Through the Mountains

by Kelvin Teo

  After listening for a couple of minutes, he darted across the road and slid into the tree line, getting as far off the road as he dared.

  It was only a few seconds later when he heard the sound of a vehicle coming down the road and he hid in the underbrush, but stayed where he could see who was going to pass by.

  A flash of red and white drove by, as a 1957 Chevy Bel Air drove toward the motel.

  Once it passed, he started working his way through the trees, figuring he was at least a half a mile west of the garage and motel.

  Finally, about an hour after he broke out of the shed, he found himself directly across the road from the motel parking lot. He could see the van, still parked inside the garage. The truck and tow truck were parked next to the garage and the new arrival was parked near them.

  He saw the maid’s cart just outside the room they had been staying in and saw Peaches going in and out of the room. She was cleaning the room, which included pulling their belongings out and setting them aside.

  Danny could feel the anger growing inside his chest as he watched her work. Normally he wouldn’t consider causing harm to any woman, but at that moment, he was quite sure he could kill her with his bare hands. Having heard the sheriff and the brothers talking last night, she was a very big part of this horror show.

  Movement caught his eye and he saw the two Morgan brothers come out of the garage, along with a third guy. He was a tall, lanky looking guy, with a scroungy beard and dirty ball cap on his head. They walked across the parking lot, to one of the other rooms and stopped outside the door.

  "Don’t be messing with them girls," yelled Peaches from a few doors away.

  "We’re not, mama. Just wanted to show Cal what was on the menu for the night."

  Zeke pulled out some keys and unlocked the door. He pushed it open and the three of them went inside.

  "Oh yeah," he could hear Cal say. "This is going to be a hot time tonight."

  Peaches came stomping down the walk and stopped outside the door.

  "You boys get out of there! Let them rest. You keep this up, they won’t be worth a pig’s knuckle tonight."

  She chased the three of them out of the room and Zeke locked the door. As they were heading back to the garage, Cal was going on and on about how much fun the blonde girl was going to be.

  It was everything Danny could do to keep from rushing down the hill and trying to kill everyone there. He shifted his focus to the door they had used. He wanted to make sure he got the right room if the opportunity presented itself for him to rescue the girls.

  Third door from the west end of the motel.

  While he sat on the side of the hill, overlooking the scene below, he began to go through the bag and thinking about how he could use some of the tools. The screwdrivers were obviously good stabbing weapons, as was the crowbar. He wasn’t too sure about the wrenches.

  Obviously, the hammers could come in handy if he needed to perform brain surgery on someone. He picked one up and it felt light enough in his hand that he could swing it easily, but he knew the solid steel head wouldn’t feel light to anyone that felt it against their skull.

  He took the screwdrivers and stuck them down the sides of his boots and stuffed a hammer down the back of his jeans. The utility knife went into his pocket.

  Now, he just needed to hope for an opportunity to be the white knight to the rescue.

  12

  It’s a funny thing, how opportunity can rise up when needed, whether you are prepared or not.

  About twenty minutes later, Ricky came out of the garage, yelling he was going to check on the guest of honor. When he started around the garage, Danny knew he was going to the tool shed.

  As soon as he had been found to have escaped, all hell was going to break loose and he needed to be ready for anything. What he was going to do, he had no idea, but this was going to be his best shot.

  It only took about ten minutes for Ricky to start yelling from somewhere up on the hill behind the hotel.

  "Zeke! He’s gone!"

  Zeke and Cal came out of the garage and looked up toward the hill.

  "He’s gone, Zeke!" came the alarm again.

  "Shit!" yelled Zeke. Then he pointed at the door to the motel and told Cal to stand guard.

  As Zeke headed around the garage, Danny couldn’t miss the gun in his hand. He was on a dead run around the garage and Danny realized he wouldn’t have more than a few minutes before Zeke would reach the shed.

  Looking down the hill, he saw Cal walk to the end of the sidewalk in front of the rooms, where he could look over a short wall and up the hill. Peaches came waddling down the walk to where Cal was standing.

  "What the hell are those two fools yelling about?"

  "It sounds like whoever they had up in the shed has escaped."

  Danny caught a glimpse of Zeke running up into the trees and then he disappeared. He realized this was the break he was looking for and he needed to move fast.

  He ran a few yards to the west so his approach to the road would be blocked by the garage. Sprinting across the road, he had the crowbar firmly in his hands and he ran to the corner.

  Looking around the corner, Peaches and Cal were still standing at the wall, looking up the hill, wondering what kind of mess was being stirred up by their escaped captive.

  Danny moved out from around the garage as quietly as he could and started making his way toward the two. He only had about ten yards to cover and he was thankful that the only grass that seemed to be in the area covered the short stretch between him and the two.

  He moved as quickly, but also as quietly as he could. His approach was being masked by the two of them talking and they never heard him coming. When he was just a couple of steps from them, he brought the crowbar up and lunged forward, stabbing the chiseled end of the cold steel into the back of Cal, driving it as hard as he could completely through the thin man’s body. Cal just folded like a newspaper, dropping to the ground, most likely dead before his face hit the concrete.

