Monsters

by David Alexander Robertson

  “What’s happening…?”

  “Oh! Tell her I miss her and stuff!” Jayney clapped excitedly.

  “She says she misses you,” Cole said.

  “I miss you, too.” Tears poured out of Eva’s eyes. She kept looking at Jayne’s name on Cole’s forearm.

  Cole took Eva into his arms. “They’re all okay,” he whispered. “All of them.”

  Eva grabbed onto the back of Cole’s shirt and squeezed. “Cole…”

  “We’re okay, too. We’ll be okay.”

  She pushed him away. “I’m going tonight. You’re not going to face that thing on your own.”

  “No, you’re not. You can’t come with me, not tonight.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s too dangerous, that’s why!”

  “I went with you to the camp, remember?”

  “I can’t lose you,” Cole’s voice started to shake.

  “I can’t lose you,” Eva said.

  “I’ll have help,” Cole said. “You’re not going to lose me.”

  “Help from who? Jayne?” Eva rubbed her thumb across the name on Cole’s skin.

  “No, from somebody else.”

  Cole walked up to a cabin outside of Blackwood Forest, a few hundred meters away from Wounded Sky First Nation’s perimeter. There were a handful of houses people had decided to build, and live in, outside of the community. Little one-house suburbs. He paused for a moment at the front door, then knocked. He waited. He heard footsteps. The door opened.

  “What?” Victor said.

  “Hey, Victor,” Cole said.

  “Tansi.”

  “I saw you at the Fish, remember?”

  “Before you burned it down?” Victor laughed. “I remember that.”

  “I didn’t do that. I didn’t burn anything down. I hate fire.”

  “I guess you would, wouldn’t you?” Victor walked inside the house, and Cole took that to mean he could follow. So he did, all the way across the living room, to the kitchen table, where he sat across from the man. Victor took a sip from his coffee cup. “What are you doin’ here? It’s not safe. You and I both know that.”

  “I’m not here to be safe,” Cole said.

  “Gonna kill lots of people, that thing,” Victor said. “Eat ‘em up like snacks.”

  “It’s not going to kill anybody, if I have anything to say about it.”

  “You?” Victor scoffed. “You’re just a kid.”

  “Before, you said you wanted to kill it. Said you knew how to kill it. Is that true?” Cole asked.

  Victor sipped his coffee slowly, then nodded. “I wouldn’ta said it if it weren’t true, kid.”

  “Then I could use some help,” Cole said. “You in?”

  “Damn straight I am.”

  Cole was on his way to Ashley’s trailer when Choch appeared beside him.

  “So?” Choch said.

  “So what?” Cole replied.

  “What do you have to say for yourself?”

  “Nothing.”

  “You do remember the rule you were given, don’t you? Might I recite that information back to you? Or should I simply end your life, and your friends’ lives, right now?”

  Cole stopped. “Yes, please, recite that back to me.”

  Choch’s eyes rolled into the back of his head. Choch was nothing if not theatrical. He recited, both in his voice and Cole’s:

  “Well, I hate to do this, Coley-Boley, but if you insist on telling Brady, the deal is off: do not pass go, do not collect $200.”

  What difference does it make? I’m here now. I’m still going to do what I can to figure out what happened to Ashley. I’m not leaving.

  “No-no-no-NO, you don’t understand, my young friend. If you tell anybody about me, or our deal, everybody you saved that night, very—”

  “About you, or our deal?” Cole interrupted.

  “Yes, exactly,” Choch said.

  “I didn’t tell Eva either of those things.”

  “Tomato tom-AH-to, CB.”

  Cole started walking again. Choch followed.

  “Sorry, Mr. Chochinov. You made the rules, not me. You never said I couldn’t tell Eva about Jayne. Jayne was never part of the deal.” Cole stopped again. “The deal was that you helped me save Eva and Brady and I would pay you back one day. I didn’t tell Eva about that. Or do you want to replay that as well.”

  Choch kicked some stones along the ground. “Well, no. Not exactly.”

  “You like playing games so much, well, now I’m playing, too. If you’re going to kill us, then kill us. If you’re not, then get out of my way and let me do my job.”

