by Katie Berry
And then she thought of the insanity of trying to mine this gold while there was a ravenous monster in the area eating everything in sight, their own workers included. Could the lust for gold drive people crazy enough to ignore things like that? Well, she thought, if it does, then here comes two more living, breathing examples of this fever right now.
Turning her head slightly, she watched the approaching procession. Chance walked in the lead, weaving his way toward her, speaking to himself under his breath. He was muttering something about how a certain someone could go ahead and piss off with their potholes and spee-lunking and shove it up their egress.
Bringing up the rear was His Highness, the Mayor of Lawless, his flashlight glowingly illuminating the way ahead of his exalted feet. But in the process, it also had the unfortunate effect of illuminating the top of Ray Chance’s butt-crack; it glowed a pale, luminous white like a mushroom in the moonlight.
“Oh, lovely,” Christine said, “here come the ladies from the Welcome Wagon.”
VanDusen gave Christine another quick jab in the back with the muzzle of his gun again, saying, “Shut your gob, Missy!”
“Or what? You’re going to kill me already. What are you going to do? Make me even deader?”
Arriving on the scene, Nichols said, “Reggie, would you stop harassing and poking the poor girl. You’re going to leave a mark on her lovely pale skin.”
“There’ll be plenty more than that on her by the time she ends up at the bottom of one of these holes,” VanDusen retorted with a grin waving his gun at a nearby lava tube.
“Yeah, let’s dump her and get the hell out of here!” Chance interjected from the Mayor’s side. The fumes from his breath made Nichols turn his head slightly and gasp for breath.
“Ray, please, would you back up a couple of feet? You’re making my eyes water,” Nichols said, waving his hand in front of his face and coughing slightly. He continued, “As I was going to say, let’s not get too carried away here, Reggie.” He turned to Chance, “I don’t think we’re going to be eradicating our little complication here quite yet, Ray. She may prove invaluable in extricating us from our current quandary.”
“Say what?” Chance mumbled.
“She might come in handy for getting us the hell out of this fucking tomb!” Nichols clarified.
“Oh, okay, thanks for dumbing it down, Bob,” Chance slurred.
“Entirely my pleasure.”
Christine interjected, “Great! Since there’s some value to my existence now, would you mind if I stood up? These rocks are getting awfully hard on my knees!”
“Very well. Reggie, if you’d be so kind.”
VanDusen stepped back and gestured with the business end of the gun for Christine to stand, saying, “Keep your hands where I can see them! Anything funny and you’ll have a hole in your spine the size of a dinner plate!”
“Great, I’ll make sure to stop by for the smorg, later,” Christine said as she slowly stood, her shoulders tired from her hands still being raised, but her knees appreciating the relief.
“You're a lippy little bitch,” VanDusen growled.
“And you’re a redneck halfwit, so I guess that makes us even!”
VanDusen turned the gun around, pulling back to jab Christine between the shoulder blades with its stock, when Nichols interceded, saying, “Now, now, children! Let’s see if there’s another way out of this black hole in the wall before things devolve into a donnybrook!”
“You heard the man, Missy, move!” The Chief shoved his gun into his prisoner’s spine once more.
With Christine in the lead, hands held high; the group moved toward the back of the cavern. Steam from the boiling pools obscured the ground near their feet on occasion, causing them to proceed with extreme caution. The exit they were looking for was a horizontal hole out this blackness, not a vertical shaft plummeting straight to hell.
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
The drive to the hospital, ordinarily about two-minutes long, including stops at both traffic lights, took Austin at least ten minutes longer than usual. Some of the sinkholes in the roadway were big enough to swallow their Silverado whole, plus another car as well, so careful negotiation through the destruction was imperative.
“Holy crap,” Alex said, gawking at the damage, “This is nuts.”
“Not the easiest of commutes this afternoon, that’s for sure,” Trip said, shaking his head as he surveyed the work that would be needed to get everything shipshape once more over the next few months.
Austin remembered seeing pictures of the earthquake in Juno, Alaska that occurred on Good Friday, 1964. Downtown Lawless looked like that now. Whole sections of the main thoroughfare were askew, with some city blocks almost an entire storey lower from one end to the other. Dazed citizens wandered the street, most being mindful of the new four-metre drop off the edges of some of the sidewalks. It gave new meaning to the phrase, ‘Watch your next step; it’s a doozy!’
“Just unbelievable,” Austin said softly, shaking his head in wonderment.
They passed a dilapidated garage attached to a local auto-body shop where the entire roof had collapsed inward, the walls now leaning into the centre on all four sides, still trying to support a nonexistent roof. Nearing the police station, it looked like a water main had ruptured. The entire road was now a deep, muddy hole the size of an Olympic swimming pool, requiring them to reroute through the surrounding neighbourhoods to their get to their destination.
About to turn onto the short drive leading up to the hospital, Austin instead accelerated and drove past the entrance.
“Dad! What are you doing?” Alex asked in surprise.
