by Annie Berdel
“Beat them at their own game is what I always say,” Jack added.
“Oh, If I could just go back and fix my life knowing what I know now!” Angie sighed.
“Move forward, young lady. Help those who don’t get it and stop dwelling on the past. We have a lot of work to be done. This war isn’t over until the last battle is won.” Jack said seriously.
“War?” Angie asked.
“To live free like our ancestors fought for. To stop having Big Brother sticking his nose in where it doesn’t belong. To stop paying for $1600 toilet seats while people in this country are starving. To stop the entitlement mentality that is so prevalent in this society. To stop wars because we can make a buck off of them. To let people breathe without fear, to create without condemnation, to start loving each other without rejection,” Jack said.
“Wow, talk about a speech!” Angie laughed out. “But you’re right Jack. If it’s not us, then who?”
“It has to be us, it’s all the world has left,” Jack added.
They had reached the house and dismounted from the horses. Jack helped Scott down off his horse and checked his bandages. “All’s good!” he said, giving Scott the thumbs up.
“I’m going to go check on my wife. Make yourselves at home. Jack, you know where everything is at,” Mountain Man said. “You two can use the bedroom off the hallway with the blue walls. Jack knows where it is. Scott, you might want to go down lie down for a bit and rest.”
“Thanks for the hospitality,” Scott said as Mountain Man disappeared inside.
159
“Oh Shelby! What happened?” Ridley said as she sat on the edge of the bed.
“Just got in the way of Bella’s hoof. She meant no harm. It’s not her fault. Doc says I need to have it taken off as the damage is too extensive. So the plan is to take the blasted thing off tomorrow. You going to stick around for the show?” Shelby asked through tears.
Ridley reached over and gave Shelby a hug. Sticking her face in Shelby’s she started talking in a low voice. “I know I haven’t finished school yet and don’t have a fancy piece of paper, but could I look at it?”
“Well…I don’t …”
“Listen, a lot is going on in the medical world that your doctor here might not know anything about. When was the last time he learned anything new? When was the last time he was out of his four walls and saw the world and all the things that people are working on? Shelby, I mean no respect but he’s old school. Let me at least try. Please!” Ridley begged.
“Let her try, Mama,” Mountain Man said as he walked into the room and kissed Ridley on the top of the head. She was young enough to be his daughter but he had a fondness for her and her spunky spirit. Ridley reminded him a lot of his wife when she was younger.
Taking a deep breath, Shelby looked from Ridley to Mountain Man and then back again.
“Well, what do I have to lose? Oh! Just a foot!” she said trying to break the tension. “OK. Let’s do this thing!”
Ridley jumped up excitedly hugged Mountain Man and then they both leaned over and hugged Shelby. Ridley could do this. She had to do this. If there was anything she learned about in school it was repairing tissue. She seemed to have a knack for it, so she had gravitated to reconstructive surgery.
“I’m going to go scrub up and will be back. Where’s your medical supplies?” Ridley asked.
“What medical supplies?” Shelby asked.
“Oh come now. I know all about the little project you and my mama have been keeping to yourselves. Where’s the stash?” Ridley asked with her hands on her hips. She looked like she was twelve again, Shelby thought. All spice, attitude and mouth.
“Mountain Man, you want to show Lil Miss Know It All where the stash is?” Shelby said with the raise of an eyebrow.
“Sure thing, Mama,” he said as he motioned the way.
Shelby laid her head back against the pillow and closed her eyes. It was the first time in days that she had seen the glimmer of hope. Not necessarily about her leg, but the attitude and hope in the spirit of the young folks. “We just might be able to save this country,” she whispered to no one.
160
Nina stalked her in total silence, the wind masking any hint of her predatory existence. What the woman had would soon belong to Nina. Nina had dreamed of having the life this bitch had and now it was time to claim it for herself. After all, Nina was entitled to it since she was soon going to be reclaiming this fine cold, hard country underneath her belly right now. Might as well claim hold of this woman’s husband and everything else she loved. Served the bitch right for not showing Nina more respect.