  Peaches swung around and Danny found out he still couldn’t kill a woman. No matter how evil she might be, he couldn’t kill her.

  "You!"

  That didn’t stop him from balling up his fist and hitting her as hard as he could on the side of the nose. Her head snapped back and hit the top of the wall and she fell forward, landing on her fat face.

  Danny wrenched the crowbar out of Cal’s body and walked over to the third door and stopped and took a deep breath. Then, taking one step forward, he brought his right foot up and kicked the door as hard as he could, right above the doorknob. The door exploded inward as the lock tore loose from the frame, showering splinters all over the room.

  As he stepped into the room, he felt his heart in his throat. Laying on each bed, were the girls. They were bound wrists and ankles and secured to the headboards and bottom of the bed. They were blindfolded and gagged. Ali was covered with a white sheet from shoulders to knees. Both of them were squirming around on the beds, not knowing who was in the room with them.

  Pulling the knife from his pocket, he slid the blade out and began cutting the ropes securing Lizzie, saying softly that it was him and they needed to be ready to run.

  After cutting the ropes from Lizzie’s wrists and ankles he jumped over to Ali and started freeing her. Lizzie was able to get her blindfold off and her gag and she started crying.

  "Lizzie, now is not the time to be crying," said Danny. "We need to be getting out of here!"

  He finished cutting Ali free and Lizzie jumped on the bed and pulled off her blindfold and gag. When she helped Ali to sit up, the sheet fell away and that’s when Danny realized she was as naked as the day she was taken from the shower in their room. He grabbed the sheet and jumped up, holding it up for her.

  "Ali, you’re just going to have to wear this until we can get out of this place."

  "I’ll go naked if I have to," she said.

  "Let’s go," said Danny as he led them to the door.

>   Danny looked out the door, left and right and realized they wouldn’t get far on foot. His eyes caught sight of a red and white beauty.

  Cal’s car.

  He moved out of the room and went to Cal’s body, rolling him over and going through his pockets. He could feel the presence of the two girls come up behind him and he heard both of them gasp when they saw the dead body.

  Finding the keys, he jumped up and turned them around and headed them toward the Chevy. He ran forward, as Lizzie helped Ali walking barefoot across the parking lot. He was able to get the doors unlocked and turned and told them to get in.

  Running around to the other side of the car, he climbed in and jammed the key into the ignition and turned it. The sound of the throaty V-8 engine signaled the beast had come to life and Danny slammed the transmission into first gear and tore out of the parking lot and up onto the road.

  He was spraying gravel everywhere as he fishtailed on the asphalt, trying to gain control of the car. He was able to wrestle the car under control and worked his way through the gears.

  Then, the rear window shattered in an explosion of glass and a bullet hole appeared in the windshield. Looking in the rear view mirror, he could see Zeke firing his gun at them.

  "Get down and stay down!" he yelled at the girls, who didn’t need to be told twice. They both rolled off the back seat and onto the floorboard of the car.

  Danny moved the car back and forth across the road as he heard Zeke fire a couple more times, but not hitting anything.

  Once they went around a couple of curves, Danny could stop swerving and concentrating on staying on the road.

  "Are you two okay back there?"

  Lizzie popped up and Danny glanced at her and saw some blood running down her face.

  "Lizzie, you're hit!"

  "No, no I’m not. It was the glass from the window."

  "How about you, Ali?" he called out.

  She sat back up on the backseat and immediately said, "Ow!"

  "What? What?"

  "Freakin’ broken glass back here on the seat and I ain’t got no pants on."

  Lizzie helped to brush the glass off the seat and Danny tried not to laugh about that.

  "Well, if you scar your butt up a little, maybe they won’t want you for a sacrifice."

  Both the girls looked at him through the mirror and asked, "What are you talking about?"

  "Satanic cult, ladies. They were intending to sacrifice Ali to Lucifer tonight."

  "No shit?" asked Ali.

  "Yes, ma’am."

  "What about me?" asked Lizzie.

  Danny took a deep breath, wondering if he should tell her what he knew. He decided the more she knew, the more she would fight to keep it from happening.

  "You were going to be gang raped by a bunch of guys from the area, Liz."

  He went silent and didn’t know what else to say. The girls didn’t have much to add to the conversation either. Lizzie reached over and wrapped her arms around Ali, pulling her close to her.

  After driving for a few minutes, Danny said, "Ladies, we have a bit of a problem here."

  "What’s that?" asked Lizzie.

  "I really have no idea where we’re going."

  Lizzie leaned over and kissed Ali on the cheek and then climbed over into the front seat. She went straight to the glove box and pulled it open. Rummaging around, she pulled out a map. She flipped it over and threw it on the dashboard.

  "Damn map of Anaheim, California. What the hell? Was he going to Disneyland?"

  She kept looking, but there were no other maps in the glove box.

  "It’s okay, Lizzie," said Danny. "I just realized, we’re still on the road that was going to take us to the cabin."

  "But, you said that was still about a hundred miles away."

