For Love and Friendship
Chapter 10
Disclaimer: see chapter 1
Mackland had never been the 'outdoor' type, but he was able to easily keep up with David through the cold, moonlit woods. They had taken Steven's pickup to the edge of the woods, then set out on foot. Neither man spoke as David seemed to know exactly where he was going. Mackland wasn't sure how long it had taken them to find the raven, but it was just as it appeared in his reading. The Doctor stood beside David as the younger man shined his flashlight into the unforgiving darkness, releasing a strangled cry when the beam bounced off the pale face of his friend. "Steven…" David whispered as a howl echoed through the woods. "What the hell was that?" David turned around, bringing the rifle to his shoulder.
Mackland turned as well, his flashlight attempting to pierce the darkness of the surrounding woods. "David, perhaps we should head back. Wait for Detective Rawlings."
Before David could answer, there was a low growl from off to the right of the two men, David swung the rifle in that direction as Mackland shined the light, they just barely caught a glimpse of movement. "What was that? It's bigger than any coyote I've ever seen." David whispered, his eyes trying to take in the darkness beyond Mackland's flashlight beam. Before David had time to react a large shape barreled into Mackland, knocking the Doctor to the ground, the flashlight flying from his grip. Mackland's hands instinctively went up to protect his face, pushing against the snapping jaws trying to get to him. He felt the creature as it rose up slightly, but missed the large claw that hit him on the side of his head, stars flashing in his vision. Mackland heard David yell his name as another massive claw racked across his arm. The Doctor's last coherent thought consisted of the sound of multiply gunshots and the sound of David screaming and then Mackland's world went dark.
"This one's still alive, what about him?" Mackland heard voices around him, but felt it was such a struggle to open his eyes.
"Poor bastard never had a chance. Damn it Daniel what the hell were they doing out here in the middle of the night?" It was a rougher sounding voice that filtered into Mackland barely conscious mind.
"I saw them in town talking to Rawlings about the Gunthner fella. I took'em to be family. But I don't have any idea how they managed to get out here." Mackland felt a touch against his neck, he couldn't stop the moan the escaped him. "Hey buddy, can you hear me?" A gentle slap on his cheek caused Mackland to try and open his eyes.
"David?" His first thought was of his friend.
"Sorry pal, your friend's dead." Mackland felt his eyes closing again, maybe he was hoping it was all a bad dream and he prayed the next time he awoke, it would be in the Gunthner's guest room.
"Hey man, you need to stay awake." Daniel patted Mackland's face again, but when the Doctor didn't respond, he again checked the downed man's pulse. "Bobby we need to get him to a hospital. When we get him to the car, you clean out those wounds with holy water, make sure he wasn't bitten before we get him there. It has to end here." Bobby nodded at Daniel's order as both hunters picked up the Doctor and headed back toward their vehicle.
The sound of beeping entered into Mackland's consciousness as he mind tried to process where he was. Next it was the smell, a smell he would know anywhere- antiseptic. He slowly tried to open his eyes, but blinked them shut again against the glare of the overhead light. He moaned as he tried to bring a hand up to his face. A gentle touch on his arm stopped the progression. "You just take it easy now, you've been out of it for a while." It was a woman's voice that accompanied the touch, Mackland forced his eyes open again. When he did, his gaze was met by the comforting smile of an older African-American woman. "That's it, you take it easy, I'll get the nurse for you." He watched as the woman moved out of sight. Slowly he turned his head and saw her stop a nurse in the hallway.
His mind tried to figure out where he was and what had happened that caused him to end up in a hospital. A nurse came in a short time later, Mackland could see the one who had been in his room when he awoke standing just outside the door. "I'm glad to see you're finally awake Dr. Ames." The young nurse began to check his vitals.
"What happened?" Mackland whispered out, his throat was dry. The nurse poured him a cup of water and helped him rise up for a sip.
"You were attacked out in the woods, Detective Rawlings wanted to be told when you woke up." She finished up and wrote down everything on his chart, "The doctor will be in shortly."
"Please…" Mackland again whispered, "how did I get here, where's David?"
"You were brought in early this morning by a couple of guys who said they found you out in the woods. They said they were out looking for one of their hunting dogs and found you. That's about all I know, the doctor or Detective Rawlings should be able to tell you more." The young woman smiled and walked out of the room.
Mackland closed his eyes, the images of the night before flashed in his mind. He had been in the woods with David, they had found Steven's body, but something attacked him. He remembered hearing David yell for him, then gunshots, then David screaming. "David." Mackland whispered as he brought his hand to his head, he could feel the bandage wrapped around it, then noticed the one on his arm as well.
"Missouri, why are you here? Everything has been taken care of, there wasn't any reason for you to come." Mackland recognized the voice from the hallway as the one he recalled briefly, when he woke up in the woods.
"Daniel Elkins, don't you dare take that tone with me, I'm here because of him." Missouri pointed to the room as she dealt with the brash hunter before her. "I've contacted Jim about this."
"What you gonna tell on me to the Guardian? Damn it I did my job, I can't help a couple of civilians got in the way. At least this one made it, it's more than I can say for the other guy. We got there as fast as we could, but they had no business being in those woods in the middle of the night." Daniel was not in the mood to be dressed down, by Missouri Mosley.
