TERRA

by Adrian M Ferguson

  She did this all week, welcoming me, not so subtlety trying to get to know me, deftly ignoring my indirect barbs, trying to be the welcoming committee for the small businesses around here, even though they hadn't popped in even once. She still brought coffees and my ‘new’ regulars loved it (hence the coffee machine now).

  So her good nature and big heart and damn small-town stubborn persistence earned my friendship.

  I tried not to bitch too much, especially when she ladled on the over-protectiveness. For a country girl she was amazingly oblivious to the dangers out there and was certainly, from what I knew of her, incapable of surviving the shit that had been thrown at me lately. So I suppose in a sense I had avoided her company to protect her. I honestly did not want to see her get in the middle of the craziness that had become my life, hell I wasn't even, technically, a mere human anymore … But I had a feeling keeping her out of the way wasn't going to be as easy as just a ‘Hey, leave me alone for a while ’cause I need to fight off some evil ass hats, Zoey.’

  ‘I noticed you’ve closed your store for a few days. Do you need a hand with anything? I could open up for you and lend a staff member. They are all pretty good at serving. I could keep an eye on it for you, if that's what you need?’

  ‘Hey, that's not a bad idea, Zoey, but I just sent off the latest orders, so opening up isn't necessary for the moment, though I might hit you up on that later, if I need it, is that okay?’

  We'd sat on a garden bench under a stand of aspen, enjoying the late afternoon sunlight filtering through the delicate green leaves, painting our skin with a soft pale wash of light and soft iridescence.

  ‘I am really sorry for not being in touch with you lately, Zoe,’ placing a slight emphasize on her nickname. She looked at me sharply, glaring at me through her thick lashes.

  ‘Something is up, isn't it? You've been compromising with me — and now an outright apology. Can I feel your head, are you having a turn?’

  I looked down, my hair falling over the sides of my face, the bars of sunlight making my black hair glint like dark jewels.

  ‘It's okay, Dee Dee, I'm here for you. You do know that, don't you? I know I can be a ditz and all, and way too annoying, but I don't take friendship lightly, especially when I can see that you have been hurting.’

  It was my turn to look at her sharply. Was I that transparent, even when she had hardly seen me at all this week? I took a deep breath. I felt the need to open up — just a little, mind you — it might make my burdens somewhat lighter.

  ‘Look, Zoe, I just had some news about my mother.’ Zoey glanced at me, eyes wide. She'd never really heard too much about my family, about my past and all its ugliness.

  ‘She was murdered, back in New York, about a year before I moved here and, well, not much information was found regarding it. Today, though, I discovered that the police may have a suspect, of sorts, and are looking into it. It kind of threw me a curveball. I moved here to get over her death, and I’ve found some small peace in this beautiful town, and now I’m not sure if I want to let this wound be re-opened, if you know what I mean.’

  ‘Wow, Dee Dee, I'm really sorry, I didn't know. You never mentioned your family or parents before.’ She rubbed my shoulder. ‘I understand, you came here to heal. You’re not going back to New York, are you, though? I would hate for you to leave.’

  ‘No, god no, this is my home now. I just need time to readjust and deal with any news that might come my way regarding her death.’ I couldn't tell Zoey too much, but this was a start, particularly when I wasn't generally a sharer of personal information, even to a friend. I was even surprising myself by telling her this much.

  ‘Well, Deirdre, you only have to ask, and I'm here for yah, or if you need time alone, I won't be insulted or anything. But don't push me away too much, okay?’

  I looked at her fondly. She really did mean well, and god I was such a fucking ass sometimes, always so stubborn and, well, just a bitch in general.

  ‘I know, Zoey, and thanks. For the moment, a few days to myself will do me good, and then back to business, hey.’

  Zoey grinned, ‘Yeh, that's for sure, things are pumping at work right now — no rest for the wicked I say.’

  My stupid grin matched hers — yeah, wicked was the right word for it. We looked at each other, grinning like idiots, but our moment was interrupted by a sudden commotion in the far off underbrush. Coming towards us in the deepening shadows, I heard a thrashing, snarling commotion.

  Frowning, I rubbed hard at my left palm again.

