spasm and jerk with each shot. The last shot jerked it onto its back, but it quickly righted itself and roared, blaring like an elephant, showing Hugh the hatred in its flaming yellow eyes, daring him to put out the flame.
Hugh dropped the carbine, grabbed his pistol from the shoulder holster, and advanced on the reptile.
“ You’re going to eat shit, motherfucker.”
Badly wounded, it tried to back away from the advancing human with the fire. It was confused. Humans always ran. They were prey. Prey didn’t fight back and prey never attacked. But this human was something new. It was changing the rules. And, having never been hunted, the beast didn’t know what to do. It had never run from prey. But this wasn’t prey anymore. This was something different. This was a hunter.
It opened its wide mouth, showing jagged teeth, then growled, hissing blue steam into the cool night. This never failed to frighten humans, usually paralyzing them with fear. But the prey, that was no longer prey, extended an arm, and flame leapt out from the human’s hand, and great pain flashed in its throat as three quick explosions smashed into its mouth.
It hissed again, gurgling blood. If only the human would drop the fire it could attack, but the arm that dealt pain stiffened and the reptile backed off as the arm jerked and something smashed into its left eye making everything on its left side go dark. It turned, and for the first time in its long life, it fled.
That’s it, Hugh thought, I’m going for the law. He had faced the beast and driven it back. But he was under no illusions. It had taken several fatal hits and had not gone down. He had only two shots left, if he encountered it again, he would lose. It was time for the horse soldiers.
He turned back to the side road, holding the Zippo high as he walked. Hugh Washington’s mother didn’t raise a dumb boy. He’d noticed the effect the flame had on that thing and he wondered how long since he’d last put fluid in the lighter. If it failed now, he was a dead man. But the flame held till he reached the car and Hugh again gave thanks that there were some things you could always count on. Some things that never let you down.
He breathed a sweat-chilled sigh of relief as his hands sought out and opened the driver’s door. A second sigh escaped him as he moved into the car, positioning himself behind the wheel. He flicked off the lighter and put it away. He searched his pockets for the keys, found them, and was sliding the key into the ignition when a voice in the back said. “Out early, aren’t you, Mr. Washington?”
Hugh froze.
“ That’s a good idea. Don’t move. I have a small, but very effective pistol pointed at the nape of your neck. Killing you now would give me great pleasure, but the doctor wants a word. I trust you’ll be willing to oblige.”
“ Take me to your leader, Mr. Markham.” Hugh tried to sound more confident than he felt.
“ Ah, you know me. Excellent. Doc said you must be sharp to find him here so quickly.”
“ Just lucky.”
“ Unlucky is more like it,” the Weasel said, “especially when he finds out how you treated his little darling. He’s gonna be real mad. Shooting up a poor defenseless creature like that. Oh yeah, he’s gonna be mad.”
Five minutes later Hugh piloted Power Glide into Dr. Kohler’s driveway, wondering if they were going to let him get out alive.
“ That’s good,” the Weasel said. “Now turn it off.”
Hugh obeyed.
“ You know, Washington, if you woulda just come by the house and asked your questions, you mighta lived through all this, but breaking up Doc’s equipment that way and destroying his discs like you did, real stupid that was. Did you destroy the one you stole, too?”
“ I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hugh said, hoping he’d get a chance to use the thirty-eight and those last two shots.
“ Don’t waste it on me. Get out of the car.”
Hugh opened the door and was greeted by Dr. Kohler.
“ How are you this morning, Officer Washington?” His German accent was short and still clipped.
“ Been better.”
“ Yes, I’ll bet you have.”
“ I’ll be better again.”
“ No, I don’t think so.”
The shadows cast on the doctor’s face by the porch light behind didn’t do him any favors. Hugh was reminded of B-grade, black and white horror movies with bad casts and bad endings. The flaring nostrils jutting out from Kohler’s sharp nose, inflating and contracting with each angry breath told Hugh that the doctor had the worst of all bad endings planned for him. He knew hatred when he smelled it.
“ Julia, come out here,” Kohler snapped.
Washington’s heart skipped when she stepped into the lighted frame of the open front door. She was nude, with her hair blowing in the night breeze. The sight of her standing there like that took his breath away and his heart went out to her.
“ You wanted to look,” Kohler said. “Look.”
