Bigfoot Crank Stomp by Erik Williams Read Free Book Online Page B

shouted. Overlapping. The echo effect of the valley made it impossible to discern one from the other. It didn’t matter as more shotguns opened fire.
    What in the Hell is going on? Manny thought as he jumped to his feet. He raised the rifle and peered through the scope at the other side of the Loop, hoping to see something.
    Too many damn trees and not enough moonlight.
    Silence. No gunshots. No roars. The lights still rotated on the cruisers but that was it. Maybe they were all dead.
    Feet scurried. No, raced. Snapping branches and stirring brush. Someone was running. Fleeing.
    Another set of feet chased. Heavy. Thudding. Snapping rotten logs instead of sticks by the way it sounded. Manny glanced at the tops of the pines in the direction of the footfalls. Every few seconds one of the tops shifted against the wind.
    It’s chasing someone , he thought.
    Whatever the thing was, it was down in the valley now. If that was the case, the cops hadn’t stopped it. Which meant they were either dead or too chickenshit to pursue.
    Shit. There was at least one camper down there. He’d ran into her at the 7-Eleven earlier. A woman in her mid-thirties buying beer. He’d overheard her asking the clerk how to reach the site.
    Damn it , Manny thought. With the thing down there and innocent people down there, he didn’t have much of a choice anymore. The Marine in him stopped resisting all together.
    He turned and hustled down the steps of the deck and into the valley, rifle at the ready.

GABE
     
     
    “Sheriff,” Pronger said. “Maybe we shouldn’t go up there.”
    Gabe bit his tongue, wondering the same thing. It wasn’t a bear. He was dead sure about that. But whatever it was sounded like it was on a rampage and he didn’t want to deal with an animal on a rampage in the dark.
    More roars. Stanger jumped in the seat next to him. Gabe checked the side view. Lyle was staring up the drive, white as a sheet. He shifted to his other deputies. Pronger and Betts also gazed at the driveway, eyes glassy and wide, mouths hanging open.
    Either get up there or get out of here , Gabe thought.
    A shotgun blast reverberated down the driveway. Gabe’s head jerked left, focusing on the gravel path. Some animal and some asshole with a gun. Meth involved. What the fuck was going on?
    “Hit the lights,” Gabe said.
    “What?” Stanger said.
    “You heard me. Time to go see what in Christ’s name is happening up there.”
    Stanger reached for the switch. His fingers trembled. But he managed to flip the switch.
    The rotating red and blues seemed to wake Pronger and Betts from their frightened dazes. They blinked and straightened up in their seats. Lyle, too, looked more alert. His eyes narrowing and lips tightening.
    Gabe stuck his hand out the window and rotated it in a vertical circle several times. Then he pointed up the driveway. High-ho Silver, away .
    Stanger shifted and accelerated, turning up the drive. Lyle followed. Pronger and Betts brought up the rear.
    “Don’t drive too fast,” Gabe said. “We don’t want some crazy animal or asshole with a shotgun to run out in front of us.”
    Stanger eased off some on the gas. “Yeah, I don’t want to run over a bear.”
    The roars were almost deafening as they reached the top of the drive. Gabe scanned the area but couldn’t see anything. Stanger parked and Gabe grabbed a shotgun and got out.
    The roars stopped. The other vehicles pulled up. Doors opened and closed behind Gabe. He turned and found all his deputies armed up and looking at the front door of the house.
    “Busted open,” Lyle said.
    Stanger pumped his shotgun. Betts and Pronger followed suit.
    “Betts, Pronger, take the front,” Gabe said. “Lyle, take—”
    The roar again. Gabe flinched as it echoed around him. Out of the corner of his eyes he saw some one run from behind the house into the woods.
    “Shit, go, go.” He took off running toward the back of the house, Stanger pounding behind him.
    Something big and