by Smith, T. L.
The coyotes lapped it up. There were hidden pools in the mountains and Surveyors Tank actually had a trough set up, but they’d earned my tribute. While they drank I opened the jerky. Smelling meat, they left the water after getting their laps and circled me. “So now I’m a coyote whisperer too?”
Of course they didn’t answer. They were salivating over the bag. I gave them each a chunk and they trotted off into the dark, happy with their rewards. “Mom, you got a lot of explaining to do.”
As much as I wanted to call her, I had to get my ass out of here. I tossed my backpack into the seat next to me as I got into the truck. The empty seat. A wave of grief boiled up again, but I had to keep under control. I had to get off the range.
Instead of giving in, I pulled my spare pistol out, the standard issue Beretta M9, double-checking the safety and shoving it between the seats where I could reach it in an instant. From my holster I removed my Sig Sauer 226 and jammed it in front of the Beretta. They’d stay put on the rough roads. I shifted the truck into gear and pulled out from behind the tree.
I couldn’t turn my lights on, not yet, but the moon was nearly full and the sky clear, lighting the desert enough for me to guess where the remains of the old road were. Going slow, the bouncing wasn’t as bad, but it wore on me. My leg hurt. After four or five miles I pulled my burner phone out and stuck it into the phone holder Billy installed on the dash. I pressed the auto-call for Casey.
Immediately he picked up. “Where the hell are you?”
“Lutz is dead. They killed him.”
“Are you all right? Where are you?” He still sounded pissed, but concerned.
“We had to go back and take a look. I’m sorry.” I grunted through a washed out section of the road, bouncing. “I’m about ten miles southeast of Butler pass. I’m going to try to take the old range road from there back to the maintenance road. You gotta meet me. I’m in Billy’s truck. Please hurry.”
“Are you hurt?” Casey said it louder, slower.
“I’m… I got grazed along my leg, but there’s something going on. I can’t explain it. Just meet me.”
“I’ll be there.” He wasn’t shouting at me. “What else can I do?”
My mind jumped around. I was tired. Way more tired than I should be. “Just be there, please.” Off to my left I could see the splattering reflection the moonlight made against the foothills of the Butler Mountains. “I love you.”
“I love you too. Be careful.”
I disconnected before he said anything else. Focusing my eyes on this dark road.
A pass ran between the Butler Mountains. An old range road from back in the twentieth century. There was a radar installation up there for training the pilots to avoid Triple-A and SAM missiles.
Now there was a goat herder hut. A little pre-fab structure they used when they had free run of the range during the spring. If I had to stop, that was where Casey would come looking for me.
I didn’t want to stop. Another mile or two. I just had to find the trail that connected the two ranges.
It wasn’t so hard in the moon-splashed desert. A pile of rocks made the marker. The clock on the dash said it was nearly ten at night, meaning it had taken me over an hour to drive twelve miles.
I turned at the marker and was immediately rewarded by a smoother road. Not a lot smoother, but the locals did their best to fill in areas that washed out every monsoon. I wasn’t being jolted so hard that the only thing preventing a concussion was my seatbelt. I gave the old truck more fuel and started the climb into the pass. If I could get over the top of it, I could turn my lights on.
I made it to the top of the pass and slid over onto the other side. I waited just a few more minutes, then flipped on my lights. I couldn’t believe I’d gotten so far. They must have really thought I was dead. Maxi was going to be really pissed when I came back to kill him.
CHAPTER
14
I cringed at making light of the creature that came out of that building. Maxa’xak. A tap of another auto-call got my mother. “Who and what is Maxa’xak?”
“They are our blood enemy.” I expected her to put me off, but she kept talking. “You learned the legends of a giant snake rising from the water to eat people. They are destroyers, possessors. For centuries upon centuries the Star People have pursued them, one by one, fulfilling our one true duty. To kill them and protect the People.”
