Unleashed! Chapter Eleven

ELEVEN

Baxter hadn’t thought in a million years he would ever have to fire his AR-15 at a moving target again. The fact he still kept it in his basement had to do with why he’d left the Marines years ago though. He would never forget that night he’d been playing ball at the base, just carefree for one evening. It had been quiet for weeks that night and the troops had finally been able to let their hair down. Their guns were left back at their quarters and that evening they only were thinking of batting baseballs as hard as they could. That evening they were just having fun.

Their enemies were numerous, making short work of the guards and entering their base. Relentlessly they slaughtered the troops in a hail of bullets. They lacked the arms at hand to defend themselves. The only reason Baxter survived was that he took cover under one of his fallen comrades. The event left him with a bad case of PTSD and his honorable discharge.

His dear wife June had to go through so many nights of him waking up screaming in the middle of the night… So many days of violent mood swings… Still, with a lot of good therapy he’d managed to lead a pretty normal life again. A relatively quiet life as a sheriff in a sleepy small town. But one thing remained to always remind himself of his past. The fact he always wore a gun, practiced his shooting and never got rid of his old guns. He’d sworn he would never be caught unawares ever again. Never again would his loved ones fall victim to a cruel enemy because he wasn’t armed or vigilant. And now, fighting these uncanny creatures, he was going to prove that.

The creature’s mandibles snapped at him, his AR-15 empty. He hit its head with the stock of his rifle as hard as he could, imagining it was one of the baseballs he used to take swings at in the Marines. The only result was a dull thud. He hit it again, then turned around the rifle again. He prodded at the creature’s eyes with the barrel. That made the Otherworldy thing back off a little, its eyes apparently its weaker spot. That gave Baxter just enough time to slam a new clip in the rifle. When the creature tried to attack again he opened fire again, making sure he took aim at the things eyes.

The bullets ripped open the creature’s eyes, green muck spraying from its sockets. Some of it got on Baxter’s face. He didn’t have time to be disgusted though, he had to keep firing. The monster seemed to screech, feeling some level of pain from the wounds. It distracted the creature enough for Baxter to run away from it.

The bigger creature was skittering towards him as he ran as fast as he could to keep both monsters at a distance. He managed to reach his goal without getting slaughtered; a big tree. Quickly he climbed it, all the way to the top. The creatures gathered around it, snapping their mandibles, slashing at him with their forelegs. He was too high up for them to reach though. From his safe vantage point he fired this rifle again. He could see the smaller creature’s eyes had grown back again. He decided to target them again.

He wondered how long it would be until the last of his ammo would run out. What would he do then? He couldn’t stay up there for the rest of his life. Would the creatures maybe get tired of trying to get him? What exactly was the boy up to with the grenades now? He seemed to have a plan. That kid was an impressive young man, that was for sure. Baxter had never met someone that fearless. Aside from the fearlessness the kid had this incredible energy, this vibrant lust for life he himself had lacked ever since that night in Afghanistan. It was this loss of joy his June longed for so much. He’d never been the man she’d married for so many years. That hurt him each day but he just couldn’t find his old self back again. Yes, the therapy had helped him get his life back in order, had alleviated some of the pain and improved his sleep. It hadn’t managed to give him back his lust of life, though. And as beautiful and sweet his June was, it just wasn’t enough to spark his energy again. As he was facing certain death at the jaws of those creatures though he understood he sure as hell was willing to fight for his life though. So he must still feel enough love for it. That strengthened him.

The creatures were done waiting. But instead of just leaving, they skittered up against the tree, almost defying gravity. A dry click as he pulled the trigger announced Baxter had fired the last bullet.

Unleashed! Chapter Ten

TEN

Hadn’t it been for their own gunfire Baxter and the boy would have probably heard the deputies firefight with the creature. As it was though their own shots drowned out all other sounds. The boy’s first shot went wide, ending up in one of the spines of the books in the libary. After that one he managed to anticipate the kickback of the gun and the second shot plugged the creature in the eye. Lucky shot, but the boy didn’t care. Green, slimy blood oozed from the wound as the creature hissed. It was in pain.

“I think this one is weaker,” the boy surmised, a bit surprised the wound didn’t immediately close as had been the case with the bigger creature.

“Let’s rip it apart then,” Baxter said and fired a few volleys at the monster. Bullets tore through it’s belly, more blood leaking from it.

As they kept firing at the Otherworldy thing it slowly backed down, it cornered itself. It hid it’s head behind it’s raptorial forelegs.

“Stand back,” Baxter told the boy. “Time for the coup de grace. You might also want to cover your ears.”

