Battle Zone Page 5

  “Sorry, I wasn’t going to tell you until we were on our way home.” She wiped her nose and pulled a tissue from her pocket to dab at her eyes. “I guess it’s my turn to be embarrassed.”

  “Honey, of course not.” Zooey squeezed her friend’s hand. “You should’ve told me sooner. Good grief, we don’t have to do this. We can do whatever you want. You want to go skydiving, we’ll go skydiving. You want to go climb Everest, we’ll go climb Everest. You want to eat ice-cream until it’s running out of your nose, we’ll eat ice-cream until it’s running out your nose, your ears and everywhere else.”

  Taylor laughed. “Chocolate?”

  “Chocolate.” Zooey hugged Taylor once more. “I’ll help you get settled if you like. It’s been a while since I went home. Maybe Spokane has changed, and I’ll like it.”

  “Don’t count on it.” Taylor reached for a drink and then realized their glasses were empty. “How about I get us a couple more. I think we’ve lost Aaron.”

  Zooey noticed that he and the blonde guy he had been talking to were gone. She looked around the marquee, but there was no sign of him.

  “He is so predictable.” Zooey got up. “I’ll get the next round. In fact, why don’t we just go chill? We can go somewhere else for a while and talk. We have a lot to catch up on.”

  Taylor got up and shook her head. “No, not now. I’d rather just enjoy myself and worry about tomorrow when it comes. Forget the skydiving. I shouldn’t have pushed it on you like that. Let’s do it another time.”

  “Okay, if you’re sure.” Zooey pushed a twenty into Taylor’s hand. “Two light beers? I’m just gonna go grab some fresh air and see if I can find where Aaron has sneaked off to. By the look of the queue at the bar, you’ll be a while. Meet you back here in ten?”

  Zooey drifted toward the entrance of the tent, weaving her way between dancers and drunkards. She had no idea that Taylor’s mom was so sick, and felt bad about not staying in touch better. She didn’t visit home as often as she should, and tended to shy away from going back to Spokane. Her own parents were still there, always ready to put her up at Christmas, but she resented going back. She felt trapped there, scared that if she went back she would end up staying. Her parents still lived at the same house she had grown up in, and she had nothing bad to say about her childhood. Not all of her friends could say the same, and for that she was grateful. But so many of her old school friends had never really moved on. Apart from Taylor and Aaron, she hated seeing them again. There was the inevitable awkwardness when they found out she was single and childless, accompanied by even more awkwardness when she found out the only trip they’d taken in the last year was to visit the recycling center. She had nothing in common with any of them.

  “Hey, pretty thing, you dancing?”

  Zooey felt a hand cup her backside and she sighed. One of the downsides to the Stampede was the unwanted attention. The guy who had slipped his arm around her waist leered in close, his breath reeking of whiskey and potato chips. He wore a trucker’s cap and a brown T-shirt tugged down tight over his belly.

  “No, not today, buddy. Maybe later.” Zooey shrugged him off and headed for the daylight splintering in through the marquee opening. The band shifted to a slow number and the dance floor began to empty. That meant the bar was filling up fast, and Zooey saw that Taylor was still stuck in a long queue.

  “Skydiving.” Zooey chuckled to herself. She would never have thought of it herself, and if she had to drag Aaron halfway across town, she would make sure that all three of them went through with it before they went home. She could understand Taylor’s need to do something different. It was that fear of being pulled in again, of being stuck. Zooey had pulled away from anything and everyone who had tried to get too close to her. First it was her home town, Spokane, and then every job she was good at. No boyfriend had ever lasted more than two or three months, and it was always her doing the breaking up. The thought of spending her entire life with them had always overcome the reality of how good for her they were. Great sex was no substitute for freedom.

  As more people filed into the marquee, Zooey kept a look out for Aaron. It was likely that he was long gone, but would turn up back at the hotel later. That was the way things often worked out. They had lots of plans, but the Stampede often got left by the wayside. Zooey let some of the fresh July air sink into her lungs. The air inside the tent was thick with sweat and beer, the sunlight hidden behind polyester walls and bodies. As Zooey was about to give up and head back to Taylor, she saw two policemen heading into the bar.

