Twisted (50 page)

I knew I wasn’t making very good time and was starting to get a little preoccupied about AJ returning. I started up the incline on the side of the ridge. The grade wasn’t steep, but every step I took necessitated a maximum amount of effort. The track went up the ridge in a big switchback, going eastward for about three-quarters of a mile and then doubling back and heading west, to maintain an easy grade. Since this was on the north side of the ridge, there were scrubby trees and fairly thick sagebrush.

I was about four-fifths of the way up the ridge when nausea and lightheadedness got the best of me. I vomited right in the middle of the track. The force of it caused my nose to start to bleed profusely. I stood there a minute or two, waiting for the lightheadedness to leave me. When it subsided a bit, I pushed my hand against my nose to try and stanch the flow of blood. It was one of the most intensely painful things I’d ever felt. A wave of agony thudded around and inside my skull. It was so sharp and penetrating, I staggered back and fell into a little drainage ditch by the side of the road. That probably saved my life.

I fell and must have blacked out for a bit. I don’t think I was out long, but I was getting really cold. It was near freezing, and the ground was wet and pulling the heat from my body. The coat, shirt, and boots helped, but I didn’t have any pants on. I was steadily losing body heat. I began to pull myself up the brush on the side of the little ditch, when I heard a car engine on the top of the ridge, maybe about fifty yards away. I let myself slip as low as possible into the ditch and desperately hoped that if it was AJ, he wouldn’t be looking in the ditches. After a few very tense seconds, the car passed me. I could see it was AJ’s vehicle. I waited a minute for him to get a bit farther down the road and out of sight before I crawled painfully out of the ditch.

Seeing AJ drive by gave me a huge burst of adrenaline. I made it to the top of the ridge without losing consciousness or vomiting again. By the time I got there, I was shaking pretty badly. I wasn’t really sure if I would be able to make it the couple of miles left to the road. I did stop, however, to take a few deep breaths through my mouth and to lean against a tree to rest for just a minute. I allowed myself this tiny celebration for getting this far.

From the top of the ridge, I looked downward into the hollow. I could see AJ’s headlights coming up the track, very slowly. He was shining a huge flashlight on both sides of the car, looking for me. I could hear him calling out, but I couldn’t hear what he was saying. I began staggering down the track on the south side of the ridge toward the road as fast as I could. The track on this side of the ridge also switchbacked up the ridge. I’d gone about a quarter mile when I began to hear the noise of a motor coming from the top of the ridge. I thought for a few seconds. I could continue down the track, which was fairly easy going, and hope when he got closer I would be able to get off the track before he saw me, and I would be able to find adequate brush to hide in. My other choice was to cut the switchback and go straight down the hill, through the brush and rocks. That way offered better cover from AJ, but it was physically much more difficult. I knew if I were to fall, I had very little chance of being able to get up and get to the road. I headed down the slope, cutting the switchback. I took my time, trying my best to feel my way with my feet.

I was beginning to feel a bone-deep weariness, and more concerning was the fact I was getting very sleepy. I began to hear a little voice in my head.
Just lie down for a minute and sleep. You’ll be hidden, and everything will be all right, just a few minutes of sleep.
I was still rational enough to know that if I did sit or lie down to rest and fell asleep, I’d never get up. I forced myself to continue down the slope.

It was getting more difficult. My vision seemed to be blurring occasionally, and the spells of dizziness and nausea were getting longer and coming more frequently. The headache was now constant, and I was shivering more and more now too. I knew if I wanted to survive, I had better get to the road as quickly as possible. I could see the occasional set of headlights on the road below me, giving me hope and encouraging me. I could see that I was coming up on the bottom part of the switchback. It was only about fifty feet below me.

At the same time, off to my left, I could see the headlights of AJ’s car. I looked around and saw, a little to my right, a big clump of sage, in front of which were several small boulders. It would make a good hiding place. I got down on my hands and knees and crawled behind the brush. I drew my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around them. Hopefully that would keep me warm until AJ passed by.

I crouched in the brush as he swung the flashlight around while he drove very slowly down the track. He was calling out.

“Jeff, c’mon out and play! We have so many more fun things to do!” He stopped and listened.

