teen1b teen2b slow)(62/56)
This is the sixth set of diary entries involving characters and events introduced in the series "To Fulfill a Prophesy". I strongly suggest reading the series before these entries to allow understanding of the characters and their relationship to each other.
TFAP Diary - 06 Lost and Found
"Denny ?" Kevin spoke softly to his brother. Denny remained sitting on Dale's lap behind the wooden desk. He was facing everyone, but his eyes met no one's. His gaze was not within the confines of the four walls.
"Leave him for a few minutes, Kevin." Davey counseled. As Davey spoke the office door opened and Eric entered accompanied by Digger and Anson. Dale quietly told them about Dean and Ted's mission and that their plane was missing.
"Denny, are you all right ?" Eric asked with concern on seeing the blank look and fixed stare on the boy's face.
"It's okay, Uncle Eric." Davey assured him. "He's searching." Eric gave Davey a confused look. "There are a lot of things you do not yet know about us. We will explain later, when there is more time."
"Just be patient, Eric." Jason told him quietly. "You'll never see anything like this anywhere else."
While this small discussion of reassurance had been going on, Denny's face had taken on a quick smile before he returned to his blank stare. He was now nodding his head very slowly. Suddenly, without any warning, he was back with everyone.
"They are both alive." Denny stated looking directly at Jamie. "I could reach both of them, so there was no attempt to block me, but there was no response. They are unconscious. Dad was hurt, but not in severe danger. He has a concussion and something hit him very hard in the chest. His ribs, no, two of his ribs are cracked, but not broken and he is very bruised and battered. Uncle Dean also hit his head, but he does not have a concussion. He was knocked out and is much closer to consciousness than Dad. Through Uncle Dean I could sense someone, no, three people, moving around him. They had just picked him up and moved him from one place to another."
"Is there any indication where they are ?" Dale asked.
"We can find out." Kevin advised him. "We need a map." Jason went to the filing cabinet and found a set of maps. The others cleared everything from Dale's desk and then the largest map was laid flat on the surface. The boys took positions, one on each side of the desk.
"What are they doing ?" Eric asked.
"We don't know," Tim told him quietly, "but they do. We have to be patient while they work and see what develops. We don't know how it's done. Sometimes they don't even know how it's done, but the results are going to be what we need."
Each boy lay his flat open right hand on top of the left hand of the brother next to him. They all stood erect with their paired hands extended forward over the edge of the map. The room was silent as they concentrated. Slowly a yellow light enveloped each of the four pair of hands. A shaft of light extended down from the glow around each pair of hands to a point where the four shafts merged at one location on the map. Dale reached forward and placed his finger on the map at the point where the light beams intersected. It was over. The light beams and glow disappeared as the boys released their hands.
Eric had stood watching wide eyed as this procedure had progressed. He slowly looked around at each of the assembled individuals who were also watching.
"Is this real ?" he whispered to anyone who might listen. Jason stepped up beside him and placed his arm around Eric's shoulder. Eric turned his head to look directly at the handsome man. "This can't be happening. I don't believe my own eyes."
"You can believe your eyes, my friend." Jason assured him. "We are witnessing things which no one has ever seen before. You have a lot to learn about your nephews and the wonderful things they have brought to all of us. If it weren't for them, my love would not be with us anymore and my world would be a very dark and dismal place. They are a gift to us, to mankind." Eric glanced at Dale when Jason referred to him and realized there were many things he did not know about Ted's life and those close to him.
"We need a large map of the area which was selected." Jamie said. A detailed map of the designated area was located and spread on Dale's desk.
The process was repeated exactly as with the first map and soon four beams of light were pinpointing a precise location. Dale again marked the spot and in a matter of minutes was in touch with the Agent responsible for the search operations. Because of the nature of the activities Dean and Ted had been conducting, the FBI had taken immediate control of search and rescue.
"We have a means here of pinpointing our personnel." Dale informed the Agent. He then gave them exact longitude and latitude designations. "How long will it be before we hear from you ?" He listened to the Agent explain their situation to him and then, saying goodbye, hung up.
