Demon Town, page 31
Mac was so engrossed in his thoughts that he almost missed the turn off that led to the old Sharp place. He was less than two miles away when his truck started to sputter and eventually quit running. It rolled along until it lost all of its momentum and Mac steered it to the side of the road.
“Not now!” he roared. Mac slammed his hands repeatedly on the steering wheel before trying to start the truck again. The engine turned over, but wouldn’t fire. “Son of a bitch!” He tried the ignition once more and again the engine turned over, but the battery slowly began to die and Mac stopped. “Unfucking believable!”
Mac stepped out of the truck and took a deep breath. “Okay, just like gym class in high school. You got this, MacIntosh.” With that he started running down the gravel road towards the old Sharp place.
Dawg had positioned himself on top of an old shed in the abandoned farm yard and from there he could see anything coming from a quarter mile away on either side of the laneway. With his 30-30 rifle locked and loaded beside him, he was ready for his expected company. The demons had warned him once more about that MacIntosh asshole’s ability to make people see things that weren’t really there, but Dawg was well aware of it having been tricked twice already by it. He wouldn’t be fooled this time.
His two German Shepherd dogs sat on the ground by the old shed. They would sniff out anything that he might miss. Dawg was kicking himself for not having them here the previous two times, but they would always go ape shit around the demons whenever they showed up and really how often do you run into someone with special powers, anyway? MacIntosh wouldn’t get the chance to use them this time. Bear was already inside the barn with the girlfriend. It wasn’t the Olson’s idea to use her as bait, but the demons said that MacIntosh would come if he thought that she was in trouble. If he did show, he would probably try another sneak attack again, but this time he would be walking into a trap. Dawg didn’t figure that he would be stupid enough to come the same way as last time, but even if he did, Brutus and Beefcake would alert him to MacIntosh’s presence. He had named the German Shepherds after his favourite wrestler in the WWF and Dawg knew that he could count on them.
He hoped that those three assholes showed up soon. Dawg wanted to pop them quick so that he didn’t have to sit up on the roof all night freezing his ass off. This was personal now that the demons had informed him and Bear that MacIntosh had been to the cop shop wanting to know who he could talk to if he had witnessed not one, but two murders. Apparently, he was going back tomorrow to give his official statement. Dawg would make sure that he never kept the appointment. The pigs would eat well tonight.
“I’m just going to say right now that in the entire history of bad ideas, this is the granddaddy of all bad ideas. Why can’t he just call the cops to deal with this?”
“You know why he can’t, Milo. They’re probably tied in all together in this and Mac will be the one who either gets locked up or shot.”
Mikey had picked up Milo as soon as he got off the phone with Mac. He found Kyle’s number in the phone book and made two quick calls, but there was no answer either time. The old Sharp place was the last place on earth that Milo wanted to return to, but Mikey was right. With the top cop being a demon and in cahoots with Bear and Dawg, they would just be inviting more trouble to the party. That didn’t mean that driving out into the danger zone made any more sense.
“We don’t even have any weapons.” Milo pointed out. “And the Olson’s aren’t the type of people you can negotiate or reason with.”
“No, but we can’t let Mac go over there by himself.” Mikey vaguely remembered the way out to the old Sharp place from their last misadventure out there. He wasn’t going to take the old trail that Mac used before. Instead, he was going to take a more direct route and park about a quarter mile away from the old farm and walk the rest of the way in. Mac would be already there taking matters into his own hands, so they couldn’t afford to waste much time. Mikey pulled over on the side of the road and handed his keys to Milo.
“You stay here. If I’m not back within an hour, go get the police and bring them out here.”
“But, I thought...”
“I know what I said, but it probably won’t matter if I’m not back here by then anyway.”
“Then who’s to say that it will be any safer bringing out the police when they will probably just kill me because I know too much? I’m coming with you.”
