The Cactus Killer (The Inglewood Chronicles) by Jeremy Croston

commotion was, but before
either could react, a car came crashing down through the roof of
the building. When the dust settled, I looked up and saw it was a
police cruiser and inside were two police officers. Or what
remained of the two officers that is.
    “ Those were the cops Ruud
and I met outside!”
    Reno and Phil were okay,
which was good. I picked up on a very strange yet familiar scent
and it was moving fast towards our location.
    “ Get ready everyone. I
think whatever did this is coming here to take care of
us.”
    All three vampires did
their thing from the red glowing eyes to the kitchen cutlery
growing out of their mouths. Me, I just pulled Roscoe out and
un-tucked my blasted shirt. It might not have been as impressive,
but if it got the job done, that was all that mattered.
    I followed the scent and it
stopped moving just in front of the doors to the recreation hall.
All of us looked at each other. By now the vampires had picked up
on its smell and movement.
    “ I don’t think it’s
coming…” Don’t jinx us Reno, for crying out loud!
    I don’t know if it was some
sort of roar or scream, but the noise that broke the air ruined my
hearing. I dropped my gun and had to cover up; the sound was just
so terrible.
    “ Vic, what is
wrong?”
    “ The sound, it’s too much!
Oh God, my ears!”
    When it finally stopped,
the pressure building behind my ears also stopped, but I couldn’t
hear a thing. I saw the others talking, but whatever they were
saying didn’t matter. I was about to tell them as much when they
all freaked out and looked towards the door. I had been so focused
on hearing, that I stopped paying attention to the scent. It hit me
like a freight train. Of course, it was the same musky scent from
both scenes, but this time it was on overload. I looked over and
saw where it was coming from; the thing that came barging in looked
like Frankenstein’s monster.
    I could tell this creature
had been human once, from the underlying scent I was still able to
pick up. It wasn’t human anymore; from the green skin to the scars
everywhere and the black as a moonless night eyes, this thing was a
true monster. Either he was a big dude before, or they grew him
into the close to seven foot body.
    I grabbed my gun off the
floor and started firing at the beast but all I did was irritate
it. Reno, Phil, and Elizabeth all looked over at me. I couldn’t
hear if they said anything but their eyes made it clear, we would
be doing this the old fashioned way. I holstered my gun and rolled
up my sleeves. It was time for a fight. 

Chapter 10

    Big and ugly just stared at
all of us. Well, I think he was snarling too, but I can’t confirm
that. I looked over at Reno and I saw him pulling on an extendable
metal rod to its full length. Phil was putting a pair of brass
knuckles on as well. I’m sure glad they’re on my side.
    I too had a way to defend
myself. I didn’t use them often and not too many people knew I
could, but when necessary, my hands can form into claws. To be
honest, I was quite embarrassed by it, because the side effect of
using them was the hair on my hands stayed there for a few days and
made me look ridiculous. However, staring into the face of this
monster and my gun being all but useless, I would deal with
it.
    I pushed hard and after a
few moments of pain, my hands were hairy wolf claws. Not pretty,
but certainly effective at defending myself. It was a good thing
too because our new friend was no longer standing
around.
    Reno and Phil wasted no
time in engaging, but it didn’t go too well for them. They were
fast for sure, but Frankenstein was just as quick. He grabbed Reno
by the arm and tossed him aside like he was a kid. Phil used the
situation to give him a solid punch to the gut, but nothing really
happened. Not one to let others take a whooping, I jumped in
too.
    In a coordinated effort,
Phil and I went to work. Using the brass knuckles, he turned this
into a fist fight. He was actually