Links to Part 1. 2. 3.

Chapter Eight

March 19th 7:34 am

The first thought that filtered into his mind was; damn his head hurt, followed closely afterwards by, I must be in the back of an ambulance again.

He didn’t smell smoke, so he wasn’t injured at a fire…a rescue then.

But wait; something wasn’t right… it just didn’t feel right.

The fact that he couldn’t remember being injured was not all that alarming to him…one good conk on the head, and one’s memory would often take a brief vacation.

Slowly he began to realize what it was…he couldn’t feel the gurney beneath his body. Come to think of it where were the sirens?

Then slowly the curtain of fog that had enveloped his mind began to lift, and the events of the last 8 or 9 hours came into focus for him…he wasn’t in an ambulance…he was in hell...a living, breathing, right here on earth, hell.

It wasn’t the ecclesiastical version of purgatory…but a pretty frightening facsimile all the same.

As he slowly opened his eyes he discovered that his ankles were now tied with the same paralyzing tightness as he hands and wrists. He lay still; the effects of the blow he had received had by no means worn off and he dared not look around too quick for fear that the dizziness would cause him to vomit…not that there was anything on his stomach to lose. He lay with his eyes closed for a few more moments until the spinning slowed down and the pounding in his head had lessened to a dull roar.

Finally he slowly opened his eyes and looked around the back of the van. He could see Lucas and Natalie on his right, both of them staring at him wide-eyed and frightened, but they weren’t crying.

Otherwise the back of the van appeared to be empty.

Johnny’s back was facing towards the front of the van so he couldn’t see which one of the 3 killers was driving, and he was still way too queasy to make any attempt at turning over to look just yet.

He looked over at the two small children once more and gave the kids what he hoped was a reassuring smile.

“Hi guys, are you doing okay?”

Lucas began to cry, “I peed in my pants,” he wept.

Natalie’s head dropped down and her chin began to quiver, “me too” she said in a small voice, I couldn’t hold it and I was afraid to ask. Those mean men were really scary.”

Johnny talked as softly and as gently as he could to the pair. “Shhh, it’s okay guys, don’t worry. I won’t tell anyone, it will be our secret. Anyway, it wasn’t your fault. There was nothing you could do about it. Did they hurt you…did they touch you in any bad way?” he asked cautiously.

“No, the one called Duncan tied us up and put us in here, then Martin hit you on the head with the gun…then they went back up to the barn. I heard the gun go off 2 more times and then the one called Martin came back alone and drove off with us.” Natalie informed him.

Johnny finally twisted around and sure enough, it was just as the girl had said. Johnny could see through the glass partition that sealed off the cab from the back of the van, that Martin was indeed alone.

Had they split up?

Johnny didn’t think so. The bus was too dangerous to drive around in now. That was the whole point of them hiding it in the first place, and he knew there hadn’t been any other vehicles on the farm, not unless they had found one behind the barn…but Natalie had said she heard two shots.

Two shots, two men missing, it didn’t take a genius to put the pieces together.

Johnny’s head was really starting to pound now, and trying to process what he had just heard made it hurt worse.

So…Martin had come back to the van alone? Two more shots?  Had Martin really killed the other two? …Why?

He grimaced as his mind screamed out at him…because they’re killers Johnny, that’s why. No honor among thieves and all that shit. But then again why the hell should he care, two less was better odds for him anyway.But what exactly was Martin’s master plan?

Suddenly the van pulled over to the side of the road and stopped.

Martin came back and opened the side door. “Well the medicine man is awake from his little nap I see. Everyone is comfortable I trust? How are the wrists and ankles? Sore I’ll wager. Duncan and Angus are pretty good at knot tying…I gather they did a lot of it over the years. Well, there’s nothing to be done for it, you’ll just have to get used to it I’m afraid. You are going to have to remain this way for some time. Now I have to make a few purchases and I don’t want to take the risk of you shouting out and alerting anyone that you are back here. True it’s Sunday and it’s early and not many folks are up and about yet, but still why take a chance?” Saying that he pulled out a large roll of duct tape and taped all three of their mouths securely shut, wrapping the tape from ear to ear using several strands on each of them, especially on Johnny. He then slid the door of the van shut and walked away.

In the back of the van Johnny wrestled with his bonds. His hands and feet were numb and the end of the duct tape was pulling painfully at the base of his neck. The experience was both painful and infuriating. His attempts to sit upright were frustrated, for not only was it difficult for him to move, but the effects of the blow to the head, coupled with the stifling quarters were making him feel nauseas, and he did not want to throw up with duct tape on his mouth…the thought of choking to death on his own vomit was a terrifying thought.

He silently cursed his situation and rested his head back down on the floor, while he tried to control his breathing, taking slow deep breaths. The pain in his head redoubled and his vision swam…He grimaced in pain as his eyes rolled back in his head, and he knew no more.

Martin walked into the small country grocery store. He had made sure he had driven almost 50 miles away from the farm so that there would be little chance of the van being recognized by anyone. Still he had parked it as far away from the front door as possible. He chose this store because not only was it small, out of the way and quiet but it also had a set of gas pumps out front as well.

Inside there was a stout woman with graying hair who looked to be in her early sixties behind the counter. Martin smiled politely as he made his purchases and paid for them. “Excuse me ma’am, would it be possible for me to get some gas for my van, please?”

The woman shifted uncomfortably. “Well I have to admit I’ve never pumped gas before, my Harold always likes to man the pumps himself, but one of the cows went into labor this morning, and he didn’t want to leave in case she has a problem.”

Martin couldn’t believe his luck. He smiled sweetly. “Not to worry ma’am I pumped gas when I was in high school. If it’s okay with you, I’ll just fill it up myself.”

The woman thought for a few moments and then smiled. “Shoot, I don’t see why not, you go right ahead just come in and pay me when you’re done.”

Martin whistled while he filled the tank to the top. He made sure he noted how much gas he had bought so he could pay the woman the correct amount. No sense stealing gas and raising the alarm pointlessly. That would have been an Angus or Duncan move.

In just a few short minutes Martin was back in the van and on his way again. He had taken the gags off of the kids and the medicine man for now….he wouldn’t be near his destination until this afternoon at the earliest.

Back in the rear of the van Johnny had regained consciousness. His head still hurt, but the dizziness had seemed to clear up a lot. He was not sure if the residual nausea and lightheaded feeling was from the blow to his head or low blood sugar. Probably a combination of both he thought. He realized that his gag had been removed and the van was moving once more.

Suddenly he was aware of Natalie studying him. Once again he tried to use his most reassuring grin on the child. “Hey kiddo,” he said weakly, “you guys still hangin’ in there okay?”

The little girl looked over at him and quietly said. “Daddy’s in heaven with mommy now isn’t he?”

Johnny could feel his throat constrict, he knew how these children felt, all too painfully, and it broke his heart. Finally he found his voice and choked out, “Yes, sweetie he’s in heaven now.”

“I’m scared Mr. Medicine man and I miss my daddy,” she said meekly.

“I know you do honey, when I was a little boy, my mommy and daddy had to leave me and go to heaven too.”

“Did some bad men come and take them from you?”

Johnny felt his words catch in his throat…this was hitting way too close to home for him, but right now he was the only thing these two children had and they needed the comforting. “Yeah sweetie some bad men took my mommy and daddy away from me too. And you know what? It’s okay to cry, and it’s okay to miss them. But they are up there with the angels and they will always be watching over you…when you feel really scared you can talk to them in your heart, and they will hear you, even if they can’t answer you back.”

She looked at him for a few minutes; she seemed to be pondering something in her mind and then finally she spoke once more. “Mr. Medicine Man?”

“Yes, sweetie?”

“What’s your for real name?”

Johnny smiled at the child…”well kiddo, my for real name,” he said using the vernacular she had used, “is John Gage, but all my special friends call me Johnny and you can call me that if you want.”

Natalie smiled, “I like that name Johnny.”

“Me too,” Lucas added shyly.

“Well… then Johnny it is.” Johnny wished he could reach out and hold the children and comfort them properly. But since all three of them were tied up, this was the best he could do for now.

“What’s a medicine man?” Lucas asked.

“Well, I guess it’s kind of like an Indian doctor.”

“Are you an Indian doctor?’

“Naw, not really, but I am half Indian, and I am kind of a doctor’s helper. I can do some stuff a doctor can do but not everything. I help people who are sick or hurt, and I can give them medicine and fix them up a bit until I can get them to the real doctors. But I am also a fireman too.”

“WOW a fireman too! You sure have a lot of neat jobs…maybe we could come see the fire engine sometime, if this bad man lets us go.”

“Well Lucas, and you too Natalie…it’s a date. When we get free and get home, I’ll take you on a tour of the whole station and you can even try on my helmet and turn on the siren.”

For the first time since the bus had been hijacked, the two children smiled.

March 19th 2:15 pm

Up front Martin grinned as he crossed the state line into Montana. He looked back through the glass partition, to double check that all 3 of his passengers were still securely bound up tight and unable to move. He noted with satisfaction that the two children had fallen asleep, and the medicine man seemed to be dozing. He had stopped two hours ago for a few minutes on the side of a dirt road. He had let them all out to relieve themselves, and to give them some food and drink.

In another hour or so he would be ready to start phase two of his plan…get his brother out of the hospice.

In the back of the van Johnny was thinking, while the children slept. He hadn’t been happy about the arrangement when it came to letting the kids go to the bathroom. He hated it that the girl had to go in front of that bastard. But he had been having a hard enough time trying to balance and stay upright with his feet tied while he had taken care of his own business.

His head still ached, but not as bad as before. The nausea and light-headedness had gone. Having a chance to drink the juice and eat the cereal bars and apples Martin had given them probably went a long way to helping.

He wished he could see outside, but there were no windows in the back of the van, and being tied up on the floor made it impossible to see out the front wind shield. He had no idea of the time, as he could not see his watch that was hidden underneath the sleeve of his jacket, so he wasn’t sure how long he had been on the road. If he knew how long he had been out cold both times, he might have been able to hazard a guess. When he had gotten out of the vehicle, he had guessed it was about midday, so he would imagine it was somewhere later in the afternoon right now.

A vague thought breezed through his thought processes; they would have been noticed as being missing by now, at least the bus would have…he wondered who was looking for them, and where were they looking?  Did they have any idea of where to start?

Hell, he didn’t even know himself where they were, or even what state they were in.

He knew he himself would not have been missed yet, as he was supposed to be in an airport terminal in San Francisco. He knew he might not be really missed until he didn’t show up for his shift tomorrow.

He wished now that he had just stayed at the airport and waited…but then if he had done that, these two kids might be dead. He had decided a while ago, that if the kids were the targets, he would have been killed when they had shot Thomas and Helen.

He knew kids were unpredictable and not the ideal choice for a hostage if they weren’t the actual targets. They got tired, they cried, they tended to throw up when scared, or messed themselves. They couldn’t go far.

So unless you were a pedophile, and he really didn’t think Martin was; Angus or Duncan yes, but Martin didn’t seem the type; you would not take the children with you. So he had deduced he was being kept alive for a hostage and the kids were Martins way of making sure he did not try and escape.

What made him angriest was that Martin was right…he would never be able to run with both kids fast enough to escape and to leave them behind was out of the question…he would die first.

He rolled over on his back and sighed…he wondered what Roy, Jo and the kids were doing right now…he wished he were with them…Man he loved that family, he loved how they had taken him in as part of it. He hoped they knew how deep his feelings ran.

He hoped when the bus was found the police would make sure that Roy and Dixie got their messages…he hoped he got out of this and was able to give Dixie her birthday present in person.

Right now he’d even be happy to see ole’ Chester B.

He gave a deep sigh; his headache was starting to flare up again, so he rolled over onto his side and closed his eyes, and let himself drift off once more.

Chapter Nine

March 19th 3:20 pm

Martin pulled the van to a stop, and looked back to make sure his passengers were still sleeping.

He then quietly slipped out of the van and walked over to the pay phone across the street from where the medical building stood that housed his little brother.

Once he made sure James was awake and had managed to get a hold of a good supply of all the medicine’s he would need, he would take his brother out for a walk in a wheelchair.

Once he had him outside, he would get him into the van and head off to the cabin in the mountains.

Very few people knew about the old place. His old boss William Hamilton owned a large acreage of land up in the mountains. Many years ago, he had built a small cabin up there for his many fishing and camping trips.

Martin new old Will hated the cold and so he never ventured up there before June when the weather was warmer. It was perfect.

Martin’s brother James had always loved it when Will had let Martin borrow the cabin for two weeks each summer. It was a 2 day hike up a steep trail to get there, but Martin was pretty sure he could get the wheel chair up the trail with a bit of maneuvering….or the medicine man could, he mentally corrected himself with a grin. With the medicine man along, it would be like having his own personal nurse with him to administer anything James might need.

He would take his brother up there along with the medicine man and the kids. He would allow his brother the dignity to die in a place he truly loved.

He knew it wouldn’t be long, his last letter had stated the doctors had given him less than 2 months to live.

After James had passed away, he would tie up the hostages in the cabin, and as soon as he was safely across the border and into Canada, he would send word anonymously back telling the police where they could find them.

He wasn’t going to kill them; after all he really didn’t have anything against them. They were just necessary right now to see that his plan worked. He just wasn’t a killer. He didn’t really consider killing Duncan and Angus murder. He considered that more along the lines of performing a public service.

He fished through his pockets for some change and inserted the coins into the phone in front of him. He then dialed the number; he knew it by heart, having called James from prison many times before.

It rang 4 times before someone finally picked it up. “Hello, Oakwood Hospice, nurse Hopkins speaking.”

Martin spoke into the receiver, “Yes, I am calling to inquire about my cousin James Albright. I have been on vacation and just got back. I was wondering, when would be the best time to come and visit him? I have not seen him in almost a year.” It wasn’t a total lie…it had been a year since he had been sentenced to his prison term.

The other end of the phone grew deathly quiet, after a pause the voice came back on…“Excuse me sir, could you please hold, I’ll let you speak to the Doctor in charge.”  

Before Martin could reply, the voice was gone. After a few moments another voice came on the line. This time it was a deep male voice. “This is Dr. Jameson; I understand you were a cousin to James Albright?”

Martin felt his stomach drop…”What do you mean were? What’s wrong?”

“I’m sorry to inform you sir, but James passed away 2 days ago. Would you like the name of the funeral home that he had listed in his will…the body has already been sent on as there was really no need for an autopsy.”

Martin hung the phone up without answering and sank down into the floor of the phone booth as he broke down and cried. “NOOOO” he screamed out to no one in particular… “This can’t be happening to me.”

He stayed that way for almost 10 minutes before he composed himself and made his way back over to the van.

He had no idea what he was going to do now…he had broken out of jail, stolen a bus with all its passengers; because of this 4 innocent people had been murdered. He had killed 2 people himself, now he had stolen a van, taken a paramedic and 2 children hostage and dragged them halfway across the country. But it had all been worth it, when it was for James…but now it turned out that it had all been in vain.

For the first time since he started this whole business, he had no idea what his next move was going to be.

He got into the van and looked back, the medicine man was now awake and looking over at him. He sighed and turned to the front and slammed the door. He touched the wires together to start the engine and headed off in the direction of the cabin…he needed time to think, he needed time to grieve.

Johnny could tell right away that something very big had happened. The determination and self-confidence Martin’s whole demeanor had once exuded now seemed to have deserted him entirely.

Whereas only an hour earlier he had moved with ease and a sense of purpose, he now seemed to be at loose ends. Johnny realized that it could be an advantage, if he could somehow discern the cause for this radical change in his attitude, he could use it to as a means to obtain freedom for him and the kids.

Martin sat in the front seat of the van. Damn…this had just thrown a monkey wrench into the whole works…what was he supposed to do now? His whole plan had been centered on getting to his brother.

His whole reason for escaping prison, for bringing the medicine man and the kids along was for his brother. He now wished he had just left the hostages behind on that bloody farm.

