Blaze of Glory

CHAPTER 31

About halfway to the caddie, Travis MacHenry halted the truck in the middle of a field. He got out, holding his and Gert's backpacks. One-by-one he pulled out the remaining Carolina Cocktails, seven in all. Then without ceremony, he emptied the contents atop his head and tossed the empty containers into the open cab. Seeing this, the others couldn't help but stop and stare. As horrible as it might become, he'd been their friend and ally and deserved their attention.

Buckley stood with his hands in his pockets, head down, remembering back in that hotel room when Travis had first talked about his desire to flame on.

"I, Travis James MacHenry, am gonna go out with a bang. In fact, as soon as I finish the better part of this cigar and this rather lazy cognac, I'm gonna get dressed, comb my hair, walk in the kitchen, pour fucking turpentine over my head, open the door and use the last of my Robusto to Flame On.”

So many thoughts were going through Buckley's mind. He'd only wanted to help everyone, but was unable to shake the truth of his own cowardice. In the end, it seemed as if Travis had been the bravest of them all.

"You want to know who I am? I’ll tell you who I am, Adamski. I’m Johnny Storm. No longer am I a washed up old has-been whose best days were when Toyota's motto was Oh What a Feeling. No longer will I wait to die like the rest of you chumps. I'm Johnny Fucking Storm who’s gonna go out in a blaze of glory."

Sissy held Grandma Riggs by a hand and her shoulder, the old woman managing to support most of her own weight.

"He was a good man, Mr. Adamski."

Buckley glanced into her eyes and saw how clear they’d become.

"Don’t blame him for not going gently," she added.

"I wasn’t going to, I…"

"It’s okay, boy. Be happy for him. He was allowed to find love before he died."

Buckley's heart broke a bit as an impossible gulf opened in his chest revealing that which he most feared. "What about me? What about me, Grandma Riggs? Where’s my love? Why can’t I go gently?"

The brightness left her blue eyes as they once again glazed over with the whiteness of the disease.

"Don’t I get any love?" Buckley asked.

Grandma Riggs's only reply was on odd grin. Then she cackled crazily and pointed to Little Rashad.

Little Boy Blue,

come blow your horn.

The sheep's in the meadow,

the cow's in the corn.

Little Rashad solemnly raised his horn and began to blow the opening notes of Rocky.

"Oh my Gosh!" Nikki pointed across the field.

All eyes followed her finger and watched as the Caddie rose up and up and up as it finally noticed the pickup truck speeding towards it. The inside of the pickup truck cab was an inferno of fire. Standing at least ten stories, the creature roared, its jaw lowered towards the threat, ten-foot teeth, glimmering in the first rays of dawn.

Even on fire, MacHenry managed to turn the wheel and angle the vehicle for the open maw. At the last moment, instead of fleeing as it should, the creature dipped its head to the ground and scooped up the speeding truck. In one anti-climactic crunch, it was gone. A small puff of smoke escaped the creature’s closed mouth.

Buckley stared in awe. MacHenry had indeed gone out in a blaze of glory, but the gesture was as useless as a fly swatting a cow. He gulped. How sad was that? What a fucking waste.

Lazily, the creature began to turn back towards the Home Depot. But it stopped as it noticed them standing across the road. Shifting away from the building, it headed their way, its movement creating the deafening sound of a mobile earthquake.

Sissy screamed. "Run!"

Little Rashad stopped playing and grabbed Nikki’s hand, jerking the awestruck girl towards the ocean. Buckley tossed the old woman over his shoulder in a Fireman’s Carry and took off after the kid who was already far in front.

Sissy ran past him, turning to urge him to move faster. "Hurry!"

Buckley followed as best he could, limping and staggering around mounds of over-turned earth, cars, trucks, the residue of fallen buildings, and several billboards.

Little Rashad and Nikki made the beach first.

"The pier," Buckley yelled. "Get on the pier." He couldn't see the creature behind him, but knew it was there. No way could he ignore the sound of a dozen freight trains bearing down on him, such was the sound, ominous with promises of devastation and destruction.

Little Rashad and Nikki spied the entrance to the pier jutting several hundred feet into the water and sprinted for it. The finger of wood drew Buckley's eye to the ocean, and what he saw there was the most beautiful thing he'd ever seen. A huge, red, white, and blue Carnival Cruise Liner rode the waves just offshore. A foghorn split the air again. He heard the cheers of a thousand people aboard ship.

Buckley couldn't help but grin. "Almost there, Grandma."

He lurched across a three-way intersection, leaped a curb and hit the sand of Wrightsville Beach running. But the sand wasn't as firm as the street. Buckley found it almost impossible to run in. Although he tried, he didn't get a dozen steps before his feet sank. Then he stumbled and fell, sending Grandma flying.

"Sissy. Help us," Buckley screamed.

Buckley tried to stand, but his leg gave way.