  "We’re not going to the cabin, but there are plenty of roads that branch off this one and at least one I know of that heads north to the interstate."

  "Do we have enough gas?" she asked.

  Danny looked at the gas gauge and saw it was about half full. Realizing they were in a hot rod, with a big engine, he began to worry about making it all the way to the interstate.

  It didn’t really matter whether they made it or not. Every mile they could put between them and the Morgans was a good mile.

  He started to breathe a little easier, knowing there was no way their rattle-trap trucks could keep up with this car.

  We just might make it out of this alive.

  Then he slammed on the brakes coming around a curve. Lizzie flew forward into the dashboard and he felt Ali hit the back of his seat.

  As the car slid to a stop and the smoke from the tires cleared, all three of them could see the red flashing lights of the sheriff’s SUV parked across the road, twenty feet from where they had come to a stop. The sheriff was leaning over the hood of his truck with his gun pointed right at Danny’s face.

  In the distance, they could hear the growl of the Morgans’ truck coming up behind them.

  13

  Danny opened his eyes and had to squint because of the bright light in his eyes, He could tell almost immediately he was tied up again. This time he wasn’t in the shed.

  He was in the middle of the clearing, his wrists handcuffed behind his back and he was sitting on a concrete block. His ankles were bound and then tied with a rope that wound around the block.

  He could tell the handcuffs were also hooked into the rope where it passed behind his back. He pulled against the restraints and could tell he wasn’t going anywhere.

  He couldn’t stand up or even lean forward.

  "Stop struggling, asshole!"

  He looked over and saw Ricky sitting in a lawn chair in the shade of a tree. He had a shotgun laying across his lap and had a beer in his hand. His eyes were fixed on Danny, looking like he wanted to take the shotgun and blow his head off.

  "Where are the girls?"

  "Where do you think they are? They’re getting prepared for their big night."

  Danny let his head hang down and he stared at the ground in front of himself. He had tried to rescue both of them and had done nothing, but get them further into trouble.

  Looking down, he mumbled, "I can’t believe the sheriff is even part of this."

  "You know what’s even worse for you?"

  Danny looked up at him.

  "The guy you killed? Cal? That was his son."

  Danny felt his stomach start to churn at the thought he had killed the sheriff’s son, but couldn’t figure out why he was still alive to find that out.

  "It was going to be Zeke’s job to cut your heart out this evening, but we’re thinking we’re going to let the sheriff do it. That’s if he doesn’t just pull his pistol and blow your fool head off."

  Danny tried to calm his breathing and he turned and looked over his shoulder. He could see the sun was still up, but it was getting close to the tree tops. He figured it must have been around four in the afternoon and would start getting dark in the next couple of hours.

  He looked over as Ricky took another swig from the bottle he held.

  "Personally, I’d like to push this shotgun into your mouth and pull the trigger, myself. I don’t really appreciate you hitting my mama like that."

  Something inside Danny snapped and he decided he didn’t want to be around for the end of the night. Not knowing anything he could do to save the girls, he didn’t want to be alive when they were tortured and killed.

  "I don’t really give a shit what you think," he said. Looking at Ricky through half-closed eyes. "Bring her out here. I’ll knock her lights out again."

  He could see Ricky started shaking as he tried to keep his cool. He brought the bottle up to his lips and took another swallow, never breaking eye contact with his captive.

  "Generally, I don’t go in for hitting women, but in your mama’s case I’ll make an exception."

  Ricky kept listening and Danny began to wonder if he could ever get him riled up enough to get out of the chair. He
decided to ratchet up the situation.

  "Though I don’t have a problem knocking some sleazy whore on her ass."

  At the sound of his mama being called a whore, Ricky jumped up from the chair and began walking toward him, but he had the sense to leave the shotgun sitting on the chair.

  "Say something bad about my mama again, asshole."

  Ricky stood in front of Danny and he was shaking with rage, trying to keep his cool, but it was a losing battle. He was clenching and unclenching his fists, just waiting for Danny to say something.

  Danny looked up at him and said, "I’m sorry. Did I insult your mama? That was unforgivable of me."

  Ricky just stared him down, breathing in and out through his clenched teeth. He turned around and walked back to the chair and sat down, placing the shotgun across his lap again.

  "So," said Danny, "how many guys did she wrap her fat legs around before she spawned you? I’m guessing a lot, but not the same ones that banged her to create your slime ball brother."

  Ricky was out of the chair in an instant, not even bothering to set the shotgun down. He just let it fall to the ground. He covered the twenty feet to Danny in the blink of an eye.

  Before Danny could prepare himself, he felt a crashing right fist slam into his jaw, snapping his head to the side. There was a bright flash of light behind his eyelids and he was pretty sure he had just broken his neck.

  As he turned back to face his attacker, he found his neck was still intact. Even his jaw wasn’t broken, but it hurt like hell.

  Ricky wound up and threw a punch straight at his face, but Danny ducked his head and caught the fist just at his hair line above his forehead. He could hear some bones snap in Ricky’s hand and heard him scream like a little girl.