He needed time to think, he needed time to decide what to do.

Well, he still had the cabin, and he was positive no one was aware of its existence.

He thought of abandoning the van and leaving the hostages behind, but no one was looking for him in Montana, no one knew he was here.

If he left them now, they would be found before too long, and it would alert the authorities that he was here, besides the medicine man knew too much now. He knew he had overheard Angus and Duncan talking about Canada.  If the hostages were found now, he would be caught before he had a chance to get away.

He sighed. He would just have to take them with him for now, until he could make his escape.

He knew he needed to get rid of the hostages and get over the border and disappear into the vast Canadian wilderness. Once he was there it would be virtually impossible for anyone to find him.

He would just have to go ahead and take the 3 of them to the cabin. Then he could take some time to stop and think about the best way to handle this whole mess…right now he was still too upset about James’ death to make any clear decisions…he just needed time to think.

He kept on driving north, heading up into the hills where he would hide the van and hike on up into the mountains to where the cabin stood waiting for them.

He would decide what to do about his hostages later.

March 19th 5:15 pm

Johnny looked over and saw that Natalie and Lucas still seemed to be sound asleep. He wasn’t surprised, after all, in the last 24 hours they had witnessed 4 gruesome murders right in front of their eyes, one of them being their own father. They had to be emotionally as well as physically exhausted.

With that single shot fired from Angus’ gun they had become orphans, a situation he was all too familiar with.

He hoped Paul Mills’ family was more supportive than his own had been. These 2 were going to need it…they would also need some intense therapy.

He had no doubt he would be in for a session or two with shrink himself when he got back.

Although all he really needed was to talk to Roy, but then again, did he really want to drag Roy through the mental images he had running around in his head.

The nap he had just woken up from had been full of some pretty nasty flashbacks of the night before. He hoped the children were not having dreams right now like the one he had just had…although how could they not.

Even now he could not shake the mental images he had swirling around inside his head of the past 20 hours.

He could still see Paul Mills’ death. It was his murder he remembered the most vividly.

Peter had gone down and was dead before he knew it, and Thomas and Helen had been behind him when they were shot, but Paul Mills was a mere 2 feet in front of him, when Angus had shot him in cold blood.

He shuddered as the entire scene played out inside his head once more…

With a terrible explosiveness Angus had moved, his motions were lightening quick as he held the gun up to the back of Paul’s head… Angus had fired and the blood exploded; the murder was complete in a second.

Even now the echo of the gun blast rang in his ears and he could still smell the scent of blood and gunpowder that had hung in the air.

Johnny had to take a deep breath as his body threatened to rid itself of the juice and food he had eaten earlier.

His headache was back full force and so was the nausea, although he was more lightheaded than dizzy. Nothing was spinning, he just felt…off. He figured at the very least he had a mild concussion.

Any other time, he would be arguing with Brackett or Early about having to stay overnight in a hospital bed. But right now, he wished more than anything he was lying in a nice warm bed, even if it was in Rampart.  He shivered as a chill ran through his body.

The sunshine of earlier had disappeared and Johnny could see through the top of the windshield that it was now overcast, and looked like it could rain at any moment. Inside the back of the van there was no heat, and it had gotten significantly cooler. They were definitely in one of the northern states, of that much he was sure. He had seen traces of snow in some of the fence corners when Martin had let them out earlier. He knew in the northern states it could be on into April before all the winter snow had melted.

Natalie still had her father’s jacket wrapped around her, but Lucas only had the long sleeved shirt he had been wearing when he first got on the bus. Johnny himself was glad he had pulled on his sweatshirt and jacket, as they did offer some warmth, but if he got the chance he would try and get his jacket off and give it to the boy…but then he needed to convince Martin to untie his hands long enough to let him take it off.

His mind went back to Martin. He wondered what had happened to cause his sudden change in attitude.Whatever it was, it clearly had thrown him into a tailspin.  He needed to try and find out somehow what it was.

One thing he was sure of, the situation had just gotten a lot more dangerous. A killer with a gun who had just lost his sense of direction was a real danger to those at his mercy. The feeling of loss of control in this type of a hostage situation could drive a man to lose his equanimity very quickly. No matter how convoluted it was to begin with.

He went over his options in his mind, because right now this represented his whole world, and nothing mattered now, but getting the 3 of them out of this in one piece.

Johnny knew one thing for sure; someone needed to take charge and do it quickly.  Martin’s lack of direction put them in even greater peril than they had been before.

The way he figured it he could play this out one of two ways… he could play the sympathetic ear, card …the “I’m so sorry life has treated you so badly,” role…. Or he could take on the scolding parent role. The “you stop throwing this tantrum and behave right this minute,” role. Frankly he did not see himself being able to pull of the ‘Stockholm syndrome” act very effectively.

All he could see right now was the last 20 hours and the thought of 2 children now orphaned and the sights of what all three of them had witnessed.

He thought about Paul Mills, the father who would never get to see his children grow up. Not to mention two very sweet old folks who were brutally gunned down and their great grandson who would never get to know them. And even though he never found out about Pete, he was sure he had family somewhere who would be heartbroken without him.

Johnny could not think about any of these without black un-generosity.

No, the sympathetic friend ploy was out. As far as he was concerned his first and ONLY priority was to the children, then to himself. Martin had made his choices and whatever fallout happened, he had coming to him, and he could bloody well deal with that himself.

He felt a lot of things toward Martin, but pity and sympathy were not among them. He knew he could not even bring himself to fake it, not even a tiny bit. But Martin in his present state, was a loose canon. He had seen his grandfather like this many years ago. But John was an adult now, and had a few more years of life experience under his belt.

He knew it would not be long before the anger began to surface in Martin’s psyche, even though he had been fairly stoic up to this point, all things considered. Johnny knew that when that anger came out, he needed to make sure Martin directed it inward and not out toward Johnny or toward Lucas and Natalie. He had to keep Martin unsure of his decisions; he also had to keep Natalie and Lucas calm.

He just wished to God above that his head would stop hurting.

But right now, Johnny was mad.

The more he thought about what Martin was dragging them through, the angrier it made him. It made him determined to come out of this the winner. Because all he knew right now is that he felt sick, he was cold, he was in pain, he had 2 scared children beside him, and it was all Martin’s fault.

This whole damn chain of events all started with him.

The police could come and shoot Martin stone dead and send his sorry ass down to burn in hell for all he cared.

It was right then that Johnny felt the van come to a stop, and he heard Martin get out of the front and walk around to the side doors.

Chapter Ten

The doors slid open to reveal Martin standing outside with his gun raised. He was holding it pointed at Johnny’s head. “Okay medicine man, it’s time for you and the brats to get out, the rides over.”

He grabbed Johnny by the arms, dragged him out of the van and tossed him down roughly onto the ground. The sudden movement was too much for Johnny’s nausea and he proceeded to roll over and empty the contents of his stomach onto the ground beside him.

Martin glared over at him, but waited until he had finished vomiting, then he grabbed Johnny by the back of his jacket and dragged him several feet away from the mess. He then proceeded to grab Lucas and Natalie, who were now both wide awake and crying, and set them down on the ground beside John.

The hours of having his hands and feet bound in one position had taken their toll, and Johnny found that his extremities had long since gone to sleep, and he had difficulty getting them to respond to the new movements.

Johnny looked around and noticed that they were now no longer on an actual road, but what looked more like a private lane leading into a heavily wooded area in what he recognized to be the foothills of the Rockies. Being raised in western Montana, he would recognize the Rockies anywhere.

Well, he thought to himself, now he had a better idea of where they were. He guessed they were either in Wyoming, Montana or Idaho. Seeing the patches of snow in places, he’d bet it was northern Idaho or Montana. He was back where his life had started or pretty close to it; he had come full circle. He just prayed to God that this was not where his life would end as well.

They were on the very edge of a rather large lake that was obviously being fed from the melting snows running down from the mountains into the streams that traveled down through the foothills. The Lake itself looked like it was deep and very cold. Martin had stopped the van on the edge of the embankment that dropped about 15 feet down into the lake below.

The air was chilly now in the late afternoon. Johnny guessed it was in the mid forties, and could easily drop down to the freezing point come nightfall. He had little time to wonder what it was that Martin was up to, and soon he had no more need to guess as he watched as Martin went back to the van’s open driver side door. He pulled out two large backpacks, and tossed them onto the ground. Next he reached in and grabbed a heavy jacket and put it on. Last of all he reached over inside and put the van in gear.

Johnny watched as Martin slowly pushed the van over the edge of the embankment and watched as it slowly rolled down the grade and slid into the lake…with-in a very short time, it had filled with water and submerged out of sight.

Martin slowly turned back and looked at his hostages. “We are going to have something to eat, and then we’re going to take a nice walk in the woods.”

Johnny’s head was still pounding, and it took all of his concentration to sort out the facts as he now saw them.

Number one, he doubted they were going to be killed (at least not right away.) If he were going to kill them, now would have been the time to shoot them and put their bodies in the van before he had gotten rid of it.

Number two, what little protection from the cold and rain the back of the van had afforded him was now gone.

Number three, even if he did get away from Martin with the kids…they would have to flee on foot, as there was no chance of them getting away in the van now.

Damn.

Martin walked over to where he had thrown the 2 backpacks. He pulled out some trail mix and some more apples and granola bars. Then he pulled out some more bottles of orange juice. Slowly he walked over to where the trio now lay tied up and helpless on the damp ground. “Alright before I go any further, who has to answer natures call here?” All three hostages answered in the affirmative.

After several minutes of getting everyone taken care of, Martin had them once more sitting on the ground.

For the first time, John decided to speak to the man. “Look Martin, it’s getting kind of cold and the boy has nothing to keep him warm. Why don’t you let me take off my jacket and at least give it to him. It’s not like I’m not going to try anything stupid, after all you’re the one with the guns.”

Martin seemed to think about this for a moment. Finally he picked up the girl and held the gun up to her head. “Fine lay down on your stomach on the ground and put your hands above your head.”

The fact that Johnny was still feeling the effects of the blow he had taken to his head, not to mention being trussed up all day, made his movements slow and uncomfortable, but he finally managed to comply with Martin. He really had no choice, with his feet tied anything he might even think of trying would be futile. No, he decided to wait for the opportune moment. He would have to lull Martin into thinking he wasn’t going to do anything.

He waited as he felt Martin untie his wrists. He quickly rubbed them where the rope had cut in.

“Okay medicine man, get up, but only as far as your knees and take your jacket off and toss it onto the ground.” Johnny did as he was told. “Okay turn around and sit on the ground.” Once again Johnny complied with his demands. Martin switched the gun from Natalie’s head to Lucas’. He then half carried, half dragged him over to Johnny. “Okay boy, go hold out your hands and let medicine man here untie them.”Johnny untied the boys’ hands and did his best to check out any wounds that may be on his wrists.

Not that he could do anything for them. “Okay, put the coat on him and do it up.”Johnny did as he was ordered.

Martin then reached around and pulled Natalie roughly across the ground to where Johnny was.

“Untie her hands,” Martin barked out. Johnny quickly untied the girls’ hands, again checking her wrists. “Alright,” Martin said. “You be good little hostages, and I’ll let you eat your meal before I tie you up again.”And with that he tossed the food at them, all the while keeping the gun fixed on the girl.

“Can I fasten her jacket up please?” Johnny nodded in Natalie’s direction.

Martin looked over and seen the girl in her father’s coat, which hung wide open. “Make it quick.” He said impatiently.

Johnny quickly did up the jacket as snuggly as he could. He smiled encouragingly at the girl and gave her wink. “There that’s better isn’t it?”

Natalie quietly nodded.

Johnny’s wasn’t sure he could keep any food down, but after being out in the fresh air, he had felt a little better. Only his headache seemed to be hanging around with any real strength. He decided to test the waters with a little trail mix and some juice deciding to forego the apple and granola for now.

Silently the trio ate, and Johnny had to admit the juice did seem to help and trail mix didn’t make him gag, so he ate a granola bar too. He had no idea when Martin would let them eat again, and having vomited he knew his body was low on fuel.

After a few moments Martin spoke again…”Alright, mealtime is over, hold out your hands medicine man.”

Johnny held out his hands, but was surprised when Martin pulled out a pair of handcuffs from the backpack and snapped them onto Johnny’s wrists.

“I had to pay 4 packs of smokes in the joint to get these. I figured I would have to use them on the guard when I escaped, but he folded like a little girl and I didn’t have to use them. Might as well get my money’s worth out of them.”

Then he slowly went over and retied the kid’s hands, although Johnny thought they were not as tightly bound as before. Whether it was because Martin was cutting the kids some slack, or if it was because he had no skill with a rope, Johnny wasn’t sure. He was just glad the kids would not be in as much discomfort and hopefully it would be easier on their circulation.  He himself was glad to be rid of the ropes, as the cuffs were not as binding and let the blood flow, but he also knew it would be more difficult to escape from cuffs. It was kind of a catch 22.

Once the kids were all tied, Martin walked over and quickly undid the children’s feet. Then he made his way over to Johnny and untied his feet as well. “We leave in 5 minutes.” Martin said.

Johnny reached over now that his hands had a little more freedom to move and rubbed his ankles trying to get the pins and needles sensation to hurry up and cease. Watching him carefully the kids followed his lead.

Soon Martin ordered them all onto to their feet and pointed in the direction of the small roadway.

“Okay medicine man you go first where I can see you. The kids will follow behind with me, just to make sure you don’t get any bright ideas about running off. You even think of it and one of these kids will get a real serious case of lead poisoning if you get my drift.”

Johnny nodded, “Look I’ll do whatever you want, just please don’t hurt the kids.”

“Well I’m glad we all understand the rules here.” Martin sneered. “You be a good little Indian medicine man and no one dies.”

Johnny stood up and started to walk along the roadway further into the woods and further away from civilization. He sighed to himself…things just kept getting worse and worse. Without the use of his hands to catch or balance himself with, he had to pick and choose his way along carefully so he wouldn’t trip.

The winds had shifted to the northwest and had blown the clouds apart, allowing the late afternoon rays of sun to shine down. Unfortunately being in the woods meant none of the sun’s warmth reached down to him. He shivered as he felt the cold more now that he no longer had his jacket on for protection against the bitter northwest winds.

He had only been walking about half an hour when the roadway gradually turned into a path. An hour after that it narrowed again until it wasn’t much more than a game trail. He wondered just exactly how far this ‘hike was going to be? Silently he kept on walking along the trail and the sun slowly started to set.

Soon it became too dark to see, and Martin shouted out, “Okay we stop here for the night.” He grabbed Johnny from behind and forced him down on the ground next to a fallen tree trunk. Johnny sat down hard; he winced as his back scraped painfully along the edge of his fallen log.

Martin grabbed the two children and sat them down beside him. He reached in one of his packs and pulled out two blankets. “Sorry but there is only two blankets; one is for me, so who gets the other hero, you or the brats?”

Johnny glared at the man, and slumped back against the tree.

Martin grinned, “I figured as much.” And he threw the blanket over at the girl. Okay missy, wrap yourselves up, it’s gonna be a chilly one.”

Johnny laid his head back and willed his head to stop pounding. He knew the exertion of walking had only made it worse. He figured that as long as he did not do anything stupid, the kids were safe enough for now. Being stuck in the handcuffs also meant that for right now Martin held all the cards.

He decided the best thing for him was to try and get some sleep and hope when he woke up his headache would be gone, and he could concentrate more on how to get out of this mess. And with that thought he laid his head back and closed his eyes.

He had just nicely rested against the tree in a reasonably comfortable position, when he felt Martin kick the bottom of his shoe. “Not so fast medicine man.”

Johnny opened his eyes in time to see Martin kneel down in front of him with the rope. He grabbed his feet and retied them with one end of the rope; with the other end he tethered him to a tree. Well thought Johnny ruefully, I guess that answers one question…Martin did know how to tie a very tight and secure knot.

He then repeated the process with the two children who were huddled underneath the blanket.

