Through the Mountains

by Kelvin Teo

  "Them Morgan boys deserve everything they have coming to them."

  He picked up the clothes from the counter and handed them to the girls. He could see the haunted look in their eyes and could tell they had seen more evil in the past couple of days than any one person should see in a lifetime.

  "The restroom is right back there, ladies."

  "Thank you," said Lizzie softly as she took the clothes and then put an arm around Ali and led her to the back of the store.

  The old guy leaned over the counter and looked down at their feet as they walked away.

  Once they were in the bathroom, he looked at Danny and asked, "They came all that way wearing that stuff on their feet?"

  "Yeah, it’s the best we could do."

  "Well, I don’t have any shoes here in the store, but I do have those flip-flops over there."

  Danny walked over and picked up a couple of pairs of flip-flops and brought them to the counter.

  "These clothes and flip-flops for them aren’t going to do a bit of good if we can’t get off this mountain," said Danny.

  "Yeah, well, the only way that is happening is to get you three in my truck and head down the hill. As soon as they come out of the restroom, I suggest we hit the road."

  "We have a problem, though."

  "Your other friend."

  Danny nodded. Then he held out his hand to the old guy and said, "I’m sorry. I’m Danny Lee."

  The old guy shook his hand and said, "Truman Bailey."

  "Truman Bailey? That’s a good name."

  "Yep, mom and dad loved Harry Truman, so they named me after him."

  Just then the girls came out of the restroom, looking quite a bit more presentable than when they went in. Danny picked up the flip-flops and handed them to them and the girls slipped them on. The relief on their faces was evident, getting their nearly bare feet off the ground.

  "Mr. Bailey, this is Ali and Lizzie. Girls, this is Truman Bailey."

  "Just call me Truman," he said with a bit of a forced smile.

  Then he stood up and walked around the counter, pulling his keys from his pocket.

  "I guess we should get this show on the road and get you kids down the mountain."

  "What about Clark?" asked Ali.

  "I don’t know, Ali. Let’s hope he’s watching from somewhere when we go outside. If he’s not, he’ll have to sit tight until we get down the mountain and get the police to come back up here."

  "He saved our lives, Danny."

  "I know that! Which also tells me one more thing about him. He’s quite capable of looking out for himself until I come back up here with the law."

  Ali went to say something, but Truman interrupted.

  "Look, we can discuss this in the truck. Once Ricky Morgan gets back to their place, I’m sure Zeke is going to come right back down here with him."

  He ushered them out the door and Danny stopped him.

  "Do you have any other weapons?"

  "I had a 9mm pistol under the counter, but I believe your friend got that, too."

  "Uh, yes he did."

  "At least we know he’s armed if he needs to be."

  Danny walked out to the middle of the parking lot and pointed at the truck. He turned around, looking up into the trees, hoping to see his friend pop out from behind cover and head on down the hill.

  He saw nothing.

  Looking back at the truck, he saw the girls standing by the passenger door, looking around and hoping to see Clark come down.

  "Let’s go," said Truman. "If he’s smart, he’ll start heading down the mountain, but stay off the roads."

  Danny glanced one last time up the hill and then turned and headed to the truck. This was a nice, four door truck and the girls climbed into the back seat, while he took the front passenger seat.

  Before climbing in, he pulled the pistol from his back waistband and laid it in his lap after he got situated. Truman looked at it and hoped they wouldn’t need to use it.

  Getting the truck turned around, he pointed it down the highway and began the one hour drive back to civilization.

  As they stood outside Danny’s family home, he held out his hand to Truman again. As he did, he heard the door to the house open.

  "Thanks for getting us down here safely."

  "You’re welcome," Truman said, as he looked at the girls standing behind him.

  "Ladies, those people had no right to do what they tried to do to you. I only hope you can get past it and move on with your lives."

  "What happened?"

  Danny turned to see his dad standing there. Mike Lee was a mountain of a man, who struck fear into just about anyone that didn’t know him. Anyone that did know him knew he was one of the nicest guys in the world and would bend over backwards to help anyone in need.

  "We’ll tell you in a minute, dad. Truman, if you come across Clark, try to help him out. He don’t get scared, but I’m afraid he may have gone looking for some revenge."

  "I’ll keep an eye out for him. Well, I better start for home. I don’t want to be on the roads up there too long after dark."

  He turned and headed for his truck and within a few seconds, he was nothing, but a set of taillights in the distance.

  Danny moved the girls into the house and Mike closed the door.

  18

  All was silent in the forest as Clark crept through the thick underbrush. He held the bow lightly, not wanting to cause any cramps in his hand should he find a need to use the bow.

  The quiver hung just behind his right shoulder, allowing him to grab an arrow at a seconds notice. He had stopped at the river and cleaned every arrow of any blood and gore that still clung to the arrow heads. He didn’t want anything to hinder the straight flight of the arrows when he loosed them.

  He was even able to retrieve the two arrows from the dead men, who were still wedged up against some rocks in the water.

  Creeping through the woods, he slowed down and took refuge in the brush just to the east of the meadow. He didn’t want to move through the open while the sun still shone.

