Putting his head right up to her ear, he said, “Oh let me cut you out of these panties, and then the fun begins.” The bitch was whimpering quickly, sobbing and shaking her head. He looked up into her eyes, but she wasn’t looking at him, she was looking past him.
“Umm, Uncle Alton?” Craig stammered.
Alton turned to see a skinny pre-teen blonde girl staring him down. If this had been a grown man, Alton might have grabbed a weapon. She had murder in her eyes, it was a look Alton understood well.
“Well, lookee what the storm brought us Craig.” He turned toward the little girl, twirling the knife in his hand. “Have you come to give Uncle Alton some dessert? Uncle Alton is going to hurt you. You know that don’t you?” He moved closer to her with each word, and she just stood there, saying nothing. He was about three feet away from her and was just about to reach out and snatch her by the hair, when she spoke.
It was a simple word. She spoke it low, and curtly. All she said was, “Now.”
Alton reached for her and saw the pitbull clamp down on his outstretched arm. Any thought he had of fighting it off was stopped by the other dog that tore into his leg. A huge shepherd jumped over them and ran full steam at something behind him, he heard his nephew scream at just the moment when the pitbull let go of his arm. Alton reached to stop the blood spewing from the gash in his wrist, not having time to stop the huge gaping maw and gnashing teeth of the pit bull as it snapped its teeth into his exposed throat. The dog shook its head and ripped out the majority of the soft tissue in Alton’s neck. Alton Tooney, convicted rapist and sexual sadist, died before he hit the ground.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
Ted had run right into the clearing to the strangest sight. He saw a woman naked and tied up to a tree. He saw a man reach for Maxine, but before his rage could even rise in his throat, his daughter had mumbled something and the three dogs had attacked the two men. It was the most brutal attack he had ever seen, and he had served in four war zones. There was no way around it, he had just witnessed his ten-year-old daughter order her dogs on two unarmed men. He was petrified and weirdly proud, all at once.
He realized right away how ridiculous the situation was. The men seemed to be actually in the process of raping a woman, and for all he could tell, somehow his little girl had known, had run to the woman’s rescue and had unleashed the hounds of hell on her attackers. Then it was over. He saw Max reach down and pat the pit bull, which at that moment was cleaning the blood off its fur. The Shepherd had ripped the innards out of the other man, who sat on the ground, holding his own entrails, dying in front of their eyes. The dogs were as docile as they had been vicious just moments earlier. The rain itself was cleaning their fur.
He was standing there stupefied as Rich inched past him and untied the woman from the tree and took his coat off to cover her. His little girl was back to normal that quickly also. She walked up and threw her arms around her father’s leg.
“It’s okay, Daddy.” That little angelic face looked up at him and smiled a calm smile, “I saved her.” Then Maxine and the dogs started a slow walk back to the house.
Rich was helping the woman walk in the same direction, back toward the house and passed within a foot of Ted, who was just standing there stupefied.
“Come on, buddy,” the pastor offered, “We can figure it out back at the house.”
The man who was trying to push his intestines back into the gaping wound the dog had created looked up and reached a hand out for help. Ted had seen what they were up to, anyone with two eyes could see it. And there was nothing he could do for the man. He turned and walked back to his house. Whether from the rain muffling the sound, or because the man no longer had an intact diaphragm, Ted never heard a peep out of the man as he walked back or any other time. Ted didn’t know it, but Craig Tooney died within moments of watching Ted walk away.
Ted walked into his living room and saw his wife doting over her daughter, while Kate and Natalee were attending to the woman Rich had brought in. Beth looked at him with a look of query and all Ted could do was shrug. He walked over to his daughter and knelt down so that he could look her right in the eyes.
“Maxine,” he said, trying to wipe away the fear and confusion he was feeling, “I need you to tell Daddy about the dogs and how you knew to save that lady.”
Kayla looked up at her husband, and was forming a rather serious angry retort, when their daughter spoke. Everyone in the room went silent, except for the continued sobbing of the woman.
