Bigfoot Crank Stomp (18 page)

“Is he alive?”

Manny nodded. He looked Russell’s body over. Face mashed up. Blood clotting from wounds to his eyes, nose, and mouth. Probably a half-dozen busted ribs. He refused to imagine the damage to Russell’s rectum. “Whether that’s good or bad I don’t know.”

“We need to get him to a hospital.”

“Yeah, we do. First, though, we need to figure out what to do about him.” Manny jerked a thumb at the Sheriff. “My original plan didn’t work out too well.”

Seph looked over at the Sheriff. “How’d you miss?”

“I couldn’t do it.” Manny rubbed his face. “I can’t do it anymore.”

“Bad stuff happened over there, huh?”

“Over there?” Manny smirked. “You could say that.”

“Maybe we call the cops.”

“More cops?”

“Highway Patrol or something. County Sheriff.”

Manny looked back at the Sheriff. “Or we leave him here. Let him die.”

“Could you live with that?”

“Hell, I don’t know. I’m not sure what I can live with after this.”

“So you’d let someone suffer and die and not do anything about it?”

“You really threw that back in my face quick, didn’t you?”

Seph sighed. “Not trying to. We do need to do something. But we also need to make sure all this points back to him.”

“He can’t pin it on us.”

“No but he needs to go to jail for the rest of his life and we need more witnesses than us.”

“Russell, if he lives.” Manny looked around the cabin. “There are only a few people on the Loop this time of year. Since we haven’t seen or heard anyone else, I think we can assume there’s either no one else here or they’re hiding. Killing him would have been the easiest way.”

“Will you two fucking pussies shut the fuck up already?” The Sheriff waved a bloody hand at them and flicked them off. “Let me die in piece.”

Manny motioned with his head. “Let’s go say hi.”

They left Russell and walked over to the Sheriff. Manny shifted the rifle from his shoulder to his hands and leveled it on the lawman. As they closed, they noticed a stench rising from him. Harsher and harsher until it was almost burning their eyes. He wasn’t covered in mud but feces.

Manny kicked the revolver further away and stood at the Sheriff’s side and aimed the barrel at his shit-smeared forehead.

The Sheriff laughed. “I already heard you weren’t going to kill me. Fucking pussy Marine. Lost your nutsack over in Iraq, huh? Can’t even hurt a fly anymore.”

Manny ignored the taunts and said, “You’re the one bleeding out from my round.”

“Lousy fucking shot, too.” More laughter followed by a moan and grasping the shoulder. “Shooting me in the dick would have hurt less.”

“I still can if you want me to.”

“Fuck off.”

“I think I’m going to puke,” Seph said around the hand covering her nose and mouth. “Why are you covered in shit?”

“Thought he was going to mask his scent,” Manny said. “You really think that was going to work?”

“You’re a fucking smart Mexican, aren’t you?”

“Costa Rican on my father’s side, turd boy.”

“I can’t take anymore of this stench,” Seph said. “I’m going to go back over to Russell.”

The Sheriff fluttered his eyes, shifting from Manny to Seph. “Hey, I know you.”

“I don’t see how.”

The Sheriff laughed and pointed with his good hand. “You’re Wheezy’s girl.”

Manny watched as Seph’s face slacked. Her hand dropped to her side and her lower lip trembled just a bit.

“What do you know about Wheezy?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know.”

Seph picked up the Sheriff’s revolver, ignoring the shit-smeared grip, and cocked it and pointed it at his face. “Tell me.”

“Or what, you’ll kill me. Thought you wanted me to pay for what I’ve done.”

Manny recognized the blind anger starting to burn in Seph’s eyes. If he didn’t do something quick, she’d lose control and shoot him for sure. He leaned in and jammed the barrel into the shoulder wound hard. The Sheriff belted a wail and grabbed the barrel and tried to yank it away. Manny pushed harder.

“Tell her what she wants to know.” He lifted the barrel away. “Or I’ll do it again.”

“Okay, okay,” he said around heavy breaths. “I know he was a fucking pot dealer in my town.
Was
being the appropriate word.” He laughed. “Know his asshole was tighter than Russell’s there. I made a bum rape him first. But once the other deputies were gone, I took my turn. Shot a big old load up there. Then I beat the living shit out of him and dumped him in the woods off of Route 3.”

“Is he dead?”

“Don’t know. Haven’t seen or heard anything about him. Guessing you haven’t either. Maybe you should take a drive out there. Might find him waiting for you.”

“You son of a bit—”

Manny settled his hand on her arm before she pulled the trigger and said, “Wait.”

The Sheriff laughed some more. “At least she has more balls than you, Manny.”

“Let me,” Seph said, not looking at him.

“If you do, you’ll have to carry it around the rest of your life. I won’t stop you but you have to be sure you can carry that load.”

“I can. For Wheezy.”

Manny studied her for a moment. The lower lip no longer trembled. Her face had hardened. Eyes narrow. Jaw set. She could. At least she believed she could. Sometimes nothing else was needed.

“Okay.” Manny released her arm and stepped back and watched.

“How’d you end up here anyway?” the Sheriff said.

“I was in the valley, saying goodbye to Wheezy when Russell came running through with Bigfoot behind him.”

“Don’t that just take the cake. Me the one who ended Wheezy’s business and possibly his life here and you’re here and poor old Russell over there being the string that kind of brought us together.”

“And me holding your gun. The gun that’s going to kill you.”

The Sheriff laughed again. Full of mock and contempt. “Shit, you can’t do it. I can see it in your eyes. Sure you’re pissed and no doubt you wouldn’t shed a tear if Manny the pussy there pulled the trigger. But watching and doing are two vastly different things. You’re not the doing type. You’re too…normal.”