  “Oh, no.” Zooey turned around quickly only to find herself staring straight into the face of the trucker who still wanted a dance.

  “Hot dog, it must be my lucky day.” The man clawed at her and tried to grab her waist, to pull her onto the sawdust dancefloor.

  “It’s still a no, buddy.”

  Zooey shoved him gently away and the man’s smile turned upside down.

  “God damn tease,” muttered the man, as he sniffed out someone else to maul, staggering deeper into the marquee and sloshing warm beer down his stained T-shirt.

  “Afternoon, miss. Didn’t think I would see you up and on your feet so quickly.”

  Inside, she shuddered. Perhaps she should’ve taken up the offer of the dance. Spinning around, Zooey put on her best fake smile.

  “Nice to see you again, Officer Mahoney.” As soon as Zooey looked up into those blue eyes, she almost forgot herself. She almost forgot what she had done earlier and how she had behaved. Almost. “I see you cleaned yourself up.”

  Mahoney nodded to the other policeman he was with, and the second man left them alone.

  “Just doing the rounds, making sure everyone is having a good time.” Mahoney glanced down at his shoes. “Can’t even tell, right?”

  Zooey swallowed nervously. “Sure.” She kept waiting for Taylor to come and rescue her, but there was no rescue coming.

  Mahoney burst out into a laugh, the corners of his eyes crinkling as he did so. Zooey’s heart lurched, a mixture of lust and embarrassment making her feel more and more uncomfortable with every passing second.

  “Are you laughing at me?” asked Zooey. She told herself that she was a grown adult, perfectly capable of holding a civil conversation with a man, no matter how attractive he was. “It’s not very polite, you know.”

  Mahoney frowned. “I’d never laugh at you.”

  “Not even if I told you the funniest joke in the world?”

  “Okay, maybe then. Why, are you going to tell me it now?” asked Mahoney, intrigued.

  “Hell, no. Now it’s been built up too much. It won’t be funny. You’ll have to wait until I catch you off guard.”

  Mahoney’s eyes quickly scanned the room. “Are your friends here?”

  “Taylor’s grabbing us a drink. Aaron is...well, he’s Aaron. Who knows. He’s a free spirit.”

  “Free spirits, my favorite kind.”

  “That so? But not on duty, right?”

  “Right.”

  Mahoney looked at Zooey, and Zooey looked at Mahoney, and for a second neither of them spoke. The slow music in the background enveloped them in a bubble and Calgary was a distant dream.

  Mahoney’s crackling radio interrupted them like lightning cutting through a dark sky, and Zooey felt her cheeks beginning to blossom.

  “I should really go find, Taylor.”

  “One second. I’m glad I bumped into you again. I wanted to thank you. I made fifty bucks today.”

  “Because of me?”

  Mahoney laughed. “Yeah. We have a pool going every Stampede about who will get puked up on first.”

  “And you lost?”

  “No, I won. I mean I had to suffer the indignity of you puking up bourbon and beef over me, but I won on day one, and I got a bonus because it was still morning. It wasn’t even ten if I recall.”

  “Well, it’s not nice to make your fortune out of somebody else’s bad luck. Especially someone in your position.” Zooey had to admit she was beginning to relax. There was something about him, something she found reassuring. Maybe it was the uniform, but she thought there was something more to the man behind the clothes.

  “Bad luck. Is that what you call getting drunk before noon?”

  “Hey, I’m on vacation, I can do what I like.”

  “You sure can, and I’m fifty dollars better off for it.”

  “Then I guess the next drink’s on you. When you get out of that uniform obviously.”

  Zooey caught Mahoney looking at her, and it wasn’t the officious glance of a policeman or a concerned friend. He was looking at her. There was something between them, some attraction, though she had no urge to act on it, not in full view of a whole bar. She would need at least a couple more drinks before she went down that road.

  Mahoney’s partner rejoined them, and indicated they should move on.

  “Look, I’m not sure,” said Mahoney. “I’m pretty busy. A drink sounds nice, but—”

  “No, of course, I get it.” Zooey felt even more embarrassed than she had earlier in the day when she’d thrown up all over him. Now she had thrown herself at him, and felt mortified that she thought he might actually be interested in her. She spotted the bar, and Taylor struggling to squeeze past the queue with the drinks. “I’ve gotta go.”