  Goddammit — not with Zoey here.

  ‘What the hell?’ Zoey said, looking at me in bewilderment.

  I shrugged, getting to my feet, staring hard in the direction of the noise. Whatever it was coughed in anger, though it sounded strangely off, distorted by a wet gurgling noise.

  Then ahead of us and to my left the woods burst apart in a spray of branches, leaves, and dirt as a huge bear roared into the clearing. It stood there on all fours, shaking its head, bringing one massive paw up to swipe at the side of its ear, as if attempting to brush away something annoying it. I noticed something not quite right about it, peering at it, confused with what I was seeing.

  I gasped silently, suddenly understanding what was happening. It was already dead; portions of skin were slowly sliding off its frame, bringing maggot-ridden wounds into view, writhing as they continued to eat away at its dead flesh, each movement of the bear shaking loose a fine spray of macabre white confetti.

  Zoey, now realizing what she was seeing, drew a breath and screamed, cowering next to me, not realizing yet that I wasn't squealing. I shouldered her around to me, blocking her view of the bear and grabbed her arm. ‘Zoey we need some help. Quickly, get into the house. Call Bruce, alright? Tell him that a rogue bear is here and that we need help ... Zoey, Zoey,’ I snapped, shaking her maybe a little too roughly. She looked at me eyes glazed over, frightened out of her wits. ‘Go! I will distract it.’

  ‘No, no, I can't let you do that, Deirdre — what if it gets you while I'm going?’

  I pushed her, hard I admit, but I had done enough talking. ‘Now, Zoey, don't argue with me.’ The steel in my voice moved her into action. She stumbled to my house front entrance, as I quickly moved in the opposite direction, yelling out taunts to the bear to get its attention.

  Zoey, emboldened by my courage, rushed up the stairs in a swirl of floral and heel, disappearing inside.

  Thank god. I hoped she hadn’t noticed the extent of the decay on the bear. How the hell would I explain that?

  The bear, reacting to my yelling, looked at me, and its yellowed eyes rolled loosely in their cavities, and then focused. It roared, lifting its vast bulk up off the ground onto its hind legs. I gagged — the underbelly of the bear was half gone, ribs stuck out at weird angles or were just gone completely. Something had had a go at this beast and had consumed some of it before it got reanimated. Its serrated clawed front paws slashed at the air in front of it, and then it dropped, hitting the ground running, with a surprising burst of speed, straight for me.

  I froze, suddenly forgetting any nebulous plans I had of getting it away from the house. Its eyes rolled back again loose and gelatinous, black grimy froth splattered from its impressive incisors. Snarling in a blind rage, it got within two meters of the perimeter of my property before the whole front half of its body hit my Earth Circle and literally exploded on impact. Rotten meat sprayed up the Earth Circle in a concave of gore and viscera and slid immediately down the wall, not finding any purchase on it. Black and vibrant crimson red blood droplets hissed into the air, coating the area around the bear with a half fan circle of putrescent filth.

  The bear’s other back half, still moving with the momentum of the rest of the bear, collided with the impacted front half and followed suit, creating a macabre mash of bear meat, organs and a substantial amount of blood. It hung there for a moment, held up by the bear’s bulk and then it all slid quickly to the ground, the mound now
a gross parody of what was once a bear. Its head lolled off to one side, eyes glazed and squashed, its rotten mouth still snapping ineffectively.

  I stood there, my mouth agape like a fucking stunned fish. I’d no idea that it would actually work. My Earth Circle had kept out an agent of evil, an undead animal probably killed and turned, then let loose to kill me. I was so stunned I sunk to my knees, staring at the mess that lay not a few meters away. The circle wasn't visible, the blood and bits didn't seem to be able to find any purchase on its slick barrier. It ran off like water, leaving no evidence of being there in the first place.

  I struggled to regain my composure. Come on, Deirdre, I urged myself, get your shit together. If Zoey walks out and you look like a ghost she is going to pepper yah with questions and shit, not to mention the massive pile of bear flesh sitting over they’re steaming away. I took stock of my situation. Zoey couldn't know about the state of the bear; it had to go. Bruce also couldn't know about it; otherwise, he'd also have much more pointed questions. I looked at the bear remains and an idea slowly formed.

