Chapter 7
That night, after they went to bed, Cooper was angry with the way his dad had treated him when he told him to sit down and shut up. He felt like his dad was playing favorites to Dalton and didn't want to listen to anything he had to say. He was right about that. Jed didn't want to talk to him after he lied to him about everything that had happened. Cooper was also angry that Dalton had so easily given up all the details to his dad about what they had done to Mr. Pickens. He now felt dejected and all alone, except for Samson. The emptiness he felt was eating at him and he kept getting more and more agitated and upset with both his dad and Dalton as he lay on the bed thinking about everything. He knew one thing for sure and that was he wasn't giving up his dog. He made up his mind that he was going to leave the house and get as far away from his dad and Dalton as he could and never come back.
He waited until after they were both asleep and then took Samson and slipped out the back door. He was so upset and angry when he left that he wasn't thinking straight. He didn't have a plan about where he was going or what he was going to do once he got there. He just started walking east and never looked back. He didn't even think about taking any food or water with him. He just wanted to get as far away and as quickly as he possibly could.
Cooper left in an easterly direction from the house and crossed over highway 395 as he and Samson continued their trek through the desert. He crossed down and around the mountain and was stumbling along talking to himself the entire time he was walking. Before he realized how deep into the desert he had gotten it was starting to get daylight. He had traveled over forty miles before he finally stopped and looked around. Once the sun had come up there were hills in all different directions and they all looked the same to him. At that point, he realized he was lost and didn't have a clue where Red Mountain was located. He sat down and began to panic for a few minutes because he wasn't sure which way he should go. He tried to figure things out, but he knew one thing was for sure; he didn't want to go back home and have to give up Samson. He knew he had to head in the direction of one of the hills to the east or he would end up going in circles and wind up dead. He finally just picked one of the hills way off in the distance and started walking in that direction.
He and Samson continued walking for the entire day and couldn't see any sign of another human being. They occasionally saw a few snakes, jack rabbits and other rodents, but no people. By dark they were starting to get real thirsty and hungry. In his haste to get away from home, Cooper hadn't even thought about bringing a pocket knife, matches or anything else that could've helped him survive in the desert. Now they were all alone and facing the real possibility of dying out there. He told Samson, "Okay boy, we're going to walk all night, or until we can find our way out of this desert." Samson looked up at him, as if to say, "Okay Cooper, I'm with you, so just get me out of here alive."
They had continued walking until the middle of the night when Cooper finally spotted a dim light a few miles off in the distance. It gave him a glimmer of hope as they headed straight for it. It took him almost thirty minutes to finally get close enough to see that a light was on in front of an old run down shack. It was out in the middle of nowhere and miles from everything. The light was from a solar light that stayed on all the time.
When they got close to the shack a large German Sheppard spotted them and started running toward them. It was barking and acting like it had never seen another person before. By the way it was acting Cooper figured it wasn't used to seeing too many people that far out in the desert. It wasn't long and an old man came rushing out of the house with a rifle in his hands. Cooper was happy and relieved that someone was home. When he got close enough to the shack he yelled out to the old man, "Hey mister, I'm lost and don't know how to get back to town. Can you help me?" By then he was only about forty yards from the shack and the old man's dog was real close to him barking, growling and going crazy. He had to reach down and pat Samson to calm him down, "Easy boy, it's ok." Much to Cooper's surprise, the old man said in an angry deep voice, "Just stop right there sonny, turn around, and go back where you came from. You're not welcome here." Cooper wondered, "What the heck's up with this guy? I just need a little help. I haven't even asked him for anything yet."
Cooper didn't say anything; he just stood there and looked at the old man for just a minute. The guy continued in the same tone of voice, "If you don't get out of here right now I'll shoot you right where you stand." He was shocked by the way the old man was treating him, but he calmly replied, "I'm sorry mister, I don't mean you any harm, but I don't know which way to go to get back to town. My dog and I have been lost in the desert for two days and we're thirsty and hungry. Can you at least give me and my dog some water?" The old man pointed his gun at Cooper and with even a more threatening and stern voice said, "I'm not going to tell you again boy, now get the hell out of here or you're going to have one of my bullets to swallow and then you won't have to worry about water." Cooper could tell that he really meant business so he decided he wasn't going to argue with a guy that had a gun pointed at him. He sounded like he was pretty serious about him and Samson leaving him alone or he might just use that gun.