  “Hold up.” Mahoney’s strong hand grabbed her wrist. “I didn’t mean...I just meant, I am really busy, but it’s not just the Stampede. I don’t get off until nine tonight, and even then...you heard about the meteor shower, right?”

  “Yeah, I guess,” said Zooey, silently imploring the ground to open up and swallow her.

  “It might be worse than we thought. We heard reports it hit the Columbia Icefield. There’s a lot of confusion right now, and we might have to pull an extra shift. My brother is in Lake Louise so I’m going to call him when I get a chance, see if he can tell me what’s going on. It’s a bit chaotic, to be square with you, so I can’t promise anything. But…” Mahoney whipped out a small white card from his back pocket. “Call me later.”

  Suddenly, he was gone, thrusting the card into Zooey’s hands, and leaving the marquee. Zooey turned the card over thoughtfully, wondering quite what to make of Officer Mahoney. His personal details and cell were on the card, but would she really call him? Should she?

  “Finally.” Taylor shoved a cold beer at Zooey. “I thought we were meeting back at the table?”

  Zooey took it, putting the card in her breast pocket. “Thanks. Sorry, I was just chatting to someone.”

  “Was that someone a hot cop, by any chance?” Taylor smirked. “I saw you.”

  “Thanks for saving me. It was so awkward. Well, to begin with. Then it was…” Zooey wasn’t sure what it was. Unexpected, certainly. Unwelcome, no. She searched for the right word. “It was—”

  Taylor chinked her glass against Zooey’s. “Love?”

  Zooey rolled her eyes. “I don’t think so. And, whatever, I don’t fall in love, you know that.”

  “Sure.” Taylor smiled and gave Zooey an over-the-top wink. “Whatever you say.”

  CHAPTER 5

  “Harper, get back here.” Bryan knew in his heart they were too late. He didn’t want to admit it, but he had seen it all. Even from afar, the monster had to have killed them. “Harper, stop!”

  They hadn’t gotten far out of Lake Louise when they heard the screaming. The cycle path took them around the edge of the lake, and at first Bryan couldn’t believe how lucky he was. Harper was riding just ahead of him, and his two girls were out on the lake. When he’d first heard them calling out he assumed they were just saying hi, or goofing around. But then the screams had begun to sound more sinister, and he noticed that they’d turned back to the town.

  The speeding truck had made them stop. Harper pulled over by a bus stop and let his father catch up. Together they’d seen the truck go past, followed by a maroon van. Bryan had shouted at them to slow down, that they were going to get someone killed, but they were going by so fast that there was no way they had heard him. The next thing to come down the road had been so bizarre that for a moment Bryan thought he had lost his mind. It looked like a dinosaur, like a T-rex but smaller. Not smaller, just lower. What it lacked in height, it more than made up for in length. It ran on two hind legs, and had a huge tail and long jaws, reminiscent of an oversized crocodile. Forcing Harper to hide behind the bus stop, the monster had passed them by without noticing them. It was following the speeding cars into the town, and then it clicked. Bryan understood what his daughters had been trying to tell him. They must have seen it from the lake, and now they were going back to the town.

  “Harper, no!”

  Barely minutes ago, Bryan had been enjoying the start of a new day with his son. Now he knew it was likely that some of his family were injured or dead. Harper was faster than him, and had insisted they get back to the town to help. Bryan had seen the yellow lifejackets. He had seen them thrown around, but then the monster had ducked under the cover of the trees in the small park, and he hadn’t seen what happened next. He had heard gunshots. He had seen the smoke pouring out of the crashed van, and he knew it was bad.

  Up ahead, Harper skidded to a halt and jumped off his bike. He ran to a park bench where a woman was slumped over. Sweat poured down Bryan’s neck and back as he raced to catch up. When he finally caught up with his son a few seconds later, he fell off his bike and felt a numb cold clutching at his head. Harper had tears pouring down his face and he was holding the hand of the woman on the bench.

  “Son?”

