Caldera

by Heath Stallcup

  “Right, so let’s be on the lookout.”

  “Do we have a description?”

  “Female, nude, running crazy in Yellowstone.” Hatch shot him a ‘duh’ look. “What more do you need, Mitch?”

  Mitch shot him a toothy grin. “But is she hot?”

  “Just do your job,” Hatch groaned as he headed toward the road. He pulled his radio, “Shelly, come in.” He waited a moment and allowed her to respond.

  “Go ahead, Hatch.”

  “We have a problem. Meet me up by the Visitor’s Center parking lot.”

  Bill rummaged through the back of his Jeep Wrangler and pulled out his first aid kit. “Found it.” He held the red plastic case up triumphantly. “Which way did she go?”

  Richard pointed away from the camp and towards the other campfires. “Pretty sure she ran that way. Are you sure that was blood on her?”

  “If it wasn’t blood, then it looked just like it,” Bill said as he shut the rear of the Wrangler. “And how many women are going to be running naked through the woods?”

  Richard nodded. “Good point.” He shrugged as they both took off in the direction she had run.

  As the two men approached the nearest campfire, they immediately noticed the camping equipment tossed about and scattered. Two people were moving about inside a tent and Richard called out, “Hello in there. Anybody home?”

  “Hold up a second,” an unseen voice called back. The two men waited just outside the tent and the flap snapped back quickly. A haggard looking face appeared. “What do you want?” the man barked.

  “We saw a woman come through this way,” Bill said, holding up the first aid kit. “She looked like she could use help.”

  “We offered her help and the stupid bitch went off on us,” the man said. “I’m dressing my buddy’s wounds now.”

  “What do you mean, she—”

  “She fucking snapped, dude!” the haggard man said, holding the tent flap open so that the two could see inside. A man was lying on an air mattress and bleeding from the side of his face where his cheek had been slashed open by a set of nails, a rudimentary first aid kit open beside him. “I’m doing my best to clean it up now.”

  Red and blue lights reflected off the side of the tent and Bill turned to see an ambulance slowly make its way up the hill. He elbowed Richard to get his attention. “Looks like the cavalry is here.”

  Richard stuck his head back in the tent. “Looks like EMTs are arriving. We’ll try to get their attention for you.” The haggard-looking fellow nodded and turned his attention back to his friend. “Flag them down, Bill.”

  Bill Martin stepped away from the wrecked campground and waved his arm to the ambulance. As the EMS unit pulled to a stop, he directed them to the tent and he and Richard stepped away to allow them access. With professionals on the scene, the two went back to their search for the naked woman. “That’s odd that she would come running to a campground, but attack somebody who offered help,” Richard said.

  Bill held his tongue. He preferred not to render judgment just yet. He glanced back at the tent and then gave Richard a sideways look. “They may not have offered her just ‘help,’ buddy.”

  Richard didn’t quite grasp what he meant. “I’m not following you.”

  Bill increased his speed as he tried to follow the bloody trail. “Look, I don’t know, and I’m not saying this is what happened, I’m just saying that…,” he trailed off and stopped walking long enough to look Richard in the eye. He stole another glance back toward the tent. “Look, not everybody is what you might call a Boy Scout, okay? Just because they said they offered help doesn’t make them good Samaritans.”

  “Okay,” he said slowly, still not following the line of thought.

  Bill sighed again. “She’s a naked woman. These are pretty empty woods.” He rolled his hands to get him thinking. “The fellows that offered her help may have been offering something other than help.”

  Richard finally realized what he was saying. “O-o-o-h.” He glanced back at the tent and narrowed his eyes. “Damn, I didn’t think of that.”

  “She was a pretty chesty gal,” Bill commented. “A lot of guys wouldn’t think twice to…” He cleared his throat. “Anyway, let’s see if we can’t find her and actually offer her some real help before someone else hurts her worse.”

  “Yeah.” Richard shuddered.

  The two took to the trail again and came across another tent. The moans from inside sounded like someone in a lot of pain.

  Bill took the lead on this one by stepping in front. “Hello? Is anybody hurt inside?”