Mikey knew that there wasn’t time to argue, so the two of them climbed out of the truck and stumbled along the gravel road. It was quite a bit darker than the last time they were out here as there was a lot of cloud cover tonight. They walked in silence and were about half the distance between the old farm site and Mikey’s truck when something caught Milo’s attention.
“Do you hear dogs barking?”
“Yeah, it sounds like it’s coming from up ahead.” Mikey replied. The barking continued and he realized that it was getting closer. “We have to get back to the truck!”
“Why?”
“Because they’re coming this way!”
Mikey turned and started running for all he was worth, despite how much his injured leg hurt. Milo hesitated for a moment and listened to the dogs barking off in the distance. Mikey was right, they were getting closer. As he stood there he heard a loud pop come from that direction, as well. Something ricocheted off the ground less than five feet away from him and Milo realized that someone was shooting at him.
“Holy shit!”
He turned and stumbled as he started to run back to Mikey’s truck and Milo caught himself before he completely fell flat on his face. Even so, he scraped up the palms of his hands on the gravel road in the process. Gathering himself up, Milo sprinted back to the truck. From behind him he heard another shot and its ricochet as it hit the ground a few feet to his left. Milo started zigzagging as he ran and the world around him became one big blur.
Mikey’s big lumbering frame came into view in front of him and then in the next instant he was past him. The dogs were gaining on them, but the truck was in range now. There was another loud pop, but Milo couldn’t tell where the shot went. He reached the safety of the truck and climbed into the passenger side. A moment later Mikey jumped into the driver’s side and slammed the door shut behind him.
“Give me the keys!” he panted. The dogs had now reached the truck and the two German Shepherds circled it looking for a way to get to their prey. Milo reached into his coat pocket, but found nothing. He checked the other pocket only to have the same result and then frantically checked the seat of the truck, as well as the floor. Nothing.
“They must’ve fallen out when I was running.”
Despair coursed through the two of them. They were safe from the dogs, but whoever was shooting at them would be arriving shortly and they would be trapped.
“We’re dead.” Mikey mumbled and resigned himself to the fact that they were out of options.
Dawg had been looking in the opposite direction when the two dogs started barking at something to his left. He couldn’t see anything through the darkness, but something had the dog’s attention. He climbed down off the roof of the shed and made his way to where they stood barking. They looked back at him waiting for permission to go after whatever was out there.
“Go get ‘em.” Dawg growled and the two dogs took off running. Following at a half trot, Dawg did his best to keep up with Brutus and Beefcake. Whatever they were after was just down the road. “They wouldn’t be stupid enough to come the same way again, would they?” Dawg muttered to himself.
It was shortly after that when Dawg vaguely saw two figures walking down the road towards him. One of them realized that the dogs were heading their way and started running in the opposite direction. The other one stopped and stood there and Dawg slowed down long enough to quickly aim and fire.
“Shit!” Dawg swore as his shot missed and his target started running. Running a few more steps, Dawg took another shot at the fleeing figures. He continued to run in their direction and fired another shot with no effect. It was then that Dawg noticed the truck parked on the side of the road. The two figures reached the truck and jumped in; the smaller guy first and then the big guy. He was sure that it was MacIntosh’s two buddies, the mouthy little fucker and the big guy that was almost as huge as Bear. Just as he was about to take another shot, he noticed that the dogs had reached the truck. Not wanting to risk hitting them, Dawg held his fire and continued to make his way down the road toward the truck. He would get a little closer before firing at the truck, but as he watched the dogs circling it, Dawg wondered where that MacIntosh mother fucker was at?
It occurred to Dawg that this might be another mind trick and that he was chasing nothing but thin air. The dogs wouldn’t be going nuts if there wasn’t anything there, though. These two must’ve been a diversion while MacIntosh snuck around him. It didn’t matter. Bear would be waiting for him and he would take care of that asshole. In the meantime, Dawg wondered why the other two were just sitting there in the truck. Maybe they couldn’t get it to start. Shitty luck for them. Dawg continued walking to where the truck sat. He would take care of them and then go back and check on Bear.
