The Mountain Town

by Josh Olsen

  “Come on Sheriff you expect us to believe that bullshit? Tell us what’s happening! We have a right to know.” the same voice shouted from the crowd.

  His mind raced, still in shock and reeling from what he had seen, Jason was out of answers. But these people were panicked, scared, and needed something to believe.

  “A bear,” Jason said quietly, shaking his head. They would never buy it.

  As empty and as weak of a lie as it was, the crowd muttered to themselves, their voices fearful and panicked. Some tried desperately to catch a glimpse of the house in the distance, hidden by the darkness.

  Jason looked up in shock. He took his opportunity, “Yeah…., a bear, the one that ad was posted about. We found him out here tearing at the side, I didn’t want to scare anyone. I’m sorry. Go home and look after your families, we’ll get this cleaned up by the morning.”

  Slowly, the crowd murmured to themselves as they began to disperse, some yelled back to their houses, their children peering out through the door.

  Jason exhaled loudly, relieved. But another voice quickly silenced the crowd.

  “No bear.” A gruff, deep voice said, somewhere near the back of the crowd. Peter Marris. An old man now, had lived in the further reaches of the town, longer than anyone else could remember. “Some thing, some creature I ain’t never seen in these hills.” his gruff voice rumbled again.

  What was left of the crowd stood silent as they stared at Pete, no one knew him well enough to be a judge, but he had been here longer than anyone else, and the mountain would do things to your mind. Everyone knew that. They couldn’t imagine what havoc it had wreaked on this old man’s consciousness in the years he had called this desolate place home.

  “Well thank you Pete, but I can assure you that it was. A big old grizz.” Jason tried to play off the scare tactics he had used prior once again, this crowd needed to get out of here fast before they started asking too many questions. “Now Pete, if you think you have any information for us that could assist us, go ahead and come by the station tomorrow.”

  “But as for everyone else, Me and the rest of the boys have our work cut out for us for tonight and I don’t wanna make my wife worry for any longer than she has to alright? So you folks would be doing us a service if you could show yourselves back to your houses, we’ll have this cleaned up by morning.”

  The crowd began to leave as he could begin to make out headlights down the road. “Shit,” he thought, turning to run and meet the car, “The lights.”

  “Clark, make sure everyone stays back or leaves, I’m gonna go meet Macklin.” he said, jogging away, his strides high and strained as he struggled to move through the thick snow that fell softly from the black sky.

  Clark nodded, turning back to the few that remained as they began to lose interest and trekked back to their warm homes, ushering their children quickly back inside.

  Jason met the cruiser running to the drivers window. “Macklin, cut the lights…” his voice stopped.

  The driver was not Macklin, but instead Jason was instead met with the old, angry eyes of Billings.

  “Gary?” Jason asked, confused. “Where’s Macklin?”

  “Fuck if I know where that little bitch is, I still had my radio on, thought I’d come down…” Billings said, his face obscured in the darkness of the cab.

  Ray’s words ran across Jason’s mind as he stared into the car. He didn’t want this Sanders piece of shit anywhere near this, but if he did anything now Billings would know what he knew.

  “Well Gary,” Jason said, trying to keep his tone as civil as possible. “It’s quite a shame actually, as far as me and Clark over there figure, seems a bear got a little to close to our friend Elroy Becker, busted up his windows and hauled him off. We haven’t gotten a chance to look any closer, but fuck, it ain’t going to be pretty in there.”

  Billings stared forward squinting. “That piece of shit Davis is over there?” his voice annoyed, angry. He sat back in his chair as he pulled the car out of park.

  Jason breathed a sigh of relief. He was distracted enough not to ask any questions. Same as Gary ever was, only worrying about himself.

  “Well me and him were chatting when we heard this noise” Jason said, pulling the conversation even further away, “We came out here just in time to see that God damn bear drag poor Elroy off into the woods, we figure it must have busted in his sliding door.

  Billings sat in a malicious silence, mulling over whatever it was his dim mind could manage to entertain with the rusty hamster wheel that powered it.

  “I got almost everyone to leave, head up their, block it off Gary,” Jason said, breaking the silence.

  Without a word, Billings revved his car forward in the snow, the cracked tires churning out blackened snow as they crawled forward.

  Jason turned facing the taillights, the soft red glow shining into his eyes as they rolled away.

  “Motherfucker.”

  Chapter 34

  "Clark shut the door." Jason said, pulling open his desk drawers frantically, fumbling with the contents.

  Clark swung the door shut, struggling to fit the knotted lumber into the frame before finally popping the door into place with an audible slide and pop.

  "Jason," Clark exhaled, as he kicked his boots together breaking free the snow that clung to the fibers of his jeans, the melted clumps showering down upon the faded linoleum. "What in the hell was.....IS that thing? I mean...Oh god, I mean Elroy Jason....Jesus."

