First Year Reunion

Doctor Bernard Martin - most of his colleagues and patients called him Bernie - did not like the guest and his four dark skinned masculine bodyguards in mirrored sunglasses who were standing on the deck of his isolated beach house, spreading the choking smell of cologne. The guest was about five feet and ten inches tall and had a lean and disproportional body. His back was crooked, his legs were too short, his arms were too long and his head was sitting on a thin neck; his his was small and completely bald. The guest's hands were covered with a lawn of thick black hair and were constantly moving, grabbing and touching everything within reach.

"Careful please," Bernie requested when the guest took a glass vial with an opalescent liquid inside of it from the laboratory rack. "This is the most powerful and advanced nanodrug that I've created. It can be injected intravenously. This nanodrug is a suspension of tiny particles, nanoparticles. They carry active molecules on their surfaces and can freely travel in one's body until they reach the brain cells. The nanoparticles have antibodies on their surfaces that guarantee their attachment to brain cells. After the nanoparticles are attached to the target cells they will start releasing the narcotic molecules that are also attached to the nanoparticles' surfaces. To regulate the release rate there are also some other biologicals attached, but it is not important in understanding the mechanism of how this nanodrug functions."

Bernie just noticed a platinum class ring from one of the oldest private universities in Europe on his guest's finger and stopped talking for an instant, and squinted while trying to read the year on the ring. The guest tapped his fingernails impatiently upon the desk.

"Continue. I'm listening."

Bernie started talking again, trying not to look into the dark cold eyes of his guest. "This nanodrug is a revolution in narcotics. It works like a tiny pump that is attached to a brain cell, injecting the drug into your brain cells whenever it's desired. The nanodrug is undetectable by any method known because its concentration in the blood is extremely low and becomes zero when all the particles become attached to your brain cells. Because of the controllable slow release of the narcotic one injection can last for up to six months. There is nothing in the world that can compete with this drug. It was tested on animals with excellent results, and since February I have been running successful human trials."

"How many people were tested?" the guest asked.

"Four," Bernie said. "Three had lethal diseases and died recently, and one is a college student, an alcoholic, who I treat at my private clinic. She thinks I'm giving her medicine to cure her dipsomania."

"It's too risky. We'll run human tests at our facility in the mountains. We usually don't have a shortage in volunteers," said the guest. He had a sly grin on his face. "Did you see any unusual side effects?" he inquired.

"No," Bernie said.

"Let us know immediately if any trouble arises." The guest threw a black business card with a phone number printed in gold on the desk. There was no name on the card.

"We'll transfer ten million, as promised, to your bank account in Switzerland. You will receive another twenty million when you supply the second batch of the nanodrug."

The guest stood up out of his chair, took the titanium case with a hundred vials of the nanodrug inside that Bernie gave him. He walked out of the room, indicating, with his hand, that Bernie should not follow him. After the black limousine with the guest and his bodyguards left, Bernie found a can of odor eliminator and sprayed the room they were conversing in and the deck.

Vickie received a phone call from Kate the next day she came home from California for the summer.

"Hey babe! I haven't seen you in forever! I miss you! We should get together this weekend - you, me, Morgan and Jess. We can have an awesome reunion! Let's go to the beach. My mom's boyfriend gave me the keys to his beach house. We just can't have any parties!"

"Sure," Vickie said, starring at Kate's photo on her website. Kate's nipples were covered with X's made of blue tape; she was wearing black panties, red ripped fishnet stockings and stilettos. Her hair was dyed black; black eyeliner and black lipstick contrasted her pale skin.

Jeez, one of my best friends is a goth, Jess is an alcoholic, and Morgan is the worst case of pessimism you can find. And here I am - a love struck six foot tall virgin who likes to watch cartoons with her nerdy boyfriend and feed ducks at the park. What an awesome reunion that'll be!

Morgan was driving her red jeep with a rigorous case of road rage. Kate was sitting in the front passenger's seat having fun blowing kisses at truck drivers. Jess was snoring, resting her head on Vickie's lap.

