Stranded With The Snow Leopard

by Jade White

  All of a sudden, a sound of something igniting filled Kim’s ears. She screamed as an intense wave of heat engulfed her. She felt herself being tackled by something big and heavy. As she fell to the ground, her head slammed to the pavement and she lost consciousness.

  She came to, surrounded by people. Keith was holding her head and she smelled an acrid, chemical smelling smoke. She gagged and felt bile rising in her throat. Keith quickly rolled her to her side as she vomited the contents of her stomach all over the side of the road.

  The wail of sirens filled the air as fire trucks and ambulances raced to the scene. Kim’s vision faded in and out, and everything seemed foggy. People were running towards the burning store with buckets and garden hoses in a vain attempt to salvage the building that was engulfed in flames. The cacophony filled her ears and she couldn’t make much sense out of what was happening.

  She felt herself being rolled over onto a stiff back board, and a restrictive collar put around her neck as paramedics tended to her. Keith stood off to the side with a helpless look on his face as he watched Kim get loaded up onto the ambulance. The closest hospital was St. George, and his truck was in the shop for repairs.

  Keith grabbed his phone from his pocket and punched Tony’s number in. It finally rang. After the second ring, Tony finally picked up the phone.

  Keith didn’t wait for him to say anything. “Where the fuck are you? The general store is burning to the ground, Smiley did it, Betty and Rusty saw it, and your deputy was useless as tits on a bull and let him get away!” he shouted into the phone.

  “Wait, what?” Tony slurred into the phone, either drunk, or was woken up from a sleep.

  “Yeah, get your ass out here right now, Kim’s been hurt, the store is burning down to the ground, the volunteers are doing all they can to keep it contained, but we need you here to call in the water bomber to make sure it gets put out for good.”

  “Shit!” Tony exclaimed. “I’ll be right there, I passed out last night and forgot to charge my phone...fuck, fuck, fuck.” He cursed himself as he hung up on his cousin.

  Tony rolled over and got out of his bed. He pulled on his uniform and charged out the door. His eyes widened at the sight of smoke billowing up behind the residential area. He ran towards the scene of the inferno and immediately took charge.

  “Alan!” he barked at his slack-jawed deputy, “Get your ass on the phone and get the fire department here, now!” He took in the scene and noticed an ambulance pulling away, and strode over to his cousin. “Who’s in the back?” he asked.

  “Kim...” Keith replied glumly. “We were going around to get Smiley, who was about to set the store on fire, but we were too late. He hit the match and it went off. Junior tackled her to keep her safe from the flames. I tried to chase him but I was confused by the smell of smoke and everything.”

  Tony placed a hand on his cousin’s shoulder. “It’s okay; you tried the best you can.” He pulled out his notebook. “OK, cop hat on time, you gotta tell me what you saw so I can start an investigation.”

  Keith nodded and recounted the events leading up to the fire as best as he could. Tony nodded as he jotted down the notes and he was pissed that the key witness was off to St. George with a possible concussion.

  He interviewed the other witnesses. Betty and Rusty both stood there shaking and crying as they watched their entire livelihood go up in smoke. He fired his deputy on the spot after getting his side of the story, and then he ran to the police station to grab the yellow crime scene tape from its drawer.

  He cordoned off the area as best as he could without keeping the firefighters from doing their jobs. Water poured from hoses onto the burning structure. The blaze was contained in short order, so no damage to the adjacent structures occurred.

  The garage and gas station were across the street from the store, so keeping the flames from leaping to the orchard, then to the gas pumps was the fire department’s main priority. If that happened, the entire town would get wiped off the map and the casualties would have been catastrophic. Tony then picked up his radio and called for the RCMP arson investigation unit. This was the second arson in two weeks, and this one had been personal.

  All witnesses stated they saw a man who looked just like Smiley skulking around the store before the fire started. As the firefighters staunched the blaze, the fire marshal motioned for Tony to follow him around the back of the smouldering building, since the immediate danger of fire had passed.

