Claw

by Katie Berry

  The wounds Austin had inflicted upon the monster hadn't slowed it down too much, and it steadily approached him, dragging the latticework of steel behind itself as it went. The metal framing scraped huge chunks of ice and snow out of the ground as it moved. Apparently, getting out of the lobby hadn’t posed as much of a problem for the creature as getting into it did. He waited a moment to make sure the animal didn’t give up following him and double back on the Golden Castle seniors.

  The beast suddenly whipped around, jaws snapping and teeth cracking, as it tried to tear away the steel struts tangled around its damaged posterior and leg. It snarled and bayed in frustration. This new sound was enough to get the seniors inside screaming all over again inside the casino, and the animal turned its head back toward them once more, suddenly recalling its recently forgotten buffet inside the building behind it.

  Austin fired another round at the creature to jar its memory and remind it that he was still there as well and that he wasn’t going anywhere. The shot missed and ricocheted off into the fog, but it was enough. The beast snapped its head around and glared at Austin, advancing toward him once more.

  Standing defiantly before it, the beast howled at this prey that had stung it repeatedly, and it raged anew. It wanted to crush the cause of its pain between its salivating jaws, squashing the irritating little creature that was still annoying it. Austin slung the rifle over his shoulder and turned, moving into the fog.

  The last of the daylight had disappeared, the sun finally setting behind mountains it had only hidden behind earlier. Illuminated by the sputtering flares, only a faint silhouette of the creature was visible as it surged through the fog. Austin called out Alex's name as he moved, searching for the boy. Where was he?

  The beast’s laboured breathing grew louder as it drew closer to him. He attempted to run, but his feet lost purchase on the sloping, icy ground. With the last of the daylight gone, the temperature continued to drop, and the buildup of ice was accelerating. In spite of the exceptional grip of his boots, he felt his feet began to slip repeatedly, and he went down painfully on one knee. Behind him, the scrape of claws on the frozen ground echoed in the fog as the beast continued moving up the lane behind him.

  Austin pressed the butt of the T-Rex into the ground, trying to stand but began to slip once more. Suddenly, strong hands reached out and helped him to his feet. “You need to get up, now!”

  As Austin clamoured to his feet, he looked up into the face of his saviour. “Alex! Thank God!”

  “You don’t have time to rest, Dad!”

  “I know! I wasn’t resting. It's as icy as hell here!”

  “That’s why I have these." The boy held up his foot to show what he’d found in the resort maintenance truck. Ice-gripping elasticised cleats were stretched over the soles of his boots, allowing him to walk easily on the ice-slicked lane. You said you were trying to head the bear toward the maintenance shed, so I laid those flares to guide you since I knew you'd have your hands full!”

  "You're awesome, kiddo!"

  “Thanks!” His son continued, "And I made this for you!” He held up something that looked a little larger than a two-litre bottle of pop and handed it to his father.

  Turning it quickly over in his hands, he saw he was holding an M4 oxygen tank with an unlit flare attached to it. His son had used several metres of a true Canadian favourite to secure the flare to the bottom of the aluminum cylinder -- it was swathed in duct tape. Alex concluded, “I saw someone do it in a movie once, and I thought you’d like to give the bear a warm welcome! ”

  “Great idea!” Austin beamed at his son. Tearing the cap off the fusee on the tank, he turned. The orange glare of the flares illuminated the predator's massive silhouette as it loomed in the fog. It was so close, Austin could smell the pungent stink of its matted pelt as it raged after them. He quickly slapped the flare’s cap against the phosphorus inside to ignite it. The flare was positioned on the cylinder so that its molten, seven-hundred-degree Celsius tip would start burning near the bottom of the oxygen tank and hopefully turn the device into a makeshift bomb.

  Backing up a bit more to give a couple of seconds for the bomb to cook a little, Austin threw the oxygen cylinder toward the creature. It clattered along the ice, coming to a stop next to the beast’s mammoth front paws.

  The beast looked down at this sputtering, hissing thing at its feet and went to swipe it away. As it did, the oxygen container exploded with a flash and a bang that startled not only the bear but both Austin and Alex as well with its ferocity.

  Pieces of shrapnel flew past father and son, missing them by only centimetres. The bear was not as lucky, and as Austin and Alex hoped, and the bottle exploded near its right forepaw, blowing a huge chunk of flesh from it. The creature shrieked with pain and protectively held up its wounded limb as blood flowed profusely from the gaping hole.

  Father and son turned and clambered up the lane’s incline with Alex helping Austin gain purchase on the icy ground as they moved. They didn’t need to look back to see what the bear was doing, its shriek of rage and pain behind them was more than enough to let them know they were still foremost in the monster’s mind and that they’d better haul ass, or die.

  The flares led them around another corner toward the maintenance shed. Austin saw the faint outline of the Lawless City Silverado parked next to it and hollered, “Trip! We’re here, and we’ve got company! Get the party favour ready!”

  Alex and Austin approached the large shed door, hearing the beast roaring behind them with renewed pain and anger. A low rumbling growl of building rage suddenly came from deep within the creature’s throat. Its ruined forepaw no longer supported its weight, and it limped toward them, now only ten metres away, closing fast in the fog, despite its wounds.