“What do you mean?”
“Aren’t we going to the hospital?” Trip inquired.
“We are, but I just remembered something I need to pick up, first,” Austin said, cryptically.
“Where to, Boss?” Trip asked, his eyebrows raised questioningly.
“The Conservation office.”
“Why?” Alex queried.
“I’m hoping to bag me a T-Rex.”
Much to his surprise, Austin found that he was able to drive the remaining two blocks without the need to circumnavigate any significant holes in the road, downed trees or powerlines. The gate was open to the Conservation office, and he drove to the rear entrance of the building. Apart from a few cracks in the masonry, nothing appeared out of place or damaged in the solid, one-story cinder block structure.
Stepping out of the truck, Austin said, “Be right back, guys. Hang tight!”
“Are you sure you don’t need a hand, Dad?” Alex asked, rolling down the window of the truck.
“I think I’ll be okay, thanks, sport.” Austin trotted around the front of the truck, arriving at the gated portcullis attached to the back of the Conservation office. He pulled a set of keys from his pocket and unlocked the gate. Using the same set of keys, he opened the shop door and flipped on the lights. At least the power was still on, surprisingly enough. When the locksmith had replaced the locks on the Conservation Office a couple of weeks ago, just after Carl’s abrupt disappearance, he’d also left a set of keys with the Public Works department in addition to City Hall. There were many times over the last few years when Austin had needed to drop off, or pick something up from the rear compound when Carl was out and about. Having a spare key had come in handy, so the locksmith had just carried on the tradition.
Finding the keys in the drawer where Christine had left them, Austin unlocked the gun safe and removed the T-Rex rifle. It was still nestled in its Kevlar case along with a box of shells. He hefted the weapon, feeling its weight. Not surprised, he figured something able to deliver the level of firepower that this rifle could certainly wouldn’t be a lightweight.
After locking things back up, Austin climbed behind the wheel of the truck, handing the rifle case to Trip who was in the passenger seat snacking on a Snickers. Wedging it between his legs, he unzipped the case and looked down the barrel of the gun. Raising
both bushy eyebrows and looking for all the world like a bearded Elmer Fudd, Trip noted the size of the bore on the T-Rex, saying, “Are we going hunting for some wascally wabbits?”
Austin replied, “Yeah, so be vewwy, vewwy quiet.” Putting the truck in gear, he headed toward the hospital.
In the back seat, Alex rolled his eyes but still laughed at the joke. He enjoyed the easy friendship between the two men, especially during times of difficulty. Their ability to make a joke in order to diffuse some of the tension was a lesson not lost on him.
Arriving at the hospital, Austin was relieved to see the building appeared relatively unscathed by the quake, still standing tall and solid. Then again, he supposed, a handcrafted, stone structure like the hospital was a little harder to shake apart than a modern wooden house or apartment block.
An ambulance sat parked in the emergency entrance, its lights strobing away, no doubt dropping off someone injured in the quake. Mutt and Jeff were on the job, helping the ambulance attendants unload the vehicle’s occupant.
Austin pulled up to the main, non-emergency entrance, being careful not to block the ambulance in any way, as he was sure they were more than a little busy right now. After the jolt the town suffered, he was sure they’d be making a few more trips back and forth before the day was out. Putting the truck in park, his work phone began to vibrate and ring in his pocket. He quickly pulled it out and hit the talk button without looking at the caller ID, hoping it was more news on Christine. He put the phone to his ear, saying, “Lawless Public Works.”
“Austin! I’m glad to hear your voice, my friend!” It was Len Maxwell, Austin’s counterpart at the BC Highways Department.
“Hey, Len, what’s shakin’?”
“Hah! Just about everything in your goddamned part of the province is vibrating, man, that’s what shakin’!”
“Really? I hadn't noticed.”
“Ever the funny man, Austin,” Len chuckled.
“I presume you didn’t just call to hear the soothing sounds of my voice, did you, Len?”
“No, sir!” Len’s voice suddenly became business-like. “I thought you’d probably have your hands full with everything that was happening up there at the moment. But I thought you’d like to know; you were just hit by a seven-point-eight magnitude quake which stuck about twenty kilometres east of your location. Let me tell you; we felt that one down on the coast here as well.”
“Yeah, I can imagine! Things are pretty messed up around here right now,” Austin replied, the humour no longer in his voice.
“So just to keep you in the loop, you are officially cut off from the rest of the world.”
“What? Again?”
Trip sat up straighter next to Austin, trying to listen in on the conversation.
“Yup, a report just came across my desk. That the slab of rock and snow that we were concerned about back at the beginning of January finally came loose. So we won’t have the pass open for a while, from the looks of things. As you can imagine, other slides are blocking the way which we’ll need to deal with first, before we can even get to your neck of the woods. So I’d say it’d be at least a week before we can start digging things out.”
“You’ve got to be shitting me! How much rock came down?”
“All of it, I think.”
