A Man of the Mountain - Epilogue

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Epilogue - The End

When Shirley awoke, she was in a hospital bed. As she tilted her head to get a better look around, she felt an incredible soreness in her neck. What the hell happened to me? The last thing Shirley remembered was the ground shaking beneath her and a horrible roar.

     Her thoughts were interrupted as a man burst into her room, wearing nothing but a hospital gown and a look of bewilderment. He looked around wildly, searching for something, and his eyes landed on her. “Shirley, I don’t have time to explain, I’m sure you’re in a lot of pain, but we need to get out of here, right now.”

     The figure swam into focus and she recognized him. “Nick?” she asked, feeling the dryness of her throat. “How long?”

     “Eight hours, give or take.” He was practically panting with each word and paced the room nervously as he spoke. “Guess rescue was on the way and found your avalanche beacon.” He glanced out the door and into the hallway. “Shit, we don’t have a lot of time.” Nick pulled a knife from beneath his hospital robes and hurried to Shirley’s bedside.  

     Her first concern was not the fact that he was wielding a weapon, but more of a question as to where he had been keeping it. In the end, she was helpless and weak. If he was going to stab her, fine, at least she’d get some rest. She closed her eyes and almost sank into a fuzzy sleep. The sound of leather being cut and a loosening around her wrists brought her back to consciousness. “Why would they strap me down?” she asked, groggily.

     “Like I said, no time.” Nick removed the IV from her arm and tossed it to the ground and looked her in the eyes. “Alright, when I take these off,” he motioned to the vital monitors she was wearing, “they’re going to trip an alarm and bring the nurses running.” He did a quick check over his shoulder, as if expecting someone to come through the door at any moment. “We need to be out of here before they arrive.”

     “Wait a minute,” Shirley said, recalling. “We were in an avalanche!” Her memory snapped into place suddenly and the room took on a painful clarity. “The,” she stammered, “The sasquatch was real!”

     Nick rolled his eyes. “Yes, of course it was, now let’s get moving.” Once more he checked over his shoulder. Sweat was beading down his neck.

     “Why can’t I stay here? Shouldn’t the nurses check me out?”

     Nick was growing impatient. “We don’t have much time but suffice it to say your ‘Beast of the Mountain’ was funded by some high up organizations that aren’t happy the secret is out. That explosion,” he jerked a thumb toward the door, “was them trying to get rid of the evidence.”

     Shirley’s mind spun. After all these years, she had finally wound up in one of the tabloid stories George would write about. What a world. Still, it did seem far-fetched. “What makes you think they’re going to be coming here?”

     Nick sighed in frustration. “Because I woke up tied down in a hospital bed, and after I cut myself free, I noticed the suits in the hallway. Now, if we could hurry the hell up, they’re going to notice my monitors are hooked up to the kind man who shared my room.” As if on queue, the hospital alarms started blaring and a red light in the corner flashed.  

     An authoritarian voice came over the PA system. “THIS IS NOT A DRILL. PLEASE REMAIN IN YOUR ROOMS FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY. A NURSE WILL BE BY SHORTLY.”

     Shirley stumbled out of bed, willing her slow limbs to work properly. “How are we going to get out of here?” The small room provided no safe exit. There was only the door Nick had come through and a window.

     Nick looked at the window. “You’re not going to like it.”

     “Absolutely not.”

     “Whelp, it’s either that or see what the G-men have planned for you.” Nick crossed the room toward the window and opened it. It wouldn’t budge past the halfway mark. Frustrated, he stepped back and kicked it. The flimsy wooden frame shattered outward. He poked his head out and let out a sigh of relief. “This is going to hurt, but we’ll live. See you on the other side.” He clambered out the window and with no hesitation, dropped like a stone off the ledge. There was a second of silence, followed by an audible crunch.

     Shirley sat there, stunned, unsure of what to do. She looked at the door but couldn’t hear anything over the blaring alarm. “Fuck it,” she said aloud and walked to the window. She looked out and saw Nick climbing from a dumpster just below. A beat-up sedan pulled up next to him and a young man with messy brown hair stepped out.

“What the hell, Nick?!” he said, looking him up and down.

     “Shut up, James, we’re going to have company, clear off the back seat.” Nick looked up at the window. “For the love of it, Shirley, just jump!” He then began to berate James as he quickly tossed garbage out the passenger side door. “You call this a getaway vehicle? It’s filthy!”

     “Have you seen your apartment?” James yelled from the passenger seat.

     The whole scene was so odd that Shirley had forgotten about her immediate danger. She was halfway out the window when the door to her hospital room burst open and a woman in a black suit raced in, pistol drawn.

     “We’ve got another runner!” she shouted down the hall before turning her attention back to Shirley. “Miss Codwell, think about this.” Her voice was calm, but Shirley could see her finger inching toward the trigger.

     Shirley gaped for a second, gave the woman the finger, and rolled out the window into the dumpster. The fall was much shorter than she imagined, and the smell at the bottom was somehow worse. Recovering as fast as she could, Shirley scrambled over the trash bag and rolled out of the dumpster onto the pavement right as the first shot ricocheted off the dumpster. Nick helped her to her feet and pushed her into the back seat of the sedan.  

     He ran around front and jumped into the passenger seat.

     The driver extended a hand to Shirley. “James Schaeffer, nice to—”

     Nick cut him off. “FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, JAMES, DRIVE!”

     The second bullet hit the car hood and James stepped on the gas. The tires screeched and they pulled away. The back window shattered as another shot rang out, but before long they were on the main road, headed out of Clearwater at a shocking pace.

     “Where the hell are we going to go, Nick?” asked James. “And what the hell are we going to do about my car?”

     “First stop, safe house. We’re going to leave Shirley with The Order and let them sort it out. They’ve got ties with the Sixth Side and might be able to work something out. Then you can drop me at the airport. I just bid on a job in Nepal and I don’t want to be late.”

     “I’m sorry, what?” asked Shirley, bringing herself to a sitting position. As her wits came back to her, she couldn’t help but feel a little pissed.

     “I’m sorry, Shirley, I truly am, but you chased the monster and now you’re going to deal with the consequences, same as us. But, what can I say? The monster hunting life takes all kinds and with a little training, you’ll do just fine.” Nick winked at her, pulled a full bottle of Whiskey from the glove compartment and took a swig.

     Shirley thought about trying to protest and then remembered that she had just been shot at. “Well, if it pays better than the Local Eye.”

     Both Nick and James laughed. “I can assure you it doesn’t,” said Nick, “but if you live long enough, it’ll be a hell of a lot more interesting.”