"Love is crap. And all that other stuff is crap too," Morgan said without any particular intonation. "Stop messing with the truck drivers, Kate. And don't wave your hand while holding a cigarette. Jess was partying all night, and I bet her blood alcohol is so high that you can light her ass on fire. Someone push her. She's snoring like a train. Drinking is crap."

The highway broadened as it reached the top of the hill. The road pavement was white, and Vickie was the first one who noticed a gargantuan charcoal dog that was crossing the road in front of their jeep.

"Morg, dog on the road! Huge one. Don't hit it! Slow down!" she yelled.

"It's not a dog. It's a bear," Morgan replied, slamming on the brakes.

The bear crossed the highway and sat on a hill slope along the side of the road, looking down at the girls. The bear was huge and had long raven colored messy fur and radiant red eyes that looked like two laser pointers.

Kate started focusing her cell phone camera but the bear revealed his teeth and growled, making a terrifying sound. Kate rapidly snapped a picture and closed the window.

Jess stuck her messy head out the window like she was going to puke and spotted the bear. "Holy shit! Is he real? What's wrong with his eyes? Is it the sun or something? Morgan, why the heck did ya stop? Are you nuts? Let's get the hell out of here!"

The jeep took off, rounding the turn and leaving the sickening combs of Jess' vomit on the concrete. When Vickie looked back at the bear he was still sitting in the same spot, staring in their direction. "What a creepy beast. He's got to be sick or something … I mean his eyes … something's really wrong with his eyes," she said. "I didn't even know we had bears around here. How close is the beach from here?"

"It's right there." Kate waved her hand with the cigarette in it, pointing down the hill.

"I thought I would piss my pants! Did you take his picture?" Jess asked her. "Otherwise no one is gonna believe that a red-eyed bear barely made it crossing the highway right in front of our car."

"Jess, your eyes aren't much better than the bear's. Crap. What's that?" Morgan said, looking at Kate's cell phone screen. Kate showed the cell phone screen to the others in the jeep. The screen was all black and had two very bright red dots in the middle.

They swam and tanned until everyone got tired. They came back to the two-story beach house on stilts located about three hundred yards from the ocean. The house had a covered deck on both floors. The staircase, the front door, the windows and the decks were painted bright red.

Morgan and Kate began making dinner. Vickie was not much help because she was constantly talking to Eric, her boyfriend, on the phone, and Morgan exploded, finally. "I can't stand all the 'hi honey' and 'love bunny' anymore. Go on the deck if ya wanna continue this crap for another hour. And check on Jess. Is she snoring over there or something?"

Jess was standing, gripping the curved wooden rail with both of her hands.

"Did you throw up again?" Vickie said.

Jess didn't turn and didn't reply. "What's that?" she said. "Can you hear the wild animal roaring? Is it a bear?"

"It sounds like a bear to me," Vickie replied, starring at the bushes and rocks. She noticed the bright red lights that were moving closer and closer to their beach house and felt a paralyzing fear.

"Let's go inside." Vickie may have pulled the sleeve of Jess' sport jacket too strongly because Jess did not expect it and moved shoddily and tripped over a pile of wet beach rugs. Vickie screamed when Jess' eyes fixed on her face for an instant - they looked like red laser pointers.

"Shoot," Jess said, grabbing Vickie's shoulder. "Why are you screaming?" She closed her eyes and suddenly collapsed on the wooden deck. Jess' eyelids were glowing a reddish-pink light. Vickie started screaming hysterically and stopped only when Kate and Morgan, both still in their swimming suits, ran to the deck.

"Damn!" Morgan blurted. "What the heck is wrong with this drunk and her eyes? Do they now sell neon vodka?"

Kate panicked. She was chaotically jumping and waving her hands. "I don't like this … I don't like these red lights around us and the roaring. Let's take Jess inside. I'll call Bernie. He should know what's wrong with her."

Jess was tall and heavy, and they couldn't lift her up. Morgan clasped her arms together and rested Jess' head on her biceps, holding her shoulder blades with her hands, and moved Jess' head onto a rug. Kate and Vickie grabbed and lifted each of Jess' legs, and Morgan slipped a rug under her back. They dragged the rug with Jess' body into the living room and locked the door to the deck.

