by James Hoch
Sela stared up at me. Tears spilled over the edge of her eyes and streamed down her face. "Heckel Casey, you better come back to me. Your child needs his daddy and I need you. We all need you."
I bent down and kissed her. "Have dinner ready for me. I'll be hungry."
Leaning back up and ready to take off, I was suddenly hit with twenty pounds of cat. Picking Jerky up off my neck, I looked the cat in the face and said, "Not this time. I need you to stay here. Just this one time, please. I need to do this alone." I handed the cat to Sela and took off.
The small crowd that had assembled around us cheered when I took off. "Send the bitch back to hell, Heckel! You can do it!" The shouts of encouragement were just the thing I needed, considering my insides felt like ice water.
I kept Hope running at a good speed for a while and then backed her down when I saw the crossroads of I-5 and I-80. That odd feeling I was having increased. I sensed Madeline was close. As I passed the interchange to go west on I-80, I saw a woman sitting on the ground by the off-ramp.
"Hello, Madeline. At last, we finally get to have a chat in person instead of those ridiculous little girls you were sending," I yelled.
"Darn, I was so hoping to surprise you," she said as she stood up.
"You know, I expected someone a bit more glamorous…um…looking a little more like the witch from Sleeping Beauty. The homeless look really doesn't do it for you. Nice disguise though."
Madeline threw off the backpack and tattered, dirty raincoat. Suddenly, a flash sparked around her and her appearance changed. "How's this for glamorous?" Madeline's hair swirled around her head, forming long shiny curls as if they were being styled by an invisible hairdresser. Her clothes changed from rags to a long black cocktail dress with a provocative slit up one side. The clumsy hiking boots with holes transformed into jewel-studded black stiletto high heels.
"Now that's a bit more like what I expected…cheesy cliche."
"See anything you like?" she asked in her best, breathy seductive tone as her tongue lined her highly glossed upper lip. "How are you in bed, Heckel? I'm fantastic. I could take you to places you never imagined. Wanna find out? Come on over here." She raised her skirt higher on the slit side, revealing more of her leg.
"Yeah, yeah, yeah…whatever," I said as I got off Hope. "Don't go too far. I'll need you soon enough," I whispered, slapping the horse's behind. Hope ran back down I-5 and I saw her trot off into a field.
My insides began to seethe with the power that I had come to embrace. This should be interesting. I wonder just how powerful she is?
"Heckel, I'll make a bargain with you. You lie down and die and I let all your happy little followers live."
I laughed heartily and replied, "Madeline, you must take me for a fool. I know full well if you kill me, you will waste no time in eliminating everything that remains good on this planet."
Madeline walked closer to me. I saw blue fire swirling in the palms of her hands. At the same time, the energy inside of me gathered force.
"I'll take great delight cutting that baby out of your pretty…"
That pushed my button. Before she could even finish that sentence, I threw my arm at her as though I were a determined pitcher trying for a no-hitter. A wide bolt of lightning flashed from my hand. The bolt hit Madeline in the chest and threw her backward.
"Now that's not very fair," she said menacingly as she got up. Instantly, she pitched two balls of spiraling blue flame at me.
I jumped out of the way. The balls struck one of the pillars of a nearby overpass. Concrete flew in all directions. A small chunk hit the side of my head. Blood streamed down the side of my face.
As I was wiping my face, she lobbed two more balls.
I put both hands up to block the approaching attack and the shield took the blast. Madeline ran closer to me with two more blue balls rolling around in the palms of her hands. Before she could throw them, I sent two of my own blasts at her.
The force took her by surprise and sent her crashing into the wall of the overpass. I didn't hesitate and sent bolts of lightning at her repeatedly. Her screams were so loud that I had to block my ears.
She got up and ran to the open ground outside of the overpass at the edge of the off-ramp. I ran after her, determined to kill her.
As I approached, she hit me with one of the balls of energy. It threw me a good twenty yards to the other side of the road.
