Nightcrawlers: Reign of Terror

by Ron L. Carter

  Chapter 14

  Cooper went back to the Shack and tried to relax for a few days. One afternoon he was sitting with the dogs when he heard a vehicle coming toward the shack from off in the distance. Cooper quickly got the dogs outside and then closed the back door behind them. He had the dogs jump in the cab of the pick-up and left the driver side door open for them, just in case he had to use them to attack someone. He took a tin cup with him he had in the truck and walked over by the well and pretended he was getting water from it. As the vehicle approached Cooper soon could tell it was a Sheriff Department truck. He was saying to himself, "Okay Cooper take a deep breath and play it cool."

  It was a Deputy by the name of Richard Gilbert that had driven up and parked his vehicle not too far from where Cooper was standing. He had his hand over the holster of his gun when he first got out of his truck. Once he saw that Cooper was a just a young man in his teens he relaxed a bit. The first question he asked Cooper was, "What are you doing way out here in the desert?" Cooper calmly replied, "I just brought my dogs out to run, sir. They've been cooped up in my back yard for a couple of weeks now and they love it out here in the desert." He pointed back at the dogs sitting in the pick-up. They were watching very intently as Cooper talked to the deputy. They were ready to spring into action if Cooper gave them a command to attack. "They got thirsty and I found this old well the last time I was out here so I was just getting ready to pump them some water."

  Deputy Gilbert looked over at the shack and could tell it still had some boards across the front door and windows. It didn't look like anyone was living in the place to him. He said, "Have you seen anyone around here that looks like they might be just hanging out?" Cooper said, "No, I haven't seen anyone out this way, just me and the dogs. That's why I bring them way out here to get away from everyone. Plus, I can get them fresh water after they run for a while. That old run down place looks like nobody's lived in it for some time to me."

  He then asked Deputy Gilbert what he was doing out there in the desert so far from town. He said, "We had some problems a few days ago with a couple of local guys that were killed not too far from here. One was actually killed over in the desert by Red Mountain and the other was killed and then dumped back at his house in Red Mountain." Cooper had to turn his head away toward the well and refrain from smiling as he asked, "So what happened to the guys?" He replied, "Some "Sicko" taped one guy to the steering wheel of his truck, poured gasoline all over him and it and then lit it on fire. Burned the poor guy to a crisp." The other one he burned also but he did it someplace else and then dumped him back home. Cooper replied, "Wow! That sucks. Who would do something like that?" The deputy said, "I don't know, but you need to keep an eye out while you're out here in the desert. That guy is still out here someplace." Cooper said, "Okay, I will deputy, but I think me and the dogs are just about done for the day. As soon as I get them some water we're going to head back to Ridgecrest." Deputy Gilbert said, "May not be a bad idea. You don't want to be out this far, and especially after dark with that nut case running loose."

  Deputy Gilbert then decided he would get a closer look at the shack as he walked toward it. He was looking around the front and side of it when Cooper yelled to him, "Hey deputy, you should try some of his cold water before you head back to town. It's really cold." Deputy Gilbert couldn't resist, "That's not a bad idea." He turned around and walked over to Cooper as he pumped up some of the water. He handed the deputy a tin cup full of fresh cold water, "Try this, it's pretty good stuff." He took a big gulp of it and said, "Well, guess I should be heading back. Keep your eyes open while you're out here." Cooper said, "Thank you for letting me know Deputy, I'll be extra careful."

  Cooper then began pumping more water as deputy Gilbert headed back to his truck. Cooper watched from over his shoulder as he turned his vehicle around and headed out the dirt road the way he came in.

  Once his truck was out of sight Cooper laughed out loud and said, "Nut case, huh, that a funny one." He also repeated the words, "Sicko" a few times and laughed out loud each time he said it. "If I'm such a "nut case" and a "sicko" then why don't all those smart guys from law enforcement know who I am? Why can't they figure it out?" At that point he was feeling pretty invincible and proud of himself.

  A few days later his compulsion to go after the other men was starting to eat at him again. He decided he was going to go after Mark Silvers next. He lived across the dirt road and down just a little way from Cooper's number one enemy, Jim Larson. He knew he had to plan things out very carefully because Mark had dogs and he also had tons of weapons so he could easily kill him if he made a mistake. Especially, if he knew he was the next one on Cooper's list to kill.

  The next day Cooper drove into Ridgecrest and went to the Wal-Mart store and purchased a stun gun. It was one that was strong enough to knock a man down. He then drove back to the ravine and traded vehicles. He had the dogs get down low in the seat as he slowly drove by Mark Silvers' house. He saw that Mark drove a green four wheel drive older model jeep and it was parked next to the house. He carried a locked tool box in the back of it. There were a couple of large dogs that ran toward his truck barking as he passed by. He saw Mark out in the yard and they waived to each other as he passed by.

