Dennis Yates - Red Mountain

“Wait here.” Will whispered. “If it doesn’t look like I’m going to make it I want you to leave right away. Do you understand?”

Peggy and Connor nodded and Will pressed his face next to theirs before leaving. They watched him run silently across the snow, keeping as close as he could next to the shadows of rock outcroppings. He eventually stopped and crouched down, waited to be sure Marsh hadn’t heard him before sprinting for his back and tackling him to the ground.

The advantage of a surprise attack did not last long.

Marsh slipped rapidly out of Will’s hold from behind and pulled his rifle up one-handed from the ice. When he attempted to swing the weapon around at Will’s head, Will rose briefly to his feet and kicked it from Marsh’s hand. The rifle skittered across the ice and disappeared over the edge of the crevasse.

The two men dove into each other, rolled as one tangled mass in the same path the rifle had slid. Occasionally their bodies separated enough so they could throw punches at each other’s faces. Will finally managed to perch himself on top of Marsh’s chest, and pounded the man’s flesh until his knuckles swelled to twice their size.

Marsh, however, appeared unfazed. After all that Will had done he still clung to consciousness.

And he was laughing…

Jesus. What’s the fucker on, anyway? Will couldn’t understand were Marsh was getting his energy. For someone so badly burned he’d expected him to wear down much sooner.

Marsh couldn’t sense a whole lot anymore. Will’s punches to his blistered face felt like they were just bouncing off rubber, as if someone was throwing chunks of soft meat at him. He waited patiently for an opening, when Will would have to catch his breath. Then the moment came, and Marsh piston-shot his arm upwards. Will didn’t see it coming. After Marsh’s fist connected with Will’s windpipe he crashed onto his back, clawing for air.

****

Robert emerged from a narrower opening in the ice not far away, and as soon as Nugget recognized him, she broke from Peggy’s grip and ran.

“Nugget!”

But Nugget was already a dog-blur.

Peggy grabbed Connor by the hand and they chased after her.

****

Will coughed, tasted blood at the back of his throat. The blow had paralyzed him. He couldn’t do anything but stare up helplessly at Marsh’s grinning mouth. The man’s face he’d recently showered with his fists appeared to be sliding off. The flesh of his forehead now bunched up into a thick angry lump that nearly hooded his eyes.

“Didn’t think I had the fighter in me, did you?” Marsh said, poking Will in the chest with a stubby finger. His eyes were lit up now like two dancing flames.

Will didn’t even want to try to speak. What could he possibly say that would stop this man from killing him? Or was the damage already done? Did he only have a little time left? Something moving several yards behind Marsh caught his attention. He rubbed his eyes, worried that the black dots he saw now would become fatter and fatter, until he could no longer see anything at all.

Marsh stood up and grabbed Will by his calves. Farther away he could hear Robert shouting at Marsh to stop. Marsh turned to chuckle at him as Will slid his hand beneath his jacket and grasped his revolver. When Marsh turned back to what he was doing there was no time for him to react.

Will lifted the revolver and fired.

Two bullets struck their target, while a third hissed off into the dark. The gun was empty now and he tossed it away.

Marsh grunted. The bullet holes in his chest squirted small streams of blood and then stopped. He gripped Will tighter and continued pulling him across the ground.

Will made feeble kicks with his legs to free himself. His fingers became raw and bloody as he tried to keep the man from sweeping him across the ice like a human mop. Marsh was possessed by a kind of power Will never imagined possible. And yet he’d seen it once before, back when he and Robert were in Mexico. As badly hurt and outnumbered as Robert was, Will had witnessed his friend tear men apart with his bare hands, had even been forced to turn away as Robert pulverized the man in white’s skull against a dirty concrete wall…

“Here comes the fun part,” Marsh said.

He positioned Will as close to the edge of the glacier as he could without falling in himself, then kicked him with the heel of his boot. Will slid into the dark maw in the ice…

Marsh stood waiting for screams that didn’t come. Frowning, he stepped closer to the edge, fearing Will may have caught himself on something. A smoky black figure whirled up from the crevasse, seizing Marsh about the waist and pulling him Anaconda-tight.

Marsh’s eyes bulged in total terror at what he saw. It wasn’t Will’s eyes staring into his but Jared Horn’s.

“I told you I would come back for you, Horn hissed, his face now a swirling vortex of broken ghost stuff.

As much as Marsh struggled to free himself, the disintegrating shadow showed no signs of weakening its hold on him.

“We had a deal. You promised me I’d be rewarded,” Marsh whined.

“I lied.”

Now dissolving quickly out of his material form, Horn raised Marsh high above the mouth of the crevasse. For a moment Marsh looked like he was riding a gusher of oil before being dropped shrieking into the abyss below.

Will turned his head to watch as the cable hoisted him up to the razor sharp lip of the crevasse. He couldn’t recall how he’s managed to grab hold of the line. After Marsh had pushed him over he’d fallen through the dark, waiting for the moment when his body would strike the bottom, wondering to himself how long he’d suffer unspeakable pain before his heart stopped. Then, somehow, he felt his frozen fingers being forcefully wrapped around a cable he couldn’t see and he’d magically started to rise…

As he neared the top he saw Nugget crouching by the edge. When he tried to pull himself up over the rim and slipped she thrust her head forward and sank her teeth into the sleeve of his jacket, holding him there with her jaw clamped shut until Robert could assist her in bringing him all the way out. Once cleared, Will collapsed on his side, struggling to regain his breath while Nugget happily poked his face with her nose.

“Give him some space, girl.” Robert said.

A distant thrumming sound soon caught their attention but it was impossible to tell where it was coming from.

Will rolled over onto his back and blinked away frost. “What the hell is that?”

“I don’t know,” Robert said. “But it sounds like it’s moving this way. Are you well enough to stand?”

“I think so.”

Robert pulled Will to his feet. He steadied him for a moment, waiting to make sure he could hold his own before releasing his grip. Nugget rubbed against their legs and wagged her tail. Robert looked into his friend’s eyes and smiled.

“It’s good to see you again buddy.”

Will coughed, and freed his throat of bloody spit. It took several times before his spit was clear again.

“I really thought that was it, Bobby. I really did.” Will’s voice was hoarse but he no longer believed he’d been badly hurt. He’d taken a good ass kicking though, no doubt about it.

Robert wrapped his arm around him for safe measure and they began to walk away from the crevasse. The gas-powered winch was still hauling in cable, but they paid no attention to it. Down slope they could see Peggy and Connor running toward them. Will soon patted Robert on the shoulder and stepped aside on quivering legs.

“Go get them. I’ll catch up.”

“Are you sure?”

“Go, damn you!”

Robert nodded and broke away from Will without turning back. He spread his arms out wide and ran to reach them when a chopper suddenly roared over the looming cliff to the south and hovered above. Its blinding floodlight splashed everyone in harsh white light.