Heckel Casey (32 page)

Jerky followed close on my heels. Jack was on my right. He had the look of a crazed lunatic. "You all right?" I whispered.

"I will be. I just hope she's still alive."

I didn't reply. My insides were slowly churning with fear. "Calm down. Everything's fine," I muttered to myself, trying to boost my confidence. As we got closer to the flickering light from an enormous bonfire, I heard hollering. Jack and I inched our way to a cottonwood tree that had a few large bushes surrounding it. We looked out at about fifty people standing around the fire.

"Do you see her?" Jack whispered.

My eyes swept the crowd of people. "No. Let's…wait a minute. Is that her way over on the other side of the—"

"Yes, I see her," Jack said as he started to walk out into the crowd.

I grabbed his arm and motioned for him to stop.

"Stay close to me. We'll hang in the shadows and make our way around to her."

As we got closer to Missy, I started listening to what the leader was blabbering as he pranced around the bonfire.

"Our sacrifice to our goddess will be looked upon favorably."

The crowd roared with favor and Jack quickened his pace.

"Our goddess will bring back prosperity to us and restore our world. There is only one way to bring back what we have lost and that is to embrace our goddess, Madeline. She has promised us a rebirth. She has promised us riches."

The name, Madeline, made me stop in my tracks and shiver, causing all the hairs on my neck to stand erect.
So, now there are cults worshipping Madeline. Great! That's not going to be good.

We finally made our way close to where they had Missy bound and gagged. Before we approached her, I whispered to Jack, "We grab her, sneak away and then run like hell."

He gave me the thumbs-up.

We inched our way to come up behind Missy. I whispered in her ear to stay calm. I cut the rope and she spun around and started to sneak away with us.

"Stop!" a voice commanded.

"Oh shit," I said.

"Do something," Jack barked.

"We'll be leaving now," I shouted back.

Just as we took off running, three large mountain lions appeared in front of us.

"What the…" Jack shouted.

"I think they're with us," I yelled back. "At least, I hope so." We ran and the trio of large cats attacked the few men who were closest to us, allowing us some distance. Some of the other men chasing us turned around and fled at the sight of the mammoth cats.

We got to the horses. Jack threw Missy up on the back of his horse and sped off. As I mounted Hope, I looked back to see the large mountain lions fending off several men.

Suddenly a large crack from a rifle ruptured the shouting and quelled the yelling from the cult mob. I looked ahead to see Jack slump.

"Heckel, I think my dad has been hit!"

"Keep going," I yelled to her as I raced ahead. "The more distance between us and that mob, the better."

Slowly, the angry taunts as well as the random rifle shots diminished as we left the cult behind. After about a half hour, I told Missy to stop. I reached up to take Jack down from the horse.

"Is he all right?" Missy asked, jumping down.

"I don't know. He's lost a lot of blood."

I set Jack on the ground and felt for a pulse. It was weak.

Missy screamed when she saw the three bloodstained mountain lions walk into the clearing.

"It's okay. They won't hurt you," I said as I checked Jack over. There was a big hole in the middle of Jack's back, close to his spine.
Hell, the damn bullet is dangerously close to his heart or his spine. What the hell do I do now?

"Take it out," I heard Missy say as she stood looking down at her father. "You have to try. You have to save him. We can't lose him. Please."

I felt like I was in shock. My insides were shaking.

"Please, hurry before it's too late."

Suddenly, I felt like someone slapped me in the face. I was sure it was Sela giving me her usual pep talk and my head was as clear as a cloudless sky. I dictated a list of things for Missy to do. The mountain lions studied us as if they knew what their job was. All three cats paced around a perimeter keeping guard.

After we made a good-sized fire, I set my old boy scout knife on a rock to sterilize it. I pulled off my T-shirt and handed it to Missy. "Rip this up into small bandages."

She eagerly complied.

"I wish we had some water," I said softly as I cleaned the area around the wound.

"Wait," Missy said grabbing a handful of wanna-be bandages and running off into the surrounding dark. One of the mountain lions followed her. She came back a few minutes later with wet bandages.

"I remembered there was a small brook over there when we rode into this clearing," she said out of breath.

"Excellent," I said as I picked up the glowing knife. I used one of the wet bandages to wipe the blade. "Okay, you try to soak up the blood as much as possible. We are going in fast and get that bullet. Ready?" Missy nodded her head and had a determined look on her face.

For some odd reason or feeling, I knew exactly what to do. It felt as if the world's finest surgeon was expertly guiding my hand.

"I feel the bullet. I…think…I can pry it out. No, wait a minute." The hole was big enough for me to reach in and grab the slug. "There! I got it," I said, holding up the offensive near-fatal projectile.

Missy had an enormous smile of relief on her face and released a huge breath of tension. She took one of the bandages and applied pressure on the wound. I wiped off the bullet and put it in my pocket, thinking that Jack might like it as a souvenir.

"Missy, you need to go back to camp and bring a cart to transport your Dad. We need to get him back so we can better clean that wound. Hurry. I don't know if those people are still looking for us or not. At any rate—"

"What happened?" Jack mumbled softly.

"Daddy!" Missy said loudly, leaning down to kiss his cheek.

"Don't move, Jack. You've been hit," I said.

"Holy shit, you got that right," Jack said, drifting in and out of consciousness.

"Go now, Missy, and hurry. Bring one of the doctors with you."

Missy got on Jack's horse and rode off. One of the mountain lions raced after her. The other two continued to circle the campfire.

"Thanks," I whispered as I flashed a smile at the two big cats.