The bear's cry became bloodcurdling and came from nearby. The bears seemed to scuttle under the house that was shaking from time to time.

"Where's my cell phone? I need to call Bernie," Kate asked Vickie. She circled the dining room and the kitchen, looking for her cell phone everywhere.

"Who's Bernie and why do you wanna call him?" Morgan said, covering Jess' eyelids, glowing a dim red light, with a baseball cap. "She looks like a dummy from a low budget horror movie. Horror movies are crap. Why do so many girls start drinking as soon as they get to college? What happened to her eyes?"

"Vickie!" Kate screamed who just found her phone, "did you waste my entire battery talking to your loser boyfriend? Damn you, woman! Now your phone is dead, and my phone is dead too. Morg, where is your cell phone?"

"In a repair shop," replied Morgan. "I fought with my mom over some crap and smashed it against the wall."

Kate rolled her eyes and went off. "What are we supposed to do? This romantic freak (she pointed at Vickie) forgot her charger at home, and I didn't take mine 'cause your car charger works with my phone. I don't wanna go outside. There is a bunch of bears with bloody eyeballs. Screw you, Vickie!"

Morgan got on her knees and checked the pockets in Jess' sweat suit and found her cell phone. She opened it and said, "Thank goodness, Jess' phone is working. Who do you wanna call?"

"Bernie … he's my mom's new boyfriend … he's a doctor. He treats drug addicts and alcoholics. His patients are all millionaires, celebs and senators. I know he treated our dean too. Our dean exhausted the entire liquor supply in our state and is still going strong 'cause people in the neighboring states started complaining about a liquor shortage. I was worried about Jess - her drinking went way too far - and asked Bernie if he could keep her away from booze. He injected Jess with the medication a few times. He told me and mom something about bears one day, but I don't exactly remember what he said. He did some research on bears, I guess. I just remember he said that bears have color vision that is very similar to a human's, and that all bears are nearsighted and stand up on their hind legs when want to take a really good look at things. If an object moves, a bear can see it from far away."

The house trembled, and Jess turned her head, moaning. Vickie sat on the floor beside her and started crying.

"Oh, cut it off. Nobody's dead yet," Morgan said. "Weird. I mean the stuff about nearsighted bears. I could have easily killed that bear on the road. It's like when someone hits a person who forgot their glasses at home and can't see a car. I'm against animal testing. Animal testing is crap. Call Bernie, tell him about the crap we are in and that Jess is screwed."

Kate froze with Jess' phone in her hand. "I don't remember his phone number. I used speed dial, of course. Shit Vickie, stop whining! How am I supposed to call?"

"Call your mom and ask for his phone number, duhhhhh!" Morgan uttered, checking the windows and door locks. "Does he keep a gun here?" she asked Kate.

Kate did not answer, calling her mom. "Shoot. It sent me straight to her voice mail. They flew to Vegas to see a new show and go gambling and partying. If they are at the casino that means camera phones aren't allowed there - we're totally screwed!" Kate left her mother a message, asking her to call back as soon as she could, and then told Vickie, "Your Eric, he's a science guru, right? Call him and ask what it means if someone has eyes that give off red light beams like a laser."

The house shook again. Now, the bear's roar was accompanied by a loud noise.

"Is he climbing a stilt? How many bears are there? What if they find the stairs and get on the deck? We should call the police," Vickie whispered. Her face was as white as bond paper and covered in cold sweat.

Morgan lifted the cap to check on Jess' eyes. "What do you expect a bear to do? Black bears can climb, everybody knows that. He's probably looking for food and sweets. If you wanna call the police then just do it. When they arrive the bears will probably be gone. The cops will arrest Jess for underage drinking and decide we're all high. Just look at Kate - does she look like an honor student to you?"

Vickie went upstairs to call Eric. When she returned, Jess was sitting on the floor, looking in a pocket mirror. "Doctor Martin has been treating me with a new medicine for alcohol dependence. It's got very small particles dissolved in something. He didn't say anything about red eyes. He mentioned that I may become drowsy and may temporarily loose my sense of smell."

