Title: Murder at Bear Creek Mountain
Author: Alana Hudkins
E-mail: Jedi_Princess@cchat.com
Challenge: 1) Steve and Jesse go on a camping trip that has
disastrous results. Can the boys get back before it cost one of
them their life?
Rated: G
Summary: When Jesse and Steve go on a camping trip together and
Jesse witnesses a murder, the guys have to get out fast. But when
one of them has an accident and they can't travel as fast, their
lives, especially Jesse's may be in danger.
Disclaimer: The characters or Mark Sloan, Steve Sloan, Jesse
Travis, and Amanda Bentley do not belong to me, the belong to CBS
and Paramount and stuff, although if Jesse Travis were offered to
me, he would gladly be taken. The story however, is pretty much
mine, except for the meticulous grammar corrections with which
the story would have really not sounded right without, thanks to
my good friend, who wishes to remain nameless. Even the name of
the place I made up, that’s why it sounds so stupid. I am
not making any money from this (the story of my life :)). Enjoy!
*************
“This is gonna be great!” Jesse Travis exclaimed,
clumsily climbing into the passenger seat of Steve Sloan’s
truck.
“Yep. Sleeping under the stars by a campfire...,” Steve
agreed.
“Telling ghost stories, roasting marshmallows...,”
Jesse continued.
When Steve suggested that Jesse come with him on a camping trip
the next time they both had a few days off, Jesse had literally
jumped at the opportunity. He had never really been camping
before and naturally wanted to see what it was like. But now,
only fifteen minutes into the drive to the campsite, they were
already grating on each other’s nerves.
“Steve, please, I really gotta go!” Jesse pleaded,
wiggling in his seat like the six year-old he sometimes acted
like.
“Jesse, I told you to go before we left!” Steve
growled, obviously annoyed. *Dad warned me, why can’t I ever
listen?!*
“I didn’t have to go then,” Jesse whined in a
playfully sheepish tone.
Steve sighed, conceded, and pulled off the next exit. “I
need something to eat anyway.”
***
Roughly fifteen minutes later, the guys were back on the road
with full stomachs, empty bladders, and in good spirits.
“So what‘s this place like anyway? Any dangers I should
know about?” Jesse questioned half-playfully, trying to make
conversation.
Steve chuckled. “Nothing we can’t handle! But really,
you’ll love it. It’s beautiful. There’s
waterfalls, a few hiking trails, and it’s usually deserted
because hardly anyone knows about it.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes until Jesse voiced one of
many thoughts bouncing around in that cute little head of his.
“How deserted is it, really?”
Steve stopped the truck in a clearing amidst the wooded
landscape. “Well, I guess you’ll find out. Here we are.”
The two friends got out and stretched, admiring the beauty of
nature around them. Steve was right, the place was definitely
beautiful. A few trees were scattered about the foot of a huge,
not-very-steep-from-that-side mountain, which Jesse assumed they
were going to hike around. Birds were chirping all around them,
the breeze fluttered through their hair, and Jesse thought he
heard a waterfall in the distance.
Jesse retrieved his stuff from the back of Steve‘s truck and
asked him, “So where are we setting up camp?”
Steve also loaded his stuff on his back, took one look at a very
loaded down Jesse and nearly burst into laughter. “I thought
I told you to pack light!”
Jesse gave his innocent, dejected look. “I did! You won’t
find anything short of necessities in any of my belongings!”
Steve glared at the cute little smug look on his friend’s
face and roughly opened the pack on his back, almost knocking the
smaller man to the ground. He rummaged around for a second before
retrieving an odd-feeling object. “A radiator heater?!
Honestly Jess, have you ever heard of fire?”
Jesse protectively grabbed the clunky, yet compact, radiator.
“I’ll have you know this is the finest quality
Miniature Battery-Powered Kenmore Radiator Heater.” He
continued, despite Steve’s look of exasperation. “What
if it rains? You can’t very well light a fire in the rain!”
“Leave it,” Steve ordered.
Jesse reluctantly dropped it in Steve’s truck bed. After a
thorough search through Jesse’s backpack, the heater was not
alone in the bed of the truck. Steve had persuaded Jesse to part
with about 70 pounds worth of useless junk, amongst which there
were a mini television and a lava lamp, both battery powered.