Getting up, I spotted a nearby construction site. There were piles of rebar. I used the force inside me to pick up a small pile of the rebar and flung it at her.
She threw more fire at the rebar, melting most of them. However, one of the spears made it through the fire and pierced her in the chest. More screams.
I didn't hesitate again and hurled more energy bolts at her.
She tried to pull the rebar out of her chest and one of the lightning spears I launched landed at the tip of the rebar. The electrical charge made Madeline sizzle and spasm uncontrollably. Her long, sexy curls unfurled and her hair began to burn. She continued to thrash and tried to pull the rebar out of her chest. The metal had cauterized her skin around the wound. She fell to the ground.
Just as I was about to go over and finish the unpleasant confrontation, a large motor home came tearing down the off-ramp and stopped directly in front of me. I ran to the rear of the dirty RV and as I turned the corner, I saw Madeline being carried into the rig.
I summoned a large bolt of lightning and tossed it at the door, making it fly off its hinges. As I was about to fling another bolt at the motor home, the vehicle took off north, heading down I-5. A large belch of black diesel smoke clouded my vision. I pitched two large bolts at the bus, but missed. The RV continued to race down the road and went over a small hill.
"Damn. I almost had her," I said, wiping sweat and blood from my face. I was exhausted. Every muscle in my body felt like it had been run through an old wringer washing machine. I slowly started to walk south toward my friends. A couple hundred yards down the interstate, I spotted Hope and whistled for her. The horse came trotting over. I mounted her and said, "Almost, Hope. Missed her by a cat's ass. Let's go see what we're having for dinner."
When I rode into the fairground, I was greeted by a burst of applause and wild cheering. Sela ran toward me and took Hope's reins.
"You look like hell. Are you all right?" Sela asked excitedly.
"Yes, just a bit sore."
A large group of people surrounded me. I dismounted Hope and immediately hugged Sela. Missy took Hope and led her off to cool her down.
"I'm sorry folks, but it was close. It was a good fight. I almost had her down for the count," I yelled. Everyone got silent as I recounted my fight.
"That's okay, Heckel. We'll finish the job up in Oregon," someone yelled from behind me. Everyone cheered and echoed the sentiment.
"We need to get you cleaned up. Come on," Sela said, putting her arm around my waist. More cheering erupted as the crowd dispersed.
Chapter 32
The mud-soaked RV charged northward on I-5, looking like a cumbersome dinosaur. Black smoke spewed out of the exhaust pipe. Quincy had laid Madeline down on the sofa. Blood had soaked and dried on the front of her dress. Her two dachshunds climbed all over her, licking her face. She brushed them aside when they hit the rebar still protruding from her chest. Madeline screamed when the motor home hit a bump.
"God damn it!" she yelled. "Stay out of the potholes."
"Sorry," Quincy called back.
Madeline tried to pull the rebar out, but it was cauterized to her skin and any attempt to pull it out resulted in tearing. The deadly spear had gone straight through her. Madeline screamed again in her attempt to pull on it. Blood started to ooze from around the steel bar.
"I'm going to need your help," she shouted to Quincy.
"There's a rest stop a few miles ahead. We'll be there in a matter of minutes," Quincy said as he pushed the diesel engine faster.
Madeline stared out the window, tryin
g not to pass out, reflecting on what still needed to be done. Damn, if only I could have finished this. Now, we take it to…what…the ultimate showdown? My forces will crush him. We outnumber his puny band of merry men clearly five to one. Sheer numbers will prevail.
Quincy slowed the motor home as he approached the off-ramp. He stopped the rig and went back to Madeline.
"How can I help?" he asked.
"You need to pull this piece of shit out of my chest," she said with a trembling voice. "Get a bunch of towels. This thing will bleed like a son of a bitch."
Quincy pulled open drawer after drawer looking for towels. He came back to the sofa with several.
"What now?" he asked. "I'm a little squeamish around blood and stuff."
Madeline rolled her eyes and told him now was not the time to be a wimp. "I think you need to just yank it really hard."
