And I didn’t.
Chapter Eleven
Will threw up a second time and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. His breath came in rasps. I’d pulled him up and dragged him away after I took out the Bear. Now he sat against a massive juniper twenty yards from the carcass. He closed his eyes, wheezing harder, pulling at his hair while he rocked back and forth. Each time he did, his back banged against the tree trunk. He was so messed up, I didn’t have time to think about what I’d just done.
I knelt next to him, worried he’d hyperventilate. “Dude, calm down. Everything’s gonna be okay now. It’s dead. I killed it.”
Will’s eyes flew open. He scrambled away from me and threw up again. I rocked back into a squat. “Major, he looks pretty bad. We need to get him out of here.”
Mike came over to squat with me, bringing the first-aid kit. He pulled the first piece of gauze off his ear without saying anything. The gash had cut a jagged tear through his earlobe. Had to hurt like heck, but Mike slapped a fresh piece of gauze against it without flinching.
“Maybe,” he said. He watched Will for a moment, then his face went from concerned to cast-iron. “Will, get your butt off the ground. Matt, you, too. We have work to do.”
At the sound of the “Fort Carson bark,” I jumped up. “Sir, yes, sir.”
Will shrank lower, shaking his head. Mike stood and jerked him to his feet. “The only way to get over a shock like this is to get busy. Now can you walk, or are you a total pansy?”
Will cringed and threw me a horrified look. It hurt me to do it, but I met his gaze and snapped, “Do as the major says. Move it.”
He swallowed hard. “Okay. Where are we going?”
I strode into the woods without looking back. “To get rid of the body.”
* * *
We stood over the dead beast, listening to the pine trees whip in the breeze. The monster lay in a pool of blood with one arm flung askew. Its eyes were bugged out, as if it still couldn’t believe it had been stabbed. I’d done that. My knees shook. I’d felt so brave in the heat of the moment, but now that it was all over, I couldn’t believe it was real. I had to keep it together, though; I couldn’t freak. If I was going to do this job, it meant focusing on the task at hand without thinking too much about it.
Mike moved us upwind, because the thing reeked. “Let’s find a ditch or a dense clump of brush. It’ll take some effort, but you’ve got to hide the body well enough that it won’t be found.” He punched Will in the shoulder. “You with me, Cruessan? Once it’s hidden, Matt knows what to do.”
“I call Colonel Black and they send a team out for retrieval and disposal,” I said. “We have to make sure it’s hidden because it might be a few days before he can get enough personnel assembled to make the trip from Colorado. And I need to mark down the GPS coordinates of the dump site, so the team can find the body.”
“Retrieval….and disposal?” Will stared at me like he’d never seen me before. A stranger—who he’d known since first grade. “Who are you people?”
“I’m your best friend, Matt.” I glanced at Mike to see if I could say more. He gave me a brief nod. “Remember when I asked about weight training and you wondered why? Well, this is why. I’m a monster-hunter.” I gave Will a once over; he still looked like crap. “I’m betting you wish you hadn’t followed us, huh?”
Will jerked nervously. “Oh, yeah.”
“Why did you follow us?” Mike asked, with a hint of a growl.
“I thought I saw a man sneaking around the property and went to check it out,” Will said. “When I got close enough, I heard you both talking, then Mike said something about smoking being stupid. I wondered what was up.” Shaking his head, he followed my lead and took his place on the other side of the Bear.
Moving that three-hundred pound carcass was a big, messy, exhausting job. Dark smears of blood streaked the leaves and the ground along our trail. We huffed and puffed, dragging the body by its arms until black spots danced in front of my eyes. Legs strained, shoulders ached. Mike pitched in some, but made me figure it out for myself most of the time.
After half an hour, we’d moved the body thirty yards through the trees to a small ditch filled with decaying leaves. Will was white in the face and muttered to himself the entire time. I didn’t bug him. It had taken me days to get used to the idea that monsters were real. He needed some time, too.
