The Mountain Town

by Josh Olsen

  Audibly, he heard the latch click, the door struggled to be opened from behind, it’s twisted shape jammed into the doorway protested its movement as it popped free. Clark stood in the doorway, squinting at Jason, the sea of white outside blinding Clark as it illuminated the darkness of his cabin.

  Jason’s panic melted away as he was greeted by the warmth of Clark’s cabin, his friend was alright, thank god, he was alright.

  “Something you need Jason?” Clark asked, puzzled by the raging noise that had brought him outside.

  “Just uh….” Jason stuttered, realizing now, how foolish he had looked in his panic, “Just checking up, Doc’s orders…said you collapsed and took off ‘fore he could move, you alright?”

  Clark thought for a moment, his eyes studying the snowy trees in the distance. Taking a deep breath in, he looked back at Jason.

  “Yeah…..Yes I am.” he said confidently, relishing his own words as he said them. “Come on in, I’ll put a pot of coffee on.” Clarks said, opening the doorway wider, gesturing to Jason.

  Jason, hands on his knees, still trying to catch his breath, obliged. Following Clark into the old, creaking cabin, he swung the crooked door shut behind him.

  Chapter 32

  Elroy, lay in his bed, shivering. The thick, wool quilt draped over him, his two remaining fingers clenched the warm fabric tightly, each movement caught the bandage on the old fraying material causing it to shift. But he paid it no mind, he had loaded up on the Doc’s meds and his pain had all but disappeared. Well, besides his arm that still burned faintly, a light, stinging sensation, like small embers just below his skin, refusing to go out.

  His arm. Where that, that thing had stabbed him. That monster, that thing that had killed his only remaining family left in this world. Everett’s writhing, thrashing body was still fresh on his mind, the blood. Oh..God, there had been so much blood. Elroy shivered underneath the quilt, the warm material enveloped him in its safety, it’s glow. It had kept the cold of the elements outside at bay. But the chill of what he had seen still sat rooted deeply, chilling his bones as he shook.

  Staring at the empty bed across from him, he pondered what he would do next. It was funny, he thought, he had spent his whole life in recent memory, imagining, fantasizing, about what his life would be like, if he were alone, were free from the handicap of his drunk of a cousin. But now, as he sat in silence, he realized his life, all he knew, revolved around Everett, taking care of him. Dodging his drunken fists as he sponged the dry sick off his clothes, turning him on his side, wiping the drool and vomit from his lips so he wouldn’t choke to death on his own bile. But now he was gone, gone forever like everyone else he had the misfortune of knowing.

  He stared at the snowy, fogged window just above Everett’s old bed, night closing in just outside. He could remember a time when the best moments of his life were gazing out that window as Everett slept below, his only few moments of peace. How he would stare out into the vast expanse of the mountains, of the wilderness. Wondering what awaited him, what he could do, what he could be if he ever mustered the courage he so desperately pined for, to be able to not care, to get up, to leave, to think and live for himself.

  He sighed quietly, his breath breaking the silence of the dark cabin. Now he could do just that, could do anything he wanted, but he didn’t care, didn’t want it after all.

  Just down the street, only a few houses away, Jason sat on Clark’s old ragged sofa, glancing into the crack of the open door that sat just a few feet from the couch, peering into Clark’s room. He could just make out the stale carnage that lay strewn about the floor and the bed. He heard footsteps approaching him from behind.

  “Well I hope you take it black Jason, I’m fresh out of milk.” He heard Clark’s familiar voice behind him.

  “Only black for me.” he replied blankly, his stare still fixed on the wrecked room through the thin crack of the door.

  The glass of the two mugs clinked together, Clark’s shaking hand set them down on the old worn coffee table. It was then that Jason saw the blood soaking through the ragged, dirty bandage on Clark’s hand as he filled the mugs, steam misting up over his wounded fingers.

  “Christ.” Jason said, wincing at the wound.

  “What the hell happened Clark? Is that…Is that glass?” Jason stared, picking up the lone mug that now rested on the table, “And what the hell happened in there?” He continued, gesturing to the room.

  Clark sat in the armchair adjacent to the sofa. Resting the mug on the armrest he sat, wincing as he picked shards of glass from his dripping hand.

  “Well,” he started, his voice gruff. “I’ve finally gotten around to getting rid of some of Cass’s old stuff, and one of those damn, frilly vases she had shattered on me,” he continued, not looking up from his wounded hand as he pulled the jagged shards out.

  Jason saw through this lie almost immediately, but, he didn’t press further, his friend was alright, and that was all that mattered at this moment.

  “Damn,” Jason said, shaking his head as he brought his cup to his mouth, the steam depositing small beads of water in the whiskers of his unshaven, tired face.

