A cold, misty rain returned, toying with us on and off as we walked down the interstate. We must have been following the storm. Gusts of wind increased, pushing at us as we walked. Slowly, our clothes got saturated, sending that wet sensation straight to our bones. I found myself shivering and knew that we needed to find a place to make a fire and dry out. Being in Iowa, the countryside only offered field after field after field. Years ago, they would have been covered with either corn or pigs.
Off in the distance, I could see what looked like a small town's water tower.
"Looks like there's something up ahead. It might provide us a place for the night," I said. "We need to get warm and dry these clothes out."
Leonard nodded, mumbled something and just kept walking. Jerky came out of a ditch ahead of us and waited. She jumped behind me as we passed and followed close on my heels. Her hair was matted and soaking wet. She was covered with twigs and dead leaves.
I could tell Leonard wasn't in a talking mood. So, my thoughts went through an inventory of memories. Most of them were very unpleasant accounts of Madeline and what her agenda was. By now, there was no doubt that she was the originator and orchestrator to the collapse of…well just about everything. Those seeds she planted in God knows how many kids years ago became the catalyst for the mass insanity worldwide.
I realized the insanity began to manifest itself before the first psychotic event in subtle and some not-so-subtle ways. As a society, people gradually forgot or disregarded simple common courtesies. Expressions like please and thank you became nonexistent. Everyone became distrustful. Paranoia grew. If you took one aspect of our society, put it under a microscope and examined it, you could see how it became affected by Madeline's evil.
Take for example everyone's favorite topic…politics. As I was growing up, the whole political process became highly corrupted, and I mean way more vile and nefarious than previous episodes in our American history. It seemed that every two years we'd go through incredible mudslinging, negative campaigning from candidates. All the television commercials were vicious attack ads. Most of the time the facts that a candidate was professing were flat-out lies. There was never any substance or information from candidates on how they would address issues and bring about positive new ideas. My TV remote mute button would get worn out during the campaign season. I'd have to go buy a new one. Once a new administration became elected, anything that was promised would soon be forgotten and scandal after scandal would be all that you'd hear about or see on the front page.
Very little governing was taking place and the world, which once looked to the great United States as a role model, lost faith in us and laughed at us. So, it was a natural decline, leading into anarchy. Once Madeline got her claws into our government, it was only a matter of time before chaos set in and that infection she spread made its way around the world.
As I walked down the deserted interstate, I was awed by how easy it was that we lost everything. What took centuries to build was destroyed in a less than a decade.
"You look deep in thought," Leonard said as he shifted his pack.
"Yeah, I was. I don't know if it was very deep. I just keep rehashing all the events and reasons why we are in this mess now."
"You might go insane if you think about it too much," Leonard muttered.
"If I haven't gone insane by now, I don't know what would cause me to lose my sanity."
I mentioned some of the things I had been mulling over and he offered his take on the whole political area. That line of thought and discussion made the time pass more quickly. At one point, I looked up and noticed that the sun was peeking through some clouds on the far horizon.
"Looks like maybe this storm front is finally passing by or switching direction. Tomorrow should be a good day," I remarked, kicking a stone.
"That would feel wonderful. Amazing how the sun can lift one's spirits, not to mention warm the old bones."
We changed the subject of the collapse and focused on the weather. Leonard pointed out again that we'd never make the coast before bad weather settled in. Crossing the Rockies during the winter would be just too risky. We discussed possible places to stay for the season and agreed that we should head on down to southern Texas.
As we got closer to the small town, I could see that it was officially a ghost town. There were no signs of life…human that is.
"I wonder if we could catch us a rabbit or something. Hell, I'd settle for a large rat. Cooked meat sounds so good," Leonard contemplated.
"Just as long as it isn't the feline type," I said picking up Jerky. The smell of wet fur was a tad overwhelming. "Whew, Jerky where have you been?"
Leonard ruffled Jerky's coat and said he'd never think of hurting our traveling companion. As I put Jerky down, the cat hunched its back and hissed. She was looking straight ahead at the town.
"What's got into her?" Leonard asked.
"I don't know, but maybe we should reconsider going into…"
Leonard looked both ways down the road. "I don't see much choice unless we go traipsing across a field, getting more wet than we are, and getting lost or something. We'll be fine. Jerky is probably just being a bit dramatic." He patted me on the back as if to reassure me that all was just peachy.
Jerky stayed close to my leg, almost tripping me a couple of times. I finally picked her up again. She climbed onto my shoulder. All I needed was an eye patch and a wooden leg and I could pass for some demented pirate that couldn't afford a parrot.
All the main streets in America pretty much looked like the one we were walking down. I figured that most of the streets in the world probably looked the same-deserted, litter strewn-maybe having a decomposing body of a human or dog. Speaking of dogs, many of them resorted back to their primal state and ran in packs. I hadn't seen a domesticated one in months. You just couldn't trust them. They were as hungry as we were. Jerky was the first pet that I'd seen in a very long time.
"I suppose it doesn't matter what building we go into," Leonard said quietly.
"I guess not."
"Don't suppose there's a Wal-Mart here. Sometimes you can find stuff in them. One time, I found some baby food that had rolled under the shelf. It's always good to look for stuff like that on the floor," Leonard commented.
"Good info. I'll have to remember that one. However, the size of this little berg probably didn't warrant a Wal-Mart."