  Cole didn’t wait for a response. He just left Choch standing where he was. When he was a fair distance, Choch called out: “Okay, I’ll let it slip this one time! But no more secrets pertaining to, uhhh, mystical…forces…to anybody! Or else! That’s it!”

  “Whatever!”

  “I have to say, though, CB, I like this new go-get-em attitude! It suits you! I’ll be cheering you on from a very, very safe distance this evening!”

  29

  HOCKEY NIGHT

  COLE PLACED A HAND ON THE TRUNK of the Mustang and ran his fingers over the cool metal. He could hear himself in the trunk at seven years old, nestled up against the back, hiding from Eva, Brady, and Ashley. They always went off into the bush to hide, but Cole always hid in the trunk. And they never found him. Yesterday, he wanted to disappear like that. To hide. Now more than ever, he wanted it over—and not to hide, but to leave, to get out of the trunk and into the driver’s seat. He kept his hand against the metal a moment longer, and then he slid his fingertips off the surface.

  The trailer, thankfully unlocked, felt different. There was space to move. Too much space. Ashley’s wake had been shoulder to shoulder, so packed that it had spilled outside. Cole walked around more than once. He looked at the picture of himself, Ashley, Eva, and Brady. He looked through Ashley’s comic collection, a bond that they, and Brady, had shared. Cole sat down on Ashley’s futon and stared at the repaired window. And he stared down, where Ashley’s blood had stained the floor.

  “Are you here?” Cole looked around the room. Beside the futon, Ashley’s hockey bag was pushed up against the wall. Ashley was here, and he was not here. Cole knew that. He knew, as well, that Ashley should have never left.

  And it was time to make it right.

  Cole stood up, and slung the hockey bag over his shoulder. He paused at the door before he left, taking one last look. He heard Michael’s voice echo against the walls in the empty room, telling Cole that he could honour Ashley by playing hockey. He heard himself saying that he would do it, for Ashley. Tonight was Saturday. Hockey Night. Cole took a deep breath in, out. There’d be no hockey for him, but he would still honour his friend.

  “I’m doing this to honour you,” he said. “You, and Alex, and Maggie…Vikki…Donald.”

  Knock knock.

  “Just a second!” Cole finished dressing. He slid Ashley’s elbow pads in place, then slipped Ashley’s Wounded Sky Thunderbirds jersey over his head. He was almost fully equipped now, minus Ashley’s skates, helmet, and gloves.

  “Come in,” Cole said.

  The bedroom door opened. Pam walked in and stopped in the middle of the room when she saw Cole.

  “Got your text,” she said.

  “Thanks for coming,” he said.

  “What’s going on here?” she asked. “In my experience, and I know I just work at the canteen, usually people dress up for hockey at the X, not in their bedroom.”

  “It’s kind of hard to explain,” he said.

  “Okay,” she stayed where she was, “why don’t you start with explaining what the hell happened the other night.”

  “Right,” he said. “I was kind of out of my head. I’d just found something out, something kind of horrible.”

  “So you decided you were going to be horrible to me?” she turned around like she was about to leave, then turned back towards Cole. �
�I mean, you kissed me, Harper.”

  “I know,” he said.

  “Why’d you even say yes to going out with me, if you weren’t interested?”

  “I was, I am, it’s just…” Cole buried his head in his hands “…I’m sorry. I’m confused. I didn’t even think you were interested. What’s there to like about me?”

  Pam walked over to the bed. She sat a reasonable distance away from Cole.

  “I’m not going to play the Poor-Cole Game, you know,” she said. “I’m the one who got hurt here.”

  Cole nodded. “I just wanted to say I’m sorry. You’ve been good to me.”

  “That’s because I’m awesome, and you should recognize that.”

  “I do.”

  “Alright, Harper, I forgive you.” She inched close enough to give him a punch against his hockey pants. “So, about what’s going on here, with the equipment, let me guess: you want to be seven again, when your mom dressed you up for hockey at home, then brought you to the rink?”

  “Close,” Cole chuckled, “but no.”

  “Okay, well, that was literally the only guess I had, so care to drop a hint?”