  He chuckled to himself, “You know…Sandy’s got this damn uh…watcha call it…Replica, of the Eiffel tower, you know that big ‘ole building they got in…France? Well anyway I hate the damn thing already,” Jason laughed to himself, sipping his coffee. “She keeps it above our fireplace at home, says it’s good to know about other cultures or some shit like that.”

  “So, I get home from work one day, freezing my ass off and I go to get a fire going. I grab the matches off the top of the mantel and that thing comes crashing down right on top of my fucking head.” Jason laughed again, Clark chuckled, his eyes now looking at Jason, his wounded hand forgotten, if just for a moment.

  “I wasn’t laughing then I’ll tell you Clark, That thing must be cast out of solid steel,” Jason laughed again, “Cause that thing hurt like a bitch. So…I..” Jason stuttered, catching breaths under his laugh. “I lit the fire and I chucked that son of a bitch in there.”

  Clark laughed, “Oh shit.” his mind relaxed. The sanctuary of the past rubbed the knots of tension out of his worn muscles.

  “You’re telling me” Jason laughed, “So Sandy, I’ve never heard her scream so loud in my life right? So next thing I know, she’s over there, she’s got her oven mitts on and she’s fishing around in there trying to grab the thing out.”

  Clark struggled to catch his breath as Jason continued.

  “So, she snatches it out, and next thing I know, she’s chasing me around the room with this fuckin’ red hot chunk of metal, and the kids are hollering and I’m running around trying to get away and I’m knocking shit over, and the dog’s barking and losing his shit. A fucking sight to see man I’m telling you.” Jason’s laughter was nearly thunderous now, Clark’s loud laughter joining him right alongside.

  Slowly, the laughter died out. They sat quietly in a comfortable silence, nothing being said, but no hurry to break the peaceful silence.

  Elroy stirred in his bed. There was no way he had imagined that one, he listened intently, he heard it again, the scratching, the noises that he couldn’t explain, and didn’t want to know the source. His eyes shut tightly, he tried to reenter his peaceful sleep, but the beating of his panicked heart grew more rapid by the second. The pounding echoed off the insides of his skull, refusing his mind’s terrified pleas to be allowed to rest.

  Then, he heard it, the window, the one he had stared out for countless hours before, his window into a better life, his dreams. The scratching, not the noise the tree branches made guided by the wind’s gentle hands on the chilly air of a breezy winter night. The horrifying noise he now heard, dug into every inch of his cringing body. Long, constant scrapes, like nails on a chalkboard, the sound was nauseating. He clenched his eyes shut, his quilt gripped tightly in his one remaining fist. He wouldn’t look, he refused, didn’t want to see, didn’t want to know.
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  The noise continued, scratching, perpetually gnawing at his mind until all that was left was the echoing of the sound in his ears. Consumed by his fear, his stomach a pit of nausea and terror, he wrenched open his eyes, paralyzed in fear by what he saw.

  There, in the old faded window, just mere feet from his bed, was the creatures face. It’s razor sharp teeth snarled, it’s hideous snout covering the old window in a thick steaming fog.

  Elroy tried to shout, to scream, but the fear that now held him had stolen his voice away.

  Jason and Clark stood on Clark’s porch cigarettes in hand, the foul smell of the tobacco floating away into the pristine chill of the night air.

  “No, No, I’ve got a better one,” Clark said, “Thanksgiving, Shit I don’t know, God Damn, too many years.” Clark laughed, half sighed to himself. “You read somewhere…Shit what was it,” Clark said, smiling to himself as he thought. “You read that if you cut a turkey in half, it would cook twice as fast,”

  Jason spoke up for himself, “Hey it worked didn’t it?” he said laughing.

  “Shit Jason, I’m not saying it didn’t work but who’s bright idea was it to try and cut a frozen turkey in half? We couldn’t do it, so you went and grabbed your handsaw from the shed?” Clark said laughing.

  “Not one of my smarter moments eh Clark?” Jason said, chuckling.

  “Hell it probably would have worked if we would have remembered to wash it off first, We sit down to eat and the whole thing tastes like we’re taking a bite out of a 2x4.” Clark said.

  Laughing loudly, Jason tried desperately to suck in some of the night air to regain his breath.

  “What about…Clark…” He struggled, his words short as he gasped for air, struggling to stop laughing. “What about that time..”

  Down the street, the sound of something big hitting solid wood echoed throughout the night, cutting both the men’s voices off immediately.

  “Shit,” Jason whispered to himself, tossing the smoldering cigarette he held into the snow, hopping over the porch’s railing, “Come on Clark!”

  Clark joined him on his side, jogging towards the source of the noise. “What the hell do you think that was?” he yelled to Jason, a few feet in front of him.

  “My guess is a fucking car. Goddammit, people never learn, what do they expect trying to drive in this shit. Let’s just hope everyone’s ok, sounds like it hit a house.” Jason shouted back. Fog rose from his mouth with each word into the cold air. They continued down the street as fast as the thick snow would allow them.