He was close enough now that he could see them as they sat there in the truck. They were bent down low hoping that he wouldn’t notice them, but Dawg would have to be blind to not see the tops of their heads sticking up. He lifted the gun up once more and took aim at the passenger.
“You first, mouthpiece.”
Just as he was about to fire, something went flying by his left ear. It was close enough that he heard it whistle as it went by his head and then an instant later he heard it again as it hit the ground and bounced a few times. Whatever it was, it was too close for comfort and he spun around and tried to identify where it came from. There was no gunfire and he couldn’t see anybody standing before him. It had to be MacIntosh, but where was he? Dawg squinted against the blackness of the night for some sort of movement. He was slowly scanning from left to right when at the last second he spotted something hurtling towards him. It struck him hard in the right shoulder and spun him partially around.
“Fuck!” Dawg fired two shots in the direction that he thought the object came from. It was a rock that hit him, something about the size of a baseball and it hurt like hell. If MacIntosh was resorting to throwing rocks, he must be very close and very desperate. Dawg started moving in the direction that the rock had come from, his rifle raised and ready to fire at the slightest movement.
Mac’s best days of cross-country running were long behind him. He was breathing heavily as he ran down the gravel road towards the old Sharp place and was still at least a half mile away. As he ran along, he was trying to visualize how he was going to get the jump on Dawg and Bear. In his rush to get here, Mac realized that he had forgotten to grab his old baseball bat out of the truck and it was taking everything he had just to keep moving. He didn’t have the time or energy to go back for it. His lungs felt like they were on fire and it soon got to the point that he was just focusing on keeping one foot moving in front of the other. Mac was getting close now, but he was having a hard time keeping track of his surroundings and it was the barking dogs that brought him to his senses. He stopped when he realized that they were very close, just up ahead at the old farm site. He froze on the spot, unsure if they were barking at him or not.
There was movement by an old building in the yard and Mac noticed the outline of two dogs and someone holding a gun. Dawg. It had to be Dawg. He was sitting there waiting to ambush whoever came up the driveway. Another few minutes and that would have been him. He never would’ve noticed anyone lurking there. Luckily for Mac, whatever the dogs were barking at had distracted Dawg long enough that he didn’t go running into a trap. A few seconds later the dogs went charging off after something with Dawg following behind them.
‘What would they be running after?’ Mac thought to himself. There was nobody else around for miles. Nobody knew that there was anyone out here... except for Mikey. A nauseous feeling came over Mac as he knew deep in his heart that it was Mikey out there that Dawg and his canines were going to find. Mac hoped that he was wrong. Perhaps it was just a rabbit that had spooked the dogs. He could use this to his advantage and run up to the barn and sneak past Bear, who was probably guarding Lisa and then find a way to free her. However, Mac was sure that it was Mikey that was about to either get ripped apart by the two dogs or shot by Dawg...or maybe both.
Mac crouched down low and crept along trying to stay within close proximity of Dawg. It wasn’t long before Dawg started firing into the darkness ahead. Mac ran up a small bluff in the ditch and off in the distance he could see two people running down the road back to a parked truck. Mikey and Milo. The dogs were closing in on them, but they both reached the truck in time before the dogs got to them.
“Get out of here.” Mac whispered to himself. To his horror, the truck never started or moved as Dawg walked towards it. “Start the fucking truck!”
Something was wrong. They were sitting ducks as the dogs circled the truck and Dawg got ever so closer. Mac focused on the gun and tried to jerk it out of Dawg’s hands with his mind, but nothing happened. He’d never thought to see what type of distance he could move things from. Desperate now to do something, Mac reached down and grabbed three rocks off the ground. Taking a deep breath, he held one rock in the palm of his hand and raised his arm up towards Dawg. He closed his fingers around it and then opened them in a flicking motion as if he was setting it free. The rock flew off towards Dawg, but narrowly missed its mark. Mac placed another rock in his palm and fought to steady himself as he was breathing heavily.
