by Katie Berry
“What? Where am I?”
“You’re at the Lawless Community Health Centre.” She smiled, pulled out a digital thermometer and touched the device to his ear, checking his temperature.
“What about my friends?” Jerry started to inquire for a brief moment, and then reality came crashing back down on him once more. He tried to drag himself up on the pillows at his back to sit upright in bed but was thwarted by the cast that he discovered was now part of his right forearm. An IV drip-fed glucose from a transparent plastic bag into a vein in the left.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Benson, but you’re the only one that they brought in.” The nurse saw Jerry’s positional predicament and adjusted the bed to an upright sitting position for him. She placed a blood pressure cuff on his unencased arm and inflated it.
“Thank you,” he said, feeling more comfortable. He closed his eyes for another moment while she checked his blood pressure. All the moments of terror from the campsite came back to him again. “Oh, God,” he sobbed quietly.
“I’m so sorry for your loss, Mr. Benson,” the young nurse said, noting his blood pressure on a chart and taking off the cuff. The thick lenses of her black, horn-rimmed glasses magnified the compassion in her pale, blue eyes.
“Who brought me in?” Jerry suddenly realised he had no idea how he’d gotten here.
“I believe it was Austin Murphy from the Public Works Department here in Lawless that brought you to the emergency.”
“Could I talk to him, do you think?”
“I don’t see why not. I’ll try to contact him for you. It’s Saturday today, so I’m not sure if he’ll be in, but I’ll try.”
“Thank you. I’d appreciate it.” Jerry smiled tiredly.
With a gentle look, the young woman said, “No worries. I’ll contact him as soon as I get a chance. If you’re okay for the moment, Mr. Benson, I’ve got another couple of patients I need to check on. I should ask, though, are you in any pain?”
“Just a little sore, and then there’s this,” he held his cast up. “But I guess I’ll survive, thanks. You’ve been very kind.”
The nurse nodded slightly with a small smile again and glided out of the room. Jerry was left alone with his thoughts. But they were thoughts he didn’t want to have -- thoughts of the monster and all of the horror and the three best friends he’s known his entire adult life who were now gone forever. Why did he survive and not Tyler, or Matt, or Nick? Perhaps if he could somehow help somebody to track this monstrosity down so they could kill it, he might feel that his friends would have some retribution. Then, a pang of new and different guilt arose in his mind. What if the monster followed him back to the campsite from the cavern in the fog? He definitely didn’t like this new thought, the one that told him he might have lead the creature to his friends and was somehow responsible for their demise.
If he didn’t do something about it, he knew the guilt was something that would haunt him for the rest of his life. He hoped somehow he could help, or find someone to help him. Then maybe he could staunch the horror show that now seemed to be playing behind his closed eyes 24/7. Another separate part of him hoped that, perhaps, Austin Murphy might be the man to help make this happen.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Alex stepped onto the front porch, marvelling at what this new day had brought. “Sunshine!” he exclaimed, his breath steaming from his mouth.
“That’s a sight for sore eyes, for sure,” Austin said. “And it brought us some colder weather with it, just like the weather office said.” His breath curled up into the delightfully clear, frosty air.
Across the valley, over the cusp of the mountain, rich, golden rays shot into the deep-blue early-morning sky, ready to spill into the Kokanee Valley below and flood Lawless with something that was a rare commodity in the wintertime, sunlight.
“This is awesome, Dad!” Alex inhaled and exhaled a few more times, watching his breath plume and pretending to puff on an imaginary cigar.
Enjoy it while you can, buddy. Ice fog is in the forecast for tonight.” Austin climbed behind the wheel of the Pilot as he relayed the bad news.
“Ah, man!”
Driving down his lane to the highway, Austin enjoyed the fact he could see where he was going for a change -- no unexpected ditches popped into sight as he drove. He sighed, “Ah, now, this is living!” With the clearing at the moment, though short-lived, it gave him some small hope that they might be able to track this monster down once and for all. Yes, things were finally looking up.
At the yard, Austin and Alex were met with yet another pleasant surprise. Leaning on the rear corner of the public works truck, munching on a cruller, was Trip. Austin saw that Trip had already been by Christine’s compound, apparently. Sitting in the back of the truck were several dozen more yellow ‘Bear In Area’ signs. Alex waved to Trip as they pulled in, a big smile on his face. Trip gave the boy a quick salute in return.
“Trip, my friend!” Austin said, rolling down his window as he pulled up, “What are you doing here? I thought I gave you the weekend off?”
“You did, boss. But when I saw the sun coming through this morning, I knew you’d be hard at it putting more signs up. And I want to see this thing stopped just as much as you do, or at least make people aware that this thing is out there until we can stop it and kill it, that is.” He bit into his cruller, his forehead knitted with concern.
“Well, thanks again for being here, my friend.” Climbing out of the Honda, he turned to his son, saying, “All right, Skipper, I just need to go and grab a few things, I’ll only be a minute or two.”
