Fire at Dusk: Part 34

Buck turned his head toward Mike. The color in Mike's face had drained away and his pupils encompassed his whole eye. Buck looked back at the hole and watched as the beast slid three of its long nails through the crack and wriggled them around for a few seconds then withdrew them, taking pieces of mortar and bricks with them. The intensity of the red light weakened as the beast moved away from the gap.

“Ain't that just mighty inconvenient,” Mike said, lowering his arm. “Hurry up, get to yer feet!”

Buck and Shirley Sue rose to their feet. Buck watched as Shirley Sue stood to face their kidnapper. Her face was calm and relaxed, and her lips were turned up at the edges. “You know Mike, maybe I overreacted a bit,” she said, looking him in the eyes. “There's probably room on the four-wheeler for the two of us and I'm sure we could- work something out.” Her tone was warm and she punctuated her sentence with a wink.

The beast howled, but Buck hardly registered the noise. His jaw hung open as he stared at Shirley Sue.

She moved closer to Mike, until they stood less than an arm's length away from each other. She wet her lips and slowly blinked at Mike. “Besides, it might be useful to take a hostage with you.”

Mike gave Shirley Sue a once over with his eyes. “You drive a hard bargain,” he said with a grin. “Y'all women are all the same, always willing to put out when you think it'll get you somewhere. I expected a little more virtue from you, though.”

Buck watched in horror as Shirley Sue edged closer to Mike and pressed against him, grinding her body against his. “Maybe later I can get on my knees and beg for forgiveness,” she said, her voice hardly louder a whisper, with her lips brushing against his ear,

“Looks like yer girlfriend is gonna be keepin' me entertained for a bit,” Mike said as looked over at Buck, then let out a chuckle. “Guess you'll make good 'nough bait fer-” Mike howled with pain. Shirley Sue darted away from him. Buck stood stationary for a moment, trying to process what had just happened. “Run Buck!” he heard shouted from behind. He ran after Shirley Sue, dodging the tables, bins and tools which were scattered across the floor.

The sound of a gunshot echoed through Buck's ears.