The Icarus Effect Read online

  He scrambled to get up and get the bear back in front of him. Raising the rifle, he cycled the bolt again and took a cautious step sideways, angling toward the bear’s head. Blood oozed from a hole in the center of her forehead. Her eyes were open, but her tongue was sticking out of her mouth between clenched teeth. Harvey tentatively poked the rifle barrel into her left ear and shoved, but the bear didn’t move. He pulled the trigger again just to be sure, then fell backward and sat down hard, his breath suddenly coming in rapid bursts. He wanted to puke again.

  Shaking it off as best he could, he took a deep breath, then forced himself back to his feet and stumbled toward Johnson. As he got closer, he realized that what he’d thought was his dad’s eyelid was actually part of his scalp, peeled down from his forehead and dangling over his eye in a gruesome mess of blood, dirt and pine needles. He set the rifle on the ground, dropped to his knees and touched Johnson’s shoulder.

  “Dad?”

  Johnson exhaled in a slow, ragged whisper. “Zach. Get Zach. Get Zach…” His eyes fluttered and rolled back in his head.

  “Dad!” Harvey cried. “It’s ok, Dad. The bear’s dead.”

  Johnson took several rapid shallow breaths. He clenched his teeth and forced his eyes open. “Two bears, son. Get Zach away!”

  Harvey had forgotten about the cub.

  He jerked around to look over at Zach, but the sudden movement brought on another wave of nausea. Losing his balance, he fell over again, this time managing to get a hand out to avoid another face plant. Harvey took several deep breaths before forcing himself to look up again. Zach was still lying where he’d fallen. But standing over him, sniffing tentatively at his shoulder, was the grizzly cub.

  In its second year, the young male wasn’t yet fully grown, but it already weighed close to two hundred pounds, and stood more than three feet high at the shoulder. To Harvey, it seemed nothing close to harmless.

  “HEY BEAR!!” Harvey shouted. The bear ignored him, instead reaching out a paw and lightly cuffing Zach’s shoulder. The motion was much like someone cautiously sticking a toe into a cold lake to test the temperature. No aggression, just curiosity.

  But all Harvey could see was the first bear’s attack, continued through the second bear. He drove himself to his feet and tried to aim the rifle, but he couldn’t hold it steady. If he took a shot like this, there was better than a good chance he’d miss and hit Zach instead.

  “HEY, BEAR, HEY!!” he yelled again, waving the rifle over his head and advancing on rubbery legs. This time the bear looked up.

  “WOOOOOH, BEAR, HEY!!” Harvey took another couple of steps, then staggered as dizziness hit him again, making him lurch forward to avoid falling. The bear flinched, taking a half-jump to one side. He swung his big head from side to side, snuffling loudly, but the wind was coming from behind him. He couldn’t decide what to make of this loud creature coming toward him, so he tried to bluff like he’d seen his mother do. He took three hopping steps forward, blowing air out in a whoof-whoof at each step. Harvey interpreted this as a real charge, thinking he’d run out of time.

  “NO NO NO..!!” he shouted, raising the rifle. He wasn’t going to allow himself to be knocked down a third time. Focusing all his strength on holding the rifle steady, he squeezed the trigger as the bear stopped short. The bullet hit the bear in the chest, smashing into its vital organs. The bear stumbled backward, sat down on its haunches, then spun to its left and took a leaping step before its legs gave out and it collapsed in the grass.

  Harvey found he couldn’t hold the rifle up any longer. He allowed it to dangle at his side as he shuffled over to Zach’s side. His brother was staring straight ahead, clearly in shock. Harvey collapsed in the dirt next to him, fighting through the fog of his concussion while checking Zach for serious injuries. All he could find were cuts and scrapes. Harvey’s head was pounding like a jackhammer now, and he could barely think straight. He pulled Zach into his lap and wrapped his arms around him.

  He didn’t notice the tears streaming down his own face as unconsciousness took him.

  “Harvey,” the voice called. “Harvey, wake up.” Harvey groaned and rolled over, pulling the covers over his head.

  “Just a few more minutes, Dad,” he protested, his voice muffled by the blankets.

