Attack of the Giant Leeches

Now wait a minute.

Wait a minute.

Hold on, hold on, hold on.

Just hold on a second, Lem.

Liz.

You hear me, girl?

What you want now?

Gotta play that thing so loud?

What you come out like this for?

Oh, don't bother me.

Liz.

Someday, I'm gonna give that she-cat the whoppin'

she's been asking for.

Sure, you will, Dave.

Lay the law down to her.

Let her know who wears the pants around here.

I'll be back in a minute.

Any whoopin's done back there, I'll lay

you a jug she'll be doing it.

Come on now, Lem, and tell us about that thing you

killed out there at the swamp.

Yeah, Lem.

Let's hear the rest of that.

Like I was saying, I put five slugs into that critter

before it went under.

Doggonest thing I ever seen.

Had regular arms on it like a man.

But it was sorta different-looking.

Had suckers on them.

Like one of them-- like one of them octopuses things.

Oh, it was plumb awful.

Lem, you sure that critter wasn't pink?

No.

I told you before it was sorta gray-looking.

Well, laugh if you want.

But that thing weren't nothing nature put out there.

No, sir.

And it weren't no freak gator neither.

I been poaching this country for 40 years,

and I ain't never seen nothing like it.

Well, too bad you didn't bring it back.

Steve Benton probably pay a far bounty for whatever it was.

Bounty?

I wouldn't touch that critter for all the money ever made.

And if you'd seen it, you wouldn't neither.

You better take it easy on that stuff.

You looking kinda pinked.

Oh.

I'm gonna clean my otter lines out before morning.

Lem, I think that critter's a ghost of one of those otters

you been poaching all these years,

coming back to haunt you.

Well, if that's so, you fellas will

see it right quick yourselves.

Boy, he's lost it.

Now look, it's not like I wanna be mean or anything

like that, Liz baby.

I got a reputation around here.

These folks have no respect for a man

who lets his woman boss him.

Next thing you know, they'll be laughing at me,

and they'll be telling all the rest of the-- won't you

please listen to me, Liz baby?

Liz?

Stop looking at me like that.

I'll look at you any way I want.

You're my wife.

Don't touch me.

Who do you think you're talking to?

Don't touch me.

You're my wife.

I'll touch you any time I feel like it.

Where you going?

Where you going?

I'm going out.

Maybe I'll be back.

Maybe I won't.

Look, Liz baby, I didn't mean nothing.

Well, there was a young one in that last trap.

I had to kill it.

Oh, poor thing.

Told you you shouldn't have come along.

Well, I can understand hunting an animal,

but making it suffer in those traps.

Horrible.

Well, these poachers know the swamps

like the back of their hands.

But I'll catch one of them in the act some night

and put him away for six months.

In the meantime, I'll have to be satisfied

confiscating their trap lines.

They lose enough traps, it won't pay them to keep trying.

Well, be careful, darling.

These people aren't like other folks.

You know, they'll try and get back at you.

Let them try.

Steve, you're a stranger here.

They've lived this way for generations.

One man isn't gonna change them overnight.

You're a real worrywort.

I'm serious, Steve.

They can be dangerous.

OK.

I'll be careful.

You just stop worrying.

Oh, Steve, I love you.

I love you so much.

What was that?

I don't know.

You get in the truck and lock it up.

Listen, Benton.

The coroner ruled that Sawyer died in a misadventure.

Now as far as this office is concerned,

that's the end of it.

But, Sheriff, I can't see why there--

Look, if Lem was killed by anything human,

I wouldn't need you to tell me my job.

But I'm not about to go tromping through the swamp

looking for an overgrown gator.

Sawyer wasn't killed by an alligator.

Is that so?

Did you hear that, Morton?

Game Warden Benton says it wasn't a gator killed Lem.

Well then, what was it?

You know so much, go on, tell me.

What killed him?

Doc Greyson said the wounds were the kind a squid

or a large octopus might cause.

Oh, sure.

And did Greyson explain how a saltwater

creature happened to be 30 miles inland, living in Clearwater?

Stranger things have happened.

I know of--

Look here, Benton.

You work for the state.

Now why don't you keep your nose out of county business?

Is that clear enough for you?

Oh, go soak your fat head.

What was that you said?

I said, go soak your fat head!

That boy's looking for bad trouble.

And he's sure gonna get it.

You can bet on that.

So you see, the octopi uses its suction disks to hold its prey.

Now in itself, the disk will not inflict a wound.

Same is true of the squid.

Now both creatures have a parrot-like beak

as their primary offensive and defensive weapon.

Well, maybe the Sheriff was right, dear.

Could be a freak or a malformed alligator.

No.

No, I'm afraid it wasn't.

Well, where does that leave us, Doc?

I wish I knew.

You know, I'm beginning to think Lem was telling

the truth in Walker's store.

He did see something that night, something

that had intelligence enough to seek

him out and destroy him later.

But Sawyer claims to have killed

the thing he saw, put a half a dozen rifle bullets into it.

I've seen that old .44-40 he used.

Nothing could live after being hit with those slugs.

Well, conceding the possibility of one such creature,

we must also concede the possibility of others.

Well, there's one sure way of finding out.

Go in and search every backwater, channel,

and wet spot in the swamp.

If it's there, I'll find it.

Sure is quiet around here.

Did you hear something?

Yes.

Well, whatever it was, it's not here anymore.

Did you want some coffee?

Yeah.

Thanks, hun.

An army could hide in here and never be noticed.

Well, one did.

What?

The Seminoles under Osceola in the 1830s.

Took the US Army two years to round them up.

Oh, I remember reading about Osceola in high school.

Two years.

We've only been at it two days and I feel worn out.

Well, we might as well keep on looking around.

Well, I guess we may as well give up for the day.

Well, you won't get any arguments from me.

I'm asking you for the last time, Dave Walker.

Will you answer me, you dirty old man?

I ain't dirty, Liz baby.

Liz baby.

Liz honey.

Can't you think of anything else to say, stupid?

I gotta get this order over to Ms. Showby.

She's one of my better customers.

Can't keep her waiting.

I love you, Liz baby.

Get out.

Get out, you fat pig!

Did you, um, have some trouble, Dave?