This is a continuation of the first MBV with the characters that survived. People that are left include:

Mayor William Hanniger

Sarah

TJ Hanniger

Patti O’Connell

Tommy Whitcomb

Gretchen

Chief Jake Newby

John

Axel Palmer

Harry Warden

My Bloody Valentine 2

A Novel By Robert Long II

©2013/2025 all rights reserved. No part of this story can be published or distributed without the expressed permission of the author.

Axel Palmer held on to the bleeding stump where his forearm used to be. Hysterically he giggled as he looked back at the small opening where the rock slide in the mine had been. The dust was settling and the light shone in filtered beams. He knew who was on the other side. How he hated the people of the town. How he hated Sarah. How he wanted to kill the Hanniger family most of all.

“Sarah, be my bloody valentine…” Axel gasped, “Daddy’s gone away. Harry Warden made you pay…” at that he laughed as he stumbled into the darkness of the mine tunnel. The shock from the joint of his missing arm was starting to wear off and he winced at the pain. “Harry! Harry where are you?” Axel rasped.

Ahead a helmet light winked on. Shining it in Axel’s face, the light got closer. The heavy respirator breathing could be heard as the crunching of pebbles under work boots told of the advancement of Harry Warden. Axel shone his own light down the corridor; it afforded his a faint smile through his pain. There was the formidable figure of the ex-miner coming towards him, his bloody pickaxe swinging at his side. He stopped and looked at the injured Axel. Warden took the left sleeve of Palmer’s bloody coveralls and tied it tightly around the wound. The black, beetle-like mask looked directly into Axel’s face. “Go to pump room 12. I’ll get some help.” Harry said through his respirator. Axel nodded weakly.

TJ held Sarah close as they walked back out into the main rail car tunnel. The night had been hell on both of them and the loss they had endured was starting to sink in. Sarah cried softly into his chest. Mayor Hanniger and Chief Newby came out into the main tunnel area. Workers and emergency volunteers continued to pass them as they made their way down the shaft.

“I’ll want statements from both of you in the morning.” Newby said in a gruff, fatherly voice. “Right now I want the two of you to go topside and get checked out by the paramedics. If you’re all right I want you both to get your butts home.” He looked directly at TJ. “No arguments, understand me?” TJ nodded wordlessly.

Bill Hanniger put his arm on his son’s shoulder “Come on son, I’ll walk you both up to the entrance.” He looked back at the Chief. “Are you going to be okay?” Newby looked haggard, the weight of the responsibility hung on him like a shroud. “Yeah,” he replied, “I’d better get down there and  -” He looked at TJ and Sarah before he continued, ” –and see what I can do.”

Sarah looked at Chief Newby through tear-filled eyes. “Do you think they’ll be able to find Axel – alive?” Newbey looked at his shoes and then up at her. “I don’t know Sarah. By now he’s lost a lot of blood and these tunnels are caked in dust. We’ll find him, I just don’t know if what state. Excuse me.” He turned to make his way down along with the other men. The mayor maneuvered the two young people in the other direction and they slowly made their way toward the top.

Three dozen men – paramedics, firemen, fellow miners – were at the rail car stop station at the bottom of the tunnel. With experienced miners leading the way, the men broke off into groups and started searching the shafts for bodies – or survivors. Among them was paramedic Carl Bennett. A big, bluff man of 32, he and his shift partner had been the ones that had to deal with the dried up corpse of Mabel Osbourne just the previous day. Because of his work he was used to many grisly sights, but Mabel’s took the cake. The thought of her corpse spinning in a laundry dryer dropped his stomach like lead.

He stopped and took off his glasses to wipe the dust off of them. “C’mon boy, get yer shit together. It’s gonna be a long night.” He told himself. Adjusting his specs back onto his face, he realized that everyone else was disappearing in the distance. “Fuck, better start hauling ass. Don’t want to get lost down here.” He grabbed for his medical kit. Suddenly a black gloved hand came from behind him and clapped across his mouth. Shocked and unable to scream, the last thing Bennett remembered was being yanked backwards into a dark side tunnel.