Not wanting to fight with the old man, Cooper had Samson heal as they turned around and headed back in the direction they'd come. Once they had gotten about a quarter of a mile away Cooper and Samson took cover in some tall sage bushes. After sitting there a few minutes, he thought about how the guy had treated him and knew they may not make it out in the desert if they had to be out there another day without water. He was starting to get real angry that the old man was so unwilling to at least give them some water before he sent them on their way. The more he thought about what that old man said about shooting him, the angrier he became. He decided he wasn't going to let him get away with treating him and Samson that way. He waited and watched for several minutes until the old man finally went back into the house before he decided to make a move.
While looking back at the shack and watching the old man, Cooper came up with a plan. He made up his mind that he was going to get some water from that house one way or the other. Either that old man was going to give it to him or he was going to go in and take it. He wasn't going to die out in the desert just because that old man refused to help him.
He took Samson and circled around behind the dark side of the shack. When they got closer the old man's dog spotted them and came running toward them barking and growling once again. He seemed a little braver this time because Samson hadn't attacked him when he'd gotten close to them earlier. Cooper waited until the dog came close enough and then gave Sampson the command to attack. He immediately ran and hit the dog at full force and knocked him to the ground. He was ripping at the dog's throat as it yelped out in pain and tried to fight back. He gave Sampson the command to kill and within a few minutes Samson had him by the throat and the dog was soon lying dead on the ground. He then had Samson heal and he immediately ran back to Cooper and stood by his side.
Hearing all the commotion from his dog, the old man came running out of the house once again with his rifle. This time he had a flashlight in one hand and he was shining it all around and calling for his dog. He had just made it around to the back where his dead dog was lying, when Cooper and Samson went around the other way to the front door. Once there, they quickly slipped inside the house.
Cooper glanced around and saw that the little shack only had two small rooms and didn't see anyone else around. Half the shack was the kitchen and living area and the other half was a bedroom. He ran over to the kitchen area and started looking for a weapon of some kind, a knife, a hammer or something. He didn't care what it was as long as he had something to protect himself with. He found a huge butcher knife in one of drawers and grabbed it. It had a nice thick handle and a blade at the end that was about ten inches long. He told Sampson to sit as he waited just inside the front door for the old man
to come back in.
He didn't have to wait long as he came stomping back in yelling and cussing. As soon as he opened the door and stepped in Cooper didn't say anything to him as he thrust the knife deep into the upper part of his stomach all the way to the knife handle. When he bent over from the pain, Cooper grabbed the rifle from him with his left hand and pulled the knife out and stabbed him once again. The old man had fallen to his knees and just before he fell to the floor Cooper said, "You should've been nicer to me and my dog mister. All we wanted was a little water and a few directions. Was that too much to ask?" He took the big long bloody knife and made one slash across the old man's neck and the blood started spurting out onto the floor. Cooper pushed him the rest of the away to the floor. He quickly turned around to make sure there wasn't anyone else in the house.
Not hearing or seeing anyone he slowly crept over to the bedroom entrance. He almost couldn't believe his eyes when he saw a young girl about his age cowering in the corner of the room. She had her back to him and Cooper could tell she was shaking with fear. She was only wearing a dirty old nightgown but he could tell she was frail and skinny and her light brown hair was long and stringy. He thought it was odd that she had her face cupped in her hands and just standing in the corner of the room. He went over to her and was just about ready to stick the knife deep in her back because he didn't want to leave any witnesses to what he'd done. She suddenly turned around and looked at him and that's when he saw the duct tape across her mouth. He also saw that she was chained around her tiny wrist to the bed. She was chained in a way that she could only get to a make-shift bathroom and back. Cooper said to himself, "What kind of sick crap is this?"
