Author's Note: Thank you all for the continued support!
Chapter 26: Refuge
The Monkees sat in the cart for nearly an hour. The cart moved rather slowly, probably 10 miles an hour or so, but it was still faster than they could have walked. The ride wasn't exactly smooth either; thanks to the rusty tracks and rocks in the way, they had been jarred several times. Mike tried to keep Davy's leg as stable as possible during the ride, but when the car ran over a particularly large rock, Davy's leg was jarred very heavily and bumped into Mike's belt buckle. Davy had gasped in pain and Mike's stomach had clenched with worry.
Peter wasn't faring much better. Every jostle of the cart caused him to inhale sharply from pain. Micky had tried to move a little closer to Peter to help offer more support, but he'd only caused the cart to jostle more from his movements. Peter had told Micky not to worry about him and that he'd be fine, but Mike knew that was easier said than done. He'd been worrying about both Peter and Davy the whole ride and had no doubt Micky was doing the same. There was a pain in the back of his own head and a few times he'd almost nodded off to sleep, but was awoken by either Michelle or Micky kicking him.
"Don't fall asleep, Mike," Micky said when it happened again.
"I'm not," Mike lied.
"Liar," Michelle chastised. "Your face looks really bad. You probably have a concussion. No sleeping."
"I'm fine," Mike said. Before either could argue again, they hit another rock in the track and everyone was jostled once more in the cart. Mike gripped Davy's leg steady, but Peter was shaken around despite Allison holding tightly to him and winced in pain again.
"Maybe we should foot it the rest of the way," Micky looking worriedly at Peter.
"No," Peter argued. "I'm ok. It'll take us longer to walk on foot anyway."
"Besides, there's no way to stop the cart," Mike added.
"I think we're almost there, anyway," Davy said pointing in the distance. Mike and the others turned to see a skyline of buildings in the distance. They were indeed approaching another city. Within another 15 minutes of seeing the city, the cart pulled to a stop in front of a set of doors leading to a rather large factory. Micky got out first followed by the girls and Mike. Mike and Piper helped Davy get out of the cart and Micky helped Allison get Peter.
"So now we find the hospital," Micky mumbled supporting Peter on his shoulders.
"What in the world is going on here?" said a man coming out of the factory and pointing a shotgun at them. They all froze as he squared each of them down.
"Uh," Mike started. "See, we were driving through and got stuck in Hanson. Our friend got injured and our car was wrecked so we found this cart and thought it might lead us to a hospital."
"Please, sir," Piper added. "We really don't mean any harm or anything. He's hurt bad and needs a hospital."
"Well, I'll be damned," the man said lowering the shotgun once he realized Peter really was hurt. "I had no idea that thing still even worked. Ain't no one been to Hanson in years! Not since the 'splosion."
"Yeah, well, like I said, our car got stuck," Mike said. "Can you tell us where the hospital is?"
"I can do ya one better," the man answered. "Hop in my truck and I'll take ya there."
"Thank you," Mike said. They all followed him around the side of the building to an old truck. They helped Peter into the back of the truck first. Allison climbed back with him followed by Michelle and Piper who helped Davy up. When they'd gotten settled, there really wasn't much more room for Micky and Mike.
"You two can ride up front with me," the man said opening the side door for them. Mike was a bit reluctant seeing as how this man had just pointed a shotgun at them, but climbed in nonetheless. He sat in the middle and Micky climbed in after him. The man then walked around the front and climbed in behind the driver's seat.
"So do you greet everyone with a shotgun?" Micky asked sounding a little nervous.
"Only people I ain't 'specting ta see this late in the night and comin' in on an old mining cart that ain't been used in decades," he answered with a hearty laugh. "Ya'll gave me a fright. My wife done near had a heart attack."
"We're sorry," Mike said. "We really didn't mean to scare anyone."
"Name's Bellinger," the man said. "I run the factory."
"I'm Mike," Mike said. "And this is Micky."
"What were you folks doing drivin' through Hanson this late at night anyway?" Bellinger asked.
"We uh…" Mike said. He knew he couldn't admit the truth to this man; he would think it too outrageous, but he didn't really know what else to say.
"We got lost," Micky offered to Mike's relief.
"And how did your friend get hurt?" Bellinger asked.
"It was an accident," Micky said. "He fell on something and cut his stomach."
"It was really dark," Mike added.