Jesse, not wanting to admit that he did, indeed, feel about 70
pounds lighter, rearranged his pack on his back and was again
almost knocked off balance when Steve zipped it up. “I just
know we’re going to end up needing those fold-up crutches,”
he muttered. “Why were you so adamant around packing light?
It’s not like we’re climbing a mountain or anything.”
The sparkling smile gradually vanished from Jesse’s face as
Steve nodded.
“It’s not as bad as it looks,” Steve said
reassuringly.
“Yeah, that’s what they said about open heart surgery,”
Jesse grumbled grimly. “Can I at least get my laptop?”
“Come on, Jess.” Steve rolled his eyes and decided that
this was going to be a very long weekend.
***
Approximately a mile or two later, Steve stopped at a small
clearing on the trail and unloaded his supplies. He decided to
rest on a boulder while waiting for Jesse, who trailed about
twenty feet behind him. Steve watched a small sparrow as it flew
down from the top of a nearby pine tree and lighted upon a small
rock pile, diligently pecking at the dirt. His eyes lazily
followed the bird as it flew off into the distance. Then they
traveled to the source of the sparrow’s frightening as a
blonde, sweaty head finally emerged over the ridge.
“Isn’t it beautiful, Jess?” Steve greeted
cheerily.
As if in answer, a panting, beet-red Jesse promptly collapsed to
the ground.
Steve knelt down next to him with a water bottle. “Dehydrated?”
Jesse grabbed the bottle and put his hand on Steve’s arm.
“Bless you, you kind man.”
Steve couldn‘t help but chuckle as he rose to his feet.
“Sure. Don’t drink too fast, you’ll make yourself
sick,” he warned as he began digging a pit for the fire.
Jesse finished his water and pulled himself up against a boulder,
gradually regaining his breath. “Why didn’t you tell me
we were hiking ten miles up a mountain?”
“It was barely two miles, Jess. And if I had told you it was
this far, things would have been a lot worse for both of us. You
were complaining enough anyway.” He paused as he looked
around for some sticks to use for a fire. “You okay?”
Jesse wiped his brow as he seemed to consider the query. “I’ll
live. I hope.”
“Well, in that case, you think you could go gather some
firewood? Please?”
“Sure, fine, of course, no problem,” Jesse responded
sarcastically, trying to stand. “...that is, if I can get
up.”
He finally did, and stumbled off to gather the wood. Jesse, being
the curious creature that he is, decided he wanted to venture a
little farther than necessary. He stopped momentarily, with his
arms full of sticks and branches, as he noticed some commotion in
another clearing across the woods. He stopped behind a large oak
tree and quietly spied on the scene of two angry men and one
rather nice-looking woman. She was screaming, and the men were
beating her and yelling something thankfully unintelligible.
“Steve!” Jesse called, a bit too loudly. One of the men
looked over to a small clearing behind him and saw Jesse
watching. He stood up and raised a gun toward the woods as the
other man finished the woman off with a cracking blow to the
head. Jesse soon realized he had been spotted and dropped the
wood in a heap at his feet, scrambling away as fast as he could.
“Steve!” He heard a gunshot and hit the ground, staying
there with his eyes closed until he heard no more noise. Then he
got up and ran back to camp almost faster than his legs could
carry him.
Steve vaguely heard that familiar, bright voice calling him from
the woods. He glanced up from unrolling his sleeping bag and saw
Jesse running for camp full speed. “Jesse, what in the world
is going on? And where’s the firewood?”
“Steve, we gotta get outta here!” Jesse panted,
sounding like a lunatic. “There’s these two guys, about
half a mile away, through the woods, they killed this lady, and
they saw me looking, and they tried to shoot me, and they’re
gonna come after me, I just know it, we’ve gotta go now,
help me Steve!” He continued to panic, jumping into Steve’s
arms.
Steve just stood there, a bit more than mildly puzzled. He was
accustomed to Jesse’s rants, but he wasn’t sure he
wanted to know what was going on this time. Finally he simply
dropped Jesse to the ground. “What are you talking about?!”
Jesse clambered to his feet, rubbed his bum, and continued
rambling at his consistent pace of about a hundred words per
second. “I’m a murder witness! Those guys are trying to
kill me! We’ve gotta leave!”
Steve started to get the feeling that this was serious. “Jess,
are you sure they saw you?”
