The Dark We Seek: A Post-Apocalyptic Survival Thriller (Lost Light Book 2) by Kyla Stone

Author:Kyla Stone [Stone, Kyla]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paper Moon Press
Published: 2022-09-15T16:00:00+00:00

37

JACKSON CROSS

DAY THIRTY-FIVE

“We’ve got a bear problem,” Sheriff Underwood said.

The law enforcement officers seated in the conference room stared blankly at Sheriff Underwood, who scowled back at them, as per his usual. It had become a permanent aspect of his features.

Jackson shifted uncomfortably. “What now?”

Underwood’s scowl deepened. “You heard me. Bears. The Luce County sheriff just alerted me. Some fool released the black bears from Oswald’s.”

Alger County had joined a twice-weekly circuit between the UP counties to share news and information that pertained to law enforcement and community safety issues. They still had a decent supply of gasoline and diesel. When that ran out, they’d be using bicycles and horses.

For a second, the officers blinked back at him.

“Who is Oswald?” Devon asked.

Moreno laughed a big belly laugh that echoed in the stuffy room. Hasting, Hart, and Nash stared at him like he’d grown a second head.

“Oswald’s Bear Ranch in Newberry,” Jackson said. “It’s a sanctuary for bears. The UP has ninety percent of Michigan’s black bears. Newberry is forty miles southeast of here, but bears can travel.”

Jackson had been to the rescue in elementary school, as had most kids that had grown up anywhere near the ranch. He remembered tossing apples over the chain-link fence to feed the bears and snapping photos with a fuzzy cub.

“They’re coming for our picnic baskets,” Moreno howled. “Just you wait.”

Underwood glared, a vein pulsing in his forehead like he wanted to take off Moreno’s head, with his teeth. “What exactly do you find so amusing?”

Moreno shook his head, tears leaking down his cheeks. “Come on! You don’t see it? All the crap that’s been dumped on us… and now… now we’ve gotta worry about a pack of …of giant teddy bears?”

Devon’s lips twitched into a smile. “Yogi and Boo Boo are on the hunt.”

Moreno leaned back in his chair and threw up his hands. “Exactly! Like fate isn’t just screwing with us now.”

Underwood shot Moreno a lethal look. “They aren’t teddy bears. They’ll be hungry, just like we are. They won’t be scared of people. They pose a legitimate danger to the community. Remember two summers ago when it was so dry all the berries and crap died on the vine? We had starving 300-pound black bears raiding gardens and bird feeders and garbage cans. This will be worse.”

Alexis shook her head. “That’s it. We’re doomed. We’re all going crazy, aren’t we? One step at a time.”

“Speak for yourself,” Moreno said. “I’m completely sane.”

“Moreno always did miss a step,” Jackson said dryly.

“Now he’s missing a whole staircase,” Devon quipped.

“I heard that,” Moreno shouted. “Y'all better watch your backs, is all I’m saying.”

Nervous chuckles spread around the room. Beneath the banter, Jackson felt the tension. Everyone was stressed, tired, and anxious, overworked and underpaid to the Nth degree.

Underwood clapped his hands. “Enough. You idiots act like we aren’t facing a crisis, a very real and present danger.”

“We know it, Sheriff,” Nash said, the grin vanishing from his features.

“Then you’ll think this is freaking hilarious. FEMA is threatening to cease emergency supply runs after the attack this morning.

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