The Mountain Town

by Josh Olsen

  Lightheaded, stumbling on every step, Nate continued downward, 3 more floors to go.

  Reaching the last flight, Nate tripped and stumbled, crashing down the metal stairs. Without missing a second, Nate snapped up and plunged through the door. Running, he pushed through the automatic lobby doors, knocking them off their hinges. So focused, so determined, the gasps and shouts from the lobby patrons and the employees bounced off his ears without a second thought. Bursting into the cold night air, Nate ran for his car. “The sherif station, he thought, they’ll know what to do.”

  Reaching the sherifs station, Nate skidded into a spot haphazardly and jumped from the car, rushing inside. Scaring the receptionist half to death, he choked out through panicked breaths, “My….My Boys, I…I need help”

  The receptionist sat at the front desk, unamused, and trying to calm him down, tried to go through procedure. “Sir if you require one of the deputies services please fill out this form and have a seat”

  Nate, unfazed by her instructions, continued. “The woods,….they’re in the woods, they aren’t back…..”

  “We are happy to help you sir,” the receptionist started, “but please fill out this-“

  Nate, crazed from fear and confusion snapped. “God Dammit!” “My boys are lost! they went hiking and haven’t come back! We need a rescue team, we need a, where the hell is your sheriff?!”

  Out of the corner of his eye he saw two men approaching, a hand extended his way, “Sir, my name is Jason Arndt, I’m the sheriff here in Whiteridge” “Did you say you were looking for a boy?”

  “Two boys!” Nate shot back, “My sons, Wyatt and Owen!” They’re in the woods we have to find them!” Jason turned to the man next to him and turned back to Nate.

  “Sir I think you should come with us.” Jason said, his face hung heavy with concern. “We have a boy in the hospital that was just found out in the woods, we’re stumped, we have no idea who he is, he’s in the hospital just down the street, he may be one your boys you’re looking for”

  Nate, panicked looking all around simply offered a grunt of acknowledgement, and followed.

  Chapter 8

  Owen awoke, blinded by the piercing fluorescent lights of the hospital. Focusing his eyes he tried to make out where he was. It all came flooding back at once, his brother, the monster in the woods, this had to be a dream, this couldn’t be happening. Owen’s steady breaths turned to panicked gasps, trying desperately to sit up. He couldn’t, nothing would move, his legs, his arms. His arm! He had passed out from the pain but now could feel nothing in either arm. He heard people enter the room. Owen, slipped into more panic, he took short shallow breaths of air, trying desperately to move.

  Nate followed Jason around the front desk of the hospital, if you could call it that. The fibers of the building reeked with age. The long faded, peeling wallpaper, hung on the dimly lit walls. Its age distorting whatever design it originally held. The front desk, a thick old solid oak structure, covered in scratches from its years of use. The most modern piece of technology in this whole building was the small T.V. hanging from the wall in the waiting room, its rabbit ear antennas bending on the ceiling, a commercial blurred by horrible reception played mutely on its abysmal screen.

  The majority of guests, should they ever injure themselves while vacationing at the Paradise Hotel, were typically flown to the nearest hospital, a few miles down the road into the next town. The emergency helicopter housed in its storage room on the roof of the hotel whisking them away to safety. The guests of the Paradise Hotel expected the best medical care available, and couldn’t be subjected to the so called backwoods, primitive equipment the town had. Another great idea implemented by Mr. Sanders.

  This hospital typically only served local citizens as Nate was quickly shown, the front desk receptionist shooting him a glare as he walked past.

  They entered the back room. Nate’s eyes locked on Owen, lying on the gurney as soon as they entered.

  “Owen!” he rushed to his side, His son laid still, his eyes, glazed, staring off. His arms hung limp at his sides.

  “Oh God,” Nate’s eyes began to well up. Turning to the others he frantically yelled, demanding answers. “What’s wrong with him? He’s…Oh God, he’s dead isn’t he?”

  A doctor emerging from a back supply room quickly jogged over, “Excuse me, what are you doing in here?” he demanded.

  The doctor turned to Jason, “Sherif, who is this man?” “He’s this boy’s father James, he came into the station.”

  Nate frantically turned to the doctor, “What’s wrong with my boy?” tears welling up larger in his eyes. “Well nearly nothing considering where we found him, he’s got a mild concussion, and his arm is broken, other than that he’s fine.” “Why the hell isn’t he moving then?!” Nate demanded.

  “Oh I apologize, Mr…….” James paused,

  “Clawson!” Nate spat out.

  “Mr. Clawson,” James continued. “Your boy is in a state of temporary paralysis caused by shock. Be it from the cold temperatures or the injuries he sustained. Other than that he is fine I promise, we have already checked his spine and legs, no injuries, and he is responding normally to stimuli. So no brain damage is evident, he just needs to rest and he will come out of it in a short time I believe.”

