by Weeks, TJ
attention again and watched and impatiently waiting wagging his small nub. Jason reeled to where the end of his line sat on top of the water and fished it out with the net he had tried to reach for earlier.
There was no flopping or flailing of fins inside his net. He brought it aboard and dumped it next to his seat. Booker quickly backed up to the back of the boat and sat back down with a confused look and cocked his head to one side and stood his floppy ears at the best attention he could. Jason stood quickly and stepped off of the front of the boat down by the driver’s seat.
“What the hell!” He said out loud. Booker walked up next to his side and cocked his head to the other side as if he was thinking the same thing. Jason reached into the small glove compartment under the steering wheel and fumbled around for his phone keeping an eye on his catch of the day.
“Nine one one, please hold.” The voice quickly answered and put him on hold that produced a series of beeps.
Jason pulled the phone away from his ear and stared at it for a moment, wondering why he was put on hold with an emergency number then placed back to his ear to wait his turn.
“What is your emergency?” A
voice interrupted the beeping. “Yes ma’am, I am out at Hinter’s cove on Tawakini Lake fishing and reeled in a human arm.” Jason
explained.
“So you caught a human arm while fishing?” The voice repeated.
“Yes.” Jason replied, confirming what she said.
“Are you sure sir?” The voice asked. “Yep, I can throw it back if you like, but thought someone may want to come get this thing off of my boat!” Jason was becoming irritated with the questioning.
“NO!” The dispatcher shot back. “I will have someone out as quickly as I can. Just give me a few minutes, we have been very busy with calls today. I have a unit on the water, so it shouldn’t take long; hang on one second please.”
The beeping began again and Jason backed up to stand by Booker. “Yeah buddy, I am not thrilled with a human arm either.” He told him.
“Sir, they are three minutes away from you and are on their way now.” The voice verified.
“Thank you.” Jason replied before hanging up. He slipped his phone into his pocket and watched the dismembered arm as if it was going to attack. After a few minutes of removing
themselves from the water soaked arm, a police boat rounded the corner and into the cove. They pulled up next to Jason’s boat and tied themselves to it. Booker stood and barked at the officer trying to step aboard.
“No!” Jason belted out. “Lay down Booker.”
The officer froze until the large dog was lying near his master. “You reeled this in?” The officer asked that was now on the bow of his boat.
“Well, yes sir, the hook is still in it.” Jason pointed out. “We have had some strange situations today, so this isn’t all that surprising. But, quite disturbing nonetheless.” He told Jason.
“Imagine being the one that caught the damn thing.” He told him. “So, can we get it off my boat, or…?” Jason questioned.
“We have some of the investigative crew on their way that will be taking it sir. I apologize we will have to keep it in its place until they arrive.” The other officer stated that was still manning the police boat.
Jason nodded and looked at Booker and gnarled his face in disgust. Booker shot his eyes up to his master without moving his head.
“What time did this all happen?” The officer stepped off of Jason’s boat and back to his. “Your name and address please.”
Jason spouted off the information. “Right before I called dispatch. I reeled it in, placed it there and called.” Jason explained.
“It looks fairly fresh.” The other officer pointed out. Jason sat down on the bench seat that covered the live well he had in the back of the boat and patted Booker on the head.
“How long are these investigator people going to take?” Jason queried the officers.
“ETA on Holder?” One of them asked into the small walkie talkie attached to his shoulder.
“Two minutes.” A voice came back.
“Ten four.” The officer answered. He nodded at Jason, assuming he had heard the information. Another boat rounded the corner with three men aboard. They tied their boat to the police boat and stepped onto theirs and over to Jason’s.
“Holder.” The man stuck out his hand to Jason.
Jason stood and shook the man’s hand. “Jason Nielson sir.” Jason sat back down to watch their process. The investigator poked at the severed arm with his pen and wrote information in a small pad.
“Let’s get some pictures and bag it up and get it back to the lab.” Holder demanded of the other two gentlemen on his boat and stepped back over to the police boat. “I apologize for the inconvenience Mr. Nielsen, but can you come back to the station with us so we can collect some information?”
“I am pretty sure my fishing day is over, so I guess so.” Jason stated as he waited for the other two men to remove the arm from his possession.
Finally the arm was gone and Jason hesitantly moved back to the driver’s seat and shivered as he sat down thinking about someone’s arm that just laid on his boat. The police untied their boat from his and allowed him to back out of the cove and head back to the boat ramp.
“Stay Booker.” Jason told him again as he went and got his truck. Jason backed the trailer down into the water, got out with the truck still running and hooked the boat up to his winch. He hit the red button and it began pulling the boat onto the trailer. Booker sat patiently in the driver’s seat of the boat until the front of the boat hit its mark then jumped out and up into the front seat of the truck while Jason secured his boat to the trailer.
“Thank you for your cooperation Mr. Nielsen, if you would just follow me down to the station.” Holder walked up.