  Jason offered little than a grunt of acknowledgment that could be heard over the rustling of papers in his drawers as he searched. The scouring of his desk was concluded with a loud "Ah.." as Jason pulled a large bottle from it. Setting the thick glass down on the desk, collapsing into his chair, he poured his whiskey.

  The amber liquid cascaded downward into the foggy glass. His mind a blur of questions and worries he could never hope to silence. Clutching the glass he took comfort in the burn of the liquid as it warmed his throat, numbing his mind, if only for a moment. Clark's voice echoed obscurely somewhere, Jason sat in his chair his eyes fixed on the cracked paint that hung dully on the walls.

  "Did you see their faces?" Jason asked, almost to himself.

  "What?" Clark said, confused, he walked up closer, trying to get Jason's line of sight, his attention, his face concerned.

  "Fear, I mean real fear..." Jason took another long drink from his glass, twirling the lukewarm liquid around in the glass. "I've never seen anything so terrifying....I mean, somethings have come close. Some poor girl getting beat on by the piece of shit she's shacked up with, a mother's eyes when I have to tell her she won't hear her boy's voice no more."

  Jason's eyes looked but they didn't see, he was fathoms deep in the darkness of his mind, the questions he asked but never really waned an answer, the thoughts he contemplated but couldn't even begin to question.

  "But God, I've never seen that kind of fear in someone's eyes, those people out there, they knew, they knew that I knew, maybe they don't quite understand, or maybe they just know, deep down, that I couldn’t possibly have an answer."

  Jason looked up at Clark, snapping back into the reality he knew, his eyes met Clark's with a intense fearfulness, "We're in trouble Clark, We are in serious trouble."

  Clark stared off, his questions roared inside his own mind quietly.

  "I can't do it, I can't." Jason said to himself. "How the hell could I? You saw that thing Clark, the way it moved, the size of it, how can I go out there and tell people with a straight face that they are safe?"

  "We get the officers," Clark said, "We go out there and we kill that thing Jason, what do you mean what do we do?"

  "Those men have families Clark, kids, how can I send them out there after that, that thing? Even if they did believe me Sanders has got people in my department, they'll shut me down, fire me.”

  Clark wanted to turn away, as much as he enjoyed witnessing someone wallow in self pity, seeing someone as strong as Jason los
e hope was a little more than disheartening.

  “My family Clark…..I still have to feed my family.” Jason breathed out to himself, his eyes locked on the floor.

  "Jason if someone sees that thing at the resort or down here at town nobody's family is gonna be safe…Ain’t no one gonna be able to live here anymore, last year wasn't exactly a success if I remember right…..and if people start leaving this early, we're gonna be in bigger trouble. Cause we’re gonna starve to death long before that thing gets to us.” Clark said, pulling a chair up to the desk and sitting down leaning in.

  “Jason. We're gonna bring in all the officers tomorrow.” Clark hit his hand hard down onto the desk, stealing Jason’s attention. “We tell them what's happening and we get up there and start trapping and stalking that thing, Sander's can't say anything, they know what's happening already, a bear? They knew about that thing I'm willing to bet. They knew about it and they sent us out to go kill it, like a fucking guinea pig.”

  Jason’s eyes looked up, the faintest ember visible in his eyes transformed into a roaring inferno by the second.

  “Son of a bitch Clark, You may be right” Jason’s voice had returned to an infectious confidence, he sat up straighter in his chair, mulling the idea over in his swirling mind.

  “They wouldn’t do anything that would make them lose money, hell, there are even a couple boys that hate Sanders more than I do, they'll be out there for anything if it means defying those bastards, even if they are freezing their asses off." Jason said standing up.

  “I think it's just about time I took back my town.”

  Chapter 35

  There are moments when the silence of the world is….in a word, uncomfortable. Suffocating even.

  It presses on the ears with its absence of sound, the inner recesses of the mind begging for a noise, a sound, a minute whimper of an audible note.

  The town of Whiteridge sat embalmed in this silence. Gone were the familiar sounds of the frozen woods, the chirps and barks of its creatures. The sun shone downward, but didn't warm, didn't melt away the frozen clusters of ice that clung to every fiber of the thick trees. The wind didn't howl, or rustle the pines. The cones didn't fall, didn't tumble downward, tumble down through the nest of branches bounding off the timber it struck, sending it off on in sudden erratic changes in its course, its journey ever changing.

  The faded blue tarp hung limply over the Becker house. The absence of wind forced the lifeless fabric to hang dully, depressed. The frayed material hung from nails driven into the roof as haphazardly and as quickly as Clark could do it, for fear he would slip and fall off the icy roof, and that whatever was out there would come back. The icy dirt lay bare, exposed on the side of the house, its white covering stripped away.