Two days ago I would have laughed. “It’s still a fu…nasty giant snake” I caught myself from swearing. Even several hundred miles away, her tongue-lashing could be as painful as the real thing. “Those guys we ran into yesterday are abducting the illegals and giving them to him. I saw it for myself. What is he, really?”
“You went back? You were supposed to wait for your brothers.” Now mom sounded scared and angry. “Did it see you? Did those men see you?”
“Yes, I… I got away, but they think I’m dead at the bottom of a ravine, next to… my friend.” My voice cracked. “Mom, what’s going on?”
“If they’re with him, they’re not men. Not anymore. Wherever you are, get somewhere safe. Your brothers left Dateland about fifteen minutes ago. Don’t do anything else until they’re with you. Do you hear me, Din’ah?”
So much for skipping the tongue lashing.
“Yes, mom, I hear you.” A part of me was mad. I was nearly thirty, a Marine. I didn’t need them rescuing me, another part of me was relieved they were close. “Mom, why am I glowing?”
“Oh my god, this is happening too fast.” Now she sounded frightened instead of angry.
“Mom!” I yelled at the phone to get her attention as she rambled to herself.
“Okay…” She yelled back at me. “It’s part of your Rising, Din’ah. Your Spirit sensed the danger you’re in and has awakened. Don’t fight it, but don’t go chasing the Maxa’xak until you can fully summon her.” She sounded almost panicked. “Don’t do anything else until I get there. Your father will be here in an hour and we’ll head that way. Don’t reveal yourself to those men!”
I glanced at the time displayed on the phone. Eleven. She’d not get here until four in the morning. Daylight would be around five. “I can’t promise anything, Mom. I have a duty to do something. My friend is still… Mom, coyotes are guarding his body. Rattlesnakes protected me when I climbed into their den. What’s all that?”
She hesitated and I could hear her taking a deep breath. “There’s not time to fully explain, but they recognized you as one of the Star People. They will protect your friend.” She sighed. “I’ll explain everything tomorrow. I love you, Din’ah.”
“No, mom, don’t hang up! I’m tired and I’m… scared. I need to stay awake. It’s at least an hour before Casey finds me.” I reached out, turning the phone volume up. “Tell me all the secrets you’ve been keeping from me.”
She did. “You know the ancient myths of Star People. The Ci’inkwia. Sometimes called Thunderbirds. And of Maxa’xak, the dark horned serpent Spirit. They went by different names too, with many tribes across the country.”
“Ciinkwia. I’ve heard those stories too. But the myths didn’t always describe the Thunderbirds as too nice either. They seemed to arbitrarily kill people.”
“No. Those we killed were humans the Maxa’xak used to serve as hosts for its young. They were no longer alive. The first thing the larvae did was eat into their brains and nervous systems, taking over the bodies. The Ci’inkwia can sensed the monster under human flesh. That’s what happened to you. That ‘ghost’ you saw possessing that man.”
“Jeeters. He’s in charge of the men, or whatever they are.”
“His evil Spirit was strong enough to force the Rising of your Star Spirit, which means it is close to maturity. A new Maxa’xak is almost ready to leave its host.
“Mom, how many of these things are around?”
“How many men did you see?”
“Eight the first time, but there could be more.”
Mom let out a worried groan. �
�Few larvae actually live to maturity, which is why they’re abducting illegals.”
I counted in my head. “That’s horrific. Casey went out on a call about a truckload of illegals dumped in a stolen truck. It was these same men… monsters. I think there might also be one or two on the base. They knew things they shouldn’t.”
“No. The young can’t be separated by more than thirty miles from the parent. They’re telepathically linked to regulate their growth. Longer than a day of separation the larva starts to consume their host, very quickly. I’m talking zombie-flesh boils and peeling.”
“Zombies.” In my head I saw her shiver. “Guess that’s why you never liked us watching those movies. You saw this happen?”
“When I was a teenager. Up in Chino Valley. My mother’s Spirit warned us of danger. We tracked down a young man and tried to find out where the nest was. He rotted right before my eyes. The larva tried to flee, but my father killed it.”
