WORSHIPED BY THE BEAR KINGS
Part One
Rosette Bolter
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CHAPTER ONE
Jasmine Whiley was the only one of the four friends who heard both the sound of the hunter’s rifle, and his screams for help soon after. She was separated from the group – still at the picnic tables where they’d eaten lunch, gathering up the last of their belongings to bring them back to the car. She stopped what she was doing and moved round from the grass area to the dirt trail which ran along the lakeside and into the forest. She squinted, the sun’s hot rays pouring down on her.
It was far away, but she still heard it. A man was in trouble.
Jasmine wasn’t sure how to progress through this. The threat of another person’s life could mean a threat to her own.
She could also see the car with her three friends up the hill in the opposite direction. She waved to them to come and help her, but obviously not understanding the seriousness of the situation, her brother Dennis rudely honked the horn for her to hurry up and return. Jasmine took a step towards the hill, but could then bare the hunter’s screams no more.
For some unknown reason, putting aside the danger to herself and others, she felt compelled to investigate.
She hurried down the trail in his direction.
“I’m here!” she shouted. “I’m coming!”
She wasn’t sure what had happened to him, but by the sound of things, he must have injured himself in some way. He may have fallen into an elusive pit and had difficulty getting out – God forbid, he may have stupidly shot himself in the foot.
After a minute down the trail the hunter’s screams ceased, but Jasmine was sure she was close where he was now, so he should be able to hear her.
“Where are you?” Jasmine called out. “Are you okay?”
The trail began to steep upwards and as she climbed it, she caught the hunter’s figure down near the lake between the trees. She quickly hurried through there, pushing her way through a multitude of bushes and branches, until she reached the edge of the bank where he was.
Fright hit her like a needle hammer.
The hunter was dead.
There was blood all over his chest and face, as if he had been mauled by something.
“Oh shit,” Jasmine squealed, stifling her scream.
She realized now she could be in danger.
Just about to turn and run as fast as she could, her eyes drifted across to the other side of the lake where she saw movement. A large, bare-chested man was stooped over the water, washing himself with it.
Washing the blood away.
Jasmine watched him, locked into his fixed squat, running the water across his arms, shoulders and chin. While he was physically intimidating, full of iron clad brawn, and sportsmanship physique, there was a gentleness to his face. An almost … innocence. This observation ran completely counter to that fact that he was washing the blood of the hunter off himself.
Counter, to that he was a murderer.
He stood up at once, noticing that Jasmine was staring at him.
She hadn’t realized he’d been caught in her vision for so long – but there it was. Under less intimidating circumstances, she would have been embarrassed, rather than terrified.
She backed away into the forest still staring at him, her heart racing.
For whatever reason, he chose not to pursue her.
He only stared back.
CHAPTER TWO
It was a Saturday afternoon. The night before Jasmine had received a phone call from her brother Dennis, asking if she would be interested in coming along to this weekend in the wilderness. While she may have been reluctant to agree due to having exams scheduled the following week, it had been two whole months since she’d her brother, and she was concerned about him. The last time she’d seen him was at the wedding of a recent ex-girlfriend of his … and while he seemed okay with losing his love then, she worried about his mental state in the long term.
“It’s okay,” he assured her over the phone. “I’ve got a new girlfriend now. I’ve moved on.”
“Really? Who is she?”
“That’s why I want you to come along to this trip with us. We’re gonna stay in her uncle’s cabin so it’s not like we’ll be roughing it. It will be a fun time.”
“I don’t know…” Jasmine had responded. “Just the three of us?”
“Just the three of us.”
Later the next morning it turned out Dennis’s new girlfriend had a brother – Jake – and the whole trip was Jake’s idea in the first place. As nerve-racking as this little revelation had been for Jasmine, she hoped it would be the last drama the group encountered that weekend.
But as it happened, it was only the first.
“What are you doing?” Dennis hissed at Jasmine as she came up the riverbank. “We’re all waiting for you.”
Jasmine quickly moved to his side, and stopped to catch her breath.
“What’s wrong?” Dennis asked sounding perplexed.
“Some guy’s dead down there,” Jasmine said. She pointed. “I think he’s been murdered.”
“What? How do you know that?”
“There was this guy on the other side of the river. He had … like blood on him.”
“Fuck…” Dennis murmured. “Alright, let’s go back to the car.”
Jasmine nodded. “Okay.”
After a short distance’s walk they were there, and Jake and his sister Dara were still in the car. Upon seeing them, Jake opened his passenger side door, and stuck his head out.
“Everyone alright?”
“No,” Dennis responded.
He moved out to meet Jake face to face, while Jasmine went round the other side of the car. She opened the backseat door and sat next to Dara.
“What’s going on?” Dara asked.
“I found a dead body.”
“Huh?”
Dara squinted at her as though it might help to understand.
Dennis and Jake were still talking.
