by Cherry Kay
Ted laughed, loudly. He didn't just laugh, he threw his head back and guffawed so the ceiling shook.
“Well, isn't that a sweet thing to say to people that have just helped you out of the goodness of their hearts? Isn't that just the kind of thing that we thought might happen after we lent you things like the warmth of a fireplace. No, not lent, gave freely of, even though we needed them. It's that we, unlike yourself, having been working and storing away so that when someone walks into our cabin out of a whiteout we can provide. But here you are, being ungrateful and raving like you were yesterday.”
The man stood. The coffee cup broke into shards in his shaking hand. The bowl cracked as it hit the floor.
“You don't know fucking shit about me, so you shut your fucking mouth. You're just like everyone else, you know that!” the man said.
The man started to sway like he was drunk as his voice rose to a volume so loud Tina could barely keep from plugging her ears.
“And here you are, in my land, telling me I'm some vagrant. Well excuse me, Mr. High and Mighty. I had no idea you created this range of mountains and the trees and the snow and the sun above. Here I was, one of God's humble creatures, trying to hide. And instead of keeping me safe, you are putting me right out where I'll be found.”
Ted smiled triumphantly.
“I knew you were hiding,” Ted said. “I didn't want to tell Tina when you first stumbled into our door, but I figured that. I just wanted to be sure before we gave you the boot. I also knew you were awake this morning, listening to us talk. You're like a child who wants to manipulate; you try to confuse the adults to pull a fast one on us. Well, looky here, buddy, that just isn't going to happen.”
The man lunged across the table at Ted, but wasn't fast enough. Before he could get his claw like hands on Ted, Ted had landed several stunning blows to the man's face, so that he lay face down on the table without moving.
“And what was that talk about your kid, yesterday, huh?” Ted said as he drew a long steak knife out of a drawer. “You think that I don't remember your gibber gabber from yesterday? Well I do! And I'm curious to know whatever happened to your poor child? How did you lose him? Was it to sickness? Or did you do something?”
The man on the table reanimated and pushed himself off so he stood again on the floor.
“You shut the fuck up about my son! You don't know anything about him. And yes, I'm looking for him, you see,” the man said. “When I got back from the war,, things had changed. He'd been living with his mother too long and started to believe her lies. When I got back he was different and he didn't want to be around me. He said that he didn't want anything to do with a man who'd gone overseas to kill innocent people for no reason.”
The man started to sob and covered his face with his hands. Tina looked over at Ted, but instead of seeing fear or fury, she saw the dawning of recognition across his face.
“I . . . I know you,” Ted said. “I've known you for years. You're Decker. You were part of my Machine Gun section in Iraq, except you were third squad and I was first. Holy fucking shit.”
Ted looked white as a sheet. Decker was crying harder than ever. His sobs sounded alien, animal. Clearly his identity was something he was struggling with. He stumbled toward the door and fumbled with the latch while he wept.
“You were a good man then, I remember,” Ted said.
When Tina looked over at him he held the knife by just a scant finger hold, as it dangled from his right hand. Ted leaned heavily on the kitchen counter top, his eyes unfocused as he went back to Iraq. She'd seem him like this before, when he remembered. It wasn't like just calling up things that had happened, it was like going back.
“You were there,” Ted said softly. “The night the Forward Operating Base was overrun. They called general quarters as the insurgents swarmed the wire. Rockets soared over the FOB, some of them finding their marks on guard towers. And you held the line with the rest of us as we went hand to hand, hooking and jabbing with the enemy!”
Ted's voice was a roar. He took a few staggering steps toward Decker like he wanted to grab him and shake him back to the man that he used to be, but Tina could tell from the look on Ted's face that he knew that wasn't possible now.
“And even though we lived through that night, you weren't the same,” Ted's voice was quiet now. “And though you'd held true, something had broken in your mind. Something deep inside you had seen the bloodshed up close and blanched, and though your body held, your mind crumbled. You were sent home to recover and I never saw you again. Until now.”
Decker whirled around when his hand finally found the way to grab the latch so it turned.
“You think you're some kind of hero because you stayed over there and kept fighting,” Decker said. “But what kind of bravery is it to cower on the strong side of razor wire while drones and air-strikes rip a country apart? Huh? You think you're some kind of fucking hero! You aren't shit!”
Decker ran out the door.
For a moment it looked like Ted would follow him, and not just out the door, but to the ends of the earth. Tina was glad when the moment passed and Ted sat down heavily on a chair, like he was going to collapse from exhaustion.
“My God,” he said. “My God, my God, my God. What has happened to him?”
Tina put a hand on Ted's shoulder.
“What do you think happened to his son?”
“I'm not sure,” Ted said. “I think he probably lost him. Hell, I think Decker is a wild man in the mountains now, trying to live a life as far away from the real world as possible. And that's fine. But it's a sure fire way to get your visiting privileges revoked by a judge.”
