BUSHWACKER: ONE LAST STOP BEFORE HOME

August 24th, 2024

Somewhere between Maine and Ohio.

It was a quarter past three in the morning and the Bushwacker was driving down an empty highway heading back towards Dayton, Ohio, or rather Ben was. His most recent case as a paranormal detective involved fighting off an army of swamp creatures, and after weeks of that he was ready for a vacation. He spent most of his time as the Bushwacker, gifted with the ability to throw boomerangs with perfect deadly accuracy, and vacations didn’t come often. Ben took this opportunity to go to the coastline of Maine. While he was officially “off the clock” he couldn’t help himself, there had been a handful of sightings of an unknown sea monster lurking the foggy coasts and sleepy fishing harbors of the area . After two weeks of searching he found nothing, as was the usual for these types of excursions, but Ben had been in this game long enough to know that it's always worth checking out.

He had been driving for hours now, he’d gone hundreds of miles and still had a few hundred more before getting home. The exhaustion had started to set in. His next scheduled stop wasn’t till tomorrow afternoon and he really did not want to spend any more money than he had to on hotel rooms. Monster hunting didn’t exactly pay well. As he sped down the highway the headlights of the car illuminated what would be his saving grace, an exit sign with exactly one gas station and nothing else. Hoping that they would still be open during this ungodly hour he pulled into the exit lane, determined to get an energy drink and keep on trucking through till his next stop. As he pulled into the lot he scanned his surroundings. The light from inside the building illuminated a dirty minivan sitting in the parking spot closest to the door. Looking around there was nothing else he could see through the darkness. Just more road that ran straight into the blackness of night.

As Ben stepped out of the car he stretched wide and started to feel the toll that hours of driving had taken on him. He was wearing a white t-shirt that proudly stated “K&R Pretzel Bakery - Best Pretzels in Dayton”, along with brown pants and a pair of Australian made boots that had been with him for every battle, abduction, and haunting he’d ever fought, investigated, or caused. He glanced at his watch as he yawned. 3:35. It was well into the witching hour now. Not that he minded of course. He entered the gas station and the attendant behind the counter looked up from a book and nodded before returning to his reading. The store was dimly lit, multiple bulbs long burnt out hung above him from the ceiling. The walls were adorned with posters for local businesses, advertisements for beer and cigarettes, and a strangely high amount of missing pet signs. Ben was too tired to notice any of this as he made a beeline for the energy drink section. As he turned down the narrow aisle another man stood in front of the coolers blocking his path. 

“Sorry let me just grab this last thing, then I’ll be out of your way. Gotta check out the beer cooler next then get to it. Road tripping, am I right?” He said jovially. Ben did not want to have this conversation.

“Drinking and driving isn't too safe mate” Ben replied in an Australian accent. He was born there but moved to the United States as soon as he was old enough to investigate the disappearance of his parents at the hands of a sasquatch. The man he was talking to would never know any of this though. 

“Oh wow you’re not from here! That's so cool I’ve always wanted to meet an Australian!” The man said with too much excitement to be normal. 

“Please mate I’m very tired I just want a drink.” Ben wasn’t normally this short with strangers, but he could feel the exhaustion creeping from behind his eyes and was ready for the caffeine.

“Oh- sorry I was just interested that's all…” His voice trailed off as he turned and walked towards the beer cooler head down.

Ben perused the selection of energy drinks, they had none of his favorites and a lot of the ones he didn’t like. While figuring out this dilemma he heard the shop door open, he briefly turned and saw a large man in a black hoodie with the hood up walk towards the beer cooler. He paid this no mind and went back to deciding. He grabbed a sugar free redbull, they weren’t nearly as good, but it would have to do. As he turned towards the counter he heard a loud crash come from the beer cooler. He looked towards the attendant, who did not look up from his book. Another loud crash and the clanking of bottles filled the small shop and still no reaction from the attendant. Ben sighed and moved towards the door labeled “BEER CAVE” in an icy font. He was hoping the eager road tripper had just dropped something and he would be on his way. This was not the case. 

As he grabbed the handle he heard a loud scream. Ripping the door open he saw the man he spoke too on the ground, the large hooded man crouched above him. The hood was down now revealing a grotesque head with a large set of teeth protruding out of a jaw that opened unnaturally wide. The creatures clawed hands held the collar of the man's shirt, who was profusely sweating and screaming for help. Ben was alarmed, he had no idea what this thing was, in all of his research and experiences he had never seen anything like it. Whatever it was though it was clearly not good. It was time to clock back in.

The Bushwacker reached for the small leather holster on the back of his belt that he hid under his shirt while he wasn’t in uniform. On a good day it would contain a small folding boomerang, silver in color and made of an ultra-strong material forged back at his workshop. Today was not a good day. Bushwackers projectile manipulation powers really only worked on boomerangs and he didn’t have one on him. Realizing any sort of plan he could have just got thrown out the window he threw his redbull at the creature, even without his powers he was still a pretty good shot and he hit the thing in the face with the can, its teeth pierced it as it punctured and the brown fizzy liquid sprayed fiercely across the small cooler. The creature lunged at the Bushwacker.