  Just as I was about to get the earth to swallow the remains, I noticed a strange large shadow suddenly deepen over the front area of the house. I looked up and to my horror watched as hundreds of what appeared to be bloody big assed ravens darkened the air, aiming straight at me, their great black beaks arrowed in on my position, wings creaking like the rustle of smooth dark silk, though otherwise they flew in utter silence.

  They dropped at speed downwards and hit the barrier with incredible force above roughly the same spot as where the remains of the bear were, the sound of their impacts echoing across the front yard. I noticed around my gaping demeanor that they were also half rotten and entirely undead as well. That fucking necromancer had to be behind all this. It looked like he was upping the ante here.

  I shook my head and focused on the ground, and the bear started dissolving beneath its surface. Ignoring the crows, I concentrated on the sloppy entrails and meat and watched it disappear; the crows followed just as quickly, sliding off with significant streaks of tainted black blood. They hit the ground and also got sucked under and consumed. I frowned, sweat beading on my forehead; I was freaking angry now. The surprise of the attack had worn off, the birds had petered out and the last of them defiantly grabbed at the grass with beak and claw as they got sucked under the ground.

  I looked at my handiwork, and all appeared as before. Boom, nailed it...

  I frowned, and grimly thought of this bastard necromancer. It was time to find the son of a bitch and show him I was not impressed.

  CHAPTER 15

  A siren blasted up the driveway. I stood there taking stock of my surroundings, slightly chuffed with myself. Right, no evidence to be seen, though I had purposely left the bears footprints on the ground; the police had to see some sort of proof of an attack. I made sure that all the gore was gone, not even a damn feather was left on the ground.

  Zoey came rushing out. She looked like she'd been crying. Wow, I didn't realize the woman was so delicate. She ran up to me. I caught a whiff of vomit as well — damn, she’d been upset enough to spew. No wonder she hadn't come running back out while all the action was in progress; lucky me I'd say.

  ‘I'm sorry, Dee Dee, I got scared. I cleaned up your bathroom. There's no mess, okay. Don't be angry with me, okay, Dee Dee,’ she nervously stammered, eyeing me questioningly.

  ‘Everything’s fine, Zoey. Don't worry about it, alright? I'm sure the bathroom’s fine and, look, the bear ran off back into the woods, so it's all good. I managed to scare it off. I think it was startled and accidentally ran into the clearing here.’

  ‘Sure, that's probably it, Deirdre,’ she recovered her wits to slightly grin at me. ‘Look, it's your favorite police officer, Dee Dee.’

  I growled. Zoey tittered at me and headed off towards the approaching vehicle.

  ‘Cheeky bitch.’

  I waved in the direction of the car, seeing Bruce's concerned face inside. Dammit, I thought, I know that look. I've had it on my face on many occasions during my police years — the brook no nonsense, concerned look, judging by the expression I could slowly see building on his face through the glint of the windshield.

  Shit, shit, shit, if I didn't convince him everything was alright, I would never hear the end of it. I plastered a smile on my face and walked slowly up to his approaching car. Zoey waited till I got to her and then shadowed me off to my right, probably sensing my trepidation. Bruce slid the car up next to me. Damn, the window was already going down.

  ‘Hey, Bruce, thanks for coming,’ I yelled.

  ‘Hey, Bruce,’ parroted Zoey, ‘I am so glad you came so quickly. There was this gnarly looking bear who came roaring out of the woods, but it seems that Dee Dee has managed to scare it off.’

  ‘Umm, Bruce, hello Bruce?’

  Yup, Bruce's eyes hadn't left mine. I think he was just a little suspicious, huh. A lot of the strange things happening lately have sort of been revolving around me. He briefly glanced at Zoey, flashing a small smile at her that vanished from his face just as quickly as it appeared.

  ‘You scared it off, huh?’ He looked me up and down. ‘It didn't hurt you girls at all, did it?’

  ‘No, Bruce, we’re both fine. I think the bear was sick or something, maybe rabid, I'm not sure. But it sure didn't look in its right mind. I just shouted at it and threw a rock, and it bolted away back into the woods straightaway.’

