Cellar Dweller's (3)
As a crusty, old, and unshaven gentleman worked under his car, he is unaware that he is about to have company. The man is too busy and occupied in his work, to see his mixed breed mutt scamper from his side. The dog heads to the edge of the garage door, as it sniffs the air. Suddenly, the mutt starts to bark as if sensing danger. The aroused dog quickly agitates the old man under the car. " Shut up will you, ye flea bitten hound," he yells as he grabs his tobacco. But with his back to the garage entrance, he doesn't notice the dog take off around the corner. When the dog gets around to the other side of the garage, he sees a large figure getting closer. The dog’s ears go up and a low deep growl vibrates his throat. In a desperate attempt to protect his master, the dog charges the approaching beast. With a running leap the dog goes for the beasts arm. But, muscle and evil combine as the beast grabs the poor dog by the throat, snaps it's neck and throws it aside in one quick motion. The dog crashes into the garage wall with a bone-breaking thud and lies motionless. Hearing the loud impact from inside, the old man spits tobacco juice on the floor and heads to inspect the noise. " Stupid ass dog, what the hell ye doing out there," he mutters as he stops at the door. Just then the beast rounds the corner of the garage. It stares at the helpless man and gives a ferocious growl. " God ole mighty, your a big sons-a-bitch, " he says as he looks up. But as the man swallows his chaw of tobacco, the beast grabs him by the head and squeezes with a powerful grip. The old mans head makes a disturbing crunch as his blood runs down the beast’s hand. The monster looks at the man for a split second before throwing him back against the car. The men, the sheriff promised, start to arrive and blend in with the others. Now each group has a high powered rifle and two extra men. As one of the groups take a short rest, one of the men notices a large figure walking by a nearby yard. " What the hell is that," he asks as the beast stops and looks at him. " Quick radio for help," he yells. But before the radio can be used, the second beast slices the man in two that holds the radio. Now with both beasts among them, the first battle begins. Another nearby group runs over to help as the first shot goes off. It just grazes one of the beasts on the shoulder, as a hair-raising roar compliments its rage. The men that aren't being slaughtered are frozen in fear at the mere sight of the animals. The battle is short, as several men easily go down by the power of the beasts. The leader of one group finally gets to radio the others, just before his arm is ripped out of its socket. With their bellies still full from the farmhouse, the beast’s kill simply from overwhelming rage. As he's split from ear to ear, the last man falls to the ground. There's nothing left for the men to do but bleed, as the beasts run into the night leaving their bodies behind. Hearing the gunshots, the two boys jumped up from empty candy wrappers and headed for the window. " Did you hear that Billy? "It sounded like a gun," Tommy said in an excited voice. He turned to his friend and noticed the fear in his eyes. Realizing that it was no longer a game, Tommy decided it would be best if they went over to his house with their moms. " Come on Billy our mothers are at my house." I think we'll be safer over there," Tommy explained to his friend. " No way Tommy I'm scared of guns. Besides our mothers will skin us alive when they find out where we've been," he said. The two boys sat back down on the floor to make sense of what was going on, when they heard a loud noise by the back door. " What was that?" Billy asked. " I don't know," Tommy admitted. " But it came from the back of your house," he added as he made his way to the kitchen. Scared but curious, Billy was close behind as Tommy slowly continued to the back. Part Six As Tim and the Sgt. made it to the spot where the other men had been killed, they were horrified at first. Then fear turned to anger as the Sgt. got on the radio. "Sheriff we got a lot of bodies over here and still no idea what this damn thing is," he shouts. "All right, all right just tell me where you are," he calmly replies back. After a few directions and about 15 minutes, the sheriff arrived along with two other groups. They joined the others in an unpleasant sight. Some of the men wanted to leave the town, and when a dispute started, a 357 Magnum rang in the sky. Everyone looked, as the sheriff was holding his smoking gun. " The next shot goes into the