  As they turned the corner, Tony saw a tipped over, empty gas can lying on the ground a hundred feet away, like it was tossed there as the suspect fled the scene. He took a picture of it with his phone and noted where and when it was located at the crime scene. He then picked it up with a stick and carried it to the front of the building where an RCMP officer had been waiting.

  The tall blonde officer’s eyes widened as he saw Tony come around the corner with the bright red gas can precariously dangling at the end of a stick so as not to ruin the finger prints. The officer motioned to his dark haired partner to go to the cruiser and grab an evidence bag big enough for the can.

  “Don’t worry,” Tony assured the officer. “I documented the location of the gas can before I moved it. I didn’t want to risk the building collapsing on it and us losing a valuable piece of evidence.”

  The officer nodded as they sealed the bag and placed the time and date on it. “You should go print off that picture so we can stick it on the bag.” He had a thick French accent. RCMP Officers were posted from various parts of the country, similar to the military, so they might not be policing their home communities during their careers.

  “Yeah, I’ll get right on that.” Tony started to head towards the police station. He was able to transfer the photo from his phone to a wireless printer. Since they were standing close enough to the police station trailer, Tony was able to send the photo over the WiFi connection in the police station to the printer. He quickly stepped back into the station and picked up the photo he had printed.

  He ran back to the RCMP officer and handed him the photo, the officer then grabbed a clear plastic envelope with an adhesive back from his cruiser and placed the photo inside. He then removed the backing from the envelope and stuck it to the evidence bag which held the empty gas can.

  After a few hours of dealing with the disaster, he found his way to Keith’s house. He knocked politely on the door. After a minute, a disheveled Keith appeared.

  “Hey, do you want a lift to St. George to see how Kim is doing? My truck still works and you don’t have to pay me for gas...”

  Keith brightened up a little. “Sure I’d like that,” he replied while stepping out of his house, locking the door behind him.

  “We can’t stay long, eh? I have one bitch of a mound of paperwork to fill out because of the fire. Most of it is for Rusty and Betty’s insurance agent. But the RCMP wants their copies. as well.” Tony sighed. It seemed as if his days of being the police chief of a sleepy town were behind him. With Smiley running around as the prime suspect, he had to do as much as he could to keep his community safe. He failed once, he wouldn’t fail again.

  As they got in the truck, Keith noticed that his cousin seemed deeply troubled. “Hey, what’s up?” he asked as Tony turned the ignition.

  Tony closed his eyes, his narrow face marked with pain. “I fucked up at my job today,” he said through gritted teeth. He was furious with himself. “I forgot to charge my phone and when the town needed me I wasn’t there.”

  “Hey, it could have happened to anyone,” Keith consoled his cousin as he pulled out of the driveway. “I forget to charge my phone all the time. Boy, does it piss off my clients sometimes.”

  “That’s different. People don’t die when websites go down.”

  Keith couldn’t argue with that. He looked out the window and took in the snow-capped peaks of the Canadian Rockies that cut into the dark blue sky of summer and spent the rest of the 45 minute drive in silence, as Tony took them towards St. Geor
ge in his beat up old pickup. He hoped Kim wasn’t too badly injured after Junior tackled her when the building erupted in flames. That kid didn’t know his own strength half the time, but in that instance, it saved Kim’s life. She didn’t need to know about the shards of glass and wood that narrowly missed impaling her as the store’s windows exploded.

  *

  Kim woke up in the uncomfortable hospital bed with a splitting headache. The astringent smell of the facility caused her to gag. She grabbed for the kidney shaped dish on the table next to her and retched into it. She reached for the nurse call button to let them know she was awake.

  A short, matronly nurse entered her room. Her mousey brown hair was greying and she was somewhat chubby. “How are you feeling now, dear?” she asked.

  “Head hurts like a motherfucker,” Kim replied, “And I puked again.”

  “Oh, I’ll get rid of that,” the nurse said as she grabbed the vile dish and took it to the small bathroom. “There we go,” she said after she exited the privy. “Now let me take your vitals, and a neurologist will be in to see you soon to check on you. You might need a CT scan just to see if there’s any real damage done to that noggin of yours.”