  Owen looked at them, wanting to scream, he could hear them, could hear every word. He just couldn’t move, couldn’t speak. “Dad!” he wanted to cry out, but it felt as if his voice had been stolen.

  “You think?!” Nate shouted,

  “Sir, please calm down, I’ve worked in this town as a physician for nearly 20 years, it can get unbearably cold on the mountain, easily putting someone into shock who isn’t as used to it as locals may be. I’ve seen this type of case hundreds of times, he will be fine, I’ve already set the mold for his cast and I should have it on his arm within the hour and I’ve given him something to make sure he doesn’t fall asleep with his concussion, he will be fine sir I assure you, once he comes out of this temporary state of shock he will be back to normal.”

  Nate, finally accepting James’s word, fell into a warm pool of relief, “Oh thank God,” Nate exhaled, rushing to Owen’s side, holding him tight, his face pressed tightly into hospital gown he now wore, tears coming out of his eyes. “Thank god” he whispered.

  “Mr. Clawson….” Jason started,

  “Nate” Nate retorted quickly, still holding Owen tightly.

  “Nate,” Jason started, his tone sounded worried, “Nate, didn’t you say back at the station you had two boys?”

  Nate’s eyes shot open, his pool of relief immediately drained by panic and dread, he spun around, “Oh my God, Wyatt!” “My boy Wyatt, he’s still out there! We need to find him, a search team, how many officers do you have?!” Nate shouted.

  Owen lay frozen, tears that wanted to come but wouldn’t. He wanted to shout at his Dad, cry and hold him tight. Tell him how his brother was dead, tell him about the horrific monster, that thing, that horrible creature that had killed him out in the woods, and had nearly taken him. Or how he ran until his tears froze solid and his legs begged to stop.

  He wanted to feel safe, his beacon of sanctuary, his father was right in front of him. Yet he was paralyzed unable to reach him. He wanted to throw himself into his fathers arms and just let go. “Don’t go in the woods” he thought, “Dad please.” He couldn’t lose his father now too.

  “Just Dane here,” Jason stated solemnly, gesturing to the deputy next to him, “he’s the only one on duty right now, the rest of my officers aren’t due at the station til 8 and it would take over an hour to round them all up. Most of them are probably still sleeping. If your boy is still out there Nate, we need to go now.”

  “Alright then,” Nate said, panicked, “Let’s go.” He started to walk out but was stopped by Deputy Black.

  Turning to the sheriff he said, “Hold up Sheriff, 3 people ain’t much of a search party, if we’re gonna cover any ground worth covering we�
�d need two groups, and that’d put one of us out there alone, and that ain’t ever safe, especially this early.”

  Jason sighed, “You may be right Dane.” he responded.

  Nate, confused and infuriated shouted at them. “What the hell are you talking about?! My boy is out there in the woods we need to move!”

  “Jason?” A confused voice interrupted them from behind.

  The men turned around to see Clark, fumbling to put his jeans on, his hospital gown crumpled on the floor behind him, a large bandage on his head.

  “Clark!” Jason said, turning to the doctor, “You didn’t tell me Clark was up yet,”

  The doctor shrugged, “I hadn’t gotten a chance to.”

  Jason turned back to Clark, “Clark you’ve been in the hospital a couple of days, nobody had heard from you so we sent a couple officers to you’re place,”

  “I know” Clark cut in, “The doc explained it all to me, tripped on something and gave myself one hell of a bump on the head, what’s all this…noise about?” Gesturing towards the men.

  “We’ve got a boy missing up on the mountain, we’re trying to put a rescue effort together” Jason replied.

  “How far up?” Clark asked.

  “We figure somewhere near Silver Creek, about where we found this boy” Jason replied pointing to Owen.

  “Hell, I’m in.” Clark shot back, grabbing his boots off the ground and sitting down to lace them up.

  Jason stared at Clark for a moment, both with confusion and caution, “Clark, Clark are you sure you’re in the condition to-“

  “What? This?” Clark cut in, tapping his bandage with two fingers, “Just a scratch. Besides, I can tell you need men. three people ain’t much of a search party, like blondie here said.” pointing to Dane.

  Dane shot back a dirty look going unnoticed by Clark.

  “What do you say Sheriff?” Clark asked.

  Jason stood stunned, Clark hadn’t addressed him by anything other than his name for longer than he could remember, always his first name, spit from Clark’s lips as if they tasted of poison to him. But this, this was different.

  He stared at Clark. “Well, if you really are sure that you’re feeling ok, then you’re right, we could use you.”

  Dane interrupted, “Sheriff, you can’t be serious, the last thing we need is this drunk asshole up there with us.” staring at Clark with a burning look of anger, Clark stared right back, the feeling was mutual.