"Okay, wait a minute," he said. "If I may?" He gently rolled Madeline over on her side. Excruciating pain quickly registered on Madeline's face and she let loose a litany of blue words.
"Well, that's not good," he said.
"What the fuck now?" she said, getting more testy and anxious.
"It appears that the rebar has melted into a large round flat disc on the back side. If I yank it from the front, it will probably rip out half your internal organs and the way the rebar is split into several protruding fingers in the front, it would do the same thing if I tried pulling it from the back."
"Shit, now what? I can't leave it in there."
Quincy rolled Madeline carefully on to her back. He propped a couple of large, soft pillows behind her head.
"I have an idea," he said tentatively.
"Well, what?" Madeline barked with less patience.
"If we have a hacksaw, I might be able to saw off the front part and then pull it through from the back. If we had an acetylene torch, I could slice through the rebar pretty quickly."
"Get the hacksaw and get it done," she demanded.
Quincy hurried out of the motor home. Madeline heard him riffling through one of the compartments below. A faint "found it" drifted into the open window near the sofa.
"Shit, hurry up, Quincy. It's hurting more and I feel like I might pass out."
"Maybe you should pass out," he said as he came up to the sofa. "Do you have anything to dull the pain?"
"Yes, get me that bottle of Pendleton," she ordered. "And for shit's sake, hurry."
Quincy opened the cabinet and pulled out the bottle of Pendleton. It was half full. He went to a cupboard looking for a glass.
"Screw the glass. Give me the fucking bottle. The pain is burning hot now."
Quincy unscrewed the cap and handed her the bottle. She immediately started chugging the liquid amber. After gulping down about a quarter of the bottle, she came up for air. "Wow, that packs a wallop. Whew!" The numbing effects of the alcohol began to take effect. She noticed that the room started to get a healthy spin and that the pain had subdued considerably.
Quincy stood over her with the hacksaw. "Don't you think you should sterilize that or something?" she queried with each word sounding more slurred.
"Oh, probably so. I bet there's no alcohol around," he said. "Wait. I have an idea." He went over to the stove, removed the top covering and turned on one of the burners. Madeline watched him out of the corner of her eye; turning her body made the rebar twist. The pain started to increase again, so she knocked back another mouthful of the Pendleton. The hit of booze made her head spin even faster. "Hurry up. Get this done with," she said, sounding like the old comedian Foster Brooks. Giggling, she asked, "Hey, do you remember that old comedian whose whole shtick was acting like a drunk?"
Before Quincy could respond, she slipped out of consciousness for a moment. When she came around, an incredible pain erupted from her chest. After a series of screams that echoed through the motor home, she bellowed, "What the fuck?"
Quincy had his knee on her stomach and was sawing through the rebar. He placed several towels around the protruding metal spear, trying to soak up the spewing blood. "I'm almost through," he said. "Relax."
Madeline screamed repeatedly. "Relax my ass. You…are…fucking…killing…me."
"Here, drink some more-"
Before he could finish his sentence, she swiped her arm up, hitting the bottle out of his hands. He continued his sawing. With each push, Madeline felt like her insides were being pulled apart. Her two dachshunds cowered over on the driver's seat.
"Done," he exclaimed. He threw the saw down, pushed her gently onto her side and yanked on the round melted protuberance on her back. She then felt the metal slide through her body.
"I got it," he said proudly. He quickly took one of the towels and put pressure on the open holes.
Immediately, Madeline felt a sense of relief. "Gimme the bottle," she ordered.
He picked up the Pendleton. There were only a couple of mouthfuls left. She took one big gulp and passed out.
When Madeline woke up, she looked around the room. Quincy had put her on her bed. She tried to get up, but the pain in her chest decided differently, not to mention that her head felt like it was being squeezed in a lemon press. The Pendleton was demonstrating its next-day-hangover effects. She lay back down and realized the motor home was moving. Slowly licking her lips, she realized she was incredibly thirsty. Just as she was about to shout for water, she yawned and fell back to sleep.
