Dennis Yates - Red Mountain

“Yes we are partner,” Will said.

“Do you know where they are? Are they alive?” Robert asked.

Stick nodded. He began to cough again and Robert offered him a drink from his canteen. Stick drank a few sips before pushing it away.

“They escaped last night. They’re at my cousin’s house now. I heard Marsh talking on the phone. He told Wilbur a lie so Wilbur would keep them from finding help.”

“Where does Wilbur live?” Robert asked.

Stick lifted his only hand and pointed.

“He’s about two miles west of here. Almost down to the highway. I’m really worried for your family mister. Marsh has been gone for a long time.”

****

Wilbur began to wake up after the third hard slap to his face. When he opened his eyes he saw Marsh staring at him.

“Where do you keep the dynamite?” Marsh demanded after. He’d untied Wilbur’s gag.

Wilbur saw the fresh wounds on Marsh’s face. “Whose been kicking your ass?” he asked, chuckling softly. “Don’t tell me it was the woman.”

Marsh grinned from one corner of his mouth. He slammed a fist into the big man’s jaw. Wilbur rocked from side to side, choking on broken teeth.

“When I ask you a question fatty you’re supposed to give me an answer. Now I know you’re in the excavation business, so you must keep dynamite around here somewhere.”

Wilbur shook his head and spat.

Marsh grabbed him by the chin and pried out a loosened tooth with his fingers. Wilbur struggled to free himself but his hands were still tied behind his back.

“Come on Wilbur. I’m doing you a favor.”

He pulled the brown tooth out by its roots and held it up in front of Wilbur’s face.

“I’m sorry, where you really using this? Do you want it back?”

“Please don’t…” Wilbur cried. Thick tears streamed down his cheeks.

Marsh shoved the tooth into one of Wilbur’s nostrils and pushed it deep inside until his finger felt warm with blood. Wilbur squealed and thrashed his head.

When Marsh was finished, he had the information he needed.

He didn’t bother with killing Wilbur because he wouldn’t have any time to fully enjoy himself. There was a lot of work to be done before he could play again…

****

Peggy peered inside the barn and saw Marsh was no longer where she’d left him. Sweat popped out on her forehead and she began to feel an icy tremor up her spine.

How could it be possible? She’d hurt him bad and she knew it. Knew that someone in his condition couldn’t just get up and walk away…

She turned and ran back to the others beneath the walnut tree where she’d left them. As she approached, Connor ran up to her side and held her by the waist. As much as she tried, she couldn’t hide the terror she was feeling.

“What’s happened?” Jan asked.

“I’ve got bad news. Marsh is up, and god knows what he’s planning next.”

“Where’s my husband?” Betty cried.

“I don’t know. But we can’t stay here. Are there any weapons in the house?”

“Wilbur keeps a pistol in the bed stand.”

“Let’s go to the house then. How do you feel now?”

“I think I can walk.”

“Good. Okay everyone; let’s move as fast as we can.”

Peggy covered the group’s backs with the tire iron until everyone was safely in the house. Once they locked the doors and pulled the blinds, she bounded upstairs to the bedroom and found Wilbur’s pistol. She checked the chamber to see if it was loaded. It only had two bullets left inside. Probably not a high priority out here, she thought. Betty told her where to look for more, but after a frantic search through dusty closets and dresser drawers she gave up hope there’d be any more ammunition or guns in the house.

Two bullets – that’s all you’ve got.

She didn’t like the idea of them hiding in the house, but it was the best she could come up with. At least this way she could be here to defend them should Marsh decide to try and come inside. Still, their main problem was that there was no way for them to call for help and no guarantee that it would ever come. Marsh could hold them hostage as long as he liked…

****

“Is the woman with the boy yours?” Stick asked Robert.

“How did you know?”

Stick smiled. “There’s nothing special to it. All you need is a heart and a pair of eyes, and maybe you don’t even need to see in order to know. You’re hurting as bad on the inside as I’m hurting on the outside. But I know you’ll find them. There’ll be good times on the other side of the storm. You’ll see. Your wife is a strong woman, smart too. I wanted to help her, but I didn’t know how. I’m a weakling, and I just took the job Marsh offered because I needed to eat and have a place to sleep. I didn’t know he was going to keep me prisoner. They beat me real bad the times I tried to escape. But if I’d been able to get away I swear I would have gone right to the authorities and told them everything.”

Robert nodded, finally understanding what had happened. There was no reason for Stick to lie to him at his deathbed confession. He took the man’s charred hand in his while Will wandered into another room with his cell phone.

“Listen. My friend here is calling an ambulance for you. The hospital will take care of you.”

Stick shook his head and coughed. “He shouldn’t do that. Tell him I’m not worth the trouble. I’m fixing to die. I know your wife didn’t plan to hurt me. It was Marsh she wanted. The devil Marsh should have been the one to open the trailer door.”

Robert’s happiness over being told his family was still alive was now tempered by sadness and guilt for the man whose hand he now held. Stick gripped harder as a bolt of pain traveled up from the end of his severed arm and caused him to spit and curse. When the wave finally subsided his eyes came back into focus.

“I’m sorry you got mixed up in this business, Stick. I can tell now that you wanted to protect them. You’re a far better man than you give yourself credit for, and I’m sure Peggy would agree.”

Stick leaned away until the back of his head touched the wall. Robert could see he was going fast.

“There is one thing I’m not sure about,” Stick whispered. A grin began to emerge on his blistered mouth, and for the last few seconds of his life Stick’s eyes sparkled with grim bemusement.

“What is it?” Robert asked, leaning in closer.

“I think she must have stole my matches.”

CHAPTER 50

Horn had nothing to do with the death of the sheriff and his deputy. The thing he’d brought down from the mountain—Charlie Maynard’s loaned out protector—had killed them before it tried to flee back to its master’s tomb up in the glacier. And despite its preternatural prowess, the coyotes had attacked and eaten it.

On his way back home, Horn had found the remains of the female creature lying just outside the farm. She—it—had borrowed the body of a prostitute who’d been recently buried just outside of Wrath Butte. The woman had died under suspicious circumstances – poisoned, it was later believed, by one of Wrath’s highly respected and pious wives.

It appeared that Maynard had been a fraud after all. Horn felt bitter and betrayed. He wanted to be with his family and watch his sons grow.

He went back to the glacier and ordered Maynard to give his life back to him, but the robber’s face only mocked him with empty black eyes. Horn waited for many days for an answer that would not come. Then he became desperate, and began to beg for forgiveness as if he were a boy pleading fervently with his father.

Maynard said nothing.

But Horn couldn’t wait forever. He was going crazy. During a severe thunderstorm on the mountain he emerged from the glacier’s jaw and left for San Francisco to look in on his family. He traveled the country—hopping trains with the hobos most of the time—and visiting places he’d only dreamed of ever seeing in his lifetime. Over the years he checked on his family he saw his wife fully recover and become the beauty she once was, watched sadly as she fell in love with another man. And then the grandchildren came, and soon they were older and having children of their own…