  “I think my arm is broken,” a woman’s voice called out.

  “Ma’am, are you alone?” Bill asked cautiously.

  “No, my husband is in here, too, but he can’t…he’s hurt, too.”

  “Is it okay if we approach your tent?” Bill asked. “I used to be a first responder and we have a first aid kit.”

  “Yes!” she called out desperately. “I can barely move, it hurts so badly.”

  Richard pulled open the tent flap and Bill flashed his light inside. The sides of the tent were sprayed with blood and he had to remind himself that he was going in to assist a hurt person. He stepped inside and tried to avoid the mess, but found that the blood was everywhere. It was obviously arterial spray, and he was almost certain that whoever it came from had to be dead.

  He looked to one side and saw a woman lying on her side cradling her arm. The compound fracture was bad, the jagged edge of the humerus protruding from her arm. She looked sickly pale and she shivered with shock. “Hold tight, ma’am.” He turned back to Richard who had yet to step inside the tent. “Get the EMTs, now,” he said quietly. “She’s lost a lot of blood and is going into shock.”

  “What about her husband?”

  Bill gave him a look he hoped Richard would understand so that he wouldn’t have to say it out loud. Richard’s eyes widened and he nodded slowly. “I’ll be right back.” He turned and took off at a trot.

  Bill stepped deeper into the tent. “Okay, ma’am, we’re going to do this nice and easy. You have a compound fracture of your humerus.”

  “Can you check on my husband, please?” she asked softly. “He was moaning just a moment ago, but then he stopped and I’m worried.” Her teeth chattered as she spoke.

  Bill nodded to her. “Sure, just give me a second.” He turned and flashed his light on her husband, being sure to put himself between her and the body so she couldn’t see what he was certain he would find. The man’s skin was waxy and gray and he couldn’t detect any signs of breathing. He placed his fingers along the neck and Bill noticed that the left side of his neck was torn horrifically, a huge gaping chunk missing. That would explain the arterial spray painting the walls of the tent.

  As expected, there was no pulse. In fact, with the loss of so much blood, the body was rapidly cooling in the high altitude. Bill sighed and considered what to tell the widow. He shuffled around in the tent and fixed his light back on her. “He’s resting now,” he said softly. “So, let’s concentrate on you, shall we?”

  She breathed a sigh of relief, but Bill noticed a severe shiver that caused a shot of pain to rack her slender body. He flashed the light around the tent and settled on an old Army style wool blanket. He quickly pulled it up and settled it over her. “Let’s try to keep you warm until the EMTs get here, okay?” He tucked the blanket around her gently. “What’s your name?”

  “A-Amanda,” she chattered.

  “Well, Amanda, my name is Bill. I wish we could have met under different circumstances.”

  “She just came out of nowhere,” she said softly.

  “Who did?”

  “Some crazy woman.” She answered, her teeth chattering. “She grabbed my arm and pulled so hard…so damned hard, and just snapped it.” Her eyes widened as she recalled the event. “I’ve never felt anything like it before.”

  “I can imagine.” Bill lifted her head slightly and pulled the bedrol
l from under her, tucking it under her legs. “She was probably on something. Drugs or—”

  “She’s crazy!” Amanda blurted out. “She had blood in her eyes!”

  “Okay,” Bill tried to soothe her with his voice. “Let’s try to stay calm, okay?”

  “She just threw me like a rag doll, then she attacked Jake like he was a steak and she bit him,” she sobbed. “She BIT him!”

  “I know, I know.” He continued to try to soothe her with his voice. “Shh, you need to remain calm, okay?”

  “There was blood everywhere. So much blood…”

  “Shh, Amanda, I need you to remain calm.” Bill heard footsteps fast approaching, stomping as they ran down the hill, approaching the tent. He heard the tent flap pull open. “They’re on the way,” Richard huffed. “Oh, my God!”

  “Did you hear that, Amanda? The EMTs are on their way.” Bill patted her shoulder. “They’ll be here any moment.” Bill studied her a moment as she stared wide-eyed at the ceiling. “Amanda?” He snapped his fingers in front of her eyes. “Amanda!”