We heaved the body over and rolled it down the little hill. I threw leaves, branches and dirt on top of it until I’d totally covered everything. When I was done, I unbuttoned my camo jacket to cool off. I was covered in dirt and had the Bear’s blood splattered all over my arms, hands and pants. No telling how freaky I looked. I wished I could wear gloves when I hunted, but the knife didn’t respond unless it had skin-to-handle contact. The blood wasn’t toxic; I’d just have to get over the gross factor.
Will sat slumped on the pine-needle-covered ground, staring into space. Every once in a while he’d wipe his hands on his jeans or tug at the collar of his ski jacket, muttering something about death. Mike knelt next to him. Without warning, he slapped Will’s face. Will’s head wobbled on his neck and he cried out in surprise. I winced in sympathy, but it had to be done.
Mike put his hands on Will’s shoulders to steady him. “Cruessan, I know you’re freaked out and sick and tired and wondering why you aren’t dead.” Mike’s voice softened. “When you get home, it’d be understandable if you hid under your bed and didn’t come back out. But, we need your help. You have to keep quiet about what you saw. You’re Matt’s best friend. Can I trust you to keep his secret?”
Will nodded and whispered, “I won’t tell. I’ll cover for you.”
I smiled a little. Will had my back; I could always count on him. Always. Will always had my back…a light bulb went on in my head.
I plopped down next to Mike and shook his arm. “I have an idea. You haven’t found me a partner. What about Will? He’s strong as an ox and he has a four-wheeler. His house would make a great base of operation, too. It’s the perfect arrangement.”
Mike raised his eyebrows. “Matt, I’m not sure about this…it’s too dangerous. It’s bad enough that you have to—”
“I’d much rather work with him than some random lieutenant from Fort Carson,” I said.
“I’m sitting right here, you know,” Will mumbled.
I turned to him, willing to beg if necessary. “Dude, you’ve hiked these woods your whole life; no one knows them better. Having your help would be huge.”
Will blinked rapidly, looking confused, flattered and terrified all at the same time. He took a deep breath. “Maybe you should tell me exactly what I’d be getting into, first.”
I launched into the story. Will’s jaw hung slack throughout most of explanation.
“Monsters?” he asked. “Really?”
“That thing wasn’t the tooth fairy, man.” I rolled my eyes. “Look, since the knife chose me, I’m the only one able to hunt them down and I’m gonna need help.” After a loaded silence, I squeezed his shoulder. “I’d trust you with my life.”
Will thought about it. Eventually a hard smile spread across his face. “Hell, yeah, I’ll do it.”
Mike looked alarmed by Will’s sudden enthusiasm. “Cruessan, you sure about this? I definitely prefer Matt working with someone he knows, but we’re not talking about paintball, here. Maybe you ought to sleep on it, just to be sure.”
“Uncle Mike, he gets it,” I said. “He’s not taking it lightly. Will just makes decisions quicker than I do. He’s always been that way.”
Will got to his feet, standing only a few inches shorter than Mike. “These things invaded my backyard. I want to help kick them out.”
“Good,” I said, before Mike could protest. “Can we go home, now? I’m tired.”
“Me, too,” Will said.
We hiked back to the Cruessan’s house, and made sure Will got inside okay. Then Mike and I headed to the rental SUV, ready for some rest.
Mike kept his jaw clenched and didn’t say much on the drive downtown to his loft.
“What is it?” I asked.
He pulled into the garage at his apartment building and parked before answering me. “I hate this.”
Mike sounded bitter; wrecked in a way I’d never heard before. I sat up straighter. “Whoa. What’s the deal?”
“You’re not even fifteen, Matt! You’re a kid, Will’s a kid. And I’m sending you out into the woods with a knife to kill eight-foot tall Wookiees.” Mike pounded on the steering wheel. “I just slapped a fourteen-year-old to get him over battle shock. What in the world am I thinking? What’s the Army thinking? We’re out of our minds!”
Watching him melt down rocked the thin resolve I’d manage to build over the last week. “Uncle Mike, if we don’t do it, who will? The knife passed over a colonel and a bunch of Green Berets for me. You said this stuff happens for a reason, that it picked me for a reason.”
