Wild Rescue (17 page)

Chapter 67

Bryce quickly dialed the Morrises’ cell phone,
hoping they would still be in range, but he got their voice mail. He asked them to call and said it was urgent.

I called animal control. There wasn’t much chance of reaching anyone there on a Friday evening, but it was worth a try. No luck.

I looked up the number for the sheriff’s office and handed the phone to Bryce. He had found ice cream in the freezer and looked at the phone like it was a dead skunk.

“Ask the officer what they’re going to do with Buck,” I said.

He poured a glop of chocolate syrup on the ice cream. “Mr. Morris will call and work it out.”

“That could be too late. I have a bad feeling.”

He put a big spoonful in his mouth. “Call him yourself. You’re the one who talked to him.” He walked into the living room, flipped on a sports channel, and plopped onto the sofa.

“Bryce, this is serious!”

A recap of the Cubs game flashed on the screen, and I knew I’d lost him.

I dialed the nonemergency number, and an operator told me the officer I had talked to was not on duty. After I explained the problem, she suggested I call animal control Monday.

“But that could be too late.”

“Best I can do is to connect you with Officer Tolson’s voice mailbox.”

I spilled my story in the message and said, “If they might put Buck down if they can’t get hold of the Morrises, please don’t let that happen. They’ll be back within phone range Sunday. At least call me before anything happens, please!”

I couldn’t watch baseball replays, so I stood in the kitchen looking out the window at Denise’s house. Lights lit her back patio, and I could make out a couple of people sitting there.

“I’m going out for a couple of minutes,” I said.

Bryce grunted.

The distance between the Morris farm and Denise’s house was about two football fields and filled with tall grass. I went slow, keeping an eye on the house while trying to avoid any holes. I finally climbed through the fence to Denise’s property and drew close enough to hear voices. It was Denise and Liz. They had a small fire going in a pit near the swimming pool.

Chapter 68

The Cubs had lost
to the Cardinals by a run in the ninth inning on a wild pitch. I wanted to throw my ice cream at the television. I couldn’t wait until Saturday night to see them get revenge. The two teams have been rivals almost since David and Goliath.

I flipped the TV off. It was dark out now, and the moon rose full above the pine trees on the mountain behind us. Everything seemed peaceful.

“Ash?” I called.
Hmm. Still out. Where was she going?

“We’ll be right back after these messages,” Lewis squawked.

I almost had a heart attack. He scared me every time. I covered his cage and went outside. Immediately I heard a low, guttural sound, like someone breathing heavily.

“Ashley?” I called, knowing it couldn’t be her.

Then I smelled it—stale, rancid, like rotten food mixed with barn smells. There and then gone with the breeze.

I walked farther into the yard and looked at the barn. Dew had begun to form and glistened in the moonlight—a soft, shimmering light like you see on lakes and the ocean.

Something moved in the distance. A black dot bobbed along the hill, just outside the fence line. Was it my imagination? a cloud moving in front of the moon?

I grabbed a flashlight from inside.

Chapter 69

The girls’ faces were lit orange by the fire.
They were throwing marshmallows into the flames and watching them turn black.

“You should have seen that girl’s leg,” Denise said. “It was awful. I don’t blame them for anything they do to that dog.”

“Good thing you were there,” Liz said.

I edged closer, trying to make them look at me, but the fire crackled and hissed. Finally, Liz looked up and screamed.

“It’s just me,” I said. I must have been scary looking, coming in from the darkness.

Denise put a hand over her chest. “I thought you were a bear. Mom saw one the other morning.”

A man came to the door. “Everything all right?”

“It’s okay, Dad,” Denise said.

He studied me, took a sip of something, and moved back inside.

Liz pursed her lips and looked away, like I had a disease.

Finally, I put my hands out and warmed them by the fire. “Denise, can I ask you a question?”

She threw another marshmallow and it sizzled to death. When she had been alone earlier, she had seemed more open. Now, with Liz by her side, it was as if a door had closed.

“How did you know the girl was hurt?” I said.

“I heard her scream.”

“From where?”

“I told you. I was right here. She was yelling like she was dying.”

“And you ran to her?”

“After calling 911. But I guess she had already called, because the operator said she had just dispatched a squad car and an ambulance.”

“How long had you been out here?” I said.

Denise looked at me like it was none of my business, but she answered anyway. “I’d been sunbathing about a half hour.”

Liz sighed and crossed her arms. “I’m getting cold. Think I’ll go inside.”

“Did you actually see Buck bite her?”

“Did you see her leg? I didn’t have to actually see him chomping her.” She stood and followed Liz. When she reached the door she turned. “Face it, Timberline. That dog is a menace. I hope they’ve already gotten rid of it.”

Chapter 70

I ran through the barn
into the field, causing the alpacas to hum as I flew past. The black dot was gone now, so I figured it had just been my imagination.

The awful smell hit me again, like year-old dirty diapers mixed with rotten potato peels. I heard the heavy breathing again. Closer. Like Darth Vader breathing into a giant coffee can.

I pointed the flashlight toward the road. The breathing stopped, but that smell hung in the air. Two huge eyes glared back at me from the other side of the fence.

Chapter 71

As I made my way back
across the field I heard Bryce yell. A flashlight beam swung wildly behind the barn, then fell.

“Bear! Ashley, it’s a bear!” he shouted.

I passed the barn and heard the alpacas humming. Bryce was throwing stones over the fence. I picked up the flashlight and pointed it toward the road. The bear was next to the fence. I pulled out Leigh’s Mace, took a few steps toward the animal, and fired. I must have missed. On the third try the bear screamed—I didn’t know they could—then ran away, swatting at its face with huge paws. The smell was awful. It was like Pippin and Frodo had spent a year inside our garbage.

Bryce turned, and I saw fear in his eyes. “We need to build a fire,” he said. “Find kindling and I’ll get wood.”

We made two small piles, one near the barn and the other near where we’d seen the bear. We dug a trench around each pile so it wouldn’t catch anything else on fire. Bryce lit the one by the barn, and I lit the one by the road. They were hard to start, but then they burned easily.

“Where were you, anyway?” Bryce said.

I told him what Denise had said. “Maybe the bear will take a dip in their pool.”

“He could use some shampoo,” Bryce said, crawling through the fence and moving through the ditch to the road. He was standing near where the girl had been attacked. He aimed the flashlight at the ground. At his feet was a hamburger wrapper from a fast-food restaurant. The burger was gone, but the bun lay on the ground, slathered with ketchup and mustard. “Litterbugs,” he muttered.

“Think that’s what the bear smelled?” I said.

Bryce shrugged. He picked up an empty plastic container, a little bigger than a nail polish bottle. It had a narrow, white tip. He pointed the flashlight at it. There were traces of red liquid inside. The label had been ripped off.

He stuffed it in his pocket, and we returned to the barn. “I ought to stay out here tonight,” he said. “The fire will probably keep the bear away, but without Buck I want to be sure.”

“I’m not staying inside by myself,” I said.

He nodded. “Let’s look for some sleeping bags.”