Finally he came over with the keys to the handcuffs in his hand. “Hold em’ out medicine man.” Johnny held out his hands and Martin undid the cuffs. “Hands behind your back for the night,” he ordered. Johnny glared at the man, but complied nonetheless. When he was finished, Martin stood up and smirked over at Johnny. “Sweet dreams medicine man. Sorry I can’t build us a fire, but I don’t want anyone seeing the smoke.”

Johnny leaned his back against the fallen log and sighed heavily in frustration.

This was going to be a really long night.

Chapter Eleven

Johnny woke up with a start, the last vestiges of his nightmare vanishing into the cold night air as he returned to full awareness. He looked over and could tell both children were sound asleep, and judging by the deep even breathing coming from Martin he too was asleep.

Johnny shivered as he tried to quietly shift enough to get the kinks out of his legs and arms. It had been an uncomfortable sleep, not only because he was unable to maneuver his limbs into an acceptable sleeping position, but the cold night air, which offered him no hope of any warmth, was also aiding his discomfort. Although right at this moment, Johnny wasn’t sure which the greater source of his shivering was, the cold night air or the lingering visions in his head of his most recent nightmare.

The memory of his murdered fellow passengers had mingled with the more distant memories of the night his parents had been run off the road to their deaths…both events had now become part of the scenery of his dreams. A disturbing combination of present day and past echoes all playing havoc with his sleep.

A cold north wind had sprung up and had blown off the last of the clouds and the stars now shone brightly through scattered openings amongst the tree canopy above him. He could see the moon, which was now almost full, and he could also find the North Star. By their position in the sky Johnny knew it must be about 4 am or so.

Suddenly a vision White Eagle came into his mind.  It made him smile fondly.

After Johnny’s parents had died, he had been subjected to the hell that was his grandparents. The first two years were the worst. He had been a small child wanting to grieve for his loss, and yet thrown into a world of trying to survive the almost daily beatings and the humiliation of being treated a little lower than the family dog. He had been confused and unable to understand what it was he was doing wrong.

It was a dark period in his life, and Johnny even now did not care to revisit those memories.

It had been the summer he turned 12 when he had first run off to the ranch where his father had worked. It was only 3 miles away and not far for a boy who had always been a fast runner. It had been a skill he had honed out of necessity…he had to outrun his classmates who were chasing him down to beat him up.

Luckily for him, his speed had always served him well. His mother had indeed chosen well when she had decided upon the gray wolf for Johnny…he was indeed fleet. The first few times he had run to the ranch, he had hidden in the barns, or out in the fields with the horses. He understood the horses and they understood him. It was his favorite place to be now that he was on his own.

It had been on one particularly hot day, when Johnny had come across White Eagle down by the stream.

He had never seen him before on the reservation, but he had heard of him mentioned. How he lived alone in the mountains for the most part, but that he had been known at times come down to help on the same ranch where Roderick Gage had worked. It was from his father that Johnny had first heard about the old Indian, who refused to live where the white man told him he belonged.

It was on this day that Johnny had run into White Eagle fishing at the edge of the stream. The old man turned and smiled at the young boy and said, “So young gray wolf…I wondered when the son of Roderick Gage would show up.” He pointed to the ground beside him and motioned for Johnny to sit. “You look very much like your mother, but you have your father’s smile. I have seen you these last couple of weeks hiding amongst the horses, and I can see that you take after your father in more ways than just that smile.”

And that was how they had met.

From that moment on, Johnny Gage had found his first and only friend left in the entire state of Montana.

Johnny smiled at the memory of his years between 12 and 16 when he would spend every moment he could with White Eagle. It had been White Eagle that had got him hired on at the ranch part time. Although once the rancher had seen that Johnny, like his father was a natural with the horses, it had been easy to convince the man to hire him.

It may have been the white man that taught Johnny his numbers and letters, but it was White Eagle who had taught Johnny about life… and how to survive it.

It was White Eagle who took him up to the mountains, on the days he snuck off to the ranch.

Those days when his grandfather had been too drunk to be aware he was gone and was not there to serve him like a slave, and his grandmother who could not stand the sight of him at the best of times, had told him to get out of her sight.

It was on those occasions that White Eagle had taught him to track, to hunt, to survive.

He also taught him his heritage and the stories of the Lakota people from long ago.

White Eagle had died 2 months before Johnny had run away from Montana for good. There had been nothing in Montana for him anymore once White Eagle was gone, and sooner or later his grandfather would go too far and kill him, of that he was sure.

He very nearly succeeded in doing just that when Johnny was 16. It was the last straw for the young man.

He thought back to his days with White Eagle once more.

Johnny had to smile as he remembered how shocked his teachers had been at the reservation school, when he had outshone all the others whenever it came to his Native studies. The teachers on the reservation had virtually ignored him. Some out of prejudice over his half-breed status, others had bowed to the peer pressure to follow suit. But Johnny had triumphed despite their efforts to thwart his education. White Eagle was an excellent teacher and Johnny was a willing and eager student who learned fast and learned well.

Johnny looked up at the sky and smiled once again as he cast his mind back over distance and time to a night long ago when a 12 year old Johnny had lain on his firebed next to White Eagle as he looked up at the night sky and learned his lessons. Johnny now silently went back over them in his mind.

Well, it was now March 20th, that would make this, ‘Buffalo Drop Calves’ moon. He scanned the sky further until he found it.

Wichapi Owanjila “the star that always stands in one place”…Of course he now knew it also as Polaris or the North Star.                 

He looked again.

Wanaghi Tachanku…“trail of spirits” he could hear White Eagles voice in his head speaking, “That Gray Wolf, is the trail all Lakota must take when fate overtakes them.” Johnny now knew it as The Milky Way.

He could also see, Canshasha Ipusye…dried willow and he could also see through from a small opening between the evergreens, Wincinchala Sakowin “the seven little girls.” Roy had told him that the White man called them the Pleiades.

Johnny sighed and looked at the skies, wondering if maybe Roy wasn’t looking out at the same night sky, back home in L.A.

And with that thought running through his mind, he once more drifted off into a restless sleep.

March 20th 6 am

The first rays of the morning sun fell across Martin’s face, forcing him awake.

As he sat up he took a moment to acclimate himself to his surroundings. He was disoriented for the first minute or so when he woke up and found himself outside in the woods; and then he remembered, James was dead, and he was on his way up to Will’s cabin to try and figure out a way to get out of this mess. He looked over and seen that the boy and his sister were still sleeping peacefully it seemed. He glanced over at the medicine man; he too was sleeping, although he looked anything but peaceful. He looked like he was uncomfortable and in pain. Well that couldn’t be helped, he had to keep him in line, keep him under his control.

He took a few moments to himself so he could to try and figure out what to do.

He figured the others would sleep on for a little longer…they had all been exhausted last night not only from walking on the trail, but neither he nor medicine man had gotten any sleep the night before. Plus he had given his hostage a rather good clout on the head.

Shit, things were so messed up.

James was not supposed to die for another couple of months. He had wanted to spend the last 2 months of his life up here, so they could say goodbye, so they could have one last visit to the cabin where they had had so many good times.

And then there was the money.

James had written him in prison 8 months ago to tell him that their mother had died. His father had been dead for over 6 years, and so his mother had held control of the estate. It seems when Martin had gone to prison his mother had changed her will, leaving it all to James with the unwritten understanding that James would give Martin his share when he was released from prison. Martin had been counting on getting James to withdraw the money before he died.

It had been Martins plan to use what was needed for James’ care until he died. Then he would take the rest and use it to buy himself a new identity and make a fresh start after he had disappeared into the Canadian wilderness. He figured after 5 or so years had gone by, and they stopped actively wondering about him, he would then quietly make his way to the Cayman Islands and retire happily.

Instead of having thousands of dollars at his disposal, all he had now was what was left of the 276 dollars they had gotten from the passengers on the bus. And he had spent over 70 of that on supplies to take to the cabin. He could hardly show up now and try to claim the money from James’ estate; it would take months to clear…once the feds found out about the money they would be watching it. His window of leeway would be closed if not by now, it would be within a day or so. Hell, he didn’t even know what bank James had used.

Once they found the bus, they would know he was one of the hijackers and they would know he had gone north. They would soon find out that was where James had moved to, when his death certificate was filed. No the money was lost to him now…all of it, damn it.

He only hoped now that they figured he would be heading for the border right away, not hiding out for a few months.

After a month or two hopefully the heat would have died down.

James was also the reason why he had taken the medicine man. The fact that one of the bus passengers turned out to be a paramedic had been a great stroke of luck. He was supposed to act like a nurse for James. The kids were just to keep him in line. He hadn’t intended to kill them…just leave them behind in the cabin while he made his escape…but that was when he was sure he was going to have the money to buy his escape.

If you knew the right contacts you really could buy your freedom, but not without money…in the crime world there was no such thing as a free ride.

Now he had killed Duncan and Angus, and was indirectly responsible for 4 innocent people being murdered.

James was dead and he had no money to speak of, plus he had 3 hostages and no way to secure his new identity or freedom.

He needed time to plan and think. He needed to get to the cabin, and it would take another day to hike up to it.

Will Hamilton hated the noise of the city. It is why he spent most of his summers on the huge tract of land so far into the wilderness nestled, in such a remote area. The huge piece of land had been in his family for over 200 years and he still held the title. While most of the other descendants of the original settlers had subdivided and sold off chunks of their land to either wildlife preserves or private investors, Will Hamilton’s family had hung on to theirs leaving it wild and untouched. Will had blazed this trail himself over 15 years ago and built this cabin. All so he could have solitude. He had told Martin about it 10 years ago, when Martin had helped Will out of a jam, by laundering a bit of dirty money for him.

Will wasn’t exactly as pure as the driven snow himself.

In fact it was Will who had helped put Martin on the path of real crime back when Martin was 19. Martin had been expelled from University when he and Will’s son had been caught buying the answers to their final exams. Martin took the sole blame so Will’s son could stay in school, and Will had taken care of Martin from that point on.

The cabin was the perfect spot to hide, because as far as he knew only a handful of people knew the cabin even existed. He knew Will had just built it without seeking planning approval. He was of the old school of thought that one should just, shoot, shovel and shut up. Besides he said one never knew when they would want to hide out for a while.

Well, Martin sure needed to hide out now.

He knew better than to call Will now…this was too much even for Will to get involved with…this was murder. It was the one thing Will did not approve of…you could lie, cheat, steal and defraud, that was all perfectly acceptable to Will, but he hated drugs, murder and prostitution. He had always made it clear, anyone doing those things, did not need to bother calling on him for help.

Martin knew Will would have said no if Martin had asked to use the cabin now, but he also knew that no one came up here until the first of summer and that was mid June…so Martin knew he had almost 3 months to figure something out.

Martin was brought out of his thoughts when he heard the medicine man cough and start to stir…well time to get ready and hit the trail …

He stood up and folded his blanket, and shoved it into one of his packs. Then he went to wake the kids and get something to eat.

He would figure this mess out after he got to the cabin.

Chapter Twelve

As Johnny began to return to wakefulness, the first thing he became aware of was the stiffness and the aches and pains that had settled into his arms, his legs and his back. The long night of sitting on the cold, damp ground with his feet tied and his arms forced behind his back, had taken its toll on his body.

The one thing he could be thankful for was the fact that those few hours of sleep he had been able to procure, in conjunction with the fresh air, had done him some good as he noted that both his nausea and his headache had disappeared. He hadn’t slept to terribly well, only being able to stay asleep for about two hours at a time. In fact he was sure he had spent more time watching the moon make its way across the skies, slowly drifting in the heavens, than he actually had sleeping, but apparently it had been enough to get rid of his headache.

Slowly and gingerly he began to straighten out his legs as much as the tether would allow. He then tried to shift his back as much as he could. His chest felt a little tight from breathing in the cold damp air, and he could not smother the cough that erupted from the back of his throat. That was when he first noticed that his throat was kind of scratchy. Perfect…just something else to add to his list of discomforts this morning.

He let out an involuntary groan as his muscles protested the movement. He shivered in the morning air and thought that right at this moment he would gladly cut off one of his limbs for a nice hot cup of coffee. The temperatures had dropped significantly the night before and he had only his sweatshirt on to fend off the night air. Nature’s cold icy grip had taken hold of his body and chilled him to the bone. He hoped the sun warmed up the daytime temperatures to the point where he could generate a little more body heat.  Right now he was sure that he would never be warm again.

He looked over to see Martin stand and fold his blanket and store it inside one of the backpacks.

After he was through he walked over towards the children as if to wake them.

Johnny cleared his throat and in a slightly raspy voice softly said, “Please,” in the best pleading tone he could muster, “would you let me wake them?” He hoped by putting the emphasis and an almost begging inflection on the word, ‘please’; it would appeal to Martin’s sense of power over Johnny. Luckily, it worked as Martin began to deviate from his path toward Natalie and Lucas and changed his course in order to come up to where Johnny sat.

“Lean forward,” he ordered. Martin undid the handcuffs, and allowed Johnny to slowly bring his arms toward the front of his body. Once again Johnny let out an involuntary cry, as the shift of position, after their forced confinement behind his back all night caused his arm muscles to scream at him in protest.

Martin stood back and watched him impassively.

Johnny slowly stood up and tried to stretch his tired and aching muscles as unobtrusively as possible.

“Is it alright with you if I take care of some personal business before I wake them? My bladder is kind of full right now.” Again he tried to use a tone that was not challenging in any way to Martins sense of power. He knew he couldn’t afford to do that….not yet anyway.

Martin shrugged his shoulders and then nodded in the affirmative. Johnny managed to kind of hop with feet still tied together, as far as his tether would allow him to go into the bush. He turned his back while he relieved himself. A task that was made easier due to the fact he at least had his hands free to use. He took notice that Martin had stepped off to the side and did likewise. When he was finished Johnny hopped back to his log and was pleased to notice that Martin had bent over and lengthened his tether, so that it was now long enough to allow him to be able to reach the children. As he drew closer to the kids, he saw Martin pull one of the guns he carried out of his waistband. He made a great show of pointing in Johnny’s direction.

As gently as he could Johnny leaned over towards the two small sleeping children. Gently he brushed the hair off of their foreheads as he softly said, “Hey guys, it’s time to wake up okay?”

Slowly they opened their eyes, and for a moment the confusion on their faces revealed the fact that they had momentarily forgotten where they were, just for that first few seconds. As they slowly remembered and the events of the last 30 hours or so came flooding back, he saw them start to tear up.

Quickly he tried to diffuse the situation. He did not want their tears to raise Martins’ ire. “Good morning,” he smiled at them warmly. “You guys doing okay?”

Both children nodded.

Lucas leaned over and whispered. “I have to go pee Johnny.”

“Me too,” Natalie said.

“Martin,” Johnny spoke calmly and quietly. “The kids need to take care of their personal business too, but I don’t think they will be able to handle it too well with their hands and feet tied; especially Natalie.

Martin came over and roughly shoved Johnny from behind. “Fine, but one at a time.” He grabbed Lucas and pulled him close and shoved the gun forcefully into his back causing the boy to whimper in fright.

“Okay, untie the girl and let her do her business.”

Johnny smiled encouragingly at Natalie as he untied her. “There ya go sweetie,” he said throwing her a wink. “You’re all set.”

“Thank-you Johnny,” she said and she returned his smile.

Johnny then made a point of standing and turning his back away from the girl in order to give her some privacy.

Thankfully Martin took the hint and followed suit. As soon as the girl was done, Martin grabbed a hold of her and pushed Lucas toward Johnny.

Just as he had for Natalie, Johnny smiled at the boy as he undid his bindings. “Here ya go big guy,” he said as he threw him a wink in the same manner as he had Natalie a moment before.

Lucas smiled back, “Thanks Johnny,” he said.

Once again Johnny turned his back and took notice that once again Martin followed suit.