  “Is she?”

  “Not yet she isn’t.” Bill jerked the blanket back and shoved two fingers to her neck. “Dammit, Amanda, don’t you quit on me!” he yelled.

  Red and blue lights reflected off the outside of the tent and Richard stepped outside to wave in the EMTs. Bill went to work doing chest compressions as Richard waved the EMTs over. “She’s not breathing now.”

  “She’s coded!” Bill yelled as the EMTs entered the tent. “Her husband was gone when I got here.”

  “Scoot over and let us take over,” the male EMT ordered as he slid to Amanda’s other side. The female EMT carried in a large case with her as Bill stepped out of the way.

  “All I know for sure is that she has a compound fracture of the right humerus. She was acting shocky so I covered her, then—”

  “We have it!” The female shoved him back.

  Richard placed a hand on Bill’s shoulder. “Let’s see if we can find the woman,” he said softly.

  The EMTs were still working on her as Bill started backing out of the tent. He paused at the flap and turned back to the two technicians. “Her name is Amanda,” he said, then turned and stepped back out into the crisp night air.

  Richard held up his first aid kit and handed it to him. “You don’t want to forget this.”

  “Right.” Bill stole a second glance back to the tent.

  Richard clicked on his flashlight and flashed it around the campsite. “Which way do we go?”

  Bill sighed and shook his head. “We follow the carnage.”

  Chapter 7

  Bob Jennings followed the trail of blood splatters as best he could. He cursed himself for not being more of an outdoorsman. He did take a lot of pride in his son, though. More often than not, when Bob missed a sign, Buck would pick up on it and get them both headed back in the right direction. He was amazed at just how adept Buck had become to the outdoors and when the two stopped to catch their breath and get a drink from their canteen, he had to ask him where he had picked up on these tricks. One can only imagine his shock when Buck replied, “The internet.” Bob chuckled to himself as he kept replaying that in his head. Buck looking up on the internet how to track, how to hunt, how to fish, even survival tips, all at your fingertips…because you never know when you might find yourself at Mother Nature’s mercy.

  It became obvious after the first couple of miles that Lucky was making her way back down the mountain and toward the large source of noise. As the two approached the formal campgrounds, Bob slowed and turned to Buck. “You might want to put the crossbow away.”

  “What if we run into more of those things?”

  “You mean, what if we run into Mom?”

  Buck paused and considered the question. “No, I don’t think I could shoot Mom. I mean, what if she bit someone and…you know, turned them.”

  “What if you run into a ranger and he takes it away from you?” Bob asked. “Then what do you do?”

  “Good point.” Buck pulled his backpack around and unzipped it. He shoved the pistol crossbow into it and zipped it back. “But first sign of someone being bit and I’m pulling it back out.”

  “Your choice,” Bob said.

  The two quietly made their way into the campgrounds and were shocked at how quiet the camps were considering the noise from the concert over the next hill. “How can anybody sleep with all that noise?” Bob asked.

  “Are you kidding?” Buck said excitedly. “That sounds like Skinned Cats to me.”

  “Me, too.” Bob wrinkled his nose.

  “You listen to them?” Buck was surprised his dad was into the same music.

  Bob looked at him as if he’d lost his damned mind. “Seriously? That’s the name of a band? I thought you meant it sounded like someone skinning cats.”

  “You’re not funny, Dad.”

  “Neither are you.”

  The two made their way through the different camps when they heard a scream and a multitude of curse words. Bob shot Buck a quick glance then the two took off in the general direction of the disturbance.

  “Sounded like it came from over here.” Buck pointed as he ran.

  Bob ran between two large tents and stopped to gather his bearings. He heard mumbled cursing coming from a tent and slowly approached the large canvas dwelling. “Hello?”

  “What the…,” a voice called and a haggard-looking man crawled out. “What the hell do you want?”

  “We heard someone scream,” Bob said.

  “You heard right.” The man snapped at him. “You heard me!” He thrust out his bloody hand with a rag wrapped around it.

  “Holy shit, mister!” Buck shouted. “Did she bite you?”