"So, you didn't party last night?" Morgan said.

"No, I haven't had a single drink for almost two months. This medication killed my drinking. I've never lied to my high school friends, have I?" Jess smiled at Morgan, illuminating Morgan's round face with red light.

"Jeez," Morgan said. "You scared the shit out of me. Put sunglasses on and smile when nobody can see your eyes."

Kate took the cell phone from Vickie and asked her, "What did your boyfriend say?"

"Nothing. He said to ask Jess if she was taking any medication and stuff like that."

Kate forced Jess to tell Vickie what she just told her and Morgan, and Vickie went to call Eric again. She came back in a few minutes. "Eric said that if Jess was taking medication made of nanoparticles they could accumulate in her eyes and form a layer of photonic crystals. This sounds crazy but it explains why her eyes now work like mirrors that selectively reflect red light. He told me that she shouldn't be able to see anything red. I hope you non-science majors understand what I'm talking about."

"Science is crap," Morgan whined. "Kate, go get the bowl with the tomatoes."

Kate tossed a green salad bowl with cut tomatoes before Jess' eyes. "Can you tell what this is?"

Jess wrinkled her nose and forehead. "A bowl. Leave me alone."

"Jess, tell us if you see anything in it," Morgan shouted.

"No ... I'm not sure ... when you move it around I can tell something's in it. I don't feel well ... everything is blue and green."

"She's colorblind to red only," Vickie said. She grabbed a flashlight and illuminated Jess' face. The light coming from Jess' eyes was an intense red. Vickie moved the flashlight in front of Jess' face from left to right and back, and Jess' eyes stayed red. After Vickie dimmed the flashlight Jess' eyes faded. "I did what Eric said. His theory works okay except Jess' eyes give off a soft red light even in the darkness."

"Does that mean that bears with the red eyes can't see red either?" Kate wanted to know.

"That's what I'm thinking now. The bear didn't see my red jeep on the road and tried to cross it like we weren't there. And he didn't find the stairs 'cause they're red. Your mom's boyfriend painted everything red to trick the drugged bears. Did his clinic use bears in their trials? They sure did some animal testing before using this nanodrug on your dean and Jess and other people. If this is true, this son of a bitch knows that this new drug distorts colored vision," Morgan said.

"Chill out, Morg. When I find Bernie I'll ask him, okay? Jess isn't doing well at all and can barely walk, and we don't know what's wrong with her. We need to get out of here and take her to a hospital. Someone should dress up in red from head to toe and go outside to pull the jeep up to the stairs," Kate said. "I know from high school that bears rely heavily on their sense of smell and only then on hearing and vision. This drug kills a person's sense of smell. Whoever goes to get the jeep should be very quiet, that's all."

Kate, Morgan and Vickie surrounded the kitchen table and Morgan pulled out her hand and put it into a fist, indicating the loser of rock, paper, scissors would go out to the jeep. Kate and Morgan both kept their fists but Vickie had put out her fingers to look like scissors, knowing she had lost.

"Oh man," Morgan said, "be careful over there. Are you sure you know how to drive? I can go instead of you if you want."

"Rules are rules," Vickie said in a shaky voice. "So what if I don't have a license? Sure, I can drive. I'll be all right. I can wear my red sweat pants. I need red socks and a jacket and a hat. Eric better be right."

They did not find a red hat, and Vickie hid her long wavy hair under an old red kitchen Christmas rag, which Kate found in the storage closet. There also were a few cans of pepper spray for bears, and Vickie took one can with her.

Morgan painted Vickie's hands and face with red lipstick.

"I look like a freak," Vickie said. "It's getting dark. At night everything looks gray. Can the bears see me?"

"Don't know," Morgan said, "we can turn on the lights in the house. Call Eric and ask him."

"You're crazy. He'll yell at me and tell me that I should stay inside."

"I'll go on the deck. If I spot the bear I'll throw some sweets at him," Morgan said.

