Heckel Casey (39 page)

Everyone else backed away.

"Heckel," Madeline screamed again. This time she was hovering off the ground several feet and moving slowly forward. She was dressed in a long black leather duster.

"I heard you the first time," I shouted back.
Okay, I should be feeling those bolts of lightning forming in my hands. Where are you?
I thought.
I need you.
Gradually, the feeling began to course through my veins.

The middle of the field was clear. I noticed the ground littered with mostly dead demons. As Madeline inched closer, I could see she was noticeably pissed off. She yanked off her duster, revealing a black metal breastplate. Her long flowing hair spun wildly around her head as if it had turned to writhing snakes, reminiscent of Medusa.

"Looks like your demons are having an off day," I said waving my hand over the dead carcasses. "Perhaps a little more training would have been useful."

Madeline sneered at me and remained silent.

"Wow, you look frightful. You must be having a really bad hair day," I joked. "I just abhor it when I have hat hair. You know the kind you get when you wear a ball cap?"

Well, I had laid out enough sarcasm I guess because she rose another few feet in the air to glower down at me and without warning, hurled a large blue ball of energy at me. Immediately, I jumped to the side several feet and rolled on the ground. Without thinking, I pitched two large bolts of lightning at her. One struck her on the side of the head. When she turned around, half of her face was black and chunks of skin hung loosely.

"Oh, now I've done it. I messed up your makeup." More sarcasm. I was getting very good at it.

Additional balls of energy were tossed viciously and with each one she screamed a long list of obscenities. I held up my hand and a force field shielded me from their blows. I laughed, but inside it felt like I had been punched.
Okay, that one smarted
.

I returned a barrage of bolts. Another one hit her on the leg and she was propelled backward. My soldiers behind me cheered and yelled. They shouted encouragement like people at a boxing match. Madeline scowled at them. With that distraction and hesitation on her part, I threw another round of bolts. She fell to the ground.

"Finish her off now," I heard someone holler. "Take off her head."

As I walked over to her, I spotted my sword. I bent down, picked it up and just as I was about to remove her head, a large red energy orb hit me in the back, throwing me to the ground. Jerky spun around and transformed into the large cat. Another red orb hit her before she could spring. "No," I yelled. I got up and standing a few yards from me was Barker.

I balled up my fists in anger. "Looks like your lady friend there couldn't do it herself," I said tauntingly. "She's done for. Give it up. Crawl back in the hole where you came from, back to the depths of hell."

"Well, you know the saying…if you want something done right, do it—"

Before he could finish, I threw my sword at him. As he lifted his hand to wave the sword away, I pitched two massive lightning bolts directly at his chest. Both of them hit hard, sending Barker several yards away almost landing on Madeline. Slowly, he reached over and touched Madeline. Her eyelids began to flutter. Gradually, she moved each limb. As she sat up, the look on her face was distorted and menacing. Her makeup had smeared, adding to the horrific look. I almost laughed because she looked like some elderly woman who had put her makeup on while an airplane was hitting turbulence.

I looked over at Jerky. The big cat wasn't moving.
Shit.

"Great. Now this is a real fair fight. Two against one," I said, wiping my hands on my pants.

Both of them catapulted energy ball after energy ball at me. I dodged them and for some odd reason I felt I was back in middle school and we were playing dodge ball.

"You know who ever invented dodge ball was a really mean-spirited person," I yelled as I rolled on the ground. One of the energy balls hit my left arm. "Crap, those things hurt."

Neither Barker nor Madeline was enjoying my witty remarks. But I kept them coming, hoping to rile them up to the point where they were distracted and let their defenses down.

Okay, time to get down to business and finish this before I poop out
, I thought
.
Just as those words entered my mind, a volley of balls hit me with a crushing force. Now I was hurting. I looked down at my side and the skin was peeled, blistered and blackened. Just as I was examining my injury, I could hear Madeline's cackle followed by two more energy balls pitched by Barker. I quickly jumped forward, missing them. I felt my hand on my sword. Wrapping my fingers around the hilt, I threw the sword with all my might. It landed dead center in Madeline's heart. The speed of the sword was so fast I saw that it startled Barker. Before he could react, I bolted upright and threw myself on top of him. We wrestled on the ground. I reached down and grabbed his wrists so he could not summon his magic balls of fire.

"Sorry I'm late," a voice from overhead said. I glanced up and saw Jerky.

The young woman instantly transformed into the large cat and immediately ripped into Barker, biting on his head and neck. I felt the man go limp, thinking he was dead. When I looked down, he was gone.

Jerky transformed back to the young woman. She walked over to Madeline who was still sitting upright with my sword lodged deeply into her chest. She tried feebly to pull it out.

"So Madeline, what can I say? You tried. You gave it your best shot, but it's time to send you away. You lost."

With blood dribbling out of her mouth, she laughed. "Maybe for now, but evil always has a way of surviving. Mankind is drawn to it like a moth to a light. Just look at your miserable history. The scales will tip in our favor once again. We will—"

"Oh, shut up," I said, yanking the sword out of her chest and with a powerful swing of my arm, decapitated the bitch.

"Time to kill the body," Jack yelled and all my soldiers raced forward to finish the battle.

I sat down exhausted. Jerky was by my side.

"I thought you were dead," I said softly putting my arm around the young woman.

"Hard to kill an angel," she said. "We're pretty tough. We have to be, hanging around with humans all the time. You put us in some pretty awkward situations like rock climbing or hang gliding. Not the smartest things to do if you ask me."

I laughed. We sat there watching the demons trying to fight or run. It didn't take too long to finish business.

