The Walrus of Death: A Short Story by Steeven R. Orr Read Free Book Online Page B

direction before I was up to my neck in brown water. There was a bridge, but I’d need to walk ten miles to the east to get there so it should be obvious that south wasn’t the best option either.
    The north was also out. Like the east, there was nothing for miles but more unplanted pastureland and no adequate cover.
    That left west, a half a dozen miles of trees broken only by the occasional gravel road. The Walrus wasn’t stupid, he’d see that west was the best option and so I only had to wait.
    The itching along my spine decreased, meaning that the healing was near to complete. So I rolled over onto my stomach, rose, and knelt at the edge of the woods, the Winchester ready at my shoulder. I took a few deep breaths and waited for the Walrus to show himself. I moved the barrel left, then right, scanning the back of the house for any sign of an angry walrus.
    Soon enough he came into view, running as quick as a walrus around the exact corner of the house I had hoped he would. I could see that he was so full of rage that he plodded on without any notion that crippling pain was only a rifle-shot away. I smiled, brought his left kneecap into my sights, breathed out, and slowly squeezed the trigger of the old Winchester.
    At that exact moment, the clouds parted and the sun shown down upon me with such ferocity that I found myself blinded and it caused me to flinch as I fired the rifle.
    The shot rang out its cracking roar that echoed off the hill and trees.
    “You missed!” the Walrus called.
    I never miss. I cursed and I’d later swear that the sun had actually giggled at my dilemma.
    I squeezed off another shot but I was shooting blind. I couldn’t see crap anymore as the sun continued to blaze.
    “Oklahoma!” the Walrus roared with such vehemence that the casual observer would be forced to seriously rethink musical theater.
    I cursed and squeezed off another shot as the Walrus sprinted toward me. I couldn’t see much but white light, but I could hear the creature’s grunting and the thunderous plod of his mighty feet drawing closer and closer.
    He continued screaming my name in such frenzy that any birds brave enough to still be hanging out following the gunshots were now winging their way to a safer location – like Alaska. I fired a fourth time, and then a fifth, shooting erratically now in hopes that one of the bullets would find its target.
    They didn’t.
    I stopped shooting and tried to calm myself, which wasn’t easy as the Walrus pounded up the hill. I still couldn’t see a thing but sunlight so I closed my eyes. I took three big breaths.
    In through the nose.
    Out through the mouth.
    In and out.
    In and out.
    I cleared my head and took myself out of the world. Nothing mattered anymore. The wind, the sunlight, the music of nature – it didn’t exist. There was just me and the unseen presence of a walrus running through the Kansas grassland.
    I raised the Winchester. The wheeze and puff of the Walrus’s labored breath, the ponderous thud of his massive feet, and the groan of agony coming from the earth were getting louder by the second. He was right on top of me.
    I smiled.
    I fired.
    The rifle cracked followed almost at once by a slight “Ooof!” from the Walrus, and the sound of his considerable body hitting the ground and sliding through the fallen leaves toward me.
    A cloud passed over the Sun and I looked down to find the Walrus just inches from where I knelt. He writhed around in the dead leaves, clutching his left knee with both hands. Blood bubbled through his fingers.
    He looked up at me.
    “You shot me!” he cried.
    “What’d you expect?” I said, pointing the rifle at him.
    The Walrus lumbered to his feet, well – foot. He hopped about for a moment, almost like a cartoon, still clutching his left knee.
    “I’m going to kill you!” He screamed, and hopped toward me.
    I sighed and squeezed the trigger for the last time and blew out his other knee. He passed out on his short journey