“If you don’t come out, I’m going to go and kill your little blond boy. That’s right. Mike is dead rotting meat if you don’t come out.” He listened some more. I thought to jump out for about a millisecond, but realized then I’d have very little chance to save Mike or myself. He continued trying to taunt me.

“I saw the blood and vomit almost at the top of the ridge. I know you got at least that far. Come out, Jeff. I’ll make it quick. Then I’ll be off to continue my fun and games elsewhere.” As if I would surrender myself to him so meekly. What an arrogant piece of shit. I was pretty out of it, but if I got ahold of him, he would regret ever having read articles about Mike and me. Anger fueled me a bit more. I would survive and live to see his sorry ass in prison.

“Jeff, it will be quick, I promise. See, you’re no fun. You’re not afraid. No fun at all.” His tone went up higher, and his voice got louder.

“You hear that, you fucking asshole redneck? You’re too stupid to be frightened of me. Everyone else has been terrified! Your friend Lonnie died crying and begging. You’re too much of a moron to do that. You’re like an animal. You’re too stupid to be afraid.”

He was up even with me now. The light went by me. I was blocked by the rocks and brush in front of me. I moved a bit behind the brush to watch him go down the road as he began to pull past me, and another wave of nausea hit. My vision blurred. My stomach began to protest. I was afraid if I vomited, he’d hear me. I tried to breathe deeply through my mouth. It seemed to suppress the nausea slightly. I was getting even more worried. Each bout of blurred vision brought me closer to losing consciousness. I was afraid if I did, I’d never wake up. Hypothermia would get me. I was shivering again, more violently and uncontrollably this time. I looked for his truck down the track. He had pulled past me, but was still searching the brush with his big flashlight and calling to me. I glanced down the track to the main road and saw headlights. A car or truck had turned off onto the track we were on. AJ kept calling, so I knew he was too intent on the brush beside the track to have noticed.

“Jeffy, come out and play, Jeffy. I’m through trying to be nice. Every few minutes I’ve been offering to end it quick for you. Offer is over now, Jeffy. I’m going to gut you alive. If you don’t get your backward hick ass out soon, we won’t have much time to play!” He sounded like a petulant child.

“I will find you, Jeff. If I have to keep going up and down this road all night and all day tomorrow, I will. What the… who in the hell is that?” He’d noticed the truck. I could see now it was a truck. AJ turned on his bright headlights and stopped his car. I heard him set the emergency brake and jump out. He hid in the brush about twenty feet from me. If he looked this way, he’d see me. I kept watching him.

He had a gun! I had no idea he had a gun. I’d brought the hatchet and hunting knife, but neither of those was a match for a gun. By this time the truck was close enough for me to recognize it in the bright headlights of AJ’s car. It was Mike’s truck! Mike was driving and holding a hand up against the bright light to shade his eyes and squinting. He stopped his truck about ten feet from AJ’s car and got out. It was obvious in the glare of the headlights, he couldn’t see.

“AJ, sheriff’s on his way. It’s over. Let loose of Jeff.” AJ giggled as Mike called our names. He stood up and began to point his gun. I grabbed a rock, and as quietly as I could, threw it. I tried to throw it well past AJ, but I didn’t have too much strength. It flew about three feet behind and a bit beyond AJ. I saw AJ look for the source of the sound behind him.

“Give it up, AJ!” Mike called out.

AJ giggled again and stood up, aiming the gun. I stood also and stepped forward a couple of feet. The world was spinning around me. I had picked up a softball-sized rock. I steadied myself for the throw.

“I have a gun, Mike. You’re dead, and then as soon as I find that asshole boyfriend of yours, he’ll be dead too.” As AJ spoke, I threw the rock. All the practicing Mike and I had done for snowshoe softball came in handy. It hit AJ on the back of the neck. I had no strength. All I was able to do was knock him forward a foot or so when the rock hit him and cause him to trip. It was enough. His gun flew through the air, and Mike was on him in a flash. The sound of Mike’s fists colliding with AJ’s face was one of the most gratifying things I’d ever heard. I began staggering toward Mike. Mike had pulled off AJ’s belt and was using it to hog-tie him.