Out of the engine room, workers and paramedics carried out the remains of Mike and Harriet. The sheets pulled over the bodies were blood-soaked. Chief Newby pulled aside the blankets and looked at the carnage with grief. Why hadn’t the kids listened to him? Should he have told them all that a killer was back in town? The doubts in his mind and the guilt that he felt hit… and hit hard. “Take them up top.” was all he could say.

He called one of his deputies over the walkie-talkie. ” How’s the clearing of that debris going? Any sign of Axel Palmer?” He released the button for the response. “We got a hole big enough to crawl through but we haven’t seen any sign of him. Matthews is looking at the tunnel plans to see where it intersects.” came the voice from the other side.

“Well you guys be careful and don’t take any undo chances. Palmer is severely injured and it goes without saying – extremely dangerous. Report back to me in 10. Over and out.” The Chief looked at the radio and shuddered. It was going to be a long night – and it had just started. Palmer could be anywhere – the tunnels ran for miles and were full of nooks and crannies like a maze. Inwardly he hoped – he prayed that when they came across Axel, that he would be dead from the loss of blood; because if he wasn’t…

Carl Bennett was not having a good night. His head throbbed from where he had been hit and it hurt to open his eyes; a helmet light was shining directly into his face. Lying on the cement floor, he was having trouble breathing. That tends to happen when there is the blade of a pickaxe being held against the windpipe.

“He’s awake.” Came a raspy voice. The pickaxe moved away from Carl’s throat and two gloved hands pulled the paramedic to his feet. Shaking his head, Bennett could see that he was in a dimly lit room full of water pumps and gages. There was also a small table, a refrigerator, and a cot. On the table was Carl’s medical kit. Lying on the cot was the prone figure of Axel Palmer. Sweat beaded on Palmer’s face as he shook with spasms.

Carl looked up into the masked face of Harry Warden. 20 years had not taken any of the strength away from the miner’s powerful, hulking frame. He gripped the medic tightly by his shirt collar and pressed the respirator mask into the terrified man’s face. “Here’s the deal,” Warden’s filtered voice was low and clear, “He’s losing blood and needs to be sewn up. You fix him up – you live. You don’t, you die.” With that Warden released Carl. The paramedic bit his lip and moved over to his medical kit. The clasps on the latches sprung open. Behind him, the miner stood with his pickaxe in hand, breathing heavily…

Up on the surface, a medic was checking out TJ Hanniger at the back door of the ambulance. Sarah had a blanket draped around her shoulders and the Mayor paced back and forth, nervously chewing on his unlit cigar. “A couple cuts and bruises, but I don’t think you’ll need stitches.” the paramedic stated, “Doesn’t appear to be a concussion but you’d better take it easy the next couple of days.” He looked up at Mayor Hanniger and smiled. “I think they are both alright to take home.”

“Thank God for that!” the mayor exhaled in relief,” “C’mon son. I’ll take you both home in my truck. We can come back for your car tomorrow.” The three got up to make their way across the crowded parking lot, when the emergency vehicle’s radio crackled on. “043. Calling 043. Martin radioing in. Are you there, Parker? Over.”

Parker grabbed the radio and spoke into it. “Parker here. What’s the word Martin?”

“Four dead and coming up your way. Better radio the coroner and the meat wagon. One found alive. Female, brunette approximately 24 years of age. Puncture wound apparently made with a pickaxe went through the front of her abdomen and exited at the lower base of her spine. Vitals are weak. Need your immediate assistance and bring the stabilization unit with you. Over.” Martin replied.

“Patti!” Sarah shrieked, “Patti’s alive?” She ran back over to Parker and grabbed his arm. “Please tell me she’s alive!?!!” Tears flowed from her eyes.

Parker spoke into the mic, “Copy that. I’m coming down now. Over and out!” He looked over at Sarah, “I have to go Ms. We’ll do everything we can for her. Excuse me.” With that he pulled away and started grabbing for a couple of metal cases from the vehicle. Hefting one in each hand, he ran towards the mine’s main entrance. Sarah started to run after him when TJ grabbed her from behind.

