Lucy
Lucy walked between the group who were gathered outside of the forest for the hunt. The crowd was bigger than she expected. She had no idea her neighbors were so gung ho. She found Sheriff Lawrence standing by the side of his patrol vehicle with his eyes closed.
"Yo," she said, getting him to open his eyes.
"Yo," he said back. He reached inside his vehicle and pulled out a clipboard. He searched for something on the paper before returning his sights on Lucy. "I don't see your name on the list. Did you sign up for the hunt?"
"Let me see that?" she said, reaching out for the clipboard. He handed it over and she looked through it. "Nope, my name is not here. But neither is yours." She handed the clipboard back.
"Police don't have to sign up. What's your excuse?"
"Didn't feel like waiting in line to sign a piece of paper."
"This is so we know who's out there."
"Well, now you know I'm joining you."
"You should go home, Lucy," said Sheriff Lawrence. "Between me and you, this is a waste of time."
"So you agree with Isabella?"
"Yes. Animals will be animals. Shit was a freak accident. I honestly doubt it will ever happen again."
"Oh you're not one of those people who believe the animal got a taste for human blood?" she asked, sarcastically.
"Of course not. It was probably a mama bear who thought its cubs were in danger and Ivy was in the wrong place, wrong time. God rest her soul."
Lucy gave Sheriff a rub on his shoulder. He put his hand over hers and they shared a moment over the person they lost.
"Lucy," said a voice from behind, interrupting their moment.
Lucy pulled her hand away from Lawrence as they looked back. "Paloma," said Lucy. "Don't tell you're here for the hunt too?"
"I'm not," said Paloma. "I'm actually looking for my son. You haven't seen him, have you? I believe he might be with your daughter."
"My daughter should be at home."
"Is she?"
"I wouldn't say for certain. She is a teenager and if I remember when I was a teenager, I didn't do anything that my mother told me to do."
"Let's hope your daughter is nothing like you, for our children's sake."
"Yeah, I think it's too late for that," said Lucy as she pulled out her cellphone. "The girl reminds me of myself every single day." She dialed Doramis' number and after five seconds, she could hear the Spanish pop ringtone within the crowd. "This girl," said Lucy as she walked between the crowd, followed by Paloma.
They found Doramis, Ken and Robbie within the crowd. Doramis was trying to turn her phone off.
"Doramis Angelica Baez," said Lucy with authority. "Didn't I tell you to go home?"
"Kenneth," said Paloma. "Come here this instance." Ken went to his mother who grabbed him by the arm. "You're definitely punished." She gave Lucy a nod before leaving with her son.
Doramis had a sad look as she watched her friend get pulled away.
"Don't feel bad for him," said Lucy as she snapped her fingers at her daughter. "You're just in much trouble, if not worse." She grabbed Lucy by the arm and pulled her along. "I'm taking you home right this instant." She stopped long enough to look back at Robbie. "Does your father know you're out here?"
"I don't need to answer that," said Robbie.
"Little boy, don't think I'm not above giving you a spanking."
"You wouldn't dare. My father would arrest you."
Lucy laughed. "I'm not afraid of your father. Matter of fact, he's probably afraid of me."
"No he's not."
"Why don't we find out then? Where is he?"
Robbie got nervous and didn't answer.
"Not here then," said Lucy.
Robbie only shook his head.
"Let's go then," said Lucy. "I'm taking you home as well." Robbie reluctantly followed.
Lucy walked Doramis to her car and watched her get inside. Robbie got in the passenger's seat. Lucy gestured for Doramis to lower her window. "I'm going to follow you until you get home, you got that?"
"Yes mother."
"Now hurry up. I was planning on accompanying Larry on this hunt and now because of you, I'm going to be late."
"You can just go," said Doramis. "I promise I'll go straight home after dropping off Robbie."
"Sorry but I don't trust you," said Lucy. "Now let's make this quick." Lucy walked over to her car and got in.
Lucy waited for Doramis to take off before following her. Lucy was relieved to see that Doramis was hurrying as they sped down the street and towards Robbie's house.
Suddenly, Doramis hit the breaks causing Lucy to swerve out of the way and stop in front of someone's lawn.
"Shit," said Lucy as she hit her steering wheel. She got out of the car and saw that Doramis had almost hit someone who was backing out of their driveway. Lucy quickly went to her daughter, stopping at the passenger's window and seeing Doramis and Robbie. "Are you two alright?"
"Yes," said Doramis who sounded out of breath. "Sorry, I was just trying to hurry."
"Give me a second," said Lucy. She went over to the car that was coming out of the driveway and found Mattias holding onto his steering wheel. He seemed to be in shock. "Mattias," said Lucy, snapping him out of his shock. "Are you okay?"
"I'm... I'm fine."
"I'm so sorry. My daughter didn't hit you, did she." Lucy backed up to look at his vehicle. She noticed he had a couple of bags in his backseat.
"No," said Mattias as he got out of his car. "Just frighten the hell out of me."
"Are you sure you're alright?"
"Yes, I'm fine. Just caught off guard."
"Alright, let me send her home. I don't like her being out this late." Lucy walked over to Doramis' vehicle. "Everything is fine here. Go home, but drive the speed limit this time. Ignore I ever said to hurry."
