The Seventh Taking: A Mountain Mystery

by BJ Bourg

  My nose throbbed. My breath now came in labored gasps. Blood poured down from my nose, and I detected the metallic taste as it dripped into my mouth. With all of my remaining strength, I shoved Dan off me and onto his back, then crawled toward his head. Pushing one of his arms up above his head, I wrapped my right arm around his neck and arm and bore down as hard as I could, using my left hand to support my strangle hold. Through my blurred vision, I saw Joy on her knees, hitting Dan repeated in the chest with a large rock. She lifted it high over her head with both hands and then slammed it downward. She did it again and again. Her eyes were wild, her jaw set.

  Dan struggled as I choked the life out of him and Joy beat him, but he finally lay still. Although he was limp, I held my grip, squeezing as hard as I could. Joy continued dropping the rock down on his chest, but the blows were coming in slow motion now as fatigue set in. I must’ve squeezed for a full two minutes and didn’t let up until my arms started to fade. I turned Dan’s neck loose and pushed him to the side, then rolled onto my back. I grunted as I tried to catch my breath. Joy fell beside me, equally tired. We lay there panting for several long moments. I could see the leaves swaying to and fro high above me and it made me dizzy. I had to close my eyes to calm the spinning.

  Dry leaves rustled and twigs snapped as footsteps approached our position. I forced my eyes open. Jennifer ran up and dropped to her knees beside us. “Dear Lord, are you guys okay?”

  I nodded and pointed toward the forest. “Charlie, go…go…check…on—”

  Jennifer placed a finger over my lips. “Jillian’s with him. She says he’ll be fine. He’s got an extra hole in his butt, but he’ll be fine.”

  Joy was now sitting beside me, her wet hair plastered against her face and neck, her chest heaving.

  “Deep breaths,” I said. “In…in through your nose.” I paused to take a deep breath myself. “And…out through your mouth. Slow and steady.” I demonstrated—more for myself than for her—and felt my heartbeat starting to relax.

  “Hey, look what I found.” Mable had been digging in Dan’s rucksack. She pulled out two satellite phones. “One’s Isabel’s and one’s Dan’s—and they both work!”

  Jennifer walked over to her. “Call somebody.”

  “But who? I don’t know the number to the police here.”

  “Call nine-one-one,” Jennifer said.

  Mable’s eyes suddenly widened. “I’m calling my mom!”

  Jennifer snatched up the first aid kit and one of the phones and they both hurried to Charlie and Jillian’s location, each dialing numbers into the phones as they jogged into the forest. Joy stared longingly after them. I squeezed her hand. “Go with them. Call somebody.”

  She raised her eyebrows. “You sure?”

  I smiled. “Your parents searched for weeks and believe you’re dead. Don’t make them wait.”

  Joy nodded and hurried off.

  I closed my eyes and struggled to catch my breath. It took a while, but I slowly began to calm my panting. Off in the distance, I could hear the girls bawling amidst their excited chatter on the satellite phones. They were out of eyesight, but I could imagine the expressions on their faces and the shock on the other end of the phone. When I was able to move without feeling dizzy, I pulled myself to my knees beside Dan to feel for a pulse—first his wrist and then his neck. Nothing. I put my ear next to his lips. I couldn’t feel anything. His skin was cool to the touch. His half-open eyes stared right at me. I waved my hand in front of his face. Not a blink of movement. He was dead. Really dead…and I’d killed him.

  I turned quickly and stumbled toward a nearby tree and vomited. My legs shook. I felt cold. I wiped my mouth on my sleeve and wished for a bottle of mouthwash. I glanced around the camp area and realized I was all alone with two dead bodies. I pulled myself to my feet and hurried into the forest, following the sounds of the girls’ voices. When I reached their location, Charlie was on the phone. I could tell he was talking to his mom. His eyes were red and so were the girls’. There wasn’t a dry eye in the circle.

  “I love you, too, Mom,” Charlie said. “Yeah, I can’t wait to see you.”

  Charlie pressed the “disconnect” button and looked up to hand me the phone. “It’s your turn, big man.”