“Sarah! Sarah honey! They’ll do whatever they can to save her.” TJ held her close to his chest, “There’s nothing more we can do and we’d probably just get in the way. Let’s go home.” Sarah looked one last time at the medic disappearing into the mine entrance. Trembling, she looked back into TJ’s face and gave a silent nod.

TJ Hanniger spotted Ben, the police deputy arriving with a few more men. “I’ll be right back dad.” With that, TJ hustled over to the policeman and the other emergency volunteers climbing out of the squad car. “Ben! Can I talk to you a minute?”

The officer turned to see TJ approaching him. Being the mayor’s son, everyone in town knew or knew of the younger Hanniger. “What’s on your mind, TJ? I have to organize the search up here while the Chief is down below in the mine.”

“Uh, I have some news for you then. I didn’t get a chance to tell Newby, but I think Dave McAllister’s body is in the kitchen of the rec room, and I think Sylvia Hill’s is somewhere in the shower or changing room. I don’t know. I just didn’t want their bodies to go unnoticed during the search.” Hanniger choked on the words as he looked down at the ground.

“Ok, ok thanks TJ. We’ll locate them and make sure that the coroner gets them out of here” Ben said. He sighed, knowing that the search and the clean up were going to go on for hours. “You’d better get on home. We’ll call you tomorrow.” He looked at his watch; it read 12:32AM. “Thank God at least Valentines Day is over.”

TJ looked up at him and gave a faint smile. “Thanks Ben.” With that he turned and headed back to Sarah and his father, waiting by the truck.

Down below in pump room 12 Carl Bennett toiled over the blunted arm of Axel Palmer. He had given the young man some pain killers, and at the moment was working feverishly to seal the stump where Palmer’s left forearm used to be. Harry Warden watched the procedure from a darkened corner of the room. Occasionally the killer miner would spin his pickaxe between his gloved hands. Harry’s respirator breathing and Axel’s groans of pain were the only sounds heard in the tiny room.

Carl exhaled heavily as he looked down at the bandaged arm. “Okay, he’s as patched up as I can get him. Now, if you get him to a hospi-” the words were cut off as a heavy blow hit Bennett in the back of the skull. He groaned, his body toppling over, laying still on the dirty cement floor. Harry Warden stood up erect over the body and looked over at Axel. “Palmer, this is what we’re going to do…”

Hours passed by and Chief Newby was discouraged and tired. The bodies were taken out of the mines, but there was no sign of Axel Palmer. Other victims had been found in the various surface structures, including the body of Happy the bartender. The Chief thought of that and shuddered. A violent evening; one that he would never forget.

He checked his watch: it read 4:00AM. Other regional troopers were on hand and would have to take over. Jake had been on overdrive since the discovery of the first Valentine boxed heart, and his nerves were about raw. Some sleep would help. Looking up, he saw a group of volunteers heading for the main tunnel to head back up to the mine’s main entrance. He spotted someone he wanted to talk to – “Prody” Harris – the owner of the ESSO gas station down the block from the police station. He caught Harris’ attention and motioned him over. “Somethin’ I can do fer ya, Chief?” said the burly man.

Newby looked at him and smiled. “Yeah, I need a favor Prody. Did you bring your car or tow truck when you came out?”

“Well I brought the wrecker of course, Chief. What’s the problem? Your jeep break down again?” Harris chuckled, “I told you to get that fuel pump replaced!”

Jake shook his head. “No, I want you to tow Axel Palmer’s truck to your garage. I’ll impound it tomorrow.”

“He owns that hopped up pickup truck in the parking lot, right? He came in for a fan belt job with it ’bout a week ago.” Harris grinned at the Chief,” You wanna make sure he has no wheels, eh? No way to git out!”

Newby wearily looked over at the mechanic. “Just do it for me, will you Harris? I’ll come by for it tomorrow.”