"And what about you?" Bellinger asked. "You look like you got into a fight and lost."
"I fell too," Mike lied. "How much farther is this hospital?"
"Just up the road a bit," Bellinger answered. "You sure you boys ain't in a gang?"
"A gang?" Micky asked surprised. "Of course not! We got lost and it was dark so we couldn't see. That's all."
"Well, just so's you don't bring no trouble 'round here," Bellinger said.
"I promise," Mike said. "We've had enough trouble to last a lifetime."
"More than enough," Micky agreed as they finally pulled into a parking lot in front of a hospital. It didn't appear to be anything special; just a single story small hospital fit for a small town. It actually looked more like a ski resort than a hospital, complete with a large mountain range behind it.
"Thank you for the ride," Mike said as he and Micky hurried to get out of the truck partly to get Peter into the hospital quickly and partly to get away from Bellinger's questions.
"We really should come up with a better story than that for the doctors," Micky whispered quietly as they rushed around to the back of the truck. "We can't very well say our friend was stabbed by a demon. They'll commit us."
"True," Mike agreed as he reached up to help Davy get down. "Why can't we just say it was a random attack?"
"In the middle of a ghost town that's supposed to have been abandoned?" Micky pointed out.
"Why do we have to tell them where we were?" Davy asked.
"Well, for one thing, we still need to try and get those miners dug up," Micky answered as the girls handed Peter off to him and Mike to help carry. "And for another, something tells me that guy will have the whole town knowing we were in Hanson by morning."
"Micky's got a point," Mike said. The girls jumped down from the truck and followed them to the hospital.
"Guys, it's simple," Michelle said. "Our car did crash, right? We got lost driving through Idaho, somehow made it to Hanson and our car crashed when we blew a tire. Simple as that."
"See, now why didn't we think of that?" Mike asked.
"Cause we don't make a habit out of lying," Micky answered with a laugh.
"Are you saying I do?" Michelle asked throwing him a look.
"Not at all," Micky laughed. "Just that you have a good imagination."
"And actually, we lie all the time, Mrs. Arcadian," Mike joked.
"What?" Piper asked staring at them confused.
"Story for another time," Micky said. Luckily they had just reached the front desk of the hospital and so they wouldn't have to explain it to the girls just yet.
"Oh dear," the nurse said looking at Peter. "Follow me please and tell me what happened?" She led them through a set of doors and into a room.
"We were in a car accident," Mike said going with the lie Michelle had concocted. "Got lost and crashed in some old ghost town nearby. Had to take a mining cart here."
"Oh my," she said again. "Wait here, I'll get the doctor." She left the room and Mike and Micky lay Peter down on the bed.
"How you doing, buddy?" Mike asked.
"I'm ok," Peter said. But now that they could see him in a much better light, Micky could see he was shaky and a little pale. "Your face does look pretty bad though, Mike." Mike was about to respond that he was ok and ask for everyone to stop pointing out how bad he looked when the doctor came in with the nurse behind him.
"What happened?" the doctor asked walking straight over to Peter.
"We crashed our car," Micky answered moving out of the way so that the doctor could get to Peter easier. The doctor lifted up Peter's shirt and saw the bandages already there. "We were stuck in a ghost town and found some old medical supplies. We had to ride a mining cart just to get here."
"You're lucky you found these then," the doctor said removing them. "Wounds can get easily infected when exposed to dirt like that. This doesn't look like it'll need stitches. The bleeding has already slowed down significantly on its own. We'll just make sure the wound is clean and put a fresh bandage, but he will need plenty of rest. I'll want him to stay at least 24 hours to keep an eye on him and make sure the wound isn't infected."
"Thank you," Mike said.
"What about you?" the doctor asked turning to Mike. "You look banged up yourself. Are the rest of you hurt?"
"Mike probably has a concussion," Michelle said before Mike could answer. She squeezed his hand in reassurance. He knew he couldn't keep downplaying his own injuries anymore; no one was letting him. "And Davy has a burn on his leg, but that happened a while ago. Mishap with some firecrackers on the train ride out here."
"Alright, Mike," the doctor started, "sit down and let me take a look while my nurse takes care of your friend." The doctor ran through a few tests on Mike to check how bad his concussion was while the nurse re-bandaged Peter. After a few minutes, the nurse turned to check that Davy's wound was healing in addition to putting a clean bandage on it and the doctor placed a butterfly bandage over the cut on Mike's cheek.