Johnny carefully went inside his head to his ‘mental rolodex’ and pulled out the file card he was keeping on Martin. He made yet again, a small mental notation on the card. He had been observing the man’s quirks and had noticed he could alternately display moments of kindness, only to mentally check himself and once more turn angry and rough. He had earlier made a note of how Martin had at first seemed upset with Angus over the shooting of both Thomas and Helen Clarke, but then suddenly he has changed his attitude, almost as if he was trying to put something over on Angus.

He also had seen the look on Martin’s face every time the children had called him Johnny, and likewise whenever he had used their names in return. Johnny was building up, piece by piece his arsenal of weapons, for his war against Martin in this mental game of survival. Martins’ willingness to take a cue from Johnny and give the children some privacy while they tended to their private business was just one more useful tool for Johnny to store up for later use.

Once the children were finished, Martin stepped forward. “Okay, we have a lot of ground to cover, so let’s get something to eat and get going. If you behave, I’ll leave your hands untied while you eat.” He then pulled out some bananas and cereal bars and some containers of apple juice, from the second, much larger knapsack, and tossed them over to Johnny and Natalie, while he kept Lucas and their portions by his side.

Johnny had noted that he was always careful to have one of the children right beside him, close to him and his gun at all times, except when they had slept. And that was only because they were all helplessly tied and tethered so they could not possibly get away.

Johnny ate his banana and his cereal bar hungrily. He grimaced slightly as he noticed it was a little painful to swallow. That’s all he needed was to come down with a cold, he thought dismally. He sighed as he picked up his apple juice. He gave a small shudder as he opened it up. He had grown to hate apple juice over the years…it was the drink of hospitals, and he had come to associate the taste of it with illness and pain, and now even the sight of it made him gag slightly. But he also knew he needed the nutrition and the fluids, and he was very thirsty. So despite his distaste for the drink, he sucked it up and downed the container of liquid as quickly as he could.

As soon as he had finished Martin came over and stood in front of him. “Hands out in front medicine man,” he barked out.

Johnny reluctantly held his wrists out as Martin once more put the handcuffs back on Johnny. He then walked over and retied both Natalie and Lucas’ hands again, albeit a lot more loosely than he had Johnny’s…another notation on that file card. Johnny thought to himself

Then once more the group slowly started walking along the game trail to a destination that was, as of yet unknown to all of them, save one.

Johnny soon noticed that the trail had now taken on a steady incline, as they headed up into the mountains. The sun had shone down for most of the morning; that fact, combined with the food, and the exertion of walking steadily uphill had helped to warm Johnny up enough to where he no longer shivered. In fact Johnny guessed the temperature had now climbed up into the mid 50’s, but the respite from the cold was soon to end.

Shortly after they had stopped for a quick meal of apples and trail mix and some bottle water; the sky grew overcast and a fine mist began to fall. Although it was not enough to truly soak through their clothes it had made Johnny’s clothing feel damp and he once more felt the chill creep into his bones.

He was thankful that both children at least had jackets that were made of material that was designed to turn moisture. They at least would be dry.

Except for necessary conversation at their brief meal at noon, no one had said a word as they all trudged along mile after mile along the trail.

He was sure by now the children were dead on their feet, but were too frightened by Martin to complain. He noticed that as the day wore on they began to stumble more and more frequently. Even Johnny himself had tripped and stumbled once or twice. He was miserable, as a deep thirst fell upon him, and his throat began to become increasingly more painful as the day wore on.

Finally at what Johnny must have guessed to be close to seven o’clock in the evening Martin called for a halt to their trek for the day.

All three hostages sank down onto the damp woodland floor. They three of them were beyond tired.

Once again, they were allowed to take care of personal needs before having their feet once more tied and tethered to a tree.

As they started to get settled for the night, Johnny noticed a tiny outcropping of rock that formed a small cave of about six feet square about 20 feet off the main game trail. “Martin” he ventured. “If we moved over to that small cave it would allow us some protection from this mist for the night.”

Martin glanced around and saw the opening in the rocks Johnny was referring to. He walked over and stuck his head inside. He came slowly back over and grabbed the backpacks and placed them inside the small cave. He then tied up both Lucas and Natalie’s hands and feet, a little tighter and carried them over and set them along the back wall. He took out their blanket and tossed it over to the girl. He came up to Johnny and pulled him to a standing position. “Hold out your hands medicine man.”

Johnny quickly obeyed, and his handcuffs were removed, but Martin reached over roughly, forced Johnny’s hands behind his back and handcuffed his wrists once more. Martin then untied his feet and motioned him over to the cave. Once inside Martin retied his feet with an agonizing tightness so that the cords were this time cutting painfully into his flesh.

Martin then stepped over him so that he was between Johnny and the children. By this time the children were laying huddled beneath their blanket and Martin had stretched himself out full length.

Johnny had found that there was only room enough left for about ¾ of his body to fit into the shelter of the cave. He found that his back was still exposed to the elements, but at least his lower half and his feet were able to stay dry. And if he leaned in just right and rested his head on his knees he could keep most of his head dry as well, leaving only the back of his neck and his back exposed to the mist that was falling. It was in that position that an exhausted Johnny fell asleep for his second night outdoors and his third night in the clutches of his captor.

March 21st

The next morning the sun failed once again to show its face in the skies. The gray cold dampness lay heavy upon Johnny like a wet blanket.

By now Johnny knew for sure he was sickening. His throat felt like it was on fire, his chest was heavy and tight and he had begun to develop a deep hacking cough. His entire body was one painful ache. Even his head was beginning to ache once more. There was no doubt about it, Johnny was now officially sick. He hoped it would remain nothing more than a chest cold.

Once again they repeated the routine of the day before, only try as he might, Johnny could only bring himself to drink the juice he had been offered. His very heart rose up against him at the sight of the food Martin had tossed in front of him.

By mid morning the mists had changed into a full-fledged rain. It drummed down with a rhythmic patter, and though the jackets the others wore kept all but their heads and feet dry, Johnny had no such luxury.

The cold and dampness was seeping into what seemed to Johnny to be his very soul, as he continued to plod uphill to some unknown destination. He could feel the streams of water trickling inside his clothes, making them cling uncomfortably to his skin.

At one point they came upon a small stream, but thankfully a small homemade footbridge lay across it, allowing the group to pass over it without having to get their feet wet…or at least any wetter than the damp earth and rains had already made them.

It was therefore, a great relief when suddenly the game trail widened out and the trees grew thinner as they broke through to a small clearing. Set back at the edge of the clearing underneath the protection of a stand of tall pine trees stood a small cabin. It was just back in far enough so that it could not be seen by anyone who might by chance be flying over head, but close enough to the edge of the clearing so that anyone inside had a clear view for about 150 hundred feet on three sides of the structure just by looking out its windows.

Martin urged them forward, and then told Johnny to stand back as he took Lucas with him, holding the gun toward his back once more. He walked up and opened the door and carefully looked inside. Once he was sure that it was indeed empty and obviously had been all winter, he stepped back out and motioned Johnny and Natalie forward inside the cabin.

Johnny stepped inside the cabin, and as he let his eyes adjust to the change in lighting he could begin to make out one large double bed along one wall and two bunks along the other. Each bed had a series of ropes strung and woven across the frame to form a type of support in the same way a hammock might. On the third wall there stood an old woodstove and a small counter with a few cupboards and a dry sink with a basin inside of it. In the center of the room there stood an old table with four chairs. In the corner near the woodstove sat a large chair that had been once quite a nice stuffed armchair, but had been fixed and patched as it was clear that over the course of the various winters, mice had chewed the stuffing away and had utilized it as a nest. It now stood nearly stripped down to its wood frame with springs showing. He wondered why it had been kept around, but not for long. Frankly he was just glad to be in out of the rain and that he might get a chance to lie down on an actual bunk.

On the wall in between the stove and the dry sink there was a door; Martin pointed over to the door and said, “That door leads to the rough lean to. Inside it shelters a covered well and a stacked woodpile.” He walked over and uncuffed Johnny’s hands, and then quickly grabbed Natalie to his side once more. “Make yourself useful medicine man and bring in an armload of wood and bring in some water. You’ll find the bucket on a nail on the wall inside the lean to. Make sure you wash it out good before you bring it in, and when you’ve done with that, you can get us a small fire going in the stove.”

Martin then walked over and drew both the kids up beside him, holding the gun pointed in their direction.

Johnny sighed as he went over to the lean to and found it exactly as Martin had said he would. He knew with Martin holding the gun at the children, he had no choice but to comply with his demands. He brought in the water and set it on the dry sink He then brought in several armloads of firewood and kindling. He carefully set the dampers and flues on the stove. He then looked over at Martin. “I’ll need something to light it with.”

Martin reached into his pocket and tossed him a lighter.

Johnny reached in to light the wood on fire; he silently prayed that there were no nests built up inside the chimney. He also hoped that someone had thought to make sure the chimney was cleaned of the creosote build-up. The last thing he wanted was a chimney fire to burn the cabin down around them as they slept.

He sent up a silent prayer of thanks, when the fire took off fairly easily, and there seemed to be no obstructions in the chimney as far as nests went. Johnny sat back on his heels and noticed he was feeling a little lightheaded. In fact he felt like shit. His clothes were wet and he was cold; his head ached, his throat hurt and his cough was getting worse as the day progressed. He took this opportunity to look at his watch. It was just after 4 pm. He was so tired all he wanted to really do is just lie down and sleep.

Suddenly he heard Martin speak. “Okay, while you are untied you can take the kids, one at a time, untie them and take their jackets off. It won’t take this place long to heat up.”

One at a time Johnny untied the children and took off their jackets and wet shoes and socks. As he helped one, Martin held the other with his gun aimed at them. Once Johnny had done that, Martin motioned him to sit on one of the chairs at the table. While he kept one hand on his gun, he used his other to grab the smaller of the two knapsacks and pulled out one of the blankets. He tossed it over to Johnny.

“You don’t sound so hot medicine man; you better strip off those wet clothes and lay them over the chair by the stove to dry. You can wrap yourself up in this blanket until they’re ready for you to put on again.”

Once again Johnny took note of yet another flash of kindness from his captor.

Johnny quickly decided that before Martin had a chance to change from Dr. Jekyll back into Mr. Hyde once more, he would quickly take advantage of his offer. He quickly stripped down to his boxers and laid his clothes over on the chair next to the blazing woodstove, which was just now beginning to give off a pleasant heat.

“I’ll leave the stove going for now, because the smoke is harder to notice in the rain. But as soon as the sun comes out and the sky clears, it has to go out again.”

‘Well,’ Johnny thought, ‘at least I have one hand free.’ Even if it only afforded him enough movement to shift on the bed and no further, he could at least hold his blanket closed.

Martin walked over to the cupboards, opened them up, and pulled out two pans. He then opened up another cupboard and rummaged around until he found a can opener. Into the largest pot he poured in some of the water from the bucket and set it to heat on the stove. He took the smaller pot, rinsed it out and then opened the largest knapsack. He rummaged around until he pulled out 2 tins of chicken soup. He used the can opener to open them up and proceeded to pour the soup into the pot. He set the pot of soup on top of the stove beside the larger one. It didn’t take long for the soup to boil, and Martin once more went over to the cupboard and found some mugs which he to rinsed out. He divided up the hot soup and produced some saltines from his knapsack. He put down a handful of the crackers and a mug of soup in front of each child. He then walked over and handed a mug full of the hot liquid to Johnny along with a handful of crackers. “Eat,” he ordered.

Johnny nibbled at the crackers, but found that they irritated his throat. The hot soup actually felt good and was soothing to a certain extent, even though it was still painful to swallow…he felt like he was trying to swallow a golf ball. Once he had finished his soup, he noticed that he had started to break out into a sweat. ‘Great,’ he thought, ‘a fever’…just what he didn’t need right now.

As he sat there another bout of coughing over took him, this one leaving him breathless. His headache began to worsen; almost involuntarily he lay back on the bunk and almost immediately fell into a restless sleep. He remained that way for the rest of the afternoon and all through the night, his body finally giving into the exhaustion and illness.

Martin sat silently as he thought long and hard about the man he had taken hostage. After a while, motioned the two children over to the double bed and told them to lie cross ways near the bottom of the bed leaving enough room across the top for him. He then tied their feet and hands together loosely once more and threw the blanket across them. He stoked the stove with more wood and sat down at the table and tried to think of a way out of this.

Outside the cabin the rain kept up its steady beat, while in the distance the first distant rumbles of thunder could be heard.

And thus, the 4th night that the small group of four people had spent together, passed slowly into history.

Chapter Thirteen

March 22 7 am

As Martin slowly opened his eyes, he quickly came to the realization that he had fallen asleep sitting at the table, and that his head now rested on his arms which were folded on the top of the rough hewn table. He sat up and rubbed the back of his neck trying to work the kinks out it, and glanced around the room checking on his prisoners. The boy and the girl were both sleeping soundly on the bed.

The medicine man, he could tell, was still asleep as he could hear his wheezing all the way across the room. He had clearly developed some kind of chest cold. Something else Martin could put on his list of things he was responsible for. He decided to just let them sleep as long as they wanted. There was no need to wake them. There was nowhere else for any of them to go.

Somewhere deep inside he knew he was only forestalling the inevitable. He had to make a decision and make it soon. He only had enough food to last about 10 days…two weeks if he stretched it. It would last much longer if he had only himself, but he knew he didn’t actually have the guts to kill them; to let them go now, would force him to go on the run…but to where? The borders would be watched closely for a while, as the feds would surely have put together the fact that he was heading for Canada. It was just too soon to make that move.

He realized his mistake last night. He should have driven his hostages away from Montana and into another state, left them somewhere where they would not have been found for a day or so and headed up here alone. It would have bought him time, but now they knew where this place was. If he let them go now, as soon as they hit civilization, the feds would be up here.

Will was never going to forgive him for exposing his hideaway.

Truth be told, he actually admired the medicine man. He was everything his parents would have liked him to be. He was dedicated and kind; he could see he genuinely cared about these two children. Children who up until a few short days ago where total strangers to him. He obviously was a caring man; his occupation spoke volumes about his courage and intelligence. If things had been different, Martin would have liked to have him as a friend.

He looked over again at the man, who was tossing restlessly in his sleep. He had fallen asleep around five-yesterday afternoon and had been asleep now for over 14 hours. Well, he was no trouble asleep, and he was obviously ill. What was it hurting Martin to leave him alone? Besides it made Martin uncomfortable when he caught the medicine man studying him. He was never sure what exactly was going on inside his head. One thing he was sure of: as much as he was watching the medicine man, the medicine man was watching and observing him, with as much if not more interest.

Martin slowly rose from the table and looked out the window. The rain was still falling, but the thunder and lightning had long since stopped. He walked over, opened the front door of the wood stove and stoked the fire. He was pleased to see that there were enough burning embers left that all he needed to do was add some more kindling to it to have it flare to life once more. He went into the lean-to and brought in some more wood.

After he had got the fire going again, he put the large pot of water on the stove to heat up and refilled the bucket with fresh well water. He then looked to see that everyone was still secure and asleep before he made his way out back to the outhouse.

Johnny woke up during a fit of coughing which had him sitting up trying to catch his breath. He looked around and noticed both Natalie and Lucas were starting to stir. He looked around further and realized that Martin was nowhere to be seen, but that there was a roaring fire in the stove and a pot of water sat on top of it, that was just now beginning to steam. Martin was clearly close by.

He pulled his blanket tightly around his body as he shifted himself around until he was able to swing his feet out onto the cold tongue and groove floor. He was finally warmer, and he did feel somewhat better after his prolonged sleep. His headache was gone as were a lot of the overall aches he had felt yesterday.  He thought his fever was down too. On the down side, his throat was still very painful and the cough had firmly settled into his chest. He hoped Martin soon returned, as he was extremely thirsty and noted with some concern that he did not feel an urgent need to relieve himself…dehydration was starting to set in. Probably from the low-grade fever he was running. Right now he would drink anything he could get…even the apple juice.