  They stood with their backs against the maintenance shed door. Looking with concern into the fog, with fear strong in his voice, Alex said, “Uh, Dad, shouldn’t we be getting out of here?”

  “Hang on, hang on…” Austin said, holding his hand up to silence the boy.

  “But, Dad!”

  “Just a second longer…”

  The beast was so close now that they could smell the fetid stench of its numerous victims still lodged in its teeth. Alex’s face wrinkled in disgust.

  The tremendous bruin stood erect on its hind legs, rearing to its full height. It towered over the men; its head now level with the peak of the maintenance shed roof, five metres up. It shrieked in anger as its lifeblood poured from its wounds, its ruined forepaw pumping a geyser of crimson that spattered onto the ice-covered ground in a rich, red Rorschach pattern.

  "I hope you bleed to death, you big ugly bastard!" Austin said. He pounded heavily on the shed door with the back of his hand and hollered, “Now, Trip!”

  The maintenance shed door at their backs rolled up on well-oiled hinges like an express elevator.

  Austin dropped to the ground, pulling Alex down with him. Using his own body as a protective shield to his son, he shouted, “Cover your ears!” He put both of his heavy, leather-gloved hands over his own ears, feeling Alex do the same beneath him.

  Inside the maintenance shed, Trip stood to the side of the howitzer cannon. Dayglo ear protectors on, one hand holding the lanyard, ready to pull the firing lever. His eyes widened when he saw the full height of the beast outside, now fully erect in front of him. Feeling anger welled up inside him as he thought of all the people that died for no reason, other than to slake this creature's insatiable hunger. Pulling the lanyard down to fire the howitzer, he shouted, “Baby says bye-bye!”

  The cannon didn't just ‘go off’, but instead seemed to explode in the confines of the small shed. Trip’s eardrums would have surely ruptured had he not been wearing the ear protectors.

  Blinding light erupted from the muzzle of the 105mm gun. It kicked backward, knocking into the rear wall of the shed as the explosive shell left the muzzle at a rate of over one and a half kilometres per second.

  Trip’
s aim was low, but he struck the bear, knocking it backward to the ground as the shell vaporised its right leg. The beast tottered for a moment, looking toward Trip as if wondering how this small annoying creature could have injured it so, then fell to the ground, writhing and squealing in pain. Liquified intestines and stomach contents sloshed out of the gaping hole where its leg had been. An entrail tidal wave spread across the maroon-coloured ice, stopping just before it washed into Alex and Austin's prone bodies.

  Pulling himself off of his son, Austin Murphy allowed the boy to sit up. They looked toward the mewling bear, its life's blood pumping into the crystalline ice before them.

  Alex said wonderingly, “Holy crap, Uncle Trip, I think you got it!”

  “Yeah, but now I need to finish the job. Since I only had time to pack one shell for the howitzer, we'll have to do this the old-fashioned way.” Trip moved toward the bear, avoiding the pile of intestines and gore spread across the ice. He unslung the .30-06 from his shoulder.

  Augustidens Arctotherium snapped at his legs as he approached, reaching its good paw toward him, perhaps trying to snag him and eviscerate him, but it was a weak effort, its life force now coating the frozen ground.

  Trip put the gun to the beast's temple, saying, “All it takes is one well-placed shot.” He pulled the trigger. The shell penetrated the beast’s brain, and its outstretched paw slumped to the ground, a final sigh of air escaping its bloody maw from now-stilled lungs.

  Inside the maintenance shed next to the howitzer was a pair of snowmobiles. The shed usually housed four of them, but two had already been taken, presumably to the mine along with Nichols and Chance, perhaps with Christine, no one knew for sure.

  Seeing the keys already in the ignitions of the sleds, Austin climbed aboard the closest one, saying, “All right, let’s get moving,” Alex hopped on behind his father, with Trip straddling the second snowmobile.

  “But, Dad, what about Jerry, don’t we need him?”

  Austin said, “He’s going to be our next stop. He got hit hard by one of the entrance doors, and I don’t know how he is right now, but we’re going to find out. Glad to see we’re thinking along the same wavelength here, sport. Let’s hope he’s okay since we don’t have a GPS receiver with a location for that cavern now, not to mention the return of this fog complicates things as well, so we’ll need his help finding Christine for sure."

  “Well, I’ve got room for one more,” Trip said. “Let’s go see how our little geologist buddy is doing.” He started his engine and revved it up.

  The ice continued to build as they made their way toward the casino. The aggressive treads of the Arctic Cats studded treads dug in with little problem, making the trip down the lane an uneventful one.

  Approaching the entrance to the casino through the fog, Alex thought the place looked like one of those videos from the evening news where a terrorist’s bomb had torn apart a busy marketplace. The blood from the woman who had been eaten was all over the place, sprayed amongst the twisted metal of the steel-framed entryway, and splashed along the splintered framework of the casino’s walls that jutted out in spots. Several seniors wandered around near the entrance; no doubt still shell-shocked from the trauma.

