Page 57 of Trusted Instinct

Just like earlier in the day when Rou found Jeb, the howling “Come here!” bark went up.

Stepping around a massive rhododendron, Creed found a man, blood running down his head and soaking his white collar, sitting stupefied on the ground.

“Good girl, Rou,” Creed said, approaching softly.

The problem was immediately apparent. The man had stepped into a trap. “Rou, wait.” Creed took off his pack and laid it at his feet. Then he picked up a sturdy stick to probe the area and make sure that there weren’t more traps that might cause harm.

It looked horrific as the teeth bit through the man’s dress pants, now wet with blood.

“I’m Creed with Iniquus, here to help. You’ve already met my pup, Rou. I’m trained in first aid. Do I have permission to help?” He pulled out his first aid kit and pulled on gloves.

No response.

Creed began his mental orientation questions. “What’s your name?” he asked as he pulled out his wound dressing supplies.

The man stared off as if he couldn’t hear. His grandmother said she didn’t know of any disabilities or health concerns.

“Do you know where you are?” Creed draped the sterile cloth over the wound.

“Can you tell me what day it is?”

Not a blink. Not a flutter.

“What happened to you?” as Creed wrapped Parker’s head with gauze bandaging, he hoped to provide enough pressure on the wound that he could free up his hands for other tasks.

Not ideal.

Creed was recalling the time his family went inland to hunt deer to stock up the freezer with sausage meat. One of the boys from the farm stepped into a rusty trap just like this one. It was the first and only one Creed had ever seen. He’d known since he was a boy how to set out a snare made out of wire and sticks tocatch rabbits, and other small critters to add to the stew pot, but that damned thing had been terrifying with its rusted jaws and sharp teeth.

When it snapped, his cousin’s howl was otherworldly.

He looked the trap over and couldn’t see the mechanism for release.

It clapped shut, he reasoned, so it couldn’t be rusted to the point where he couldn’t get it back open.

His first instinct was to grab hold and wrench it open.

The last thing he wanted to do was more damage.

Rou had squirmed into the man’s lap, and then Parker, much to Creed’s surprise, pulled Rou tight to his chest.

Rou seemed fine with that.

Creed pulled his phone from his thigh pocket and called Mandy. “Creed here. I’ve located the missing subject, Parker. Parker is conscious and oriented zero out of four.”

“Is he ambulatory?” Mandy asked.

“Right now,” Creed said, taking a knee to inspect the device, “his foot is caught in what looks like an old-timey bear trap.”

“Creed, repeat last,” Mandy said after a pause, “did you say the vehicle crash victim has stepped in a bear trap?”

“Yes, ma’am. This one has to be from back around the nineteen hundreds or so because it has teeth. Big ones. I’ve seen a modern trap opened. I need instructions on how to proceed. I don’t want to make any mistakes on this one and have it clamp down on him, causing further damage. I’m opening my video so you can see for yourself.”

Creed held his phone out, moving it slowly back and forth.

“Creed, standby, let me see if anyone has expertise. I’m not equipped to support this particular situation.”

“That’s you and me both,” Creed said under his breath.