Blood Lust: A Supernatural Horror (53 page)

McNeil ran at it, firing blindly with a pistol, but the creature flew away toward her. She raced away as well, fearing that one of McNeil’s wild shots might hit her.
She almost ran right into the
Chupacabra
ass it waited for her. It glared at her
.

“I can help you,” she told it. “I’m the one who cut the electricity.”

As she watched, the wound in its chest slowly closed until only a slight pucker remained.
Once more, she realized how much she had to gain by allying herself with the creature.

“Our bargain is still in effect if you aid
e
me,” the creature replie
d.

“You know I will. The others want to kill you.”

The creature coughed. She interpreted it as amusement.
“Mere annoyances, but they have trapped me here. You must free me.”

“I will, I will, but first you have to kill Hardin and the others or they will stop me.
”

“Their deaths will please me greatly, especially your detective friend
’s
.”

She would have preferred Hardin to live, not because she loved him but because he had risked his life when he
had
thought hers was in danger.
However,
she knew she was in no position to bargain for his life. As long as he drew a breath, she knew he would try to kill the
Chupacabra
. That was his nature.
The others, she did not care.

“We must use one of the doors at either end of the tunnel and before any help can arrive.”

It looked down the tunnel toward Hardin and the federal agent. “I choose to kill them first
. The old man and his companion are no longer a threat. Come.”

Joria fell into step behind the creature, trusting its ability to see in the dark. She stumbled a few times but hurried after it. She had thrown her lot in with its kind over her fellow man.
Now, her life depended on it.

2
9

The
echoing
sound of gunshots brought me out of my trance.
The
shots
originated
far down the tunnel. Had McNeil and his men decided to follow me?
Was Joria with them?
I hoped not.
Only she was aware
of the creature’s abilities
. The others
would be at its mercy.
A few minutes later, a horrific scream
drifted to me
,
an almost inhuman sound wrenched
in pain
from a human throat.
Someone had just died.
I could
n’t
let them
all
die
trying to help me. I began to trot toward them.

More shots followed. At least they were well armed.
I almost had a heart attack when the
walkie-talkie
I had been carrying in my back pocket
began to
shriek
with static. I yanked it out. I could barely hear a voice through the static but could
n’t make out
the words. I keyed the mic.

“This is
H
ardin. Is anyone there?”

I released the key to a flood of static
and
tried again.

“This is Hardin. Over.”

More static,
only
stronger this time.

“Damn!” I turned off the useless
walkie-talkie
and shoved it back in my pocket. For all I knew, I might have damaged it when I fell into the underground river.
I kept moving. A sound, like the scuffing of gravel
came from somewhere ahead of me
. I stopped moving and hugged the shadows
. I aimed carefully at
a slight
movement beyond the lights and slowly squeezed the trigger.
I
released the trigger gently
as I saw the movement was a man, a man I recognized.

“You,” I said. “My Guardian Angel.”

He smiled. “Simmons.”

“Why are you here
,
Simmons?”
I looked around to see if he was alone.

“Same reason as you.”

“I thought you people wanted a live creature,
” I snapped, “A
pet
Chupacabra
for your collection.”

H
e shrugged. “My people probably do. I’m here on my own
, trying to end this thing. Enough girls have died.”

His answer
was unexpected.
I nodded. “My thoughts exactly. I heard shots. You?”

“Some of them.
Y
our friends came looking for you. One didn’t make it.”

I winced. “McNeil?”

He shook his head and I sighed with relief. “No, he’s okay for now.
A second one has a bad fever from the creature
’s talons
. I left
the pair of
them in a storage room with an electrified gate. It
should hold for a while.”

Knowing
how persistent the creature was
, I had my doubts.
Then his words filtered through my concern.

“
Two?
What about Joria?”

His scowl spoke volumes.
“The Alvarez woman seems to have vanished.
”

I shook my head slowly.
“
Someday I’ll learn about women.
We had better hurry.”

The lights in the tunnel suddenly flared, and then faded
entirely
.
The crackle of electricity reverberated down the tunnel. I activated a glow stick
.
A rifle shot followed; then a series of
rapid
pistol shots
; then t
he air grew still.

“The fans are shutting down,” I said
as I noticed their constant whir slowing
.

Simmons
peered
down the tunnel.
I could see his concern in the pale amber light
of the glow stick
.
“It’s going to get pretty sticky down here soon.” He looked back at me. “We have to
get out of here.”

