Free Bigfoot War by Eric S Brown Page A

forward, shoving the shotgun’s barrel straight into the monster’s neck. He squeezed the trigger the moment the barrel made contact. The shotgun bucked in his hands. He ducked as the monster swung at him with a vicious backhanded swing, trying to push him away from it. The thing staggered, clutching the hole in its neck as blood poured over its matted hair and stained the fur of its chest a bright red. Its cries turned to wet, gargling noises. Still holding its neck, trying to stop the bleeding, it stumbled into the trees and out of view.
    Brent turned his attention back to Rita and saw her finally make her choice. She came flying down the porch to the car. He jumped into the driver’s seat and slammed the vehicle into reverse as soon as she was inside.
    “ What was that thing?” she asked.
    “ Bigfoot,” was his only response as her house shrunk in the rearview mirror behind them.
     
     
    Powell
     
    Becca and Powell stood over her desk, looking over a map of Babble Creek.
    “ This is hopeless,” he said. “With the power out and the phone acting funny now, not to mention we’re down to three officers assuming Brent even makes it back, there’s no way we can save everyone.”
    “ I spoke with Sheriff Davies in Macon. Every officer he can spare is en route along with some help from their police department.”
    “ That’s great, but we both know with the road winding down the mountain and into town, even without the rain that may be coming, it’s going to take them an hour or more to get here. As fast as these things are moving, half the population of Babble Creek will likely be dead by then if it isn’t already.”
    “ What we have to do is get everyone together,” Becca said as Justin walked into the office. “Somewhere we must have a chance of holding the things back.”
    “ Where’s Fred?” Powell asked as Justin, apparently overhearing what Becca had been saying, looked at the map.
    “ He’s sleeping off a little too much drink.” Justin tapped the map with his finger. “How about the high school? It’s what we use for tornadoes and the like. The gym is big enough to fit everyone and the doors are metal. We can chain them shut and put snipers on the roof.”
    “ Sounds like a plan, unless these things can jump,” Powell said. “It’s better than anything I got.”
    “ The school’s fine,” Becca said. “The question is, how do we get people there and fast? Not everyone is going to have a radio that runs on batteries or a backup generator. We don’t have the time to go house-to-house. The risk of encountering those things is too great as well. Bumping into one would be bad enough, but running into a pack, that would be the end of it. We can’t afford to lose anyone else.”
    “ We’re just going to have to hope people come there on their own as they realize how bad things are,” Powell said, pulling his Glock from its holster and checking its clip. The weapon was near useless, but the act of doing so made him feel better anyway. It was good to know it would be there if he got desperate.
    Becca looked exhausted and he knew she was.
    He decided it was time for him to step up and try to take some of the stress off her shoulders. “Justin, get Fred and round up everyone you can as you go. Take them to the school and start getting it ready.”
    “ Where are you going?” Becca asked as Powell headed for the office door.
    “ I’ve got a plan. I’ll meet you guys there,” he said. He didn’t have to look back to know they were all staring after him.
     
     
    Brent
     
    This Monday night was one for the history books, Brent thought as his patrol car reached the main road running through Babble Creek. The sasquatches were no longer bothering to keep to the shadows and folks were beginning to figure out what was going on. The streets of the town were far from quiet this evening. All hell had broken loose. People ran everywhere—streets, sidewalks, lawns—it didn’t matter. Many of