  Stopping about a hundred yards short of the meadow’s edge, he was able to see the rocks that encircled the altar where he had seen Ali come very close to being murdered by these Satanists.

  He could hear some sounds coming from the meadow, but couldn’t figure out what it was. It sounded like wild animals fighting over something.

  Staying low, he backtracked into the trees and began circling around to the west, to get a better view of what was going on. It took him about twenty minutes to make the move because of the undergrowth and his desire to move as quietly as possible.

  When he reached a new vantage point, he was rewarded with a sight that he could only hope for.

  A trio of wolves were tearing at the bodies of Peaches and the sheriff. They had already dismembered a couple of arms and were working on the legs of the fat woman.

  Sitting down on the ground, behind a thin bush, allowed him to see the whole scene. Most people would have been abhorred at the sight, but Clark was beyond caring.

  He had taken a liking to Ali and thought she just might be the one he’d want to spend his life with.

  Hell, I already seen her naked. Might as well go the whole way and marry her.

  He smiled to himself and he thought about running his strong hand over her bare bottom when she kissed him as thanks for saving her life. If she knew that was the first time he had ever laid hands on a naked woman, she might laugh at him. He wondered how much more experienced she was than him.

  As he played through the scenes in his mind concerning Ali, he came back to the other morning when she jumped on him, scaring him out of a sleep, causing him to pull his knife on her. The look of terror in her eyes broke his heart to think about it.

  When the time came, he needed to make sure she knew he wouldn’t ever do anything to hurt her. He’d die before he ever caused her pain.

  He felt a little bad about having slipped away in the early morning
hours and heading back toward the meadow. There was no way he was going to depend on the law to come up here and do something about this. They would probably screw the whole thing up and the Morgans would get away. The last thing he wanted was to be looking over his shoulder for the rest of his life, wondering if they were going to come after him or Ali or the others.

  While he continued to watch the wolves in the meadow, he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand up. It was the kind of feeling a person gets when they feel like someone is watching them.

  Glancing around slowly, his eyes came in contact with the golden eyes of another wolf, standing about twenty feet behind him.

  It was a big gray wolf that didn’t look like it had missed many meals. Its head was down, looking like it was trying to figure out whether to charge or just go around. White fangs were showing in the slightly open jaws, but its lips were not pulled back.

  Clark felt slightly fortunate about that. He slowly pulled his knife from it’s sheath in his boot and he made sure the wolf saw him do it. Not that a wolf would have any idea what a knife was, but he thought he should show he had his own claw.

  Then a thought crawled slowly through his head. Reaching into his shirt pocket, he pulled out a bag of beef jerky he had taken from the store and pulled a strip out.

  Looking back at the wolf, he lowered his own head and growled softly in the back of his throat.

  The wolf swayed back and forth slightly, not showing much interest in charging him, but he still kept his eyes on his prey.

  Clark took the beef jerky and waved it slightly in the air, letting its aroma waft toward the wolf and he could tell when the it caught the scent. Its head lifted and its ears rose up. He even saw a pink tongue slip out from between those sharp, white teeth.

  "Come and get it, boy" said Clark very softly.

  The wolf hesitated, but then started moving forward, one very slow step at a time. After a couple of minutes and a false start or two, a wet nose stretched out to sniff what was being offered. The tongue definitely passed through the teeth and licked over its lips.

  Finally, the wolf took the offered meat stick and began to eat it, but didn’t take its eyes off Clark.

  "I have no quarrel with you," said Clark as he turned slowly and sat back down. He had his back to the wolf and he could hear it chewing away on the jerky.

  He shook the bag of jerky quietly to let the wolf know there was more if it wanted any.

  For the next five minutes, he kept his eyes on the three wolves in the meadow, while listening to the one behind him, gnawing on the tough meat.

  He couldn’t put his finger on it, but he didn’t feel the least bit of apprehension having the wolf sitting behind him. For some reason, he didn’t feel his visitor had any desire to attack him.

  It’s probably the jerky.

  He smiled to himself and just sat quietly. A few minutes later, he felt a big, furry presence move up alongside him and he looked up, into the eyes of the wolf. Its golden eyes stared back at him without any hint of savageness.

  "What another one?" he whispered.

  The wolf licked its lips when Clark picked up the bag of jerky and pulled another strip out. Then, he decided to try something. He reached out and patted the ground next to him.

  "Lay down here."

  At first, Clark didn’t think the wolf had any concept of laying down next to a human, but then it dropped down to its belly next to him.

  He was absolutely amazed at the size of this wolf. As he sat on the ground next to it, even laying down in the dirt, its head was still slightly above his own. This was one big wolf. If it decided to have a Clark burger for dinner, he wasn’t going to be able to do much to stop it. Better to just try to be friends with him.

  He reached over and ran his fingers through the thick fur on the wolf’s head and he heard a low growl. Deciding he didn’t want to show any weakness to this animal, he leaned over and growled right back at him.

  The wolf looked at him, but then went back to work on the jerky and didn’t pay any attention to Clark’s fingers on its head. As the wolf chomped away on the jerky, Clark watched the other three continue their work of defiling the dead.

