Beast Machine (21 page)

“
Let’s make the next kill
cleaner,” said Gora. “I believe Spotila deserved that bloody death,
but I don’t want to see someone die like that again, if possible.”
Each beast heard her, but none reacted to the message.

“
I’m intrigued by this
desire of yours to see a non-bloody death, but I need to wash,”
answered Hitbear. The blood clumped in his hair around his feet and
lower back along with the burrs and ticks; it was beginning to
smell like month old cat piss. “Any chance I can take a shower or
find a pond to wash off first? There wasn’t much water in these
woods…”

“
There’s a large shower in
the other building to the right once you exit,” said Gora quietly.
“It blends in with the woods, so you may have to feel around for
it. Be careful to not let any passing traffic see you.”

“
Thank you,” said Hitbear
as he stepped outside.

Gora had a sizable plot of
land on the outskirts of Pendleton but was hesitant to build much
of anything on the land. It would have been a hassle, and not quite
smart, to rid herself of any of the trees around her to build
unnecessary structures. The trees were her protection from
outsiders. She had always taken the advice of a close friend of
“staying under the radar” as best as she could.

Tubman, resting from
training, was breathing heavily and singing in between the heavy
breathes. Owlbert, taking a break from brainstorming a strategy,
was reading aloud from one of the many zany books he found in
Gora’s library. Today he was reading
Peanuts Are Not Nuts, But George Washington Carver Was Not
Nuts!

Gora wanted to listen more
closely to the radio, so she silenced the two remaining beasts
quite rudely. This drew glares from Tubman and Owlbert. Both
dropped their glares and sat down next to Gora in the center of the
lab.

The radio
buzzed:

“
They found that Doctor
Spotila with his chest ripped open, guts flung all over the place,
skull smashed and reptiles running amok! Reptiles tried to eat most
of what was left of’em, but there’s still enough of a carcass left
to establish that it is indeed Doctor Spotila. I just can’t fathom
a death like that can you?”
said one of the
radio hosts, named Jimbo.

“
Not at all, Jimbo, but
Sheriff Amherst believes Spotila may have died before his head was
smashed and that it was an accidental death since Spotila was
experimenting on them lizards real late at night,”
replied the other host, named Elliot.
“He served as an emergency veterinarian for many
in the Portland community, most notably for the mayor’s twin
pythons.”

There was a slight pause
before Elliot continued,
“Now, Jimbo, back
to the gory details!”

Music fit for a horror
movie played over the speakers briefly.

“
I still can’t wrap my mind
around it being a suicide. An accident, maybe, but a suicide? No
way he goes out like that.”
More silence,
loud breathing from one of the broadcasters could be heard.
“His head could have been smashed then the guts
ripped out, ya know? Plus, what kind of lizard could have smashed
his head clean like that? The biggest lizard in that place was a
boa constrictor!”
exclaimed Jimbo.
“I think…”

“
Whatever happened to this
doctor, Jimbo, it was downright horrific! Just horrible. I feel bad
for his family,”
said Elliot. A short
silence rushed over the speakers. “
Oh, he
doesn’t have any family? Apparently, Doctor Spotila does not have
any immediate family members, so says our intern. Did he have any
security at that obscene tower of his?”
Elliot asked his colleague, Jimbo.
“You’re more familiar with the story, as you talked to the
Sheriff this morning.”

“
The Sheriff stated that
the lone security guard, an Andrew George, was found several
hundred feet away from his security post. The body of the guard was
torn to pieces and was only identified as Andrew George because of
his name pin on his security uniform. The name pin wasn’t enough
for the Sheriff to make it officially Andrew George that had been
killed,”
replied Jimbo.
More silence.
“It’s nearly certain to
be Andrew George but the sheriff is going to wait on the dental
records to come in before Andrew George is ruled dead. In addition
to being torn to pieces, the head of this Andrew George had been
ripped off and was found even further away from the security post
and his body. Buzzards and vultures got to him quickly, I bet.
Reading all this is making me shiver. Giving me the chills!”
yelped Jimbo.

“
Time to take a quick
commercial break. Stay tuned! We’ll be right back on ADDR radio
with the Jimbo and Elliot Session,”
said
Elliot. An ad about coal mining played. Then an ad about blood
transfusions. Then another about a taco-pizza cheeseburger from a
local food joint. Then an ad for Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Hitbear returned from the
outside building quite damp after his brief shower. His stench had
subsided, and the blood, mud, bugs and leaves could no longer be
found in his fur. Before sinking down next to his comrades, Hitbear
was overcome with spontaneous memories of his human life. The only
object he could see in these spontaneous memories was a bronze
speaker.

“
Hitler!” shouted a voice
loudly over the bronze speaker. “You must continue the process of
unleashing the creature from the depths of the Alps! It will cull
the necessary amount of humans to help the world survive and you
will get your cut of the land we promised! You must release all of
the prisoners from your death camps; those camps were NOT part of
the deal! You are not supposed to cause this much destruction! You
are not the arbiter of this culling!”

Silence. The bronze speaker
was still the only object appearing in his memories.

“
You will do what I say or
I will let your empire crumble! You will lose everything and more!”
said the same loud voice over the bronze speaker. “Listen or
die.”

“
I have built Germany into
a glorious nation and will make this world full of weaklings into
loyal followers that will help expand my empire across every
continent! I will take more than that paltry offer of land! You
aren’t needed anymore!” said Hitler loudly to the bronze speaker.
Hitbear could not see his human self, only hear it. “You cannot
offer men power over other men. They will always betray you once
they have that same power over
you
. May you at least learn this
lesson before I come to kill you and the rest of your
ilk!”

“
So be it. Enjoy your last
few months,” said the voice over the bronze speaker.

