by Jamie Davis
Dean pulled into the parking lot in the strip mall where the Pizza Guy restaurant was located on Grand Avenue. He was about ten minutes early and he looked around to see if anything or anyone looked familiar. He checked his email and social media accounts on his smartphone then decided to go in on time rather than sit in the parking lot not knowing who he was looking for. A tap on his truck window startled him, and he jumped a little as he turned to see who it was. He didn’t know the guy who stood there but had a good assumption. He was older than Dean, maybe in his late twenties. Zach was also taller at six foot two, and had sandy blonde hair. He was wearing jeans and a green, collared golf shirt. Dean pushed the button to put down the window.
“Hi Dean, I’m Zach. I saw you sitting here on my way inside and thought I’d come over and introduce myself.”
“Um, hello, Zach,” Dean stammered. “I’m sorry, you startled me.”
“I apologize,” Zach said. “Let’s go inside.”
“Sure,” Dean answered, “Give me a second, I’ll be right in.”
“Okay, see you there.” Zach crossed the parking toward the building entrance.
Dean finished the email he was writing and closed up his truck. Once inside, he took a minute to orient himself to the unfamiliar surroundings then saw Zach seated in a booth at the back.
“I’m so glad you could join me, Dean,” Zach said. “I wanted to meet the guy who replaced me at Station U. By the way, how do you like it there?”
“It’s challenging, that’s for sure,” Dean said. “I have to say it certainly took some getting used to.” Dean looked at the other paramedic and asked, “I have to know. How did you know who I was?”
“I still have contacts at Elk City Fire Department EMS. I knew they’d have to replace me with someone, but I didn’t think they’d throw a brand new medic fresh out of school into the lion’s den,” Zach said. “I’m sure it was quite a shock to find out you were going to treat the worst of society’s monsters for a living.”
“I don’t know about that,” Dean said, cautiously. He didn’t like the cynicism he was sensing from the other man. “I think they’re just people in need just like us. They’re different, but that doesn’t make them monsters. Most of the ones I’ve met are pretty much unassuming.”
“You don’t see how they’re subverting our culture from within?” Zach asked. “They’ve been living alongside humans for thousands of years, taking advantage of us, living off of us like parasites.”
“That’s a bit strong, Zach,” Dean said. “That hasn’t been my experience at all.”
“Not even with the siren and her attempt to control you?” Dean knew Zach had to have seen his startled expression. “I know about that situation and how you ended up having to get some counseling for it. Are you sure now they’re all so innocent? If they have nothing to hide, then why don’t they become open members of society?” He stopped as the waitress came over to take their order and waited until she walked away. “Don’t you wonder what kind of control they must have over our leaders if they’ve been able to hide successfully for all these years?”
“Maybe they’re just scared of people misunderstanding them,” Dean offered. “And who told you I’d been to counseling? That’s supposed to be private.”
“I told you, I have my connections,” Zach countered. “Look, my goal isn’t to alienate you. It’s to make you understand the danger you’re in - that we all are in with these creatures living among us.” Dean started to protest, but Zach raised his hand to stop him. “You’re not the only person who had a bad run-in with one of your Unusual patients. I had one, too, and I was lucky to survive. Your incident with the siren was relatively mild by comparison. Let me ask you, did they send you to that mind reading muse, Rebecca?” Dean nodded. “I thought so. They do that so that you won’t spread the word out about the Unusuals living among us.”
“Zach,” Dean said carefully. “I don’t know what your run-in was or how it changed your outlook on the job. Frankly, I don’t want to know. What did you call me here for? It wasn’t to reveal that you know all about me because that’s just creepy, and doesn’t really make me want to stay and talk with you, let alone share a meal with you.”
“I called you here, Dean, to try and save you.” Zach said. “You can’t know the danger you’re in. Brynne is completely blind to it because James has her wrapped around his vampiric little finger. She can’t see the risks when they’re right in bed next to her. But you, Dean, are in a position to do some good and maybe save Brynne in the process. I tried, and she completely rejected what I was trying to do. I knew I had to get out when James threatened me if I kept trying to get between him and Brynne. So I resigned and left Elk City EMS to work alongside some people who are trying to do some good and not covering up the mess these monsters are making in our society. Something has to be done. In order to do what we need to do, we need someone on the inside who can help us expose the creatures among us. People have a right to know who their neighbors and co-workers really are, don’t you think?”
Dean was dumbfounded. When he thought about meeting his predecessor at Station U, this was not what he had expected to hear. This was the most paranoid rant he’d ever heard. His own interactions with his patients didn’t leave him feeling this negative. For the most part, they seemed to be normal people with some unusual abilities. They were the creatures made out to be monsters in legends and horror movies, but aside from a single incident with one misguided individual, they had treated him with respect. Clearly, Zach didn’t see it that way, and he suspected that it was knowledge of his interaction with Lydia the siren that made this guy think he would be of like mind. What was he supposed to do about it?
