So - this is just a short intermission. I don't know where it came from, it just popped into my mind and I had to write it down, so yeah - I hope you like it! In the next chapter we meet Sam again.
The old pick-up truck made all kinds of rattles, clatters, and screeches as it made its way through the thick pine forest on a bumpy road.
Ernie furrowed his brows, and gripped the steering wheel tighter with his mittened hands, pressed smoothly on the gas, and kept the truck moving. The snow had melted only a couple of weeks ago, and the dirt road was in a horrid state - he probably would've made better speed by ditching the car and walking, but that was a no-no.
There were grizzlies in these forests, he knew. Hungry, cranky after-hibernation grizzlies who would gladly eat him for a petty breakfast.
And that would mean he would be late for work - again.
Which he'd probably be anyways.
Ernie worried his lip between his teeth, as he maneuvered the car through the woods. He'd have to be at the diner in 45 minutes, and he was running late, but he just couldn't turn the car around, couldn't shake the feeling that something was wrong.
Ernie had walked Dr. Herriot's huge Newfoundland called Bones now and then for the past couple of years, he had fed the cats, changed their kitty-litter, and watered the insane amount of plants more times than he could count when Dr. Herriot had to work late. And he had always done it with pleasure. Not just because the Doc paid him well, not just because Ernie liked animals - but also because he had secretly nurtured a crush towards the beautiful doctor since he had first laid his eyes on her two years ago.
Though, it probably wasn't that much of a secret crush. Ernie was pretty sure everyone knew, Dr. Herriot included.
He knew that with the same certainty that he knew nothing would ever come of that crush. The doctor was funny and beautiful and witty - and well, she was everything Ernie wasn't - and she was a doctor, whereas Ernie was painfully aware of the fact that he was 17, he wasn't good looking and he was still in High school.
Except that now he was working in the diner for the summer, which sure was a good thing because he was saving up for college, but still - compared to being a doctor, it was lame.
Still, he couldn't help but adore Doctor Herriot. He would've been happy to walk Bones for free, every day from this day to eternity, and he didn't even mind that everyone made fun of him because of that.
The forest thinned around him, and a clearing appeared. The small house under a huge pine tree looked the same as always, Doctor Herriot's car was parked in the yard, just as it had been last night when Ernie had popped by to walk Bones and feed the cats.
When Ernie turned off the engine, the silence of the woods fell on him like a thick blanket. Nothing moved, except for the wind in the trees. The windows of the house were dark, curtains closed.
Ernie stepped out of the car, his boots sinking in the mud. He raised the collar of his jacket against the wind that blew from the lake that was now almost free from the ice and noticed the lynx that was looking at him with narrowed, threatening eyes from a nearby tree.
That cat always gave him the creeps, no matter how many times Doc had told him to just ignore it. There was something in the way it looked at Ernie that made him feel uneasy.
At the moment, it wasn't the only thing that made him uneasy, though.
He removed his mittens, pulled the phone from his pocket, and tried to call Dr. Herriot one more time, but no one picked up, which made him feel like there was a cold stone in his stomach.
Not once had the doc ignored his calls like this.
When he was taking care of Bones, the doc always called him and asked if everything was okay, making sure Ernie had remembered to do everything.
That she hadn't called-
Something must've happened.
Determinately Ernie pushed the phone back into his pocket and walked to the house ignoring the cold, yellow stare of the lynx.
"Doctor Herriot!" he called and knocked on the door. "It's me, Ernie-"
But before he even had finished that sentence, he heard Bones.
The dog started barking and howling, and Ernie heard how the huge animal jumped against the door making a loud thump, his nails scraping the inside of the door.
"Bones?" Ernie said, trying the handle. The door was locked. "Bones, good boy, it's okay-"
Mumbling peaceful words through the door, Ernie fumbled his pockets with now shaky hands, until he found the key.
Something was wrong. Something was very wrong, he was sure of it now.
Bones was a giant, but he was the kindest dog Ernie knew, and the most silent as well. He had never heard Bones barking like this - not even the one time they had seen a bear in the woods last fall.
After an eternity, Ernie found the key and managed to open the door. The dog threw himself at him, almost making Ernie tumble down the stairs.
"Bones, hey, what's wrong-?" he mumbled, gripping the doorway, pushing his way around the huge animal. And then they were inside, and Bones rushed past him again, letting out a couple of loud barks as if telling Ernie to follow.
Ernie knew Doctor Herriot hated it when people walked inside in their boots. In their muddy boots, in this case, but for once he didn't stop to take off his shoes. He rushed in, followed the black dog-
"Shit-!"
The keys dropped from his fingers to the floor. He gripped the doorway to stay on his feet as the air was sucked out of his lungs.
On the living room floor lay the doctor, wearing weird black ninja clothes and by her side in a blood-red glittery gown was her sister, the hot redhead who had (quite rightfully) called him a pervert in the diner. There was blood everywhere, on their clothes, on their faces and hands, on the floor - it had soaked the carpet, its coppery stench filled the air.
"What the fuck-?" Whatever Ernie had been expecting, it wasn't this. He was sure he was gonna throw up, clenched his jaw, and forced down the bile.
They were dead. Surely they were dead. That much blood-
But Bones was staring at Ernie, and he made a loud bark as if to tell him to get his shit together and help. And that was exactly what Ernie did.
In a second he was on his knees by the Doc's side, trying to find the pulse from her neck-
There was one. Faint, and uneven, but it was there.
Ernie let out a breath he'd been holding and pulled his phone from his pocket, dialed 911, and propped the phone between his ear and his shoulder while reaching to the red-headed girl-
It was then that he noticed the horrible wounds in her head. She'd been shot, no doubt about it. There was a round hole in her bloody forehead, and the back of her head was a mess of blood and hair-
Ernie turned his eyes away, fighting the urge to vomit. He grabbed the girl's wrist but felt nothing.
No wonder. No one can survive a wound like that-
And then someone answered the phone, Ernie was startled but didn't let go of the girl's wrist.
"911, what's your emergency?"
As he began to answer, he felt a faint, fluttery pulse against his trembling fingers.
They had sent a chopper.
Wise, considering the state of the road, Ernie thought, as he stood on the stairs, hands in his pockets, watching how the helicopter disappeared behind the treetops. The roaring sound that filled the air soon began to diminish and in no time it was gone, leaving behind only the silence of the woods.
Bones appeared into the doorway, sat down at Ernie's feet, and turned his big, brown eyes up.
Ernie laid his hand on Bones' thick, black fur and gave him an absentminded rub.
"Breakfast?" he asked, meeting the dog's eyes. "And then a walk?"
Bones didn't answer if you didn't count a grunt as an answer.
"Fine buddy, in a minute," Ernie said. "I gotta make a phone call first."
He pulled the phone from his pocket with blood-stained hands and dialed. He wasn't just late - he was monumentally, catastrophically late, and his boss Bob would probably sack his ass.
But he wasn't gonna leave Doctor Herriot's dog to starve.
Letting out a resigned sigh, he closed the door and stepped inside, holding the phone in his ear. He tried hard not to look at the blood on the carpet, as he followed Bones through the house.
As always I want to thank you, my dear readers. Your reviews mean the world to me and keep me motivated to continue writing. Thanks for being so awesome!
Now - to celebrate. It's the independence day of my beloved country, Finland! Horray for independence!