  I took the phone and stared at it for a long moment. I turned away, walked through the light underbrush and found a tree to sit against that was about twenty feet from the group. I dialed my mom’s cell phone. She answered on the first ring.

  “Abe? Is that you?” she asked.

  “How’d you know?”

  “Charlie just got off the phone with his mom. She’s right here,” Mom said. “We’re all here—in the Blue Summit Mountains. We’ve been looking for y’all since Monday—right after they found Brett.”

  “What do you mean found Brett?” I asked.

  “Oh my God—you haven’t heard? You didn’t know?”

  “Didn’t know what?”

  “It’s all over the news. That bad storm that blew through killed five people. They found Brett in a river… I’m so sorry, Abe. He didn’t make it. He drowned.” She broke down crying.

  “He didn’t drown,” I said. “That crazy killer got him. Charlie and I saw him get taken.”

  “The doctors say he drowned in the storm,” Mom explained.

  It suddenly occurred to me—the chloroform rendered him helpless, so if Leaf Creature—Ranger Dan—threw him in the river, he would drown and no one would be the wiser. “You need to talk to the doctor—tell him he needs to check Brett for chloroform.”

  “Okay, Abe.” Mom was bawling. “Here, talk to your dad.”

  I heard the phone change hands. “Abraham, are you okay?” It was my dad, and his voice cracked. I’d never heard him like that.

  “I don’t know, Dad.” I bit back the tears. “I had to do something awful. I…I had to hurt someone really bad.”

  Silence on the other end. “What do you mean, Abe? What’ve you done?”

  I wiped a tear that snuck from under my eyelid and leaked down my face. “The guy that kidnapped us… I had to…” I paused and took several breaths and blew them out to regain my composure. “I had to…I had no choice. Dad, he’s not breathing and…and he doesn’t have a pulse. He’s dead. I mean…I…I killed that man, Dad. We were fighting, and I choked him out. I held it…I held the choke too long. He’s…he stopped breathing. He’s…um…dead.”

  “Now you listen to me, Abe.” My dad’s voice was soft, but confident. “You did what you had to do. Charlie told his mom that man shot him and the only reason he’s still alive is because you tackled the bad guy. That man would’ve killed Charlie and all of y’all had you not done what you did. You saved everyone. You’re a hero, son. And I’m very proud of you.”

  “But he’s a park ranger—a cop. It’s bad when you kill a cop.”

  “He was a dirty cop. You did what you had to do.”

  My jaw burned and I had to swallow several times so I could continue the conversation. “I didn’t do it on my own. Joy helped me.”

  “Charlie told his mom y’all rescued those girls.” Dad’s voice trembled. “I can’t say enough how proud I am of you. It scares me to think I almost didn’t let you go.”

  “Thanks, Dad.” I wiped my face. “I have to go. We need to figure out where we are so we can get out of here. I’ll have to carry Charlie because he got shot in the—”

  “No need to worry about that,” Dad said. “Charlie described where y’all are and the rangers know the spot. There’s a rescue helicopter en route to get y’all right now.” There was some muffled talk in the background, and then Dad came back on. “The ranger who’s with us said the helicopter should be there within a few minutes. He said there’s a large meadow a hundred yards from the shelter. That’s where they’ll land the helicopter.”

  CHAPTER 21

  I had just settled onto the doctor’s stool when the door opened and a nurse walked in. She wore blue scrubs and her nametag said Buffy. S
he pointed me toward the examination table and said, “Jump up there, please.”

  It had been an hour since the helicopter had lifted us out of the mountains and transported us to the hospital in Knoxville. Charlie had been taken in first since his injury was the most severe and then the rest of us had been ushered to separate examination rooms. Still tired, I dragged myself off the stool and eased onto the white paper that covered the center of the table. It crumpled under me and I tried to fix it, but Buffy waved me off.

  “Don’t worry about that,” she said. “It always slides off.” She checked my blood pressure and then my heart rate. She held two fingers to my wrist and looked at her watch, frowning. “Do you exercise a lot?”