After being thrown across the shop through the narrow aisle and sliding across the floor, Bushwacker landed just in front of the cashier's counter. He slowly got up, he may not have his boomerangs, but he wasn’t going to let this thing get away with whatever it was doing. The creature started sprinting down the aisle directly towards him. Thinking quickly Bushwacker grabbed the end cap full of gimmick-flavored chips and threw it down, hoping to slow down the creature. 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!” Cried out the gas station attendant, who had finally drawn his attention away from his book. 

The shelf hit the creature and briefly pinned it to the ground. Bushwacker was dumbfounded by the attendant's question, did he not see the creature throw him across the store? Before he had the chance to answer the creature sprung up from underneath the shelf and jumped towards Bushwacker. He quickly jumped back. Startled, he began to back away, after a few short steps he felt the glass drink cooler doors hit his back as he watched the creature slowly walk towards him, dragging its claws against the shelves on either side of him. Knowing he was out of options he opened the door next to him and started grabbing cans off the racks. Sodas, teas, and water bottles flew out of Bushwackers hands in a flurry as he pelted the creature in merchandise. Some of the bigger cans gave the creature a bit of trouble, only slowing it down shortly before it made another lunge at Bushwacker. Bushwacker saw this coming, he jumped then slid in between the creatures legs, as his stood up on the other side of it, the creature quickly turned and kicked him square in the chest, sending the Bushwacker flying across the shop yet again and right through the glass window into the parking lot. Lying in the pile of broken glass Bushwacker was starting to hurt. His powers made him stronger and more durable as well, but this was starting to push it. Getting back up he saw the creature head back towards the beer cooler. He was starting to get pissed off now. 

He stepped through the hole in the wall that used to be a window, in front of him was a hanging shelf with rows of air fresheners, he ripped off a row and dumped the black ice scented trees to the ground. Taking the long metal rod that was left, he bent it over his knee into a “V” shape. A makeshift boomerang if he was lucky. The creature was nearly to the beer cooler when he threw the metal rod, it connected with the back of the creature's head and the creature made a loud screech before it flew back directly into Bushwackers hand. 

“That ought to make this a little more even.” Bushwacker thought as the creature bounded over the aisles towards him. Keeping his distance, Bushwacker lodged his makeshift boomerang at the creature, as it bounced off walls and shelves and back into his hands, the beasts sharp howls of pain filled the store and just as Bushwacker thought he was about to end the fight, the creature lunged at him yet again, knocking over multiple shelves and pinning him underneath a pile of metal and candy bars. The creature climbed over the shelves on all fours, its claws gripped the edge of the shelf on either side of Bushwackers face and its vile head slowly crept above the rubble, putting itself into full view. Its jaw unhinged just as it had before and the creature moved towards him, to eat presumably. He tried with all his might but Bushwacker could not push the rubble off of him. He still had one arm free and his boomerang had been knocked down the aisle about ten feet. As the Creature moved to attack, Bushwacker waited for his moment. Just as the creature was about to bite down on his head, he whistled and his makeshift boomerang returned to his hand, with all the speed he could muster he shoved it into the creatures mouth, and as it bit down the sharp metal edges of it broke through its skin and skewered the beast just between the eyes. It let out a final howl before toppling over and rolling down onto the ground next to Bushwacker. 

Able to free himself now Bushwacker stood up and dusted himself off. He was hurt badly and more than shook up, but he would be ok. The creature twitched on the ground before finally succumbing to its injuries. Bushwacker made his way back to the beer cooler, as he opened the door the traveler was starting to wake up, he must have passed out he thought. 

“What happened? Where is that monster, am I dead?!” The man shouted. 

“You’re fine mate, I took care of it” Ben replied. 

“But how-” The traveler was interrupted by the shout of the gas station attendant.

“WHAT THE HELL DID YOU DO” the attendant screamed as the two emerged from the “beer cave”.

“I just stopped that thing from eating this poor bastard! What the hell is your problem” Ben angrily replied.

“That THING was my ticket out of this hellhole, he was going to take me to his planet! That ‘poor bastard’ was supposed to be the last soul he needed for his ship's battery!” The attendant shouted.

“You were going to let that thing eat me?!” The traveler shouted.

Bushwacker sighed, it was all starting to click now, the creature was an extraterrestrial and that's why he had no idea what it was, he had only dealt with one or two alien cases, definitely nothing like this.

“What the hell is wrong with you mate.” Bushwacker said, making his way towards the counter.

The gas station attendant shouted curses and sprinted towards the back door, Bushwacker grabbed a stapler off the counter and threw it at him. It hit him and knocked him out. After making sure he wasn’t seriously hurt, just unconscious, Bushwacker told the traveler to call the police and explain to them what happened. He then went to the office and took the tape out of the surveillance system. He takes it to the traveler, 

“Make sure this gets destroyed after the police see it to confirm your story. Can’t have my secret identity getting out right?” Bushwacker said.

“Yeah- uh sure thing man. Hey thanks for saving my life” he replied, barely getting the words out through the waves of fear still flowing through him.

“Yeah no problem mate. Stay safe out there” Bushwacker said.

With that Bushwacker stepped back over all the fallen shelfs and snacks and grabbed another energy drink. He got back into the car and headed off into the darkness, it was now four a.m., soon the sun would break over the horizon and a new day would begin. He just hoped it would be less eventful then this one.

THE END