He tried to stand up and stretch but was hindered by his right hand and wrist which were still cuffed to the cross bar of the bunk. He heaved a heavy sigh and did the best he could to stretch his muscles and work out some of the stiffness. He could hear the rain still beating steadily down on the roof overhead.

He looked up and smiled as he heard Natalie call out from across the room; “Good morning Johnny, are you feeling better?”

“Yes, Sweet pea, I am feeling a little bit better. And how are you and Lucas doing? Are ya hanging in there okay?”

“We’re really scared Johnny, is everything going to be okay? We want to go home now.”

“I know kiddo. I want to go home too, and I promise I’ll do my best to make that happen but it might take me a little while, okay? Can you hang in there a little bit longer for me?”

“I can,” said Lucas, “as long as you’re here too.”

“I can too,” said Natalie. “But I wish we could sit over there closer to you.”

Just then the door swung open, and Martin stepped into the cabin.

“Everyone is awake I see,” he said. “We might as well eat now.”

Martin walked the rest of the way into the cabin and shut the door behind him. He walked over and dumped out the contents of the largest knapsack onto the table.

Johnny could see a large assortment of items. He saw a package of water purification tablets similar to the kind the military and survivalist’s use. He had used them on occasion himself on some of his camping trips where the water source was questionable. He saw some boxes of crackers, and lots of trail mix as well as peanuts and raisins. He saw two large bags: one was full of dried fruit and the other was full of beef jerky. He saw some cans of what looked like spam and some powdered eggs and powdered milk. He had pancake mix and an assortment of spices including onion and garlic powder as well as salt, pepper and sugar. There were also a couple of cans of condensed milk, beans and tuna. The rest was all dried soup mixes, juice powders like tang, instant oatmeal, a few more loose cereal bars, some tea bags and some instant coffee. The apples and the bananas were nowhere in sight, and there were only two bottles of juice left. Martin had apparently only had enough of those for the journey up; so no cooking would have been necessary.

John raised his eyebrows in surprise. It looked like he was ready to hunker down for a while.

Martin looked over at John. “You do much cooking medicine man?”

John looked over at Martin. “I do some at the station when it’s my turn, not as much at home. I do better over a campfire, but I can handle anything you got over there.”

“Ah, you’re a fisherman then are you?” Saying that, he dumped out the rest of the smaller knapsack; inside it jammed under the spot where the two blankets had been stored, was a coil of fishing line and tackle, a bowie knife, water proof matches, a flashlight and batteries, and a small hatchet as well as a couple spare lighters, bug spray, some disposable razors and shaving cream, a couple bars of soap, wrapped in a washcloth, a small hand held mirror, 5 toothbrushes and some toothpaste, a deck of playing cards and lastly a beat up copy of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.

“I’m impressed,” Johnny said acidly. “At least you got our money’s worth.”

At first Johnny thought Martin would explode at that last comment, but instead he just walked over to where Johnny clothes now lay over the chair. They were perfectly dry. He set them on the table and said, “We might as well clean up before we eat. We all smell a bit ripe.”

And with that Martin took the big pot of hot water and poured half of it out in bowl, and set it on the counter. He then got out the shaving gear and the hand held mirror. He propped the mirror up against the counter and proceeded to wash and shave. He then pulled a comb from his back pocket and washed combed his hair. He then walked over and unlocked the handcuffs. He pulled his gun from his waistband and went and sat with the children. “Okay your turn…you need a shave too medicine man.”

Johnny looked over at him for a long moment, but seeing as how this got him free of the cuffs, even if only for a few moments, he wasn’t going to argue. He walked over and proceeded to shave himself. He did have to admit, the warm water on his face felt heavenly. He looked down to see Martins comb still lying there. He opted to just finger comb his hair instead. He grabbed his clothes off the back of the chair and slipped his jeans on over his boxers; then he put on his t-shirt and sweatshirt followed by his socks and shoes. Martin handed him a glass with water and a toothbrush. He was just finishing up when another fit of coughing came over him.

As soon as he had it under control, Martin motioned him back over to the bed with the hand he held the gun in, while he held Lucas’s arm in the other. “Okay back here for now.” Martin said, and he locked him once more to the edge of the bed. Martin got up and emptied the pan outside the door and filled it up again with the rest of the water. He walked over to the children and reached for them… “Okay now your turn.”

As soon as he reached for Natalie, she let out a scream of terror.

Johnny stood up and yelled, “I’ll help her, just leave her alone!” The action and the yell triggered another painful round of coughing, and Johnny had lean over to try and control his breathing.

Martin froze and Johnny was sure he was a dead man. But Martin slowly let the child’s arm go and pulled one of the chairs over in front of Johnny and set the pot of water on top of it. He went back and tossed the soap and washcloth at Johnny. “Fine” he hissed out…“You do it” He walked over and began to untie both kids.

Johnny smiled over at the girl and held out his free hand. “Alright Nat, you’re up first.” She quickly made her way over to Johnny. He handed her the soap and cloth, “Wash anything sticking out that’s skin okay?” As the child reached over and began to wash, Johnny reached behind her and turned her back towards him. “Here sweetie, let me fix your hair for you.”

“Do you know how Johnny?”

Johnny laughed, which caused another painful cough to erupt. “Sure I do honey, In fact I have a niece named Jenny who is about Lucas’s age, and she loves it when I put a real genuine Indian braid in her hair for her.”

“Could I have one instead of a ponytail too?”

“Well it would work better if I had a brush to get all the knots out first, but I think I can manage just fine.” And with that Johnny carefully and gently sat and plaited the child’s hair while she washed.

When he was finished he gave the child a small hug. “There you go, now you are almost a real live Indian too.”

“Wow, now all I need is an Indian name. Do you have an Indian name?”

“Yep, I sure do.”

“Cool, will you tell us what it is?” said Lucas who had now made his way over to where Johnny sat with his sister.

“Sure” Johnny said as he quickly picked up the now discarded washcloth and began to wash Lucas’s hands and face with the soapy cloth.

“It’s Gray Wolf.”

“Awesome, I wish I had one,” the boy said.

Johnny smiled, “Well since I am a really truly Indian, I guess I have the power to give you both an Indian name, but that means we are tribe brothers and sisters from now on okay?” Now done with the washing, Johnny sat back and looked at the children. “Well, Lucas, from now on your special Indian name will be Swift Fox, because I can tell you are very cunning and intelligent.”

Lucas smiled broadly and gave Johnny a hug followed by a very grown up manly handshake.

He then turned to Natalie. And you kiddo, I will name Little Otter, because it is a symbol for laughter, friendship, grace and empathy. And I see all of these qualities in you.”

Natalie leaned over and gave Johnny a hug followed by a kiss on the cheek. “I love you Johnny, she whispered in his ear.”

John felt a painful lump form in his throat that had nothing to do with his illness. He smiled back at the child and gave her a small kiss on the forehead. “Back at ya, kiddo.”

Martin had sat back and watched the exchange silently. Finally he walked over and started to get the pan ready for some pancake mix. He did not bother tying the kids up again. They were obviously too frightened to leave the medicine man’s side, and he was handcuffed to the built in bunk. He couldn’t go anywhere if he tried.

As soon as they realized they were not going to be tied up, the children quickly crawled up on to the bunk beside Johnny and nestled in beside him for protection. Johnny did his best to hold them close with the one hand he had free.

After breakfast, Martin had once more pulled out his gun and took control of the children, while he unlocked Johnny and escorted them out to the outhouse.

Once back inside he made John handcuff himself to the bed, while he held the gun on Lucas. This time Johnny made a point to shift his position and lock his left wrist to the bed. This way he at least had his writing hand free and it gave his other bruised wrist a break. His sore throat had not gotten any better, but at least he noted with relief, it had not gotten worse either. His cough however had really settled in good. For the rest of the morning, Johnny kept the children playing card games with the deck of cards Martin had tossed over to him, with the strict orders to make sure they behaved or he would tie them up again.

Finally Martin got up and made two mugs of coffee, and set out some dried fruit and jerky at lunch. He split the last of the apple juice between the kids and handed one of the mugs of coffee to Johnny. It was the first Johnny had had in 4 days.  Even though it was painful to swallow, Johnny took his time drinking it down, treating each mouthful as if it were liquid gold.

Martin was always careful to keep the guns out of Johnny’s reach, and except for those few exceptions, Johnny was kept handcuffed to the bunk at all times. Finally at around four in the afternoon the kids crawled up beside Johnny on the bed.

“Do you know any Indian stories Gray Wolf?” Lucas asked.

Johnny nodded, “I know a few that White Eagle told me, but most of my favorites are the ones my mother told me.”

The boy looked up into Johnny’s eyes with a pleading look, “Will you please tell us one now?”

Johnny sat up straight and coughed to try and clear his irritated throat. Then he motioned for the kids to snuggle in. Lucas climbed over top of Johnny and slid underneath the arm that was handcuffed, while Natalie slid in on the other side. Johnny looked up surreptitiously and noticed that Martin had sat upright and was leaning over so he could hear as well. Perfect he smiled. Johnny settled back against the wall and looked down fondly upon the two small faces, and then he began, “This is the story of…The Rabbit Boy.

“We Indians are closer to nature than the white man. We learned long ago how to live and survive not only in nature, but to happily co-exist with nature. We are taught that the earth and the whole universe are a never ending circle, from the buffalo and bear and coyote right on down to the ant and even the smallest flower. And in this circle, man is just another animal.

In the old, old days, before Columbus “discovered” us, as they say, we were even closer to the animals than we are now. Many people could understand the animal languages; they could talk to the birds and gossip with the butterflies. Animals could change themselves into people, and people into animals. It was a time when the earth was still new and not quite finished, when many kinds of mountains and streams, animals and plants came into being according to the master plan.

In these days that are long past and are hidden from us now, as if in mist, there lived a rabbit. He was a very lively and good hearted rabbit. So it happened that on this one day, that rabbit was out enjoying the day and happily walking along, when he came across a clot of blood. Now how it got there was a mystery. No one has ever known, but there it was lying right before the rabbit. It looked an awful lot like a blister, a little round blob full of red liquid. Well the rabbit was a very playful creature and so he soon began to toy with it, kicking it around like it was a very tiny soccer ball.

Now we Indians have a word for the mysterious power that is motion. It is the spirit that is in anything that moves. It is responsible for animating things and makes them come alive. In our language it is called Takuskanskan. Well, our friend the rabbit got into this strange moving power without even knowing it, and the spirit of that motion, being kicked around, began to go to work on the little blob of blood so that it started to take shape. First it formed into a little stomach. The rabbit kept on kicking it around some more, and so the little stomach began to grow tiny arms and hands. The rabbit nudged it some more until suddenly it had eyes and a beating heart. In this way, the rabbit with the help of the mysterious moving power formed the blob into a living little boy. Now the Rabbit gave him the name, Much Blood Boy, but in our language you say it like this, We-Ota-Wichasha. But he was better known simply by the name…Rabbit Boy.

The Rabbit took him to his wife, and both of them loved the little boy with all of their hearts as if he was their very own son. The dressed him up in the finest and most beautiful buckskin shirt, which they painted with the sacred red color and decorated it with designs made from porcupine quills. Now this boy grew up quite happily among the rabbits. When he was almost a man, the old rabbit took him aside one day and said to him. “My dearest son, I have to tell you now, that you are not what you think you are. You are not a Rabbit like me. You are a human. As much as we love you and hate to let you go, we know that it is only right, now that you are almost a man, for you to go from here and find your own people.”

So Rabbit Boy left and started walking until he came to a village of human beings, where he saw other boys who looked just as he did, so he went into the village. All of the people in the village could not help staring at the strange boy with the beautiful buckskin clothes. “Where are you from?” they asked him.

“I am from another village,” said Rabbit Boy, though this was not true. There was no other village in the whole world, for as I told you, the earth was still new and in its beginning.

In the village there was this beautiful Indian maiden who fell in love with Rabbit Boy, not only because of his beautiful clothes, but also for his handsome looks and his kind heart. The rest of the village wanted him to marry into the village too because they wanted a man with his great mystery power to live among them. One night Rabbit Boy had a vision. In it he was wrestling with the sun, racing with the sun, playing hand games with the sun…and it was always the same. Rabbit Boy defeated the sun each time.

But Iktome, the wicked spider man, the mean trickster, prankster, and witch doctor, wanted that beautiful maiden for himself. Soon he began to say bad things about Rabbit Boy. “Look at him,” Iktome said, “Showing off his buckskin outfit to us who are too poor to have such fine things.” And to the men he also said: “How come you are letting him marry a maiden of your village?” He also told them: “In case you want me to, I have a magic hoop to throw over that Rabbit Boy. It will make him helpless.”

Several boys said, “Iktome is right.” They were jealous of Rabbit Boy and his strange power, his wisdom and his generosity. They began to fight him, and Spider man threw his magic hoop over him. Though it had no effect on Rabbit Boy, he pretended to be helpless to amuse himself.

The village boys and young men tied Rabbit Boy to a tree with rawhide thongs. All the time, the evil spider man was encouraging them: “Let’s take our knives and cut him up!”

“Friends, --kola-pila,” said Rabbit Boy, “if you are going to kill me, let me sing my death song first.”

And so Rabbit Boy sang: Friends, Friends,---I have fought the sun,---He tried to burn me up,---But he could not do it.---Even battling the sun, ---I held my own

After the death song, the villagers killed Rabbit Boy and cut him up into small pieces, which they threw into their soup pot. But Rabbit Boy was not hurt easily. A storm arose and a great dark cloud hid the entire face of the earth, turning everything into the black of night.

When the cloud had gone, all the tiny pieces they had cut Rabbit Boy into had disappeared too, gone without a trace. But those who had watched closely had seen the small pieces form up once again into a body, and had seen him going up to heaven on a beam of sunlight. A wise old medicine man spoke up and said, “This Rabbit Boy really has powerful medicine: he has gone up to see the sun. Soon he will come back stronger than before, because up there he will be given the sun’s power. Let us marry him to that maiden of ours.

But the jealous spider, Iktome said, “Why bother about him? Look at me: I am much more powerful than Rabbit Boy. Here! Tie me up too; cut me up! Be quick!” Iktome thought he remembered Rabbit Boy’s song. He thought there was power in it—magic strength. But Iktome did not remember the words correctly and he sang: Friends, Friends,---I have fought the moon,---She tried to fight,---But I won.---Even battling the moon,--I came out on top. They cut Iktome up, as he had told them, but he never came back to life.

Suddenly Johnny’s voice took on a hard edge and eyes were dark and cold as they rose to meet Martin’s.  He held Martins gaze unwavering as he finished…

The spider had finally outsmarted himself. The Evil ones always do.

Johnny watched as Martin blanched and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He smiled to himself and thought…’Okay Martin, let the games begin.’

                                                             Chapter Fourteen

For the rest of the afternoon Johnny sat handcuffed on the bunk while Natalie and Lucas stuck to his side like glue. He spent a lot of time telling them stories: some about his more exciting and daring rescues, some about his ranch and his horses and about Roy and his family. He tried as much as possible to steer the conversation away from the children’s home and family, since he knew they now had no parents left. He did not want to upset them anymore than they already were.

All of the talking was however, hard on his already sore throat, which grew more painful as the day wore on. He was also reasonably sure his temperature was slowly creeping up. His biggest concern right now though, was the fact that in the last few hours he had noticed that the tightness in his chest was getting painful, and his cough was worsening. Not a promising sign. Time was running out and he knew it was now or never. He had to get himself and the kids back down that trail and onto the main road, before he got too sick to do it. And he knew it would take 2 days to accomplish the task.

He noticed that the more he chatted with the children, the more uncomfortable Martin became. But then again that was exactly why he was doing it, he had a pretty good idea what made Martin tick now, and he planned on using it to his full advantage. All he was waiting for was nightfall, and the children to go to bed. When he was sure Lucas and Natalie were both sound asleep, he would make his move.