Kate started to paint her arms with the red lipstick. "Shoot, we're out of it. I'll check the fridge for tomato paste and ketchup. I'll go with you, Vickie."

"Ketchup is crap. We don't have red clothing for two," Morgan said. "And someone should stay with Jess. She just threw up. Kate, make some tea for her. I'll help Vickie. The bear isn't hollering anymore. He may have run off."

Vickie slowly came down the stairs. It was quiet except for the sound that the ocean waves made, kissing the sand on the beach. She started walking towards the jeep, moving as slowly as she could. When she was two yards from it Vickie accidentally pushed the alarm button on the remote control instead of unlock. The jeep started making a terribly loud sound. Vickie hit alarm again to stop it and pressed the unlock key. She was about to pull the door handle when she saw a spot of red light on the jeep's hubcap. Vickie froze with her hand stretched out. Her heart was pounding like crazy. A bear scrambled from under the truck and stood on his four legs, shaking his head. He would be touching Vickie if she were a foot closer. It was a small bear that looked like he was starved or sick - his teeth were rotten. The bear's right eye emitted a bright red light, and his left eye gave off a maroon - almost brown - throbbing light. The bear circled Vickie and walked towards the house.

Vickie hopped into the jeep, started it, drove to the house and parked the jeep right by the stairs. She looked in the windows and checked the mirrors - the bears were not around. Vickie got out of the jeep and ran up stairs and saw Morgan who was standing in the doorway, waiting for her. Behind the door there was a second bear that started making howling sounds as he heard the noise Vickie made, running. The bear looked directly into her eyes with his bright red startled eyes; his ears were back and his jaw was dropped. Morgan did not expect the bear to hide behind the door and froze with her face as white as beach sand. The bear jumped as fast as lightning and knocked Morgan down. Morgan screamed, protecting her face with her arms. Vickie screamed too and sprayed a short burst of pepper spray at the bear. He bounced down the stairs but continued to make a chilling snarl. Vickie fired a longer blast, trying to paint his head with the spray. The bear whimpered, rubbing his head against the sand, and then ran under the house.

Morgan's arm was cut open. Her blood was dripping onto the floor. She had one long scrape along her face that also bled.

"Did I get some spray on you? Why did you open the door before I knocked? Why didn't you stay inside?" Vickie said.

"He's evil this bear. He wouldn't let you in," Morgan said. "I'm okay. I just need a bandage and something to treat the cuts."

"You need a box of bandages…." Kate exclaimed. "Are you okay? What's he doing now?"

They looked out the window. The bear was mauling Morgan's jeep, ripping apart the back tire with his teeth and claws.

"Oh no, not my jeep!" Morgan grabbed two cans of pepper spray and ran on the deck all covered in blood. She was rushing down the stairs, spraying everything around her. The bear howled and ran into the bushes. "Bastard! Creep and bastard! Now we need to put the spare tire on if we wanna get out of here."

When Morgan returned to the room, Jess was unconscious again, Vickie was going through the emergency kit, looking for ointment and bandages, and Kate was puking into the kitchen sink. "I can't stand seeing blood," she mumbled.

"Why the heck are you a goth if blood makes you puke? Join the healthy cooking club, wear satin bras and save on electrical tape," Morgan said. "Where is your damned Bernie?"

Kate washed her face and dried it with a paper towel. "I don't know. Don't jump at me." She started vomiting again, shaking her small body.

"I'm hungry. Let's eat something," Vickie said. "Then we'll change the tire and leave before the bears are back."

Jess' phone rang. It was Kate's mom returning her call. Kate briefly spoke with her and then had a long one-way conversation with Bernie Martin - he was talking and Kate was saying the word 'damn' from time to time.

"What did he say?" Morgan asked after Kate hung up.

"All the animal trials were run far away from here. After they ended Bernie let three bears go free into the forest nearby. He doesn't know why they came back."

"Poor Bernie! He should be upset that he is in Las Vegas while all the fun is here. There are four of us in his freakin' house, and three hungry bears outside. Hopefully, one person should be enough to feed a bear, and one of us will survive to tell this story to her roommates in a mad house. All these nanodrugs are crap," Morgan said.