“You don’t know a fucking thing about me.”

“Sure I do. I know you didn’t file a missing person’s report. Didn’t want to get Wheezy into trouble just in case he was okay somewhere. Figured after a while he left town. Maybe for another woman. Maybe because you did something to piss him off recently. Either way you decided to keep quiet and hope he came back. When he didn’t, you came out here to say goodbye. You loved him sure. But you didn’t have any problem letting go either. That’s what normal people do. They resign themselves to the easier of two choices. Killing ain’t easy.”

Seph’s jaw flexed. Her grip on the gun tightened. She refused to blink.

But then her hand started to shake. Slight at first but more noticeable with every passing second. When the barrel moved side-to-side and up-and-down, the Sheriff beamed.

“Told you.”

Seph eyes lifted to Manny’s. “I can’t.”

“I can.”

Both turned to find Russell on his knees crawling toward them.

BIGFOOT

It reached the end of the trail. Couldn’t find anymore. Couldn’t find any more food. Still hungry. Need food. Need it to stop the pain.

Need food now!

NEED TO FEED!

GABE/RUSSELL/MANNY

“Where’d you hide the key to that truck?” the Sheriff said.

“Hideaway under the back bumper.”

“Son of a bitch. Never thought to search the truck.”

“Yeah, you should have you stupid bastard.” Russell stopped crawling when he reached the dude with the rifle and Seph. “Can you help me up?”

They reached under his arms and hoisted. Russell managed to push with his legs. Everything still hurt but not nearly as bad as before. Had to be…what did athletes call it…endorphins or something. Maybe adrenaline. Definitely a high of some kind.

“Are you okay?” Seph said.

Russell cocked his head toward her. The anger toward him was gone. She looked genuinely concerned. “No but I think I’ll live.”

“I’m sorry.”

“You didn’t do anything to me. He did.”

“But—”

“Leaving me was the smart move.” Russell pointed at the rifleman. “You ended up with a guy with a gun. If you would have stuck with me, who knows what this piece of shit would have done to you.”

The Sheriff tried to sit up but only made it a few inched before falling back down and groaning. “You liked it punk.”

Russell spat on him, a mix of blood and saliva.

“You want to do this?” Seph offered him the revolver.

Russell lingered on it a moment, wondering if he’d be able to hold it let alone aim and shoot it. “Yeah.”

He took it and shuffled forward and stopped next to the injured shoulder of the Sheriff. He gazed down at the shit-covered man. Relived everything he’d done to him in a three second flash. Then he aimed the already cocked revolver at his head.

“What you ain’t going to pay the favor back?” the Sheriff said. “Not going to stick the barrel up my ass or make me suck you off as you press it against by head or—”

A roar cut him off. From behind them. From the tree line. Russell didn’t have to turn to know what it was. It was the same damn friend roar he’d heard earlier as it chased him. He closed his eyes, almost surrendering. Accepting that he’d lost even though he’d made it this far.

He heard feet stomping hard against the earth. Pounding. He heard light feet twisting, pivoting on the gravel. He heard the rifleman yelling at Seph to get back. He heard the rifle discharge...

***

…Manny had it. Had it dead to rites as it burst from the tree line.

“Send it!” Chris yelled in his head.

Manny squeezed the trigger. Squeezed it without closing his eyes.

But the round missed, hitting the beast the right deltoid. It was closing too fast and he hadn’t accounted for the rapidly narrowing distance between them. The bullet slowed it down, though, knocking it back a few feet. Slowed it enough to line-up another shot…

***

…Gabe didn’t wait any longer. Bigfoot was coming and this was his last chance. Then Russell gave him the easy opening he needed. The stupid motherfucker closed his eyes while everyone else turned to see the Foot charging at them.

Ha-ha, motherfucker!

He grabbed the pepper spray from his belt and gritted through the pain and sat up…

***

…Russell heard, “Suck on this, motherfucker!”

Russell opened his eyes in time to see the Sheriff sitting up with pepper spray can extended toward his face, no more than six inches away. Then the blast hit him and the world turned red…

***

…Manny heard the Sheriff yell behind him. Then the pepper spray discharge. He’d seen it on the lawman’s belt and hadn’t thought to disarm him with all the commotion over Seph. Another stupid mistake.

“Blink your eyes,” Manny said and lined up another shot. “Both of you.”

Bigfoot clutched its deltoid and roared in pain more than in anger. It didn’t stay immobile for long, locking on Manny and charging. Manny blinked tears as the pepper spray drifted around his head. He’d been trained to deal with it. The key was not to panic. Blink. Let the tears lubricate the eyes. But it still burned like hell. The eyelids. The cheeks.

He swallowed a cough and fired but his vision had blurred significantly due to the spray. He heard the bullet hit flesh and another wail of pain but couldn’t see the impact.

“I can’t see!” Seph screamed.

Manny could but barely. He found Bigfoot again, on one knee, clutching its gut. He lined up for a final shot when he heard, “Can you see me now, motherfucker…”

***

…Russell pawed at his face, trying to scrape the pepper spray from his eyes. It seemed to blaze a trail all the way down his optic nerves. Salt filled his mouth from the tears streaming down his cheeks. He could see nothing but blurs and smears. Then the spray made it into his throat and ignited his lungs. He doubled over and coughed and coughed, his chest tightening to the point of suffocating.

Another roar. This time fury mixed with pain. New pain. Followed by another rifle shot.

Something hit him. Hard. The blurs and smears rotated around him. His back hit the ground. What little air he had forced into his lungs raced out of him. The gun fell from his hand.

The Sheriff jumped on him, the smell of shit filling his nose. Thumbs press against his eyes. Hard and deep. The burn was replaced with the pain of compression. Of his eyes being pushed into the back of his skull.