  Kim nodded, wincing with the motion. The nurse took her blood pressure and oxygen levels, while drawing blood from Kim’s other arm. “Oh, can I get something for this headache?” she asked. “I don’t want to wake up puking again.”

  “That’s not a problem, dear. I’ll go nag the neurologist to see you right away. He doesn’t like doing evaluations on people under medication for some reason, and there’s no reason for you to suffer.”

  “Thanks,” Kim replied. She lay back down in bed, hoping to get a little more sleep, but the throbbing in her head made that nearly impossible. She also had to go to the bathroom really badly.

  “Umm, before you go, can you help me to the bathroom?” she asked.

  The nurse smiled and nodded. “Actually, you aren’t allowed out of bed but I can grab a bed pan for you, hang on.”

  Kim was mortified that she had to use a bedpan, but it made sense since they didn’t know how bad her concussion was.

  The nurse instructed her on how to use the medical device, then left her to it. The nurse handed Kim a washcloth to clean herself after relieving herself and took the full receptacle and emptied it in the toilet. “Now, you try to get some rest, I’ll see if the neurologist can make it down here in the next few minutes or so.”

  “Thanks,” Kim replied, closing her eyes. “Can you turn the lights off, too, please? It makes everything ten times worse.”

  “Not a problem, dear,” the nurse said solicitously as she turned the lights off and closed the door to the spartan hospital room.

  Kim tried not to cry as she remembered the flash of fire that erupted at the exact moment she was tackled to the ground. She knew the general store was long gone, probably nothing left except a pile of ash and cinders. She cursed Tony for not having his phone on, he could have done something if his phone wasn’t dead at the time.

  She was startled out of her thoughts by a soft knock at the door. A crack of light appeared and a stocky Middle Eastern Man popped in. “I’m Doctor Ahmed, may I come in? I’m the neurologist.”

  “Sure,” Kim replied, “Is this going to take long? I really need something for the pain.”

  “Don’t worry, I just want to check if you need to go up for a CT scan. If you just have a minor concussion, we can give you pain medication and send you home and have someone observe you for a few days.”

  Kim nodded as the neurologist began his examination of her. He poked her feet, made her grip his hands and other tests to check her motor skills. He then shone a light in her eyes and made her track it. The bright light felt like an ice pick entering her brain. She tried not to wince but he had to repeat it a few more times because of her pain reaction.

  The doctor finished his examination and checked Kim’s medical file. “Your X-rays show no fractures so you’re okay on that end. Seems that you only have a mild concussion, luckily enough. You’ll still need to be observed, especially after we give you pain medication. You’ll stay here overnight until the pain goes away and you’ll be good to go,” he stated brusquely as he left Kim’s room, closing the door behind him.

  Kim sunk back down onto the hard hospital mattress and tried to snooze. Sleep was hard to come by until the nurse came in and injected something into her IV line. Her headache faded and she closed her eyes and fell asleep.

  Two hours later, she was roused by the nurse to do a wellness check. She did a rudimentary neurological exam to check how cognizant she was, and checked her vitals. “So, you have some visitors, do you feel up to see them?”

  “Sure.” She had a feeling it was either Tony or Keith along with Rusty. She secretly hoped it wasn’t Tony, since she wasn’t exactly thrilled with him right now. Sure, mistakes can happen but this one almost cost people their lives; it most definitely cost them their livelihoods.

  She was surprised to see both Keith and Tony shuffle into her hospital room. Keith was carrying a bouquet of roses, and Tony had a Mylar balloon with a picture of a teddy bear and well wishes on it.

  Keith cleared his throat. “Hey, how are you feeling?” he asked as he placed the vase of roses on the table next to her bed.

  “Like shit. Can you tell me what the fuck happened? Who knocked me down?”

  “Junior did,” Keith replied. “The glass exploded and would have hit you if you kept going forward. He didn’t get too badly hurt, just some of his fur got singed.”

