Read The Bottom Feeders and Other Stories for Free Online Page B

Shepard…Zeb.”
    Something clicked. “Sheriff,” I said while
standing and walking toward the counter, “did Randy Crouse ever
report anything strange to you? Call you about some large
insects?”
    “ Bugs? No.” He sipped his
coffee. “What would I have to do with bugs?”
    “ These are big. We brought
one to Albricht’s place, had Lane take a look.”
    “ Randy hasn’t said anything
to me. How big is big.”
    I sat down on a stool next to the sheriff.
“The one I saw was about the size of a shoe.” I held my hands up
for a visual aid. “Randy claims to have seen larger specimens out
in the woods.”
    “ Randy has claimed a lot of
strange things over the years.” He stood, dropped a few coins on
the counter, and patted me on the back. “I wouldn’t worry about it
too much, Professor. Thanks Darla.” He strode from the café,
climbed into his truck, and pulled away.

    Early that evening, the quiet seemed to
swell and fill the little clearing occupied by our town. I sat on
my porch, trying to enjoy the end to a rare, cloudless day. It was
the sort of day I’d moved to Oregon to find, the sweet pine smell,
the buzzing aliveness from all the trees and close wildlife, but I
felt anxious. I had been nervous since Randy and Lane left that
morning.
    I was startled by the shots—not the first
time I’d heard distant gunfire, but this series of pops pushed all
the blood from my veins for some reason. The sound came from Deer
Creek Road, echoing through the valley to the east. I hurried down
the hill toward Main Street, knowing that the sheriff would be
there if he was in town.
    Darla stood on the sidewalk wiping her hands
on her apron. A few other townspeople, maybe a dozen, stood around
in the gathering twilight, mumbling about the gunfire. Pete and
Manny were there, by each other’s side as usual. Nancy Albricht,
Lane’s mom, held a cell phone to her ear, pacing a small segment of
walk just down the street from the café.
    “ What’s happened?” I asked
Darla.
    “ Don’t know. I just heard
the shots. Nancy’s worried, trying to call Lane.”
    A slight pop sounded in the distance, and
the lights flickered and went black inside the café. Darla rushed
inside. The sun started to slip past the crooked lip of trees in
the west, and a punishing silence crawled into Monument. A brooding
silence.
    “ I got Lane. They’re on
their way back.” Nancy crushed the silence with her nervous voice
as she hurried into the small throng of people.
    Darla stepped out of the café. “We aren’t
just without power. The phone’s gone too.”
    The sun completely disappeared behind the
pine trees on the horizon, dropping night’s heavy blanket on
Monument. I thought about walking back to my house up the hill, but
the dark streets worked against me. I felt safer in the group of
people. Clouds started to roll over the little piece of yellow moon
in the sky. My stomach tightened. I looked at Nancy. “I think you
should try the sheriff on your cell phone.”
    Before she responded, someone in the group
asked, “What’s that?” Everyone stopped breathing for a moment,
listening to the shadows all around. A small scrabbling sound, like
twigs scratching against asphalt and concrete, crawled toward town
from the east. I turned to look, just missing the headlights as
they rounded the curve behind me.
    “ Lane!” Nancy hollered,
hurrying to Randy’s truck. The small gathering was blown bright
from Randy’s headlights, and most looked pale and unnatural under
the beams.
    “ Mom, look, what’s
everybody standing around for?” Lane asked as he hopped down from
the passenger seat. “You look like you’ve all seen a
ghost.”
    Nancy hugged her son.
    “ Awww, Mom…” Lane pushed
away.
    “ Did you find anything
today? Any more beetles?” I asked, moving closer to
Lane.
    He rubbed his blonde hair.
“Yeah, but Randy couldn’t find the big one that he went Texas Chainsaw Massacre on the other day. All we found were