“I know I did. And I meant it,” Matt said, strangling the steering wheel in his hands. I scrunched down in my seat, horrified to see him so frustrated and pissed. “But now Will, too? This is pure insanity. If something happens to you boys out there, I won’t be able to live with myself.”
“You can’t worry about me. You have to worry about keeping yourself safe in Afghanistan.” The steel in my voice surprised me. I sounded like Major Tannen. “I can’t do my job if I’m worried about you worrying about me. Besides, now that Will knows, nothing will stop him from helping me, so you need to get used to the idea.”
Mike pinched the bridge of his nose. “I hope nothing goes wrong.”
Wiping my face free of any fear, I said, “It won’t. I trust Will. Heck, I can practically read his mind. We’ll make a great team. You’ll see.” I popped open my door. “I’m starving. Please tell me you have more than chili and cocktail onions in the apartment.”
Mike laughed sadly. “How about we order a pizza?”
After eating two-thirds of a large pepperoni pizza, I slept like the dead. We got up at nine and spent most of Saturday morning discussing tactics. Mike had calmed down overnight, and was now in full planning mode. I had the instructions down as well as I could without getting more actual hunt experience, so he started pounding me with a long list of training exercises for Will. Most of it involved teaching him to be more quiet in the woods. Uncle Mike’s list for me included as much weight training as my body could stand, in addition to eating protein four times a day.
I agreed to all of it, but in my mind, the bigger issue was Mom.
“Keeping this from Mom is gonna be pretty hard, you know. Mamie’ll be worse.” I poured Cap’n Crunch into one of the two bowls Mike owned. “At least you got me some cereal.”
“Only because I’m feeling guilty. Starting tomorrow, cereal is no longer part of your diet.” Mike sighed and scratched at his unshaven face. There were more gray flecks in his beard than just a few weeks ago. “I know it’ll be hard. But if Dani finds out, she won’t allow you to hunt and the Bears will continue to prowl. Most moms are like that; they don’t care if a hundred strangers die as long as their own kids stay safe. So you’ll need to get better at cover stories and learn how to sneak out of the house.”
“I’ve been working up a plan,” I said.
“Good,” he said. “Matt, there’s something else. Next time, do not yell and rush the monster. No doubt it was effective, but when I came around after getting my bell rung, I heard that scream of yours and about had a stroke when the Bear ran at you. All of this–sneaking out, finding your prey on the quiet, mounting a surprise attack–it’s really important. You need to limit your exposure.”
I nodded. “I wasn’t thinking. Next time, I’ll sneak up and get it from behind. I’ll oil my backpack’s zipper, too, so it won’t stick.”
“Good. Okay, tell me how you’ll be getting out of the house.”
* * *
“My goodness, kiddo, look at you!”
Mom gave me a stunned grin as Mike and I returned from our “rappelling trip” on Sunday afternoon and found her in the kitchen, cooking dinner. The smell of spaghetti sauce made my stomach growl. I thought seriously about diving into the pot and going for a swim.
She wiped her hands on a dishtowel. “Did you grow two inches while you were gone? I swear, you look like you’ve aged.” Mom put a hand on my head and ran it level to her nose, like she was trying to measure my height.
“You were the one who said I was growing when I ate all that meatloaf a few weeks ago. Guess you were right,” I said. She wasn’t though; I might be a little taller, but not much. Mom saw something else, and I didn’t think it had anything to do with how tall I was.
Mike shot me a sly look. “Fresh air, exercise and as many scrambled eggs as he could hold. That’s the secret.”
Mom shook herself and snapped out of “welcome home” mode. “Hmm. I know another secret.”
Uh oh. That was her “you’re grounded” voice.
She must’ve seen the guilt on my face, because she said, “That’s right. Were you planning to tell me about the fight or the two weeks’ detention? Mrs. Stevens called but you were already on the road.”
I kicked at the tile floor. “Mike said he called you.”
“That’s not the same as you calling me, young man.” Mom glared first at me, then at Mike. “Michael, even if you did discuss it with Matt, a week’s worth of fun wasn’t exactly what I had in mind after the principal called.”