"Okay," said Doramis. She drove away.
"I'm going to tell my father about this," yelled Robbie as they drove away.
"Brat," said Lucy under her breath.
"Shouldn't they be home," said Mattias from behind Lucy. "It's a school night."
Lucy turned. "Yeah, but they're teenagers and don't listen. You planning to participate in the hunt?"
"Huh?"
"I saw you have your back seat packed. Is that for the hunt?"
"Hunt?"
"You don't know? Our neighbors are going to hunt the bear that killed Ivy. Everyone is gathered right outside of the forest."
"A bear killed Ivy?"
"Wow, you're not informed. What have you been doing the last couple of hours? There was a town meeting about the whole ordeal."
Mattias looked back at his car. He took a moment to answer. "I've honestly haven't been handling Ivy's death alright. I was planning to leave town for a bit."
"I'm sorry, Mattias," said Lucy, sincerely. "I forgot you two were close. You were at her tavern all the time."
Mattias had to wipe his face as he turned away from Lucy. He had his back to Lucy. "I had no idea it was a bear that killed her."
"Freak accident," said Lucy. "Sheriff Lawrence thinks she was in the wrong place at the wrong time. A mama bear protecting her cubs and Ivy was too close."
"Wrong place at the wrong time," repeated Mattias. "Makes sense. Everyone loved Ivy."
"You do whatever you need to do to cope. I'm going to keep Sheriff Lawrence company during the hunt."
Mattias turned to look at Lucy. "If the people think it was a mama bear protecting her cubs that killed Ivy, why are they hunting it?"
"Everyone copes in their own way. You take care of yourself, Mattias."
"Thank you... You too."
****
Lucy arrived back at the meeting spot too late. Everyone had already left and she could see the lights of the hunters within the woods. She went over to Sheriff Lawrence's patrol vehicle and saw that no one was there. She returned to her vehicle and opened her glove compartment. She pulled out a flashlight and a 9mm pistol. She made sure the gun was loaded before putting it under her shirt and in her pant's waist.
Lucy turned her flashlight on and went into the forest. She was very far behind as she tried to catch up with the group. She noticed people were spread out all over the forest and there was no way of knowing where Sheriff Lawrence had gone. She decided she would just follow the closest light she saw, which was straight ahead.
She was now hiking up the mountain trying to catch up. She was out of breath and had to stop. "This is stupid," she said to herself. She leaned back on a tree as she breathed hard. "I should just turn back."
There was a gunshot in the distance, causing Lucy to duck out of reaction. Then multiple gunshots went off. Lucy just laid her back down on the tree.
A light flashed on her face, blinding her. She put her hand out and tried to block the light and see who was flashing it.
The person pointed the light to the ground and revealed himself. "Sorry about that," said Jack. He looked to the distance. "Sounds like they got the bear."
"Oh, hey Jack," said Lucy. "Why are you all the way back here?"
"I saw your light all the way in the back and thought someone might have needed help."
"Nope, just started late. Very late because I was never able to catch up." Lucy stood back and went over to Jack. "Thank you for coming for me."
"No problem. Never leave a man, umm, a woman behind."
A couple of more shots went off and they looked to the distance.
"What are they doing?" asked Lucy.
More shots went off.
"They're getting a little carried away, aren't they?" said Lucy.
"I think those are celebratory shots," said Jack.
"That's stupid," said Lucy. "They killed the bear. So what. It's not going to bring Ivy back."
"That might be true, but at least we don't have to worry about a bear that might kill us," said Jack as he rubbed the back of his head nervously.
"Nonsense," said Lucy as she turned to him. "A freak accident like that could happen to anyone with a wild animal."
"But that's the first time this has ever happened."
"Let's hope it's the last too."
Another gun fire went out, causing Lucy to flinch.
"Damn it," she said as she shook herself off. "That sounded too close."
"Yeah," said Jack as he got closer to her. "That did sound too close."
Another gunshot went off and it struck the tree right next to Lucy. Jack jumped and tackled Lucy to the ground as more gunshots went off. The gunshots struck near them but none of them connected.
"Hey, hey!" screamed Jack. "We're here! Stop shooting."
Jack used his body to cover Lucy who tried to squeeze by him. Lucy brought out her pistol and with Jack on top of her, she aimed in the direction the gun fire was coming and shot twice. This caused Jack to roll off of her.
They stayed laying down on the ground as the gun fire ended. They could hear movement in the forest but couldn't see anyone.
"You think they're done?" asked Jack.
"Don't know, but I'm not getting up yet."
Movement came from behind them as they turned around. It was Sheriff Lawrence, Ashner and some other civilians.
"What in the hell is going on over here?" asked Ashner.
Sheriff Lawrence moved towards Lucy and helped her up. "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine," she said as she cleaned herself off. Some of the people were staring at her gun.
"What happened?"
"Some trigger happy idiot shot near us."
"You sure you weren't the trigger happy idiot?" asked Ashner.
"No," said Jack. "Someone was firing at us."
"Who?"
"Good question for you guys to figure out," said Lucy. "But I'm going home." She grabbed Sheriff Lawrence's arm. "Mind walking me down." He gave her a nod.