“He looked right at me! And besides, who else is up here at
Bear Creek Mountain?!” he exclaimed, beginning to calm down
from exhaustion.
“True.” Steve tried to reason with his still hyper
friend. “Well, they don’t know exactly where you are,
we’re in a very secluded area, and it’s getting pretty
dark. We’d better just have dinner and get some rest. We can
take turns keeping watch, then leave in the morning and notify
the police.”
“No!” Jesse shouted, getting jumpy again. “No
dinner! Dinner equals fire, fire equals light, which means they
find me, which means dead Jesse!”
“Fine, we don’t need a fire, but if I don’t eat
something, they’ll find you because they hear my stomach
growling.” Steve rummaged through their belongings and
pulled out a pack of crackers.
Jesse still wasn’t convinced. “Steve, let’s get
out of here now.” He began to pace, but his exhaustion
started to get the better of him.
Steve opened his mouth to say something but closed it as he
caught Jesse, who had stumbled and started to fall. He lowered
his bleary-eyed friend to his sleeping bag. “You, buddy,
need sleep. We’re not going anywhere tonight.” He made
himself comfortable for the long night ahead of him. “I’ll
take the first watch and wake you up in a couple hours, okay?”
His only response was a light snore accompanied by a few owls and
the sounds of a few other miscellaneous nocturnal beings.
“Hey Jess?” Steve turned to his friend, who was already
sound asleep.
Steve chuckled. He remembered what his dad told him about not
being too hard on Jesse if he couldn‘t keep up. *Poor little
guy. His first camping trip, and I drag him halfway up a
mountain, only for him to witness a murder and get scared out of
his mind. Oh well, he’ll live.* Steve chuckled to himself
again, draping another blanket over Jesse’s small, shivering
form.
***
About five hours later, Steve could barely stay awake any longer,
and Jesse‘s nearly incessant mumbling was getting very
annoying. It was almost dawn, so he decided to wake Jesse, hoping
that he had forgotten about his panic.
“Jesse, hey Jess, wake up, it’s your turn,” Steve
whispered, shaking his friend.
Jesse rolled over. “Just five more minutes Susan, it’s
not my turn to make breakfast.”
Steve snickered for the first time in hours and shook him some
more. “Jesse, it’s Steve, you need to get up and take
over.”
Jesse groggily opened his eyes. “Huh? Oh, sure Steve, I‘m
up.” He quickly got up and became alert right away,
remembering his panic, much to Steve’s chagrin. “Oh my
goodness, I’m not dead! They haven’t gotten me yet?”
“No, now hush and keep a watch out.” Steve wearily
crawled into the warm comfort of his sleeping bag, knowing that
he wouldn’t get to stay there long.
“Steve,” Jesse whispered loudly.
Steve only growled in answer.
Jesse continued, shaking fear evident in his voice. “Steve
can we leave now?”
Steve thought he was going to cry. “Jesse, please, I need
sleep!” he whimpered pathetically. “Just an hour or so,
please!”
The young doctor sighed shakily. “Okay Steve, I’m
sorry, go to sleep.” Jesse felt the panic rising in him. He
jumped at every owl hoot. But soon, the need for more sleep
threatened to overtake him and he did everything he could think
of to keep himself awake. It seemed like an hour, though it was
actually about fifteen minutes, before he heard some rustling in
the woods. He dove to the ground next to the cover of Steve in
his sleeping bag, playing dead, just as a bullet whizzed past
them. He lay there for a moment, as motionless as his shuddering
body could be, as Steve woke up.
“Jesse, what are you doing?!” the enraged lieutenant
mumbled.
“Shh, I’m supposed to be dead!” came Jesse’s
muffled voice from his face buried in the ground.
“Oh, oh, of course!” Steve pushed Jesse away and tried
to go back to sleep.
Jesse finally got up and shook Steve. “Steve, get up, we
have to get out of here!”
“Grr, I thought you were supposed to be dead.” Steve
shoved Jesse away again and rolled over.
Jesse wasn‘t about to give up. “Not anymore, get up!”
Steve could tell it was hopeless. He had to admit that Jesse was
right, it definitely wasn’t safe. But no, he wasn’t
going to admit it to Jesse. He sat up and yawned, the dull rays
of the rising sun peeking up over the tree-lined horizon and
piercing his bleary eyes. “Fine. It’s just about dawn
anyway.”