Nina had worked hard for where she was in her life, well except for her ex. He just wouldn’t conform to her life anymore. Nina thought about Tomás. He was the kind of man who made women weep at night in bed, and Nina was tired of trying to scratch her own itch. She wanted to sink her teeth into him and devour his Latino blood. Fucking bitch was in the way though. Best she had gotten from him was politeness, and damnit, she wanted more. She knew he had it in him. She saw the way he looked at Emma. So the simple solution was little Miss Perfect needed removed from the scene so Tomás could weep in Nina’s bed.
Nina blinked the mist from her eyes. It was a good night for death. It was the same kind of night when her husband had died. He should have known. He should have read the signs. It’s not like Nina didn’t throw them in his face. How comfortable people get when they think the person they love most has their best interest at heart. It was a game now for Nina and she enjoyed the sport of it. Her training in the military had taught her well. He had succumbed to her advances; given her everything she had set out to get from him, especially monetary security. The kids were an added benefit and sealed the deal. Cute kids and all, she thought, but would be considered collateral damage if need be.
Emma’s blood running through Nina’s fingers would put the finishing touches on Nina’s dodecahedron of annihilation. This would be her last and final dispatching of life and Nina was planning on enjoying every last breath leaving Emma’s body.
She demanded respect wherever she went and this woman had the balls to buck that? Who the hell did that? Who did she think she was? Nina had men groveling at her feet like she was the last bit of chocolate placed before a hormonal female, so why not this sorry excuse for a woman? Agitated, Nina rolled slightly to her left and heard a branch break beneath her. Damn! She was better than that but this woman just pissed her off. She needed to be more careful or her plan could get messy. Narrowing her eyes to a blur of lashes, Nina watched as the woman stopped dead in her tracks.
Emma could feel the wind taunting her. Something was wrong.
Emma knew that feeling well living in an old house with stories to tell. She had felt the souls of those lost convulse between the jongleur walls of the homestead. She felt a presence here with her tonight, an existence that Emma sensed coveted evilness.
Pausing, Emma sent up a prayer of protection. Lifting her chin, she felt the surge of strength enter her body. She was a warrior. It was time for this battle to begin.
Slowing opening her eyes, she slowly turned back toward where she knew her adversary was waiting. Taunting him, she waited.
The nemesis took the bait and stepped forward. It was too much of a fascination, this woman standing here so boldly.
Emma gasped in disbelief. “Nina?” she questioned.
“I love an element of surprise,” Nina gloated. “I bet it won’t surprise you though when I say I want your life. I want your husband in my bed, making love to me as your memory fades from his little brain.”
Emma stood still, knowing the wrong move would be fatal. Let the woman talk, she said to herself. Instead, Emma concentrated on the woman’s taunting movements. She needed to figure out her weakness and allow Nina to play out her hand. She still had the element of shocked disbelief on her side and as long as the woman thought she was driving a wedge into her heart, it bought Emma time.
T
he woman kept talking, words rolling off of her tongue at an astonishing rate. She was cleansing herself, justifying the actions she was about to take. Her lust for blood was severely overriding all rational thought in her head. Emotions had a grip on her sanity and the high from the purge she was experiencing was a valorous kismet.
Emma waited. Silence wrapped itself around her like her grandmother’s quilt.
The moon exposed Nina’s secret first, glimmering off the blade of the knife she had hidden in her hand. Emma caught the reflection out of the corner of her eye. The fury brewing in her gut. Emma needed to control this anger or it would damage her soul. It would cause her to make a mistake that could cost her life. She was not misjudging the scene before her; this would end with blood spilt. Emma was determined that it would not be hers. The woman before her was a mess, divulging long kept secrets that should have been buried in her abysmal heart.