At first Cooper was confused by what he was seeing, but after a few seconds it all started to make perfect sense to him. That's why the old man didn't want him to come in the house; he had an unwilling sex slave chained to the bed that he didn't want him to see. He asked her if anyone else was in the house and the girl shook her head, no in fear. Her eyes were bugged out and she was crying. He could tell that she was terrified of, not only him, but the old man that had chained her to the bed. Cooper chuckled and said, "You don't have to worry about that old man anymore. I killed him." He sort of laughed as he said, "Now me, that's a different story. I haven't decided what to do with you yet." Happy that the old man was dead, but now fearing that Cooper was going to kill her, she put her hands to her face and began to sob.
He left her standing there for a few minutes as he checked out the rest of the shack to see if she was telling him the truth. Once he was sure they were alone, he went over to a counter and found a half-full bucket full of water. He gorged himself and then gave some of it to Samson. From what was left in the bucket, he washed the old man's blood off the knife and his hands.
Cooper went back into the bedroom and ripped the duct tape from the girl's mouth. He told her that he wasn't going to hurt her, but she had to not scream and answer some questions for him before he set her free. He asked her who the old man was that he had killed and why she was chained to the bed. She slowly spoke, "His name is Charley and he kidnapped me when I was nine years old. He's had me chained to this bed ever since that day he took me. He's been raping me whenever he wanted to ever since he brought me here. When he heard you outside he put the duct tape over my mouth so I wouldn't scream. He told me that if I took it off and screamed he would kill you and me both."
Cooper squinted his eyes and yelled, "That sick, crazy bastard. I'm glad I killed him!" She was crying uncontrollably as she continued, "I lived with my mom and dad when he grabbed me. I was riding my bike alone on the street." He could tell that she was telling him the truth as he asked, "So how old are you now and what's your name?" She seemed to be a little embarrassed and shy as she softly said, "My name is Ashley Stevens and I think I'm fifteen. I don't know for sure, I lost track of time over the years." She raised her voice, "That sick old man just called me Candy." Cooper was stern, "Look, if I set you free you have to promise me you won't turn me into the police for killing him. I don't want to go to jail for killing a sick old man like that." She said, "You don't have to worry about that, I'll just be grateful to get set free and go back home. You don't even have to tell me your name or anything if you don't want to."
He ignored her when she said that and asked if there was a car or truck they could take to get out of the desert. She told him the guy had a pick-up truck and he kept the keys somewhere over by the door. Cooper went to the door to look for them and they were hanging from a nail on the wall. Once he had the ring of keys he took them back into the bedroom. Ashley looked up at him with a pleading look on her face, "One of those keys on that ring will unlock this lock and set me free." Cooper tried a few different keys until he found the right one. While he was doing that he said, "Do you know how to get back out of this desert, because I'm lost and I don't." She replied, "I think so. That old man took me with him to town a few times over the years. When we went into town he always told me he would kill me and my family if I tried to escape. He said he knew where my family lived and would go kill them if I tried anything. It's a narrow and winding dirt road for a long way until you come to one of the main paved roads. Then you can take the main road to Ridgecrest."
As he unlocked the lock from her wrist he said, "If I set you free don't do anything crazy." He sort of half chuckled, "I don't want to have Samson over there, chew you up." Ashley said, "You don't have to worry I promise I won't do anything. I'll just be happy just to get these chains off of me." Cooper looked down at her wrist and saw that she had a ring worn deep around her entire wrist from years of having the chain attached to her.
"You have to stay with me and Samson until we get you back to Ridgecrest and then we'll try to find your mom and dad's house and see if your family still lives there." She shook her head up and down and began to sob out loud when Cooper unlocked the chain. Once she was free she immediately gave him a hug and said thank you. That startled him for a moment because that was something he wasn't expecting and he wasn't used to anything like that. He didn't realize how pretty she was until she was up close to him. The last time he had gotten a hug like that was from his great-grandma Bessie before she died. When she gave him the hug, he told her his name was Cooper and that he lived in Red Mountain.