Jesse began gathering up their supplies. He loaded both packs up
on his own small back and fell over.
Steve laughed and quickly rolled up his sleeping bag. “Jesse,
wait one second, I gotta get my stuff together and then we can
start the--” He added sarcastic dread into his voice. “--two-mile
hike down the mountain.”
“Oh, don’t remind me!” Jesse sighed as he put down
Steve’s things and helped him get everything together. He
quickly remembered to be nervous again. “Alright, you‘re
ready, I‘m ready, let’s go!”
They began their trek down the woody mountain trail, this time
not caring about the beautiful scenery. Jesse was looking over
his shoulder practically every two seconds.
“Jess, relax! Over-reacting and panicking isn’t going
to get us down any faster. Besides, you’re making me
nervous.”
“Yeah, well you would be too if you were being stalked by
murderers!”
Steve exasperatedly sighed and walked ahead of Jesse, who was
still panicking. *I wish he would get a grip.* But Jesse’s
fears were made manifest when they both heard something behind
them. Steve quickly spun around into a defensive stance, his hand
on his gun at his side. Jesse on the other hand, not being quite
so dexterous in all his panic, whirled around and fell to the
ground, landing hard on his strangely twisted foot. Meanwhile, a
bullet zipped past the place where his head had been.
“Jesse, get in the bush, quick!” Steve ordered,
dragging his friend into the shrubs that just happened to be so
handily located behind them. He subtly peeked out from behind the
bush to check for any more eminent danger as he not quite so
subtly yelled at Jesse. “Jess, you’re lucky you fell
when you did! You almost got shot in the head!” Steve just
now looked over at his friend, who was clutching his leg in pain.
“Jess, what’s the matter?! What happened?”
Jesse’s voice squeaked with the pain and tears glistened in
his bright gray-blue eyes. “It’s my ankle! I-I twisted
it when I fell! Ohhh, it hurts!” he whimpered. “Steve,
I don’t know if I can walk!”
A million thoughts raced through Steve‘s head as he tried to
do something for his injured friend. “Okay Jesse, calm down,
you’ll be all right.” He began to rumage through Jesse’s
pack. “Where’s that ten-pound first aid kit?” He
found and opened the large box of medical supplies and retrieved
an elastic bandage while Jesse carefully began unlacing his shoe
and oh-so-painfully took it off, assessing the damage. The
throbbing ankle was swelling and beginning to turn purple.
“Oooo, is it supposed to look like that?” Steve tried
to humor his buddy.
Jesse didn‘t get the joke (for once in his life.) “Well
my other one doesn’t, if that’s what you mean,”
Jesse hissed as he scrutinized his swollen foot. He then realized
what he had said and attempted an apologetic grin. “It’s
a bad sprain, but I don’t think it’s broken. It‘s
hard to tell though.”
Steve took the bandage and wrapped it around Jesse’s ankle.
“Too tight?”
Jesse shook his head. “Fine.”
Steve finished wrapping the bandage. “Do you think you can
put any weight on it?”
“I could if I had those crutches that you made me leave
behind!” Jesse snorted, smirking. He put it aside and got
serious as Steve glared halfway menacingly at him. “I’m
not sure, help me up.” Steve pulled his injured friend’s
arm around his neck and lifted him off the ground ... all the way
off the ground.
Jesse grimaced at him. “Heh, this isn’t gonna work.”
Steve lowered him back to the ground on one unsteady foot. Jesse
attempted a tentative limp on the toes of his sprained foot,
sending even more pain shooting through it.
Steve caught Jesse as his ankle gave out and he started to
collapse. “Do you think you can make it down?” he asked
hopefully, gently lowering Jesse to the boulder behind him.
“It‘s pretty steep.”
*Stupid question,* Jesse thought as he looked down the
precipitous mountain. “Steve, I’m not even sure if I
could make it down anyway. It looked a lot less steep on the way
up.”
“Jess, that was the trail on the other side of the mountain.
This way was much quicker.” Steve thought for a moment, a
bit exasperated. “Well, I guess we’ll have to try to
make it over there and get down that way. But we have to get
moving.” He again helped Jesse to a foot and took his cell
phone out of his pocket. “I’ll try to call the police,
or my dad, or anyone, maybe I’ll get some reception this
time.” After what seemed the upteenth try, Steve finally
reached Mark. “Dad? H-hey, Dad?”