The conversation kept
echoing through Hitbear’s mind. “What did it all mean? Whose voice
came through the bronze speaker?” he thought.

Hitbear shook his head
violently to fling those memories out of his mind. Once his mind
was lucid enough for a brief period, he lied down near the group.
He wasn’t going to let his past memories torture him. His violent
head shaking caused Tubman and Owlbert to be hit by leftover water
in Hitbear’s fur.

“
So rude,” scowled
Tubman.

The radio segment had
returned from the commercial break. Everyone, except Hitbear,
listened in closely.

“
Welcome back to ADDR radio
and the Jimbo and Elliot Session, presented by Spanish Opera:
Spanish Opera, learn how to sing in Spanish with our opera experts!
¡Muy bien!”
stated Elliot in a terrific
Chilean accent. Latin music played in the background as Elliot read
off more sponsors.
“Our morning segment is
also brought to you buy Buck’s Magic Carpet Ride; Buck’s Magic
Carpet Ride, we swear your next living room will look groovy with
our exotic carpet!”

Horribly generic intro
music played for a solid 30 seconds before the segment began
again.

“
Elliot and I are currently
discussing the horrific and bloody death of local herpetologist
Sumador Spotila – Ha, her-pah! Like herpes!”
said Jimbo. Silence. A comedic sounding
Boo!
rang through the speakers.
Jimbo’s joke must not have made Elliot laugh.
“Anyhow, back to the doctor. His head was crushed and chest
cavity ripped open in what is being described as a suspicious
death,”
relayed Jimbo.
“Extremely suspicious death, I’d say.”

“
But it is important to
state that this still could have been an accidental death or a
bizarre suicide, though it doesn’t seem like it’d be a suicide with
the security guard dead,”
said
Elliot.
“Unless it was a murder-suicide,
but the evidence just doesn’t point to that at all.”

“
Agreed! Wait, what’s
this?”
A message scrolled across Jimbo’s
monitor.
“Wow, this just in: the body found
several feet from the facilities grounds is indeed that of security
guard Andrew George. And this is a big one here: from the security
footage, the sheriff says a slender woman, a large hairy man and a
deformed human the size of a child with two floppy appendages
coming out of its head can be seen entering the facility,”
stated Jimbo in a tone of sheer
befuddlement.
“Ah, we’re being given a
picture this instant. It should be up on both our computers in a
few seconds, Elliot.”

A picture of the three
suspicious figures appeared on Jimbo and Elliot’s monitors by way
of an email. The picture was severely blurred and distorted by the
swarms of fireflies from the night, not to mention that the
security camera tape was of poor quality. Unfortunately, it was a
grey-scale picture, so Jimbo and Elliot couldn’t enjoy the colorful
sight of the fireflies.

“
So this is a picture of an
Armenian, a stripper and a midget?”
giggled
Elliot.
“This can’t be a real
picture.”

“
Ha! Very funny Elliot, but
let’s stay on task here,”
stated
Jimbo.
“Do you think these three, uh,
things had something to do with the death of Spotila? I personally
think they did it! This picture, though poor quality, shows that
they were around the security post at night per the time
stamp.”
A brief moment of silence.
“Damn freaks! If there’s anything for certain that
I’ve learned over my fifty years of existence: it’s that it is
ALWAYS the freaks that commit these crimes. BTK? Freak. Charles
Manson? Freak. Jimmy Savile? Freak. Timothy McVeigh? Freak. FREAKS
DO THIS!”

“
They absolutely did it,
Jimbo!”
agreed Elliot, though not as
loudly.
“Now I don’t like to be profiling
people, but those circus freaks – that’s what I’m gonna call them
from now on – did it. They had to have done it. They’re too bizarre
looking, except this woman – she’s slender and has some – some
supple, uh, parts on her! I’d like to see some different angles of
her…”

“
Keep it in your pants,
Elliot! Linda is probably listening to this and you don’t want to
piss off the wife!”
replied Jimbo.
“Last time you made Linda mad, you had to stay on
my futon for a week! I don’t have enough beer for the both of us
either!”

“
True, true; happy wife,
happy life they say!”
laughed Elliot
obnoxiously.
“But seriously, these circus
freaks had to have done it. The slender woman has got to be their
ringleader since she has no visible deformities like the others.
She’s probably a freak in the sheets though!”

Elliot let off a sound of a
man screaming
“OH YEAH!”
in a shrill voice by pushing a button on their
soundboard.

“
Could she be the bearded
lady and just shaved that day?”
joked
Jimbo. The radio hosts laughed together loudly.

Gora leapt up and walked
over to the radio and turned it off. “Enough of that for today,”
she said. “So, does anyone have a plan for the next
one?”

Hitbear had fallen asleep
fighting his human memories.

“
Jawohl!” shouted Owlbert.
“I am disappointed I vas not mentioned.” He gave a look of
disappointment. “Ah, ja, as I vas about to say vee vill lure zee
science frau out of ein building,” chirped the birdman. “Zee rest
vill be simple und there vill be very little blood!”

Gora leaned in with much
interest, “Please, go on, my feathered friend.”

Chapter 21

Bella Vista

“Don’t wear a blue or red
tie,” pressed Jeffrey.

“
Why not? Americans love
patriotism, irrationally of course, but you know they love red,
white and blue. They especially love patriotism when it comes from
their politicians,” exclaimed Chairman Obelis standing in front of
a tri-fold mirror in a classroom of a high school. He was about to
make his first public appearance in Arkansas to the lovely people
of Bella Vista, a city located in the northwestern part of
Arkansas. Bella Vista was a town of quaint folk and conservative
values that rested in the Ozark Plateau. It was a quintessential
American town.