The boy understood the sheriff’s plan and took cover. Baxter put his gun aside and took a grenade from the duffel bag. He pulled the pin and threw it at the monster. With a loud bang it exploded, the shockwave taking out the windows. The monster’s belly was torn apart, intestines the boy had never seen dropping on the carpet. It hissed once more, then sagged down. Lifeless.

“We did it! We beat that thing!” the boy shouted enthusiastically.

“Looks like we did,” Baxter said and slowly moved closer to the thing, still pointing his AR-15 at it to be sure. When he reached it he dared to poke it gently with the barrel of his gun. It didn’t move.

The boy ran a hand over the creature. “He really looks dead. But I figure the other creature won’t like the fact we killed it.”

“Shit. Did you have to say that?”

The boy sat down on his haunches next to the monster. “What a fascinating creature…”

Eyes widened Baxter stuttered, pointing at the creature. “Kid, watch it. That… that… organ… on the floor… It’s… moving!”

The boy saw what the sheriff meant. One of the organs, perhaps its equivalent of a heart started to stir. Then suddenly it flew up. And after that all the rest of the intestines. It was like watching a movie that was being played backwards. In exactly the way the intestines had dropped from the creature’s belly they now went back inside. The body closed down again, it’s eye grew back.

The boy couldn’t help but cheer. “Incredible!”

“Get the fuck back!” Baxter yelled and pulled the boy back to him.

The creature hissed louder than ever as it righted itself and started to swipe at the two reluctant monster hunters with its forelegs.

“We have to run!” Baxter said and pushed the boy in front of him. He threw another grenade behind his back as he pulled the boy along.

They ran through the house as fast as they could. The boy protested a bit but Baxter wouldn’t have any of it.

“That thing can’t be killed, kid! We have to get as far away from it as we can!”

They ran through the door, but could hear the creature following them. Barely outside Baxter lost his footing in his hurry and fell down on the grass. The creature had come through the door, barely fitting through.

The boy helped Baxter on his feet, firing one more bullet at the thing to keep it busy. Then they were standing eye to eye with the big creature. It’s raptorial forelegs were covered with gore. They noticed the dead bodies of the deputies.

Tears welled up in Baxter’s eyes. “Lou! Molly! What the fuck? That bloody demon slaughtered them!”

“There’s no way we can take on the bigger one,” the boy said. “We’d better take our chances with the smaller one and get back to the house.”

“That’s crazy! And what do we do when we get inside?”

“I have a theory,” the boy said. “Come on!”

So they did the unthinkable and ran straight for the smaller creature. Baxter kept firing his AR-15 at the smaller creature, pushing it away from the door. The boy managed to go through the door and yelled, “Sheriff! Throw me the duffel bag and keep that thing busy!”

Baxter threw the bag, the boy catching it like it was a softball. The boy ran into the building. The dry clicking sound of the AR-15 told the sheriff he’d fired his last bullet. He had to reload. As if the creature understood it sped up and with snapping mandibles went for the kill.

Unleashed! Chapter Nine

NINE

Lou parked his patrol car next to the sheriff’s. In all his years as a deputy not once had he heard Baxter so distressed. Not even with that car crash that killed the entire Henderson family, or the time they had to cut down Jesse Saviuk down from the tree where he’d hung himself. And Baxter did time in Afghanistan. If he was bothered by something it had to be bad. Especially if they were told to bring guns. The sheriff’s department in this town usually only wore those guns for show. Lou glanced at Molly, walking in front of him, carrying a shotgun. She was two heads smaller than him, but twice as wide. Big hips and ass to match. Not to mention the tits. He liked her. She always made sure she smelled real nice, wore make-up. Although she was treated like one of the boys, she never looked like one aside from the uniform. Besides that, she was a sweet caring thing. He was jealous of her husband. He’d been single for as long as he could remember. Nobody was interested in a Goofy-looking sheriff’s deputy with ears way too big and crooked teeth.

“What do you think is going on here?” Lou asked Molly.

“No idea. But if it takes guns to take care of it’s something bad,” she said.

“Yeah. Exactly,” Lou said. “Looks like the chief is inside. Figure we should follow him in there.”

“Figure so,” Molly thought. “You know how to handle that thing, Lou?”

“What?” then Lou looked at the 9mm Glock in is hand.  “Oh. The gun? Yeah, sure. I practice a few times a week on the range.”

“Good, I wouldn’t want you to shoot yourself in the foot. Or worse, my sweet ass.”

Lou liked the way she chuckled. She had a good sense of humor. A bit sarcastic and dark sometimes, but that came with the job he guessed. Even in a small town like this.

Then he saw the earth move.

“What the bloody fuck?”

Molly gave him a quizzical look. “Huh?”

Lou pointed ahead. “The earth. There. It fucking moved.”