“Sure thing, Chief. I know it’s been a tough night. See ya in the afternoon.” The Chief merely nodded as Prody joined the rest of the men exiting the mine. Damned if Newby didn’t want a smoke right now, but it was too dangerous down in the mine. The tunnels felt suffocating and Jake wanted to head back topside soon.

Prody had reached the top of the mine entrance and headed towards the lot, breaking off from the other volunteers. Getting into his battered Chevy wrecker, he backed it up til it was just in front of Palmer’s truck. Leaving the cab, he went to the back end of his vehicle and started to uncouple the tow chains. “Too damn cold and too damn late to be doing this shit tonight.” He muttered under his breath.

A sound of a car door hinge opening startled him. Harris looked up and around; there was no one in sight. In the distance people were coming and going through the front gate. The buildings stood a silent, dirty blue against the night sky. “Fuck… I hate this place…” Harris mumbled to himself as he got down on his knees to attach the chains to Axel’s rig.

CLINK! The tow chains snapped into place, and Harris started the crank to pull them taught. BaDUMPPH! He whirled around to see that the pickup truck was shaking slightly. Prody looked at the windows of the cab, but could not see anything stirring from inside it. Slowly he approached the driver’s side door. Grabbing the handle, Harris pushed in the button and swung the door wide open.

No one was inside the cab.

Shrugging, he fumbled through his master keys and stuck the correct one in the ignition. With a quarter turn and a pull on the stick shift, the truck was in neutral. Harris slammed the door shut and got into the cab of his wrecker. His foot on the accelerator he slowly drove both vehicles towards the main entrance.

“Tell the Chief I’ll talk to him tomorrow!” Prody yelled out the window to the officer at the gate. With that he waved and turned to the right, leading him back towards Valentines Bluffs. As the wrecker picked up speed, there was a commotion in the bed of Axel’s pickup truck. Something under the packing blankets started to stir…

Chapter 2

Sunday February 15th found Jake Newby back in his office. The wall clock read just a few minutes to 2:00PM. He looked down at his desk and let out a sigh; the amount of paperwork last night had generated was going to take him weeks to get through. He’d have to hire a temporary secretary to help him keep things in order and stay focused.

Knuckles rapped on the outside of his door. “Come in.” he said. Looking up he saw Bill Hanniger and his son step inside. “Thanks for coming by, Mayor. You too, TJ. How’s Sarah holding up?”

TJ took a chair next to his father’s and sat down. His eyes were bloodshot. “She’s doing okay. We dropped her off at County Emergency today. She wanted to see how Patti was.”

Newby looked down, passing his hand across his forehead. “God I hope she pulls through.” he looked up at the Mayor,”You know Bill, after this mess I’ll be lucky if I still have a job giving out parking tickets.”

The Mayor lit up the stub of his cigar. “It isn’t your fault, Jake. You did the best you could to protect our townsfolk from the Valentines Day wrath of Harry Warden. How could we know we were chasing shadows? That it was Axel Palmer all along? I’m just of guilty of any blame as you are.”

“Not as much to blame as I am,” added TJ, “If I had heeded the Chief’s warning and not thrown the party, Mike, Harriet, Howard, Sylvia, Dave, and Hollis would still be alive…” TJ’s voice trailed off and all three of the men sat in silence. Only the ticking of the clock permeated the room.

BOOM!!! A thunderous metallic thud came from outside the building. Newby jumped to his feet and sped out the door, his pistol drawn; the Mayor and TJ followed closely behind. Jake flattened himself against the exterior of the police station, and motioned the others to do so as well. The Chief approached the side of the building, his gun poised for action. The sound of metal on metal came from around the bend. With an intake of breath, Newby spun around the corner.

“FREEZE!” he shouted.

20 feet away from him in the parking lot, Prody Harris turned to face the Chief with a look of bewildered confusion. In one hand he held a carrot stick, and the other was unbuckling the tow chains from between the wrecker and Axel’s truck.