Mark felt good to hear his son’s voice, even through all the
static. “Steve! Hey, what’s up? How are you two doing?”
“Hey Dad, I’m fine. Hey listen Dad, we’re up here
on Bear Creek, and Jesse witnessed a murder. The murderers are
trying to kill him, so we have to get out fast--”
“Steve, get down!” Jesse pulled Steve into some more
conveniently located brush as a bullet flew past.
“Hey Jesse, get my gun. Dad, we have to get out of here, but
we can’t get down the mountain.”
Mark could tell that the situation was not looking good. “Why
not?”
“Because Jesse sprained his ankle and he can hardly walk.”
Jesse leaned over to the phone. “Hey Mark!”
“Oh no.” Mark chuckled as he heard Jesse’s
sarcastically cheery voice over the phone. “Hey Jesse! Well,
Amanda and I will be there as soon as we can, about a half-hour.
Have you called the police yet?”
“This is the first call I‘ve been able to get through.”
“Okay, well, I’ll bring them too. Steve, be careful.”
“Will do, Dad.”
“And make sure Jesse stays off that ankle as much as
possible.”
“Yeah Dad.” He paused. “I love you.”
“Love you too, Son.” Mark hung up the phone. He was
worried. Steve hadn’t ended a phone conversation like that
with him for a long while. He turned to Amanda. “You ready?”
“Ever since they left.” Amanda grinned at Mark and
gathered her things. “What exactly happened? Did they
strangle each other?”
“No, actually, you won’t believe it this time, honey. I’ll
tell you about it on the way.”
***
“Jesse, did you get him?” Steve put his cell phone back
in his pocket and took his rifle back from Jesse.
“Yeah, I did! I can’t tell if he’s dead though, I
don‘t think so. Come on Steve, let‘s go cuff him!”
He started to get up, supporting himself with a huge tree branch.
Steve pushed him down. “No, I don’t think so, Jess. I’ll
get him. I promised my dad I’d keep you off your foot. And
what’s the stick for?” he asked, referring to the
branch Jesse brandished at him.
Jesse grinned. “He may not be fully unconscious. And be
careful. I’m sure your dad made you promise to do that, too.”
Steve took the branch, rolling his eyes at Jesse. “Don’t
worry. Ya know Jess, you come up with the weirdest ideas.”
But as Steve approached the wounded murderer, he noticed slight
movement. Realizing Jesse wasn’t all wrong, he quickly
incapacitated the man with the stick and handcuffed him. He
glanced over at Jesse, who was grinning and giving him a look
that said, “I told you so!”
Steve hurried back to the bush to wait for the other man.
“How far to the other side?” Jesse asked, rubbing his
ankle.
“Well, we could go down at this spot, it‘s just the
fact of needing an opportunity. We‘ll be back on the ground
before you know it,” Steve smiled, trying to be encouraging.
He couldn’t stand to see his friend in such pain. “How‘s
your ankle doing?”
“I don‘t know, it still really hurts. I‘m gonna
take another look at it.” Jesse unwrapped his ankle and
tried to better figure out what was wrong. It was swollen to
about the size of his calf, and it was bright purple all around.
Steve took one look and cringed. “Eee, that makes me hurt
just looking at it.”
“Yeah, I bet. How do you think I feel?”
“I’m sorry,” Steve consoled, half sarcastically.
“You think it‘s just a sprain?”
Jesse winced as he tried to get his foot in a correct position to
properly examine it. “Yeah, I don‘t think it‘s
broken.”
“That’s good.”
Steve turned back around, gun in hand, and waited for the other
man. Eventually, a large armed man appeared and knelt beside the
other, seeing if he was still alive. Steve pointed the gun at the
man and stepped out of the bushes. “Freeze.”
The man put his arms out, a gun in one of the hands. “Who
wants me to?”
“Lieutenant Steve Sloan, LAPD.”
“Yeah, I’m sure you are!” the man snorted. “So
where’s the little witness?”
Steve thought fast. “He’s running to get help right
now.”
“Ha!” The man laughed. “You think I’m stupid?
