TREASURE KILLS (Legends of Tsalagee Book 1) (32 page)

“Looks like a rock,” Soc said. “About the size of a softball.”

“A rock?” Hayward said. “Maybe it’s a meteor.”

“Don’t think so,” Soc said. “A meteor would most likely have come on through the roof. Would’ve been hot, too. Naw, I think it was thrown at us.”

“Throwed?! Who would’ve done that?

“Only one thing I know throws rocks that big at things. Most likely the Hill Man tossed it.”

Hayward looked at his friend. Even in the pale moonlight, he could tell Soc was dead serious. “Where’d I put my gun?” he asked himself. “Here it is,” he answered as he picked it up off the bunk over the cab. “Let’s get going.”

The two elders headed out into the light and shadows of the night.

* * *

When Randy got to the steps of the cellar, he snapped on the flashlight and shined it into the depths. The beam found Sunny in the back right corner squatting on the floor next to a four foot tall jar. She had her arms crossed with each hand holding an opposite shoulder, shaking slightly. Threebuck trotted up beside Randy, holding the gunnysack under his right arm.

“Maybe we should just go ahead and end this now,” Randy said. He turned and handed the pistol to Threebuck. “Here ya go, Three. Reckon you earned the right to shooting her. I’ll hold the light.”

Threebuck, somewhat recovered, handed the gunnysack to Randy and raised the pistol. He grinned a pained grin, and said to Sunny, “I’m going to enjoy this more than I did whacking that old man. You just about de-manned me, bitch. You got any last words?”

Sunny raised her head, brushed a strand of loose hair from her face, and looked unwaveringly back at the silhouettes behind the beam of the flashlight. “You’re both murderous, worthless pieces of humanity. You’re no man; you’re nothing but a stinking coward. Balls are wasted on you. Next time I’m going to cut them off instead of just kicking them.”

Randy burst out laughing. Threebuck lost his grin and looked sideways at Randy.

“Well, I guess that next time will be somewhere in hell,” Threebuck said. He cocked the big pistol, and aimed it between Sunny’s eyes.

From Randy’s right came a sound unlike anything he’d ever heard in his life. It began as a shriek, as if coming from a furious fiend flying up from the depths of hell, and built to a thunderous, roaring bellow. In that first instant when Randy’s brain tried to identify the sound, it registered as something half-lion, half-bull, and all-demon. In the next microsecond, when Randy turned to look for the source of the sound, what he saw confused him more. A blur of hair charged toward him, apparently standing upright at a height of about ten feet. In the instant that followed, Randy flew upward about twenty feet, and then fell, yelling in terror and fright. He landed hard on his left shoulder, with a painful crunch, atop the cellar mound.

Threebuck had started to squeeze the trigger of the pistol when the roaring and shrieking started. It had distracted him enough, along with Randy’s vertical departure, so that he jerked the pistol up and rightward. The gun boomed, but the bullet embedded itself harmlessly into the brick and earth of the cellar’s back wall two feet above Sunny’s head.

The hairy creature lurched backward after the gun blasted, enough for the terrified Theebuck to turn toward the thing, shout “Holy crap!” in a high-pitched voice, and wildly fire the pistol again in the creature’s general direction. The slug grazed the outside of the being’s left shoulder digging a six-inch groove across the flesh, and singeing copious amounts of hair along the path. It howled in rage and pain, and advanced on Threebuck grabbing the gun, along with the hand that held it, then the man’s tender crotch. He lifted the screaming Threebuck high over head, and heaved him, two-handed, barn-ward.

* * *

Punch had weaved his way into the barnyard at about the time Red Randy and Threebuck, standing on the cellar steps, had confronted Sunny down in the cellar. Punch stopped in his tracks and swayed, trying to make sense of the two men at the cellar steps and hear what they said. He started to raise his hand and shout, “Hey!” but another guy, also dressed up in a ghillie suit, came out of nowhere and assaulted the two guys.

Punch couldn’t help but notice the other hairy guy was a big sumbitch. As he watched, the big sumbitch grabbed one guy, and threw him in a high vertical arc where he landed on top of the cellar. A gunshot resounded, making Punch jump, and froze him to his spot. Another explosion rocked the night. The big hairy guy roared and grabbed the guy with the gun. Punch watched with fascination as the mammoth guy lifted the gunman over his head and tossed him like a basketball... right in his direction. Paralyzed with amazement and fear, Punch could only watch as the tossed guy came sailing toward him, bringing with him the Doppler effect of his scream, and then smashing into him face-to-face. In an instant before their collision, Punch realize the man-tosser was the Hill Man. After that the lights went out.

