James Hoch: Heckel Casey

I attempted to reach up to pull it off only to have my arms yanked backward by several dismembered arms. My balance was finally disrupted and I fell back toward the couch. The female hand continued to crawl up my chest. My head was yanked back, exposing my neck. For some strange reason, I felt it was Madeline's hand. I suddenly remembered seeing that oversized, garish, bilious diamond ring on Madeline's hand that memorable day in ISS. I wanted to puke. One of her fingers played with my lips in a provocative manner. I tried to bite at it and spit it out. Slowly it inched its way up to the top of my head, playing with my hair and ear. As her finger slowly bored its way into my ear, blood flowed down my neck.

Jerky bit my nose and woke me up.

"What the hell?" I yelled, looking cross-eyed at Jerky who was standing on my chest an inch away from my face.

"You must have been having a bad dream and Jerky sensed it. Amazing," Leonard commented softly as he stretched.

"Ya got that right. It was one of those nightmares where you can't move and there was…wait. Did you hear that?"

Leonard wiped the condensation from the side window and looked out at the deserted interstate. It was still very dark from the storm. Sheets of paper and dead leaves raced past us. He fiddled with the knob on the wiper blades, hoping that somehow they had miraculously healed themselves to start working.

"Don't see anything," he whispered.

"Maybe we should get going. The rain seems to have let up," I suggested. Jerky leaped over my shoulder into the backseat.

A large rock hit the side of the driver's window, making us both shout a string of obscenities. The glass shattered, but didn't break apart. Leonard turned the key. Nothing. The look on his face revealed sheer terror.

"Try it again," I hollered. Nothing.

"You up for a little running?" Leonard asked with a heavy dose of pleading.

Another rock slammed down on to the hood of the car, very close to the front windshield.

Jerky hissed, jumping into my lap. I reached over, placed my hand on Leonard's fingers and turned the key. The engine started up immediately.

"Okay…what the fu..?" Leonard asked incredulously. He looked at me as if I were a side dish that he hadn't ordered.

"Put it in gear and get the hell out of here." More rocks pelted the car and I could see several large men approaching.

Leonard punched it and the little Bug roared onto the freeway as one last rock found its mark, hitting the engine.

"Crap. That hit didn't sound good," I commented looking out the back window.

"At least we got away," he said as he looked over at me. "I'm beginning to think you have some special…um…powers.

I frowned, rolled my eyes and tried to dismiss the whole business. However, in the back of my mind, something gnawed at my down-to-earth way of thinking. Okay, now there were two things that seemed out of the ordinary. The sudden, new-found sense of strength while pushing the car and now this little incident of the laying of my hand on Leonard's fingers to help start the vehicle. Dumb luck? That must be it. I couldn't have any superhuman powers. That's just nonsense.

As we drove down the interstate away from our attackers, it wasn't long before the engine started to make noises as if it were fighting for its life.

"That last rock must have done some damage to the engine. It probably won't be long before we are walking again. Unless, of course, you can lay your hands on it and do a miracle," Leonard said, snickering.

"Surely, you jest," I replied.

"Don't call me, Shirley," Leonard remarked.

"Huh?"

" Naked Gun ? Remember? Leslie Nielsen?" Leonard prompted.

"Before my time I guess."

For the next few minutes, I got the Cliff's notes version of the old movie from Leonard. Gradually, his recounting of the comedy was accompanied by the grinding of metal. The old VW Bug pitched forward violently a few times and like a dying patient with lung cancer, the rusty bucket of bolts ceased moving.

"Rest in peace," I said as I shrugged my shoulders. "Well, it was nice while it lasted. Back to walking."

As soon as I opened the door, Jerky dashed out into the wet grass. I looked over at Leonard. He was hunched over the steering wheel. "You all right?" I asked.

"I'm tired of all this shit. I'm too old," he mumbled.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. You should be enjoying your retirement at a nice golf course in Florida with plenty of warm sun, having a happy-hour cocktail about now."

He nodded his head in agreement and smiled. "I was a horrible golfer, but you're right about the happy hour. It sounds wonderful. A good vodka tonic would taste heavenly about now."

I got out of the car, reached into the back seat and grabbed my pack. Leonard opened his door and followed suit. He slammed his door and walked to the front. "Thanks for the ride, old girl."

"Ditto," I said, walking over to Leonard. "Ready?"

He just nodded. I put my arm on his shoulder and we both started walking down the interstate. The cold wind had softened to occasional swirls.

Jerky was a few paces behind us. After a few minutes, I turned to see the big cat stop, and turn toward the old car. She hunched her back, raised her hairs and hissed. Something or someone was still following us.

A cold, misty rain returned, toying with us on and off as we walked down the interstate. We must have been following the storm. Gusts of wind increased, pushing at us as we walked. Slowly, our clothes got saturated, sending that wet sensation straight to our bones. I found myself shivering and knew that we needed to find a place to make a fire and dry out. Being in Iowa, the countryside only offered field after field after field. Years ago, they would have been covered with either corn or pigs.

Off in the distance, I could see what looked like a small town's water tower.

"Looks like there's something up ahead. It might provide us a place for the night," I said. "We need to get warm and dry these clothes out."

Leonard nodded, mumbled something and just kept walking. Jerky came out of a ditch ahead of us and waited. She jumped behind me as we passed and followed close on my heels. Her hair was matted and soaking wet. She was covered with twigs and dead leaves.

I could tell Leonard wasn't in a talking mood. So, my thoughts went through an inventory of memories. Most of them were very unpleasant accounts of Madeline and what her agenda was. By now, there was no doubt that she was the originator and orchestrator to the collapse of…well just about everything. Those seeds she planted in God knows how many kids years ago became the catalyst for the mass insanity worldwide.

I realized the insanity began to manifest itself before the first psychotic event in subtle and some not-so-subtle ways. As a society, people gradually forgot or disregarded simple common courtesies. Expressions like please and thank you became nonexistent. Everyone became distrustful. Paranoia grew. If you took one aspect of our society, put it under a microscope and examined it, you could see how it became affected by Madeline's evil.

Take for example everyone's favorite topic…politics. As I was growing up, the whole political process became highly corrupted, and I mean way more vile and nefarious than previous episodes in our American history. It seemed that every two years we'd go through incredible mudslinging, negative campaigning from candidates. All the television commercials were vicious attack ads. Most of the time the facts that a candidate was professing were flat-out lies. There was never any substance or information from candidates on how they would address issues and bring about positive new ideas. My TV remote mute button would get worn out during the campaign season. I'd have to go buy a new one. Once a new administration became elected, anything that was promised would soon be forgotten and scandal after scandal would be all that you'd hear about or see on the front page.