James Hoch - Heckel Casey

As the morning lingered on, Sela related more about what Rose had told her regarding the additional help in the form of guardian angels.

"All people going into the battle will have their very own guardian angel at their side. That will double our force," Sela said confidently. "That's the extra help I asked for. Isn't that exciting?"

"Yes, it is. However, I wonder if we should keep this quiet for a while. Information like this might be a bit…um…"

"What?"

"The term overwhelming comes to mind. Not to mention hard to believe, fantastic and earth shaking. Sela, I'm just thinking that this might be a bit much for some people to handle. Let's just wait a bit."

"I think it's awesome. I always knew I had a guardian angel."

"Yeah, but did you ever think it was a hawk or a little girl named Rose?"

"No, but how cool is that?" Sela asked as Rose took off from her shoulder and arched high into the air.

After a little over a week, we made it to I-5 somewhere around Los Angeles. A large group of survivors heard about our merry band of would-be warriors and asked to join. News of our quest had preceded us. Our numbers were increasing. We stayed three days in L.A. and rested up. We took one day to scavenge around the area for any food or other usable items. A couple of the L.A. survivors pointed out prospective areas to hunt. We came back empty handed in the food department. However, Sela found a few pieces of nice jewelry.

Our new L.A. members shared food with our group. They had an old grocery store that they stocked from their own scavenging efforts. There were even some fresh vegetables that they rationed off to everyone.

"I imagine this will be hard to leave," I said to one of the L.A. members as I waved my arm across the aisles of food.

"Yes, however, when the battle is over, we will come back. This is our home. We'll work hard together to make Los Angeles a great city again."

I had a twinge of sadness come over me, knowing that some of these folks might not ever return.

The day before we left, Sela and I took a ride out to the ocean. We sat on the beach and watched the waves slide across the sand.

"How are you feeling?" I asked Sela as she laid her head in my lap.

"Very relaxed and I believe our child is quite happy."

"What makes you think that?"

Sela looked up and smiled at me. "I can tell," she said running her hand over her belly. She took my hand and had me rub the area.

"Oh, a kick."

"I felt it too. Guess Bob or Betty wants to say hi," Sela said giggling.

"Bob or Betty?" I said skeptically.

"Well, it's better than saying 'the kid.' We haven't come up with any names yet."

I stared at the ocean and started to think of names. We started tossing out ideas. Some sounded possible while others made us laugh.

"Wow, I never realized this would be such a difficult task," I said.

"How about Heckel Junior?"

"No, no, no," I stated emphatically. "I wouldn't want to subject anyone to such a dreadful name."

"Oh, it is not dreadful at all. It is unique and has character and I think it's especially memorable because of the story behind it."

"Just think…I could have been a bassoon."

"Instead of the world's savior."

I tickled Sela and she said, "Careful, Bob or Betty will get mad at you."

After a few minutes more of discussing names, we got up and walked along the beach looking for shells and smooth glass. As the sun slid closer to the horizon, we decided to head back to our camp.

When we got there, Jack came running up to us.

"Missy is gone," he said anxiously, slapping the sides of his legs and practically running in circles. "We think someone abducted her."

Sela took Hope from me after I dismounted. Jack took my arm and led me to his camp. Vonnie was in their tent crying.

"Tell me everything," I said as I sat down at his fire.

When he was done explaining how Missy was taken, Jack put his head in his hands and started crying.

"Come on, Jack. We'll get her back right now. They can't be that far away," I said, slapping him on the back.

With his face filled with determination, Jack got up. "I'll saddle up a horse."

I ran over to get Hope.

"Take Tempest. He's faster and stronger," Sela said, coming up behind me.

"No, Hope knows me. She'll do great."

Jerky came running up and as soon as I was on top of Hope, she jumped up, landing on my shoulder.

"Maybe you should stay here," I said, turning to the cat.

Sela grinned and raised her eyebrows. "Remember what I told you."

"Fine. We'll be back as quickly as we can." I turned the horse in the direction where Jack was waiting.

"Be safe and hurry," Sela said. "I love you."

"I love you too. Have your guardian close by while I'm gone. Things are…are getting…bad."

I met up with Jack and we rode north hard for about an hour. The sun had set, leaving the full moon to act as our lighting source. An occasional passing cloud proved an annoyance.

"I think I see a light up ahead," Jack whispered as we stopped on top of a small rise.

"Maybe we should leave the horses here and sneak in," I suggested.

"Can't you go in with your powers and just demand her back?"

I shook my head and said, "I'd rather get her without a big display. Besides, we need to find out more about who we are dealing with. I don't want to jeopardize either of your lives. How about you stay here and I-"

"Hell no!" Jack declared. "That's my little girl."

"All right. Let's try the sneak-in-and-grab-her approach." I dismounted from Hope and tied the horse to a nearby small tree. "We'll be right back, girl," I whispered to the horse and petted her nose.

Jerky followed close on my heels. Jack was on my right. He had the look of a crazed lunatic. "You all right?" I whispered.

"I will be. I just hope she's still alive."

I didn't reply. My insides were slowly churning with fear. "Calm down. Everything's fine," I muttered to myself, trying to boost my confidence. As we got closer to the flickering light from an enormous bonfire, I heard hollering. Jack and I inched our way to a cottonwood tree that had a few large bushes surrounding it. We looked out at about fifty people standing around the fire.

"Do you see her?" Jack whispered.

My eyes swept the crowd of people. "No. Let's…wait a minute. Is that her way over on the other side of the-"

"Yes, I see her," Jack said as he started to walk out into the crowd.

I grabbed his arm and motioned for him to stop.

"Stay close to me. We'll hang in the shadows and make our way around to her."

As we got closer to Missy, I started listening to what the leader was blabbering as he pranced around the bonfire.

"Our sacrifice to our goddess will be looked upon favorably."

The crowd roared with favor and Jack quickened his pace.

"Our goddess will bring back prosperity to us and restore our world. There is only one way to bring back what we have lost and that is to embrace our goddess, Madeline. She has promised us a rebirth. She has promised us riches."

The name, Madeline, made me stop in my tracks and shiver, causing all the hairs on my neck to stand erect. So, now there are cults worshipping Madeline. Great! That's not going to be good.

We finally made our way close to where they had Missy bound and gagged. Before we approached her, I whispered to Jack, "We grab her, sneak away and then run like hell."

He gave me the thumbs-up.

We inched our way to come up behind Missy. I whispered in her ear to stay calm. I cut the rope and she spun around and started to sneak away with us.

"Stop!" a voice commanded.

"Oh shit," I said.

"Do something," Jack barked.

"We'll be leaving now," I shouted back.