“They are my friends, Daddy, I told you that.”
Ted was seeing more to the picture than he had before, he knew there was more. “But they are more than that right?”
“Yeah, I guess so. Princess says she is in my pack, and Rex and Snickers joined after that. We are like a family, like our family, only different.”
Ted looked out at the dogs on the porch, where they lay, just like before they ran to the woman’s rescue. “Honey, how does Princess talk to you?”
Max looked up at him like these were very strange questions. “In my head, Daddy. Dogs can’t make words like you and me. Don’t be silly.”
Ted was having a hard time with this, but no one else was talking, or even moving. “And Princess told you that the lady was in trouble.”
“I don’t know how to say it, is it important?” Max was clearly done with this line of questioning.
Kayla spoke up, “please answer your father’s questions, sweetie. We need to know.”
Max thought for a minute. “It isn’t words. It is smells, and sounds, and feelings. It wasn’t Princess, not at first. Snickers smelt the fear, and the bad guys, they smelled like, well, like bad. Do you know what I mean?”
Ted nodded. “Okay honey, will you do Daddy a favor and tell me if you need to go, or if the dogs, your pack, let you know anything else?”
Max looked completely bored, like this was a crazy approach, “But they send me these messages all the time, I mean all the time. Do you want me to tell you all of them?”
Ted hugged his daughter, he didn’t know what was going on. “I guess just the important ones.”
Max squeezed him, “It’s okay daddy, I will protect you. My pack is strong. There are more dogs out there, they are wandering and have no pack. Is it okay if I add them to the pack?”
Ted peered into this tiny girl’s eyes, “Can you control them baby?”
Max just laughed at this, “They are me, Daddy.” She wandered back to her room. Ted looked back out at the dogs and a large Rottweiler walked out of the woods and lay down on the porch next to the others.
Ted called out, “Maxine?”
The sweet voice of his only daughter called out from her room, “Her name is Queenie.”
Ted looked around at the rest of the people in the room, who bore the same incredulous look on their faces that Ted assumed was plastered across his.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Kyle walked in the single-file line they had made following his Dad’s lead, through the pouring rain, up the highway toward where he hoped his mother and sister were. Through the rain he could see Erica walking close to Adam, and could see just how oblivious Adam was to Erica’s advances. He was typical of many of his Dad’s friends. He was honest, straight-forward, hyper-capable and completely clueless to interpersonal relationships. Adam was the youngest of his Dad’s friends and Kyle had always been fond of him. A man in his mid-thirties, accomplished combat veteran, who was as kind as the day is long. Jesus, Adam, he thought, Does the girl have to throw herself at you? Kyle smiled to himself and shook his head.
Kyle, on the other hand, was not clueless where the opposite sex was concerned. He knew Jessica had liked him, even before all of this happened. He thought she was exceedingly beautiful, but was not yet over his two-and-a-half-year relationship with Mary, his high school sweetheart. She had gone off to school in Portland, and they had chosen not to stay together. It was hard, even though he knew it was right for both of them. The idea of
starting anew with another girl was just not in his interests at the moment, even if she did walk as close to him as Erica was walking to Adam. His family had never liked Mary, always saying that she played games with him. Kyle didn’t see it that way.
Kyle had chosen to bring up the rear of the group, and Jess had dropped back to walk with him. The night before, she had conveniently made her sleeping spot right next to his. His Dad had given him a big knowing grin at that, it was one of the bad things about having someone with Calvin Ward’s gifts as a father, nothing was ever secret.
They didn’t really have far to go before their next stop, just up ahead about a mile and a little to the east. The difficulty was this damn rain. It was hard to see through. The mud, and run-off made you feel like you were walking through quicksand and made your clothes very heavy. The wet clothes were also not doing wonder to his underwear, he was chafing something fierce. He was pulled out of his thoughts when Jess tried to make conversation with him.
“Your dad,” she said, “He is pretty smart, huh?”
Kyle nodded, “smartest man I have ever known. He may be one of the smartest anyone has ever known, I don’t know. People have always put a lot of stock in what he says.”
