Were in the City Ch. 05

Stunned. That's how she felt, and how she looked. Jessie struggled to make herself coffee Sunday morning with her right arm in a sling. She had got back home in a taxi about midnight and tried to sleep but her arm hurt and her thoughts kept racing. Her quiet, simple life seemed to have disappeared. In no way was she prepared for any of this!

Saturday afternoon was a blur. Jessie remembered Darren getting arrested, an ambulance ride with a nice woman who kept reassuring her that everything was fine while her body kept shaking, an emergency room where she waited for hours to get her arm x-rayed and stitched up. Whatever they'd given her to calm her down had been nice though - she'd felt a little high for a couple of hours and even dozed off for a while. Thank heavens it had worn off before the police officer came to get her statement or she might have blabbered on about things best kept to herself.

She'd kept her story simple. In the cemetery to visit her Mom's grave, she saw a dog and two coyotes get into a fight, the man she knew was her neighbour's son started shooting and she lay on the ground and covered her head. When the shooting stopped the coyotes ran by her and into the trees. Yes, she'd seen coyotes in the cemetery before but no, she'd not seen any aggressive ones for years. It had all happened so fast, she hadn't looked up for much of it, and no, she didn't see any distinguishing marks on the coyotes to be able to identify them.

The officer seemed happy and went on his way. At the end of the interview Jessie had asked him if there were security cameras in the cemetery and he'd chuckled, asking if she wanted to change her statement. After assuring him that she didn't, he'd told her there weren't any (whew) but the city was discussing it - something about people's right to privacy vs. need for security.

Jessie had also asked the officer if there would be any attempt to cull the coyotes that lived in the golf course because of this incident. He assured her that only troublesome individuals are dealt with if they are found - with thousands of coyotes around the metro area, if they cleared out a greenspace more would just move in. Jessie found herself hoping her "special" ones would keep away for a while to stay safe and had to remind herself that she'd just seen them tear a dog apart - they were dangerous.

"Jessie girl, it may have looked like they were protecting you but don't get all mushy for heaven's sake! Why would they do that?" she muttered to herself.

Jessie called in sick for a few days. By Thursday her arm was out of the sling and she was back at work. When she got home Friday she picked up her mail from the mailbox and found a get-well card. It had a cute little puppy on the front holding a bone with a ribbon around it. Laughing, she opened it up and gasped. The only thing written inside was "We mean you no harm. Please don't be afraid of us." Shit. This was not all just a dream she'd wake up from. It was real.

The next two weeks were uneventful, thank heavens. Signs went up in the cemetery warning residents of aggressive coyotes, telling everyone to keep pets on a leash and children under close supervision. Armed conservation officers walked through the golf course a few times looking for any coyote with odd or aggressive behaviour but found none. The neighbourhood was a bit on edge and generally everyone stopped walking alone. Except for Jessie. After a few hours of contemplating that note, she felt free for the first time in a long time. She started walking outside again, even in the early darkness right after work. She began sleeping through the night, and when she heard the coyotes howl she enjoyed it. She wasn't stupid though - she remained vigilant, nobody was going to sneak up on her.

Darren and his monstrous yellow vehicle left after he got out on bail. Unfortunately he kept returning every few days, staying overnight, then leaving again. No loud parties though, that was nice. Jessie had no idea what he was up to but she avoided him like the plague. She was actually supposed to, given that she was a witness to his previous illegal actions and could be called to testify in a future trial. She was very unhappy about one of his obnoxious habits - he used the remote starter to warm up the Hummer every morning before he left at 5am, letting it idle for more than half an hour. The noise would wake her up and leave her unable to get back to sleep since her bedroom was only about 15 feet from where that thing was parked. If he kept coming back she was thinking she'd move her bed to the other side of the house, even if she had to sleep in her dining room.