The next few hours they tried to keep busy around the cabin. Neither wanted to talk for a while. What had just happened was too surreal to dismiss but so far from normal that when they remembered it they couldn't help but ask themselves if it had really just happened. When there was a knock at the door, both of them jumped.
“Come in, officer,” Ted said. “Have a seat at the table. Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“Absolutely,” the State Patrolman said. “I'd love one. Also, I need to ask you folks if you've seen a man that looks homeless about.”
Ted froze as he poured the coffee and the hot brown liquid slopped over the side of the cup and onto his hand. Ted yanked his hand back with a yelp.
“Here you go,” Ted said. “And yes, we just did. His name is Decker. His last name anyway. I served with him in Iraq. Now it seems he's completely crazy. He was just here a few hours ago and I told him to take a hike. There's something not right about him and I didn't feel safe with him around, you understand I'm sure.”
“You don't need to defend your decision to me,” the patrolman. “Things can get pretty real out here in the mountains. It's no place to entertain a crazy person's delusions. And you were very right to send him away, he's a dangerous man. When he got back from the war, he was all messed up in the head and did some time in the local VA in-patient clinic. For a while he was all right, but then something happened. You see, sometimes when people are healing from psychological trauma they conjure up something in their head that I'll refer to as a sock puppet. That's not a clinical term, I'm a layman on head science, but bear with me. You see, he was having a real hard time with what you guys had to do over there, so when he got back he imagined that he had a wife and a son, and that the wife had turned the son against him. He started becoming violent and was transferred to an asylum type place. It isn't like you think, the people there are barely under lock and key. It's way up in the mountains, in a very remote spot. There almost isn't anywhere to run to. But a few days ago, Decker made a break for it, leaving behind a note of jumbled English talking about how he was going to find his son.”
The patrolman sipped his coffee and looked at the two people in front of him.
“Well, officer,” Ted said. “If I see him again what do you want me to do?”
“Just stay away from him,” the man sai
d. “I think seeing you has probably made him even worse off. Who knows how far gone he is now. I think things are going to get bad with him quickly.”
“Why do you think that?” Ted asked.
“It's just what I've seen before,” the patrolman said. “When a person's mind breaks they don't want to feel helpless they want to feel powerful. So sometimes they act out, like a kid breaking windows to feel better, except a whole lot worse.”
Ted nodded his head grimly.
“Do you think we'll be good to stay the night here, or should we risk the roads back to Denver?” he asked.
The patrolman almost spit out his coffee.
“No! Do not try to make it through the roads. Are you crazy! I didn't come up here in a car, I'm in a kind of snow crawler, I don't know what it's actually called, but it's got treads and a heater. It had coffee in it too until I drank it all.”
Ted chuckled.
“I take it that the thing gets pretty cold,” he said.
“You're damn right it does,” the officer said. “But listen, I've got to get going. Now I really have to check on every God damn house and cabin on this side of the mountain. Tell me, do you think that Decker is going to do something awful. You know him better than I do. And you got to know the real Decker while I just got to know the husk of a man that is forever bitter about something that didn't even happen.”
Ted sat silently while seconds ticked by. The officer glanced at Tina uncomfortably.
“Look, I'm sorry if I'm opening old wounds,” he said. “I don't need an answer. It might not even matter.”
“No, no. It's fine,” Ted said. “And yes, I think Decker is dangerous. I'd treat him very carefully if I were you. There is something very wrong with him, something I can't really put my finger on, you know? Besides the whole being off-his-rocker nuts. He's for sure not the same guy. He almost seems more like an adolescent now.”
Ted paused, then spoke again.
“I'll tell you this much, I don't want him around me, Tina, or this cabin, at all. Nothing against the man I used to know, and I hope he gets better and returns to who he used to be. But I'm not taking any chances. He tried to attack me while he was here. We had an argument and he lunged at me.”
The officer nodded grimly.
“That's what I thought,” he said. “Well, you two be careful. If someone knocks on the door it might be best to not open it and ask how they are through a cracked window or something.”
Ted walked the officer back to his vehicle. When he returned he seemed somewhat relieved.
“Well at least there is someone out here looking for him,” Ted said. “I know that might sound weird to hear but it makes me feel better knowing that I'm not just throwing him to the wolves.”
Tina walked over and hugged Ted tightly.
“Ted, you aren't letting anyone down by taking care of me and you. You can't fix Decker. I don't know what happened to you guys over in Iraq exactly, but I know enough to know that I will never really understand what you went through. I've never really known hardship and you have. I just hope you can understand that I get you've been through things that I can only watch movies about. And please know that I'll never judge you for opening up, for what you say, that is. And I'll never judge you if you have a hard time adjusting.”