* * *

The creature, panting clouds of moon-brightened breath from his exertion, gave a soft, victorious growl in the direction he’d tossed the small male Other. It had landed on something else. It may have been one of his kind, for it sort of looked like one, maybe a small female. But something wasn’t quite right about it. It looked more like a bush... with arms and legs. That puzzled him, too. No immediate threat, though, as both the Other he’d thrown and the bush lay on the ground, not moving. He looked down at his left hand that still held the power thing. He turned and looked atop the cellar where the big Other lay looking back at him with frightened eyes. The creature growled again, this time as a warning, and the big male Other lowered his head. Satisfied that no threat came from that male either, the creature entered The Cave of The Food. Inside, the glowing light stick lay on the ground illuminating the container of The Food. The female Other also lay on the ground of the cave, her arms and hands covering her head, her eyes clenched tightly shut. The creature considered her for a moment, tilting his head left, then right. Still holding the power thing, he grabbed the container of The Food into his arms. He snuffled and snorted a bit toward the female, and then, holding the container like a trophy, he left the cave. He would take both The Food and the power thing back to his dwelling.

* * *

Not since he was a little boy hiding from his father’s drunken wrath and abuse, did Randy tremble such as he did lying there on top of that cellar. He’d been tossed like a rag doll high into the air by... by... by he didn’t know what. A sharp pain started at a point atop his left shoulder, and radiated all the way down to his fingertips, and also up through his neck. He looked up tentatively and saw the creature turn to look at him with those menacing eyes and then growl. He lowered his head quickly, which caused him still more pain.

Once sure the creature had gone into the cellar, Randy sprang to his feet, despite the screaming pain. It surprised him that he still held the gunnysack in his right hand. He slid down off the sloped wall of the cellar, and bolted toward the spot where he’d last seen Threebuck. When he got to his partner, laying atop what appeared to be another of those things—this one laying spread eagle and apparently unconscious—he kicked Threebuck in the ribs. Looking into Threebuck’s dazed expression, Randy said, “Let’s get the hell out of here.”

* * *

Artie and Galynn remained mostly silent. The night was as near perfect as you could get: not too cool, no wind, light jacket weather, no sound, full moon. Artie thought he’d made up with Galynn, but he wasn’t sure. That was okay, though. He liked just sitting there with her on the back porch steps, enjoying the brilliant autumn night.

“Did you see that?” she asked.

“See what?” he said.

“A shooting star. Make a wish,” she answered.

“I wish I’d seen it,” Artie said.

Galynn laughed then, and knocked him on the shoulder with the butt of her hand. Then they heard a gunshot some distance away. Both turned their heads to look in the direction of Sunny’s house.

“Wha— ” Galynn started, when another gunshot cut her off.

“Something’s going on over at Sunny’s,” Artie said. He stood, looking for a few seconds, then said, “Maybe I better get over there, and check it out.” He turned and headed into the house; went to the bedroom pulling his 9mm Glock out of the top drawer of a night stand, checked the clip, and headed back to the porch. Galynn stood near one of the porch posts looking toward Sunny’s.

“It looks like whatever is going on is out by the barn,” she said. “I heard some screaming, a man’s scream, and some...”

“Some what?” Artie asked

“It sounded like some kind of animal noises, like a bear or something.”

Artie looked at her quizzically. “You got your cell phone?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

“I’ll keep in touch with you on the two-way.” Then he turned to head toward the pasture.

“Artie, be careful,” she called after him.

“Call the sheriff,” he yelled back at her. At the fence he climbed over it, and headed at a dead run across the pasture.

Halfway across the pasture Artie could see two figures running toward him. He stopped, spread his feet, and held his gun out in front of him at eye level, both hands on it, stiff-armed.

“Stop right there!” he shouted, but the two veered off to his left and kept chugging. “Hey! Stop!” he said again, but they ignored him. His firing the Glock into the air didn’t seem to faze them. They ran on into the bright night.

His cell phone beeped. “Artie! Artie! What was that?!” Galynn’s frantic voice came out of the device.