“Did you hear a gun go off before?” Jasmine replied.
Dara nodded.
“Did you hear the man screaming for help?”
“I didn’t hear that.”
“Well, I did. I went to check it out, and that’s when I found him.”
“Dead?”
“Dead.”
Dennis opened the passenger door and stuck his head in.
“You okay?” he asked.
Jake was moving round to the back of the vehicle.
“I’m fine,” Jasmine replied.
“You tell her what you saw?”
“She told me,” Dara answered, still sounding skeptical.
“Alright,” Dennis said.
Jake opened the trunk of the car and retrieved something before slamming it shut.
As he walked alongside the car towards Dennis, Jasmine could see that he was carrying a pair of rifles.
“What are you doing?” Jasmine exclaimed. “You’re not seriously –”
Jake handed one of the rifles to Dennis and leaned into the car. “We’re going to investigate. Wait here.”
He closed the door before Jasmine or Dara could protest.
CHAPTER THREE
“Did you know they brought guns with them?” Jasmine asked Dara who was now fishing through her handbag for something.
“Of course. Jake’s big on hunting.”
“Hunting?” Jasmine spluttered.
Dara didn’t respond. She’d found her makeup case
and was reapplying her foundation with the use of a mirror.
Jasmine squirmed in her seat. The boys were drifting out of sight from the car.
“I think I’m gonna go with them,” Jasmine said, opening her door.
Dara was unaffected.
Jasmine left the car and started heading quickly in the boy’s direction. She had a bad feeling about this. A very bad feeling. She hadn’t spoken to Jake much today but he came across to her as insensitive and a bit of a thug. Not someone her brother needed around him. Throwing guns into the mix was only going to make it worse.
A couple of minutes later, Jasmine approached the boys as they stood over the hunter’s body. Jake was stooped over it, inspecting the wounds, while Dennis was holding the hunter’s rifle as well as his own, seemingly toying with it.
Across the other side of the river, there was no sign of the shirtless man Jasmine had locked eyes with…
“Oh, fuck off, Jasmine,” Dennis cursed when he saw her. “Go back to the car.”
Jasmine ignored him. She stopped at the hunter’s feet, and looked down at Jake.
“What do you make of it?” she asked him.
Jake looked up. “There are no murderers around here, thankfully.”
“What do you mean?” Dennis asked.
“This man’s been beaten to death by some kind of animal.”
“That’s not right,” Jasmine said. “When I came down here I saw a guy on the other side of the river, and he had this guy’s blood all over him.”
“So?” Jake muttered.
“Well, I just assumed –”
“He was probably the guy’s hunting partner. You should have told him about our car nearby.”
Dennis leaned over the body. “What animal do you think has done this?”
Jake inhaled through his nostrils.
As though he was picking up a scent.
Then he reached down and pulled some hairs off the hunter’s jacket. He held them close to his eyes.
“What is it?”
“Hmm. How strange.”
Jake stood up. He put the hairs in his pocket.
“What’s so strange?” Jasmine asked.
“I didn’t know they had grizzlies out this way.”
CHAPTER FOUR
“Grizzlies?” Dennis repeated. “As in the bear?”
Jake turned slightly to face him. “Yes. As in the bear.”
“What do you think he was hunting?” Jasmine asked.
“Well there’s plenty of deer around,” Jake said. “But if you went north for a while … it’s possible you might run into a wandering black bear. To be honest not many hunters go that far though because it’s too far from the road and the terrain is dangerous.”
“But you’re saying a grizzly did this,” Dennis stated.
“I have no doubt.” Jake looked to either side of him. “But I can’t tell you how it came to be here. It must be hungry or something. Maybe it’s lost.”
“Well, are we in any danger standing here?” Jasmine asked. “What if it comes back?”
Jake looked at the ground for a moment. His eyes moved towards the river. “I’m pretty sure it crossed the stream.”
“So what do we do now?” Dennis asked. “Call the police?”
Jake hesitated. “There’s a ranger’s lodge about seven minutes up the road. If there’s no one there, you’ll have to go back to town and report it. But you should go to the lodge first.”
“Whoa, wait a second. What about you?”
“I’m gonna see if I can find the missing hunter. He’s probably injured and in shock.”
“Well, what if you get lost?”
Jake blinked. “I won’t.” He then set foot into the river’s edge, before turning a moment. “I’ve got my cell on me, so if you need to call me, you should do so. By the time you get back with the ranger, I should be standing right here. You should call me if I’m not.”
Jake trudged off into the water.
Dennis looked to Jasmine.
“We should probably just do what he said,” she offered.
Dennis didn’t appear as convinced. He called out to Jake, “You’re just going to look for the hunter right?”
Jake turned. “Sure,” he said. “And I’m gonna see if I can find that grizzly too.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Back at the car, Dara was talking to one of her friends on her cell, gossiping about Jasmine’s discovery as though it happened to her. It was only after Jasmine had gotten in the passenger side instead of the back, and Dennis had reversed them out to the main road, did she allow her call to be interrupted.
