Day 26

Chapter 38

Mrs. McGregor looked down into the sinkhole, her hand on Mandy’s arm. She shook her head. “Things are happening very quickly now,” she said.
Mandy looked at her. “What the hell are you talking about?” Mandy felt the anger, bred of fear, rise in her throat. She had become instantly tired of Mrs. McGregor’s riddles and half utterances. “What things? What is going on? Why are we here? What does Hugo and Dr. Bonanza have to do with all this?”
Instead of answering, Mrs. McGregor began to climb down into the sinkhole, picking her way around boulders, using cracks to lower herself down. When she reached the bottom, she could no longer see the body; it lay over a small rise from where she had descended. As she walked closer, she could smell the rotting flesh, but she smelled something else as well. She had only smelled it once before, many years ago, and many miles from here. Her father had initiated her, on their land, back in North Dakota. She had been the only girl in that [Brotherhood of Good]. She had shown particular talent for finding the good, and evil in men and her father recognized this. She had fought with evil, hand to hand one day, and she had prevailed.
The memory lent solace, but still, she feared what would come next.
She walked to the rise and crested it. Just below her lay the body, shirtless. She couldn’t see the face, the head was behind a rock. She feared what she might see next, expecting the gruesomeness of a missing brain. As she stepped around the body and looked at the head, she gasped as she looked at it: the head seemed intact. The ground looked like it didn’t even have blood on it. She quickly looked over the rest of the body. All seemed to be in order. She looked around for footprints, but found none on the basalt breakdown littering the floor of the sinkhole.
Mandy joined her. Martin peered over the rim of the sinkhole. “It’s Jimmy,” he said.
Mrs. McGregor looked sharply up at him. “Get down here,” she said. Anger tinged her voice.
Martin began to scramble down.
When he reached the two women, Mrs. McGregor said, “Turn him over.”
Reluctantly, Martin knelt down beside the body and placed a hand on its shoulder and hip. He leaned back and pulled the body onto its back. As it rolled towards him, he let out a little scream and jumped back. Mandy put her hand to her mouth and looked away.
Mrs. McGregor stared at the faceless corpse. She could feel the fear from the memory of what must have happened. Grimly, resolutely, she turned to the other two. “We haven’t much time, I fear,” she said. “But we don’t know where to look.” She looked to the rim of the sinkhole. Mandy followed her gaze half expecting to see someone, something peering back at them. “We must find Mario,” said Mrs. McGregor. “We have to get out of here.”


Chapter 39

As Hugo finished his meal, Dr. Bonanza and Olaf stood. Hugo stood as well and waited for what must come next. He picked up his club and wondered about it.
“These are not weapons,” Olaf said.
“They a protective device,” said Bonanza. “You will know what do with it when the time comes.”
Hugo looked at his club dubiously. He wondered when the time would come, both anticipating and dreading it. “What do we do next?” he asked.
Bonanza began to climb up a well worn wooden ladder, out of the hole, followed by Olaf.
“We might as well start at Skeleton Cave,” said Bonanza. “Right now, that is our only lead.”
As Hugo began to climb the ladder a thought returned to him. “I saw Maya,” he said as he exited the hole.
Bonanza looked at him. “She was at a window in the cave,” continued Hugo.
“Where was this?” asked Olaf.
Hugo began to point, but really had no idea where he had been when he saw her. “I’m not sure. She tried to help me out, but only had a climbing rope. I couldn’t get up it. I think that someone else was with her, though she denied it.”
Dr. Bonanza thought for a moment, then said told him to get in the pickup. He said that he had an idea where the window might be.
They drove in silence, bumping over the dirt track. Hugo thought that they must be on the refuge, judging by the plants and rocks, but had never been here before. The turned a corner and crested a rise. At the bottom of the hill, sat a car. Bonanza stopped and looked at it, trying to determine if anyone was still there. When he saw no movement, he put the truck in low and slowly inched the truck down the steep, steep hill.
“Be on your guard,” said Olaf. Hugo wondered if that meant that he would need to use his club, but saw that neither Bonanza nor Olaf had theirs out.
Bonanza pulled the truck up in front of the car, blocking its escape. He opened the door and slid out, pulling a hand gun from under the seat. Cautiously he walked toward the car, as the other two exited the passenger door. Hugo instinctively began to scan for footprints: many and jumbled, the told him no ready stories. He did find tire tracks leading away from the way that they had come.
Bonanza peered in the car, front seats, then the rear. “Nothing here,” he said.
Olaf felt the hood of the car. “Cold,” he said.
A trail led from the back of the car into the sagebrush. They followed it to a fire pit. It gave off no smoke, but was still warm. The continued on to find the window about twent yards on, at the base of a small rise. Hugo looked down into the hole. From this side, it looked completely different, but he felt sure that this must be the same window. He found markings in the soil that indicated a rope had been laid across a ten foot expanse. The rope had been tied to a large sage bush; he could see where it had rubbed the bark off.
“This is it,” he said touching the bush at its base. “What does it all mean?”
“It means that out Maya wasn’t alone.”
[earlier scene: Frank, Jimmy, and Martin performing a ritual, without us knowing who they are, not seeing any faces; also earlier scene where Maya and Frank are doing a different ritual/talking together. Maybe in the bar.]
“They have been staying here, at least one of them has,” said Bonanza. “But they left quite some time ago.”
“I agree,” said Hugo. “I think that we should follow those tire tracks. And see where they went.”