  “Well, I’ve taken the last week or so off, but I usually work out every day.”

  She relaxed and nodded. “That explains it. Your pulse rate is forty-eight.”

  “Is that bad?” I asked. “Am I dying?”

  Buffy laughed, then shook her head. “Normal is from sixty to a hundred beats per minute. The best I’ve seen was fifty-four beats and that was on a marathon runner, so you’re in excellent shape. What do you do for exercise?”

  “I box and dabble in mixed martial arts.” I took two deep breaths so she could listen to my heart with her stethoscope and glanced at the clock on the wall. When I’d first arrived, a ranger told me Mom and Dad were on their way to the hospital with a police escort, so I figured they’d arrive at any minute.

  Buffy then moved to the bandage on my arm and carefully removed it. She whistled when the partially healed gashes in my arm were exposed. “What on earth happened to you? Did that kidnapper do this?”

  “No, ma’am,” I said. “I was attacked by a bear.”

  Buffy gasped. “A real bear?”

  “Nah, it was one of those wind-up deals from a gift shop in Gatlinburg.”

  First Buffy’s eyes narrowed, then she smiled slightly. “You’re a funny guy, aren’t you?”

  “I’m practicing my standup routine so—”

  “Ma’am! Sir! You can’t go in there!” hollered a voice from outside the room.

  The door burst open, and my mom hurried in, followed closely by my dad. Startled and unsure of what was happening, I almost jumped back when Mom rushed in and threw her arms around me. She bawled loudly as she held me tight. I patted her back.

  “It’s okay, Mom,” I said. “I’m fine.”

  After a long and uncomfortable moment, Mom backed away to look at me and her tear-streaked face turned pale when she saw my exposed arm. “Dear Lord, what on earth—”

  “Rose,” Dad said, “we need to give them some space. Let them do their job so they can make sure Abe’s okay. We’ll have plenty of time to visit with him later.”

  I nodded my thanks, and Dad gave me a wink before he led Mom out into the hallway. When the door was closed again, I shook my head and said, “Good grief.”

  Buffy turned to me and her eyes were moist.

  “Not you, too?” I asked.

  “It’s just emotional.” Buffy turned her head and fussed with my medical chart. “The entire city is celebrating. What you and your friend did was amazing. I don’t blame your mom for being proud.”

  I laughed. “You know what we did? We got kidnapped. What’s so special about that?”

  “No, it’s what you did after the kidnapping. You saved the lives of four very special young ladies, and you gave the families of those two boys closure. You might not think you’re special, but I guarantee you those six families sure do!”

  I scowled. “Well, a nice park ranger lady was killed today trying to help us, so I’m not in the mood to feel special.”

  Buffy turned back to my arm and began cleaning the wounds. After several minutes of silence, she said, “You really did a good job with these lacerations.”

  “It was Charlie. He took some first aid classes in high school, so I guess he knew what he was doing.”

  As Buffy was finishing up, the door opened again and a uniformed park ranger entered. He was holding a notebook. “Abraham Wilson?”

  I nodded.

  “I need to take your statement.”

  My heart definitely jumped a bit north of forty-eight. I just knew I was going to jail for murder. “Am I in some kind of trouble?”

  “Well, that depends.”

  I gulped. “On what?”

  “On what you tell me. I can’t make an assessment until I hear what you have to say.”

  I nodded and sat up a little straighter.

  The ranger turned to Buffy. “Can you leave us alone?”

  She nodded, quietly left the room. The ranger pulled the doctor’s stool in front of me and took a seat. He readied his pen over the pad and looked up. “Okay, start from the beginning and tell me how it was that you came into contact with the missing girls.”

  * * *

  When I was done giving my statement, I spent some time with Mom and Dad—I had to answer a million questions—and then roamed the halls of the hospital until I located Charlie’s room. Like me, the girls had been checked and released, but Charlie had been admitted for his gunshot wound. I found him alone in his hospital room.

  “I guess you can take a double-barrel dump now, huh?”

  Charlie started to laugh, then winced. “It hurts something fierce.”