Nina brought the hilt down hard towards Emma, only to be caught off balance as Emma sidestepped. Nina tumbled forward but was able to recoup quickly, coming back around with another strike. This time finding flesh as Emma stuck her arm up to protect herself, the knife cut through her sleeve and opened a small gash.
Dixon came out of nowhere, putting himself between Emma and Nina. Her white knight. Her protector was here to fight to the death. His bark alerting everyone within earshot.
Nina calculated her move and drove the knife into his side, crimson staining his glorious white fur. He refused to give up the fight and grabbed her arm between his jaws.
Gasping in horror, Emma lunged towards Nina, only to be thrust backwards, hitting her head against a tree. Shaking her head, she couldn’t pass out now. She had to stay in this battle!
Grabbing another blade from her leg sheath, Nina dug in again, this time finding Dixon’s lung. Dixon let out a whimper and crumbled into the blood-soaked dirt, dragging Nina down with him. Nina digging the blade in deeper.
OH GOD! Emma’s mind was whirling as she saw Dixon laying on the ground motionless, Nina still on him. Emma grabbed the back of her hair and yanked Nina off of the dog, stepping around her to get to Dixon.
Nina just sat there and watched the woman in her wretchedness, trying to stop the blood draining the life from the mutt. A smile curved her lips as she saw her opportunity. Standing up, Nina raised the knife and visually acquired her target.
Just as the metal on the blade caught the moonlight, Nina heard the impassioned snarl from behind her. Turning slowly, Nina looked into the eyes of the captor of her mortality. With the lunge of a locomotive, the wolf leapt onto Nina, knocking her flat on her stomach, knocking the air from her lungs. The wolf found her vulnerability and sunk his teeth into her neck, ripping flesh and bone as it raised its head towards the moon. Emma’s tear-stained eyes looked at the beast, his lip snarling just before his howl wept into the night.
Silence crept in again as the wolf walked over to Dixon and began to lick his face, a quiet whimper escaping her throat. Emma stared on in silence. Was this where Dixon was spending his time, with this female? Were the puppies she had seen his? Lifting her head, her eyes locking with Emma’s as if she was reading her mind, the wolf turned her muzzle towards Emma’s house and let out a howl before she turned and melted into the night.
Emma quickly gathered her thoughts and knew she had to get Dixon help, the woman on the ground beside him was already dead and part of her neck ripped out from the tremendous strength the jaws of the wolf. She needed to get Dixon to Doc Scott’s without Nina’s henchmen seeing her. They shouldn’t be concerned about Nina until at least morning, thinking she was in bed asleep. She had one chance, the tunnels.
161
Emma grabbed the wheelbarrow from behind the barn and got Dixon loaded as gently as she could. Setting off, she made it into the woods that she knew and loved so well. The going was rough pushing a 150 lb. dog, but she made it to the entrance of the cave.
Not many people knew what existed below the ground under Emma’s property. Connecting her to each of her children’s homes, along with several neighbor’s homes, was a series of tunnels used by people who lived here in the 1800s. While the tunnels, or escape routes, were not literally underground, there were access levels to safe dwellings along multiple routes between homes. The tunnels themselves were usually not very long, but when Emma moved here, she opened them up, fortifying them, knowing that one day they would be put to good use. She knew that once the nation’s historians died off, America would once again repeat its mistakes, as few had learned from the errors of the past.
She hadn’t been down here in a very long time so it was slow moving. Glad she had a flashlight with her, she had several miles of darkness ahead of her to get to Scott’s house. From there, she needed to get his assistant somehow, hoping that she was staying at the house while Scott was with Angie in Tennessee.
Hours later, Emma emerged from the cave at the back of Scott’s property. One day she would have to tell him about this. Being as nosey as he was, she was surprised he hadn’t discovered it yet.
Downhill from there, Emma got Dixon to the house. He was still breathing but was obviously in tremendous pain as each breath was quiet and labored. “Please, please answer,” Emma whispered….