A few hours later, she awoke to see Quincy standing over her. "How we doin'?" he asked.
"I feel like shit. I don't know about you."
"I would too if someone had been sawing on my chest," he said with a big smile.
"Water. I'm so thirsty. My mouth feels like the desert and I hate the desert as you well know."
Quincy went out to the kitchen and came back with a large multicolored plastic tumbler full of ice water. He held it up to her lips. She drank like a madwoman falling off the wagon.
"Easy," Quincy said, wiping the hair away from Madeline's eyes.
"Where are we?" she asked.
"Near the Oregon border. I found a nice rest stop where we can stay for the night."
Madeline reached down and felt her chest. There was a big bandage around the wound.
Quincy lifted the covers and inspected the dressing. "I think I probably should change that. We also need to get you to one of your doctors pretty quickly. All I've been putting on that wound is a little Neosporin. I think you should have better antibiotics than that and maybe even some stitches. In the meantime, we just need to keep everything really clean." He gently peeled back the dressing and set it on the nightstand. He lifted the first aid kit from the floor and set it on the bed. He dug out several large square bandages as well as some gauze. After cleaning the wound, he wrapped it securely. Slowly turning her on her side, he dressed the wound on her back. When he was done, he took away the old bandages and cleaned up the nightstand.
Madeline looked up at him and smiled. "You probably saved me, you know."
He didn't say anything and continued to fix the covers on the bed.
"However, you did disobey me. I told you to go join my forces."
He froze, thinking Madeline was going to chew him out…or worse. She tried on her warmest smile and told him she was grateful that he rescued her.
"Well, I just had a feeling," he said quietly. "I just wanted to cover your back."
Madeline started to laugh, but stopped abruptly when the pain in her wound flared. "Right now, you got my back covered and my front just fine." After another failed attempt at giggling, Madeline lifted her finger and motioned for him to come closer.
"Lean down here," she said with a feeble seductive tone. "I want to thank you properly."
Quincy sat on the edge of the bed and leaned closer. She pulled his shirt to draw him near. Their lips were close. "Quincy, you are a good man and I am thankful for what you did for me. I will always…um…"
She froze.
Love him? Could I really love someone?
That word has never been a part of my vocabulary since well…forever.
The following afternoon, Quincy drove the motor home up to Madeline's encampment in a large field north of Bend, Oregon. As the motor home approached the edge of the camp, several men came out to greet them. The motor home was equipped with several cameras around the rig. Madeline had a monitor near the nightstand that allowed her to see what was going on. She turned up the volume. Quincy, standing a few feet from the front door, reported that Madeline was sleeping and would welcome them later.
"Is it over?" one of the men asked. "Did she take care of Heckel?"
"Unfortunately, no. He nearly killed her." Quincy said.
Hearing the name Heckel infuriated her. She kicked the covers halfway off, trying to get up. A stabbing pain erupted from both open wounds and settled in. "Shit, shit, shit," she yelled, each word crescendoing. "Quincy, tell them to go away for now and I will hold a meeting in a few days."
One of the men muttered, "I take it things didn't go so well."
Madeline watched Quincy go back into the motor home and slam the door shut. He came back and saw her tangled in the bed sheets.
"Lay back down, or you are going to start the bleeding again," he said, helping her down. He brought the sheet and blanket up, tucking them under her chin.
"Those assholes. If I could stand, I'd-"
"Quiet. You need to remain-"
Before he could finish, someone entered the room.
Madeline peered around Quincy and saw Mr. Barker standing at the foot of the bed. She signed, making her wound throb, and thought, Oh fuck. This can't be good.
"Leave us," he said sternly. Quincy spun around ready to attack.
"Quincy, do as he says. I'll be fine. Maybe you should go check on…um…the generator. You said it was acting up."
Quincy glared at Barker as he left the bedroom.
Barker stood at the foot of the bed. Madeline pushed herself higher on the propped-up pillows, wincing in pain.