"You're both set," the nurse said to Davy as she finished as well. "Peter, just lie down and rest now."
"The rest of you can leave," the doctor said.
"What about Peter?" Micky asked.
"He needs plenty of rest," the doctor answered. "This many people crowding around him and he'll never be able to get any rest."
"But-" Micky started to protest, but Peter cut him off.
"He's right, guys," Peter said holding a hand up to stop Micky mid-sentence. "I'm really tired and I want to sleep. I'm sure the rest of you do, too. Why don't you just take some of the extra money we've got and find a hotel or something for the night? I'll be fine. I promise."
"I'm not so sure leaving you alone right now is a good idea," Mike said trying to convey that they were still in danger even though they'd killed the Gentlemen without outright saying it for fear they'd be perceived as crazy people.
"Why not?" Peter argued. "We took care of the problem, right? And I'm in a hospital. What could happen to me in a hospital?"
"It'll just be a few hours and you both need to sleep with injuries like these," Michelle added then lowered her voice so only Mike could hear. "Besides, he only wanted to kill us to make you suffer, right?"
"Why can't we sleep here?" Micky asked.
"Because this hospital cannot accommodate that," the doctor said firmly. "Your friend will be fine. I will see to it through the night. You can come back in the morning. It sounds like you've all had a rough day. There's an inn right up the street from here actually. Not even a quarter mile so you won't be very far from your friend at all."
"Guys, I'm really gonna be ok here," Peter said. Mike and Micky looked at Peter for a moment before they both relented.
"Alright, but we'll be back first thing in the morning, ok?" Mike said.
"I'll let you guys have a set of crutches which will be easier to walk on than the cane for his leg," the doctor said pointing at Davy.
"You may have to get a child's size for him," Micky joked. Mike, Peter and the girls laughed as Davy gave Micky a dirty look. They stopped when Peter inhaled sharply and clutched his stomach.
"Don't do that," the doctor said. "He needs to rest. The nurse will call the inn and let them know you're coming so they can start getting a room ready for you. We really don't have many visitors here in Kellogg this time of year since it's not ski season, so I'm sure they'll find something for you."
"We're in Kellogg?" Micky asked surprised.
"Yes," the doctor said. "Have a good night, folks." He and left the room so everyone could say their good-bye's to Peter for the night. Once they did, with Allison giving him a kiss, they walked out of the room where the nurse was waiting with a set of crutches. She told them she'd already lowered it to the shortest setting and handed them to Davy after showing him how to use them. They made their way out of the hospital and the nurse pointed them in the direction they needed to go informing them the hotel had 2 rooms waiting for them. It only took them about five minutes to walk there, even with Davy limping on the crutches. When they arrived, the attendant told them what rooms they would be in and Mike handed her some of the cash they were supposed to use for the hotel in Hanson. They checked in, said good night to the girls and all passed out no sooner than their heads hit the pillows.
"Looks like you failed again," Arcesso said almost gleefully as he and the Devil inspected the bodies of the Gentlemen in the mine.
"Excuse me for not planning on the dead meddling with my plans!" the Devil roared in anger. He was truly seething at having lost yet again.
"Well, what do you expect?" Arcesso answered. "They're stuck here. If they can find a way out, they will."
"That's not why we did it," said the ghost who had led the boys through the tunnels as he appeared in front of the two demons. "After all, there's no guarantee they'll be able to help us. We know that. We helped them because we could and they deserved it. It was the right thing to do; not that either of you would know anything about the right thing to do."
"If I had the ability, I'd banish your soul to Hell for the rest of eternity!" the Devil bellowed at the ghost. Every lantern in the room burst with huge balls of fire and nearly set everything in the room ablaze.
"But you can't, because we're already dead and our souls are stuck here anyway," the ghost said smugly before disappearing again.
"Calm down," Arcesso said. "Before you torch the place."
"I am perfectly in control of things," the Devil snarled.
"At least you can take solace in the fact that three of the boys are injured," Arcesso said. "All four if you count Dolenz's concussion from yesterday."
"Yes, but it's not enough," the Devil said. "They will heal rather quickly."
"So do you have another plan?" Arcesso asked.
"Not yet," the Devil answered. "But I will think of something and I refuse to fail again!"