Apeshit (20 page)

Desdemona says, “I wish I could lock you in the

basement with that thing. We’d see how tough you really

are.”

Jason turns to her and points his hammer at her face.

“Bring it on, bitch. I ain’t afraid of shit.”

Crystal gets between them.

“You two need to cool it,” Crystal says. “You can

argue over this once we’re safe.”

“Once we’re safe I’ll have him arrested,” Desdemo-

na says.

Jason hits the wall with the hammer. “You even think

about it and I’ll make sure you don’t get out of here alive.”

Before Crystal can say something to keep the peace

between them, Jason throws the hammer across the room

and staggers upstairs.

“Fucking cunt,” he mumbles to himself.

Desdemona and Crystal sit on the floor in the living

room, passing the bottle of scotch between them. This is the

first time Crystal hasn’t been bothered by sharing a bottle

with another person. The thing in the basement has stopped

screaming and attacking the basement door. The creature’s

silence makes Desdemona nervous.

“Do you think it found another way out?” Desdemona

says.

“There’s no windows down there,” Crystal says.

“There’s only one way out.”

“Why did it stop?” Desdemona asks.

Crystal looks at the ground when she responds. She

doesn’t like to watch Des when she talks, because she can

see her vocal chords vibrating through the opening in her

throat.

“It probably ran out of energy. I’m pretty sure the

thing is pregnant. It probably doesn’t have the stamina to

keep that up for very long.”

“What happens when she gets her energy back? That

door isn’t going to last forever.”

“Hopefully Kevin will be back with the cops before

it breaks.”

“I hope there aren’t any axes or sledgehammers down

there to speed up the process,” Desdemona says.

“I doubt that monster knows how to use such things,”

Crystal says.

Desdemona nods and dribbles scotch out of her

neck.

Jason is up in the attic, digging through boxes. He

is frustrated that he can’t find his grandfather’s guns. He

knows that the old man had tons of guns in this place, but

they are all missing. If he just had some more bullets he

wouldn’t need another gun, but there aren’t any left in the

gun cabinet.

After dust and cobwebs get mixed with the blood on

his body, he punches a hole in the wall. He doesn’t know

what else to do. He’s irritated and angry. He kicks a pinball

boy statue across the room with his good leg. While putting

all of his weight on his bad leg, an incredible pain shoots up

his thigh. The pain gets him even more pissed. He takes one

of the bowling balls hanging from the ceiling and swings it

around like a ball and chain. He uses it to slam more holes

in the walls and smash a pinball sculpture.

He staggers downstairs and takes the bottle of scotch

away from the girls.

“I can’t find the guns anywhere,” he says, then takes

a swig from the bottle.

“Maybe you should look in the basement,” Desde-

mona says, giggling apathetically.

Jason flips her off while he continues to drink.

The creature in the basement howls.

“What the hell is it doing that for?” Jason says.

The howls are piercing. Crystal puts her fingers in

her ears.

“It sounds like a wolf,” Desdemona says.

Jason stares at the door, waiting for the thing to burst out.

“Maybe it’s calling for help,” Crystal says. “Holy

shit . . .What if more of them will come?”

“Shoot the damn thing through the door,” Desdemo-

na says.

The creature’s howls become louder. They have to

yell at the tops of their lungs in order to hear each other.

“I’m out of bullets,” Jason says.

“There’s one on the kitchen floor,” Crystal says.

She rushes into the kitchen and fetches the bullet for

Jason.

“It’s the last one,” she says as she hands it to him.

“Better make it count.”

Jason nods. He loads the pistol and then goes to the

basement door. He points at where he thinks the howling is

coming from.

“Hurry up,” Desdemona says. “Before it attracts

more of those things here.”

Jason hesitates. His gun trembles.

“Shoot!” Desdemona says.

“What’s wrong?” Crystal says.

Jason shakes his head and lowers the pistol.

“I can’t,” he says.

“Why not?” Crystal says.

“It’s my last bullet,” he says. “I can’t waste it.”

“Can’t
waste
it?” Crystal cries.

He says, “That thing is trapped down there. It’s not

a threat to us. We need to save the bullet for the other one.”

“For all we know, there could be hundreds of those

things outside,” Desdemona says, coiling her guts around

her tattooed fingers nervously. “If you can kill this one now

it might stop them all from coming here.”

Jason shakes his head. “I’m not wasting it.”

“That one bullet is going to be worthless against doz-

ens of those things,” Crystal says.

Jason steps away from the basement door. “We only

know about two of them. I don’t think there are any more

than that. This one is probably just calling for her mate.”

Crystal looks at Desdemona, then back at Jason.

“Well, it is . . . pregnant.”

“See,” Jason says. “I’m right. It’s just calling for its mate.”

The thing’s howls grow so loud they rattle the walls.

Jason has to speak close to Crystal’s ears. “We’re

going to take advantage of having that thing trapped in the

basement. It’s going to bring the male freak straight to us.

We just have to wait. Once it gets here we’ll ambush it.”

Crystal gives Jason a worried look. She’s not interested

in ambushing anything.

“It’ll be fine,” Jason says.

Desdemona can’t hear what they are saying. She sits

in a yoga position on the floor, squishing her entrails like a

messy stress-ball.

The howling stops as they hear a bang against the

side of the cabin. They all turn their heads towards the open

doorway. It is pitch black out there. The moon has disap-

peared again.

“It’s here,” Jason says.

He raises his pistol and steps carefully towards the

entryway. The girls follow close behind him. Crystal points

her butcher knife forward, hiding it behind Jason’s back.

“Be careful,” Crystal whispers into Jason’s ear.

Jason gives her an angry look and mouths the words,

“Shut the fuck up.”

As they get to the doorway and peek their heads out-

side, a white blur jumps in front of them and yells “Booyah!”

Jason fires the gun a split second before he realizes

that it is Kevin. The bullet hits him in the chest and Kevin

hits the ground.

“Kevin!” Desdemona screams. She runs to him. She

spills her intestines onto his belly as she lifts his head off of

the ground and hugs him into her messy breast.

Turning her head to Jason, Desdemona screams,

“You fucking idiot. You shot him. You shot Rick and now

you shot Kevin.”

“I didn’t know it was him,” Jason cries.

Kevin coughs up blood, staring at the hole in his

chest, saying, “What the fuck . . .”

“Why the hell did he jump out like that?” Jason cries.

“What the hell is his problem?”

“He doesn’t know about the creatures yet,” Crystal

says.

Crystal kneels down and blows on the side of Kev-

in’s face to get his attention. He’s in shock. He turns one

eye towards her.

“Kevin,” Crystal says, “I need you to answer very

carefully. If you can’t speak, just nod.”

Kevin slowly nods.

“Did you call the police?” Crystal says.

Kevin nods.

“Will they be here soon?” Crystal says.

Kevin nods.

“Are they sending a helicopter?” Crystal says.

Kevin shakes his head.

“Are they sending cops?”

Kevin shakes his head.

“They’re just sending an ambulance?”

Kevin shakes his head.

“Then what the hell is coming?”

Kevin opens his mouth to release a mouthful of

bloody drool. “Forest ranger.”

“That’s it?” Crystal says. “A fucking forest ranger?”

Kevin’s eyes flutter and begin to go limp.

Desdemona slaps his face lightly. “Stay with me.”

Kevin says, “How’s Stephanie?”

“You didn’t see her body on the way here?” Crystal

says.

Kevin closes his eyes and shakes his head.

“Let’s get him inside,” Desdemona says.