Jason nodded as he climbed up in his truck and closed the door. He waited for Holder to pull out in his black SUV, followed him down the small roads leading away from the lake and into oncoming traffic of the nearby highway.
They stopped in front of a large brown building and Holder got out. Jason pulled his truck and trailer into two parking spots in the parking lot and rolled down the windows enough for Booker to have some airflow.
“Stay boy.” He told him and locked and shut the door. Jason walked across the street to where Holder waited and stepped up on the sidewalk. “Again thank you for coming down, just some paperwork I need you to sign and a few
questions.”
Jason nodded and followed him up the stairs and through the double glass doors into an office full of
sporadically scattered desks covered in paperwork. Holder looked back to make sure he was still following and led him into a smaller office with a large desk and two chairs in front of it.
“Please have a seat.” Holder pointed to the two chairs.
Jason sat down. “What time did you get to the lake today?”
“Oh, hell I don’t know, mid- morning.” Jason told him
“Do you always fish that lake?” “I fish in the exact same spot on that lake every time I go.”
“How often do you go?” “I work a lot at the plant, so only on my days off. Maybe two or three days a month.”
“When you reeled that in, did you feel that there was anything attached to it that may have fallen off, like the rest of the body that goes with it?”
“Nah, it was the same weight all the way up to the top.” “Thank you for you r help. I will just need you to fill this out so if we have any more questions I can get a hold of you.” Holder handed him a clip board.
Jason filled out the form and handed it back to him. “Am I okay to go?”
“Yes sir, be careful out there. I have been on calls all morning of dismembered parts being found and some strange individuals lurking around.” Holder opened the door and handed him his card.
“Uhhh…okay, thank you sir.” Jason hesitated with a bit of
confusion.
Jason shook his head on the way out wondering why he would tell him such a thing about finding
dismembered parts. Jason tried to rid himself of the strangeness he felt as he exited the building and made his way back to his truck. Booker turned circles in his seat as Jason slid into his seat.
“Well, wasn’t that a strange deal.” Jason popped the truck in gear and pulled forward out of the parking lot headed home.
He backed his trailer under the small awning and got out to unhook it. Booker jumped out behind him and sat at his feet. Jason turned to pull the truck up and almost tripped over him.
“Booker, move out from under me!” He said with anger. Booker slouched over and
practically crawled over to the porch and waited for Jason to come unlock the door. Jason pulled the truck forward just enough to get it out from under the trailer, shut the truck off and made his way to the porch.
Booker’s attention seemed to be focused on something off in the distance, Jason unlocked the door and normally would not have to say anything for Booker to bound into the house, but he didn’t. He sat staring with his ears perked and a tough stance like he was ready to pounce on something.
“What is it Booker?” Jason turned to look in the direction that his dog was taking interest in.
A dirty shirtless man stood looking in all directions. He would look right, then left, then up into the sky; he slowly took a staggering step that made him seem as if he was going to fall over then caught himself by stepping forward with the other foot. A car swerved past him and honked which quickly caught his attention, he turned toward the car and began to slowly limp the way the car went. Booker barked and the man turned back towards their way. He looked again as if he was lost and started stumbling a bit before catching his balance and headed toward the barking dog. Jason reached down and thumped his dog on the nose telling him to be quiet.
Jason watched the man some more from just inside the door. His pants were torn from the bottom to the knee and his shoes looked as though he had walked through the swamps of
Louisiana. He was skinnier than anyone Jason had ever seen and looked as though he hit every branch of an ugly tree on the way down.
Jason pulled out his cell and dialed nine one one for the second time that day.
“Nine one one, what is your
emergency?” “Well, I am pretty sure t hat I have a crackhead walking down my street and he looks pretty bad off, can we get someone out here to pick him up? My name is Jason Nielsen.”
He gave the address to the woman and she advised that she would try and get someone out there as soon as she could, but that it may be awhile and hung up.
“What the hell is the deal today?” Jason pulled the phone away from his ear. “Booker, get in!” He
commanded.
Booker turned to go into the house as the man growled at the sound of Jason’s voice and began heading in a more hurried swagger; he made it over the curb to the sidewalk and into the yard just as Booker turned around and started to dart at the man.
“BOOKER NO!” Jason hollered at him. Jason knew they would take his dog if he attacked someone. He reached for his collar and caught it with one finger before he pounced off of the porch and pulled him back. The man continued his limping toward his porch as Jason bowed up ready to take on this drug induced man.
“Get the hell out of here man!” Jason hollered at him. The man’s arms lifted toward him as he got closer and Booker’s barks got louder and meaner.
“I will let him have you man, get the hell off my property!” He warned. He swayed up to the porch and grabbed Booker’s leg and pulled. Booker reached down and bit the man’s hand and began to shake it back and forth. Jason pulled him back and commanded him to let go. Booker released the man and ran into the house and stood by the door. Jason kicked the man in the face and sent him flying backwards. The man’s face cratered in like an egg shell. When the man returned to his feet, Jason was ready for him with the bat he kept inside his door. He growled a low growl, his right eye hung out of his head now and dangled by a string. Jason stepped back from the man heading up to the porch again. He swung the bat at the man’s head once within reach. The man’s head spun off of his body and landed on the
sidewalk that led to the two small steps to the porch, his body crumbled to the ground where it stood.