  “That’s good, and thank him for me, please,” Kim said, her speech was slightly slurred due to the pain medication to keep her headache at bay.

  “Smiley got away, and the store was a write off, I’m afraid,” Tony filled her in. “But don’t worry, I’ll catch that son of a bitch if it’s the last thing I do.” Tony’s voice was filled with restrained anger; he still hadn’t stopped kicking himself over what had transpired that day. “Look, I’m sorry, I thought I had my phone plugged in, but I guess I didn’t. Sometimes on my days off I have a few beers. Guess I had one too many last night.”

  Kim looked at him and noticed tears swimming in his dark eyes. “It happens to everyone.” She felt better, knowing he was being harder on himself than she would have been if she were in her right mind.

  Tony nodded glumly. He’d be kicking himself for a long time over this. “Anyway, how long do you think you’ll be in here?”

  “Doctors want to observe me overnight and then I can go home. Has to do with the medication and the concussion. The whole sleepy thing.”

  Keith nodded. “It makes sense. My truck should be out of the shop by tomorrow so I can come pick you up, if that’s okay with you.”

  “Yeah, I think it’s a good idea. Tony you drove down, right? Don’t want you using any more gas than you have to,” Kim said

  Tony had to agree. As much as he was smitten by Kim, he needed to keep his truck tanked up for emergencies.

  The nurse popped her head into the room. “Visiting hours are almost finished, you should start getting a move on now. She’ll be here in the morning.”

  The two men looked at each other awkwardly. Then they both bent down and gave Kim a kiss on the top of her raven hair. “We’ll see you tomorrow,” Tony said as he started out the door, emotion showing on his chiseled face. “And I’m sorry for what happened. It won’t happen again, I promise.” He turned on his heel and waited in the hallway for Keith to say his piece.

  “Hey, don’t be too hard on Tony. He’s really kicking himself over the general store thing.” Keith felt a need to defend his cousin, for some strange reason. “Really, you need to get some rest, and I’ll come pick you up in the morning. Rusty and Betty are fine, so is Junior. Insurance will cover the cost to rebuild the store so you’ll have a job in a few months, tops. We’re all pitching in on it.”

  Kim perked up a little bit, since she had been mourning the fate of the little general store. T
hose kinds of stores were a dying breed in general, usually replaced by big box stores in short order, but the companies didn’t bother sending a box store up to Predator Springs, it was too small, sleepy and remote. It wasn’t worth the investment. Luckily, the fire happened in the summer so everything could be fixed as quickly as possible, in time for the youngling’s first transformation, not to mention the mating ceremony. Poor Rusty and Betty had quite a bit on their plates before the fire, now it was just adding more stress to their twilight years.

  Keith touched her hand before he left the room. His soft face shone with love for the injured woman. He sincerely hoped she would pick him over Tony. Either way, she had to pick or they both would turn into their animal forms forever.

  Kim lay back down on the hospital bed, exhausted from the combination of the medication and the visit. She wanted to keep her composure around both men, and after they had left, she lost it. She began crying hysterically as the day’s events finally hit her.

  The nurse heard her sobbing and came in the room. “Are you okay? Did those men say or do anything to you?”

  Kim blew her nose into a Kleenex that she had pulled from the box next to her bed. “No, neither one said or did anything to make me cry. It’s just... everything that happened today started to hit me.”

  The nurse sat down on the side of Kim’s bed. “Musta been one hell of a day. Wanna tell me what happened?”

  “Well my crazy psycho ex decided to try to kill me, or fuck with my head, one or the other. He killed my family a few months back... he still hasn’t been caught.” Kim explained to the matronly nurse. “He hasn’t been caught by the cops yet. Anyway, he showed up at the store the other day, threatened to kill me but my co-worker kept it from happening. My ex fled before the cops could arrive. He is slipperier than an eel, I swear. Then today, I guess he didn’t know we were closed Sundays, so he burnt the general store down, hoping to either kill me or someone close to me.”