  “Dane, we got a boy missing up in the hills, a tourist nonetheless, the last thing we need is that kind of publicity before the season,” Jason stated with a threatening authority, stepping closer to the deputy, now inches from his face, “Now take whatever this personal bullshit is you have and check it at the fucking door.”

  Dane stared at Jason sizing him up, his gaze intensified, burning, he scoffed and turned away from Jason, he snatched his rifle up and continued out the door, “Lets fucking go then!” he shouted back.

  Nate turned and looked at Owen, tears welling up in his eyes, “I’ll be back soon son,” he whispered, leaning in and kissing his boy on the forehead before turning to follow Jason. Clark hopped up from his seat and swiping his winter coat off the table he followed.

  Chapter 9

  The jeep ride up the mountain trail was quiet and rigid, the only sounds were the faint whistle of the car’s heater through the vents and the jostling of the gear in the jeep that rattled with each bump on the rocky, snow covered, dirt road.

  Clark huddled himself further into his coat, attempting to stave off the cold that slipped through the cracks of the old jeep, the canvas cover whipping back and forth violently from the wind outside. In the front seat, Dane crossed his leg over his knee, his filthy boot rubbing mud on the dash with each movement of the jeep. His cocky demeanor permeated into the rest of the car, chest puffed out as he leaned back lazily, Clark scowled at him from the back seat, patting his pockets for a smoke, nothing.

  Sighing, he looked out the side window, the snow covered pines becoming gradually brighter from the rising sun, turning the dark blue hue of the cold dawn sky into the soft powder blue of the early morning. His head hurt like hell but in this moment, things seemed like they would be all right. Sometimes this frozen wasteland truly was beautiful.

  The sniffling of the man next to him snapped him out of his peaceful daydream. He turned to the man, Nate, he believed it was.

  “Hey, mister.” Clark said.

  Jason and Dane, looked back from the front seats, startled by the sudden break in the silence that had remained constant since they had left. Nate pulled his hand away from his face wiping away stray tears,

  “Yeah?, Clark was it?” Nate asked back, sniffing slightly.

  “Yep,” Clark acknowledged, “And it was Nate right?” he questioned back.

  Nate offered a solemn head nod of acknowledgment.

  “Listen, Nate,” Clark continued, “We’re gonna find your boy, see us here, we grew up in these hills we know them better than our own streets back in town.”

  Nate, who had been unconsolable until this point, jumped on this small offering of reassurance. “I sure hope so,” he replied, some confidence returning to his fragile voice. “Do you have any kids?”

  Before Clark could answer, Dane let out an audible laugh, startling all the men in the cab. Dane without even turning around continued, “Yeah, this piece of shit had a kid, once. Til his drunk, strung out ass made the state take her away. Heh, better off in my opinion.” The deputy said with a coldness that would make even the most cruel of men cringe.

  Before Clark could respond, Jason erupted, “Black! I told you back at the station, lock that shit!” Furious, he turned toward him more directly, “I don’t want any of this bullshit from either of you.” turning back and pointing to Clark as well. Clark’s anger boiled inside of him, nearly biting his tongue off, he held it in.

  The jeep returned to its cold, awkward silence. About 5 minutes later, they arrived at the pull off for Silver Creek, not a moment too soon.

  The headlights illuminated the faded, wooden sign, that bore the Creek’s name. Coated in a layer of frost, one could barely make out the word “Silver” from the old sign. Jason parked the car and the men exited the car hastily almost in unison.

  Standing outside the jeep, the wind nearly tearing the map from his hand, Jason tried to articulate a plan through the glove he held, pinched between his teeth, the fabric muffling his words. His bare hand gesturing to the map had turned almost a ghostly white from the unforgiving cold.

  “Listen, the way I see it, we should go 1 officer and 1 civilian per group, we don’t need any other civi’s getting lost out here tonight.” Jason continued, “So, Clawson, you’re with me, Clark, its you and Deputy black, now we’ll take this pass here-“

  “Sheriff you can’t be serious,” Dane interrupted with his whiny, arrogant voice. “You can’t pair me up with this drunk piece of shi-“ He didn’t finish, Clark had had enough.

  In almost one motion Clark threw off his gloves and grabbed the deputy by the coat, two fistfuls of fabric clenched tight in each fist, he turned and shoved the deputy backwards hard up against the window of the jeep, cracking it, Clark pressed his fists into the deputies chest harder and harder, teeth clenched, he hissed out “You son of a bitch.”

  “Clark!” Jason yelled running over and pulling him off, he stood between them, arms outstretched keeping them both back from each other. “Both of you, for a moment, try to get it through your thick skulls that we’re out here for something bigger than your bullshit little quarrels, we got a missing boy and a panicked father here, and with shit like this we are wasting valuable time. Now, me and Mr. Clawson here are taking Apache’s Pass, and you and Clark are taking Pine Grove, work your way up the mountain from there.”