“What the hell did I just do?” He asked himself. “What the hell?” He questioned.
The head laid on its cheek with its eyes still open looking toward the house. Booker barked at the head that detached itself from the grossness of the man’s body, never stepping over the threshold of the door.
“Booker, back up.” Jason told him quietly. Booker backed up further into the house, Jason held the bat up and scanned the area cautiously. His assumption on this situation had to be wrong. He backed through his
doorway, closed it slowly while facing it with the bat in the air then reached out quickly and turned the deadbolt.
“No way.” He whispered to himself. He dropped the bat to his side, but kept a firm grip on it. He walked to the small green carpeted living room and drew back the dark green curtain covering the storm window that looked over the front lawn. He saw the neighbor girl walk out of her house. She was walking slowly and her hands didn’t swing as normal when someone walked, they stayed stuck to her sides. Her legs took slow steps across her slabbed driveway as her mother followed her out in the same manner. It was as though they had been hypnotized. They both turned at the same time and glared straight at him through his bay
window. Their faces covered in blood from the nose down.
Jason jumped back from the window trying to get out of their sight. He stood back for a moment and took a deep breath; he leaned forward at the waist and peeked his head around the curtain. The two, once beautiful women, were slowly making their way to his house. The daughter was almost walking
sideways while her mother was still following behind her. She walked with a small limp. Jason watched them cautiously wondering what to do. He ran ideas through his head and decided he had to get to his truck. But how with the two women coming towards his house from across the street? Out the back!
Jason kept the bat in his hand and snapped at Booker to follow him. He kept himself against the wall, side stepped to through the rest of the living room, against the counter in the kitchen and to the back door. He scanned outside after cracking the door open. Booker was poking his nose through the small crack smelling something in the air and began to growl.
“Hush, be quiet!” Booker looked at him in confusion, knowing that he was supposed to be warning his master of danger and that is what he was doing. Jason opened the door the rest of the way then slowly stepped out onto the small cement slab of the back porch. He put his back against the house and
snapped at Booker to stay with him again. He slid down the house to the chain link gate on the side of the house. He quietly lifted the latch and pulled the gate open. He winced when the gate squeaked as he pulled it open for him and Booker to get out. He slid out of the gate and watched for Booker to follow. He kept his back against the wall and kept sliding down the house. He quickly shot his head around the corner before he stepped out in the open. The bloody faced women had made it to his porch being mere feet from the driver’s side of his truck.
Jason pulled his head back, looked up at the blowing oak tree that hit the corner of his house and rested his head on the bricks trying to decide what to do. Jason remembered that he had left the keys in the truck, which meant the truck was unlocked.
“Okay Booker, stay with me and get in the truck.” He whispered. Jason took off in a sprint across the side yard and made it to the passenger side door and flung it open. Booker jumped in and to the back seat. Jason jumped in and slammed the door shut. He lifted the large console that
occupied the in between space of the driver’s and passenger seats and slid across to the driver’s side. The women had a delayed reaction, their heads shot up into the dire
ction of the truck, then they straightened their bodies upward and started to make their way around the porch. Jason started the truck while watching them coming at him. He pulled the gear shift down and into drive. He pulled off just as the two women lifted their stiff arms straight out and grazed his truck. Booker barked at them through the back window. Jason drove away as fast as he could with no direction in mind except to just get away from where he was.
He made two turns and back onto the highway.
“ADAM!” He thought.
He took his phone out and called his son.
“Dad?” His son’s voice questioned. “Yes son, are you okay?” Jason asked. “No, we are trying to get out of the dorm. We have made it to the bottom floor so far, but we have lost a few of my buddies. I can make it to my car I think.” Adam told him.
“Okay head this way and I will head that way, wherever we get to, we will find…”
“DAD!! NO!! Dad!” His voice echoed off as the phone fell. Jason screamed for him as he listened to his son’s demise through the phone.
Jason drove to the middle of town, with no idea of where to go. He pulled over and parked down the road from the lake. Jason tried to decide if he wanted to take the chance to go down to the lake where the only shelter he would have was his truck or to one of the stores that sat down the sides of the street he had parked on. He decided to sit and watch what he could see for a little while. Booker began to growl. Jason turned toward the back seat to pat his buddy on the head and a man stood at his tailgate. His skin was grey and he had the same blood splatter pattern on his face as his neighbors. Jason held his breath as he watched the man stare into the back window of his truck.
“Hush! Come on!” Jason patted the front seat. Booker hopped into the front seat and told Booker to come on as he attempted to open the door softly. As it clicked he watched the man’s attention move from the back window to his left side. He turned his whole body and began to shuffle his feet slowly. Jason jumped from the truck and Booker stayed in the passenger seat.
