Bigfoot Crank Stomp (10 page)

It’s got to be in here
, he thought. “I just need a second.”

“For what?”

Pound, pound, roar, pound. The tree buckled. The branch fell even more. Seph hung at a seventy now.

“For the love of God, help me.”

There
, Russell thought. His fingers closed around a baggie. He yanked it out. Glass.

He tossed it down, watching it sway back and forth like a leaf falling to the ground. Bigfoot caught sight of it. It stopped pounding and roaring. It only watched as the little bag seemed to float down to it. Hands cupped, it raised them and caught it.

Then it tore it up and sniffed everything within in less than a second. It licked it fingers. It moaned.

Russell reached over and helped Seph over to his branch. As he did, she said, “What the hell was that about?”

“Crank. It wanted crank.”

Seph looked down. “He’s seriously hooked on meth?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know all this?” She looked at him. Eyes tight and full of anger. “How did meth end up in your bag?” She looked the contents of the bag. “A bag full of money?”

“It’s a long story.”

“You’re a drug dealer.”

“No shit.”

“So you got it hooked. Some kind of joke that went wrong.”

“No, I didn’t do shit to it.”

“You led it to me. It was chasing you and your bag of meth. It wouldn’t have done anything to me.”

“I didn’t know the meth was in the bag.”

“So it’s not your bag?”

“No—wait. Look, I said it’s a long story.”

“So you stole it.”

Russell started to say more but stopped. What was the point? He didn’t need this shit right now anyway. No, what he needed was to get out of this motherfucking tree.

He dug down into the bag, searching for more glass. If he could find another baggie or two, he could distract Bigfoot enough to climb down and head the other way. Seph could come if she wanted but he wasn’t going to sit here and try to explain his life story anymore.

Below, Bigfoot released a long, tremendous sigh. It sounded like the climax of an orgasm. Then it looked back up. The eyes were still wild. Still full of fury. But sedated somewhat. No longer on the brink of starvation. Still hungry for more, sure, but not destroy-everything-in-its-path hungry.

“Is there more in there?” Seph said.

“I can’t find anymore.”

“Then why won’t it leave?”

“How the fuck am I supposed to know?”

“You shot it didn’t you? That’s why it’s bleeding from all over its chest.”

Russell quit rummaging through the bag. “Look, I didn’t shoot it. It just started chasing me. Obviously, now, because it could smell the meth in the bag.”

“Who shot it then?”

“The fucking Sheriff and his deputies!”

Seph shook her head. “I knew it. You got caught stealing drugs and somehow that poor creature got stuck in the middle.”

“Poor creature? Lady, that fucking thing tore my partner’s arms out of their sockets. Literally.”

“What did you expect? People getting it hooked on meth. People shooting it. You think it asked for all this?”

“You think I did? Christ.”

Below, Bigfoot kept its stare. It seemed like it was trying to decide what to do next. Keep watch or resume the assault on the tree. Russell had little doubt if Seph kept running her mouth, it would choose the latter.

“It’s not going to leave,” Seph said. “It’s not going to leave and you don’t have any more drugs and soon its high will wear off and then it’ll knock this damn tree down and kill us all because of you and your druggie kind.”

“Will you shut. The. Fuck. Up?” His fingers found two more baggies. He exhaled, relieved, at least for a few moments, and tossed them down. “You can be pissed at me all you want but let’s try to make it through this first.”

Seph grunted but refrained from saying anything else. Below, Bigfoot finished of the second baggie. His eyes dulled. Content. Yeah, Russell had seen that look before. Many times. In the mirror. Almost wished he’d kept a taste for himself.

No, man
, he thought.
Keep your head straight. The last thing you need is another round of meth coursing through you.

Bigfoot released the longest sigh Russell had ever heard. He watched the hairy beast shiver.

“What was that?” Seph said.

Russell shrugged in the darkness. A moment later, Bigfoot swayed a little and then stumbled off. It made it a few feet before it dropped straight down on its ass. Its head hung over its chest, chin way down. Its hands lay at its sides, palms up.

“I think it just hit the wall,” Russell said.

“It’s asleep?”

“Passed out describes it better. But yeah, out like a light.”

“Can we get down?”

Russell kept a wary eye on the beast for a moment, wondering how deep into dreamland it had delved. And for how long?

Doesn’t matter,
he thought.
You need to get down now or risk not having another chance
.

“I think we need to try,” Russell said. “Might be our only shot.”

“What if it wakes up?” Again, that panicked tone. “What if it wakes up when we’re on the ground and it—” Russell started climbing down. “Wait, what are you doing?”

“What’s it look like? I don’t know how long it’ll be out but I want to be down and far away when it comes to.”

Seph rose up enough to peer down over Russell’s shoulder at Bigfoot. She licked her lips and nodded to herself. Convincing herself.

“Okay, okay. I’m coming, too.”

Great
, he thought.

It took a few minutes to climb down. The closer he got to the ground, the slower Russell moved, worried the tiniest sound might bring Bigfoot raging back into the world of consciousness. He half expected a piece of bark to fall or twig to snap. None did, thankfully. When he reached the surface, he held his breath and clenched his jaw, and placed one foot down on the pine needle carpet, followed by the other.

Across from him, Bigfoot’s shoulder rose and fell on heavy breaths. It wheezed on the exhalations. It also smelled awful. A combination of drying blood, addicts must, and soiled fur.