“Excuse me – where is Jake? Why are we driving away?”
“We’re going to the forest ranger’s office to report the body,” Dennis explained. “Jake wanted to stay behind.”
Dara leaned forward. “Umm… Why?”
Dennis put his arm over the seat, and turned to face her. “He just did. Don’t question it.”
Dara rolled her eyes. “Whatever.”
Jasmine was relieved when she ended her call a minute later. Her gasbagging obnoxiousness was starting to really get on her nerves.
“I hope this isn’t going to take very long,” Dara then said. “Cause just sitting in the back here is like so boring.”
“Blame your brother,” Dennis said. “I would’ve just called the cops and been done with it.”
“I’ll keep you company,” Jasmine offered, trying to placate her. “We haven’t had a proper chance to talk yet anyway.”
“Mmm,” Dara said with semi-sarcasm. “Sounds like fun.”
It was worth a try.
Up ahead, just before the road steeped up even higher, Jasmine could see the lodge Jake had mentioned. It was quite a large area with three separate buildings – a visitor’s centre, a steakhouse restaurant, and the ranger’s office. There were a few scattered vehicles in the parking lot.
They pulled in and Dennis immediately got out of the car. “You guys coming or…?”
“What for?” Dara muttered.
Dennis shrugged and slammed his door shut.
“I’m going to stretch my legs,” Jasmine said after a moment.
“Have fun.”
Jasmine got out and walked a few paces across the gravel. The sun’s bright rays caused her to sigh a moment, and then she moved off into the edge of the lot, where some large trees were giving shade. She watched Dennis enter the ranger’s office and close the door behind him.
Jasmine wasn’t exactly feeling good about this situation today, but she wanted to try and be optimistic. This could be just a small hurdle for them to go over. She could see already that she didn’t like Dara, at least not yet, but maybe that was just Dara’s standoffish nature to people she didn’t know very well. In any case, Jasmine was still willing to give it a try.
Though if Jake tried anything with her romantically tonight, he would certainly be out of luck.
“Hello there.”
A voice.
Behind her.
Before she turned, she heard the sound of heavy boots crunching along the gravel. He was walking towards her. Slowly.
“Uh, hello…” Jasmine said turning.
She saw that it was one of the rangers – wearing dark green khakis, with a sleeveless jacket and hat to match. His arms were broad, his chest decidedly muscular. He was wearing a small pair of brown tinted sunglasses, which he took off, revealing those gentle eyes.
It was the man from the other side of the river.
CHAPTER SIX
“Thunder Brad.”
The man extended one hand while his other tucked the sunglasses neatly into his jacket pocket.
Before Jasmine even realized it, she was shaking his hand.
“And your name?”
Jasmine muttered something inaudible.
Thunder Brad let her dangling hand fall to her side.
“You saw me, didn’t you?”
Jasmine opened her mouth. “Waah … What –?”
“Just before. You remember, don’t you?”
Jasmine shot her gaze back at the ranger’s office. The door was still closed.
“I wasn’t doing anything wrong,” Thunder Brad continued. “But you’re not going to tell my partner about it. Or anyone else for that matter.”
Jasmine’s eyelids fluttered. “What makes you think I won’t tell anyone?”
“Because I just asked you to.”
“Well, you’re very full of yourself then.”
Immediately after saying it, Jasmine felt like an idiot. But she wasn’t sure why.
Thunder Brad seemed to pick up on her lack of togetherness. He boldly reached out and touched her left cheek. “It will be our secret, dear,” he said in a soothing voice.
“What happens if I do tell?” Jasmine whispered.
“Nothing,” Thunder Brad whispered back. “Absolutely nothing.”
Before Jasmine could figure out what that meant, the door to the ranger’s office swung open and Dennis stepped out with a second ranger. They started towards the car a moment, before Thunder Brad put two fingers in his mouth and whistled.
Jasmine stepped away from him as the other approached.
“That’s Brad,” the second ranger said Dennis. “He runs things.”
“Hi,” Dennis said, taking Brad’s hand.
The second ranger looked at Jasmine inquisitively.
“My sister, Jasmine,” Dennis introduced her. “This is Scott.”
Scott grinned at her but didn’t offer his hand. He was younger than they were, probably still in his late teens.
“You tell Brad about what’s going on?” Scott asked Jasmine.
“Uh…” Jasmine mumbled.
Dennis frowned. Then looked at Thunder Brad. “We found a body. A hunter. He was attacked by an animal or something.”
“Hunting is completely prohibited in this area,” Brad stated tonelessly.
“That’s what I said to him, Brad,” Scott added.
“Well, prohibited or not, he was hunting something,” Dennis continued. “And now he’s been … beaten to death.”
Worshiped By The Bear Kings: Part One Page 1