“Prody Harris what the hell do you think you’re doing?” Newby barked.

“Sorry if I startled you, Chief. I need the wrecker for another job so I came by to drop off Palmer’s truck” Harris said sheepishly, taking a bite of the carrot.

Newby exhaled and re-holstered his gun. “Sorry Harris, I guess I’m still a little on edge. Just leave it there and bill me for the tow.”

“Don’t worry about that, Chief. You have enough on your hands. This one’s on the house.” Prody said as he started to uncouple the chains. Jake turned and went back inside the building, the two Hannigers following him close behind. Re-entering his office, all three sat down around his desk.

The Chief pulled out a blank report and grabbed a pen. “TJ, I want to get an account of what happened this week, and the times that Axel was with the rest of you.” Just then his office phone rang; he picked up the receiver.” Valentines Bluff’s Police Department. Chief Newby speaking.” Jake’s face fell as he listened to the person on the other end of the line. “Oh my God…”

Meanwhile Sarah paced back and forth in the hospital hallway. She twisted her scarf in her hands nervously. Finally a doctor approached her, clipboard in hand. She gave a tired smile to Sarah. “Sorry to keep you waiting Ms. Your friend is out of surgery and we have moved her to intensive care. Her family is looking in on her right now.”

Sarah sobbed with relief – Patty was alive. “Doctor, when can I see her?”

“You can’t go in tonight.” the Doctor said “She is unconscious and only her family is allowed to see her.” She smiled at Sarah. “Give her a couple days to start healing and you can come back to visit, okay?”

“You’re right, I’m just not thinking straight.”  Sarah remarked. “Would Tuesday be okay?

“Tuesday should be fine.” The Doctor glanced at her watch. “I have to go, but I’ll see you in a few days.” With that she turned and walked towards the offices. Sarah brushed away a tear. Looking back once more towards Patti’s room, she turned and exited the hospital.

Chief Newby hung up his phone and stared off into space; he was visibly shaken. Across from him TJ and Mayor Hanniger looked at him apprehensively. A minute – two minutes went by while no one spoke. Finally the mayor cleared his throat and looked at the police officer.

 “What is it Jake?” He inquired.

 The Chief sighed, and looked at the both of them. “I just got a report from the troopers out at the mine. They just found the body of a young woman. Her chest cavity had been ripped open and her heart taken out. No positive identification on her yet.”

TJ just looked out of the window, his face full of blank grief. His father held his head in his hands and groaned.

“There’s more,” Newby said, “They also found a paramedic unconscious in one of the side tunnels. Looks like he had been struck on the back of the head. He seems to be in a coma. The strangest thing of the matter is that his jacket and his medical gear was no where to be found. Someone had removed them.”

TJ looked over at Newby and stared him in the eye. “What do you think happened, Chief?”

Jake met TJ’s gaze. “It looks to me,” he said “that Axel may have gotten away last night dressed as a medic.” Chief Newby grabbed his pipe from it’s rack. Tamping down fresh tobacco, his put it to his mouth and lit it. “If that’s the case, my gut feeling is that he had help.”

Harry Warden walked into the guest bedroom of his house. Axel Palmer laid there on the spare bed. He opened his eyes and watched the miner go over to the corner dresser.

“What are you doing, Harry?” he rasped weakly.

“Getting a belated Valentine ready for delivery, Palmer.” Warden clicked open the snaps on the stolen medical kit and opened the lid. He proceeded to empty it of its contents. The miner pulled the top drawer of the dresser open and grabbed a cellophane-wrapped heart shape box out. He laid this in the bottom of the medical kit. “How’s the arm doing?”

Axel groaned, “Hurts like a motherfucker, Harry. Are there any pain killers over there?” The miner looked over the various plastic amber bottles. He found the right one and popped a couple of pills out. Walking over, he dropped them into Axel’s right hand.