  Cooper camped out in the ravine with the dogs for a couple of days while he just watched to see what Mark was doing each day. He got up early and hiked up close to his house and watched from a hidden location as Mark came and went several times during the two days. He saw that Mark always left and came back the same way each time. After watching him, Cooper came up with a plan and knew exactly what he wanted to do.

  Not wanting to meet Mark on his own turf, for fear of being shot, Cooper got up early and drove Charley's pick-up and parked it near the end of Marks road. He sat there for about three hours looking through his rear view mirror before he saw Mark's jeep coming from his house and heading toward him. He quickly jumped out of the pick-up and raised his hood. He told the dogs to get down on the floor board and they immediately responded.

  When Mark got close to him he stepped out in the middle of the dirt road and started waving his arms for help. Mark pulled up next to him and said, "What seems to be the problem here, sonny?" Cooper replied, "I think it's my battery Sir. It must have died on me. I had trouble with it this morning before I left home. Do you have any jumper cables with you?" Mark said, "Yeah, I have some in my tool box, I'll grab them. We'll try that and see if it will get you started again."

  He seemed like a pretty nice guy to Cooper and very helpful. He was in his mid forties with light brown hair and a friendly smile. He had on one of those old straw cowboy hats where the brim was bent down in the front and wearing cowboy boots. He could tell he'd had that hat for a while from the looks of it.

  As Mark got the cables Cooper grabbed the stun gun and stuck it in the back of his pants. Mark pulled his jeep up next to the truck and just as he was hooking up the cables, Cooper looked around to make sure nobody was watching, as he shot him with the stun gun and a few million volts of electricity. He went down and started kicking like he was having convulsions. Cooper quickly flipped him onto his stomach and put his hands behind his back and duct-taped them. He also taped his mouth and his feet. He then lifted him up and threw him in the bed of the truck. When he had him lying face down, he quickly hog-tied his hands to his feet with the tape so he couldn't move. After he had Mark loaded up he took off, leaving his jeep in the middle of the road. He had picked up Mark's old hat and thrown it in the cab. The entire ordeal only took a few seconds.

  He drove back to the ravine and left Mark lying in the bed of the truck. When he first got out of the truck he said to him, "If you try to escape I'll have the dogs rip you to shreds so I wouldn't try that if I were you." He put the dogs in the bed of the truck with Mark and then ignored him until it started getting dark. He took the dogs some water while he was waiting fo
r dark.

  After it was real good and dark he finally went over to the truck and had the dogs jump out. He leaned in at a wide eyed Mark Silvers and said, "I know you don't know me, but you might remember my twin brother, Dalton. You and your vigilante group killed him not too long ago. You would've been better off if you'd just stayed out of it, Mark. It was none of your business. Now you're going to have to pay for what you did to my brother, just like the rest of the guys." Mark still had the tape over his mouth and Cooper didn't really want to hear what he might say anyway. He knew he would just try to make up some type of lame excuse as to why he was in the vigilante group in the first place. Cooper was way past listening to anything he might have to say.

  It was around midnight when he pulled Mark from the truck and dumped him on the ground. Mark had wet his pants and now he had dirt clinging to the wet spot. Cooper said, "I'm going to cut the tape lose from your legs, but don't try to run because the dogs would love to kill you, especially Dalton's dog Skeeter. We're going to take a walk back to your home town of Red Mountain. I'm sure you'll be okay with that. You know the place you love so much and so willing to kill someone for." He put Mark's hat back on his head.

  When they got about half way to where they were heading Mark got the bright idea to make a run for it. Cooper let him run about ten yards before he gave Skeeter and Samson the command to attack, but not kill. The dogs hit him from behind and knocked him to the ground. They were ripping at his face and neck with their sharp teeth for several seconds before Cooper gave them the command to heal. They immediately stopped their attack and stood by his side. Cooper went over to the ripped up and bleeding Mark and said, "None of that was necessary Mark; you knew you couldn't outrun two big dogs. Now you're all ripped up for nothing." He picked Mark up and said in an angry voice, "Don't try that again or the next time I won't stop the dogs, I'll let them kill you."

  He kept Mark, himself and the dogs hidden as they made the rest of the walk back near the Silver Dollar Saloon without any problems. It was about one o'clock in the morning and everyone in town had turned out their lights and it was dark when they got there. Cooper walked Mark over to the hole of the old mine shaft. He taped Marks legs together again as he laughed and said to him, "I'm going to throw you down in the mine but don't worry, if the fall doesn't kill you the ghosts of that place down there will surely get you after a few days." Mark tried to wiggle himself free, but he couldn't as Cooper shoved him and he went head first into the hole. It only took a few seconds to fall the hundred feet or so and he landed with a huge thud. Cooper then shined his flashlight down on him and saw that his mangled body wasn't moving.

  When he was finished with Mark, he and the dogs walked back to the ravine and got in his pick-up and went back to the shack.

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