Dennis Yates - Red Mountain

CHAPTER 45

When Peggy squeezed the trigger on Marsh’s rifle, nothing happened.

The gun was empty. He’d used up everything putting holes in Wilbur’s water truck.

Yet Marsh had fallen on his face as if he’d been struck down. He hadn’t moved.

Peggy finished pulling on her clothes and ran outside the barn into the blazing sunlight. She headed for the tool shed where she could hear the other’s cries.

“Connor. Are you all right?”

“I’m OK. But it’s really hot in here mom. The lady who made us pancakes fell asleep.”

“Don’t worry honey. I’m going to have you out of there in just a few minutes.”

The metal doors were hot to touch, and when she saw the padlock holding them together she screamed out in anger.

She searched the ground for something to pry the padlock apart but came up with nothing except some brittle sticks. What she needed was a crowbar or a sledgehammer. They were probably inside the shed too.

She turned her head and looked back at the barn door she’d left wide open. Marsh still lay on the bed of straw, his burned flesh shining as if covered by embryonic fluid. He looked to Peggy like the stillbirth of some demonic creature.

She ran back into the barn and grabbed a pitchfork from a bale of hay as she went. Being careful not to turn her eyes away from Marsh for very long, she searched the barn for something she could use to break the padlock…

CHAPTER 46

At the moment Marsh had left his body, Horn had come to him again. Not only as a ghost who could tear him to pieces, but what he feared most. The Horn who did terrible things to his mind.

“You’re nothing but a stupid piece of charred meat,” Horn bellowed inside his head. “I’ve asked you to carry out my plans. Now look at you. You’re giving into your degenerate instincts again. I should kill you now.”

Marsh raised his head and stared at the bloody sun of his internal universe.

“Forgive me Horn. You know I’m weak. That woman really hurt me. I deserved a chance to take payment for it.”

Horn swelled with anger, filling the inside of Marsh’s head with a painful light, until Marsh was certain that at any moment it would explode. He reached up with his hands and pressed his temples. His nostrils dripped blood.

“Aw god please stop!” he screamed.

It seemed as if Horn was pressing forever. Marsh’s eyes bulged, nearing the point where they might spit from their sockets. Then Horn pulled back, and the crimson nova in Marsh’s head shrank to a mere pinpoint suspended in utter darkness. He dropped his hands and cried. He thought for sure he was going to die.

“Don’t forget Marsh. You’re just an ant to me and I’m the magnifying glass. Next time I’m not going to pull away until your bones are cinders. Can you get yourself together now and take charge of this situation?”

Marsh nodded, his swollen eyes still pressed shut.

“Then rise to your feet.”

To his own amazement, Marsh could. His mind felt suddenly clearer than it had ever been in his life. The recent injuries his flesh had suffered had unlocked a mystical part inside him. For the first time his saw his black heart and understood how it had become that way.

As a boy he’d learned there were pleasures one could experience from inflicting pain. In order to free him from the pain of what his father did to him, Marsh’s first victims were his weaker classmates and stray animals. And while he was still only a junior in high school he had his first woman…

He’d tried to resist, even attempted suicide. But his need for release only grew stronger. It festered after every beating he took from his father and even after he’d gotten away with killing the old man the taste for it never left him. And then along came the draft and Vietnam—every opportunity Marsh had tried to avoid suddenly served to him on a big silver platter.

Now his ugly heart spoke to Marsh with the voice of a young boy. A young boy scared of being punished again for being bad.

There was no escape from the cycle. He was doomed.

The only thing left to do was to obey and hope that maybe he’d be rewarded soon with more gold than he could imagine. Or maybe Horn would later kill him as promised. The uncertainty churned an icy froth in his stomach, and yet he’d never felt this alive in years, not since his mercenary days.

Marsh sobbed some more as he pulled on his shirt and buttoned it up over his stinging skin. He glanced around the barn, thought about how similar it was to the one his father used to take him to when it was time for punishment. His heart quivered against his ribs like a frightened rabbit.

It’s time to finish this. No more mistakes…

CHAPTER 47

Peggy used a tire iron to rip apart the lock. She slid open the shed doors. Connor flew into her arms, almost knocking her to the ground. She drew him close and kissed his face and wet it with her tears. Jan and her daughter stumbled out into the sun, blinking.

“Did that man hurt you Connor?” Peggy asked.

“No Mom, I’m okay. But I think the nice lady is hurt.”

“She’s still breathing,” Jan said, wiping the sweat from her eyes. “But we need to get her out of there right away.”

“Okay,” Peggy said. She set Connor back down.

“What happened to that man?” Jan asked, staring around nervously. “He didn’t leave. His truck is still here.”

Peggy knew she didn’t have much time to explain. “He’s hurt, and I don’t think he’ll be waking up soon either. Go find us some water and I’ll see if I can help Betty.”

“I don’t want to leave you again mom.”

“You want to help the nice lady don’t you?”

“Jan reached out and took the boy’s arm. Come on Connor. Your mom needs to do something first.”

Peggy stepped inside the shed. It was sweltering hot and stank of fertilizer. Wilbur’s wife lay slumped in the corner, semi-conscious. Peggy grabbed her wrist and felt for a pulse. The woman’s skin was pale and clammy. Her breath was rapid.

“Betty?”

The woman did not stir at first. Then she mumbled something Peggy couldn’t understand.

“I’m going to get you out of here, Betty. If you can help me, I’d really appreciate it.”

She bent down and tried pulling the woman up, but it was difficult in the room she had to work with. Betty moaned and her eyes opened wider. She was way too heavy for Peggy to move on her own and there just wasn’t enough room for another person to come inside the shed and help her carry her out.

“I can’t do this by myself. You’re going to have to try and help me.”

Peggy bent her knees once more and heaved, feeling the muscles in her back stab painfully. She thought she was going to have to let her back down again when the woman suddenly grunted and pushed herself up. Peggy managed to get an arm around her and lead her out.

Connor and the others were standing outside with a pail of water. They followed as Peggy guided the woman to the shade of a tree and set her down. She cupped her hands and drew out water to splash on the woman’s face. Gradually the woman’s breathing steadied and her skin was cool to the touch.

“Are you feeling better?” Peggy asked.

The woman nodded. Then she began to sob.

“My husband. Where is my husband?”

Peggy whirled around and looked for any signs of Wilbur. She had last seen the big man sprawled on the ground. Marsh had knocked him out cold. But now he was nowhere in sight.

“Stay here,” Peggy said. She lifted the tire iron from the ground. As she got closer to where Wilbur had been left unconscious, she began to make out a smooth drag mark in the dust.

CHAPTER 48