The Serpent and the Crow

Book 4: Chapter Twenty

Douglas seemed to hear the pounding of his heartbeat against his chest. He turned on the L-shaped angle head flashlight tied to his shirt pocket. The lumens from the LED light were just sufficient to recognize shapes on the ground.

Douglas shouldered the M249 SAW and aimed the crosshairs while walking. It was heavy. There were 600 belt-fed rounds inside the drum secured to the gun. Inside Alexandro's pouches on his combat vest, there were another 1200 rounds. Douglas winced every time the vest and his clothing rubbed against his open cuts. He could not patch up.

Douglas seemed to be hyper-focused on the task at hand. Awaiting whatever was down there, be it man or beast.

Nez saw the light up ahead. He ascended as the cavern walls became illuminated by floodlights. Douglas ducked for cover and listened to the remaining men. Braithwaite had was about seven.

Braithwaite was with Wade. Wade looked in better condition than Douglas. That was not saying much. Douglas noticed he was on his knees, but from his posture, it looked like he was beat.

"My brother was soft on you."

"Funny that. I guessed he was the one who was soft."

"You seem like a tough cookie to swallow."

"Is that what you do?" Wade smiled. He said, "swallow?"

Braithwaite slapped him with his backhand.

"I'm getting sick and tired of your witty remarks."

"What are you waiting for, Ellroy? Get to it. I'm fucking bored."

"The Emerald Eye wants you. Perhaps when I give it your head, it will be satisfied."

"That fucking slithering dick ain't going to give you shit. Eternal life. Look at your brother, I watched that thing rip him apart. It's an animal doing animal things."

"Shut up."

"Ain't it entertaining, it may have motivated you to kill those children. But I doubt it. You are the sick son of a bitch that already enjoyed killing kids. You just needed an excuse. Ain't that right?"

"Elmer enjoyed it. I tried to give them peace."

"So, you and your goons, I mean your rejects from American idol here, helped you climb those trees. What were the snakes for?"

"The serpents were my handiwork. To appease the Emerald Eye."

"Is that what we're waiting for, the appeasement of the Giant cocksucker that killed your brother."

"You never shut up do you."

"C'mon, I know you want to do it yourself. You don't believe you can take me?"

"Uncuff him."

"What? That easy, huh?"

"Fuck it," Braithwaite said, "I'm going to take pleasure beating you to a pulp and when I'm done, you can lie there with your mouth swollen shut for the Emerald Eye."

"Sounds like a plan, Reggie. "

Douglas knew Wade could not take on Ellroy. He realized even he would struggle to stand against that big son of a bitch.

The guards stood Wade up and cut his binds. Wade rubbed his wrists. He saw Ellroy take his shirt off and he was massive. Douglas thought for a crazy person, he must divide his time by killing kids and working out because he was jacked. Taking roids smuggled in by Proctor when he was alive.

Wade kicked dust into Braithwaite's eyes and took advantage. He leapt and drop-kicked the behemoth. To no effect, Ellroy stomped but missed Wade, who had rolled out. Fuck. Wade thought that was his biggest move, and it washed over him as a river does over bedrock.

Braithwaite renewed his attack and clobbered Wade with a hammer fist. He caught Wade before he could fall and lifted him up.

Wade said through gritted teeth as he choked, "Is that all you got?"

Braithwaite threw him across the cavern. The guards were loosening up their focus, jeering on the fight. Three of the seven took bets.

Wade spat out blood. Stood. Ripped off his shirt. It impressed Douglas. Wade was not the muscle-bound goon, but he was shredded.

Wade spun around and delivered a kick to Braithwaite, spun again, and hit him once more. He pushed Braithwaite away and launched into a knee. The guards were becoming rowdy. It appeared it was not so one-sided after all.

Braithwaite bled. He favoured his jaw.

"You should spit your tooth out," Wade said, "Oh, that's right, you swallow."

Braithwaite tackled Wade and his head hit the ground hard. Dazed. Exposed. Vulnerable. Braithwaite mounted and brought down the full might of his hammer fist. Blood spurted everywhere, with every hit Wade's face was remade like a Mr Potato Head.

Douglas thought, all right... enough of this shit.

Douglas shouldered the SAW. He aimed for Ellroy, but a guard got in the way. Pulled the trigger. The first round whipped and cracked, deafening everyone.

In an instant, Braithwaite's men shuddered in shock. Douglas held the trigger. Rounds emptied from the ammo barrel at a significant rate. Links and casing ejected out of the gun's port, showering the ground with discards. Bullets flew and zipped.

The SAW cut down one man. Exploded the head of one other. Ignited a smoke grenade on a third person. The fourth guy's leg disappeared under the heavy fire from the SAW. Douglas was not a violent man or a warmonger by any means. But today was different. He thought fuck yeah and let it rip. It ploughed through the cavern walls, shooting out debris and rock. The three men left, picked up Braithwaite, and had disappeared deeper into the cavern, using the smokescreen.

Douglas hobbled towards Wade. He was alive.

"How long you been down here?"

"Long enough to see your ass handed to you by that cave troll."

"I don't know what you saw, Pinhead. Wade, was gearing up to knock that sad sack into tomorrow."

"You waited so long you forgot that was yesterday; your plan failed. He owned you like a sex doll."

"Says the guy who looked like he came off the set of a Hellraiser movie."

"Yeah, you look like you were in Fight Club. Except you ain't Edward Norton. You're that ash-blonde Jared Leto getting King Kong'd."

Douglas propped Wade up. He gave Wade the SAW; unable to hold it anymore. He picked up a lighter weight AR-15.

"You're out of ammo Wade,"

"It's all good the SAW has a mag-port. I can use the ammo from these guy's AR-15's."

"I have more ammo in the vest."

"Keep it. It's a bitch changing the belt-fed mechanism. Rather just pop a magazine."

"Alejandro, Miguel, Juan and Juanita, they're dead."

"Bolivar?"

"He's still alive... for now."

"Well, we better read Ray-Ray his rights, along with his entourage."

"You first."

"Doug..."

"We ain't got time for this shit."