“You saw all this, with your own eyes.”
“Yes. It triggered my Rising.” She sighed. “We’ve been tracking this one forever, but could never pinpoint the nest. I’m not strong enough to purge a Maxa’xak anymore. Now it will be your job. That is what I need to teach you.”
“And you’ve kept this secret all these years. Why?”
Again there was a pause on the other end of the phone. A sigh. “Would you have believed any of this?”
Hell no! I kept my lips pressed together, my flesh no longer glowed hot, but was still a bit luminescent. “Probably not. So they followed us back to the base.”
“Probably.” She paused for only a second. “These evil Spirits can be persuasive in nature. When that man was warning you, he was trying to influence your human Spirit, not realizing you’re one of us.”
“Wait…” Her words rattled around my tired brain. By now I was near the maintenance road. “My human Spirit? You said I was Star People, Thunderbirds? Mom…” I hesitated to ask the crazy question that popped into my head, but I could hear Lutz asking. “Are we… human?”
She laughed. “Yes, dear Din’ah, for all intents and purposes, we’re human.”
“Mom, that’s not an answer!”
“Sorry, your dad is here. Got to go.” The light on the phone flickered, the line disconnected.
“What the fuck kind of answer is that?” I screamed at the phone, but of course got no answer.
CHAPTER
15
I almost flew over the maintenance road completely as I hit the embankment of the raised road. I braked and slid to a stop, grabbing my shoulder where the seatbelt locked and bit in enough to knock the wind out of me. “Jesus Christ.”
Breathe. I forced myself to relax enough for the seatbelt to release me. I’d have a mark from that one. My pistols had shifted a bit. I put the Beretta away, but kept my Sig within reach. I looked back the way I’d come.
It was dark, no sign of headlights or search beams. Looking ahead I saw a long straight road, graded nearly as smooth as a highway. I shoved the pedal all the way to the floor.
I knew this road like the back of my hand. At night it was eerie. The bright summer moon created odd shadows in the desert, not helped by my imagination. After my mother’s stories, images were running rampant in my head. All I wanted was to get to the highway and to Yuma. To Casey. Where was he?
Suddenly lights appeared ahead, coming my direction. There was a curve in the road, I remembered that. About halfway to the highway. “Please be Casey, please be Casey…” Please. My eyes shifted to my Sig. It could also be range patrol. They’d know who was supposed to be out here, or not. I could slide, but not Casey. Did they stop him?
The other vehicle’s headlights were up high. There were additional runner lights. Range Cops? I stopped. So did they. Headlights to headlights. I knew the cop rule. Don’t move, don’t get out until told to. The driver and passenger doors opened. Damn. Cops or bad guys? I had one hand on my Sig.
The driver stepped into the lights and my heart stuttered from racing to almost stopping. I threw open the door and raced into Casey’s arms.
He staggered back a step, but caught me. “You’re okay, thank God.”
I held tight, my face buried in his shoulder as I lost control. The tears tore loose. “Lutz is dead and it’s my fault.”
“You can explain it all when we get off the range.”
I recognized the voice, pulling free of Casey. “Daniel?”
A tall thin man stepped into the headlights. The bright lights created shadows on his hard sculpted cheeks. His eagle eyes reflected the lights, cutting as they stared at me. He was a carbon copy of our father and right now, wearing his hair long and braided. “Mother called us, ordered we to come here together. Our brothers wait at the highway.”
Casey nodded. “She was quite explicit that I do nothing without Daniel.”
“Get me out of here.” I wiped tears off my face as fast as they kept coming out.
“You ride with Casey.” Daniel headed for my truck. Casey pulled me back into his arms.
I let him, clinging to his shirt. “I shouldn’t have let him come with me.”
“You shouldn’t have come out here at all.” He chastised, but gently. “Come on.” He guided me towards the truck, Daniel’s truck. Giving me a hand up.
Daniel stepped in, putting my backpack on the floor and handing me the Sig. I slipped it back into my holster.
“You got a gun?”