"I don't care for your attitude toward me Daniel, this is not about you. That man in there is important to the cause. I felt his presence when he came into town, but I was told by Jim to not make contact, to see what happens. Of course we didn't expect him to get attacked. Are you sure he wasn't bitten?" Missouri eyed Daniel, then glanced at Bobby Singer, who stood back a few feet, wisely keeping his mouth shut.
"He wouldn't have made it to the hospital if he had been, I'd left him in those woods with that creature. Now if you don't mind me and Bobby need to get out of town before that detective starts wondering where our dog is." Bobby looked at the floor as Daniel glared at him, it was the best Bobby could come up with at the time.
Missouri turned to reenter the room after Daniel and Bobby left, to be met by two steel gray eyes watching her. "I'm sorry you had to hear all that, Daniel lacks finesse when dealing with people." the older woman smiled as if her comment made everything clear.
Before Mackland could ask any questions a doctor, followed by Detective Rawlings came in. "Well, Dr. Ames, it is good to see you finally awake. I'm Doctor Larson, How are you feeling?"
"Where's David?" Mackland was worried about his friend, especially after what he had overheard the man in the hallway saying.
It was Detective Rawlings who spoke, his tone surprised Mackland, as the usually aggressive tone was lacking. "Dr. Ames, I'm sorry to have to tell you, but whoever or whatever attacked you, also attacked Detective Morton as well, I'm sorry but he didn't make it." the detective paused a few moments to allow Mackland to process the news. "Dr. Ames, can you tell my how you and Detective Morton came to be out in the woods in the middle of the night?" there was no accusation in the other man's voice, he was just wanting to piece together what had happened, after all he now had six bodies, five of which appeared to have had their hearts ripped out. He had also found another body with several gunshot wounds, it appeared that Mackland was the only one to survive the encounter.
Mackland eyed the doctor as well and the older woman who had stepped back when the other's entered the room. The detective saw that Mackland didn't want to reveal anything in front of the others, "Dr. Larson, Mame if you don't mind giving us a few minutes?" Dr. Larson and Missouri left the room, but Mackland could see that the woman didn't go far.
"We told you when we first arrived that I was able to locate missing people, do you remember?" Mackland looked at the officer, he had managed to raise his bed some, so he was more upright.
"I do, and if I remember I expressed my disbelief in that type of thing." Detective Rawlings answered.
"Well, David believed what I could do. Last night I got a reading from Steven's rifle, I saw him in that raven. I tried to convince David to wait until morning, when you and your men could conduct a search, but he was determined, he felt it was his place to bring Steven home, so instead of him going alone, I went with him. We found Steven just like I had seen, but something attacked us. I was jumped first, the last thing I remember was David screaming." Mackland was trying to control his emotions, but an overriding sense of responsibility ate at him. He had told David where to find Steven, so he was feeling responsible for David's death. The devastated Doctor place a hand over his face.
"Dr. Ames, this is going to be a tough investigation for me, because I can't readily say what happened to those men or to you. I've contacted New York to let them know of Detective Morton's death. I've also informed them of your injuries. You are in no way a suspect, but I'm sure they will want to talk to you about this. I'm very sorry for everything that has happened. I'll be in contact if I need anything else, but I don't believe I will. Have a safe trip back to New York Doctor." Detective Rawlings left the room.
For the first time since his abilities had become known to him, Mackland found himself cursing them. Taking several deep breaths he laid his head back on the pillow. The woman who had been in his room when he woke up, whom he had yet to learn her name, other than hearing one of the guys who had apparently rescued him, call her Missouri, was again talking to someone outside his door.
"Mary, what are you doing here baby? You shouldn't be here." Mackland glanced up and caught the profile of a younger blonde woman.
"Mike called John to let him know about Steven. John want to come down and offer his support, but please Missouri, Did Daniel and Bobby find him in time? I called you as soon as I could." the young woman's voice was almost panicked.
"Yes, Honey, he's going to be just fine, but you shouldn't be here. You need to be back with your baby and your husband. We will take care of him, don't you worry." Missouri hugged the younger woman, who then turned and walked away. Again Missouri entered Mackland's room.
"Who are you and why are you here?" Mackland finally got to ask.
"My name is Missouri Mosley, and I'm here to look after you until Jim arrives." Missouri took a seat next to Mackland's bed.
"Thank you, but I don't know any Jim and I really don't need to be looked after. I've had a rough few days and just need to get out of here and go home." Mackland was in no mood for games and he didn't need anyone looking after him.
"No this is no game and you Mackland Ames have just become a very big player in the cause." Missouri smiled at the look of surprise that crossed Mackland's face when she had said what he had been thinking. "We are a lot alike Dr. Ames, but I get the sense that you are quite capable of more than just Psychometry, now aren't you."
"How…how do you know?" Mackland stared at the woman in disbelief.
"Because our dear Missouri has a tendency to try and help, when she really should wait." A man's voice interrupted Mackland's thoughts as Missouri rose to meet the newcomer.
"Jim, it's nice to see you again." Missouri hugged the taller man as he stepped near the bed. "Dr. Mackland Ames, this is Pastor Jim Murphy."
Mackland took in the appearance of this new stranger who had just entered his hospital room. The man was definitely older than himself, but not as old as his father. There was more silver than dark in the man's hair. He was dressed in black jeans with the typical collared shirt that many men of faith wore. However, the most striking thing about the man was his piercing blue eyes. They seemed as if they contained the secrets of the universe in the cool blue color. "Dr. Ames, I'm glad to see that you are recovering." Jim held his hand out, it was a moment before Mackland accepted.