  The melted snow and blood stained the rug just inside the gaping hole in the house. Jason had figured Elroy wasn't too concerned about the carpet now,and it was better than too many people asking questions, or worse, panic.

  A stray deer now stood inside, its tongue lapping up the salty liquid that soaked into the fibers of the carpet. Standing in the silence, the animal relished the perfect calm. No sound to perk its ears, no reason to run, to fear.

  The two men lay asleep in the office. Clark sprawled out on the sofa, his damp coat stretched over him. Jason sat back in his desk chair, head knocked back, his hand resting on his stomach. His dry, cracked fingers interlocked as they rose and fell with each breath. His camouflage ball cap hung over his tired eyes, rustling his gray whiskers as it slid down.

  Someone, popping open the warped wood of the door, jolted both men awake violently.

  Jason bolted upward in his chair, his eyes, weary with sleep met Macklin's,

  “Macklin what are you-….Oh God....My neck," Jason rubbed at his howling muscles, trying to wipe the sleep from his eyes.

  Clark laughed to himself, "I've had worse nights of sleep" he said, his arms stretched out as he yawned, his voice distorted with fatigue.

  "I saw your Jeep outside sheriff, didn't think anyone would be here this early," Macklin said, steam rolling from his coffee in his hand.

  "Yeah," Jason mumbled out through a cigarette, his hands patting his coat, "Well I didn't exactly plan on it if that makes you feel any better,." Lighting his cigarette, he rubbed at his neck, his fingers winced at the plethora of knots plaguing his neck. An amount of knots and tangles that could only have come from a night spent on a wooden desk chair.

  "God dammit," Jason stood up, extinguishing the light on his boot, "I better call my wife.." His boots clomping hard on the floor as he rushed out of the room.

  "Well, what happened last night to you two?" Macklin asked, his voice somber, his eyes staring off.

  Clark's heart sunk, the fog of the early morning had staved off the events of yesterday from his mind if only for a brief moment. "I... I think it would be easier for you just to see for yourself kid.”

  Jason walked back in the room, the spiraled cord of the phone dragging behind him, the elastic spool of wires bounding up and down with each step.

  “Well, Sandy’s pissed." Jason said dully, his mind elsewhere. The events of the previous night had obviously graced his conscious with a reminder of their existence, his face morose, his eyes stared off, thinking to himself.

  "And you Macklin, where the hell were you yesterday? breaking out of the haze, Jason demanded, "I call you and I get that piece of shit Billings,"

  Jason dropped the phone, it clattered to the ground, the leash of its cord pulling it backward over the carpet as it slid out of the room.

  "What you think you can just take the night off? Too cold out for you?" Jason's breaking point screamed for mercy from the weight that now pressed down on it.

  Macklin's eyes stared down at the floor, his gaze seemed it would set the floor alight any second with its intensity.

  Jason continued, "You should've saved me some time when I hired you, let me know ahead of time, that you were some…25 year old irresponsible jerk off, who wasn't good for nothing. Maybe saved me a little time.

  Clark spoke up, he could sit through no more. "Hey Jason that's enough! What the hell is your deal?”

  Macklin turned his head up slowly, his eyes meeting Jason, threatening to melt them right out of their sockets. His eyes held a fury that a young man's eyes shouldn't know.

  "My problem?!" Jason continued his tirade, "I'm trying to teach a little responsibility to this pissant, he turned back to Macklin, inches from his face, he seemed to spit each word as if it were venom, its bite harsh and unforgiving, "You see....boy. When you-"

  Macklin's fist met Jason's eye socket, cutting his words off at the root. An audible crack surged through the room, sending Jason stumbling backward into the wall. The thin panel board that covered the walls caved in with a loud crunch.

  Jason's wide, strong back sunk deep into the wall, a old rusted pipe met his spine, narrowly stopping him from bursting into the adjacent room. Jason let out an audible grunt, the wind escaping his lungs as he hit it. Scrambling to his feet, he cocked his fist back turning to charge at Macklin.

  Clark slammed hard into Jason, pushing him up against the wall, the faded paneling popping and cracking from the pressure.

  "That's enough!" Clark yelled, his words laced with spit, inches from Jason's face, "This type of shit doesn't solve nothing!”

  "You better get off me Clark" Jason hissed back, his eyes a special glaze of sleep deprivation and alcohol.

  Jason was bigger, but even he never contested the fact that Clark could damn well hold his own in just about any scrap he could find himself him.

  Jason clenched his fist tight and wrenched it free, he shoved Clark back, and began to swing out when his eyes locked on Macklin. He lowered his fist, the young man, standing opposite from him, stood trembling quietly, his fist shook and his eyes were wide, staring off in a perpetual stasis of morose.