Free Swamp Monster Massacre by Hunter Shea Page B

for Rooster and John.  
    “We’ll be right behind you!” Liz said, trying to keep herself under control. It felt like her blood was racing so fast that her veins would burst.  
    They ran blind until a wall of stink nearly stopped them dead.  
    “Oh, my God, that’s bad,” Maddie huffed. “Try breathing out of your mouth.”
    Liz did, and her diaphragm convulsed. “Great, now I can smell and taste them.”
    For the first time, Liz wondered if the skunk apes’ foul smell was an offensive and defensive weapon. In this case, it was doing a good job of taking their minds off what they had to do and putting their guard down. If the smell was this bad, it meant the creatures were very close, and she had to put it out of her mind.  
    “Rooster, where are you?” Maddie cried.  
    Liz had the wind knocked out of her as something large and heavy collided with her side, sending her sprawling. She struggled to regain her grip on her gun. She was not going to go down without a fight.  
    When the hammer clicked back, she heard, “Don’t shoot. It’s me, Rooster! Come on, we gotta haul ass!”
    Rooster grabbed under her armpit and lifted her like she weighed two pounds.  
    “Where’s John?” she asked.  
    “He didn’t make it. Gators.”
    “What about the skunk apes?” Maddie asked, panting.  
    “At least two are right behind us. Go!”
    He stayed at their backs while they sprinted, arms and legs pumping with stores of energy that were quickly being depleted. Liz prayed that they wouldn’t stumble into or hit any trees. They were one misstep away from disaster.  
    Maddie pulled ahead and shouted, “Guys, run!”
    They had caught up to Mick, Jack and Dominic, and didn’t need to tell them twice to double-time it.  
    Liz felt heavy thuds behind them and knew the skunk apes were gaining. By the sound of things, they had to be only a few steps behind Rooster.  
    “Maddie, you want to try a twist and shout?”
    Maddie slowed so she could get shoulder to shoulder with her.  
    “Are you sure?” she said.  
    Liz’s lungs were on fire. There was no way she could keep up this pace, and she knew she wasn’t alone feeling that way. They were all dehydrated, and sooner or later their legs were going to give out.  
    It was twist and shout or nothing.
    “Either that or run ourselves out and get killed.”
    Maddie didn’t hesitate. “I’m in.”
    Their father had taught them a lot of things that they had thought were weird and unnecessary growing up. If he only knew how much they appreciated, at this moment, every afternoon spent under his watchful eye, going through drills that seemed pointless. The whole world may not be coming to an end, but if they didn’t do something fast, theirs was about to have the plug pulled.  
    One of the skunk apes bellowed. It must have sensed the kill.  
    “On twist,” Liz commanded.  
    “One.”
    Her right knee almost buckled and she stumbled, quickly regaining her stride.  
    “Two.”
    She could hear Rooster’s labored breathing, could almost feel it on the back of her neck.
    “Twist!”
    Liz and Maddie stopped, dropping to a knee and spinning so they were facing the oncoming skunk apes. Rooster was taken by surprise and tripped over Maddie’s leg, crashing to his chest with a mighty whump .  
    Maddie screamed, “Shout!”
    They started shooting, the flare from the nozzles lighting up the area around them, cordite burning the stench of the skunk apes out of their noses.  
    The skunk apes, startled and finding themselves hopelessly exposed, roared and tried to swat the bullets away like they were bees from a split hive. Three of them scrambled left and right, shock visible in their wide, red eyes that cut through the pitch like lasers.  
    The fourth one had hung back a bit and reared its head back to let out the mother of all howls. It must have been a call to retreat, because all four darted back from where they had come, their footfalls like thunder.