James Hoch - Heckel Casey

About a half hour later, we came to a ridge and looked out across a wide field. "Let's stay on this ridge for a while and then make our way down to the edge of that field," I said pointing. "But first, let's get you comfortable with shooting." I walked over to Vonnie and demonstrated how to hold the rifle, take aim and fire. "Try not to tense up. Just stay relaxed and squeeze the trigger. Aim at the tree over there. Take a shot and see how it feels. You're going to feel it on your shoulder. Go ahead."

The shot reverberated across the field below. The slug slammed into the tree.

"Ouch," Vonnie said. "Holy crap, that smarts."

"Yeah, but you get used to it. Try a couple more."

Vonnie got more excited with each shot and surprisingly she was a natural.

"Outstanding. You hit the tree each time. Good shooting. Ready to see what we can get for dinner?"

"Absolutely," Vonnie replied with that same little giggle I heard last night.

We continued walking along the ridge, gradually making our way down to the edge of the field. Crouching down, I pointed and whispered, "There's a deer over there by that small brook. You go for it."

Vonnie gave me a slightly panicked look.

I nodded encouragement. "Try to aim toward the front of her," I whispered.

"I'm shaking. I'm so nervous."

"Stay focused. Breathe. Relax. Remember, just gently squeeze the trigger when you feel you have her in your sights."

The deer jerked its head up, spotting us, just as Vonnie shot. The deer bolted off into the bushes.

"Damn. I missed," she said.

"That's okay. You did well for your first try. Let's walk a little farther."

An hour passed before we saw another deer. I had Vonnie lie down on her belly and prop her elbows up to hold the rifle. "Okay, Vonnie. Now remember what I said about staying relaxed. Breathe slowly, aim and squeeze. Try setting your sights a little higher this time," I said whispering.

I could hear Vonnie muttering to herself, trying to relax. A few minutes later, she gently squeezed the trigger. The deer went down.

"Nice shot. You did it," I shouted.

Vonnie jumped up and down. "Wow, what a rush!"

"Not to mention dinner," I said proudly. "That was a perfect shot. Let's gut it and…"

"How do we get it home?" Vonnie asked.

"If it's not too heavy, we can carry it. The deer will be lighter after we gut it."

"Oh, joy," she said. Then a sad look spread over her face. "I killed it. Why all of sudden do I feel bummed?"

"It's not so bad. Don't think of it as Bambi's mother or anything. Remember survival of the fittest and these days hunting is more than a sport. It's a necessity. Just think of it as food that's going to taste so good grilled tonight."

After I showed her the finer points of gutting a deer, we decided that it was too heavy to carry or drag.

"Let's go back to camp and get the horses. Hopefully, there are no bears around that will steal your kill."

Vonnie bubbled with excitement as we walked back to camp. She couldn't wait to tell Jack and Missy about her first hunting experience.

Heckel met us as we approached the camp. "How'd it go?" he asked taking the rifle from me.

"Vonnie's a natural. She bagged a pretty good-sized deer. We have to go back with the horses to get it."

"Congratulations," Heckel said slapping Vonnie on the back.

"Of course, you'll join us for dinner," she stated proudly.

"Yum, venison steaks," Heckel said. "Do you need any help?"

I shook my head and told him that we could handle it. As soon as Tempest and Hope were saddled, Vonnie and I rode off to claim her prize. It didn't take us very long to get to the spot where we covered up the dead deer.

"Now what?" Vonnie asked.

"I think the two of us can get it up on Tempest. We'll drape it over his back. It should be fine. We'll ride slowly on the way back."

The first attempt to lift it up onto Tempest's back failed miserably, but we had a good laugh. It was the third attempt that we actually got it up high enough so that we could push it the rest of the way.

"Ta-da," I said triumphantly. "We did it. Let's get back to camp."

Suddenly, we heard a gunshot and some shouting nearby. I quickly pulled my Glock out of my waistband. "Shh," I whispered and motioned for Vonnie to get down. After more shouting, I said, "You stay here and hold onto the horses. I'm going to see what's happening."

"Let's just go. I got a bad feeling about this," Vonnie whispered.

"I'll be fine. Be ready to go."

"Be careful."

I crouched down low and made my way around a crop of rocks. Looking out into a grassy field, I saw a small boy and a man running across it. Three men were chasing them and shooting. I gasped as the boy stumbled and fell. The man stopped to help him up and was quickly overcome by the three men.

My instincts said walk away, but my conscience said otherwise. One of the bad guys had the boy by the arms while the other two were beating up the boy's guardian. I crept through the trees to position myself in back of the three men. As soon as I got into position, I shot a warning.

"Let them go," I yelled. One of the men spun around and fired at me, hitting a nearby tree. I shot back and the slug hit him between the eyes.

The other two men were unarmed. They panicked and took off running into the trees.

I waited a few minutes before doing anything to see if there were any reinforcements from the bad guys.

"You all right?" I shouted.

"Yes. I think so. The boy might have a slight sprain," the man yelled back.

Cautiously, I walked toward them.

"Thank you so much," the man said as I approached. "I don't think we would have-"

"Who were those men?" I asked guardedly as I kept looking around the area.

"I'm not sure. I think they were part of Madeline's army," the man said, holding up the young boy.

"What do you know about Madeline?" I asked.

"Well, I know for one thing, she's got a huge army forming up north of us somewhere in Washington or Oregon, I think."

The hairs on the back of my neck bristled as I clenched the weapon in my hand tightly. "What's your name?"

"Jackson. Jackson Steele."

"My name is Bobby Stewart," the young boy said cracking a smile.

I walked up closer to the boy and examined his ankle. "How does it feel?" I asked. Two huge dimples appeared on Bobby's dirt covered cheeks, "Oh, it's okay. Just a little sore."

"How'd you like a ride on my horse, back to our camp?"

"A horse. You have a horse?" Bobby asked excitedly. "Wow, I'd love to. Where is he?"

Jackson carried Bobby over to where Vonnie and our horses were. I yelled to Vonnie that everything was all right.

"Vonnie, this is Jackson and Bobby."

Vonnie flashed me a nervous look, and I assured her they were fine. I explained how they were being chased by some of Madeline's men. After taking Bobby from Jackson's arms, I placed him on top of Tempest in front of the saddle horn.

"Yeah, I knew what they were planning to do," Jackson offered quietly.

"What?" Vonnie asked. I walked closer to listen in.

Jackson leaned into whisper in her ear. "They were planning on killing me and…um…eating the boy."

Both of our faces lit up with shock and disgust. Neither one of us said a word. We just turned to Bobby and smiled as if to assure him that the bad guys were gone.

"Well, you are welcome to come with us. We have a good three hundred people or more camped over there about a mile or two," I said as I took Tempest's reins from Vonnie. "You ride with Vonnie." She rolled her eyes and sighed heavily.

As we rode into camp, Heckel came out to meet us along with Jack. The looks on their faces were guarded.

"Everything all right?" Heckel asked as he took the reins of Tempest.