Jack came staggering back and sat down next to me. We all sat in silence for a long time.

The afternoon sun was sliding down to connect with the horizon as we rode into our camp. Sela was standing by our tent. I watched her fall to her knees, as did many of the other women.

I rode Hope into our camp, dismounted and immediately Sela wrapped her arms around my neck. The squeeze of her arms began to cut off my air supply. I reached up and took her arms, gently pulling them away so I wouldn't pass out.

"Is it over?" she asked.

"Yes. Madeline is no more and her demon army is destroyed. We are back on the right track."

She kissed me for the longest time.

"Oh my," Sela said.

I saw her reach down and hold her stomach.

"My water just broke," she said with a huge smile on her face. "Our baby is coming."

Vonnie immediately went into action. She barked commands like a general on a battlefield. Missy took Hope away. Vonnie helped Sela lay down on the ground near the fire pit.

"Heckel, grab your sleeping bag and bring it out here," Vonnie shouted. "Jack, go fill some buckets with water."

We both stood wide-eyed and dumbfounded. My feet felt like they had just sunk deep roots into the ground.

Vonnie clapped her hands several times and shouted, "Move it, now!"

Jack and I nearly collided as we rushed to complete our task. When I returned with the sleeping bag, I opened it up so Sela would be able to stretch out on top. She used part of it to cover her legs.

"Now, Heckel, go find some old shirts we can use." This time I did trip over a rock.

"Be careful," Sela shouted. "And hurry back. I need to hold onto to you."

I came back with several old cotton T-shirts. Jack had filled a large bucket of water. Vonnie instructed him to build up the fire and heat the water.

For the next twenty minutes, I held Sela's hand and helped her bring our son into the world. "He's magnificent," I said as Vonnie passed our new baby over to Sela.

"Did we ever come up with a name?" I asked Sela as I wiped the sweat from her brow.

"No, we didn't," she answered, staring at the baby wrapped in one of my old shirts.

"How about…" I started to suggest a name as my son slowly grabbed my finger.

"Heckel Junior," Sela said smiling at me.

I began to protest when everyone around us agreed heartily. My son looked at me and smiled.

"See, he likes his new name," Sela said.

"Fine. Heckel Junior it is."

Epilogue

Little by little, small groups of my followers—no, my friends—left the camp. As each family or individual left, they would stop by to thank me and wish us well. My smile muscles got a heavy workout.

The fall season was a mild one, much to everyone's relief. In fact, your typical cloudy, rainy Oregon put on its best behavior and blessed us with warm, sunny days. Sela recovered quickly and began her new role as the world's best mom. Of course, neither of us got much rest for a couple of weeks. We looked like rejects from a zombie movie because of the lack of sleep. Jack's hunting skills kept us fed and we were much indebted to him and Vonnie for taking such good care of us.

About three weeks later, it was time for us to go. Jack and his family decided to go with us. We packed up everything and started a trek toward the coast. It wasn't long before we found two small farms near each other. That winter was a bit tough, but we survived.

The following spring was a special one. As Sela and I took a walk, we were in awe of how everything was so fresh and vibrant. It felt like the world was…brand new.

"What now?" Sela asked as she repositioned the carrier holding Junior.

"We sow, we reap, and we live a good life," I said, letting fresh dirt sift through my fingers.

The decades passed and our world slowly rebuilt itself. One day several people came to our farm and asked if I'd be president.
Oh, hell no,
I thought. I respectfully declined and told them my leadership days were over. They thanked me. As our communications and media returned, we were informed of our government being restored. The person leading our new country did a fine job getting us back to our Founding Fathers' principles.

It felt so good to trust people again. Virtues such as kindness and patience were restored along with common courtesies. And above all, respect. I had to smile one day when Sela and I went into a nearby store. I held the door open for a young lady and she said, "Thank you." Those two simple words made everything we had fought for worth it.

Heckel Junior grew to be a charming young man. His two sisters also were perfect kids, taking so much after their mother. We were very proud parents.

I was in my mid-seventies when it started again. By
it
, I mean, the appearance of evil. At first, I just couldn't believe it. I even had to take my glasses off and rub my eyes. I must have been noticeably troubled because Sela came out the front door, walked across the porch and sat next to me. She put her hand on my knee. "What is it, Heckel?"

I shook my head slowly and tried to tell her it was nothing. She kissed me on the cheek and went back into the house to finish baking chocolate chip cookies, my favorite.

Picking up a pair of binoculars from a small, wicker table, I focused the lens. Gradually, his appearance sharpened.

There standing on a small hill at the edge of my cornfield was a young boy. I squinted, trying to see him better. First, I noticed a faint tinge of blue fill his eyes. As he waved, his hand revealed a small blue orb.

When I jumped up from the settee to get a better look, he was gone.

Message from the Author

Dear Reader:

Watching the evening news, for me, became increasingly difficult to the point where I wanted to throw the remote at the TV. So I stopped. (I really didn't want to buy a new TV.) That didn't mean I was insulated from the events in our world. Our society in many respects seems to be on a slippery slope downward. Could we be destined for the way of the dinosaurs? Extinct. Am I cynical to think that we are becoming gradually more and more uncaring and indifferent to each other? Maybe.

In writing
Heckel Casey
, I saw the title character as a person who embodies hope. It's a hope that says we can do better. A hope that screams not to give into evil. War in some form or another has been nearly a constant component in our civilization since…well, forever. Perhaps the longest running war has been between good and evil. We all have a little Heckel inside of us. We need to let him out more often.