“That should help you.” He turned and left the room for a few minutes. Axel took the pills with water and laid back for the meds to take effect. A moment later Warden returned to the room, carefully holding an opaque brown glass jug. He gingerly put this in the case with the candy. Going to the closet, he grabbed his respirator mask and a white lab coat. He smiled as he looked at the last item, “I escaped the loony bin with the help of this.” he chuckled. Throwing in a Valentine card and a pen, he closed the lid to the kit and locked the clasps. “Someone isn’t going to like this box of candy.”

Tuesday morning started off with overcast skies. Sarah pulled her car up to the hospital parking lot and entered the front entrance of the main building. She walked up to the sign in desk and smiled at the woman on duty. “Hi, I’d like to visit Patricia O’Connell? He doctor told me it would be alright to come by to see her today.”

“Let me see…” the woman said as she smiled back at Sarah. Looking over the wall of clipboards behind her desk, she picked up Patti’s chart and looked it over. “She’s still very weak and suffered severe spinal trauma. Her doctor has her under heavy sedation-“

“Please?” Sarah spoke, her eyebrows arched upward in hope. Two minutes later Sarah found herself seated next to Patti’s hospital bed. She looked around the private room at all the life-support equipment set up and running, pinging and beeping left and right as little readouts registered the injured woman’s progress. It felt so cold to Sarah – all this machinery. Patti herself was extremely pale and out of it, her glassy eyes fluttering open from time to time.

Sarah gently and silently held her friend’s hand as the doctor and nurse took notes. Behind them an orderly dropped off a medical supply case on a side table. “Please Ms., only a few more minutes of visiting. It’s time for Ms. O’Connell to get some sleep.” The nurse said.

“Okay, but do I have time to go down to the gift shop and get some flowers? I think it would be nice if Patti woke up to something cheery.”  Sarah spoke to the two staff members.

“Sure,” said the doctor, “I can’t see why not. Time for us to check on the next patient, nurse.” With that the two of them left the room.

Sarah turned back to Patti and smile. “I’ll be right back. I’m just going to pick up something for you to look at other than a room full of plastic and metal.” With that she gave Patti’s hand a gentle squeeze and exited the room.

Patti’s eye’s opened slightly and she caught a fleeting glance of Sarah leaving the room. Tired. She was so tired. Everything seemed to bend and distort out of shape in her vision. The hum of the machinery working echoed in her eardrums.

She heard what sounded like a door opening. Patti tried hard to focus on where the sound was coming from. Maybe Sarah had returned? It had seemed like she had just left. No, through the drugged haze on her mind, Patti saw that the bathroom door of her room was slowly opening. Someone stepped into view. It was a man; it looked like one of the hospital orderlies. What was he doing in her restroom?

The man turned his back to Patti and started to fumble with something on the side table. Everything was a swirl in her mind – she could not concentrate. The doctor had administered a sleeping agent and it was starting to take effect. She fought hard to stay alert; she wanted to be awake in case Sarah came back. Her mind drifted… Patti’s eye’s snapped wide open. The person in her room had turned to face her; on his face he wore a mask.

A miner’s respirator mask.

The readouts on the machinery around Patti began to quicken as her pulse raced. This had to be the medicines she was on. This had to be a nightmare. Harry Warden couldn’t be in there with her. “Wake up dammit, wake up!” she screamed to herself. 

The miner reached into the medical case and put on some heavy leather gloves from within. He held the box of wrapped box of Valentine candy in full view of Patti and roughly tore the cellophane off, letting it flutter to the tiled floor. 

“Please wake up, please! This isn’t happening!” The breathing tube prevented Patti from being able to scream, let alone talk. She couldn’t even move. Tears formed as she fought to purge the image in front of her from her mind.

But it wouldn’t go away. The miner was still there. Breathing. Breathing and coming closer with the box of candy. He lifted the lid off and placed the open box of chocolates on her chest. Patti had trouble catching her breath. The weight of the box lying there, touching her told her she was awake, and that this was no dream. She frantically looked around, hoping someone – anyone – would wake her from this madness. Tears flowed down her cheeks.