“I’m okay,” Artie answered back. “There’re two guys running toward the house. I don’t know who they are or what they’re doing, but I want you to go get in the car and drive away from there.”

“Are you serious?”

“Please, Galynn, just get in the car and get out of there. It’s going to take those guys another minute to get there, so you don’t have much time. Drive over to Sunny’s. I’m going to go on over there now.”

“Okay, I’m getting in the car now.”

* * *

Something huge ran by Hayward and Soc and disappeared around the back corner of the barn as the two men approached it.

“What the hell was that?” Hayward exclaimed, stopping dead in his tracks.

Soc didn’t answer, but advanced on to the barn. Hayward caught up with him and they both peered around the corner. Chaos ensued at the root cellar. The big... whatever, tossed the man called Randy high in the air like a throw pillow, and he came down on top of the cellar in a heap. Two pistol shots rang out; after the second, the big creature roared, grabbed the guy called Threebuck, and threw him out of sight somewhere toward the front of the barn. As the creature stood at the front of the cellar growling some, Soc started to softly sing in Cherokee. The creature turned and entered the cellar.

“Sunny’s in there. He’s going after Sunny,” Hayward said.

He started to move forward, his shotgun held high. Soc put an arm out to restrain Hayward. When Hayward looked back at him, Soc shook his head and said, “Wait.”

“What’re you doing? We got to go help Sunny,” Hayward said. When he turned to continue on to the cellar, Soc grabbed Hayward’s shotgun at the barrel and pulled it down. He just shook his head “no” more vigorously and resumed his singing.

The creature emerged from the cellar with a large earthen jar tucked under one arm, holding something else in its other hand. He trotted toward the elders’ position. When he got next to the corner of the barn where Hayward and Soc stood, some twenty feet away, he stopped and looked at them. He seemed intrigued by Soc’s singing, and cocked his head as he listened. Soc intensified the volume of his singing, laying his shotgun on the ground. Soc grabbed Hayward’s gun and forced him to lay it on the ground also. After a few seconds, the creature continued on its way, stepping over the rail fence, and loping across the field and into the trees beyond.

* * *

Sunny felt anger, hostility, regret, and sadness—but not fear—as she awaited her execution. She didn’t want to die, especially at the hands of these two bastards, but strangely, she didn’t fear it. She was mad, because it had to end like this. She felt hostility toward these two creeps, and sadness, because now she knew they had needlessly murdered Buck. And she was about to become their next victim... over what? She wished she’d made peace with that big stupid lug, Gale.

When the gunshot exploded, Sunny fell to her right, covering her head with her hands and arms. She squeezed her eyes shut, but felt no different. Did the little creep miss? Awaiting a second shot, pandemonium erupted instead. The men screamed and swore in panic, and then the second shot did come. She flinched, but again felt no impact. Her hands still covering her face, she opened her left eye and peeked between her fingers. What the–? Something large and hairy had just thrown one of her tormenters away. The hairy thing then bent down to enter the cellar, and came toward her. The moonlight seemed to create an aura around him. All she could think to do was squeeze her eyes shut again, and mutter round two of her prayer, which she did over and over for several minutes.

She heard Hayward say, “Sunny, Sunny, are you all right?”

Sunny opened her eyes and looked up. “Hayward?” She inquired. She looked beyond him to the cellar entrance and could see the outline of Soc standing there holding a gun, the barrel cradled in the crook of his left arm pointed upward. She got to her knees and started feeling around her body.

“Have you been shot?” Hayward asked. He picked up the flashlight and shined it on her.

“I don’t think so,” Sunny answered, still checking. Then she said, “I saw the most wondrous thing.”

In the light of the flashlight, Hayward could see she stared past him. “Wondrous?” he repeated back to her.

She blinked and seemed to snap back to the present a little, her eyes shifting back to Hayward. “Yes, uh, It... something saved me. It was a man, I think, only very hairy... and smelly.”

Just then they heard another gun go off. This had a different sound than the first, and it seemed much farther away. Sunny got to her feet, and pushed past Hayward and Soc to get out of the cellar. When she reached the top of the cellar steps, she saw White Oxley out in the barnyard with something in his hand. He stood over the hairy creature, looking down at him. “Oh no,” she said, and ran over to where White stood.