  “No, Harvey,” his dad insisted. “You have to get up now.”

  “It’s not even a school day, Dad, come on - I just wanna sleep a little bit longer.”

  “There’s no more time, Harvey. You have to get up.”

  Harvey rolled tighter into the bed, resisting the call, hoping his dad would just give up and go back downstairs.

  “HARVEY! GET UP!!”

  Harvey woke with a start, gasping for breath. Zach was curled in his lap, sleeping silently. His head and arms were covered in scratches, and he was shivering. Harvey’s own head felt like it had been crushed in a vise, and a knifing pain was radiating from behind his eyes all the way down his spine. He was ravenously hungry, but in spite of that, the thought of food somehow nauseated him. He couldn’t get his thoughts ordered for some reason.

  What happened? he wondered.

  He looked around, spotted the discarded rifle on the ground, and remembered everything in a rush. Another wave of panic threatened as he wondered if there might yet be another bear wandering around. He’d only seen the two, but now doubt was running rampant in his mind. Zach stirred slightly in his arms, moaning something unintelligible. Harvey craned his neck around to see if his dad was still there, but with Zach on his lap, he couldn’t turn far enough. Gently, he shifted his little brother onto the ground and stood up.

  Johnson was still on the ground where Harvey had left him. He looked like he’d been dragged out of a slaughterhouse. The bear had nearly scalped him with her teeth, leaving the hideous-looking flap of bloody skin dangling down over his eyes. His right arm was twisted behind him at an impossible angle, and his shirt was shredded and blood-stained in multiple places where the bear’s claws had brutally raked him. As Harvey moved closer, he could see the white of exposed bone on his dad’s left side; his torso had been slashed deep enough that several ribs were showing.

  There was fresh blood oozing from all of his dad’s wounds, but the bleeding looked as though it had at least slowed down. Harvey peeled off his own overshirt, and lifted the flap of scalp back into place as best as he could. He wrapped the shirt around the entire mess, obscuring his dad’s left eye completely. Johnson groaned a couple of times as Harvey worked, but his eyes stayed shut and he didn’t speak.

  Harvey stole a glance at the sun. It was still high in the sky, but the valley they were in was deep with tall mountains all around. That meant an early sunset. They were at least fifteen miles from the trailhead where they’d parked the truck. Harvey thought he could carry his dad a hundred yards or so, but this far from help, that was almost as good as nothing at all. And he still had Zach to worry about besides.

  “Harvey?” Zach’s voice sounded small and terrified - at first. “HARVEY!!” he yelled, instantly full of terror.

  “Zach, take it easy!” Harvey shuffled away from Johnson toward his brother. “It’s all right, little man,” he said, kneeling next to Zach. “How you feelin’, kiddo?”

  “Where’s Dad?” Zach whimpered, staring at Harvey, his face wet with tears. “I want DAD!!”

  Harvey gathered the boy into his arms. “Shhh, Zach, hush, all right? Dad’s hurt, but he’s still alive. He’s right behind me, buddy, ok?”

  Zach sniffled into Harvey’s shoulder, peeking around him to look. “He’s okay?”

  “He’s alive, Zach,” Harvey said. He wasn’t sure he should tell a nine-year old that his dad was lying twenty feet away, half-eaten, partly skinned and covered in blood, but he figured there was no way around it. If they were going to survive, Zach was going to have to do a lot of growing up, right now. “Dad’s hurt real bad. I don’t know how bad, Zach, but it looks really bad, ok? He’s breathing, but he’s unconscious, so
he’s gonna need our help. You think you can help me, buddy?”

  “I… I guess so,” Zach murmured. He didn’t sound convinced.

  “Ok, then,” Harvey said, moving to get up. “We need to get back to camp, ok? I’ll have to carry Dad, but if you can help keep me from tripping on stuff, that’d be great, all right?”

  Zach nodded.

  “Are you hurt at all, Zach? Can you walk?”

  “I think so,” Zach said, slowly getting to his feet. As he straightened up, he noticed the young male bear lying dead in the grass. “AAAHHH!!” He grabbed onto Harvey and tried to climb onto his shoulders in a panic. The jostling made Harvey’s head swim, and they both hit the ground again. Harvey was getting frustrated and more frightened himself.

