Heckel Casey

brow. I can't lose him. We can't lose him.

Smoke billowed from a smoldering campfire. 'Where the hell am I?' I mumbled to myself as I woke up. I was bound and gagged heavily. Thoughts of Sela immediately flooded my head. Was she safe? What if they took her too? My arms were strapped behind my back and my hands felt as though they were coated with some sort of resin. My head felt like it had connected with a brick wall at some point. I had one heck of a headache. Drugs maybe? Of course, that's got to be why I felt like I had the worst hangover ever. I decided to fake being out for a while until I had an idea of what I was up against. Sela was probably beside herself. I hoped she was all right…and Jerky too.

'Give him another shot,' I heard someone say angrily. 'We don't want him getting loose. Miss Madeline would be really pissed if we lost this Heckel asshole.'

I felt a prick on the side of my neck and within seconds fell into a deep sleep.

The dream I had was so vivid; it was even in color and surround sound with a sci-fi setting. I found myself standing in the middle of what apparently was a battlefield. The once-lush green grass had turned into a streaming river of blood with bodies littered in every direction. I took two steps forward and nearly slipped in the crimson- stained ground. Bodies were strewn and twisted across the landscape. Smoke filled the air, making it seem like an Impressionistic painting. Painful moans of dying soldiers were filtered in among the buzz of insects. I turned completely around looking for anyone still standing on either side. There was no movement. I took a few steps forward and tripped, nearly falling. Looking down, my heart nearly stopped; Sela and Jerky lay dead at my feet. Their bodies had numerous deep-red gouges. As I started to scream, I glanced off toward the horizon. At the edge of her crumpled soldiers, Madeline stood, her lip curled into a sardonic sneer.

I felt myself lift off the ground and glide toward the evil awaiting me. Armed with just the power inside me, I felt it seethe and boil to the point where every pore was poised to unleash the energy. Madeline spun feverishly in a circle as if she were a generator building power. As I approached, she flung her arms forward and a flash of silver energy bolts streamed from her eyes and hands. I held up my hand to deflect the attack, but the force knocked me down. Madeline instantly appeared above me and put her foot on my chest.

I awoke with a start and wiggled my arms, trying to break free from the bindings. It was just a dream, not a premonition, I thought. It's not the future.

'Ah, our guest is awake,' a guard said. 'Quick, give him another shot. We don't want him-'

But an arrow had pierced the guard's neck, abruptly interrupting his order. Blood dribbled out of his mouth as he tried to shout. Seconds later, while trying to pull the lethal shaft out of his neck, he slumped forward. The other four guards jumped up to attack and were quickly met by Sela and her cohorts. Jerky came running up to me, snarling with her hair bristled.

The fight was over in a matter of minutes.

'Apparently, Madeline just can't find good help,' Sela said as she came running over to me. She bent down and removed my bonds. 'Are you all right?' she asked nervously.

'Yeah, but my head feels like it was used to ring a church bell.'

'We should get out of here quickly. Who knows what's hanging around out there?'

'No argument from me,' I said standing up.

Sela walked toward the darkness. In a nearby wooded area, Tempest and the other horses were tied up. We quickly mounted Tempest together and rode off.

Hugging Sela, I whispered in her ear, 'Thanks for the…um…rescue. You're my hero.'

'I can't lose you. We can't lose you. You're our hero,' she said softly.

'What do you mean by 'we'?' I asked, thinking she meant all of humanity.

Sela remained silent for a long while, then turned her head toward me as much as she could, kissed my cheek and said, 'I'm pregnant.'

Word of the failed capture came to Madeline as she sat on a balcony overlooking the Washington cityscape. As she stood up, her temper flared. 'What do you mean you lost him? I thought you said you handpicked his captors.'

The tall, slender, confident-looking man with greasy, black hair stood defiantly in front of Madeline. 'I did pick them, Miss Madeline. I thought they were the best, but apparently I misjudged them. It won't happen again. I promise you,' he said with a hint of trepidation in his voice.

Madeline, not saying a word, circled the man. He shifted uneasily on his feet. She touched him lightly on the shoulder and let her long polished green nails scrape across the back of his neck, sending shivers up his spine.

'Yes, you are right about that. It won't happen again,' she said as the man was quickly picked up by an invisible force, pushed off the balcony and hung suspended in air. His feet wiggled high above the street below as he pleaded to be spared.

With a simple gesture of her hand, the invisible force let go of the supplicating man. Madeline nonchalantly walked to the edge of the balcony and watched the man hit the street below. The thump of his body hitting the pavement resounded off the surrounding buildings. She tilted her head back and laughed heartily. Madeline listened with the curiosity of a ten-year-old child as her iniquitous, maniacal laugh echoed across the skyscrapers.

'Not to worry, little Heckel. Just a minor setback. You make your courageous journey to Oregon. You'll have a greeting party so enormous that you will go running with your tail tucked behind your scrawny legs.' High piercing laughter spread out across all of Washington.

Sela pushed Tempest hard to make it back to the camp. 'Please stop, Sela. We need to talk for a minute,' I said with a jiggle to my voice as Tempest raced down I-40.

'We're almost there. We can talk after we get back to camp,' she said.

'Okay,' I said as I kissed her neck and nibbled her earlobe. She shivered and giggled.

Almost the entire group came out to greet us as we rode into camp. A loud cheer erupted as Sela and I got off Tempest. Lots of folks patted us on the back and were eager to thank Sela and the four men for saving me. Jack took the opportunity to announce the next morning's departure time to travel to Flagstaff.

By the time we had gotten back, it was late in the day. After we got Tempest watered and fed, Sela came up to me, took my hand and we walked away from the group.

'How are you feeling?' she asked.

'Apparently, I should be asking you that question more.'

'I'm fine. I feel great.'

My mouth went dry. Actually, it felt like my vocal cords had disappeared or maybe were somehow glued together. I had no idea what to say, and if I could, I didn't know how to get the words formed. Words like scared, petrified, afraid, frozen, incompetent, and nincompoop started to filter across my mind, and the longer it took for me to open my mouth to say something, the dumber I felt. My brain turned to guacamole.

Sela looked at me with loving, eager eyes, which only exacerbated my dimwitted, paralyzed condition. She stood in front of me and put her hand on my cheek. Her touch felt like a spark, a spark that I needed to jumpstart the battery in my brain.

'Sela, I…um…I…ah…wow…um,' I said thinking that I must sound like a complete numbskull, and I mean that my skull was really, really numb.

Sela just laughed and put her arms around my waist. Her hair fell across the side of my face as she leaned in toward me. At this point, I was literally shaking and the feel of her cheek pressed against mine caused me to tremble even more.

The only words I could put together to actually make sense hit their mark dead on. 'I love you, Sela.'

Immediately, Sela started crying and hugged me tighter. 'I love you, Heckel Casey…with all my heart and soul.'

I started to cry. We held each other for what felt like hours. During that time, a parade of questions marched across my mind. I felt like a spectator at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and each of the giant tethered balloons had highly decorated questions flashing across them. What now? How do I protect her? How do I bring up a baby with evil all around? What about Madeline? How do I kill her?

'Sela, there are so many questions filling my head. The biggest one asking how we can subject our child to a