Zach answered his question without hearing. “Dean, I know this is a lot to take in. I was overwhelmed when I was first contacted and asked to help build a safer society. It didn’t make sense to me in the beginning either, but over time I began to see things their way. I think you might too.”
“I don’t know, Zach,” Dean started. “I don’t think I’m the right person to have this conversation with. Perhaps you should contact someone with a little more authority than I have about this.”
“I don’t expect you to make up your mind right now,” Zach said. “I just want you to keep your eyes open and see what’s really going on in this community. Later, you might feel differently. Will you do that?”
“Uh, I guess so,” Dean said. He was uncomfortable and wanted to get out of this awkward conversation.
“I have one more favor to ask,” Zach said. “I’d like to ask that you don’t tell Brynne or anyone else that you talked with me, at least for a little while. She and I didn’t part on good terms, and she might think less of you if she knew you and I met.”
Dean thought for a moment. It wouldn’t hurt to keep this meeting to himself for a little bit. At least he could wait until he found out what the end game was. “I guess I can agree to that, at least for a short time,” Dean said. “I don’t think about Unusuals the same way you do, but I’ll keep my eyes open.”
“That’s all I’m asking,” Zach said with a grin, leaning back in the seat. He looked up, and Dean saw the waitress arriving with their food. She set the plate with two slices of pizza down in front of Dean along with a soda in a hard plastic cup. She slid the plate with Zach’s cheeseburger and fries in front of him and set his Coke down on the table.
“Can I get you anything else?” she asked.
“I think we’re good,” Zach said. “We’ll call you if we need anything.”
The two paramedics watched her walk away and began to eat. Dean thought as he chewed. This was all very strange and smacked of something more sinister, but Zach had made it seem almost reasonable. All they wanted him to do was to keep his eyes open to abuses of the system by his patients. He had seen one such situation with the girl in cardiac arrest after a botched attempt to turn her into a vampire. He had also been directly affected by Lydia the siren when she tried to charm h
im.
Zach didn’t bring anything else up about Unusuals, steering the conversation around to Dean’s time in the academy paramedic program. He asked about instructors who were still there teaching and what Dean thought of them. Dean answered but was focused on Zach’s earlier statements. He wasn’t comfortable with the extreme position Zach seemed to have. If he hadn’t had the experiences he had over the past few weeks, it was likely he would have disregarded him completely. Dean would keep quiet about it, at least for a little while. He needed time to make more sense of it. Was he being recruited for some “anti-Unusual” movement?
They finished their meals quickly. Paramedics rarely ate slowly, a side effect of always being called away to respond during meals. In this case Dean just wanted to leave. Dean put a ten-dollar bill down on the table to cover his part of the meal. Zach put two fives down and they headed toward the door.
“Dean,” Zach began as they stood on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant. “Thank you for keeping my confidence on this. Think about what you’re doing and when you’re ready, give me a call. You have my phone number. You can call me if you want and we can meet again. Otherwise, just keep your eyes open. I think in time you’ll see what is going on under the surface. I’ll be in touch.”
“Okay, Zach,” Dean said. “I don’t think like you do on this subject, but I’ll keep our little meeting to myself for a little while. Fair enough?”
“Fair enough,” Zach said.
They shook hands and headed off to their vehicles. Dean sat down in his pickup truck and couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d done something wrong. He probably should tell Brynne about this meeting but he’d promised to be silent for a short while, and he didn’t see any harm in that. What could possibly happen in the next few days?
22
When Dean entered the squad room for his next shift twenty minutes early, he saw Brook and Tammy, who looked up from the chairs where they sat in front of the TV.
“Hey, Probie,” Tammy said.
“What brings you into work early?” Brook asked.
“I was out and about and decided that it didn’t make sense to go all the way home first,” Dean answered. “Anyway, I wanted to talk with you two about something. If that’s okay?”
“Sure, Dean,” Tammy said. “What’s on your mind?”
“I had a run in with James. I wanted to see if you two had any insights about how to best deal with him. Can I take him at his word?”
Brook shared a conspiratorial glance with Tammy, then Tammy nodded. Brook turned back to look at Dean. “Don’t you think you should check in with Brynne about this? She’s your field training officer after all.”
“I can’t talk to her about this,” Dean said. “She may be my FTO, but she’s also his girlfriend. That may cloud her judgment about him. The fact is, James talked to me one-on-one after a call that raised some questions, and I began to have my own questions about the work we’re doing. Frankly, he scared the crap out of me.”
Tammy chuckled, “He has that effect on people, that’s for sure. What did he say to you?”
“He didn’t threaten me or anything if that’s what you mean,” Dean said. “He basically told me that I should wait until I understood the Unusuals’ culture and way of handling things before I took any action regarding what I saw on that call. He also told me to deal directly with him if I had a problem and he would explain things to me.” Dean glanced up from looking at the floor. “He also said he meant me no harm.”
Dean looked at them, but they just stared back at him, allowing him to continue. “The thing is, I get the sense that he’s pretty old fashioned about how he deals with things. He’s like the Baron of Elk City or something, which means that he’s still living in the type of feudal culture that he used to live in hundreds of years ago. Is he a nice guy who deals with things in a reasonable fashion, or is he some feudal overlord who does whatever he wants because no one can stop him?”