Tuesday morning 4:30am Darren pressed the remote starter ... and his Hummer blew up with a huge bang and a giant flash of flames. Within seconds heavy black smoke was filling the area. Jessie staggered off her bed, which was covered in shards of glass from the shattered bedroom window. Her smoke detectors were going off as smoke billowed into the room. Coughing, confused, she headed down the hallway to get out of the house. At that point, the badly damaged natural gas meter at the side of the house had leaked enough gas to reach the burning Hummer.

The second explosion shredded the entire east side of the house, throwing Jessie into the far wall of her living room. She had just enough time to think a sad "... why me? ..." before everything went black.

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(The other POV)

Jacob and Liam had settled into a pattern of running the golf course in the early mornings - one would go clockwise, the other anti-clockwise around the grounds so that two big coyotes were never seen together. They would each stop for a few minutes in the bushes across from Jessie's house as they passed it before moving on.

Tuesday morning it was Jacob's turn to go anti-clockwise. He sat watching Jessie's house just before 4:30am, on his way home. When the Hummer blew up he reacted immediately, yelling to Liam through the link in their minds that only existed when both were in their coyote form to "get home, get clothes, get the truck and get to Jessie's house ASAP". Jacob was moving to a gap in the fence just west of his position when the house blew up.

Debris rained down all around Jacob as he pushed himself tight to the trunk of a big tree for shelter. Once the worst of it had fallen, he got to the gap and pushed through, running across the road straight for Jessie's front door which was still intact. He changed on the run, crashing through the door as a man and stumbling on the stairs behind it. Everything inside was a jumbled up, torn up mess. Things were still on fire and smoke made it hard to see. Jacob was yelling "Jessie ... Jessie, answer me, where are you?" but heard no response. The part of the house that was her bedroom was flattened. Jacob could not face what that probably meant.

He heard a vehicle screech to a halt outside, then Liam's voice at the door. "Jacob?"

"Up here! Top of the stairs."

"Put these on now". Liam handed Jacob sweatpants, a hoodie, and runners. "Where is she?"

Jacob felt frantic. "I don't know. Help me look". He started pulling at the debris, knowing there was far too much to go through.

"Stop. Just stop. Slow down! Our link to her is very weak but we can use it if we concentrate. Close your eyes, slow your heartbeat, see if you can sense where she is."

Both of them knelt down low out of the worst of the smoke and breathed slowly. "There" Liam said, pointing to the remains of the living room. "Yes" said Jacob. They pulled themselves over to the far wall and started to dig through the mess. Jacob saw a hand first and grabbed it. It was the first time either of them had made physical contact with Jessie. It felt like lightening surging through his body. His awareness of her ramped up exponentially. He knew she was alive, but seriously hurt.

They dug the rest of her free. They could see one leg twisted at an odd angle and a serious head wound. There could be internal injuries they couldn't see. For a few seconds both Jacob and Liam each held one of her hands, all three of them connected even though Jessie was unconscious. It was a profound and exhilarating feeling for the brothers - something missing for their whole lives was found.

"Liam, go get an emergency blanket out of the truck. We have to get her out of here, things are still on fire and I can smell gas". They could hear sirens getting closer and the sounds of other people yelling and screaming.

When Liam came back with the blanket they moved her carefully onto it, their field medic training guiding them to do as little further damage as possible. By the time they got through the door with her, two fire trucks and an ambulance had arrived.

They took her right to the ambulance. Jacob asked if he could go with her to the hospital. "Are you family?" he was asked. "No, I'm a neighbour and a friend. She has no family here." It worked. Liam tossed him a cell phone and said to call with updates. Their truck was boxed in by emergency vehicles and he had to stay with it.

"Be careful Jason. Keep your hoodie up, avoid cameras, don't talk to reporters. I can't believe this mess! We are supposed to be hiding, not running around in the middle of a media circus." They could hear a helicopter circling overhead, probably taking pictures that would be broadcast on TV news numerous times over the coming days.

Jason nodded. "I will be careful. You too. If the owner of the Hummer is still alive please don't kill him in front of a camera!"