I’ve been watching you two. That guy can hardly walk, much
less run! I think he’s in the bushes right about ... there.”
He pointed with his gun at the bush behind Steve and fired before
Steve could blink. All that Steve and the other man heard was the
bushes rustling and Jesse crying out in pain. Steve just knew the
bullet had hit him, but he also knew that if he went to check on
Jesse, the man would shoot him. So he just stood there in shock.
“What’s wrong with you? I just shot your friend. And I‘m
gonna shoot you right now.” The man raised his rifle, and
Steve raised his.
“Well, I just remembered something. The police are coming.”
He mentally cursed himself for being so stupid. *They can’t
get here this fast! What are we going to do?* But as if by some
act of God, the LAPD squad cars, along with an ambulance and Mark
Sloan‘s sports car came to the rescue at that very moment.
“Oh, look, here they are right now,” Steve quipped.
Several officers climbed up the easy incline of the mountain and
escorted the murders down. While this was happening, Steve
hurriedly knelt down by the bush to see if Jesse was all right.
“Jesse, are you okay, did he get you?”
Jesse looked up at him, his head cocked to one side. “No, I’m
all right.”
“Then what was that scream for?” Steve asked, helping
Jesse up.
Jesse winced as he rose to his foot. “Well, it scared me!
And when I jumped back, I wrenched my ankle and it really hurt.”
They started, slowly but surely, walking down. “You scared
me to death. I thought you were shot!”
“Sorry,” Jesse gasped through clenched teeth.
Steve could tell that his friend was in great pain, and at that
pace, they would never reach the bottom. *Oh, he‘s small
enough.* Steve abruptly scooped Jesse up off the ground and
tossed him over his shoulder.
“Whoa!!! Steve, what do you think you’re doing!?!?”
“At the rate we were going, we would’ve never gotten
down.”
Jesse felt mischievous. “Oh, Steve, you’re so big and
strong,” he drawled in a rather feminine voice.
Steve smacked his buddy on the butt. “You keep that up and I
drop you.”
“Ow! Hey, I was just kidding!”
Steve put Jesse down as they reached the bottom and found Mark
and Amanda.
“Jesse! Steve!” Amanda yelled, embracing Jesse in a
bear hug and trying to contain her laughter at the sight she had
just witnessed between two of her best friends. “What
happened to you?!” Even through all the laughter, worry and
concern were still very evident in her voice.
“Oh, it’s a long story! Hey, thanks for saving us!”
Jesse quipped, still leaning heavily in Steve.
Mark released his son from a big hug. “Jess, how’s your
ankle?”
“Not too good, it’s badly sprained.”
Mark sat Jesse down and unwrapped his foot as and officer
approached the witnesses.
“Lieutenant Sloan?” an officer called. “Dr.
Travis? Do you think you two could answer a few questions for us?”
A few cops approached them and the two answered some questions
and agreed to testify, should it come to that. After few minutes,
the four were on their way back to Community General, the guys
telling their story as Mark examined Jesse’s ankle.
***
Susan walked into the lounge at the hospital and found Mark,
Steve, and Amanda sitting on the couch, with Jesse in a
wheelchair, his left foot in a cast.
“Jesse!” she cried, running up to her boyfriend. “What
are you doing back so soon?”
“Well, it’s great to see you too Susan!”
“Oh my goodness Jesse, you’re hurt! What happened?!”
“Well, you see, my dear--”
Steve could see that this would take a while. “He sprained
his ankle,” he finished.
“Actually, he broke it, but he thought it was just a sprain.
X-rays revealed a fracture.”
“You know Jesse, I still can’t believe you didn’t
know you broke your own ankle.” Mark tried to suppress a
chuckle.
Jesse looked defensive. “It’s a hairline fracture! And
it’s not like I could x-ray it or anything. Steve made me
leave my portable x-ray machine behind,” he added under his
breath. Jesse looked up at Susan, who was gazing at him
pitifully. “Oh, come on Susan, it’s not that bad! Now
let me finish my story. See, there were these guys up there, and
I saw them killing this girl, and I tried to stop them ...”
His voice trailed off as they left the lounge together.
Mark shook his head. “Sounds like you two had fun!”
Steve rolled his eyes. “Oh, it was a blast. Now do you two
want to hear the real story?”
THE END