The women shared a glance as if to decide who should answer. “That’s a loaded question,” Brook said. “It has two parts. I’ll address the last question first. James is in charge of the Unusual population in and around Elk City. He’s the final answer for anything that needs to get done, and they will listen if he gives an order, so, in that sense, he’s a feudal overlord. But, he is ultimately a man of his word. If he says he means you no harm, he means it. If he says you can come to him if you have any problems with any of your patients, believe him. He’ll deal with it. That might be because you’re Brynne’s partner, or it might be because you represent an important resource for his subjects. Does that make sense?”
“I guess so,” Dean said. “So he can do anything he wants, but he’s an honorable man, er, vampire.”
“Exactly,” Tammy said. “The other thing to remember is that while the Unusual population has to listen to him, we have our own hierarchy and leadership. We don’t have to listen to him at all, and he and his kind depend on our leaders to take care of them and keep their secret so they can go on living among us. It’s a two-way street.”
“So you don’t think that it’s weird that the bogeymen of our childhoods live side by side among us?” Dean asked.
“No,” Tammy chuckled. “Not anymore. I sure thought it was weird in the beginning, though. When I first got this assignment, I was completely weirded out by some of the things I saw - things I just take in stride now.”
“Me, too,” Brook said. “I used to get nightmares from some of the patients we ran into. Not because of anything they did to me or anyone else, but just because of who they were. I ended up getting some counseling about it and realized that they were just people. They have families and businesses and jobs, and just want to go about their lives without anyone messing with them. They pay taxes, too, which is why Doc Spirelli organized the first Station U unit here. They had the right to have access to emergency care like anyone else, and so the EMS-U system came into being here in Elk City.”
“So you haven’t seen any of them abuse their powers or take advantage of normal humans?” Dean asked.
“Nothing more serious than what happened with you and the siren, Lydia,” Brook said. “She is really sorry, by the way. She did what she did out of fear and misunderstanding rather than any sort of malice. She moved here from down south where the population is not as progressive as we are here in the more urban areas of the country.”
Dean thought on that in light of what Zach had talked with him about earlier. It didn’t really match up with what the ex-paramedic said. It did, however, match up with what he had seen with his own two eyes. The patients were all genuinely thankful for the care they rendered. So what was it that Zach had against Unusuals? Were his concerns of imminent danger really valid? His attention was pulled to the door when Brynne entered.
“Hey Dean, hi ladies!” Brynne said in a cheerful voice.
“Hi Brynne,” Tammy said. “Why so chipper? Did you get a good day’s sleep or something?
“I’ll bet it was more like ‘or something’,” Brook interjected. “Just look at the grin on her face.” The day shift paramedics burst into laughter at the blush that crept up Brynne’s face. They laughed even harder when they saw Dean’s look of discomfort.
“Sorry, Dean,” Tammy said. “Girl talk should be meant for girls’ ears only.”
“Yeah,” Brook said. “Don’t write us up for hostile work environment.”
“I think I’ll go and get an early start on the bag checks in the ambulance,” Dean said. “I’ll leave you ladies to your private talk.”
He crossed the room to the ambulance bay door and left them to their conversation. The diversion was actually good. He didn’t want to talk with Brynne right now because he still needed to wrap his head around everything he had learned today. He climbed into the ambulance and began to go through the bags with the iPad checklist.
Dean was almost done with his checklists when he heard the door to the squad room open. A few moments later, Brynne showed up
outside the open rear doors of the ambulance. “Sorry about the direction the conversation took back there, Dean. Sometimes girls will be girls.”
“I’m a big boy, Brynne. I can handle it.” Dean said with a smile. “I really did want to get a head start on the inventory.”
“Are you almost done?” Brynne asked. “What can I help with?”
“I’ve only got the trauma bag to go through and I’m finished. Maybe you could check out the Med Dispenser and see if we need to order anything from the hospital.”
“Sounds like a plan,” Brynne said. “I’ll get right on it. Then we can make a pick up later when we’re out of the station.”
The beginning of shift chores went quickly, and they were soon back in the squad room. Brynne was checking through the shift email that went out to each crew alerting them of news, training opportunities and medication changes, and Dean was reading a book on Egyptian mythology. He heard her sigh as she stared at the screen.
“What’s up?” Dean asked, looking up from his book.
“Have you checked your email from headquarters?” Brynne asked.
“No,” Dean said, “Is there something important?”
“There’s a warning from headquarters to us from the police investigation division that there have been unprovoked attacks on members of the Unusual population. They’re urging us to be very careful approaching scenes where an assault might have occurred because of reprisals against us for rendering aid.”
“Why would someone do something like that?” Dean asked.
“There are groups out there who are afraid of the unknown, Dean,” Brynne said. “While most normal people live blissfully unaware that the Unusuals live among us, there are a few who know the truth. Among them are some who think that we’re letting monsters live among us who will eventually do us harm.”