“Okay, dad.” Alex jumped down out of the SUV and sauntered over to the public works truck where Trip was now brushing the latest cruller from his coveralled belly. “Hey, Uncle Trip, how’s it going?” Alex said, jumping up to sit on the edge of the truck bed next to where Trip was leaning.
“Not too bad, little buddy!” Something as rare as the sunshine above appeared on Trip’s face below; a discernable smile suddenly beamed from beneath his bushy beard as he spoke with his godson. He had known Alex since the day the boy had been born and was Alex’s godfather. The first day he'd seen the boy, he'd always called him little buddy, for some reason. But now, at fifteen, the boy stood just over one-hundred and eighty centimetres tall and sported seventy-five kilograms of solid muscle (the latest stats Austin proudly shared with him last week). But of course, like all things with teenagers, that was subject to change on an almost daily basis. Yes, Alex was anything but little now. In fact, the boy stood five centimetres taller than Trip at the moment and was still growing. Yes, he definitely might have to revisit his choice of a nickname for his godson very, very soon.
“Were you scared last night when the bear was attacking at Frostbite Fred’s, Uncle Trip?” Alex asked, wide-eyed.
“You have no idea,” Trip said, honestly. “That thing is the biggest, meanest, ugliest looking mother I’ve ever seen. It really is a monster,” Trip added the word monster because he knew his godson was a big movie buff and enjoyed the old horror and sci-fi movies of the 1950s and 1960s.
“Do you think a regular gun could kill it, Uncle?”
“Well, I saw Greg at the pub hit that thing repeatedly in the side with the Mossberg, and it only aggravated the damned thing. When I was able to use that same gun a bit later, I think I only got lucky and blew the things ear off. And an ear is a small thing, but I think that it must have hurt like hell. “
“How so?”
“Since last night, I’ve thought quite a bit about it, and I don’t think a creature that large would ever have known what real pain feels like.”
“What do you mean?” Alex tilted his head quizzically.
“I mean, yeah, it would have had some scrapes and scratches from smaller creatures that it came across and chowed-down on throughout its life, but I bet it was never anything major because I’m pretty sure it's never met anything bigger than itself!”
“That it couldn’t eat!” Alex added, he
lpfully.
Trip nodded. “Exactly, a creature that size probably wouldn’t have had any natural predators and would have only ever dealt-out pain and hurt, never receiving it return since it's at the top of the food chain. My shotgun blast that ripped its ear off could be the first real pain that thing had ever felt in its life, next to what it felt when it tried to eat Max’s Toker.”
“Hmm… That’s a good point.” Alex looked down at his size twelve snow boots for a moment in thought. Looking back up at Trip, he said, “So, how do you think you’re going to stop this thing, Uncle Trip? It doesn’t look like regular guns are too effective against a bear of this size, from the sounds of it.” He contemplated his footwear a moment longer, then said, “Hey! I know! You’re a hunter; do you have an elephant gun?”
“Sorry, little buddy,” Trip chuckled, “I don’t usually hunt too many pachyderms in this neck of the woods.”
“Oh yeah, I suppose so,” Alex said, disappointed. He brightened again, saying, “A flamethrower, maybe? Or tanks? How about a nuke?”
“I don’t think it’ll come to nuclear warheads, little buddy, but that animal is huge, and since we don’t have any of those handy I don’t know if we have anything that would pierce the hide of that monster!”
Austin walked back into the compound from the office, saying, “Don’t have one of what handy?”
“An elephant gun to kill the bear,” Trip said with a grin.
“Or a nuclear warhead,” Alex added, hopefully.
“Ah, yes, and here I used my last nuke at the target range last week! That is just too bad. Well, I guess we’ll have to make do and put some signs up around the area in the meantime. And you guys can do me a huge favour!”
“What’s that, Dad?”
“I just got a call from the hospital, and the guy we rescued, Jerry, is finally awake!”
“Awesome!” Alex said, a big smile on his face.
“Yes, and he wants to talk to me for some reason.”
“Really?” Trip asked. “Maybe he wants to thank you.”
“Maybe. Either way, I guess I’ll find out soon. What I was thinking of doing was this: If you can drop me off at the hospital, I’ll stop in and see what Jerry wants while you two go around the city and start putting up some of those signs. I’ll call you when I’m done, and then we’ll meet up with Christine, who should be up and about by then.”
“Sounds like a plan, man! Let's do it,” Trip said.
“Yeah!” Alex agreed. “Maybe we can find an elephant gun somewhere, too!”
“Or a nuke,” Austin added with a smile as he climbed into the passenger side of the City Works Silverado.
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
Austin smiled thoughtfully as he watched Alex entering the 7-11. His son had always been a boy who looked to the well-being of others around him first. Figuring that Jerry was probably not in the best of spirits, he’d asked if they could stop at the store on the way to the hospital to pick up something to brighten the poor guy’s day a little bit. Sometimes, Austin was pleasantly surprised by the actions of his son -- just another one of the things that his son did that so reminded him of his late wife.
“He’s got a lot of Patricia in him,” Trip said, gently, as if reading Austin’s mind.