“Do you think he is right about it taking a long time before the power comes back on?” She looked at her feet, she didn’t sound that disappointed.
“He is usually right. He really will explain it when we get to where we are going, he doesn’t promise unless he can deliver.” Kyle wasn’t just saying that. His father only made commitments when his plan was to ensure them. He believed his word meant something, it was something you didn’t see that often any more. “You can count on him telling us why he thinks what he thinks. Then he will let you decide if you believe it. He will never judge you for not believing it.”
“Wow,” she said, a big smile crossing her face, “you really like him.”
“Well, he is my Dad.” Kyle said with a grin.
He could just barely hear Erica and Adam talking to each other up ahead, this rain was both a loud noise, and it muffled any sounds one might otherwise hear. They trudged on through the rain and wind and he could see the school, or at least an outline of the school, up ahead. Ellen, the server from Adam’s job, was out in front of the group. She had a great attitude and always seemed to have a smile or an uplifting word. Kyle had liked her immediately. As he stared up through the haze caused by the rain, Kyle saw Ellen start to cross over a little part of the road where the water was running pretty heavily into a drain. Involuntarily, he started to move forward and could see his Dad doing the same. She must know that wasn’t safe.
Kyle ran past Adam, right on his Dad’s heels. They were both shouting out to Ellen not to cross the water without help. She turned to look at them, the water was up to her knees now. She smiled and was about to shout something back, when she went down into the water. People who weren’t used to streams and rivers always underestimated the power of that water. Rain runoff in the street was essentially a fast-moving stream and was more powerful than a human. As he and Cal ran up to the edge of the water, Ellen tried to raise herself up. He knew what she was thinking, the water wasn’t even two feet deep, she should be fine. But she wasn’t fine, and the Wards knew it.
Ellen steadied herself a bit and began to walk slowly toward them, fighting against the current. Cal was reaching into the pack on his back for climbing rope, when she went down again, this time the water tumbling her over and over. She was on all fours, the water rushing over and against her. Kyle could tell she was strong and working hard to get up, but the first attempt probably took all of her energy. Cal had finished tying the rope around himself and Kyle had wrapped the other side of the rope twice around his body to stabilize himself when he felt Adam grab him around the waist to anchor him. Cal started to inch out into the water toward her, and she rolled over, disappearing from sight. They all stood there looking for her and Cal pointed to the drainage pipe, where all of this water was headed. All five of her companions rushed down to where the pipe was, there was a way to cross the water there. They couldn’t see her, the water was dark and full of mud and debris. Having the safety rope around his waist, Cal waded out into the water which at this point was up to near his crotch. The pull on the rope was incredible, it began to cut into Kyle’s skin.
There was no sign of her. Somewhere in this twenty yards of rushing water, their companion was under the water, being rolled over in it, unable to see through it, unable to breathe. It was a terrifying thought.
Adam shouted out, “Cal, get out of the water. You won’t find her in there.”
Cal began to wade back to the edge of the street, almost falling himself three times, until his son reached out and pulled him to safety. They both sat on the ground as the rain washed over them. Adam, Erica and Jessica ran up and down the water, looking for any sign of Ellen. Four or five minutes later, Erica sank to her knees and cried out, “No!”
They all ran to where Erica was kneeling. There, in the water, sort of floating, but clearly stuck on something was the body of Erica’s friend. She was face down, and no longer struggling. With a sad look on his face, Cal stood and waded into the water there, while Adam braced himself as the anchor on the shore. Cal pulled Ellen’s foot out of something it was caught on and dragged her limp body to the side. After Cal and Ellen were on shore, Adam began mouth to mouth and CPR. It was to no avail. Adam felt for a pulse one more time and then called it. Ellen died in two feet of rainwater. She was vibrant, happy and beautiful. Now, she was dead, and it brought a clarity to how precarious their situation really was.
They all kneeled by her body, oblivious of the rain still pouring down around their heads. They sat there for more than ten minutes before anyone spoke. Erica and Jessica both sobbed.