  “I, uhh…” Cole started “…I have to do something dangerous.”

  “This about the boogeyman stuff?”

  “Yeah,” he said, “it’s about the boogeyman stuff.”

  “Does the boogeyman play hockey?”

  “Ha, no. It’s just, protection. I was told, somebody told me, that I should wear protection.”

  “You know this shit is not Kevlar right?”

  “I looked at the mall for Kevlar, but…”

  “No dice, hey?”

  “They said it was coming in next week.”

  They fell silent. Cole kept fidgeting with his equipment, but he abstained from the urge to adjust Ashley’s jock.

  “I thought it would be better for you, if I just left you alone,” he said. “I ruin things.”

  “But you didn’t leave me alone, Harper. You pushed me away, and you made me feel like crap.”

  “I know.” Cole slid a couple inches closer to Pam. He turned to her, resting one well-equipped leg on the bed. “I like you. I really do. But I like Eva, too. I don’t want to be an asshole. I just want to be straight with you.”

  Pam crossed her arms. She looked away. “I’m not some problem you have to solve.”

  “I don’t think—”

  “I’m not going to beg you to be with me. If you want to be with me, then ask me out for God’s sake.”

  “I’m not…I wasn’t trying to…” But he stopped, because whether he was trying to or not, he had been begging.

  “If you don’t want to be with me, then we can just hang out. I’ll teach you how to play computer games…those kind of games you can play with me. You’ve got a small window here.” She demonstrated about an inch of space between her index finger and thumb. “Like, this big. This size of a window.”

  “That’s a pretty small window,” he said.

  “I’m being generous, Cole. That’s me being generous.”

  “I’ll take it,” he said.

  “Hey,” Pam got up from the bed. She crossed the room and stopped in the doorway. “Fill me in on the whole gladiator thing tomorrow, ‘kay?”

  “I’m sorry I hurt you.” Cole stood up. “I won’t hurt you again.”

  “What did we say about sorrys, Harper?”

  “I say sorry too much.”

  “Besides,” she said, “it wasn’t all that bad. My armour’s better than yours.”

  Victor was waiting for Cole, standing on the path between the X and the Fish’s remains, his rifle strapped over his shoulder. The crowd in the X sounded boisterous, their roars shaking the roof. That familiar sound, the muffled excitement of an entire community watching the sport they loved, and the remnants of the Northern Lights Diner, belied the calm the night tried desperately to offer. Portions of walls, parts of the counter, charred and mangled, stubbornly refused to fall.

  “You ready?” Victor walked up to Cole, rifle strapped over his shoulder. His game face was most definitely on.

  Cole didn’t take his eyes off that silhouette. He pulled Mark’s handgun from the back of his hockey pants.

  “Yeah,” Cole said, “I’m ready.”

  30

  HE WHO LIVES ALONE

  COLE AND VICTOR WENT THE LONG WAY through Blackwood Forest.

  “There might be fewer guards around back,” Cole guessed, although he had never looked at the back of the research facility after his failed break-in.

  Victor didn’t seem to care either way. He said, “Whatever you think,” and followed Cole into the woods.

  As soon as they’d stepped foot into Blackwood, Victor took the rifle from his shoulder, and had it at the ready. Cole had his gun extended like Eva had shown him. He was holding it properly, but he still worked his way through the trees as though he were in a movie.

  “Why the change?” Cole asked Victor, ever closer to the research facility.

  “Why what change?” Victor asked.

  “From fear to courage, I guess.”

  “It’s not courage,” Victor said. “It’s something else.”

  “Okay…what’s that?”

  “It’s seein’ your fear, and hearin’ it, but not listenin’ to it. Like I said, I’m not gonna be ruled by it. So I’m scared, but I’m doin’ this.”

  They pushed deeper into the woods, closer still.

  “What about you?” Victor asked. “You’re just a kid. You must be shittin’ yourself over there.”

  “Honestly? I’m kind of in the ‘screw it’ zone right now.”

  “The ‘screw it’ zone,” Victor repeated. “Humph.”

  “I’m just so tired of dealing with…everything…that I think I’m almost okay, whatever happens. I know what’s there for me, on the other side.”