“ I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Hugh said.
“ Oh, come now. You broke in here. Rather crudely done, I might add, and you destroyed some very valuable things. And you took something of mine. Now you see her in person. You see, all you had to do is ask, you didn’t have to take the disc.”
“ I still don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“ Julia, take him inside.”
Hugh stood breathless as she approached. She smiled at him with misty eyes, took him by the hand and led him into the house. He was helpless, caught in the web of her beauty and the sadness of her eyes. He could do nothing else but follow.
“ Sit,” Frank Markham commanded, pulling him away from Julia and indicating a chair. Hugh sat. “Hands behind your back.” He complied and Frank Markham, the Weasel, tied him to the chair. Hands behind and legs to the front, while Kohler held the gun. He was helpless, unable to move.
“ You’ve done this before,” Hugh said.
“ Yes.” He paused. “A bullet to the back of the head usually follows, but I think Doc has something more interesting planned for you.”
“ I asked you not to call me that.” Kohler glared at the Weasel.
“ Yes, sir. Sorry, sir,” Frank Markham said.
“ Bobby, get out here,” Kohler called.
Bobby entered the room, a glint in his stupid eyes. He smiled blankly at Washington and leered at Julia Monday. The bulge in his work pants told everybody in the room that her naked body excited him.
“ Get the razor,” Kohler said.
Bobby Markham left and returned, holding a straight razor. Kohler moved over by Washington and stepped behind him. He put his hands on Hugh’s shoulders and started to massage them. Kneading hard, hurting him. He moved up to his neck and pressed his thumbs roughly into his wind pipe, choking off his air. He released them and Hugh gasped, sucking air.
“ I was going to have the boys perform for you. With Julia. But then you’ve already seen the three of them perform together, haven’t you?”
“ I said, I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“ So I had to come up with something to top what you’ve already seen,” Kohler went on, ignoring Washington. “And all you have to do is sit back, watch, enjoy and die.”
“ You can’t kill a police officer in your own home and get away with it. You’ve got to be crazy.”
“ On the contrary. I’m very sane. A little crazy tonight perhaps, because you’ve ruined both my chances of selling Mrs. Monday and at getting her husband’s millions.”
“ You did murder Askew? You were behind it?”
“ Of course, but you’ll never tell anyone, because by the time anybody finds your body, I’ll be miles away with a perfect alibi.”
Washington shivered, the man was insane.
“ Bobby,” Kohler said, a curt command.
Bobby Markham appro
ached Julia and moved behind her. She stood facing Washington. Naked and alluring. Bobby reached around from behind her with his right hand and massaged her breasts.
“ Okay, Bobby, that’s enough, he’s seen it.” Kohler turned to the Weasel. “After I’ve gone, torch the place, but make sure he’s not tied to the chair when the place burns. Make it look like an accident.”
“ Can do, boss.”
Again Kohler moved behind Washington and again he wrapped his hands around his neck and slowly choked his air off.
“ Stare into her eyes,” Kohler said. “There’s something I want you to see.”
Washington obeyed, lost in those lovely liquid eyes and his heart started to crack when Bobby Markham brought the straight razor to her neck, and it broke when he slit her throat. She never took her eyes off of him. He watched her die and he felt his own life ebbing, knowing he had only seconds left. His last thought was of Glenna. He hoped she wouldn’t come here.
Then the earthquake hit.
Chapter Seventeen
Jim had been driving for just under two hours when the road started to shake. He jumped on the clutch with his left foot, moving his right from the gas to the brake, slowing the speeding car. They were half a minute off Highway 1, less than five minutes from Tampico.
“ What is it?” Glenna asked.
“ Don’t know. Flat maybe.” He maneuvered the car to the side of the road. The road continued to shake.
“ Earthquake,” Glenna said.
Without a word they hopped out of the car and moved away from it. They were both Californians and earthquake-wise. If possible, get away from buildings, cars, electric wires, anything that could become a large falling object.
She lost her footing and fell.
“ Shoes too tight,” she said, but he knew it was more than shoes, because he was having a hard time keeping his footing himself. He offered her a hand, started to pull her up when a strong tremor shook the earth and he found himself on the road beside her. They rode out the quake like that, sitting in the middle of the road, in the dark, hands, feet and buttocks on the pavement, clawing for balance.