Vickie giggled hysterically. "Morg, are you sure one of us will survive? When did you become an optimist? Kate, what did he say about the red light coming from the bears' and Jess' eyes?"

Kate rinsed her mouse with Pepsi, spit and said, "Bernie doesn't know what it is but he doesn't think it's anything serious. He said there's probably something wrong with the cell recognition. The nanoparticles penetrated into Jess' and the bears' eyes and became attached to the retina. They have a red fluorescent label on them, but it can't produce strong light. Bernie told me where he keeps the drug. We should inject it in Jess' vein and get out of here immediately. Mom and Bernie return from Vegas today if they can find a flight."

"He's lying." Vickie said. "I agree with Morgan. He has bear pepper spray over here, and the drug, and painted his house deck, stairs and door red. He knew something went wrong with this damn nanodrug."

The phone rang again. "It's got to be Eric," Vickie said. "Too bad he's not around. I could ask him to come and get us."

"Don't you dare pick up the phone," Kate said. "It's all we got."

"Oh shut up, Kate. I won't. Let's go to find Jess the medicine. She doesn't look good."

Jess was lying on the rug, covered with a blanket. Her breathing was fast, and she was shaking and moaning. Jess' face was swollen, and her eyelids were still emitting the diffused reddish light.

They found the small glass bottle with the drug in the fridge in the guestroom. Morgan brought a syringe and a rubber band from the medicine cabinet and said to Kate, "Don't look. I'm sick of your puking. Vickie, help me."

Kate and Vickie injected one milliliter of the opalescent liquid into Jess' vein and put a cold compressor on her forehead. Jess stopped shaking and soon became hot and sweaty. She opened her eyes, looked around and said, "Did I pass out, guys? What happened to you, Morg? Did you give me a shot of Dr. Martin's medicine? I feel like you did."

"Sure we did. You should be okay, Dr. Martin said," Morgan informed her. "The bear gave me a kiss and a hug and then chomped the tire on my truck. We'll fix it and take you to the doc's clinic in the suburbs. If you're gonna walk around do it with caution. You're red-blind."

While Morgan and Kate were putting on the spare tire Vickie was circling the jeep with a can of pepper spray in her hand. Then Kate helped Jess descend the red stairs and ran back to the house to take Jess' drug, bandages for Morgan and a bottle of water. She forgot to take her cell phone and did not ask Vickie if she took hers.

Kate was speeding, and nobody cared about it this time, not even Vickie. They were close to where the bear crossed highway in front of them when a police siren and lights went off behind the jeep.

"Crap," Morgan said. "Kate, pull over. Where the heck did you learn to drive like that?"

"I didn't notice when the cops popped out behind us," Kate said, stopping.

"Jess, put your sunglasses on and close your freakin' eyes," Morgan whispered. "Vickie, you're the cutest white liar in the seven thousand mile zone around here…."

"Hello," the cop said, approaching the open driver's window. "Can I see your driver's license and registration, please?" The cop was in his thirties and looked like a young Clint Eastwood.

Kate handed him her driver's license and pulled out the registration card out from the glove compartment. Morgan helped her find it.

"Your vehicle was going over the speed limit by twenty miles," the cop said.

"Sorry." Kate widened her beautiful brown eyes like butterfly wings. "We had an accident on the beach. Our friend - she pointed at Morgan - was badly injured, and we're taking her to the hospital. We called the ER already."

"Do you know if there is a pharmacy around here?" asked Vickie, lowering a side window. Vickie had that unique type of face that turned guys into lamp posts. The policeman was not an exception. He was frozen with his jaw dropped all way down to the shiny belt buckle and a megawatt silly smile on his handsome face.

"The pharmacy will be in the next three exits, behind the McDonalds. Is your other friend all right?" he said, pointing at Jess who looked strange in black Armani sunglasses at night.

"She's fine. She just got scared when she saw blood."

Suddenly, a red light erratically illuminated the jeep and disappeared. Vickie kicked Jess' leg and whispered, "Don't open your eyes."