“Mike.” He looked up as I staggered into his range of vision. Even in the dark, I must have looked like hell. His eyes got wide.

“Jeff, it’s okay. I’m here for ya.” He stood up.

“Buddy… here, kill the fuckin’ bastard.” I tried to speak more and held out the hatchet I’d carried with me, but the darkness that had been pressing against me all night began to close in, the world spun, and Mike caught me as I fell.

Chapter Twenty-Three

I
SAT
on the wooden porch swing Mike had installed this week. I was looking out across the valley and to the mountains. The trees which had been bare were greening, and the pines all were tipped with light-green new growth. Alongside the driveway, wildflowers were growing and had started blooming in a riot of color. The days were getting longer, and the sun seemed to have regained new warmth. Its light was strong, and the weak indirect sunlight of winter was a thing of the past.

It had been a couple of months since my “adventure” with AJ. Mike had seen my doodles by the phone—saying “AJ” and “Old Schmidt Place”—and luckily he put two and two together. He had already reported me missing. He called the sheriff, who was at the scene of an accident and unavailable, so he headed to try and find me himself. I believed since I knew AJ, he couldn’t be the Cutter. I was still kicking myself for that foolish belief.

I had spent several days in the hospital after Mike had found me. I had reckoned I must have looked like hell, and I was right. I had two black eyes and a chipped front tooth. My lips were swollen and cut to shreds. My nose was flat as a pancake. I was also covered in blood, but according to the doctors, that was less of a concern than the raw wounds on my back and butt. They had started to get infected. It was obvious that AJ had really abused my balls, and they were really swollen, but luckily an MRI showed no ruptures. The injuries to my testicles had caused the nausea. The effects of the chloroform had contributed to the nausea and headache. I was severely dehydrated and hypothermic. All in all though, according to the doctor, it could have been a lot worse. He had no idea how right he was.

Physically, I was on the mend. Torn ligaments in my arms and shoulders had healed, my nose was set, and you really couldn’t tell it was broken, and finally this week I was officially free of having to wear a jockstrap constantly, as I was fine below the belt. Psychologically, I knew I had some issues. I just didn’t want to do anything. My friends were running the ranch and herding both the cattle and the dudes. Mike, Sandy, José, and Maria, had taken it on themselves to try and motivate me. The sad and pitying looks made me want to shut down even further.

I couldn’t believe that I had been so stupid as to go off to help AJ without telling anyone. That stupidity had put me right into his control, and I had done that all by myself. It kept occurring to me that maybe I deserved what had happened for being so stupid. By all rhyme and reason, I should be dead now. My own lack of forethought had made me hand myself over to the Cutter. So many other guys were dead, and yet I had put myself in that situation, and I lived. I deserved what had happened to me. They certainly didn’t.

I heard the kitchen door open and close.

“Hey, Jeffy, I brought you a cup of coffee.” Mike held out the mug, and once I took it, settled down on the swing next to me.

“Much obliged.”

“You up for a snack? You didn’t eat much breakfast.”

“I ain’t hungry.” I really hadn’t been hungry since I got out of the hospital.

“You wanna throw a football around? We ain’t done that in a while, and now that there’s no snow and the ground is dry, it would be lots of fun.”

“Not really.”

“I saw some folks raftin’ the Methow River when I went to town for groceries yesterday. It’s really high with the snowmelt, and there’s lots of white water. How about we see about goin’ raftin’? I bet Smitty and Sandy, and José and Maria, and Josh and Renee would love to come. Jason and Tim too. They been datin’. Jeanette would really like it, too, I bet.”

“You guys should go, then.”

“Jeffy, we want to go with
you
.” He emphasized you.

“That’s nice, Mike, but I just don’t feel like it.”

He took my hand. “How ’bout we just sit here and hold hands then?”

“If you want.”

“I want.” He smiled at me. I didn’t have the energy to smile back. My mind just kept drifting back to AJ and the time he had held me captive. I could see that table covered with tools and utensils every time I closed my eyes. Why was I even alive? I had wondered at first if he had raped me when I was out. The doctor said no, but strangely that wasn’t any comfort. The things he’d said he was going to do, kept going around in my head, like some annoying little tune. Mike sat with me and held my hand for a couple of hours.