  “Knock it off, Zach!” he barked, reaching up to hold his pounding head. “It’s dead, all right? Both the bears are dead! Now, man up! I can’t have you climbing all over me, all right? I think I may have a concussion! I can barely stand up straight, and I still have to carry Dad!”

  Zach was crying now, but he was struggling mightily to stifle it. “S-sorry, Harvey,” he said. “I’ll man up.”

  Harvey immediately felt guilty, but he knew it couldn’t be helped. “Come on, Zach,” he said, putting a hand on his brother’s shoulder and gently guiding him toward their dad. “Try to be brave, all right? He looks messed up, but he’s still Dad, and he needs our help. Let’s help him together, Zach.”

  Two hours later, Harvey had managed to move Johnson the hundred yards back to their camp near the lake. He’d broken into their first aid kit and quickly used up all the bandages, but he’d managed to get most of his dad’s bleeding under control. Zach had been a trooper, sitting by Johnson’s side and gently tipping drops of water into his open mouth from time to time as Harvey directed.

  While Harvey was half-dragging, half carrying Johnson back to camp, he’d thought a lot about what needed to happen next. He couldn’t carry his dad all the way back to the truck. He couldn’t leave Zach here and go alone, because there was a very real chance that Johnson would die before Harvey could find help. The idea of Zach sitting helpless and alone in the wilderness, watching his dad die, was more than he could stand. The only real option Harvey could see was all of them going out together.

  Once he’d made up his mind, the fear started to fade a little. Having a goal and a plan to see it through gave him something to focus on besides his dad’s shocking condition, and as Harvey set himself to the task, Zach seemed to calm down, too.

  Thank God for small favors, Harvey thought. He was sure that if Zach had continued to melt down, he wouldn’t have been able to deal with getting them out. It was an effort to fight back the dizziness and nausea caused by his concussion, and he had a hard time concentrating. The fewer complications, the better.

  Harvey worked quickly. First he took Zach’s hatchet and cut down two small, twelve foot saplings. Placing them about a foot apart, he put a foot long stick across the two about a foot from one end and lashed it in place with para cord from his dad’s pack. Then he cut two holes in the bottom of a sleeping bag and threaded the long poles through the holes, leaving the zipper on the bag facing up. Spreading the loose ends of the poles farther apart, he lashed a second crosspiece in place six feet above the first one, then quickly stitched the top of the sleeping bag around it. The rest of the para cord he wove across the open space between the four poles, running it back and forth under the empty bag for more support.

  Finally finished, Harvey gently rolled Johnson onto the improvised stretcher. He folded his dad’s arms onto his chest, and zipped him into the bag. He stepped between the ends of the two poles at the head of the stretcher and hoisted it, testing the weight. It wasn’t comfortable, but it would have to do. Harvey looked down at Zach.

  “You ready, little brother?”

  Zach gave him a weak smile, and nodded.

  “Let’s go home, then.”

  2

  Amisso Patre

  Kalispell Regional Medical Center

  Kalispell, Montana

  Two Days Later

  Diana Bennett burst through the double doors leading to the emergency room. In her hurry to find her family, she almost ran right past the front desk. She dodged around an elderly man with a walker, then spotted a nurse coming toward her.

  “Excuse me,” Diana said, waving a hand. The nurse turned down a side hallway and kept going without seeming to even see her. Diana dropped her hand to her side and stood there a moment before she noticed the reception desk to her right.

  “Can I help you, ma’am?” a young lady at the desk asked. Her name tag said Maricel H.

  Diana walked over and braced her hands on the counter. “Yes, please. I’m looking for my husband and my two sons. They were involved in a bear attack, and I was told they were here?”

  “You’re Mrs. Bennett?” Maricel asked.

  “Yes,” Diana said. She was near tears. “Where’s my family?”

  Maricel started typing on her keyboard. “Your sons are in a recovery room on the third floor, Mrs. Bennett. Room 375. You can go up as soon as you like. It looks like your husband is still upstairs in intensive care, though, so I’ll have to page one of the attending physicians to escort you. Would you like me to have the doctor meet you in your sons’ room?”