“Unbelievable! All right, Len, thanks very much. I’ll get things going on this side as soon as we get everything else under control and I’ll talk with you then.”
“You’d better believe it, brother. Good luck over there. You’re going to need it!”
“Thanks again, Len.” Austin hung up the phone and said, “Well, that’s just lovely.”
“What is it, Dad?”
“We’re not going to be going anywhere for a while; it seems the pass is closed due to a massive slide. Remember that giant slab of rock, the one I told you about a few weeks ago?” Alex nodded his head in acknowledgement. “It finally broke loose, and we are officially cut off from the rest of civilisation.”
“Again? How long this time, Boss?” Trip asked.
“Len said it’d be about a week before they could get to us to begin digging us out.”
“Jeez,” Trip shook his head.
“But for right now, I want you to stay with the truck, Alex,” Austin said, looking into the back seat toward his son. Alex nodded in understanding.
He turned toward Trip, “I might need you inside the hospital with me.”
“You got it, Boss.”
Alex asked, “Are you going to be long?”
“Shouldn’t be, We’re just going to see if we can get us some extra help to locate Christine.”
“You mean Jerry?”
“Yup. When I was here last, he told me he’d been up near that cavern she texted us from. He said he’d been doing some rock hunting near it the day of the attack. Plus, he had his GPS unit with him, so, hopefully, if he still has it, he can tell us where this cavern is.”
“That’d be great!” Alex enthused.
“Exactly what I thought, sport,” Austin climbed down out of the truck, and Trip mirrored him on the passenger side. The entrance door to the hospital was propped open at the moment, and Austin could see why -- the door frame had shifted during the quake, and now the right side wouldn’t close completely. “If that’s the extent of the damage to this place, we’re getting off easy,” he said.
“I wouldn’t hold my breath,” Trip muttered, as they walked into the lobby.
Glancing around, Austin could see that Trip was correct. The lobby looked normal enough, but upon closer inspection, the hospital was in rougher shape than he’d first thought. There was a fresh web of cracks in the plaster at most of the intersections in the walls, as well as chunks that had crumbled off of other spots and dropped to the floor. He shook his head. Hopefully, it was only minor structural damage -- just another thing they would have to add to the list when the town started cleaning up and repairing the damage to the area in the coming weeks and months.
Looking over to the help desk, he saw it was of no help at the moment. It was deserted, and Vera Plotnikoff nowhere in sight. He presumed she was elsewhere in the hospital giving some assistance to people in need of more help than either Trip or himself.
“Looks like everyone is just a little busy at the moment,” Trip said.
“Not a problem, if Jerry’s still in the same room, we’ll just pop up and pick his brain for a moment.”
They took the stairs, as the elevator, even if it were working, would be a perilous proposition at best. The last thing they needed right now was to get trapped inside a broken elevator. Then again, it was only a two-story structure, so it wasn’t too much of a strain for either of the men to climb the single flight of stairs.
Austin mounted them two at a time, arriving at the second floor without breaking a sweat. Trip came up behind him, one step at a time, puffing slightly when he arrived at the top. It looked like he was no doubt feeling his six-doughnut-a-day habit catching up with him, finally. Austin hoped his friend would take that as a warning sign and cut back on the mega-meals he was so fond of, but held his tongue. On top of everything else, Trip didn’t need Austin giving him a nutritional lecture right now.
Walking down the corridor to Jerry’s room, Trip noted the damage on the top floor of the hospital wasn't as significant as it had been on the lower level. But judging by the labyrinth of cracks in some of the plaster walls, there would still be considerable work required to bring the building back up to code.
Austin entered Jerry’s Benson’s room ahead of Trip, surprised to see the man sitting on the edge of his hospital bed trying to pull a shirt sleeve over the cast on his lower wrist, with little success.
“Going somewhere?” Austin asked, approaching the bed.
Sounding visibly upset, Jerry said, “First, it’s monster bears, then it’s earthquakes! Don’t you people have anything up here in the interior of this province not trying to kill me? I’m so outta here!”
“We
ll, don’t get too far ahead of yourself, my friend. The pass is closed due to our most recent earth-shaker.”
“Seriously? So you’re saying we’re trapped in this valley with a man-eating monster from hell for the foreseeable future? For how long?”
“At least a week,” Austin said, frowning.
“A week! Unbelievable!”
“Yeah, tell me about it.” Trip said, from Austin’s side.
“But that’s where you come in,” Austin added. He bunched his toque up in his hands and spoke earnestly to Jerry. “We’re here because a friend of ours is in trouble, and you’re the only person who might be able to help us find her. We believe she’s at the cavern you discovered before the attack. And I believe you are correct, that cavern is probably that creature’s lair. If we could use your GPS, perhaps it’ll point us in the right direction, which would be great. But then again, you’ve also been up at the cavern as well. It would be so much easier for us to find our friend up there and help her out if you were assisting us. Plus, we may also have something that might just bring that thing down for good.”