  There were buttons on the side of Charlie’s hospital bed, so I began pushing some of them. “What does this do?”

  The bed started to incline; Charlie grabbed the side rail. “Whoa! Don’t do that. You’ll fold me in half.”

  I grabbed the doctor’s stool and rolled it under me, then sat beside this bed. “Where’s your mom?”

  “She went get something to eat.”

  I sat quiet for a minute, then asked, “How’re things between y’all?”

  “Good. She wants me to come home.”

  “That’s awesome,” I said, “but what about her loser boyfriend?”

  Charlie smiled. “He refused to come to Tennessee to look for us, so she dumped him.”

  “That’s even better.” I spun around on the stool, fingering the bandage on my right forearm. “So, are you taking your mom up on her offer?”

  Charlie was thoughtful. “I think I’m staying.”

  I stopped abruptly in mid-spin. “Staying? What do you mean? Are you serious?”

  “I think so. I spoke to one of the park rangers and he said I could become a forestry technician.”

  “A what?” I asked.

  “I get to help clear trails, protect wilderness areas, maintain campgrounds—stuff like that.” Charlie grinned. “I’m going to be a real mountain man, Abe.”

  “Don’t you need a college degree for that?”

  Charlie shook his head. “They said I can start at a GS-2 level, which requires high school only.”

  I nodded absently, processing this information and not liking it. “I don’t know, Charlie. You really think you’d like doing that? I mean, you’re a swamp rat. Guys like us are out of place in the mountains.”

  “You saw me out there, Abe. For the first time in my life, I feel like I really belong somewhere—and these guys genuinely want me to come to work for them.” Charlie sat up in his bed. “We’re heroes, Abe. We did something hundreds of park rangers and volunteers couldn’t do—we rescued people who were missing for years! No one could solve the mystery, but we did! We’re famous around here.”

  I stood and walked to the window to glance outside. The parking lot was aglow with spotlights and cameras. “There’s a mob of reporters out there waiting to talk to us. They got my dad’s number somehow and they’ve been calling all evening.”

  “Did you talk to anyone yet?”

  I shook my head, as I turned from the window. “I don’t want to. I’d rather just go back home and live in peace.”

  Charlie laughed. “Sorry, but that won’t happen. They’re going to hunt you down until they get an interview. We’re paparazzi food now, my friend!”

  I sat back
on the stool, restless. “If you stay here, we’ll never get to hang out.”

  “You can come up here during the summer and on spring break.”

  “I guess so,” I said.

  Charlie whistled. “You’ll have one hell of a story to tell the girls at college.”

  I shook my head. “I plan on keeping a low profile, fly under the radar. Besides, I want to keep seeing Joy.”

  “What? I thought you were done with her.”

  “You know what the old folks say, ‘You don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone.’”

  “Whatever, dude. If I were going to college, I’d live a single life—have lots of girlfriends.”

  “There you are,” a voice called from behind me.

  I turned and saw Joy standing in the doorway. She wore a light green sun dress and tan sandals. My jaw must’ve been dragging on the floor because her usually pale complexion was red. She quickly ran up to me and wrapped her arms around my neck, held me tight. I squeezed her back.

  “Thank you so much for coming for me,” she whispered in my ear.

  A chill reverberated up and down my spine as her soft breath tickled my ear when she spoke. We held each other for what seemed like a small piece of eternity. We only released each other when Mable came into the room and plopped down at the edge of Charlie’s bed.

  “How’s it going, Charlie?” Mable asked cheerfully.

  “I’ve been better,” Charlie said.

  Joy and I moved beside her, and I asked, “Did you find out anything new?”

  Mable nodded. “They said Mr. Bush kidnapped us to repopulate the earth—Gross!—because he thought the world would be destroyed on December twenty-first of last year. Can you believe someone could be so stupid?”

  “He must’ve freaked when he woke up on December twenty-second and the world was still here,” I said. “He probably didn’t know what to do with y’all.” A thought suddenly occurred to me. “If the world was going to come to an end up here, why didn’t he sleep downstairs, too?”