“What are we going to do with her?” Erica said quietly.
No one said anything. Kyle felt certain his dad had an answer, but for some reason wasn’t saying it.
“You just want to leave her here, don’t you? Leave her in the middle of the road?” Erica was looking right at his Dad. Calvin Ward kept silent, his head bowed and his eyes closed.
“Erica, what else are we going to do?” It was Adam who spoke up in answer. “How are we going to carry her? If we could have got a cart back there, maybe we could put her in it and push her to the school.”
“Cross, that is enough.” Cal opened his eyes, with tears welling up, he looked right at Erica. “I never have, and never would, leave a soldier behind. Ellen was a soldier to me, you all are. We either find a place to bury her, to give her rest, or we carry her with us.”
Kyle thought this was crazy. “Dad we can’t,” he interjected, “We don’t have the strength. What would we do with her at the school? Wouldn’t it be best to leave her for anyone coming along?”
“Sarge,” Adam started, “I am with Kyle here, we can’t take her with us.”
“Okay, Adam. You decide. What do we do?” Cal’s words were a shock to Adam, but Kyle had sort of seen it coming. Cal put it back on Adam, so Erica could see it as a good thing to do. She had conflicting emotions, her admiration of Adam and her feeling of helplessness about her friend. The truth is there were no good answers, and Cal knew it.
Adam looked down and then reached out for Erica’s hand, “I think we should bury her in the soft dirt up here, but we have no way to mark it. How do you think she would want to be honored?”
Erica laughed, surprising even his Dad, who turned and looked at her like she might have lost her mind. But Erica was smiling as she said, “We actually talked about that. Isn’t that weird? A few weeks ago, we had both watched a Zombie show on TV and we talked about what we wanted to be done to us if we died. She told me she wanted to be left for the animals. She said it was, umm, “the circle of life” or something like that.” Erica wiped away the tears in her eyes, even though her eyes were still filled with rain seconds later. “We leave her here; it is what she wanted. She would have liked that. I am
sorry for being difficult.”
Cal walked up and put his hand on her shoulder. “You don’t need to ever apologize for standing up for your friends. I hope to count myself as one of them someday.”
Erica smiled, as she and Adam folded Ellen’s arms across her chest as they did to people who have passed. Erica ran her fingers across Ellen’s hair. “Bye, girl. Hope to see you on the other side.” Erica sniffled and Adam put his arm around her to comfort her.
Kyle looked at the two of them. It wasn’t a romantic gesture from Adam, he knew that, but he wasn’t sure it wouldn’t be romantic for long. Adam’s care for her was enough to sway any woman, and Erica was already head over heels for him. The five remaining members of the group walked on.
Ironically, it only took about fifteen minutes to get to the school. The light was fading fast as they came up to the front doors. There was an overhang, but it wasn’t any better than Target’s had been.
Erica pulled on the doors and they rattled, the sound echoed inside the building. “I went to school here.” She said.
“Me too,” Kyle offered, “weird way to come back.”
Erica thought for a moment and looked at Kyle. “When you were here, did you ever break into the tech entrance to the theater?” Kyle shook his head. “Do you know where it is? Around the side?”
“Yeah.” Kyle had heard of people doing that. “I don’t know if they fixed it since I left a couple of years ago, but you could still hit that door hard and the lock would pop back then. Wait here.”
Kyle ran over around the side and up to the stage entrance in the back of the building, near the baseball diamond. Kyle had been told about this when he was a freshman at the school, but he had never taken advantage of it. It was mostly something the stoners did, which gave him a new view of his new friend Erica. As he had been told years ago, he lowered his shoulder and rammed it against the door in an upward fashion. The door just popped open. He wasn’t sure how to get through the building in the dark, so he ran back around to get the group and led them back to the door. They all went inside. It was dark, but it was warm and dry. The door was even three steps up, so no water was flooding the room.
Age of Mystics (Saga of Mystics Book 1) Page 7