  “Clark!” he shouted back, “Can you go back to your house and grab my radio? It’s on your tab..” Jason stopped dead in his tracks.

  “What in the fuck.” Jason whispered to himself.

  Clark joined him, “What’d you say Jas…” He stopped dead in his tracks, he had seen it. “Mother of God.” his voice quiet, he froze.

  Jason and Clark squinted in the darkness, frozen in shock. On the side yard of the house in the darkness was something big. Something alive. In the dark, Jason frantically searched his vest for his flashlight, pulling it out, he lit it, shining it on the mass. The men both nearly vomited when they saw.

  A massive, dog like, monstrous creature was hunched over. Shattered glass and splintered wood was strewn around it. They didn’t have to see anything to know that it was eating something. The primitive snapping of bones and sickening sound of tearing flesh hung heavily on the air.

  “Jason, shoot that thing, shoot the fucker!”

  Jason snapped out of his trance for a moment, struggling with his revolver, he dropped the flashlight, shining on the beast through the snow. As he pointed the weapon at the creature, Clark shouted to the side of him in a frenzied panic.

  “Oh fuck. Jason, that’s Elroy Becker’s house!”

  Jason’s cold, shaking fingers struggled to pull the hammer back in the darkness, Clark snatched the flashlight off the ground quickly, illuminating the matted hair of the creature standing on end in the darkness.

  Suddenly, it turned to face them. Its menacing eyes stared deep into the men, a guttural growl bellowed out from its teeth.

  “Oh shit! Jason shoot!” Clark said, facing the ungodly creature that growled and roared as fresh blood dripped from its hideous teeth.

  The gun went off in the darkness, the flash of the gunpowder illuminating the sides of the houses, the shot burrowed itself harmlessly into the thick logs of the cabin just to the side of the creature. The beast growled at them, a deep, threatening growl as steam rose from it’s bloody kill below.

  Snatching up Elroy from the ground, or what was left of him, the creature bounded off into the woods, with a speed and a movement that seemed almost otherworldly. Jason managed to pop off 5 more shots as the creature fled, but all to no avail. The shots, random and poorly executed, hit the surrounding trees, sending drifts of snow cascading downward that swirled throughout the night air slowly, creating almost a thin fog that floated down the trees, the beast disappearing into the night through it.

  Jason’s holstered his gun, panting. Clark shone the light on the side of the cabin, the cabin was nearly destroyed. A gaping hole surrounded by splintered wood and water spraying, pipes broken hung rusted, icing the ruined floor of the cabin with the slush that poured down.

  A bloody mess lay on the snow. Steam still rising from the site of a fresh kill.

  Doors in the neighborhood began to open, people came outside, muttering to themselves. The people adorned with the combination of their pajamas and winter coats as they stumbled through the snow, squinting in the darkness, they tried to make sense of the commotion they had heard unfold outside.

  Clark turned to Jason, “We’re going to have some explaining to do here Jason.”

  Jason turned back to the cabin, “No Clark, when these people see this, they’re gonna want to know, want to know what happened, what that was, if they’re safe. But the truth is, there ain’t a goddamn word I could say to them that could explain this.”

  Chapter 33

  The townspeople trudged through the thick snow, winter coats pulled haphazardly over their robes, clutching their sides tightly. The cold bit at their exposed flesh, searching for a way in.

  Jason rushed out into the street, his boots struggling on the icy undercoating of the snow that blanketed the street.

  “Everyone stay back!” Jason shouted, his arms stretched outward, palms open. Smoke still wafted from the hot barrel of his empty revolver that sat in his holster. Ripping his radio from his side, he turned around, tossing it to Clark.

  “Clark, shit. Hurry and radio Macklin, tell him we need him over here now!”

  Jason turned back to the crowd, “We’ve had a gas leak, please stay back.”

  The crowd now stood right next to Jason, some standing on their toes, trying to catch a glimpse of the wreckage that stood in the house behind him.

  “I said back! Everyone, its not safe!” The crowd continued as if they had not heard him, their eyes locked on the house in the darkness, trying to make something out.

  “Goddammit,” Jason said to himself, loading a round into his revolver, he extended his arm into the air, firing. The crowd jumped back, startled at the noise, some cursed at Jason. “I said it’s a gas leak goddammit!, another explosion could happen again at any minute!”

  “Well if it was an explosion, how come there ain’t no smoke?” a voice said in the crowd, the darkness obscuring his face.

  Jason grew angry, frustrated at his embarrassingly hollow lie. “We can sit here and ask questions all night while your house could be filling up with the stuff as we speak!” Jason shouted to the mass of people in the dark.

  The people grumbled in disbelief, Jason’s scare tactic was obvious and the crowd wasn’t buying it.