  “You got faith.”

  Faith? Cole thought. Was knowing different than believing? Probably. Was the prospect of dancing up in the northern lights frightening? He hated dancing, but he wasn’t scared. He had even forgotten to take a pill today, and his nerves weren’t as bad as they should’ve been.

  “I guess I do, yeah,” Cole said. “How about you?”

  “Me? I dunno, kid. I do and I don’t. See somethin’ like this thing…I guess if there’s somethin’ that evil, there’s gotta be somethin’ that good.”

  Cole shrugged in agreement.

  “Shhhh.” Victor put his hand on Cole’s shoulder.

  Through the thick trees and bush, they could see the electric fence up ahead and, beyond it, the research facility. What Cole didn’t see was a guard—not stationed anywhere outside or inside the fence. None marched back and forth, patrolling the area.

  “There were a bunch of guards all over before,” Cole whispered as they kept moving forward.

  “I seen some guards, too, yeah,” Victor whispered.

  “Maybe it’s a trap,” Cole said.

  Victor was eager, and ahead of Cole now. He was fast, but he moved silently. Years doing the same thing. Hunting out here. Cole just tried to not do anything stupid, like step on a twig, or trip.

  “Keep moving,” Victor said.

  Cole listened. He kept moving.

  The closer they got, the more sure they became that there were no guards at all at the back of the facility.

  “I know we’re not doing the fear thing,” Cole said when they were several yards away from the fence, close enough that he could hear the hum emanating from it, “but maybe we should try a different way in. This is way too easy.”

  Victor stopped, resting his rifle against his shoulder. “Who said anything about going inside this shithole? I’m here for the monster, that’s it. If you want to get inside, then get inside. I’ll sit out here.”

  Cole heard a whoosh at the same time as low-hanging branches whipped and snapped. It was almost pitch black in Blackwood Forest. Cole and Victor peered into the darkness. Then, a part of that blacknes
s tore off from the rest and charged at them, a piece of night with burning red eyes.

  Victor fired his rifle at it, Cole his gun. Pop, pop, pop, pop. But it kept coming.

  “I can’t see what I’m shootin’ at!” Victor shouted.

  “Get down!” Cole charged forward. He and the creature were on a collision course, and when they met, Cole catapulted backwards, tumbled over the ground and, for a moment, the blackness of the creature was inside him. Cole tried to push himself to his feet, but he couldn’t move. The creature roared. He heard it coming at him again with its fast, heavy steps. Then, Cole heard two steps right in front of him. He rolled over onto his side in time to see Victor standing over him, rifle aimed at the creature.

  “Astum!” he screamed at the thing when it was only feet away. Victor fired his rifle. And again. Each time, the creature jerked backwards, but it kept moving until it had Victor in its arms. Victor’s rifle dropped to the ground.

  “Get outta here kid! Awas!”

  Cole struggled to his feet. The thing roared and put its mouth around Victor’s neck.

  “No!”

  Victor was still fighting, trying to gouge the creature’s red eyes out. It screamed.

  Cole didn’t have his gun. He’d dropped it somewhere. He lunged at the creature, but it knocked him over, and Cole was on the ground again.

  Victor screamed. Cole could hear his skin and muscles breaking, tearing as the creature bit through Victor’s neck, and blood sprayed through the air, all over Cole.

  The screaming stopped.

  Victor fell to the ground, lifeless. Cole stared at Victor’s bloodied body. The creature grunted. Cole looked around frantically, saw his gun. He raced for it and picked it up. The thing was charging at him now. Cole aimed at its chest. He pressed down on the trigger, but the thing was already there. It swiped through the air and knocked the gun away. The gun skipped across the ground and into the dark.

  Cole bolted for the gun, but the creature grabbed his ankle and pulled him. Cole was scraping at the ground, digging his fingers into the dirt, against tree roots. Then he was in its grasp, too. Its arms wrapped around his chest. He pushed out with his arms as hard as he could. It tossed him against a tree. Cole’s back hit the trunk and he slammed against the ground. The creature roared, and stalked towards him, a hulking shadow.