“Yes, he does,” Austin responded, his smile fading to a wistful expression. “She was always going out of her way to help people in need whenever she could, and it certainly looks like it rubbed off, doesn’t it?”
“He didn’t just learn that from Patricia. You’re almost the same in that respect, ya know. But yeah, you’re raising a good kid there.”
“Thanks.”
They sat in silence for a couple of minutes, Trip munching on another cruller and Austin sipping the double-double that Trip had kindly provided, lost in thought. Alex came back shortly, a bag loaded with goodies in hand.
“What’ve you got there, little buddy?” Trip asked.
Climbing into the Silverado’s cab, Alex said, “I picked Jerry up a couple of magazines.” He reached into the bag and flashed them a copy of People Magazine and The Weekly World News. “And I also got him these,” he said, pulling out a bottle of Coke, a bag of Cheese Pleasers, a Snickers Bar, and last, but not least, a travel-sized toothbrush and toothpaste.
“That’s awesome, Alex! That should keep him busy for a little while,” Austin said with a kindly smile.
“Way to go, little buddy, I’m sure he’ll appreciate those things.” Trip gave the boy a quick thumbs-up as he put the truck in gear.
Despite upgrade projects over several decades, the Lawless Community Health Centre still retained its stately exterior facade. Completely updated inside, the two-story building gave a feeling of permanence and stability to the downtown core and oozed small-town charm. In summertime, a thick quilt of ivy-covered its thick stone walls. But the vibrant, green blanket was gone now, and only dark vines remained, twisting and snaking over the cold, grey stone, leaving the building naked and exposed to the world.
Trip pulled the truck into the porte-cochère entrance over the main entry. Stepping down from the passenger side of the truck, bag of goodies in hand, Austin said, “Okay, guys, I’ll see you in an hour or so. Keep your phone handy, Trip, and I’ll text you when I’m done.”
“Will do, boss, ” Trip said, pulling out his phone and checking the volume level as he spoke.
“See you soon, dad.” Alex exited the back seat of the super cab, giving Austin a quick pat on the back before jumping into the passenger seat next to Trip.
Austin watched the truck pull out onto the street, his breath pluming around his head in the crisp morning air. He looked down at the bag in his hand, and his heart swelled with pride at the thoughtful, caring young man his son had become. If this kept up, he felt he might just overdose on pride. Shrugging, he figured there were probably worse ways to go. He turned toward the automatic doors, and they whisked silently open as he approached.
The hospital, along with city hall, was a striking example of another building in Lawless that had been financed by the gold that flowed through the town in the past. Both structures had benefited immensely from the town’s wealth of precious metals. They had both been built to last as well as impress. Their extensive classical architecture now seemed almost out of place in the small but modern village which now surrounded them.
Entering the lobby, Austin marvelled at the interior of the hospital. As he wiped his boots on the thick rubber-backed carpet inside the entrance, he looked down and saw the gleaming white walls reflected in the polished, Italian marble floor.
At the beautiful oak reception desk, Vera Plotnikoff sat scribbling way on another crossword puzzle. She was one of the many volunteers that worked at the hospital, helping the small community health centre stay on budget. The elderly woman was almost a permanent fixture in the lobby, having been there for so long. Since retiring from teaching elementary school, she'd been sitting behind the massive desk, doing crossword after crossword while waiting to help people locate their ailing loved ones inside the building. She'd always had a soft spot for Austin, as he'd been one of her favourite students, many many moons before. But despite the intervening years, she was still sharp as a tack. When Vera saw Austin enter the lobby, she recognized him at once, saying, “Well, well, young Mr. Murphy. What brings you to the hospital this on this fine day?”
“Morning Mrs. Plotnikoff, How’re you doing?”
“I’m right as rain and fit as a fiddle, thanks for asking!”
“Excellent! Well, I’m here to visit the man they brought in from the bear attack a couple of days ago, Jerry Benson. Apparently, he’s conscious now, and he’s asked to speak to me.”
“Well, maybe it’s to thank you! I heard you saved his life.” Vera clapped her hands together in a small round of applause as she spoke.
“Yes, ma’am, we pulled him out of a pretty bad predicament.”
“That was very, very nice of you, Austin! You were always one of my better st
udents and such a nice young man. Well, I won’t hold you up -- it looks like you’ve got places to go and people to see.” Vera scanned the small directory book in front of her and said, “He’s in Room 222.”
“Thanks, Mrs. Plotnikoff, you have yourself a lovely day.”
“I will, you as well, dear!”
***
Jerry Benson’s hospital room was very, very white. This morning, after his return to consciousness, as he lay there, trying not to think, the glaring whiteness of it all was one of the first things he’d noticed. It reminded him of the snow at the campsite, before it had been stained with the blood of his college brothers. Now, every time he closed his eyes to stop seeing all the white, just as he dozed off, the enormous grey beast rose unbidden in his mind, bursting through the campfire of his memory and charging at him, wanting to devour him. Then his eyelids would snap wide open, and he’d be staring at all the white again. Now, just as he felt himself nodding off again, the image arose unbidden from his subconscious, flying to the forefront of his mind, and his eyelids flew apart once more.