The hulking form of Harry Warden stood above her, looking down into her eyes. The respirator mask looked like the face of an angry wasp, coming in for the kill. In his hands was a brown glass bottle. He proceeded to unscrew the cap of it. Instantly a toxic, biting smell came forth from it. 

With one hand Harry ripped the breathing tube off off Patti’s face. It had left her mouth and throat bone dry and she could not speak. She could only look on in wordless horror as the miner gingerly tipped the bottle forward. Little by little its contents splashed onto the candy, hissing and spitting as it burned and melted through the chocolates. The sickening smell of sugar and acid collided and filled the room.

The machines hooked up to Patti raced with her ever-increasing heart rate. Warden emptied out the last of the liquid into the candy box and walked away from the bed. Vapor curls came up from the burning paper-covered sweets. Patti’s eye’s stung from the toxic chemicals as she cried inwardly, praying someone would come in and stop this madness.

Warden turned around and took off the gas mask. With his back to her, he stuffed it into the medic case, along with the now-empty acid bottle. He pulled out the Valentine card, and wrote something on it. Placing it on the dresser, Warden went back to the medic kit. Clasping it shut, he grabbed it and exited the room, closing the door behind him.

All that could be heard was the sound of the medical equipment beeping as Patti’s vitals raced into overdrive. Tears spilled from her clenched eyelids down her face.

Chapter 3

“I’ll take that bouquet of flowers.” Sarah said as she pointed at the selection in the hospital’s gift shop. The middle-aged counter clerk smiled, turned and grabbed the arrangement from the display.

“These are lovely,” the clerk said, looking at the wide variety of flowers. “They must be for someone very special.”

Sara smiled back, as she searched for her wallet from her purse. “They are. My friend needs all the love she can get right now.” Sarah’s fingertips finally found her wallet. “”There you are–“

“Doctor Lambert, report to the ER immediately! I repeat, report to ER, room 2B immediately!”

The blared announcement from the overhead speaker startled Sarah.  Her face went chalk white. “2B is Patti’s room!” she gasped. Without a word, Sarah fled the gift shop and started running down the hall. She was barely aware that other medical personnel were heading in the same direction.

“Clack… clack… clack, clack, clack-clack-clack-” the sound of her leather boots dashing down the tiled corridor was the only thing Sarah heard in her ears. “Oh God, Patti! Please be okay!” She sobbed.  

The young blonde woman barreled through the double doors of the emergency room station.  Turning the corner, Sarah stopped in her tracks. There was a pungent haze billowing from room 2B. It stung the eyes like an attack of war grade tear gas.  Stumbling back, Sarah could see several goggled and masked staff members rushing back and forth through the entrance, with doctors barking orders. “Get her out of here and stabilized across the hall! Crenshaw, get some men to stand watch over her. Somebody get the sheriff here damn quick!”

Patti had been transferred to a medical gurney, with several staff carrying her IVs as she was wheeled out the door. The group quickly disappeared across the corridor and into a room several doors down. Nurses and doctors talked over each other as the new room was readied. The ER wing of the hospital had turned into complete bedlam. 

Sarah stumbled backward through the entrance to the ER. Partially to get away from the acidic atmosphere, but also to get away from the whole scene. Her body convulsed as she slid down the wall onto the floor, bringing her knees up to her face. Her arms cocooned her body as she sat there sobbing uncontrollably.

“Blast it!” Harry Warden slammed the medical case onto his kitchen table. The noise brought about a croaked inquiry from the guest bedroom.

“Harry, what is it? What happened?” Axel struggled weakly to sit up in his bed. Warden entered the doorway, punching the side of his fist into the doorframe. 

“Alarms went off as I was leaving the hospital. Medics were rushing towards the ER. There’s a chance they may have gotten to her in time.” Warden said through clenched teeth. The news caused Palmer to sit upright in his bed, only to collapse completely back into it from the exertion. “No… dammit no… they all must pay…” he groaned, closing his eyes as his thoughts swam.