  Harper shook his head. His lips trembled. “I think mom is...I think she’s—”

  Bryan gritted his teeth and knelt down at his wife’s feet. Blood covered her legs, and her skin was cold. He put a hand on her neck and felt for a pulse. It was faint, but it was there. He put Anna into an upright position and began to rub her hands. The pale pallor of her face worried him as much as the blood on her hands and legs.

  “Come on, honey. It’s me. Harper’s here. Wake up, Anna.”

  Harper joined in, trying to rouse his mother. Anna moaned and a pink bubble escaped her lips.

  “Anna? Honey?” Bryan was aware of the commotion behind him, of the people running for their lives. The monster was tearing through the town, killing and destroying anything in its path. Yet, for the moment, they seemed to be safe. Bryan had to know Anna was okay and where his daughters were.

  “Br...Bryan?” rasped Anna. Her heavy eyes struggled to open.

  “Anna, it’s going to be all right.” Bryan knew it was anything but. Even if Anna could walk they still had to find their daughters and then a way out of town without the monster finding them.

  Harper sniffed back his tears as he took a cellphone out of his pocket. “Dad, I’ll call for an ambulance.”

  Bryan nodded and then returned his anxious gaze to his wife. “Anna, can you hear me? Where are the girls? Where’re Kelsea and Susie?”

  For a moment his wife stared into the distance, her blue eyes now a dull gray. Bryan had one full second of not knowing, of retaining the hope that they were still alive, and then it was over. Anna’s eyes slowly turned to his and he felt his stomach turnover. Ice-cold goosebumps hit him like a hurricane, and he gripped his wife’s hand.

  “No. No, Anna,” he said, his bottom lip trembling.

  “They’re gone. I tried,” whispered Anna. “I couldn’t—”

  Anna’s eyes rolled back exposing the whites and her head lolled back.

  “Dad, there’s no answer,” said Harper. “It’s just beeping. I don’t...should I try again?”

  Bryan got to his feet and let his wife’s fingers slip from his. He staggered back, reality swimming just above his head and refusing to sink in.

  “Dad?”

  Bryan watched his wife’s chest rise and fall, and then stop. Her shoulders slumped, and a thin line of bright red blood dribbled down her chin.

  “Dad, I don’t know what to do.” Harper felt a twinge of sickness creeping up behind his ears like an army of ants marching from the top of his spine to the base of his jaw. His mother had stopped moving and his father was almost catatonic. A resounding thud in the distance was followed by a pall of smoke erupting from a store hidden by the trees. A police cruiser sped by, its siren blaring, and Harper ran to his father. “Dad! Dad, what should I do?”

  Bryan gulped in air as if he was drowning. He put his hands on his son’s shoulders and frowned. “I don’t...I don’t know, son. I...your mother is—”

  Harper jumped as another bang in the distance was followed by a roar. He looked down the road and saw the monster looming over a man who was getting out of a car, pointing a gun into the air. The monster leapt forward and crushed the car, swatting away the man with its long scaly tail. A police cruiser skidded to a halt and Harper saw two policemen get out. They sheltered behind their car doors and began shooting, sending round after round into the creature. Harper had never seen anything like it. He had seen monster movies, and counted himself as something of a Godzilla aficionado. He loved the old Japanese films with their monsters destroying Tokyo, men in giant rubber costumes trampling cardboard cities. But this was real, people were dying, and he knew that it wasn’t just his mother he had lost. There was no sign of his sisters, and it was beginning to look like everyone in the town was in the monster’s path.

  The two policemen continued shooting, even as the thing advanced toward them. The bullets struck it, but seemed to make no noticeable impact. The first man was killed instantly. Harper saw him snatched into the monster’s jaws and crushed, his body snapped like a brittle shell. The second policeman tried to back away from the cruiser, firing even as the monster followed him. The creature strode right through the police vehicle as if it wasn’t there, crushing metal and steel with ease. The policeman tried to run at the last moment, but he was not fast enough. Harper gasped as the creature lunged forward and snatched him up between his teeth. The jaws of the creature were so long that Harper guessed it had hundreds of teeth. The man cried out in pain as the monster bit into him, tearing his body apart. The man’s arms were ripped off and then his legs, before the monster gobbled the rest of him up.