I shook my head. “I’m not leaving until I kill the creature.”

“Don’t be silly. One of your friends is dying. He needs medical attention soon.
” He looked at me
and frowned. “
You don’t look too good yourself.”

I waved him off. “I have a fever, too, but I’m so stuffed with antibiotics, I can shake it off for a while longer. I need to finish what I started.”

He grabbed me by the shoulder and shook me
hard
. “Think straight, man. We have to get your friends out of here. The creature will
still
be trapped. We can come back for it. In an hour,
it will be
120 degrees in here
.”

I realized he was right.
My
fever had muddled my
reasoning
, focusing
on killing the creature
without considering
the consequences.
We had to get McNeil and the
other man to safety. Even if Simmons’ people took over,
they
least
would take the creature out of circulation
.
I knew it was selfish, b
ut I wanted the satisfaction of killing it with my own hands.

“I want in on the kill,” I said. “Promise me.”

He stared into my eyes
and nodded
.
“Okay.”

“Let’s go to the others.”

****

We found McNeil in
the storage room
sitting against the wall
with
the
.357
on
his lap
. He had
placed the
hal
f
-
demolished gate
across the opening
and the flashlight sh
one
out
into the tunnel
.
He looked
up at us in relief and slowly rose to his feet
. H
is face was pale beneath the dirt smudges and h
e
appeared to have aged
ten years. He looked tired, very tired. A
second man, Walmsley,
lay on the table,
coughing and moaning with fever. There was nothing we could do
for him
except
get him back to safety.

“I see you’re still alive,” McNeil said
as I walked up
.

I smiled. “I’m hard to kill.”

His face became suddenly hard
, his eyes tormented
. “I didn’t
believe you.
You told me about this creature, but I didn’t
really believe you
.
Now
Sid
Johnson is dead. H
is scream will
haunt me
for
the rest of my life.
He was my friend.
I know his wife and daughter. What do I say to them?
How do I explain what happened?
”

I understood his bewilderment.
I didn’t have any good advice for him.
“I’ve never found a
n
easy way to tell loved ones about
a death. No matter how you say it, it’s
going to
hurt. Telling them he died for a good cause means nothing to them.
Just don’t take on all the blame. It’s too heavy a burden. There’s blame enough to go around.”

He looked at Simmons and then back at me. “We lost your girlfriend.”

Simmons snorted
derisively
.

“
I think we may have parted ways,” I replied.

McNeil
shook his head. “I
didn’t trust her
.”
He winced and
clutched his chest.

“You okay?” I asked
concerned
.

“Mild heart attack, I think. Weak ticker. I’ll make it. Walmsley’s in worse shape than I am.”

I admired McNeil’s aplomb.
“Don’t kid me, old man. You pushed your limit.”

As I had hoped, he rose to the challenge.
“Old man? I’ll be your better at twice your age.”

“Ok
a
y, but I don’t want to have to carry you out of here
on my back
. Someone needs to handle
this
. Mind you, it’s got the kick of a crazed mule on steroids.
” I handed him the elephant gun.

Simmons smiled, aware of what I was doing. “Let’s make a stretcher out of one of the
se
boards.”
He began prying a
loose
plank from the wall. I helped.

Carrying Walmsley’s considerable weight on a wooden board was difficult and tiring but we made it to the ventilator tunnel. I went up first while McNeil stood guard.
Looking into
McNeil’s weary
eyes, I
saw bitterness I believed he directed towards Joria. I
think he would have shot Joria if he had seen her. I wasn’t sure I would stop him. Her desertion
was
the
Jingo block that toppled the tower. I felt betrayed and used. I guess I had it coming.
I had wasted two good marriages because I hadn’t let them into my life, instead keeping them neatly shelved
to play with when my detective work was over.
With
Joria,
I had attempted to correct my
past mistakes,
ignoring my instinct and my
doubts
about her that had arisen
until they overwhelmed me.

“Hey!” Simmons snapped, breaking my reverie. “A little help?”

Simmons
stared up at me as he
handed Walmsley’s limp body up to me.
I struggle
d
to pull him through the opening even with Simmons pushing from beneath.
When we
all made it
up, I shut the trap door. I didn’t think the creature could follow
through the
small
opening
but I wasn’t certain.
It was resourceful and had made a fool of me more than once.
If there had been a lock, I would have sealed it so Joria couldn’t escape either. There were a few things I wanted to say to her.