  “What?” The man gave him a confounded look. “Hell, no. My buddy fucking bit me!”

  Bob and Buck both shot him a surprised look and the man finished crawling out from his tent. “Some crazy naked bitch came out of the woods and attacked him, then a little bit later, he went crazy and fucking bit me!”

  “Oh, no,” Buck groaned as he pulled his backpack from his shoulder. He began unzipping it.

  Bob placed a hand on his shoulder and shook his head. “The crazy naked chick,” he asked the man, “what did she look like?”

  “Huh?” He was confused. “What do you mean, what did she look like? She was naked and dirty. Like she had been stomping around in the woods.”

  “No, I mean—” Bob searched for the best way to describe Lucky, What did she look like?”

  The man sat back and studied him a moment. “What’s it to you?”

  “My mom is missing.” Buck’s face turned hard.

  The man cocked his head to the side and an evil grin spread across his face. “So, you figure you’d just pick up the first crazy chick you see, clean her up, call her mom, and be done with it?” he chuckled.

  Bob squared his chest and set his jaw. He was about to yell at the man when Buck pulled the crossbow out and pointed it at the man’s chest. “Just answer the goddamn question!”

  “Whoa! Easy there, squirt!”

  “What did she look like?” Buck narrowed his eyes.

  The man’s lip started to quiver into a snarl, but he held himself. “Stringy blonde hair, all dirty like. Big tits. Shaved snatch. Nice ass, though. Might make a nice piece if you cleaned her up and taught her not to bite!”

  Bob placed his hand on top of the crossbow and gently pushed it down. “Yeah, that’s your mom,” he said quietly. “Which way did she go?”

  The man tilted his head slightly and studied the two. He could feel his anger growing, but he wasn’t sure exactly why. He stared at the crossbow one more time then jerked his arm out, pointing down the hill. “She went that way.”

  “Thank you.” Bob pulled Buck after him.

  “If you catch up with that crazy bitch, kick her in the cooch for me!” the man yelled after the two.

  Dwayne slowly rolled the four-wheeler to a stop and pulled his flashlig
ht from his belt. Clicking it on, he swung it in a slow arc and studied the ground in front and beside him. He could see where there had been a lot of foot traffic, but he’d lost the tracks he’d been following earlier, and the blood smears had lessened to such a degree that he wasn’t sure which way the woman might have went. He shifted his large mass on the machine’s seat and looked behind him. Nothing looked different than what lay before him.

  He turned off the four-wheeler, letting his ears adjust to the silence. He held his nose and pushed air slightly to force them to pop, allowing his hearing to be slightly more sensitive. He listened intently and could hear the music and the cheering crowd over the next rise. He allowed his mind to mentally block that like a white noise and concentrated on the other noises in the area. He could hear the sounds of the ambulance as it rolled through the campgrounds, the EMTs slamming doors and busying themselves with their job. He tried to force himself to block that noise out as well.

  Fisher stepped away from the ticking of the engine as it cooled and listened for noises from the woods. He could hear something moving through the brush and dense foliage, but he knew that it could be anything or anybody. The number of campers in this area was high, and many would be preparing to settle in for the night once the noise from the concert died down.

  He heard a quick rustling in the brush behind him and he spun the flashlight as he ducked low, peering deep into the dark and hidden world that lay beyond the walking paths. He thought he could see movement through the trees, but he also knew that in the dark of the night, the mind played tricks on you. He took a tentative step toward the thicket and reached out with his left hand to move a limb from his view. His hand brushed the dry wood and swept it slowly aside to reveal…nothing. He peered deeper into the darkness and saw nothing but more trees and brush on the other side. He stepped back and shook his head.

  “This shit is starting to get to you,” he mumbled.

  The sound of running feet through low limbs and leaves caught his attention. He snap-turned and brought the beam of the light low in hopes of catching the runner in action. He heard the snap of a twig just ahead and adjusted his aim once more. Fisher stepped toward the noise when it stopped and paused in front of the four-wheeler, the heat from the engine rising up like a welcoming blanket in the quickly chilling night air.