Creature by Hunter Shea

Author:Hunter Shea
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: horror fiction, fantasy
Publisher: Flame Tree Press
Published: 2018-08-12T21:19:27+00:00

Chapter Nineteen

Andrew sat in a hardback chair in the tiny dining room, the new Remington 783 on the table. Dawn had finally come, but he didn’t feel as if he could exhale just yet.

“I’m so sorry, honey,” he said.

Kate was on the bed, heavily sedated. After he’d come back into the house with Buttons, the pallor of her skin and look in her eyes had rocked him to his core. She’d refused to go to the hospital, insisting she just needed to make sure he was okay and to take a sedative to calm down. She had a scrip for anti-anxiety pills (if anyone had reason for anxiety, it was Kate) that she didn’t use very much. He found a pill after dumping the mason jar on the bedspread. She’d been pretty zonked out ever since.

“Huh?”

Her eyes were only half-open, the corner of her mouth slack. Thank God, she’d gotten some color back in her cheeks, though kissing her forehead a few minutes ago had told him most of that color was coming from the returning fever.

Andrew didn’t bother her, watching her eyes slowly close all the way.

Once it was light enough to see well, he was going outside…without the rifle.

Firing it last night had scared the hell out of him. He hoped that if he wasn’t now a murderer, it had frightened off the lunatic who had been harassing them for good. He’d been so goddamn angry, the whole thing was just a big, black blur. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to give a firearm to a guy with anger issues.

He hadn’t thought of getting the rifle until he spotted the firearms case at the sporting goods store the next town over. He’d stopped by to pick up a small life vest, realizing that if he drowned, there was no one left to properly care for Kate. Ida would have been proud of his very grown-up decision.

And then he’d gone and done something to erase that pride.

Perhaps he was being overly paranoid, but he couldn’t shake the feeling that their stalker was indeed a man and quite possibly nuttier than a pecan pie. Once he found out how easy it was to get a rifle (a few hundred dollars and a background check that took all of fifteen minutes), he figured the small investment was worth some peace of mind. The burly man running the rifle department took the time to show him how to load it, carefully going over all the bells and whistles (including a lot on the attached scope, something he was pretty sure he’d never use) and advising him to learn the owner’s manual by heart. Andrew guessed it was easy to see he was no experienced hunter. The man never questioned his reason for buying the rifle, something he’d worried about the entire time.

Little had he known he’d be firing it less than twelve hours later.

He knew Kate wanted to give him holy hell about it, but that would have to come later.

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