“Moved? You’re crazy! This whole thing is getting to you with the chief sounding so upset and all.”

“I’m telling you it moved. Look, it did again.”

That’s when Molly saw it as well. It was like something was moving underneath the grounds, stirring up the earth. “What the hell?”

“What do you think that is, Molly?” Lou asked.

“How the fuck should I know? A giant mole or something?”

Lou aimed his gun at it. “Whatever it is, I don’t like it.”

The soil moved aside as, like a Jack-in-the-box a huge creature burrowed up. The body of a caterpillar, the raptorial forelegs of a mantis it was the scariest, most unholy thing Lou had ever seen. He felt his groin get wet as the thing moved towards them with a nightmarish hiss.

“Shoot it! Shoot that fucking demon!” Molly shouted and started to unload the shotgun into the creature.

Lou just stood there, shaking. He tried to pull the trigger. He was unable to. Frozen at the sight of that monstrous thing. Fear had taken captive of his entire body. It was as if his brain was so busy trying to come to grips with what his eyes were seeing it couldn’t find the time to send the command to his hands to fire.

Molly’s shotgun blasts didn’t stop the monstrous thing. “Why don’t you fucking die?”

The creature rose above Molly, it’s shadow darkening her face. The last shell had been expelled and the sound of an empty shotgun chamber heralded her death. A raptorial foreleg cut ripped through her body like it was slicing a lemon. The young woman’s guts spilled out of her like she was a slaughtered pig.

The sight of his dying colleague, perhaps even the woman he loved finally snapped Lou out of it. He fired his gun at the creature, pulling the trigger as fast as he could.

“Die! Die! Die you fucking  monster!“

But as Molly had found out, mere guns were not enough of to stop the savage creature. It just came closer to Lou.

He started to run as fast as he could to the patrol car. He yanked the door open and wanted to get inside. He felt something sharp dig in his leg. Something that pierced through his tendons, pulled at it. With a sickening, wet sound he felt his leg being torn off his body. He fell down, knocking his head against the car. Blood flowed from his head where he’d hit it. He was starting to loose consciousness, part as a result of his headwound, part just out of fear. The last thing he saw before he died were the snapping mandibles of the creature in front of his face.

Unleashed! Chapter Eight

EIGHT

From the patrol car the boy spotted the Kingsbury house in the distance. He strained his eyes to see if the monster was there. He didn’t spot it though and said so.

“Not sure how fast that thing can go. And where the fuck would it go?” Baxter wondered.

When they were back on the spot the two had their first literal run in they still so no sign of the creature.

“Maybe it went inside again,” the boy suggested.

“So maybe we should leave it there,” Baxter said.

“And risk it coming out later, catching someone unawares? It’s your job to protect this town, right?”

Baxter sighed. “Damn you, kid.”

“Besides, there’s something else in there you should have a look at. Some kind of cocoon. There might be one of those things growing inside of it.”

“What? And why didn’t you tell me about that before?”

“I guess we were to busy with the other one.”

“Christ. Okay… So what, you suggest we go in there?”

“Let me call for backup first,” Baxter said and grabbed his radio. “All officers, please come to the old Kingsbury building. Assistance needed.”

“What’s up, sheriff?” a man’s voice crackled from the radio.

“It’s pretty hard to explain. I encountered an unspecified creature here that might be a danger to the town, over.”

“Unspecified creature? Have you been drinking on the job, sheriff?”

“Goddammit, Lou! Don’t question me, just get the hell over here and bring all your guns.”

“All rightie then. Over and out,” Lou said.

The boy chuckled. “Sounds like they respect the hell out of you.”

“Yeah, well… We don’t have that many reasons to be strict over here in the boondocks, you know? They’re my buddies as well as my colleagues.”

“How many deputies have you got, anyway?”

“There’s Lou and there’s Molly.”

“Two? I hope they’ve got as much firepower lying around as you did.”

“They haven’t ever fired a gun at a living target in their lives,” Baxter said.

“Whoo-boy…”

“Yeah,” Baxter said and got out of the car, slinging his duffel bag around his shoulder. “Let’s get over there.”

The boy left the patrol car as well and caught up to Baxter who was making for the house with long strides. Baxter pulled on the door, discovering it was locked.

“I got in through a window,” the boy said.

“This works too,” Baxter said and blasted out the lock with his shotgun. He kicked the door open and they went inside.

The boy ran past Baxter. “I’ll show you where the cocoon is.”

They climbed the stairs to the room where the boy had encountered the cocoon.

“Yuck,” the sheriff said as he almost stepped on the dead cat the boy had encountered earlier.

“Yeah, that’s the creature’s earlier handiwork I guess.”

“Such a shame. I like cats.”