  As he watched, Clark began to wonder why no one had come to collect the bodies. There had to be some that wouldn’t want the bodies laying around out here in the open. If the wrong person found them, there could be a lot of questions.

  If everything went the way he had planned, there wouldn’t be anyone to answer those questions when he got finished.

  I wonder what Ali is going to think of me if she finds out what I’m intending to do?

  He knew she was a good girl and would probably beg him not to do what he had planned. It would probably be best to keep most of the details from her.

  The wolf’s ears perked up and its head came up, looking toward the other three wolves. At first, Clark didn’t hear anything, but after a few seconds, he heard the sound of voices coming toward the meadow.

  He immediately recognized the voice of Ricky and then the voice of his brother. There was a third voice he couldn’t place, but figured it was one of the other Satanists.

  The three men came into the edge of the meadow, opposite of where Clark was hiding. They were dressed in the same camouflage they had been wearing the day before and Clark wondered if they had even changed their clothes.

  He also saw they had come armed and ready to fight. Each one carried an AR-15 slung over their shoulders.

  "What the hell?" yelled Zeke as they came in sight of the wolves in the meadow.

  The wolves broke into a run in the opposite direction, followed very closely with the sounds of gunshots. The men weren’t very good shots apparently, because the wolves made it to the far tree line unscathed.

  Clark reached out and ran his hand over the wolf’s head and whispered, "Shhh shhh shhh … easy."

  The wolf lowered its head to the ground, making itself as invisible as possible and Clark was beginning to think he wanted to take him home as a pet.

  Ali will probably put the kibosh on that idea.

  They watched as the men surveyed the scene, seeing body parts strewn all over the place. They were carrying a couple of large, canvas bags, which Clark assumed were to become body bags.

  "This just ain’t right," said Ricky in his mountain drawl.

  No asshole, what you morons were doing just isn’t right. But, your time is fast approaching.

  He and Golden Eyes stayed quiet and still and watched as the three men gathered up the bodies and stuffed them in the bags.

  "Tell me again how my papa came to be killed," said the one stranger.

  "One of them assholes got their hands on a bow and arrows and it was clear he knew how to use them." said Ricky. "Zeke took a couple of arrows from this guy."

  "Bow and arrows, huh? Sounds an awful lot like old man Bailey down at the store."

  "Well, it wasn’t him," said Zeke. "That old guy can barely walk anymore. But, you are right about the bow. It probably came from his store. It got broke into a couple of days ago."

  "Makes no never mind to me," said the guy, "I think I’ll be paying him a visit in the next couple of days. His bow and arrows killed my pa. And I’m guessing the one that killed him, also killed my brother."

  "Most likely."

  Wrong, asshole. My buddy got his own pound of flesh from your brother.

  Clark allowed himself to think for a moment about the other three and hoped they had made it off the mountain alright. Sneaking away in the dark hours of the night and leaving the warm embrace of Ali had been a difficult decision, but he knew if he told them what he had planned, they would have tried to stop him.

  The three men looked around and decided they had everything they came for. Clark continued watching them and marveled at how the wolf had remained quiet, even during the moments the men were shooting.

  They picked up the bags and began walking back toward the path they had come up on. Clark had to fight the urge to put an
arrow through their backs, but realized he didn’t have the cover of darkness like he did before. It would have been easy for them to start spraying the hillside with bullets and even though they appeared to be lousy shots, it only takes one stray bullet to ruin a person’s day.

  Reaching out, he ran his hand over the wolf’s head and said, "Tonight, they get what they got coming to them."

  He heard his new companion whimper slightly, but didn’t move much.

  After the three had disappeared down the path, Clark began moving around behind the bush, realizing his bum had gone to sleep and he needed to get up and start moving. He stood up and stretched his body, letting out a silent sigh of relief.

  He looked to the west and could see he had about an hour of daylight left and he wanted to be in a much different spot before it got too dark.

  His friend rose up and rubbed up against him as they both kept their eyes on the empty meadow.

  "Alright, I need to get moving," he said softly to the wolf. "You go find your friends."

  He patted the animal on the head and turned and headed to the west, following the setting sun. The wolf stood and watched him go.

  About a hundred yards down the path, Clark glanced back and saw the wolf was following him, but keeping its distance. He stopped and looked back at it.

  "Go!" he hissed. "It’s gonna get crazy and you don’t want no part of it."

  The wolf looked at him, its golden eyes boring right through him. Then it turned and started trotting back toward their hiding place and within seconds, it was gone.

  Clark turned and began hustling along the path, wanting to move well to the west of the motel and garage, before trying to get across the road. He wanted to do the same thing Danny had done. Get across the highway and double back to a spot where he could look down and see the two buildings and any activity in the parking lot.

  About an hour later and about half an hour after it became completely dark, he found himself sitting behind some bushes about twenty feet above the highway and about fifty yards deep in the woods. The place looked lifeless, but he could tell there was someone there.

  One dim light shone in the garage, but it looked like it was closed up for the night. He couldn’t see any movement inside the windows of the steel building.