Jack's pulse was improving and he continued to regain consciousness. While waiting for Missy and the others, I kept myself busy maintaining the fire and monitoring Jack's condition. At one point, one of the large mountain lions walked up to Jack and licked his face, making him grin. The big cat sat down next to him and purred loudly.

"I'm thirsty," Jack said.

"I'll be right back," I said running off to find the small brook. I tripped on a rock and landed a few feet from the water. "Clumsy," I muttered as I soaked the cloth.

"Open your mouth, Jack," I said turning his head slightly. I drizzled the water into his mouth and he drank eagerly.

"Thanks, Heckel. I could drink a gallon," he said weakly.

"I think the troops are here," I reported as several horses rode into the campfire's light.

One of the doctors quickly checked Jack over. I got up and out of the way. The big cat remained next to Jack.

Vonnie and Missy came running up to Jack and knelt down beside him.

"He's going to be fine," the doctor said. "Heckel, you did great. We'll get him bandaged up and loaded onto the cart."

Vonnie hugged me until I thought I was going to pop. "Thank you so much, Heckel, for saving my family."

As we rode into our camp, we were met by thunderous applause. Sela ran up to take Hope's reins.

"Well, done," Sela said as I slid off Hope. She quickly hugged and kissed me as if I had just won the Kentucky Derby.

"No problem. Well, actually…" Before I could explain what happened, I heard Jack call my name. I went over to the cart where he was lying.

"Save your strength," I said, peering down at Jack.

"About those mountain lions," he said softly.

"Yeah, I'll tell you tomorrow. You'll be…um…wowed, I'm sure. You get a good night's rest."

"Thanks, Heckel…for…saving my little girl," Jack said reaching up to shake my hand.

His hand was cold. I held it for a long time to warm it up. The doctor instructed three other men to lift Jack out of the cart carefully and put him in his tent. After we got Jack settled, I said good night to Vonnie. Both she and Missy kissed my cheeks at the same time. I blushed.

"Take good care of Jack. See you in the morning."

As I walked back to my camp, I saw the three mountain lions lying in the field twitching their big fluffy tails. Gradually, their size was reduced to that of a normal house cat. They played with each other for a few minutes and then two of them took off in the direction of Jack's campsite. Jerky came running toward me and leaped into my arms.

"Thanks, buddy. You were awesome tonight!"

Chapter 30

The Nevada landscape is boring. I just don't see the attraction. Why in the world would anyone want to live out here? Too many stupid rocks,
Madeline thought as the RV sped down I-80, leaving Winnemucca.

A loud banging sound came from the back of the motor home and broke her concentration.

"Damn! Son of a bitch," she heard Quincy utter as the RV slowed to a crawl.

"What's wrong?" Madeline asked, coming up behind the driver.

"I think we have a problem," Quincy said as he turned off the engine. He took out a small laptop computer and attached a cable to a port at the bottom of the steering wheel. After several minutes, he knew what was wrong.

"Looks like it's the fuel lift pump. That's why we have no power. That bang must have been it falling off or something."

"Well, get a new one." Madeline ordered as if the local garage over the next hill would have one readily available.

Quincy smiled nervously and said he'd take one of the support vehicles back to Winnemucca to look for the part.

"Please hurry. It's hot out here and creepy," she whined.

Quincy reached over to one of the switches on the dash and a generator roared to life. "There's plenty of fuel to run that generator for hours. Turn on the AC. You'll be fine," Quincy said as he descended the stairs.

"Just hurry," Madeline said sternly.

As the hours passed by, she plotted her little visit to Heckel. "He won't know what hit him," she mumbled, stretched out on the sofa. "I hope he likes unexpected company." Gradually, her eyes got heavy and she fell asleep.

Her dreams drifted from motor homes to dark storms to dead bodies to snakes and finally to seeing Heckel dismembered. That last dream was especially enjoyable and illuminating. It started with how she planned to get close to him and ended with her slowly dismembering him in front of all his followers. She was sitting on a large boulder and Heckel was suspended in midair by invisible chains. She flicked her long, highly manicured finger and his arm was twisted out of its socket. Blood spewed out like a burst water pipe. His followers were on their knees praying for her to stop. She flicked another finger and his leg was ripped out of his hip. She lifted Heckel high into the air so that his blood sprayed across his followers. One by one she ripped, twisted and yanked body parts from Heckel. Giggling, she flew his blood-soaked body out across his followers as if she had a remote-controlled helicopter toy. Madeline turned his blood into a caustic acid that when it hit the faces of his followers, it instantly dissolved their skin.

She awoke suddenly to noise coming from the engine compartment. It was dark in the motor home and chilly. She turned on several lights and then turned off the air conditioner. Her two dogs were at the door waiting to go out.

"Okay, guys. Let's go see what's up," Madeline said as she opened the door. The two dogs went tearing outside, barking.

The crisp Nevada air washed over Madeline, causing her to shiver. She looked up and was struck by the array of stars.

"That's the Milky Way right above us," Quincy said as he wiped his hands.

"You found the part," she said, walking to the back of the motor home as if she could tell what he was doing.

"By sheer dumb luck. There was a Cummins shop there and the parts department was well stocked. I should have it installed in about another half hour."

"Great. I suppose we should just stay the night here."

"Sounds good to me. I'm pooped. Would it be all right then to finish installing the part in the morning when I have better light?"

Madeline shrugged, waved her hand dismissively and went back into the tenement on wheels.

The next morning, Quincy finished installing the part, started the engine and did a diagnostic with his laptop.

"We are good to go," he reported proudly.