“Focus.” he whispered to himself as he prepared to launch the second rock. He sent it flying and Mac watched as it sailed through the darkness and struck Dawg on the shoulder. “Yes!”
In the next instant Dawg was firing his rifle blindly in Mac’s general vicinity as he had cloaked himself from the Olson brother’s vision. The second shot was close enough to catch Mac’s attention and he didn’t want Dawg getting any closer. He held the third rock up and sent it in a high arc towards Dawg. Mac stayed focused on him as Dawg walked forward towards where Mac stood. There was a loud crack and Mac watched the Olson brother collapse. He went down hard and didn’t move.
Cautiously making his way to where Dawg lay sprawled on the ground, Mac reached down and picked up the rifle and then checked to see if Dawg had any more weapons on him. Sure enough, he had a pistol, a flashlight and a hunting knife tucked away inside his coat. After shoving them in his coat pocket, Mac reached down and checked for a pulse on Dawg’s neck. He found one and noticed a large welt forming on Dawg’s forehead just above his left eye.
“B-4. I just sank your battleship, asshole.”
There was still the matter of dealing with the two dogs. They had now sensed his presence and were running towards him. Mac stood his ground and waited for them to get closer. When they were within ten feet of him, he made an upwards gesture with his hand and the two dogs went flying over top of him and landed 30 feet away. They tumbled a few times when they hit the ground, not sure what the hell had just happened to them. They turned towards Mac and started to take another run at him. With another gesture he picked them up and lifted them 20 feet in the air and held them there.
“I can do this all night. Maybe you better quit while you’re ahead.” The two dogs started to whine and Mac let them down to the ground. One of the dogs started to snarl at Mac, so he lifted them both back up again. “Last chance. Get the hell outta here!” With a quick gesture he sent the dogs flying again and they took another tumble as they crashed to the ground. This time they wanted nothing more to do with whatever Mac was doing to them and both skulked away into the night. Sensing that something was moving towards him from behind, Mac quickly turned around and raised one hand up before him.
“Whoa, easy there, big guy.” Milo held both hands high in a surrendering motion.
“Pretty impressive, Mac.” Mikey said as he limped along behind Milo. “You could’ve got here about ten minutes earlier, but all in all that was pretty impressive.”
“Ten minutes earlier and I’d probably be dead. Dawg was hiding out in the yard waiting to ambush whoever came up the driveway. Luckily, you guys distracted him.”
“Yeah, lucky us.” Milo mumbled.
“Mikey, do you have anything to tie him up with in your truck?” Mac asked pointing to the unconscious Dawg.
“I should be able to find something.” Mikey turned and sauntered back to his truck.
“Why didn’t his truck start?” Mac asked Milo as they watched Mikey search through the cab of his truck.
“I dropped the keys on the ground when the dogs were chasing us. Do you think Mikey would have a flashlight?” Without waiting for a reply, Milo started to make his way back to Mikey’s truck.
“Here, take this one.” Mac reached into his coat pocket and pulled out Dawg’s flashlight and tossed it to Milo.
“I’ll be right back.” Milo said and took off down towards the road.
“Keep your eyes peeled.” Mac took a look around. “I don’t think that the dogs will be back, but Bear is still around. I’m pretty sure that he’s guarding Lisa in the barn, but do you want this just in case?” Mac asked as he held up the pistol.
“No, I wouldn’t know what to do with it.” Milo replied. “I’ll be quick.”
Mikey returned with a roll of duct tape from his truck and started securing Dawg. “What did you hit him with? I thought that we were done for.”
“A rock.”
“Really? Nice shot.”
“Not really. It took me three attempts to get him.”
“Well, if you hadn’t hit him, Milo and I would probably be goners. Thanks Mac.”
“Sorry for dragging you into this again.”