Seph gagged and covered her mouth next to him. He gave her a hard stare and pressed his index finger vertically against his lips. Her eyes watered but she nodded and kept from puking all over him.

The bag of money once again hung across his back. He motioned Seph to follow him and started taking one step backwards away from the beast. A second step. Then third, fourth and fifth. Slow all the way.

Bigfoot didn’t shift. It maintained a constant ratio of labored inhalations to wheezy exhalations.

I guess ripping a guy’s arms out and getting shot with a bunch of .00 buck really can take it out of you
, Russell thought.

Once they were a couple of trees away, he risked turning his back to it and picked up the pace.

“Where are we going?” Seph said in a low but rushed whisper.

“Hell, I don’t’ know. Away from it for now. Figure we got time to stop and get pointed in the right direction once we’re not worried about it waking up and tearing us in half.”

“Maybe I’ll just head in a different direction now. I think I know the way back to my site.”

“Go for it. But remember, you’re site isn’t that far away from where we ended up.”

“When I need advice from a meth dealer, I’ll ask.”

Russell slammed on the brakes and turned to her. She almost ran into him but managed to stop a few inches short.

“Look, I’m sorry I dragged you into this. I thought I was helping, all right. But if you say one more smart ass thing about me and drugs or blame me for this shit again I will knock the piss out of you.”

Seph’s lips tightened, as did her eyes. Almost daring him.

“By the way,” Russell said, “I can smell the beer on you. Didn’t see anyone else in your camp. My guess, you were staring at the fire and tying one on, right?”

“How dare you? You’ve got no idea.”

A sense of victory spread through Russell. “You’re damn right. And neither do you. Remember that next time before you go pointing that boney ass finger of blame at people.”

“Fuck you,” she said and turned and started to walk away.

Russell reached out for her arm but missed. “Wait a minute.”

“No.”

“Where are you going?”

“Doesn’t matter. Away from you and it.”

“Come back.” Russell hurried to keep up. “It’s not smart to be out here on your own.”

Seph turned suddenly. He noticed her arm swinging toward him. He heard her knuckles connect with his jaw. And then he found himself sitting on his ass, pain creeping up his tailbone.

“Stay the fuck away from me.” She stood over him, fist clenched. “I was fine before you showed up. I plan to be that way again.”

Russell grimaced and rubbed his jaw and held up his other hand in surrender. “Fine. Go. Sorry I ever met you.”

“Feeling’s mutual.”

Seph turned away and moved off into the woods. What direction, he had no idea. He wanted to say he didn’t care either but couldn’t. Yeah, she was annoying but if she ended up in that thing’s clutches later…

Don’t think about it
, Russell thought.
It’s her call. Now worry about yourself and get the hell out of here.

Right.

Russell looked around him. First eye level and then up the trees toward the moon. Which way?

He didn’t know. East, west. Hell, he barely knew up from down. All he did know was Bigfoot was behind him. So heading away from it was the first priority.

Move already then
, he thought and climbed to his feet. Russell shifted and looked behind him for a moment, making sure the beast wasn’t awake and stalking him. Nope. Nothing but trees. He couldn’t even see the top of the thing’s head from where he stood.

Time to get gone. Russell looked where Seph was before she disappeared out of sight. Then he stepped in the direction perpendicular to her path.

MANNY

He clenched Chris’s hand, blood oozing between pressed flesh. He wanted to say it was going to be okay, wanted to tell his spotter, his friend, it was just a scratch. But the screams choked the words off before they could come.

Chris halted his wailing long enough to say, “Mister, are you okay?”

No, he hadn’t said that.

“Mister, are you okay?”

It wasn’t Chris’s voice. Not even a man’s voice. Definitely a woman. But there was Chris, on the ground, dying. Talking like a girl.

“Mister, you need to get up because there’s a monster in the woods.”

Monster? What?

The creature. Bigfoot. He’d been tracking it. Tracking until—

Manny fluttered his eyes only to be rocked by seething pain in his head. It stretched all the way down into his jaw. Even his teeth hurt. He reached up and touched where the rock had hit him. Matted hair and blood.

But you’re alive
, he managed to think.
Get up Marine
.

His vision shifted from blurred to somewhat out of focus. A woman knelt over him. Not young but not old. Not pretty but not ugly. Tired. She looked very tired.

“Mister, we need to move.”

Manny coughed and eased himself into a sitting position. He still clenched the rifle. The woman had not been foolish enough to try and pry it from his grip. Good for her. Although unconscious he had no doubt the old reflexes would have kicked in. He also doubted he would have been able to control himself if they had. A key to a sniper’s survival was his rifle. No one got a hold of it. Ever.

He lifted it from the dirt and lowered it onto his lap and took in his surroundings with quick glances. Still dark. The moon hadn’t moved much. Must have been out, what, twenty minutes.

“You saw it?” he said and winced from the pain in his jaw and ear. Then he realized he recognized her. The woman standing with the guy by the fire. Right before he got nailed with the rock.

“Saw it? It almost killed me.”

“How did you get away?”

“Climbed up a tree.”

“And it left? What direction?”

“It didn’t exactly leave.”

“What do you mean?”

She told the story of a meth dealer named Russell and a bag of money. Money and a few baggies of meth he managed to drop down to the enraged creature.

“You’re saying Bigfoot is a meth addict?” Manny had a tough time swallowing it but, if true, it explained a lot about the cabin and what he thought was just
Animal Planet
blasting all the time.