If Mom only knew; Fort Carson hadn’t been fun and games. Honestly, I thought I’d been punished pretty well in Colorado.
“Dani, Matt knows his actions were unacceptable.” Mike met my eyes with a firm stare. Major Tannen was back, and still one scary dude. “And he agreed that he’ll maintain discipline at school. He promised me.”
Mom looked back and forth between us, brow furrowed. “Matt, did you promise Uncle Mike?”
“Yeah, Mom. I won’t cut up like that again.” Nice and humble; maybe it would work and she wouldn’t ground me.
“You better not. And to make sure you mean it, you’re grounded for the next two weeks. School, detention and your room are the only three stops you’ll be making.”
She did that paradoxical Mom thing where she kissed me on the forehead after chewing me out, then went to the mud room with a pile of my dirty clothes from the trip.
What a homecoming for a monster-killer.
Chapter Twelve
It felt weird going back to school. I’d spent the last week practicing mortal combat skills and today I was in algebra, sitting behind Ella and her strawberry-scented ponytail. All my daydreams came rushing back. At one point, she leaned forward to get her book out of her bag, forcing her hot pink long-sleeved t-shirt to pull up. For a brief moment, I saw a sliver of skin above the waistband of her jeans. That made my morning, at least until the bell rang.
After class, Ella turned to me, but she didn’t smile. “So, I heard you slammed Carter into a locker before break.” Her voice was stiff.
My face got hot and prickly. “Um, yeah, just a little misunderstanding. He…”
“Matt, I thought you were different,” she said, her tone softer now. “Other guys spout off all the time, but not you. I’ve never seen you pick one fight, and I liked you because of that; you were a good friend.”
She picked up her books and left the classroom, walking fast, before I had a chance to finish saying, “…started it.” Watching her disappear, I whispered, “I just lost my temper. It won’t happen again.”
“Aw, who cares,” Will said, whacking me in the shoulder with his math book. “Carter had it coming. You needed to trounce him.”
“I care.” I stared out the classroom door. She’d said she “liked” me—as if she didn’t anymore. What if she hated me now, all for shoving Carter when he deserved it?
“Dude, we got bigger things to worry about than your undying love for Ella.” Will grabbed my bag and pushed me out the door, away from Mrs. Burns’
superhuman hearing skills. “I bought a spare gas can for the ATV yesterday and hid it in the garage. You know, in case we get called and have to roll fast.”
“For a guy who puked six times on Friday night, you sure seem to be excited about all this.” I shook my head, still upset about Ella. “No, wait, you sound exactly like I did after I got over the shock. I was really jacked up, too.”
Will laughed. “I just wish we could tell people, you know? How awesome would that be? I bet Ella would give you another look, clobbering her idiot boyfriend or not.”
“Yeah. That thought definitely crossed my mind.” Four hundred times…this morning.
Carter found us at lunch. Will had been keeping tabs on me in the hallways, and we’d avoided him all morning. But since we had the same lunch period, there was nowhere to hide.
“Archer, heard you got detention,” Carter said, an evil glint in his eye. He shook his blond hair like a model in a shampoo commercial. “I got off with a warning. Guess talking down the principal gets added to the list of all the other things you can’t do.”
Uncle Mike started lecturing me inside my head. What are Carter’s insults going to do to you? Nothing. You could hurt him if you lose your temper. Keep it together.
Trying to sound bored, I said, “Maybe I didn’t want to avoid the punishment. Makes that beat-down I gave you more valuable because I have to pay for it.”
Carter clenched his fists. “You better watch your mouth or we’ll finish that fight.”
Will stood up, scraping his chair along the linoleum. He bunched up his broad shoulders menacingly. “Leave. Now.”
That earned me another withering look from Carter. “Still letting Cruessan do the heavy lifting, huh, Archer?” he said. “Coward.”
With that one word, Carter almost made me forget my promise to Mike. I got up slowly, my eyes never leaving his face. “You don’t get to call me coward.”
Carter took a step back. After one last glare, he turned and stalked to the basketball table, like he’d put the fear of God into me, straightening his letter jacket as he went. What a tool.