  “Wow, what a mess,” Alex said from behind his dad as they pulled up on the sleds.

  The three men walked carefully on the ice-sheened ground, not wanting to slip and fall on any broken glass or metal shrapnel that lay scattered about from the bear’s attack. Austin was first through the mangled entrance into the lobby and shook his head as he surveyed the damage.

  Most of the seniors were huddled in the back corner of the casino near the video roulette table now. Some were poking their heads out of the galley door that lead to the kitchen. At the base of the Million Dollar Slots, several elderly women were tending to Jerry, who was sprawled out, half-covered in casino tokens.

  Austin was about to check on Jerry, when Stanley Scrill approached him, saying, “Say there, sonny!” The man’s bushy white eyebrows were knitted in consternation. Austin nodded toward him, watching the man get even more excited as he recognised him from earlier. “Say, aren’t you the one who was shootin’ up the casino?”

  “That would be me,” Austin admitted.

  “Well, that was a hell of a racket, you just about gave me a coronary infartion!” the man exclaimed, mispronouncing the word, much to Austin’s amusement. He continued, “And what in the hell happened out there? Did you kill that big bastardly thing?”

  “Yes sir, it won’t be causing any more problems.”

  “About time! It just about gave my Rosemarie a heart attack!” Austin nodded in commiseration.

  Seeing Austin otherwise occupied, Trip made his way toward Jerry.

  “I told you, Polly, don’t move him!” one little blue-haired lady exclaimed to a second, hair equally as blue. The latter lady was attempting to pull Jerry upright into a sitting position using the crook of her cane on his neck.

  “And I said I wasn’t moving him, Holly!” the first woman snapped. “I was only trying to make him more comfortable and see if he was awake! Plus, I used to be a nurse, you know!”

  “Yeah, I know, in a veterinary hospital!”

  Trip walked up behind the two arguing seniors, his large circumference creating a shadow over the pair. Both jumped slightly and let out a small squeak of fright. He figured the silhouette of his doughnut-honed physique was enough to make them think the bear had returned, looking for some dessert, something containing some genuine granny goodness, perhaps. “Sorry, ladies, didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “Well, ya did!” Holly said, her face wrinkling up in a mixture of surprise and relief.

  “Damn straight!” Polly said, her own face trying to look stern, but the wideness of her eyes betrayed her fear.

  “I’m just checking on my friend there,” Trip said, nodding toward Jerry’s supine form. “If you ladies don’t mind, I’d like to check to see how he’s doing?”

  “He’s doing just fine thanks to us!” Holly chimed in.

  “Probably doesn’t even know that damned bear helped him win the jackpot!” Holly concluded. “Anyway, suit yourself,” Polly said, stepping back and releasing her support of Jerry’s neck from the hook of her cane's handle.

  Kneeling next to Jerry, Trip took his head gently in his hands and placed his fingers lightly onto Jerry’s neck, checking his pulse. It was strong and steady, and he seemed to be breathing comfortably on his own, with no visible sign of trauma. Trip tried a little more stimulation and gently slapped Jerry’s face with his open palm, saying, “C’mon Jerry, little buddy, wakey-wakey!”

  After a couple more gentle slaps, the man gradually came around, batting Trip’s hands away, saying, “I told you I don’t want to go to school today, Mom!”

  “Sorry buddy, it’s a school day.” Trip said gently. He grabbed the man’s face in his thick-fingered hands, saying, “Jerry, it’s me, Trip, from the rescue. How’re you doing?”

  Jerry’s body jolted awake as if shocked by electricity, and he sat upright, eyes wide open. “Did we get it? Where is it? Is it dead?”

  Trip put a hand on the man’s shoulder and said, “Calm down, little buddy. Yes, we got him.”

  “Thank God!” Jerry felt his heart swell with relief. He looked at where he was sitting and suddenly recalled the front entrance door exploding into his face as he tried to help the prone woman and then remembered flying through the air.

  “How’s that woman doing?”

  “Sorry, buddy, she didn’t make it. But we can still help Christine. We still need to get up to the cavern. Since Austin received that text message, we haven’t heard anything more from her. Plus the quake hit right after she got there, so who knows what kind of trouble she might be in.”

  Austin had finally extricated himself from Stanley Scrill’s interrogation and approached the pair, interjecting, “Remember, we need your help to find her.”

  “Right…“ Jerry trailed off for a moment,
the joy of victory that puffed out his chest slowly deflated like a leaky balloon. It was quickly replaced, however, by a desire to help these men who had risked their own lives to save his and everyone else’s at the resort. Jerry wanted to pay it forward and help the next person in need.

  “Yes! Absolutely! I forgot in all the excitement! This unplanned nap I just took here didn’t help.” Jerry tried to stand and then abruptly sat back down on his rump once more.

  “Take it easy, buddy. Take it slow,” Trip gently hooked one hand under Jerry’s armpit on his uninjured, cast-free side, while Austin did the same on the other, grabbing him by the waist. Together, they slowly helped the man to his feet. Once standing for a few seconds, Jerry seemed to stabilise, and they released their grip on him. He swayed a moment, but found his centre of gravity and seemed to be doing okay.