“Am I breathing?” Daniel walked away.
Casey watched him for a moment, tense, then he looked at me. “We really have to talk.” He turned the truck around and in seconds the desert rushed past us. I closed my eyes.
I was with Casey and Daniel. I was safe. The terror faded away.
I sat on the rocks beside Lutz’ body. I’d straightened his broken limbs and now he faced the sky. I sang the song my mother sang at funerals, brushing his body with branches of sage. Only this wasn’t some vague acquaintance. He was my responsibility. He was my friend. It was hard to get the words out with the tears.
“This is not your fault.” The image of Lutz appeared and sat down on the other side of the body. The coyotes joined him, nuzzling his cheeks as he stroked their backs. “I wouldn’t let you come out here alone to face that monster and his freak-ass offspring.”
“What…” He nodded as I started to ask how he knew about that creature.
“I have been with you since my physical death.” He looked to his body, to the coyotes. “My vessel is protected until you return.”
“I’m going to.”
“Good.” Lutz gave me a grin. “So, how do we kill this evil Maxa’xak and his perverted babies?”
“What do you mean ‘we’?” I fluttered a hand at his apparition.
“Well, I might not have a real body, but I’m sure there’s something I can contribute.” His grin drooped. “I’ll be around until the final thread holding me here is severed. Something you’ll have to do.”
“Because I got you killed?” I couldn’t look at him or his body. “Maybe if I’d known more about what was out here, I wouldn’t have come out here at all. I’d have waited for my brothers, for Casey, for… a few squads of killer Marines.”
“Sure, the Marines are all into hunting a giant snake. The second we reported that, we’d have been arrested for smoking peyote.”
I laughed. “You don’t smoke peyote.”
His Spirit shrugged. “Maybe you should give it a try when you get home so I can live vicariously through you.”
“Not funny.”
He shrugged. “One’s sense of humor changes on this side.” He petted the big coyote, probably the pack leader. “You want revenge. I can feel it simmering in your body. Remember your training, spiritual and military. If you let revenge drive you, you will make mistakes. Honor me, by doing what you were born to do. With a single focus, hunt down this monster and kill it.” Lutz stood up. “Then you can release me, friend.”
He faded away, but I could
still feel him. His energy remained, attached to me. I set the cleansing sage on his chest. As he asked, the ritual would have to wait. I let my eyes drift up the face of the cliff.
It would wait until I avenged his death.
I tried to stand up, but realized I wasn’t sitting in the desert over Lutz’ body. I was in a bed. Not my bed. I sat up to get my bearings. The room wasn’t dark, but no lights were on. It took a second to realize it was me. I was glowing like I had after my first dream. Like I did in the desert.
It wasn’t a surprise this time, but the faces staring at me from the side of the bed were. “Daniel, Joey, Frankie, Chucky.” Between them was Casey and he looked three notches past freaked out. “Casey.”
“Din’ah.” My brothers said in unison. Daniel had a smirk on his face. He and Frankie were standing just a tad behind Casey, somewhat blocking him in.
I looked down at my arms. “I can explain.” I tried to brush the glow away, but it didn’t let up. “Well, no I can’t. Daniel, how do I make it stop?”
“You’re asking the wrong person. We don’t glow in the dark. Just the females do.” He snickered. “The Rising will teach you to control this.” He grabbed Joey by the collar. “Let’s leave. Lucy got some ‘splainin’ to do to Ricky.”
His Spanish accent was exaggerated from some old, old 1950s TV series. He started teasing Casey when he learned his real name was Ricardo, though I was certainly no wacky redhead.
Joey grinned. “I’m sure our future brother-in-law’s got a lot of questions.”
“I’m sure he does.” Over their teasing protests, Daniel cleared the room.
CHAPTER
16
A hotel room. “Where are we?”
“Outskirts of town.” Casey moved around to the foot of the bed. “Ahhhh, how long does this last?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t know anything about this until it happened…” I looked at the clock next to the bed. “…yesterday morning.”
