Cheryl Tardif - Children of the Fog

“Where are you?”

The road came to a dead end, so she parked the car and climbed out. Two footpaths led to either side of her. On the right, a red balloon hovered in the air, its string tied to the branch of a blue spruce. ‘This way,’ it seemed to beckon.

As she passed, she saw a slip of paper clipped to the string.

Snatching it up, she unfolded it.

YOU HAVE 5 MINUTES TO SAVE HIM!

A mix of adrenaline and terror kicked her into high gear.

She ran.

When a glint of metal caught her eye, she left the path and weaved between the trees, paying no attention to the brittle branches that plucked at her clothes and hair. Her legs pumped harder, faster, until they burned.

Up ahead a horn beeped.

She rounded a lodgepole pine and skidded to a halt ten yards from the back end of a rusted yellow Chevy. It was parked between two trees with its rear wheels raised on cement blocks. The heavy snow on the trunk and bumper indicated that the car had been there for a while, which was not surprising since she was farther into the nursery than customers were allowed.

She widely circled the car. Its side windows were grimy, the interior shadowed.

Then she saw him.

“Oh God.”

Sam was slumped over the steering wheel, still dressed in his pajamas, a Blue Jays baseball cap pulled low over his head. His mouth was bound with electrical tape.

“Sam!” she shouted.

He didn’t move.

Horrified, she raced toward the car.

A fateful mistake.

Her right foot hooked a thin metal wire before she could even comprehend what it was. From that second on, everything dissolved into a hellish nightmare and her entire world was blown off its axis. A deafening roar rocked the earth, throwing her to the ground while bits of searing metal ripped through the air.

“Nooooo!” she screamed.

A smoking, black wad landed near her outstretched hand.

Sam’s baseball cap.

The Fog had fulfilled his promise.

Sam.

“Oh Jesus, no!”

She scrambled to her feet, but a second explosion sent her flying backward through the air. Her head smacked against a rock. Sharp pain surged through her, over her, and when she touched the back of her head, her fingers came away covered in blood.

Consciousness faded in and out.

“Sam…”

Something floated above her.

The red balloon.

It hovered, then lifted into the smoke-filled sky, its thin string dangling beneath it.

She raised a quivering hand. “Come back.”

A devilish face blocked the light. In a blurred shadow, it leaned down and laughed at her, its breath rancid.

“Why?” she moaned.

“I always keep my promises,” it whispered.

Then Sadie slipped into oblivion.

“Can I come in?”

Dressed in uniform, Jay Lucas lingered in the doorway of the hospital room—a bouquet of drooping flowers in one hand, a drenched raincoat in the other.

Sadie guessed it wasn’t just a courtesy call. “Of course.”

“How are you feeling?” he asked, slipping the flowers into a water jug on the side table.

“Short of some scratches and a mild concussion, I’m… fine.”

And she was. Physically. Mentally was another story.

It had been two days since Philip had led the police to the nursery after hearing her message on the answering machine. They had discovered the smoldering wreckage of the car, and her unconscious body nearby.

She took a deep breath. “Did you find Sam?”

Jay shook his head.

“He could’ve been thrown clear,” she said. “Did you check the bush—?”

“Sadie, we found blood from two victims.”

“Two?” She sat up, wincing from the pain. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“Unless there were two kids in the car.”

“But I only saw Sam.”

“The other could’ve been in the back seat or…”

“Or the trunk,” she finished for him.

The detective nodded grimly.

“The blood—are you sure it’s Sam’s?” she asked, fearful.

“It matched the DNA from the toothbrush you gave us.”

A tear leaked from one eye. “And what about other evidence?”

“We found detonator fragments. Military issue.”

“That’s good, right?” she wept. “Makes it easier to find him?”

“Unfortunately, nowadays, people could find one on the internet, if they looked hard enough.

She hitched in a breath. “I have to make arrangements. To bury Sam.”

“Sadie, I, uh…”

“What?”

His face drooped. “There’s nothing to bury.”

She eyed him blankly.

“There’s nothing left of him,” he said softly. “There were two bombs. They disintegrated almost everything. It’s going to take weeks for forensics to sift through the remains. And even then, they’re so tiny…”

She shuddered. “Little bloody pieces.”

“Huh?”

“Something The Fog said to me.” She turned away, drained. “What about the balloon?”

“We found it in a tree, a few yards from the scene. It’s been sent to trace. If we’re lucky, we’ll pull a print or DNA from saliva.”

Sadie studied the ceiling for a moment and found herself reliving the explosion, the fiery inferno of the car, the smell of burning flesh… the screams. Her screams.

She wiped her eyes. “If only I hadn’t moved.”

“You didn’t know about the tripwire.”

“But I should have called you, waited—”

Jay reached for her hand. “We’ll get him, Sadie.”

She looked into his eyes, comforted by the steely promise of justice. She didn’t doubt the man. He would hunt down The Fog… or die trying. She hoped to God it wasn’t the latter. She’d grown fond of the old man.

“Thanks, Jay,” she whispered.

His face crinkled with concern. “I heard Philip is… uh…”

“In an eight by twelve foot cell,” she said wryly.

Bridget had been true to her word, although apologetic about the rotten timing. Philip had been formally arrested that morning.

“He pled guilty,” Sadie told Jay. “But his lawyer thinks he’ll get a reduced sentence.”

Jay nodded. “Because they found the money.”

“Every penny of it. Philip was depending on it for his retirement plan.” She shook her head. “I don’t think he planned on retiring in prison though.”

“You’re lucky, Sadie.”

Her mouth dropped. “Lucky? How can you say that?”

Jay shifted uncomfortably. “What I mean is, they could’ve taken your house, your vehicles, frozen your bank accounts.”

“Those things mean nothing,” she said in a dead tone. “They could have it all if it meant I’d have Sam back.”

There was an awkward moment of silence.

“They letting you out soon?” Jay asked eventually.

“Just before supper.”

“You need someone to come get you?”

She shook her head. “My friend will be here.”

Jay moved to the door. “If you need anything let me know.”

She listened to the detective’s footsteps echo down the hall. Then she eased herself from the bed and stumbled into the bathroom. Waves of nausea wracked her aching body and she collapsed in front of the toilet. Resting her burning forehead on her arms, she pictured Sam bound and gagged in the car.

“There’s nothing left of him,” Jay had said.

Then why does it feel like Sam’s still with me?

She threw up. Moaning softly, she yearned to crawl into the toilet, to be flushed out with the soiled water. A nurse found her with her forehead resting on the toilet seat and helped her back to bed.

Later that afternoon, Sadie checked out of the hospital. Leah was waiting in the lobby to take her back to the house. The drive home was as endless as the pouring rain and dull gray sky, which matched her dismal mood. She said very little to Leah. There was too much on her mind.