If this were overseas, there would already be a bloody,headless mess sitting on his porch. But this was America, land of the free, andhe could tell something was wrong with the guy outside. You didn't just goaround executing people, especially if they were ill.
"Hello? Thank you for waiting," announced avoice on the speakerphone.
Zeke took a swig from his beer and said, "Well, it'sabout damn time. I thought you guys were out to lunch."
"What is the nature of your emergency?" askedthe voice on the phone.
Zeke just laughed, and said, "Honey, you ought toget over here and see for yourself."
"Is anyone hurt? Do you need an ambulance?" shereplied, unmoved by his humor.
Zeke fumbled around in his pocket for another cigarette."I'm not sure an ambulance is going to help any of these people, but yeah,we've got some injuries here. 212 SE Thompkins. See you soon."
"Sir, stay on the..." Zeke hung up the phonewith the press of a button. He lit his cigarette and took a long drag from it.If those damn cops didn't get here within the next fifteen minutes, he wasgoing to dump all nine pellets from the 12-gauge shotgun shell of his SPASright into that man's face. And if that didn't work, he would do it again untilit did
.Chapter 15: Old Han
Bill had been banging on the door for a good twentyminutes when he heard a commotion in the bar. At first, Dustin didn't know whatto make of all the noise. Then he heard someone shout, "Freeze or I'llblow your brains out!" When he heard that iconic cop cliché, he knew thatthe cavalry had finally arrived.
"I'm in here! Help! This guy is crazy!" he hadshouted.
Apparently Bill wasn't very good at followinginstructions, because a few seconds later, he heard one cop tell the other oneto taze Bill. He heard a pop as the tazer was fired, but he couldn't tell whatthe result was.
"What the hell is wrong with this guy?" askedone cop.
"I don't know. Let's hit him again," hispartner replied, his voice muffled by the door between them and Dustin.
"Jesus, he just keeps coming," he heard one ofthe cops say, disbelief in his voice. "That's a tough old fucker, rightthere."
Apparently, Bill was something of a Superman. He heard astruggle ensue, and after some wrestling around, one of the cops yelled at him,"It's alright. You can come out now."
Dustin looked around the room and picked up a broom, justin case. Slowly he turned the doorknob and poked his head out into the bar. Hesaw one cop with a knee pressed down on Bill's back, while the other officerwas looking at a bite mark on his arm.
"Oh, fuck," Dustin said. Dustin turned rightback around and locked himself inside the bar office.
There was some pounding on the door. "Sir? Would youlike to explain what's going on here?"
"Listen, I know this is going to sound crazy, butthis evening, it was last call, and this guy comes in and takes a bite out ofanother guy. I help him out. We're rolling around, tusslin' you might say, andthen he takes a bite out of the old guy's neck."
"What old guy?" asked the cop.
"The one you have lying on the ground. We thought hewas dead, I mean, he had his jugular ripped out by that other guy. The onewithout a face."
The cop tried the doorknob, and then said, "Whydon't you come out here, so we can talk. This yelling through the door nonsenseis getting old, and I'd like you to explain the fact that this guy has had histhroat ripped out and is still kicking?"
Dustin leaned back against the wall, "That's thething officer. The old man was fine until he got bit. Then he died. Now hewants to bite everyone he sees. Now one of you is bit, and it's only a matterof time until he's walking around biting other people. It's like something outof a movie!"
"Sir, you can either come out of there or we'recoming in to get you. We can sort this all out at the station."
Dustin popped up out of the chair he was sitting in, andscreamed through the door, "Maybe you're not listening to me! There issome crazy shit going on out there, and I'm not coming out until it's done!
Dustin could hear muffled talking, and then the cop hehad been talking to said, "Alright, you leave us no choice. We're going tobreak the door down."
The door shook in the jamb, and then another voice washeard, the slightly crazy voice of the owner of the bar. "What you dohere? No break door. You like if I come to your house and break door?"
Old Han had been running The Sleazy Goat for years. Itwas no surprise that he had suddenly showed up out of nowhere. The crazy oldbastard probably had at least ten live feeds of the bar fed into his house. Younever knew what the old bastard would be accusing you of.
"Uh, sorry, sir. We're just trying to get the guyout of the back room there."
"Well why don't you ask? I have key right here. Whydon't you ask? No, you start breaking door." Old Han sounded as crazy asever. "And who is going to clean this mess? My carpet is ruined!"
Dustin heard the metallic rattle of a key sliding home inthe office door, and then it opened. There stood Old Han, his eyeglassesperched on the end of his nose and his greasy, black hair combed sideways overhis balding head. With his massive key ring on his belt, he looked more like ajanitor than the owner of one of the diviest dives in town. When he laid hiseyes on Dustin, they widened, and the corners of his mouth dipped down in afrown. Old Han didn't so much view his employees as people as he did livestock.
"What you doing in here? How did you get everyonekilled? Get out of my office! You're fired!"
Dustin didn't understand exactly what the old man wassaying, the accent on Old Han was pretty bad. How a guy could live in a placefor decades and not learn to speak the language