He had been thinking about this for the last 2 days now, and he knew he had to play his cards just right. This was not like playing cards at the station for dish duty. This was for real…and the stakes were their lives, but he had an ace up his sleeve; he knew he would win.

He knew he would win because he wanted to win.

He wanted them to make it, to live and get home again.

Besides he finally had Martin’s number, he had found his Achilles heel. Johnny had figured out days ago that Martin was in a tailspin, whereas Johnny was not. Martin was at loose ends and clearly unsure of what to do; whatever his plans had been, had obviously fallen apart. That much Johnny knew for sure, he just had to wheedle out of the man what had gone wrong, but Johnny knew he would win, unlike Martin who was unsure about what to do next, Johnny knew with full clarity what he needed to do.

He laughed inwardly as he thought about all the times he had told Chet that he was a ‘lover not a fighter.’ Truth be told, Johnny Gage was a fighter, and had been all his life. He had had to fight to stay one step ahead of his classmates and teachers as a child. He had had to fight to stay alive in this world all alone, when his parents died. He had had to fight to survive his grandparents. He had to fight to survive the beatings; especially the one time when he was 16 when he had spent weeks in an ICU recovering from nearly being beaten to death with a bat. He had to fight to survive on the streets when he first came to L.A.

He fought a rattlesnake bite, and that damn monkey virus. He fought to survive a hit and run car accident by a drunk driver. Not to mention the fight against the beast called “fire” that he faced almost every shift.

Yes, John Roderick Gage knew how to fight…at least in all the ones that mattered. And he sure as hell would win this fight too.

After they had had a supper of powdered eggs, dried fruit and tea, Martin once more repeated the ritual of taking everyone to the outhouse. Johnny seethed inside each time that bastard held the gun up to one of the children’s heads. He hoped after this evening they would never have to go through that hell again.

The tea had helped his throat somewhat but had done nothing for his other discomforts. He hadn’t actually had any appetite to eat, but he knew he would need his strength so he chocked it down.

Martin handcuffed Johnny to his bunk once more, but as soon as Lucas and Natalie went to climb up after him, he stuck his arm out to stop them. “Not this time you two…get over on the other bed, it’s time to go to sleep now.” He walked them over and tied their wrists up once more. This time however, he left their feet untied. As the two children meekly went over and lay down on the end of the bed, he once more tossed the blanket at Natalie.

He then made himself and Johnny a coffee and sat down and stared silently out the window; watching as it slowly grew darker outside. The north wind had risen once again and blown the clouds off and tonight the now full moon shone down onto the clearing outside the cabin.

Johnny in turn, watched Martin. There were a couple of moments it looked like Martin wanted to talk to Johnny. He knew Martin was experiencing utter turmoil inside his mind. He also sensed that the desire to confide in someone was running very strong inside Martin’s head tonight…yes, the time was now, as soon as the children fell asleep.

It was only about an hour later, when Johnny looked over and saw that both Natalie and Lucas had fallen into what appeared to be a deep sleep. High noon he thought, and steeled himself for what he was about to do next.

Martin stood up and walked over and grabbed Johnny’s mug. “Want another cup of coffee medicine man?”

“My name is John Gage,” Johnny said sternly.

“What?” Martin was taken aback by the sudden declaration from his hostage.

“My name is John Gage. I’m 26 years old and I am a fireman-paramedic with the Los Angeles County fire department. And those two children over there, who are now orphans thanks to you and your two goons, are Natalie and Lucas Mills. They are seven and five and the man with them who died on the bus was their father, Paul Mills. His wife was killed last year in an accident, and he was on his way to L.A. for a job interview so he and his children could be close to his family. And for the record, the bus drivers’ name was Pete Monahan, just an ordinary man trying to make a living, trying to get through his run and home to his wife. That older couple was Thomas and Helen Clarke. They were on their way to L.A. to visit their very first great grandson for the first time; the child was named after Thomas.” The anger in Johnny’s voice was evident.

Martin looked sick…”Why did you just tell me that?”

“Because we are real, we exist, and you should have to face that fact. We are not non-entities, and I am not going to allow you to keep us anonymous and sterile in your mind.  If you mean to murder us, then you should know that you are murdering human beings who feel and hurt and bleed just like you. We are people and not things…because that is how you have rationalized it in your mind right? How you have internally justified all your actions…you need to keep us as objects. Well I won’t let you.”

Martin sat numbly down on the chair…this was out of left field and he was not prepared for it.

Johnny went on…“So tell me, why did you do it? Why did you drag the three of us on this little quest through hell? If you are going to be man enough to do this…then at least be man enough to tell me why. I deserve that much.”

Had he had time to think about how to respond, Martin might not have given in so easily. But his mind was already spinning and grasping at straws, and this man before him had caught him with his defenses down. Which is probably why Martin began to pace back and forth nervously as he started to confess his whole tale to Johnny. When he was finished, he sat down heavily with a sigh, he was emotionally drained, and yet he felt somewhat relieved all at the same time.  

“So, what are you going to do now?’ Johnny asked him. He kept his voice calm and quiet. “I mean your brother is dead, you can’t get the money, and you are pretty much out of options here.”

Martin looked up at Johnny questioningly, “I don’t know. What do you think I should do? I swear to you John, no one was supposed to die. I told Duncan and Angus that no one was supposed to be hurt”

Johnny’s voice changed again, this time he showed the anger that was consuming him…his dark eyes were angry his voice was derisive. “You gave guns to a couple of sociopaths, what the hell did you think would happen?” he hissed out, trying to keep his voice low enough so it would not wake up the two sleeping children.

Martin looked flustered…”I just didn’t think anyone would get hurt.” He stammered out.

Johnny’s ire grew more intense…”HURT? You didn’t think anyone would get hurt? They’re not hurt Martin, they’re dead. That’s more than hurt. They got shot in the head…of course they’re dead you stupid shit---you think there’s a long list of people who survive having their brains relocated to the floor of a bus?”Johnny was livid now, and had to struggle to maintain the volume level on his voice. “And you have the nerve to ask me what you should do? Are you insane? After what you have done? These two babies are now orphans…what they have seen this week will scar them forever…they’ll never fully get over it. I know I sure as hell won’t. What I saw on that bus will haunt me for the rest of my life. What about a small baby who will NEVER know his great grandparents, what about the bus driver’s loved ones huh? How about that lovely little concussion you gave me in the back of the van? And the wonderful case of pneumonia I am working on, that is probably going to earn me a stay in the hospital. My wrists and ankles are raw and bruised; I spent 2 nights wet and cold in the bush thanks to you. Not to mention dragging us up here into no man’s land. For those reasons alone I wouldn’t help you. Should I go on?”

Martin sat there silent, just staring at the floor like a lost little boy.  Johnny’s words had been very apt and had clearly had a disquieting effect on the fugitive’s thoughts.

Johnny knew he had to drive the stake into the man’s heart further if he was going to get out of this now…he had come too far and was making too much progress to back down now.

He took another deep breath and continued on. “So your brother died, and you are bemoaning your fate…at least it wasn’t a senseless murder. You know you are a real piece of work man.  We all got a sack of rocks we have to drag around, but most of yours are self-inflicted.  And now thanks to you, mine just got a whole lot heavier, and it was full enough as it was, you son of a bitch,” he said bitterly.

“And not just mine,” he continued on, “but you just gave a seven and a five year old child one hell of a huge sack to drag around for the rest of their lives. And I know they will live with that sorrow forever, because like them, my parents were killed by a bunch of bigoted hateful bastards when I was a small boy…and those wounds leave scars that never fully heal.”

Johnny stopped as a coughing spasm came over him. He struggled to catch his breath, and he fought to get it under control. He was determined to end this now. “It’s over Martin…You can’t do it anymore. We’re not just nameless hostages anymore are we? The longer we are here with you, the more human we become. It’s not as sterile and neat anymore to kill us is it? As far as I’m concerned we can just sit here and wait for the police to find you, and eventually they will find you. They will keep searching. They’ll bide their time and sooner or later whether you are here, or in Canada or in the South Pole, you’ll slip up and they’ll be waiting for you when you do, and you can just accept whatever fate awaits you. But it ends, one way or another it has to end tonight. So if you know now that you can’t kill us, then you might as well just let us go. And you know you won’t kill us, especially not those two kids. Because if you kill those babies over there, and your only choices are to kill us or let us go, it will haunt you forever, it will eat away at your soul until it destroys you. Every time you close your eyes, you will see their faces; even in your sleep it will find you. You will never have another peaceful moment as long as you live. Can you live with that? And then when your empty shell of a soul does get caught…well we all know what happens to baby murderers in prison don’t we? The sentence you will be facing now for kidnapping and hijacking is heavy, but it was not actually your hand that killed those passengers…and I doubt you’ll get the death sentence for those two psychopathic idiots you offed in that barn. Yes, I know you did that, but it’s quite a set out for baby killers. Folks just get a tad touchy about things like that.

So what is it these days, the gas chamber or frying in the chair?”

Johnny stopped and leaned back as he once again started to cough and wheeze. His throat was burning, and his face felt flushed, both from fever and the emotions that were consuming him. He sat back spent, and watched to see what Martin would do next. The room was so quiet Johnny could hear the pulses beat in his own body, the silence was complete.

Martin walked over to the window; a vague expression lay on his face. Something in that look told Johnny that Martin’s mind had snapped; that he was on sensory overload. He stood for a long time gazing out the window without speaking. Inside the room there was no sound at all save for the wheezing of Johnny’s breaths. Finally, Martin straightened his back and let out a deep sigh. He walked over and grabbed his coat off the chair and headed for the door and opened it. Just as he was about to step through, he stopped and hesitated for a moment. He put his hands into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out the key to the handcuffs. He walked back and set it on the chair within Johnny’s reach. Then he turned without saying a word and stepped out into the night.

Johnny waited until he was no longer in sight. He reached over and grabbed the keys and undid the cuffs, letting them fall to the floor. He knew it was late, but he also knew Martin’s mind was in a fragile state.  Before Martin had a chance to think about things, and change his mind and come back and kill them all, Johnny was going to act. Even though it was well past ten o’clock, he was getting the three of them the hell out of here now.

He quickly went over and grabbed the larger knapsack. He shoved the cold foods like the raisins, peanuts, crackers and trail mix; the dried fruit and jerky as well as the water purification tablets inside the bag. He also took a lighter, the knife, the matches, the flashlight and batteries.

There would be no time to fish and little time to cook food, and he did not want a lot to carry so he left behind the canned food; but the powdered milk, the coffee, tea bags and sugar he took. He grabbed 3 tin cups, a small pot, and two flat pie plates. Moving quickly, he then gently took the blanket off the kids and the one that was on his bunk and folded them as small as he could and shoved them inside the bag as far as they would go. Once he had his chosen items shoved inside the pack he closed it up tight.

He then walked over to the counter and grabbed both canteens and filled them with fresh well water. He carefully closed the lids tightly and slung the straps over his shoulders.

He walked over and grabbed the jackets the kids had worn up to the cabin, and walked over and sat beside them on the bed.  He gently shook them awake and sat the sleepy children up, giving them a minute to orient themselves. He reached over and quickly untied their wrists and tossed the ropes aside.

“It’s over,” he quietly said. “I think it’s time I took you home.” 

It was time to get them all out of here…wherever here was.

He wrapped the children up in their jackets, making sure they were done up snug and tight. He bent down and picked up Lucas and settled him on his right hip. He looked down at the small girl and winked at her. “I told ya I was working on it kiddo,” and with that, he reached down and took her small hand in his left one and the three of them stepped out of the cabin into the cold night air.

Johnny never even bothered to turn around and close the door. He didn’t care what happened to either Martin or the cabin…they were going home.

Chapter Fifteen

Johnny stepped out and away from the edge of the cabin as he glanced around the clearing looking for any signs of Martin.  As his eyes finally became accustomed to the change of light, he could see Martin sitting on the far edge of the clearing with his back towards both Johnny and the cabin; he appeared to be smoking a cigarette.

Funny, Johnny thought. In the whole time he had held them hostage, he had never seen him smoke. Maybe he only did that in moments of extreme stress in order to calm himself down. Johnny knew it was all the more reason to get moving quickly. Once he calmed down, he may have second thoughts about releasing them.

The light of the full moon was clear and bright on the clearing around the cabin, and Johnny could easily see the opening to the trailhead. His sense of urgency grew stronger, when he saw Martin flick the butt of his cigarette onto the ground, and appeared to be getting ready to stand up. Without saying a word, Johnny reached down and scooped up Natalie in his other arm, whispering to the children, “I need you both to stay very, very quiet until I tell you.”

Both children silently nodded.

Then using the full length of his legs he took quick long purposeful strides, reaching the edge of woods in less than a dozen steps. The path narrowed in and the shadows of the forest closed in around them.

Once inside the cover of the trees, Johnny turned to see Martin slowly stand up, turn around and make his way back toward the cabin.

Using the noiseless steps that White Eagle had taught him to take so many years ago, Johnny turned and disappeared down the game trail, still holding the two frightened children in his arms. He kept his steps purposeful, and despite the ache in his chest and his overwhelming fatigue, he didn’t hesitate or slow down his pace for the first two hours.

As soon as he felt he was far enough into the woods, Johnny stopped and set the children down onto the trail, and he finally sat down to rest. Once again he broke out into a coughing spell that he tried his best to muffle. He spoke to the kids in a voice that was above a whisper, but still very soft and quiet.

“You guys both alright?”

“Yes, Johnny,” they said in unison.

Despite the fact that they were now deep inside in the woods, there were enough breaks in the trees so that the bright full moon provided sufficient light that allowed Johnny make out their features. They both looked up at him with a mixture of relief and awe. He smiled down at them… “Good deal, because we are going to rest for a few minutes, and then we need to talk.”

Johnny sat down and rested on a log near the path. Although he doubted Martin had followed him, he still would have liked to be able to get off the trail. But right now he needed to evaluate his position.

He looked down at his watch and shifted and tilted his wrist until the watch face was in the direct path of one of the shafts of light filtering in from the moon above.

12:11 am   March 23rd.

Johnny once again pulled out his mental Rolodex and went through the facts, as he knew them.

They were in or near Montana. He recognized the type of landscape from his childhood, which was a plus, because this was the type of terrain he had grown up with. He knew how to survive in this environment.

He was reasonably sure from his observations of Martin, and how he handled himself, that although he knew this path and had obviously stayed at this cabin before, he did not have anything more that a very rudimentary knowledge of wilderness survival. He had watched him make too many mistakes and blunders on the way up. Mistakes anyone who had any experience would not have done. He was clearly not aware of his surroundings, other than the path, nor had he been keeping an eye on them as they trekked up to the cabin.

Even a child should have been able to spot that cave they had stayed in, and if he had traveled this path as often as Johnny suspected he had, he should have been aware it was there; but he hadn’t. He seemed shocked to even discover it.

His fire building skills were crude, and even the blankets he had brought with them for the journey were entirely the wrong kind. These cotton blankets would absorb and hold moisture, instead of generating heat back in towards the body, and had no moisture resistance to them at all. He didn’t even know enough to consider using wool, which would not only be warmer, they did not draw in moisture, or better yet, sleeping bags instead of blankets.

Johnny had almost laughed outright when he saw the fishing gear he had brought. None of it was for the type of fishing that one would use here. The greenest novice would have certainly known that those lures were not what you would use for anything you would find in the streams and lakes around here. Someone had seen him coming and pawned off a lot off useless tackle onto him…No Martin was a city boy who liked to pretend he was Grizzly Adams for 2 weeks every summer.

Johnny on the other hand felt totally at ease with nature, or he would have had he been well and wasn’t being possibly followed by a murderer with a gun, who had a lot to lose by letting them live and a lot to gain by killing them. Not to mention the fact that he had 2 small children with him.