"What's that?" said the cop and directed a blue light from his flashlight onto the girls.

Vickie took off a hair clip, allowing her hair to fall onto her lap. "Light from a bike or something. Thank you. You helped us a lot. Did anyone tell you that you look like Clint Eastwood?"

"Be careful on the road. You are free to go." The cop smiled, said bye and walked to his car.

"Why couldn't you keep your eyes closed?" Kate said to Jess. She looked in the rear view mirror and screamed. Everyone in the jeep turned around. The light from the headlights and the police car let them see the cop who was running towards his car and two bears - one was chasing after him and other one was blocking his way to the car.

Suddenly, a bear with glowing red eyes slapped the back jeep window with his claws. Kate screamed again and pushed the gas pedal. They heard the scream, the sound of gun shots and the bears' crying. Kate started throwing up onto the steering wheel and stopped the jeep right on the highway. Vickie dragged her from the driver's seat and wiped the wheel with her t-shirt. They could still see the police car's lights.

"Hope he's okay," said Vickie. "How fast can a bear run?"

"Bears can run thirty miles per hour," Kate mumbled. "I smell like shit. I think I'm sick. I can't drive." Kate didn't look good at all. She came from a troubled family - her father was a schizophrenic and alcoholic and used to beat her mother and her until they both became unconscious. One day Kate's mom buckled three-year-old Kate into the back seat of their rusty Dodge, parked it on the street, brought gasoline from the garage, splashed Kate' sleeping father with it, clicked the cigarette lighter and drove away with Kate. Until the time Kate's mom finished her prison sentence Kate went through a dozen of foster families and made it to an Ivy League school.

"I will," Jess said. "Vickie doesn't have a driver's license. We don't have a choice, do we? I feel better now. Someone will switch with me when we get into town. I'm not sure if I can see the streetlights and stop signs."

The highway was mostly empty and everything went normal until they met a gang of bikers. The light from the multiple headlights turned Jess' eyes into red light beams. One of the drivers apparently got petrified and lost control of his bike. He collided with the motorcycle that followed him and immediately the road became covered with a mountain of crumpled bikes, bent metal, bodies and a pool of blood.

"Jess, stop it! Stop the damn jeep!" Morgan yelled.

"Go, just go, oh shit," Kate screamed.

Jess' phone rang. It was Kate's mother. They just landed at the airport. Kate told her where they stopped - on a side road, by exit 283, right by the bridge. "They will be here in an hour and half. Let's wait in the jeep," Kate said.

"If someone wants to piss, go in pairs. The bears are far behind, but who knows," Morgan said.

"I will keep my foot on the gas pedal just in case," Jess said.

"Let's talk about something else. Like, what we're going to do during our sophomore year reunion," Kate said.

"How about skiing?" Vickie suggested.

They were waiting in the jeep, talking, when a silver SUV that proceeded on the opposite side of the non-divided highway made a U-turn and pulled up beside the jeep. The side windows in the SUV went down and bullets from two automatic guns cut the jeep's body, broke the windows and splashed its inside with blood. When the massacre was over, a fit man in mirrored sunglasses and rubber gloves jumped onto the pavement from the SUV and approached the jeep. The man turned on a stainless steel flashlight and lit the face of a young woman, the driver. Her eyes flashed back with red light, illuminating the dark blood running down her mouth.

"Goddamnit," the man said. "It's got to be her."

A chubby girl in the front passenger's seat was moaning, and he shot her in the head. The man just opened the jeep's front door when police car lights appeared a couple of miles behind. The men clicked his cigarette lighter but it did not work. He clicked it again, cursed and ran back to SUV that fled immediately after the man hopped in it. The man pulled out his cell phone and called someone.

When Kate's mom - her name was Bridgette - and Bernie Martin found the red jeep covered with bullet holes the police car was already on the scene. The police officer who was covered with scratches and wore a torn uniform with blood stains on it was taking Vickie out of the jeep. Vickie was not wearing any shirt, just a swimming suit top. Blood was dripping from her long hair.