  Diana nodded, tears streaking her face. “Thank you so much.” She turned away and went to find the elevator.

  When she found room 375, Diana was almost afraid to go in. She didn’t trust herself to hold it together if her sons were hurt worse than she’d been told. She forced herself to enter, and was relieved to see both her boys sitting up in their beds, watching a basketball game on TV.

  “Mom!” Zach jumped out of his bed and nearly tackled her. “I missed you, Mom,” he said. “Dad’s hurt pretty bad, but he’s resting now until the doctors say it’s ok for him to go home. Harvey saved us from the bears, Mom, it was awesome!” Diana looked at her oldest son, sitting quietly in his bed, while Zach continued his rapid-fire commentary. “I got to ride on a helicopter, too! Have you ever ridden on a helicopter? It was pretty awesome! We saw a big herd of elk from the air, and three mooses!”

  “It’s ‘moose’, Zach,” Harvey said quietly, watching them but avoiding eye contact with Diana. He was studying his hands, folded together in his lap.

  “That’s dumb,” Zach said. “How can two mooses be called the same thing as one moose?”

  “The same way two elk are called ‘elk’ just like one elk,” Harvey answered, not looking up. Diana detached herself from Zach. “Why don’t you get back in bed, sweetie,” she said. I want to talk to your brother.”

  “Ok,” Zach said. “But I get the remote.” He leaned over and snatched the TV remote from the night stand between the beds and changed the channel. The Looney Tunes theme song blasted from the speakers.

  “Turn it down, honey,” Diana said. She looked at Harvey. “Take a walk with me?”

  “Sure,” Harvey said, swinging his legs out of the bed and moving toward the door. Diana stopped him, wrapping her arms around him and holding on like she was afraid he’d blow away. “Mom…” Harvey protested.

  “Don’t ‘Mom’ me,” Diana said. She broke the hug, but held Harvey by the shoulders at arm’s length. “Thank you, Harvey.”

  Harvey twisted free from her hands. “For what? I screwed up.” He brushed past her and walked out into the hall. Diana glanced at Zach, but he was staring at the TV.

  “We’ll be right back, baby - ok?”

  “Mm-hmm,” Zach mumbled.

  Diana smiled in spite of herself and turned to follow Harvey, but almost ran into a doctor coming through the door. He caught himself before he ran her over.

  “Excuse me, I’m sorry - Mrs. Bennett?” He stuck out his hand. “I’m Doctor Berndt. Please call me Adam. I’ve been looking after your family.”

  Diana shook his hand. “Diana Bennett, doctor, er… Adam.” She forced a smile. “Thank you for taking care
of them. Can I see my husband?”

  “Of course, Mrs. Bennett,” Berndt said. “I came to take you up. Johnson’s still in the ICU, so we’ll have to get you a mask and gown. I can fill you in on his condition on the way, if you’d like.”

  “I’d appreciate that, thanks.”

  “Right this way.” Berndt waved toward the elevators at the end of the hall. Diana looked up and down the hall for Harvey, but he was nowhere to be seen.

  The closing elevator doors filled Diana with a sudden feeling of dread. When she’d left her home in Twin Falls, Idaho for the eight hour drive to Kalispell the previous night, she’d only known that Johnson was in surgery, Harvey was recovering from a severe concussion, and Zach was rapidly recovering from a case of shock. Having seen that both boys seemed fine, she was suddenly terrified to hear what Doctor Berndt would say about her husband.

  Berndt wasted no time. “I have to be frank with you, Mrs. Bennett,” he said. “Johnson’s condition is still critical. We have him on an aggressive course of antibiotics to fight the infection from the scratches and bite wounds. He had a compound fracture of the right humerus, coupled with some crushing injuries and puncture wounds all around the break. He needed about three hundred stitches just to close the wounds on his scalp and face, and we’re probably going to have to do some skin grafts to fully close the wounds on his ribcage. Like your son Harvey, Johnson has a severe concussion, which has caused some swelling of the brain.”