King of the Horseflies Read Free

far in this storm. Let’s go!”
    The men go to their trucks and grab rifles and other hunting gear before heading out.
    Meanwhile, Carver drinks water from his cup and fills the rest inside of an old water bottle that he keeps inside his bag.
    “Hey you!” says Bama. Carver looks up and sees a broad shouldered, statuesque man standing in front of him dressed in complete camouflage gear.
    Carver thinks to himself, “ How could’ve they tracked me so fast? ”
    “Stand up!” Bama says. “I heard a gunshot earlier that wasn't a hunting rifle and you come running by 45 minutes or so later. Saw you clear as day in my hunting stand.”
    Carver begins to stand up but remembers the bone shards in the cave behind him.
    “Come on, get up. Don’t make me shoot you now,” Bama says.
    Carver looks over his shoulder as he kneels on one knee. He then raises his hands towards Bama. Fragments of bone go flying towards Bama and lodge themselves into both sides of his shoulder. He manages to get a shot off that reverberates throughout the valley.
    The hunting crew all look up in the general direction of where the shot was heard. “ Bama got him!”Ricky shouts. They all head towards the gunshot.
    “ Ahhhh!” Bama screams. Carver stands up and walks over to Bama, who is now lying on his back.
    “I don’t want to hurt you. So don’t follow me!” he tells Bama.
    “What did you do to me?”
    “Nothing that will kill you.”
    Carver picks up Bama’s gun and takes it with him.
    Bama struggles to get to his feet and begins to walk back in the town’s direction. With both arms draped to his side and blood running down his arms and dripping from his fingers, he tries to recall the last time he felt this much pain. The closest might have been when he played college football for the Crimson Tide in 1992. He played as a defensive lineman going after the quarterback when he got his leg rolled over by a 350-pound offensive lineman trying to protect the quarterback. Every ligament around his knee snapped. That was the only time tears had ever came to Bama’s eyes, but this will be the second time ever in his adult life. He walks for what seems like an eternity before he finally runs into the hunting crew.
    “ Bama, is that you?" the sheriff says with his gun drawn.
    At a distance, it looks like his body type, but he is not sure enough to not protect himself. When he falls over, that’s when they start doubting it’s him.
    “Ain’t no way that’s Bama,” Jerry says.
    They run up to the body to investigate. The sheriff turns him over with one hand while the other is on his rifle to see his face.
    “Arghh!” Bama screams in agony.
    “ Bama, you all right? What happened to you?” the sheriff asks.
    “My arms…can’t…feel them,” he responds in a weak, raspy voice.
    “Who did this to you?”"
    “Never seen him ’fore. Headin’ to Willa Creek.”
    “All right, easy Bam. Two of y’all get him up and over to Doc’s place and make sure he’s all right. Then I want y’all back up over at Willow Creek. I don’t care if we have to chase him to Mexico; we're gonna get him.”
    Carver makes it over the hill he’s been ascending for hours and starts to make his way down the other side. With the sun coming up, he hears a sound like heavy rain coming in the distance so he looks up at the sky. Nothing but the steady stream that has consistently pounded the top of his head for the past nine hours now. The more he walks, the louder the sound gets. “ If it ain’t rain, it must be a river ,” he thinks as he continues down the side of the hill and sees water rushing between the trees. He gets to the side of the river and looks around to make sure no one sees him. He sets down his backpack and pulls out his water bottle that’s half full and refills it in the river.
    BAM! A gunshot sprays the water into his face just as he kneels to get up. He grabs his bag and takes off running. More shots ring off as he hears someone yell,