“Yeah, well you better bet yer ass they’ll be on high alert for me and you from now on.” Harry said as he approached the semi-conscious young man. “ We’re going to have to lie low for a while. Especially until you get your strength back, and get back on your feet.”

“Nooooo…” Palmer sputtered, in pain. Harry leaned in close to his face. “Listen Palmer, I did some thinking on the way back here. I’ve got a plan, but it’s going to take some time. I’ll tell you about it once you’ve calmed down.”  

Chief Newby was beside himself with swallowed rage. He and his officer Ben had arrived at the scene of the emergency room mayhem. The air smelled liked citric puke.  Room 2B had been completely emptied and sealed off.  “What the hell happened here?” Doctor Robert Lambert, head of the ER, quickly came up to the law officer. “ Someone apparently made an attempt on Patricia O’Connell’s life, Chief. “

“Blast it all!” Newby bellowed, clenching his fists. “This was far from over,” he thought to himself. “Did anyone see who it was? When did this happen?” he asked Lambert. “No more that 15 to 20 minutes ago. That’s when the life support systems alerted us. We rushed in and had to take immediate steps to save her. I’m not sure if anyone saw who did it. I didn’t.” replied the doctor.

Jake worked hard to regain his cool and composure. Taking a couple heavy breaths, he finally spotted a familiar figure huddled on the floor, sobbing. “Sarah!” Newby barked, lifting her off the floor, “Listen to me carefully, Sarah. I want you to go straight home to your mother’s, and lock your door. Don’t let anyone in unless it’s me, one of my boys, or the Hannigers. Understand?” Sarah barely nodded. She was in shock. “Ben, get someone to take her home. And get someone to patrol her house on the hour!”

“On it, Chief!” Ben said, as he walked Sarah towards other officers. Newby made his way back towards Lambert. The doctor pointed the lawman over to gurney where something was on a glass tray.  It was the destroyed box of chocolate. The smell from the burned paper and melted candy left a sickeningly sweet stench in the air. “We got to Ms. O’Connell just in time. The acid had just eaten through the bottom of the box.”

A Hazmat clad figure came up to Newby and the doctor. He handed something to Jake. “We found this lying on the dresser in the room, Chief.”

It was a Valentines card. 

Frantically opening it, Jake read it aloud, “ No one escapes my revenge. No one. H.W.” Newby stepped back and looked towards the ceiling. “Oh my God…” Newby turned pale, his palms damp from sweat. “Alex couldn’t have possibly have done this.” He looked at the initials – H.W. “It can’t be Harry. It can’t be. He’s dead!”

Chapter 4

The funeral services were held en masse over the following weekend. The sky was an overcast of steel grey. All of the small motels were booked solid with friends and family members of those that had suffered the wrath of Axel Palmer. Valentines Bluffs was literally closed in a unified show of mourning. The services themselves were being spaced out over the two days, so that every family had a respectful amount of time to grieve at the gravesite. There hadn’t been a catastrophe of this scale since… the cave in of 1961.

Prody Harris parked his beat up yellow Datsun at the side of the service path. Hair combed, face shaved, and wearing his best clothes, he sauntered quietly up to the gathering of townsfolk. The Hannigers were there, as well as most of the population. Spotting Chief Newby, he sidled up to one side of him. “Geez, what a nightmare, Chief.” he uttered in a low tone, “looks like the whole town showed up.” 

Newby gave him a brief side glance. “A nightmare I want to wake up from,” he sighed. Jake was working on zero energy. Coffee and tobacco had been his constant diet for the last week. It was taking its toll. He looked haggard. Nothing new had surfaced on Axel Palmer, or the attack that had happened at the county hospital. It’s as if he had been swallowed up by the earth itself.

“Sorry I can’t stay, but I’ve gotta pick up some parts, and meet up with family,” Harris said, “Just wanted to quickly pay my respects.” Newby gave a slight nod. Prody stayed a few moments longer, then silently left back towards his car. Jake looked at all the sadness that blanketed the people of Valentines Bluffs. It would take decades before people could dare to forget.