Still all that notwithstanding, Johnny knew he had an advantage. He understood the natural rhythms of the forest. He had a quiet understanding and felt in total sync with this environment. He had learned long ago which plants were edible, and which to avoid. He knew how all of nature worked in harmony with each other, and the natural balance and order of this world. He knew how to blend in and be aware of every movement around him, every sound. What was natural and what wasn’t. He understood what every shift in the wind direction meant.

In fact in normal circumstances he did his best thinking in nature. It focused him, and allowed him to decompress from all the stress and shit he seen in his line of work.

Under normal conditions he would enjoy this, but this was far from normal. He normally would not walk on an unfamiliar trail at night. But he had taken notice of this trail on the way up to the cabin, and he had noticed that there were little or no obstacles that one would trip on, provided you stayed right on the game trail. Because it was still quite cold at night, in fact the first day of spring had just been 2 days earlier, the undergrowth was virtually non-existent, which was both a blessing and a curse. Had it been summer the undergrowth would be more dense, as the shrubs, small bushes and saplings would stretch and reach into the open spaces looking for more light, trying to claim or reclaim ground it had had the previous year. It would make hiking off trail more difficult had it been summer and dense. On the downside it also meant that there was less cover to hide them should they need to hide from Martin, on the very real chance that he had had a change of heart, and he chose to grab his guns and come after them. After all he was potentially facing the death penalty when he was caught.

Johnny would get off the trail as much as he dared in the daylight and give them as much protection as he could, but it was suicide to try and go off the trail in the dark. If he tripped and fell and broke a leg now, it would mean certain death for them all.

Still he was fairly sure Martin would not venture in after them in the dark…but then a man who was desperate enough to kill, might just be desperate enough to do exactly that very thing.

Johnny coughed again and grimaced as he felt a pain lance across his chest as he tried to breathe. Carrying the kids for 2 hours had cost his health, but it had had to be done. He walked over and squatted down in front of the kids. It was time to be honest without scaring them too much, but letting them know what they needed to do now.

“Hey Lucas, Natalie,” he said. “I know that you are tired, but we need to keep walking for a little bit more. I don’t think Martin is going to chase us in the dark, but just in case he does, I want to be far ahead of him. But right now, my cold makes it a little hard for me to carry you and our bags, so you are going to have to walk for a while before we stop for some sleep. I also want to keep pretty quiet for now, just until we are a little bit further away okay?”

Natalie looked Johnny in the eye and said with a firm determination, “I can go on Johnny; I want to get far away from Martin too.”

Lucas looked up at Johnny, his eyes full of admiration. “I can walk all night if I have to Gray Wolf…after all I’m Swift Fox.”

Johnny, laughed and scruffed the boy on the top of his head, “I don’t think we need to go all night, but maybe another hour or so okay?”

Both kids nodded and each one grabbed one of Johnny’s hands tightly. Now that he only had the knapsack and the canteen’s Johnny found he did not have to strain to breathe as much, which was a blessing. He stood up and started once more down the trail. He walked with the same sense of purpose, and determination, but he made sure he had shortened his stride and pace to one that both children could easily keep up with. At least this time they were headed down hill….down was both easier and faster than up, which he didn’t mind, as it was a lot less taxing on his tortured lungs and body.

They had walked on for less than an hour, when Johnny began to hear the small stream. His heart fell as he realized it no longer sounded like the small gentle stream it had been 2 days earlier. Two days of rain and melting snow from higher up in the mountains had obviously swollen the stream to a much larger size. He could hear the rushing of the current. ‘Please’ he prayed silently…’let the footbridge still be above the water.’

As they finally drew up close to the stream, Johnny could see that the footbridge had completely washed away. He looked around but saw no fallen logs nearby that he could use…not that it mattered, although it wasn’t extremely wide, it was certainly wider across right now than any of the trees were tall, and in order to get to safety, they had to cross it. He could tell it was still rising, as the daytime temperatures in conjunction with the wet weather meant it would probably remain high for a week maybe more, if they got more rain tomorrow. He knew the longer he waited the higher and stronger it would get. He stopped for a moment and let out a heavy sigh.

Natalie’s voice began to quiver, “What are we going to do Johnny? I don’t want to go back to the cabin and Lucas and I don’t know how to swim?”

Johnny gave the girl’s arm a comforting squeeze. “Don’t worry sweetie, you don’t have to do either. I am going to carry Lucas across, and then I am going to come back for you. But first I need to take off some of these clothes.”

Johnny then proceeded to strip down to his boxers, the cold night air sent him into violent shivers, but he knew that wet clothes would offer no protection and only serve to drag him down…it was better to carry them across and be able to put them back on dry on the other side. He knew this was putting his health in real danger, but if giving up his health would get these kids to safety, then he would give it freely.

He walked over and stuffed his clothes including his shoes into the knapsack and hoisted it over his head. Then he walked over to Lucas, and strung the canteens over his shoulder. “Okay Champ, I want you to climb up high on my back and hang on as tight as you can…no matter what happens, do NOT let go of me okay?”

Lucas stood wide-eyed and pale. He just nodded as Johnny squatted down in front of the boy and let him climb up. Johnny walked over to the edge where the trail disappeared into the stream and took a deep breath and stepped forward.

The chill from the cold stream fed from the snows higher up in the mountains hit Johnny like a knife, causing him to gasp and start to cough. He used every reserve he had to force the cough back and slowly start across the stream, the rushing current pulled and tugged at his feet and calves, but luckily for Johnny even at its deepest, it only made it up to his mid thigh. Lucas bent his knees forcing his legs up above the waterline, as he clung fiercely to Johnny’s neck. Just when Johnny was beginning to think he was never going to make it across, he felt the water grow shallower and slower, as he made his way the final few feet and was able to drop the knapsack up onto the bank and safely on the trail. He then made his way up until he was able to slip Lucas off of his back onto the dry ground.

Johnny took a moment to catch his breath and finally allow the cough he was suppressing to break free. By now he was shivering too much to talk, so he just quickly stepped back in the river and hurried back across. He made better time with no knapsack or child on his shoulders. By the time he reached Natalie, he was beginning to lose feeling in his legs…they were becoming numb in the frigid icy waters.

Without saying a word, he leaned over and scooped up Natalie and held her high as he once more started to cross the stream. His progress was much slower and twice he lost his footing and stumbled, but had managed to keep them both upright and above the water.

By the time he had Natalie across, he could feel his mind starting to drift and shut down. He used his last bit of strength to push Natalie up onto the bank and then somehow managed to crawl out after her. He began to shiver and cough uncontrollably. He lay on the cold damp earth panting and gasping with his eyes closed.

Suddenly he felt a blanket wrap around him, and he opened his eyes to see Natalie and Lucas crouched down beside him with the blankets, doing their level best to wrap them around him, while rubbing his arms and legs with the material.

He gradually got his breathing under control and sat up shakily.“Th … th…th…thanks, guys,” he stuttered out as his teeth chattered violently together. “I th…th…think th..this is wh…where we call it a n…n..night.”

Slowly he got up and keeping the blanket wrapped around himself for cover he slipped out of his wet boxers.  He then stepped behind a tree and as covertly as possible, put on his dry clothes, sans his boxers…not the most comfortable, but better than sitting in wet boxers in 40 something degree weather.

“What can we do Johnny?’ Natalie asked him when he had returned.

“Well, my fingers are kinda cold and clumsy do you think you could reach inside the knapsack and find me the flashlight and the lighter?” He coughed out. ‘Damn my throat is really sore tonight.'

Natalie quickly retrieved the asked for items out of the sack and handed them to Johnny.

Johnny turned on the flashlight and began to scan the woodland floor near the edge of the trail. It wasn’t long before he spied a log that had fallen over sometime in the previous year or two. On the underside of it, he was able to feel the dry bark and pine needles that had been sheltered from the rains; he grinned broadly as he reached underneath and pulled out 5 or 6 good sized dry pinecones. He soon had a small pile of his tinder sitting on a 2 or 3 flat rocks he had managed to find near the bank that were still dry from that afternoons sun.

He then went in search of some dry sticks of varying sizes, reaching up into the branches, and picking only the ones that made a loud snapping noise when he broke them off.…when he felt he had finally enough for what he wanted, he motioned for the children to follow the beam of the flashlight over to where he was sitting next to the log.

Picking up the knapsack, the children made their way over to where Johnny was sitting shivering on a rock.

Johnny sat rubbing his hands together vigorously in order to get his hands and fingers warmed up enough to function as he wanted them to. Suddenly, another fit of coughing had him bent at the waist and wheezing and gasping for air. Yep, there was no doubt about it; he was going to pay for his little icy dip in the stream for sure. Once the spasm had passed he stood back up, rubbing his hand across his aching chest.  He motioned the kid’s close in beside him as he looked over and smiled at them. “Okay my little Indian braves, huddle up around Gray Wolf and he will give you your very first lesson in survival. I am going to show you how to build your very first real Indian style fire, but I want you to remember, that you don’t ever play with matches or fire…this is for you to tuck away in the back of your heads until you are big enough to use it, okay? I want you to promise me that.”

“We will Gray Wolf, we promise,” said Natalie solemnly. Lucas nodded in agreement.

“Okay” said Johnny as he walked nearer to the fallen tree, “let’s get started.” He squatted down so that he was eye level with the children. “This is what we call, an upside down fire, although white man survival guides will call it, a self-feeding fire. Now, the very first thing we need to do is find a good spot.

I chose this spot over by this rock, because this big old fallen tree provides a natural windbreak, and by placing this rock along the edge, it will help reflect the heat back towards us. Now, we need to clear all this debris away until the earth shows through,” he said as he cleared a sufficient sized spot. “First we need good dry material, tinder that will ignite quickly and start to produce heat fast. These pine cones and dry pine needles and dry bark are perfect. We bunch them all up into what we call a tinder bundle.” He showed them how to do it, letting them try a bit for themselves. Next, we use these branches that I got from the older dead trees that are up off the ground and away from the wet earth. You want really snappy ones because that means they are very dry.

Now, normally with a fire you build a little tee-pee over your tinder and once you light it you add your bigger sticks, but the trouble with that way is your bed of coals is on the ground and you lose all the heat into the earth…this way is better for what we need. By making an upside down fire we have the coals on top, and it burns down like the wick on a candle, so  depending how big you make it, you never have to leave your fire because it feeds off itself and burns all night long, without you ever having to go find more wood.

So first I take my sticks and break them up into piles…big, medium and small. Now, unlike the traditional fire, we start with our biggest sticks and put them flat on the ground.” He demonstrated once again allowing the two children to help lay them out. “Once you have the pile as big as you want it; you take the medium sticks and put them crossways on top, like you were building a log cabin.  The when you have done that you use the little sticks and repeat the process.”

After they had their pyramid of wood built; Johnny then grabbed the tinder bundles, and bunched them up tightly and snagged in a couple of the pinecones. “Now we make our tee-pee, but just a small one using tiny sticks and twigs.” He quickly assembled the small structure on top of his pyre. “Okay now step back while I light it up,” he said as he flicked the lighter and touched the flames to the tinder. It immediately sparked and caught onto the dried pine needles and pinecones, Johnny gently blew on the fire to give it enough air making sure it had enough strength to get it going stronger. In just a short minute or two the tinder began to snap and pop as it ignited the first layers of small wood sticks, until it caught hold and blazed up. In less than 5 minutes he had a warm comforting blaze going.

He winked over at the kid’s…”Indian fire, 101,” he grinned.

Once he had the kids situated so that they were getting the warmth but not dangerously close, he warmed his hands by the blaze and then took out the pot from the knapsack and filled it with some water from the canteen.

He took two Y shaped sticks and shoved them into the soft moist earth on either side of the fire. Then he found a long one straight stick and slid the wire handle of the camping pot though the cross stick so when he propped the long stick into the crotch of the Y shaped sticks, it formed a crude spit and the pot hung suspended over the blaze.

As soon as the water in the pot began to boil, Johnny reached over and dropped in 2 tea bags and let them steep. After a minute had passed, he removed the pot and stirred in some of the sugar and powdered milk until it all dissolved and poured it into the three mugs.

Sweet tea wasn’t his drink of choice, but he knew he needed it, and it wouldn’t hurt the kids either and it would help warm them up, and soothe his irritated throat. He pulled out some jerky and handed it around.

They sat in silence starring at the flames eating their jerky and sipping their hot tea. Johnny looked down at his watch…1:49 am  

He suddenly let out with another strangling cough once more, and as he wiped his mouth on his sleeve he noticed some pink mixed in with the sputum…’oh shit’…He sighed as he thought about the events of the last 4 or 5 hours.

He did another quick self exam; his throat was bad, he knew it was probably something like strep, and he knew he had pneumonia now for sure, and a moderate fever, those where the only injuries he could come up with. Add to that list exhaustion, exposure, a certain amount of dehydration and he had two small children with him. It seemed a lot as Johnny made his mental list of strikes against him.

He was lost in the sense that he had no idea for sure exactly which state he was in, nor did he know which direction he should head into once he actually came out of the bush and onto the road again.

He was in real trouble here. He knew he couldn’t keep going forever, but stopping wasn’t an option either.

He shook himself out of his gloomy thoughts…He forced himself to concentrate on what really mattered right now. He smiled down at Lucas and Natalie, and gave them a tired hug. Both children hugged back.

Natalie reached up and gave Johnny a kiss on the cheek, and he was surprised when a second later, Lucas followed suit.

Johnny smiled again…they would get out of this, because only one thing really mattered…They were free, and more importantly, alive.

He got up and rinsed out the pot and the mugs and sat back down next to the children.

He gradually settled in against the fallen log and let the children snuggle up against him. The added warmth of their tea combined with the heat from the fire, soon found all three tired escapees fast asleep, under the stars, while the fire burned pleasantly comforting them all by its presence.

Chapter Sixteen

March 23rd 7:15 am

To Johnny it seemed that he had hardly fallen asleep before he was awakened by another bout of a painful, hacking coughing fit. He lifted his head wearily from off of the log. The last time he had been brought to wakefulness because of his coughing spells, he had laid his head back against it so he could sit propped up, allowing him to breathe easier and hopefully get a better chance to rest. This malady had given him little chance of a restful sleep.

He noticed that it was now daylight, and glanced at his watch. It had just gone past seven am.

Both Lucas and Natalie had managed to sleep right through his coughing, despite the fact they were leaning up against him, one on either side, but then they were both exhausted…so was he.

He looked around at their surroundings now that he could see it properly in the light of day. He looked out at the spring mists dissolving in the early morning sunshine; it was going to be a sunny day, but there was a chill in the air as the winds blew cold from the north. It cut through the material of his sweatshirt, reminding him that spring had only just arrived.

As carefully as he could, he eased himself out from between the youngsters, and leaned over to check the fire. He had checked it during his last bout of coughing at 5 am, and found it had slowly burned down to the bottom of the pyre, so he gathered up the few sticks he had reserved back the night before and had re-stoked the pile. Because of that, he now had a good bed of coals, and there were still small shafts of flame flaring up here and there.

A wave of dizziness overcame him as he stood up, and he had to sit n the log to steady himself until the moment had passed. He reached up and felt his forehead, but even before he had, he knew his temperature had climbed…102 he guessed. He tried swallowing, and was rewarded with a new level of pain, that had not been there the night before. His chest was tight and he could feel the rattle in his chest, which was accompanied by a deep aching pain. Well, he had kind of expected things to get worse after he had crossed the stream. He slowly got up and took care of his personal business before the children woke up.

Both Roy and Dr. Brackett were going to have him on his back in a bed the first chance they got. Dixie no doubt would be right there with them.  He actually smiled, right now seeing their faces and being able to sleep in a warm dry bed sounded like heaven, no matter where he was. It was then the thought hit him…no matter where he was. He wasn’t in L.A…he wasn’t near Roy or the others. When he got out of here, the nearest doctor would not be one of his friends, he would be a stranger.

Johnny had a bit of a phobia about doctors and needles, due to some very unpleasant experiences he had had growing up in Montana…Dr’s who had ignored the signs of abuse, because getting involved with reservation kids was too much of a headache. The pressure to turn a blind eye often won out, even amongst those who would liked to have helped.