first chicken shit that runs," he says. After a short pep talk the men we're once again ready to face whatever was responsible for their fellow officers lives. Just then Tim started to look around the group, " Where's Dave," he asked. " I don't know, I thought he was with you," the sheriff replied. But there was no time for conversation as a voice rings out. "Sheriff over here" replies a man standing over one of the bodies. The sheriff and the others join the man, to find the ground smoldering from a cigarette left by one of the murdered men. " Whatever this thing is it's close guys. Spread out every five feet. We'll find this damn thing yet" he replies in a confident voice. As the two boys make their way to the rear of Billy's house, the noise goes still. The boys get to the door as Tommy goes for the doorknob. “What are you doing?” Billy asked. “Be quiet a minute," Tommy replies. He turns the knob and slightly pushes the door open. Just when he gets to where he can peek outside, the door is yanked from his grip and a hand grabs him and pulls him out. Both boys start screaming as a familiar voice fills their ears. "Boys calm down it's just me." The boys look up to find Billy's dad standing in front of them. He grabs the boys and hugs them both with tears of joy. " Thank god your both ok," he says pleasingly. " Mr. Brown what's going on," Tommy asks. But, before he can answer the man is pulled from the boys and tossed across the back yard. The boys look up at the eyes of the beast. They scream in fear as the beast roars at them. Hearing the boy’s screams, Tim and the other men run to Billy's backyard. When they round the corner they get their first look at the beast. The men freeze, as the beast roars at them. For a moment no one knows what to do. " Don't just stand there, shoot the damn things," yells Tommy's dad. He bursts through the group and fires his crossbow. The arrow whistles through the air as it strikes the beast in the chest. The beast roars as it falls to the ground. Just when the men think it might be over, they hear little Tommy screaming. " Dad help," he yells. Tim looks around in horror as the second beast grabs the boy by the arm and picks him up. The sounds of guns cocking and ready to shoot fill the air. " Hold your fire," the sheriff yells. The men slowly drop their weapons as the beast walks over to its wounded comrade. It bends down on one knee and picks it up. The wounded monster roars in pain as the arrow goes in deeper, and blood starts to drip from the wound. As it holds both boy and beast, it turns to the abandoned house. It walks through the opening in the fence and up to the door leading in. Not able to carry both through the doorway, it slings Tommy's body aside, roars one last time as it looks back at the men and disappears into the shadows. Part Seven Tim runs over to his son in worry. Although he's a little cut up and extremely scared, he's ok. He looks inside the door to make sure the beasts are gone and then retreats back to the group. He sees Dave getting up and welcomes the sight of his friend standing on his own two feet. When he joins the others, he finds them talking about the size and strength of the two beasts. " All right guys, yes there big and strong, but they also bleed," the sheriff begins. " Now we can stand here and talk about them, or we can go in and finish what we started." That was all the men needed to here, as they check their guns and prepare to enter the beasts lair. Before entering, a moment is taken by the sheriff to check on the condition of Tommy and Dave. Tim assures him they will be fine, and watches the sheriff disappear into the house. He then turns to see his wife running to them. " My god Tim is he all right. I've never been so scared in my life," she says as she hugs her son. " He'll be just fine", he tells her. You and Paula take the kids inside," he says as he looks back toward the old house. " I've got a score to settle." "We both have scores to settle," Dave says as he joins him. “You’re not actually thinking about going in there with those, those, things are you," Ann asks in concern. " Your damn right we are," Dave says as he cocks his gun. Inside the house the men start to sweat. They very cautiously walk through the house. The sheriff steps back out of the kitchen as he looks for signs of the beasts. As the other men are scattered throughout the house, he stops to wipe his brow. Just in front of the cellar door, he looks down to see a spot of blood on the floor. " Over here, " he yells looking down the steps of darkness. “ Sgt., go get the lanterns