Chapter 40

Mrs. McGregor and Mandy had resolved to send Martin out to find help on his bicycle. That had been over an hour and a half ago. They sat in the car.
“I don’t think he’s coming back,” said Mandy. The sky had grown dark and clouds had moved in to cover the valley. Light snow had begun to fall. Huddled under blankets, she peered out the fogged side window.
Mrs. McGregor opened the door. She thought about making a fire. She thought about trying to walk to the main road, for all the good that would do. It was after four now, and getting dark. Ranger Tom would be closing up the visitor center and walking over to his cabin. They hadn’t seen anyone else all day, and could presume that no one else had visited the refuge on such an uninviting Sunday afternoon.
As she looked down the road, she saw headlights, still a long way off. She knocked on the trunk of Mandy’s car to get her attention. Mandy opened the door. When she looked at Mrs. McGregor she pointed. Mandy looked.
“We’re saved,” said Mandy.
Mrs. McGregor felt uneasy about the approaching car, though she couldn’t say why. As it approached, it slowed and stopped behind the car. The window rolled down. A woman leaned her head out. “Are you having trouble?” She asked.
Many looked at her car. “A coyote ran us off the road,” she said with a slight smile.
The woman nodded. “We’ll give you a lift,” she said. “Get in.”
Mandy opened the back door and got in. A man sat in the passenger seat. He looked to be about twenty one or two. Mandy nodded to him. “Thanks,” she said.
Mrs. McGregor climbed in beside Mandy.
The woman turned looked at them in the rearview mirror. “I’m Maya,” she said.


Chapter 41

Deep in the belly of the cave the beast felt the darkness of the day ebb. Night flowed into the valley as the blood flowed through the beasts veins. Again it stretched. Strength returned to its muscles and bones much more quickly now. It was stronger, more whole with each passing night. After each feeding, it could feel the power surge through its body.
Atavistic rage welled in its belly. The urge to kill nearly split its skull as it leapt and raced from the cave.
A deer, unlucky in its choice of bedding places, sat not far from the cave entrance. It had bedded down early as the light snow began to fall. It sat on the upward slope of a glen, surrounded by junipers and sagebrush. The wind changed directions, and the smell of evil, of impending death filled its nostrils.
Terrified, it jumped up and scrambled up the slope. From behind, it felt the hot breath of death on its flanks. Then ripping, tearing pain, and then oblivion.
The creature drank down the warm life blood and carved out the brain with swiftness and precision. Sated, it walked to the top of the rise and gazed out at the approaching night.


Chapter 42

Night began to fall on the three men as they bounced along the rutted track. They had followed the tire tracks from the encampment to a four way junction. The road, at that pointed had turned to hardpan, and they no longer could make out which way the other vehicle must be traveling. Hugo got out and looked for any sign, but in the gathering dusk, and on the hardpan, he couldn’t tell which way they should follow.
When he got back in the pick-up, he shrugged his shoulders and said, “We lost ‘em.”
Bonanza chose a way and drove on. “We’ll head down to Skeleton Cave,” he said. “I brought flashlights that work this time,” he grinned at Hugo.
As they joined up with the highway, Hugo estimated that they had about five miles before they reached the turnoff for the cave. He wondered if Bonanza had brought any beer, but more out of habit, than a genuine desire for one. He had a drink of water instead. He thought that maybe he would like to be clear headed for the trip into Skeleton Cave.
By the time they reached the turnoff, light from the sun had left the valley black. Snow spitted on them as the slowly drove up the dirt road. They drove in silence, until the saw Mandy’s car stuck in the ditch.
Hugo pointed. “Stop,” he said. Bonanza stopped the pick-up behind the car and they all got out. “This is Mandy’s car,” said Hugo as he looked in the back windows. He felt the hood. The cold from it bit his hand. “They haven’t been here for quite some time.”
Olaf indicated the tracks in the road. “I think that we found our mystery car.”
Hugo came to have a look. He looked up the road toward the cave. He wondered who had been this way, and if they had taken Mandy with them.