Johnny sat back down on the log as he realized that it had been 10 years ago this very month that he had left Montana with a vow never to return. And now here was, either back in the state or its neighbor.

He made up his mind right there…no matter how sick he was, he wasn’t going to let any strange doctor touch him…if he wasn’t worth their trouble ten years ago, then they could all just go to hell now.

He would insist on going home to where those who actually cared about him were.

He knew it was unreasonable, but right now he didn’t care. He had been through too much, and damn it, he was going to have his way.

He had had enough of being pushed around and being forced into situations he hated this past week. He was tired of it, and he just wanted to go home to his family…the family he had been so grateful to find 5 years ago when he walked into the paramedic office and found Roy DeSoto sitting there eager to sign him up to the paramedic program.

Shaking himself back to the situation at hand, he slowly stood up, relieved to find the dizziness had passed. He walked around and gathered a few more dried branches and pine cones and coaxed the embers back into a full flame. He poured some water into the pot again, and set it over the homemade spit to heat up once more.

He then walked over and shook the children awake. “Hey guys, it’s time to get up so we can hit the trail again. I want to get as many miles in as we can today okay?”

Both children nodded sleepily as they began to stretch and stand up.

Johnny reached over and helped them brush off the twigs from their jackets and pants. As he was brushing down Lucas, he felt his hand hit something buried down low in the pockets of his jacket.

He reached in and pulled out the objects. He smiled as he saw that one pocket contained 2 of the chocolate bars he had purchased at the vending machine back at the bus station, and in the other were the third bar and the wrapped packet of cookies. He had completely forgotten about them, and although the cookies were broken a bit, they were not in crumbs. He held them up for the children to see...“Looks like we get a treat for lunch today,” he smiled. “Jo would kill me for giving candy to a kid for lunch, but I’d say we have earned these.” He scruffed their heads and put the newfound treasure into the knapsack.

He sat the kids back down on the log and pulled out the two round pie plates. Onto one he dumped out some trail mix and onto the other he put out some of the peanuts and raisins…”this is going to have to be breakfast” he said, and he set the plates down where they all could reach.

Johnny took a handful of trail mix and popped it into his mouth. He forced the food down with a painful swallow, but he knew he needed the energy, so he endured the discomfort. He walked back over to where the water was boiling now. Into his mug, he poured in some of the instant coffee, and despite his distaste of sweet coffee, he put in some sugar and powdered milk anyway…he needed all the calories and energy he could get, and besides, even bad coffee, was still coffee and it warmed him. He then once more dropped in a tea bag and some sugar and powdered milk into the remaining water in the pot. He then divided the mixture up into the two mugs for the children. “Here, this should help warm you up a bit before we head out.”

As soon as they were finished, Johnny used the last of the water in the canteen to rinse the dishes clean once more. He then walked over to the edge of the creek and filled the pot with water and set it once again over the flames. He was glad they had crossed the stream last night; the water looked like it had risen a good foot overnight, and if he had to cross it this morning it would have easily been up to his armpits.

Hopefully if Martin did try to follow them, the stream would be too high for him to try and cross by the time he made it that far. He bent over once more as he once more began to cough painfully, he spit out the phlegm he had managed to cough up…even more pink mixed in with it…’damn.’

The thought of Martin following them, filled him with a sense of urgency and he went back to the campsite.

While he waited for the water boil, he began to gather up all the rest of their gear and load it back into the backpack, making sure he left the jerky, dried fruit, chocolate bars, and cookies near the top where he could easily reach them. By the time he was finished the water was at a full rolling boil. Johnny reached into the pocket of the knapsack and pulled out one of the purification tablets and dropped it into the pot. He left it to boil for a full five minutes and then took the pot off of the fire, and set it on one of the rocks. He set to work extinguishing the fire and making sure there was no chance for it to start the woods a-flame when they left.

He then made sure the children had attended to their own personal business, making sure they had a private area they could use. He sat down to rest while he waited for them to finish, and the water to cool down.

 After 10 minutes had passed, and he had had a chance to rest up a bit, Johnny walked over to the pot and decided the water had cooled off enough to pour it into the canteen. Once the canteen was full, he took out the last little bit and walked over to the kids. He took the washcloth he had stuck in the pocket of the knapsack and set it in the semi-warm water. Once it was wet, he then had the children hold out their hands as he poured the water over it, using the last bit on himself…he then washed their faces with the cloth. “Well, it’s not perfect, but better than nothing.” He said and he looped the wet cloth through one of the metal grommets on the backpack. He put the pot back inside and stood up. “Well, let’s get going, the sooner we start the quicker we get out of here.”

He saw no sign of Martin, and decided that they would make better time if they stayed on the trail. If he even got a hint, the man was following them, he would head off the trail. He knew the basic direction they needed to go and was reasonably sure he could find his way out if he had to without the trail, but it was easier for them all to use the trail as long as they could.

They walked on together, in silence for a while, and finally Johnny decided that his fears were probably unfounded. If Martin had changed his mind, he would have at least been on the other side of the stream this morning. If he hadn’t made it by this morning he doubted he would now…Martin was not the outdoorsy kind, and he figured the stream would be enough of a deterrent to keep him on the other side.

With that in mind he decided to get the children talking a bit to help them keep their minds occupied. He searched around in his head for things to talk about; he decided he would try favorite TV shows as a springboard. It worked like a charm, and soon he had both children chattering on about their favorite programs and that soon evolved into favorite books, which was good as it meant Johnny didn’t have to talk much, he only had to give a smile or a nod and voice an uh huh every so often. That in turn, was good for his lungs as Johnny was finding breathing a bit harder today, and he noticed the wheeze was getting more pronounced. His fever seemed to be holding fairly steady and he had no more bouts of dizziness so far, but he was still plagued by the ache in his chest and the bouts of painful coughing episodes.

After about 2 hours of walking Johnny reached in and grabbed the cookies. There were 4 in the packet, and he gave each child one and a half to munch on as they walked while he ate the last one…not that he was hungry, but he needed the fuel. By the time Johnny called a halt to rest they had been walking almost 4 hours without slowing down.

They stopped in a sunny spot, and he was grateful that the temperature had risen to the low 60’s today. It meant the ground would have even more of a chance to dry out, before they made camp for the night. Johnny bent over and pulled out a strip of jerky and a small handful of the dried fruit. He took the cups and poured each of them some water to wash it down with as well as hydrate them enough for the afternoon’s trek.  He wanted to keep at it as long as he could. He made sure he himself drank an extra glass of water as he knew his fever was making him dehydrate, and he had to keep on his feet. As soon as they were finished, Johnny got them up and set off again.

They stopped only once for another glass of water and a five minute break about 3 pm, at which time Johnny got out the chocolate bars and broke two of them in half. They each ate down half a bar of the sweet treat, to help fuel them enough so that they could keep going for a while longer…not the best food, but ‘any port in a storm’ he thought.

He would save the rest for tomorrow…when hopefully they would find the road once more. The trio walked on for another 3 hours before finally calling a halt to the day.

Once again Johnny stopped near some large fallen trees. He let the children rest while they ate some dried fruit and nuts, while he gathered what he needed in order to build a fire. The only difference was this time he made a fairly large “traditional” type fire, using hardwood he had managed to gather. He made sure that he got the fire going quite strong and hot before he started to let it die down and burn away.

After telling the children to make sure they stayed back, Johnny went about constructing a quick bivouac. He did not get overly elaborate, as the sky was clear and showed no sign of rain, and the winds had dropped off to almost nil. He decided he only needed enough cover to keep the dew from settling onto them. Once he had made it wide enough for three, he then began to dig out the soil using one of the pie plates as a shovel to a depth of about 12 inches and about 5 feet long and one foot wide. His task was made more difficult due to his coughing and wheezing, but Johnny persevered through it all. He saved any rocks he found setting them aside. Once he had his trench built he lined it with the rocks about one inch apart.

He motioned the children to come over and sit beside him…“Indian survival tip number two…the fire bed” he smiled over at them. “Have you seen what I have been doing?” he asked the kids. Both children nodded. “I used the different wood and the other kind of fire, because this time I want the coals to burn very hot and right down onto the ground. I need them for our bed. This is harder wood and it burns hotter and makes hotter coals. Normally I would make this as long as my body, but since we are going to sleep bunched up, and I will need to sit up a bit against these fallen trees, I can make it shorter. I would normally also build the fire inside my trench, and built a bivouac later, but I am in a bit of a hurry to get us situated before dark. I did the shelter first, so I can’t build the fire in the trench, because I don’t want to set the bivouac on fire,” he winked…”so we are going to modify this a bit.”

“While this fire burns down into coals, we will just get our water boiling for our hot drinks.” Since the flames had burned down into the logs, Johnny once again fashioned a crude spit to put over the fire and he hung the pot over the now low flame. “Now,” he said. “How about you help me find some bedding?” And with that he had the children gathering pine bows and setting them in a pile by the shelter, but on the side away from the fire. By the time they were finished the water had boiled and, the fire was burning down into a great big pile of hot coals.

Johnny once more made himself some coffee and the children some tea, while they snacked on some of the peanuts and raisins. He was glad he had taken the entire stockpile of the cold foods Martin had brought. It ensured they could eat as much as they wanted and still have plenty to last at least 4 days, and Johnny knew they would be out by then. He poured out their drinks into the cups, and they sat back to drink. Johnny savored the coffee even if it was sweet; it still felt good on his painful throat, which he thought might be getting worse and he sighed inwardly.

By the time they had finished their drinks and washed up, the coals were ready. Making sure the kids were well back but could still see, Johnny took up the tin pie plate and using it as a shovel he began to scoop up the hot coals and toss them into his rock lined trench and spread them out evenly. When he was happy with the thickness he then pushed all the dirt he had scooped out back over the coals. Years of practice with White Eagle had taught him how to perfectly gauge the right amount of soil to use when covering the coals.

He let it sit a while and then motioned the children over to his side. “Put your hand down on the soil,” he told them. The children put their hands on the ground, their eyes grew wide, and they smiled as they felt how toasty warm the ground was.

Johnny grinned back. “Now the trouble is the heat will make the ground moist like a sauna, so we need to put this bedding down to help keep the moisture away from us…it will still let the heat through and keep us nice and warm all night long.

As soon as he had everything arranged he crawled inside with their knapsack, as he motioned the children in beside him. He sat himself propped back against the log slightly on the warm ground, and had the children stretch out on the ground on either side of him.

So it was that the three weary travelers fell asleep in relative comfort. The only thing disturbing at all was the occasional bouts of Johnny’s coughing that woke him up a couple of times through the night, but he was able to fall right back to sleep each time, exhaustion winning out over discomfort.

March 24th 7:18 am

Johnny woke up to the feeling of a cool hand brushing up against his forehead. He slowly opened his eyes and he saw Natalie’s sober little face looking into his. “Your skin feels really hot Johnny,” she said.

“Hey.” Johnny tried to say, but found that it came out sounding more like a raspy croak. He tried to clear his throat, but it felt like sandpaper, and was extremely painful to try and swallow.  He shifted uncomfortably and sat up straight inside the shelter. He looked over to see that Lucas was still asleep. He reached over and gently shook the boy awake. “Hey buddy,” he rasped out. “Time to rise and shine. I want to try and reach the road today.”

He crawled out of the shelter, with Natalie right behind him. “Are you okay Johnny?” she asked worriedly.

Johnny cleared his throat, which immediately triggered another bout of wet coughing. As soon as he had it under control he looked over at the little girl and smiled. “Well honey, I have felt better, but I have been worse too. Don’t you worry, I have some good friends that will fix me right up as soon as we get out of here. Now, I’m going to make us all some hot tea, and that will help my throat.” He rasped out.

By the time they had finished with breakfast, and breaking camp it was almost 8:30. The tea had helped his throat, but as Natalie had pointed out earlier, he knew his fever was up. If he was going to hazard a guess he would say it was getting close to 103. He knew it was pneumonia, and only hoped that no secondary complications set in that might keep him hospitalized.

Now that he was fairly certain that rescue was going to be by the day’s end, he began to think about other things. Like making sure he slept in L.A. tonight and getting these kids to their relatives. Most importantly, sending the police after Martin, so he could pay for what he had put them through.

As far as his health was concerned he knew he was destined for a bed, but He hoped he could wrangle out of a lot of fuss and bother. He was not ready to be overwhelmed by the press and well meaning crowds of friends.

He really just wanted to get some antibiotics and go home to his own bed, which would be a fight, as Roy and Jo would try to get him to their home at the very least, and he was sure Brackett would want him in Rampart, at least for a day or two.

But he just wanted to be alone so he could process the events of this past week. He hadn’t let himself deal with all that had happened yet, and he really hoped for some privacy, so he could sort out in his mind just exactly what he was feeling.

But right now they still had a good day’s march ahead of them. He stood up and grabbed their pack and canteens. He called out to Natalie and Lucas, “Okay guys, let’s get going now.”

Once more they started out on their way along the trail.

Johnny had noticed that they were now on level ground, and the slope had disappeared. By his way of reckoning they should hit their starting point by the lake around 4 that afternoon if they made decent time. He talked as little as possible as they walked, so he wouldn’t put anymore strain on his throat than he had too.

Lunch was a quick stop of about 20 minutes. Just long enough to have some water and the last of the peanuts and raisins, and some more of the jerky. As soon as they had rested, he pushed them on forward, his body was bent over with fatigue as he kept on the path, picking his way around dead limbs that had fallen onto the trail from the recent storms they had had.

He knew he was pushing the limits of his body…that he was asking too much of it, pushing it too hard.

He broke out into another spasm of painful coughing that brought tears to his eyes, as he struggled to catch his breath. He spit out all that he had been able to cough up onto the edge of the path. He was dismayed to see more color mixed in with the sputum. Still he pushed on, putting one foot in front of the next.

‘Don’t stop. Keep going’, ran like a mantra over and over in his mind. It was the only thing he allowed himself to think about now.

To get out of here alive and get them all home was his only thought. There was nothing more important in his world right now than that. There was no time for anything else but getting home.

The only other thoughts in his mind right now were for these two small children, whose home, or at least the one they had known just last week, no longer existed. How well he knew that feeling, and the thought of what they had to face when they returned to civilization, broke his heart. It had also stirred up some very strong and painful emotions in his own mind.

By mid afternoon, Johnny started to notice a subtle change in the trail, it began to once more widen out into more of a path, and he felt relief, as he knew it meant they were nearing the end.  He picked up the pace, and he turned to the children and said, “I think we are getting closer guys, just hang in there with me for a little bit longer okay?” he rasped out.

The children came up beside him and grabbed his hands. “We’re okay Johnny, we can make it.”

He looked over and gave them a wink and a grin and squeezed their hands.

After another hour had passed, Johnny looked up and heaved a large sigh of relief. The path had changed back into the narrow road way, and he knew the lake was only about a half hour ahead of them. The kids had noticed it too, and both of them began to walk with a greater sense of purpose…they were nearing the end. He broke out the rest of the chocolate bars to celebrate, and refuel.

Sure enough in not much more than half an hour, they came to the exact spot where Martin had pushed the van into the lake. Without bothering to stop, Johnny pushed forward down the roadway. He only hoped that it wasn’t too far off of the beaten path.

Luck once more served them well, when after about a quarter mile, the lane ended and a small gravel country road lay in front of them. Johnny could have wept for joy, had he not had the kids with him. He bent down and pulled them both into a tight bear hug. “We did it guys, we made it to the road.”

He wasn’t sure which direction to go. Looking around he noticed that the road ran from north to south…well he thought, I know L.A. is south, so south it is. And using no more reasoning than that, he took the children by the hands and began walking.

And that is how they were found, 25 minutes later by a local farmer who was heading into the nearest town in his pickup truck, on March 24th at 5:40 pm.

To be continued

Published to my Site 05/30/11

Links to Part 1. 2. 3.