We walked farther down the Norman Rockwell-looking street. I half expected to see a few freckle-faced kids coming out of the local candy store. All of a sudden, Jerky flew off my shoulder, landed squarely on her paws and hunched her back. She looked like she was posing for a Halloween commercial. Her hissing was loud and made me shiver.
"Hold on, Leonard," I whispered. "Something's not right." The late afternoon light had dwindled down, making it hard to see much past a block or so. A few steps farther and we both stopped dead. Jerky ran off down a side street. "Oh crap. Jerky, come back," I said in my best stage-whisper voice. The look on Leonard's face turned aggressive and determined as he stared straight ahead. Standing in the middle of the street was the little girl with the face of Madeline Blackwell.
"What do you want? Why are you following me?" Leonard yelled with his best adult authoritative voice. Madeline started walking slowly toward us.
"I want you to die," she said softly. Her voice sounded like it was angelic and it should be singing solo in a children's choir. A slight giggle drifted down the street. "And we intend to destroy Mr. Casey as well…before he gets too powerful."
Now my insides churned. My empty belly felt like the acid inside was slowly eating holes into the lining of my stomach. "Great. How can a little girl do us any harm? I don't see anyone else," I said to Leonard, as I got closer.
Leonard didn't respond. He stood there with feet firmly planted. His hands balled up into fists. I could see how tight he held them as his veins were next to exploding.
Slowly, I heard the sound of growling. Emerging in the shadows behind Madeline, one by one, a pack of dogs inched their way to follow closely on her heels. The dogs were of various breeds-mostly dogs with attack or guard reputations like German shepherds, Doberman pinschers and Chows. I spotted that kind of dog that was in that movie Omen-a Rottweiler. Of course, there were no Dachshunds or Chihuahuas that I could see.
"All right, now we have a big problem," I said nervously. "We need to run…and fast."
"No," Leonard said. "I make my stand here. I'm tired of running from her."
"You're not John Wayne. You don't need to do this. Come on. We can run down that side street where Jerky went. All we need to do is…"
Leonard slowly slid his pack off his back. "I don't know what she meant exactly about you getting any more powerful, but I have a good idea. I've seen that you have some sort of powers or…whatever. Maybe you are meant to stop her or something, turn things around. Beats the shit out of me. All I know is that there's something in you powerful and she's afraid of it. Maybe it was pre-ordained that I save you. Maybe that's why we found each other."
"Leonard, this is nuts. Come on. Let's go now."
As I tried to pull his arm, my eyes became fixated on Madeline's arm. She slowly raised it and pointed. The dogs surged forward like they had heard a starter's pistol go off at a dog race.
Leonard pushed me and yelled, "Run. Follow Jerky. That cat is a guardian. I know it. Don't lose her." With all his strength, he ran toward Madeline.
Regaining my balance, I took off in the direction of Jerky, down a dark alley. A loud meow immediately gained my attention and I sprinted toward it. Jerky pounced out of the dark and raced in front of me. Behind me, the sound was horrifying and made my blood chill. Mixed with the snarling and barking, I heard Leonard's screams. I choked up and momentarily stopped to look toward the shrieks. A little voice in my head, you know the one that proudly declares itself the emotional one, hollered for me to go back and help him. However, the rational voice that carries the banner of survival disagreed. It felt like I had a little red-cloaked devil with a pitchfork on my one shoulder and a harp-playing angel on the other. As I looked at my shoulder with the devil, I imagined it morphing into Madeline. That scared the shit out of me. Jerky was at my leg and sunk her claws into my calf. The small prick was enough to snap me out of it and I started running farther down the dark alley with her leading the way.
The cat miraculously led me out of the city, out into a small grove of trees. I stopped to rest and catch my breath. Jerky nuzzled up to my leg and purred, but on each turn she would look back to the town. After about twenty minutes, she started walking and I followed. By now it was dark. A large orange orb was inching its way up the horizon to peek over the trees. "I love those harvest moons," I muttered to Jerky. A little while longer and the moon gave us some traveling light.
"Don't get too far ahead of me," I said, feeling comfort from the cat.
A half hour passed and we came to a clearing. Slightly off to one side, I could see a small farmhouse. I stopped and froze. My feet wanted to slide backward away from the eerie sight. A lawn in front of the whitewashed house was studded with crosses of various heights. Some looked like spears with pointy ends ready to impale intruders. "Maybe we should go around this place," I said softly to Jerky. The cat ignored me and kept moving. "Jerky, no." She picked her way through the crosses.
A noise behind broke my fear. It heightened and directed a whole new set of panic. Snarling close by could mean only one thing. The dogs found me. I couldn't see anything, but I could hear them. As I looked into the nearby trees, three sets of eyes reflected the harvest moon's illumination. I started to run into the front yard, hoping to find refuge in the farmhouse. One of the dogs nipped at my heel. I could feel its warm breath on my leg. An earsplitting gunshot resonated, echoing across the yard. I heard a thump as the dog hit the ground behind me. I looked around to see another dog lunge toward me. Quickly, I grabbed one of the pointy, cross-like spears and thrust it at the oncoming dog. Its jaws snapped at me as I skewered it. Blood spurted out and covered my face.
"In here," I heard someone yell as another gunshot rang out, followed by a yelp from the attacking dog.
I stumbled over one of the crosses, and scrambled to regain my footing. Another gunshot hit its mark as I made it to the front porch. Standing at the door was a tall, slender woman taking aim with a 30-0-6 rifle, complete with infrared scope. "Duck," she hollered, squeezing off one last shot. I dropped to the floor and covered my ears.