and flashlights out of the back of my car,” he yells. When the Sgt. Returns, he gives Dave one of the high- powered rifles, lights a lantern and turns toward Tim. " Here, in case of emergencies," he says as he winks at the man. He then starts down the steps. Deep inside the hole in the wall, the beasts continue as if daring the men inside. The wounded one, now back on its feet, looks down at Tim’s arrow and yanks it out. The pain is just enough to make it roar out in anger, as it just missed its heart. Now well within the tunnels of the passage, the beasts hide and wait for the men to approach. Tim and Dave join the others as they all travel down the now well-lit cellar. The smell is almost too much for them as they push on. As he reaches the large opening, the sheriff shines his light around the room. He yells for the Sgt., as he looks down at shredded and bloody clothing on the ground. " Guess the mystery of your disappearances is solved," he says as they recognize the clothes. " Here are the clothes from those two teens, and over there is the hat from the homeless guy," the sheriff points out. " Poor bastards," the Sgt. says as he kicks them aside. Horrified by the amount of bones around them, the men continue. The sheriff hands his lantern to Dave, as he is the first to head into the narrow passage. After moving a metal tank from the entrance, Tim is right behind him with his crossbow. He follows about fifty feet, when he remembers to replace the arrow he shot outside. Tim holds up the line for a second, as he replaces his arrow and then carries on. When he looks up, he notices the sheriff turn a corner and disappear. The men stop in their tracks when they hear the sheriff up ahead. " Oh shi.." is all the sheriff can muster as the beast grabs his throat. The beasts were there waiting, as if a lion waiting for it's prey. The beast tightens its grip around his throat and slams him against the wall. Now with the sheriff in view, the other men can do nothing but watch, as it is to close of quarters to use a gun. The beast looks over at the men, taunting them as it holds the sheriff. Tim yells for them to back out. "There's no way we can fight them down here. Go back to the cellar opening I got an idea." Tim instructs them. Then he takes one more look at the sheriff, as the demons from hell start to rip him to shreds. Tim realizes there's only one thing to do as he listens to the man scream in pain. With a tear in his eye he raises his crossbow, aims at the sheriffs head and fires, killing him instantly. He turns and runs to the opening with the sickening sound of flesh being mangled, as the beast rips at the sheriff’s bones. As the others all await Tim's arrival in the cellar, the Sgt. looks down at some old metal gas tanks about half full sitting by the entrance of the hole. Thinking he knows what Tim's idea is, he turns to one of the men and yells. “In the trunk of my car in a foam case, is some C-4”. Get it and a fuse and bring it down” he commands. At that moment Tim's head popped out of the hole. " Damn right, we'll blow those pieces of shit out the other side," Tim replies. Then he takes the tanks and places them inside the hole. Just as the last one is placed inside, the C-4 arrives. The Sgt. places it on the gas tanks and turns to the men. " Get the hell out, " he yells. When the last man is up the steps, the Sgt. lights the fuse. He watches it burn a minute and then retreats up the steps himself. As he gets two steps from the top, his foot goes straight through one of the boards. He tries to pull his foot from the step, but can't get it out. Starting to panic, he looks down at the fuse and notices it is almost ready to get to the end. Frantically he pulls on his leg with negative results. Just as he's about to give up, a hand reaches in. He looks up to see Tim looking down with a smile. " Coming or what," he says. He pulls the Sgt.. out and both men leap out the door just as the house explodes. As the dust starts to settle, Tim slowly rises to his feet and dusts himself off. Next to him, the Sgt. gets up as well and turns to see the house in ruins. He turns back toward Tim and extends his arm to shake his hand. " Thanks," he says with a smile. "Don't mention it, Tim replies smiling back. Just then Ann, Paula, the boys and all the others come over to the two men. They all cheer and embrace as they look at the leveled mess. When the celebration is over, they take a moment to remember the sheriff. With their respects paid to a true heroic man, they turn and return home. Part Eight
Copyright © 2003 Robert E Tadlock |