He looks exactly like Clint Eastwood in that old movie. Kate's mom screamed terribly and ran to the jeep.

"I stopped their jeep earlier today. They were speeding, rushing to the ER," the cop said. "It's a quiet county. We never had four people gunned down in a car on the road before. The ambulance should be here in a minute."

"I'm a medical doctor. I'll see what I can do." Bernie took off his jacket and placed it on the grass before laying Kate's body on it. "She's alive," he said to Kate's mother who screamed and screamed, staying on her knees and digging into the earth around her with her long plastic nails.

"They all are breathing except for her." Bernie pointed at Morgan who was almost non-recognizable because of the shot in her face. He was holding a cell phone that was stained with blood in his hand.

An ambulance, fire truck, and three more police cars arrived.

"Strange. No cell phones in the truck or on the victims. Four girls in the car and no one had a cell phone?" said the detective with a tired face, joining Bernie who was standing aside, looking at a cell phone screen and waiting until the ambulance would leave, taking Kate, Jess and Vickie and Kate's mom to the ER.

"How did you know that their jeep was waiting for you here by the bridge?" the detective asked Bernie.

"They called us," Bernie said.

"Who else could have known that? It looks like a professional's work," the detective said, puffing cigarette smoke in Bernie's face. "Did you happen to run into a biker gang on your way here?"

"I don't know," Bernie said, "I found the phone. It fell on the ground from someone's pocket or something." He gave the cell phone to the detective. The detective threw the cigarette he was smoking on the road, pressing it with his shoe sole before he took the phone.

"Too clean to be from the jeep. Did you wipe off the blood?" he asked, scanning Bernie's face with his eyes the color of bleached jeans. "Do you know if they did drugs, doc?"

"Don't remember. Don't know. Why?" Bernie said.

"We found a broken container that appears to have been used to intravenously take some type of drug. One of the victims, the driver, looks like she's intoxicated. Do you have anything else you want to tell me?"

"I'll give you a call if I remember anything else," Bernie said.

Immediately after Bernie drove away he called someone from his car. "You said you wouldn't hurt anyone except for my patient Jess," Bernie said stiffly.

"It was dark. The guys probably got confused and overreacted," the man who Bernie was talking to replied.

"Your gorillas didn't even find their cell phone. The police know the girls called me, and that only Bridgette and I could know the place on the highway where they were waiting for us. Bridgette isn't a suspect, I guess."

"Did you find the phone? Who else did they talk to?" the man asked.

"The cop saw that I found it. I gave it to police. I saw the other number the girls were calling to and who called them back."

Bernie told the phone number with the area codes and continued, "I'll go the beach house. This nanodrug turned out to be extremely addictive. The bears apparently came back to get more hits of it. These bears are crazy addicts. I should take care of them before someone else finds out about them and the drug."

"We'll take care of other caller," said the man.

Bernie finished cleaning the mess made by Kate and her friends in the kitchen at his beach house when he heard a remote bear's roar. He glanced at his wrist watch, opened the safe that was hidden behind a wall rug, took out a rifle, loaded it and put night vision goggles in his shirt pocket. He filled plastic cooler with the ice cubes and put inside it a 500-ml glass container with the concentrated opalescent liquid. Bernie took the cooler, the rifle and his car keys and opened the door. At the same moment a young black bear jumped on him. Bernie shot the animal once before both of them fell down.

The cooler opened, and ice cubes scattered over the floor. The glass container broke into pieces, and the opalescent liquid splashed all over Bernie, the bear and the floor. The last thing Bernie saw before blood flooded his eyes was a blinding beam of a very bright red light and a beam of throbbing dark red light directed at his face. The terrible pain paralyzed his body for an instant and in a few moments everything was over for him when two bears - a boar and a female bear - tore his body apart. Bernie's blood mixed with the heavy opalescent liquid forming a viscous iridescent mixture. All night the bears licked the grease on the floor and the walls and lapped up the mixture, roaring, and in the morning they walked into bushes, leaving no visible bloody foot prints on the red deck floor and red stairs.