Emma was contemplating breaking into the house when Jane answered the door. “Yes!” Emma thought. “Jane, it’s Emma, I need your help!” she almost cried out.
“Well of course, dear, what in the world is going on?” she asked looking down at the white fluff in the wheelbarrow. “Is that Dixon?”
“Yes, he’s been hurt badly,” Emma replied.
“Hurry. Wheel him to the garage and we can get him in through there without too much trouble,” Jane said.
Emma pushed him towards the garage and Jane hurried ahead and pushed up the garage door. Wheeling him down a hall in the back of the garage, Emma pushed him into a dark room. Taking down some oil lamps on the shelf, Jane quickly got some light going in the room and set about getting the examination table ready for Dixon. Cranking the table as low as she could get it, she motioned for Emma to help her get Dixon lifted to the table.
Emma slid her hands under Dixon’s hips while Jane took his front shoulder and head. Ever so gently they tried, but neither could get him up there without causing him more pain. Jane ran from the room and came back in a few moments with her soporific husband rubbing his eyes. With all three of them in sync, they managed to get the dog up on the table. Jane’s husband went about making the dog comfortable while Jane quickly got to work getting her medical instruments. Listening to every inch of him, she informed the duo that she needed to get Dixon into X-ray as soon as possible and they couldn’t be in the room. Reluctantly, they both left. Jane’s husband put on a pot of coffee and both of them paced back and forth until Jane appeared.
Almost an hour had passed when she finally came out of the room.
“I think he’s going to be OK,” she said.
Emma melted into a puddle on the floor, tears finally busting through the tough composure that she had been grasping for all night. Jane knelt beside Emma and wrapped her arms around her, feeling Emma’s body unleash the fear that had manifested itself there. Motioning for her husband to grab a towel, Jane brushed the hair back from Emma’s face and handed her the soft cotton to weep into.
“Honey, what happened?” Jane asked.
Emma took a deep breath and looked up finally. For the next hour they talked about the events beforehand as they all watched over Dixon.
Content that she knew Dixon was in good hands, Emma knew she needed to get home before anyone noticed she was missing and before the sun came up to welcome the day. This was one day that Emma was not looking forward to.
Giving Dixon kisses all over his sweet face, and hugging deeply the loving people who would be watching over him, Emma made her way back to the cave. The trip home was much faster without having a dog to push. Feeling her way along the walls, Emma emerged from the exit with just the light from the moon.
Knowing these woods was a sense of relief as she made her way back to where Nina’s body was lying.
As she exited the woods, she saw the faint glow of multiple lights in the area where Nina should still be. Quickly back tracking, Emma made her way back into the tunnel. “Shit,” she said. She needed to get to the house before anyone found her. Feeling her way back along the wall, she finally found the indentation to the false door. Prying her fingers into the cracks, she pulled with all the strength she had left. This off shoot led to her basement and under the bench she used to store her root crops all winter. Piled with potatoes, squash and onions, she was wondering how hard it was going to be to to get the trap door to open and how quietly she could get it open. “Shit,” was all she could think as she made it to the end of the tunnel. There were voices coming from the room and she couldn’t quite make out what they were saying.
162
“Tell us what you know!” They were screaming at Tommy, blood dripping from his ear. Tying him to a chair, his arms pulled behind him and secured with handcuffs, the men in uniform were no longer friendly to their host.
Trying to focus, Tom looked around the room for something, anything that could help him. Racks of canning jars that Emma had filled over the summer from their garden covered several walls. Wooden crates of potatoes and squash lined another. Baskets of apples sat around the room from the fall harvest of their orchard. He was glad Emma talked him into putting in the orchard. The grandkids loved the applesauce she made every year for them, he thought. He was concerned about the location since there weren’t a lot of ways to water the trees there but once Emma showed him the benefits of adding swales, the trees were able to flourish in an area of the farm that once was impossible to grow anything.