He asked Ashley if she had any other clothes she could throw on instead of that thing she was wearing. She told him that the old man had bought her a few things to wear over the years and she could put something else on. She seemed shy as she turned her back to Cooper again and took off the old nightgown. He told her that he and Samson hadn't had anything to eat in a few days so while she was dressing, he went over to the kitchen area and grabbed some things they could eat on the way out of there. She threw on a top, pants and shoes while Cooper was in the other room.
Before leaving the shack, he cleaned his fingerprints from everything he had touched. They left Charley just lying where he'd killed him and went and got in the truck. They headed down a small winding dirt road toward town. Cooper had never driven a car or truck before, but he'd watched when his dad drove. He had a pretty good idea how it all worked just from watching him. It took a few minutes to get used to the steering and brakes, but once he figured it out he was fine. They stayed on the little dirt road for about twenty miles, until they finally hit a paved road. From there they were able to head to Ridgecrest.
Ashley had memorized her old address during the time she was held captive so it didn't take long to find the street she had lived on and her family's house. Before they got there Cooper wished her luck with everything. She had tears in her eyes as they got close to the house, "I'll always be grateful to you Cooper. You saved my life. Thank you for everything." She reached over and gave him another big hug and a kiss on the cheek just before she jumped out of the truck and headed for the house.
Cooper could tell she was nervous as she walked up and
knocked on the door. It was still dark outside but the street lights were on. She looked back at him sitting in the pick-up and he smiled back at her and gave her a thumbs up. After several minutes her mom came to the door in her nightgown. She seemed to go into shock when she recognized her daughter, "Ashley, is that you? Ashley screamed out, "Yes mom, it's me." Her mom immediately started screaming and crying. While they were hugging each other, she turned back again and looked at Cooper. She smiled and then gave him the thumbs up sign. Seeing that she was okay, he then headed back toward Red Mountain.
He knew he was going to be in big trouble when he got back home, but at that point, there was no other place he would rather be. Just before he got back to Red Mountain he wiped his fingerprints from the pick-up and found a hiding spot for it in a deep secluded ravine about three miles away from town. He took the keys with him just in case he had to ever use it again. He and Sampson then happily walked the rest of the way back home.
When he got home it was just getting daylight and Cooper was exhausted. Jed med him at the door and could tell that whatever he'd been through was far worse than anything he could've said or done to him so he just said, "Well, I bet that was fun?" He laughed and Cooper sort of chuckled a defiant laugh, "Yeah, It was a blast." Jed was actually relieved to have him back home even if he didn't know what he'd been through during his ordeal. He figured if Cooper ever wanted him to know he might tell him all about it when he felt the time was right.
That night Cooper made a promise to himself that if he ever took off in the desert again he would make sure he had some water, food and matches with him, and maybe even a pocket knife.
Later in the evening it was on the local news that a brave fifteen year old Ridgecrest girl that had been held captive for over five years in a shack deep in the desert had escaped her captor. The man that had her was sixty four year old Charles (Charley) Staples. The news said Charles had been arrested twice before and convicted once for child molestation. He'd spent three and half years in prison for that charge before being set free. The news said the girl was able to get free after all those years and kill her captor and his dog. Ashley didn't want Cooper to get in any trouble so she told the police she went a little crazy after she got free and not only killed Charley, but she killed his dog too. She said she washed the blood off the knife and cleaned herself up before she left the shack in his pick-up.
The news also made a big deal about how a girl that didn't know anything about driving a vehicle, took her captor's truck and drove herself back to Ridgecrest. She told the police that once she found her old street she left the keys in the truck and parked it on the side of the street. She then went from house to house until she found her old house. The police never found the pick-up so they assumed it had been stolen.
After she had reported everything to the police they went to the old shack where she told them she had been held captive and found the body of Charles Staples. They also found the body of the dog lying out in the back yard. Inside the house, they found the chain that was once attached to Ashley's wrist. Everything she had told the police appeared to be true. There was no reason to suspect that anyone else was involved with killing Charley.
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Nightcrawlers: Reign of Terror Page 8