Ted kissed her on the mouth, first softly, but then more aggressively. Tina, wound up from the day's excitement, kissed him back hard. They both walked as best they could toward the bed as they stripped clothes off and ran their hands up and down each other's bodies.
“God, Ted, you're so sexy,” she said. “I'm so glad that you're here to take care of me. I don't know what I'd do without you.”
“Don't worry, Tina,” Ted said. “No matter what happens I'll always be here for you. I'm never going to let you down or put you second. Thanks for putting up with my soft heart today. Maybe you were right and we shouldn't have let Decker in.”
Tina didn't really want to talk about Decker anymore. She could feel how wet she was as she tugged on Ted's quickly thickening cock. She couldn't wait to ride it. Tina pushed Ted on the bed and started to blow him. Her head bobbed up and down on his cock while she tried her best to create an airtight vacuum over his dick. She knew that was how he liked it.
“Fuck yes, baby,” Ted said. “Hell fucking yes. Keep sucking my dick like that. Keep going. God you feel so fucking good. I love your hot mouth, baby. There is nothing better in the world than being inside of you.”
As soon as Ted's dick looked angry, as it throbbed while its veins bulged, Tina mounted him in one smooth motion. Sometimes, when she wasn't as turned on, she would have to slowly work herself onto Ted's big dick. Not this time though. She was more than ready to take Ted's massive, thick, throbbing cock. Ted's eyes rolled up in his head as Tina started to ride him, her golden body shimmering as she worked up a sweat, her big breasts heaving. Ted reached up and tweaked her nipples, then pinched them hard, just like she liked.
“Spank me, Ted,” she said. “That's right. Just like that. Spank me again. Fuck yeah!”
Ted gave her sharp stinging slaps to her big ass as she bounced it up and down on his dick. She loved fucking Ted, he was always such a giving lay. Whatever she wanted to do, he was down to do.
She always wondered why that was so hard to find in a man.
“God you're fucking hot,” Ted said. “Flip around and ride me, reverse cowgirl.”
Tina did as she was told and rode Ted while she faced his feet, being sure to really put on a show while he watched her pussy lips stretch out over his swollen member. The best part about fucking Ted was how he filled her up. So many guys that she had been with before him just didn't have a big enough cock, not just long, but thick as well. Ted had a nice thick cock that was also long, so he never disappointed her.
“Fuck yeah, baby,” Ted said as he slapped each of her ass cheeks. “You ride that fucking dick just like you should. I know you've been waiting all day to fuck me. Some of the looks you've been giving me could melt wax.”
Ted was right about that, Tina had been waiting for the officer to leave so they could fuck. But after the officer had left she'd had to wait even more because the mood hadn't been right. She didn't want Ted to be all sulky, she wanted him to want her. She knew that he did, but it was just one of those things that women like to feel. And Tina was no exception. She wanted to feel like Ted needed her right then and there, no waiting. She wanted to feel like if she didn't keep fucking Ted that he wouldn't know what to do, that he'd go as crazy as Decker and roam the mountains.
“Oh, baby,” Ted said. “I don't know how much longer I'm going to last.”
Tina didn't care, though, as she was about to come herself. She saw flashing lights as wave after wave of pleasure rocked through her. She moaned and rubbed her clit while she rode Ted. Ted kept slapping and squeezing her ass as hard as he could. When her orgasm finally stopped, Ted grabbed her hips and thrust his throbbing cock in her pussy as quickly as he could. Tina could feel his big cock pulsing his spunk inside of her. She loved every second of it.
When they were done, they lay side by side for a long time. Tina stroked Ted's face as he lay with his eyes closed, relaxing. She didn't want to bring up Decker but she figured that it would be a smart thing to discuss before Ted passed out and was dead to the world.
“What if he comes back, Ted? What do we do?”
“I've thought about that a little bit,” Ted said. “And I think that if he does come back it'll be to get in here and get to us. There are only two windows in this old log cabin and they are up at the front of the place by the door. So I feel pretty safe about sleeping in bed. If he tries to break in, or force his way in through the door, we'll have to defend ourselves as best we can.”
“We could use the fire extinguisher,” Tina said. “I don't know how it works in real life, if it's actually useful in a fight, but in movies I've seen people spray the stuff inside to create a fog, then hit someone in the head.”
Ted nodded.
“That isn't a bad idea at all,” he said. “You grab that thing and use it while I break a leg off a chair and swing it like a club.”
Tina got up and locked the doors, then padded back to bed. As she lay there she remembered what she had wanted to talk to Ted about during this trip.
“What do you think about having our parents get together, Ted,” Tina asked. “Not for a holiday, but just to spend some time together. I know it won't be easy to get them in the same place at the same time, and they may never really accept our union if we get married, but I think we should try.”