  ‘Oh okay, from the way Zoey was going hysterical before on the phone I thought maybe one of you had got hurt.’ Bruce hopped out of the car, glancing around the area. He pointed behind us, ‘Did it turn up over there?’

  ‘Yeh, just opposite the garden bench. We were sitting there chatting when we heard the roars.’

  Zoey blanched at the memory. I looked at her half in sympathy but with also a dash of ‘really’ in my eyes. Damn it, she looked like she was going to be sick again, and I didn't want vomit on my lawn. I moved over to her and gave her my arm as support. Zoey looked at me in appreciation.

  ‘I think I’d better go home, Deirdre. My stomach is having fits at the moment.’

  ‘Is that alright with you, Bruce? I am not feeling the best,’ she gagged, the sound coming from the back of her throat. Zoey tottered towards her car without waiting for an answer, clutching her mouth in an effort to get there without puking into my bushes. I looked at Bruce; he hadn't stopped staring at me.

  He nodded, glancing at Zoey, ‘If I need any info I will get in touch with yah.’

  She staggered into her car, resting her head on the steering wheel briefly, seemingly gathering her strength. Waving halfheartedly at us, she cruised off slowly, vanishing down the drive.

  Bruce got out of his car, looking around the grounds with interest.

  ‘You mentioned it looked sick, Deirdre. God, I hope we don't have a case of rabies out here — that's all I need, if yah know what I mean.’ He looked at me again, taking in my calm and casual demeanor.

  ‘You alright, though? You look like you've handled it pretty well considering.’

  ‘Yeh,’ I said self-consciously smoothing down the front of my slacks — a stupid nervous gesture.

  ‘I’ve never seen a bear so angry before, actually. I've never really seen a bear that close up before, come to think of it. It was definitely not in its right mind. There was, now that you mention it, a lot of frothy shit around its mouth.’

  I needed to take the focus off me and onto the bear. If he was so concerned with rabies then rabies it is then …

  ‘Damn,’ Bruce spat, punching the side of the car lightly, ‘Just what I damn well need to report. Carter is going to have a field day with this.'

  I moved forward, and placed my hand on Bruce’s, well, bulging forearm. Startled, Bruce looked up.

  ‘It’s okay, Bruce, unless it's proven it might not even be rabies; maybe a hornet or something had stung the poor thing, and he was just frothing mad in pain.’

  ‘Nah, it sounds pre
tty accurate to me. We had a case out here about seven years ago or so, caused a lot of commotion which then incidentally closed up a lot of the skiing areas. Tourists are not happy to hear about rabies being in the area.’

  Bruce looked down at my hand resting on his arm, frowning. He looked up, and a small smile quirked at the corners of his mouth, popping out those damn sexy dimples of his.

  I smiled at him, my dark hair falling partially over my face.

  Bruce reached up with his other hand, hesitantly moving some of my hair away from my face. His dimples deepened when he realized that I hadn't moved away.

  My breath quickened — holy shit, was I letting Bruce actually come onto me? I have always found him delicious, though it never occurred to me that he had something going for me. Well, come to think of it, we have always flirted, I suppose.

  He looked at me questioningly, hesitating again. I moved in, taking this as an invitation. Bruce leant down and slowly held my face in his strong, calloused hands, closing the gap. We slowly, almost timidly, kissed. He groaned slightly. I tasted a dark hint of coffee and the earthy smell of fresh male sweat.

  Then as if a dam had burst, Bruce crushed his lips hard against mine, losing himself in the passion of the moment. His arms wrapped around me holding me in the heat of his tight muscled body. I felt myself being slightly raised up and held while we kissed hard, secure and fast against him using the police car behind him as support.

  ‘Dee Dee,’ he groaned and at the same time, the police radio in his vehicle crackled, loud and piercing the air, making us both jump and separate.

  I looked at him, laughing that the damn thing had scared me enough to make me jump back. Bruce chuckled, dimples and eyes enhancing his already obvious masculinity.

  ‘Damn, Deirdre,’ he gasped half laughing, turning to hear the radio. Hearing something that penetrated our startled moment, he leaned in the car window and answered the mic.