They entered the cocoon’s room. But to the boy’s surprise there was no cocoon. Only a floor full of sticky slime.

“What the fuck is that shit?” Baxter wondered.

“I think that’s all that is left of the cocoon,” the boy said.

“Left?”

“I think the cocoon… kind of hatched.”

“Hatched? So now what?”

“I think we might have another one of those creatures on the loose now.”

“Fucking hell. Do you think it is roaming around the house?”

“Let’s have a look,” the boy suggested and left the room. “Are you coming along?”

“I am,” Baxter said and took the safety off his assault rifle.

The two made their way through the building. Each door was opened by the boy, Baxter stepped right in, aiming his rifle left and right, ready to fire whatever creature was found inside the room. After they had searched all the rooms on the top floor they made their way down again, ending up at the door to the library.

As they stood in front of the door the boy said, “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” Baxter asked.

The boy put his ear against the door. “Something skittering around. I think the creature is in there.”

Baxter drew his pistol and handed it to the boy. “You ever shot one of these?”

The boy shook his head as he accepted the gun in his hands.

“It’s a Glock. You just pull the tab that’s in front of the trigger into it to take off the safety. After that, just point and shoot and watch the kickback.”

The boy nodded. “Clear. Let’s go inside.”

“All right,” the sheriff said and readied his rifle.

The boy opened the door and went into the room, gun pointing forward. Baxter flanked him with the rifle.

What awaited them there was another caterpillar like creature, but two times smaller than the one the encountered earlier. It looked up at them, it’s eyes swiveling. For a moment the two reluctant monster hunters made eye contact with the creature. The thing seemed to size them up, wondering how big a threat they meant to it. Then it hissed and came into motion. The sheriff and the boy fired.

Unleashed! Chapter Seven

SEVEN

Baxter parked the car in front of his house, an old fashioned All American bungalow with a porch. He sprinted out of his car, followed by the boy.

A good-looking young brunette walked out the door and stood on the porch, greeting him. “Hi sweetie, what’s the hurry? And who’s the young man?”

Baxter gave her a quick peck on the cheek. “No time to explain in detail, honey. I need to get to the basement quickly. I’m sorry, June.”

The boy followed Baxter inside, giving June a quick wave as he did so. Baxter almost knocked into his furniture as he opened the door leading to his basement and ran down the steps. In the basement were a lot of boxes in all shapes and sizes, an old bike without wheels and some old pottery. There was also a big, Army-green crate on the floor. Baxter opened it, displaying the assault rifle and grenades inside it.

Looking over his shoulder the boy said, “Are you allowed to keep that kind of stuff?”

“One of those don’t ask, don’t tell kind of things,” Baxter told him and grabbed the assault rifle. “This AR-15 has served me pretty well in Afghanistan. I hope it will do so again.”

“The other bullets didn’t really seem to have the stopping power needed.”

Baxter showed the boy one of the grenades. “That’s where these babies come in. Hand me that bag over there.”

The boy grabbed the duffel bag that was one a few cardboard boxes to Baxter who filled it with the grenades. Baxter slung the bag over his shoulder.

“That’s it? Let’s go then,” the boy said.

“You’d better just stay here,” Baxter told him. “I’ll deal with that thing.”

“You could use all the help you can.”

“I used to be a Marine. You’re just a kid,” Baxter said.

“I’m not scared. Actually, I’m not scared of anything.”

“Yeah, you sound like you mean it. But you can just as well get yourself killed, and I don’t want that.”

“I’ll be okay. Come on. You can’t take on that monster by yourself,” the boy urged.

Baxter sighed. “Guess I could use someone to watch my back. But I’ve got deputies for that.”

“Sure. But they will be so scared of that thing they might freeze up. I won’t.”

“Guess that can be an advantage. Shit. Okay. Come along then.”

“Joe, you can’t just do this without any explanation,” June said from the steps down to the basement. “Why are you packing in your old Marine stuff?”

Baxter put a hand on June’s shoulder. “There’s just some business I have to take care of. Don’t worry about it, sweetie!”

The boy saw June tearing up. There was something going on there, something beyond this particular situation. Probably something rooted in their past together.

“Oh… Joe… Damn!” Then June started to cry.

“I’m fucking sorry,” Baxter said and walked past her. The boy held up his hands to June in a “sorry, what can I do” way and followed.

As they walked out the door to the patrol car the boy had to ask, “What was that all about?”

“What?”

“She was so worried,” the boy said.

“Forget about it,” Baxter said and opened the patrol car’s door.

The boy joined the sheriff in the car. “Obviously there was something that…”

Baxter gunned the engine. “Just shut up about it, kid! We’ve got a fucking monster to kill.”