"Sissy!" He wailed. Grasping palmfuls of sand, Buckley pulled himself across to where Grandma lay sprawled. "Grandma, are you okay? I’m sorry. I’m so sorry."

She didn’t respond. Kneeling beside her, he turned her over and found her unconscious. What had he done? With the creature so close, they'd-

Buckley spun to see where the creature was. Only a hundred feet away, the great beast was about to cross the road when it raised itself up and roared jet-engine loud. The light of a new morning illuminated the caddie's maw, revealing a thousand teeth and misshapen parasites waiting to be fed.

But the creature's roar was interrupted by a cough. A puff of smoke exited the great maw. Then the caddie exploded causing the front half of the creature to evaporate in a fireball of blood and guts and Detroit metal.

Buckley whooped. "Grandma, did you see that?" He turned and shook her shoulder. "Must have been the gas tank."

But still she didn't stir.

Sissy fell breathlessly to her knees beside Buckley. "Did you see that? He did it. He saved us."

"Sure did." He shook his head, grinning despite his worry over Grandma Riggs. "MacHenry actually did it. Out in a blaze of glory."

Then the pieces of the creature started raining down upon them. Large and small pieces of smoking bloody Maggie flesh, hit left and right and atop everyone. A piece the size of a water bed fell next to Buckley pinning his leg to the sand.

"Ewww," Sissy almost wretched, as her clothes were covered with vile innards. "Disgusting."

Buckley fell atop Grandma Riggs to protect her. Flinching at each impact, he couldn’t help but laugh madly as the heaven's rained monster guts. Even with his leg wedged beneath a ton of caddie flesh, the destruction of the beast was absolutely biblical.

Finally, the one-of-a-kind rainstorm subsided.

Sissy looked at the weight on his leg and shook her head. "We're gonna need some help for this," she said, as she got to her feet and ran to where the kids stood watching on the boardwalk.

Buckley turned to the old woman. "Grandma?"

She groaned.

"Grandma? You all right?"

"Except for your fat ass on top of me, I think so."

Grinning like a madman, now, Buckley rolled off of her, but was still unable to stand. Using his shoulders as leverage, Grandma Riggs got to her feet.

"I thought I’d lost you," Buckley said.

"I’m pretty hard to get rid of."

Buckley laughed sharply. "Definitely." Then he turned serious. "I want you to know that I’m sorry. I couldn't hold on."

She shrugged. "Nothing to be sorry about, my boy. It couldn't be helped. You did everything right." She cupped his cheek in her withered palm and gazed fondly upon him. "You had love," she murmured.

"What?"

"You asked earlier where your love was. You were loved by all of us. You were loved best, Mr. Adamski."

He leaned into her hand and whispered. "Sometimes I just wanted to give up. Sometimes I thought everyone hated me. I-"

"I know. But you got us here. You invented a future for us."

"But I was a coward."

"No you weren't. Would a coward try and save us all? Would a coward do what you did?" Grandma Riggs cackled. "You are the bravest man I've ever known, Mr. Buckley Adamski."

Before he could respond, Little Rashad, Nikki and Sissy arrived at a run.

"Looks like they're sending a launch," Sissy said.

"I've never been on a ship before," Nikki exclaimed.

They all looked to the ocean. A long boat was speeding to the shore from the cruise liner. Buckley counted six men on boat and room for twice that many. Salvation!

Sissy grabbed the children. "Give me a hand. We need to get this off Mr. Adamski."

As they leaned down, grasping at the wet bloody edges of caddie flesh, a sound shattered the dawn. They didn't need to look to know what it was. The freight train rattle of its onrushing passage told them everything they needed to know.

"Hurry!" Sissy screamed. "We have to get this off of him!"

As the children and the girl tried desperately to move the ton of meat from his leg, Buckley turned to see a caddie, previously hidden behind the Home Depot store, hurtling across the ground towards them. Fast and angry, as if it took the demise of its fellow creature personally

"Fuck me."

"Come on kids. Get it off," Sissy commanded.

"I can't get a grip," Nikki cried.

Tears poured down Little Rashad’s face. "I can't move it. I'm trying, but it won't even budge."

Looking into their eyes, Buckley finally knew what MacHenry had felt. Such a great responsibility lay before him, such a great opportunity. Instead of fear, a conviction overwhelmed him. He knew what he had to do.

"Stop it." Reaching out, he snatched Sissy's arms. "Run. Get to the boat. I’ll hold it off."

"You can't. You've come all this way."

Buckley shook his head. "And I got you here which is all I wanted to do. Now hurry. Run!"

"But Mr. Adamski," Little Rashad shouted. "We can't leave you."

"Sure you can, kid. They won't let me on the boat, anyway. Now grab Grandma Riggs and run like the devil himself is after you."

"I haven’t run since Truman ran," Grandma Riggs snapped.

Buckley kissed her on the cheek and watched as the four took off towards the boardwalk and the pier. He reached to where his Super Soaker still dangled at his hip. Holding it up high, he sighted towards the approaching caddie.