"The area that was designated is in the middle of 500,000 square miles of dense virgin forest and hill country." Dale explained. "They will send in search and rescue personnel this afternoon by helicopter and will notify us of their findings as soon as the crew report in by radio." There was nothing to be done now, but wait.
When Dean woke the first thing which became cognizant to him was the little person sitting in the back of his head pounding it with a gigantic sledge hammer. He lay still and the pain subsided, but as soon as he tried to lift his head, the pounding resumed with a vengeance.
The second thing he realized was he no longer was in the parachute harness which he had donned when the jet had started to descend. He recalled the pilots alerting them to a problem and Ted checking he was strapped into his harness properly. He remembered the pilot instructing them to leave the plane and Ted forcing open the door and pushing him through it. He knew the chute had opened with a jolt as he fell through the air and had looked around to see three other chutes floating through the sky some distance apart. And now he remembered the tree. The one whose tangled arms had reached out and grabbed him from the sky. And then everything had gone black, until now.
"This one's woked up, Pa." A gritty baritone voice announced as a shadow fell over Dean's face. He saw a tall, wide figure standing over him and staring. "I'll check t'other one ag'in."
"The other one." Dean thought. "Does he mean Ted ? Why does he have to check Ted ?" Dean concentrated intensely for a few moments to suppress the pounding in his head and then made a supreme effort to sit up. He succeeded, but in the effort realized his hands had been tied behind his back Looking around, he found that his vision was slightly blurred, but he noted three men who he did not know. One of them, the one who had just towered over him, was now about 10 feet away inspecting a body laying on the ground. Ted's body.
"This one's still out cold." The baritone voice grated out again. The man turned and looked in the direction of one of the other figures.
"He looks like he took quite a bang on his head, Pa." A tenor voice called out as the third man crouched down next to Ted. "The bleeding looks like it's stopped, but he might not never wake up."
"So to be." a gruff bass response came back from the one who was obviously addressed as `Pa'. "It's sure a shame too. The big one would have made the best worker, but that thar one's big enough and he'll likely make a better bed warmer."
"'member, he's mine, Pa." the gravely baritone declared. "Gonna be my worker and my fuck. I ain't gonna have to use Jackson all the time from now on. I might even let you try him out, little brother, see ifin' you can manage on the doin' end, instead of just the gettin' end. Now Pappy can have you all to hisself."
"Who are you people and why have you tied my hands ?" Dean asked. The three men turned and looked at him and then all walked over to where he sat. Dean's vision was clearing and for the first time he could actually see his captors.
`Pa' was about 50 years old. He had a bushy salt and pepper beard which ran down about 12 inches on his chest. It matched the colour of the unruly hair on his head. His eyes were light brown in colour and had a wild look in them. Standing about 5'9", he had a solid build with a bit of an expanded waistline.
`Jackson', the younger man with the tenor voice looked to be about 20 years old. The stubble on his unshaven face did not hide the handsome features with which he was graced. He had brown hair and brown eyes and stood about the same height as his father. His build was slightly larger than the older man, but there was no thickening of his waist. He was trim and fit. A large tear in the left leg of his coveralls showed a muscular calf with traces of light downy fur covering it.
The man with the gravely tenor voice was the largest of the three. At 6'2", he had broad shoulders and muscular arms. His hair and bushy beard were a soft brown colour as were his eyes. He appeared to be about 25 years old. He had wide hips and the muscles of his thighs were quite noticeable under the tight overalls which he wore. These tight pants also displayed a thick branch about 8 inches long running down the inside of his trouser leg. This man walked over to where Dean sat and grabbing Dean's upper arm tightly, pulled him to a standing position.
"I'm Ethan Dunmore and that thars my Pappy and my brother, Jackson." he told Dean. "You now belongs to us and are gonna to do as you be told. We is gonna head fer home now. You follow Pappy."
"What about Ted ?" Dean asked. Ethan brought his arm up and struck Dean across the face with the back of his hand. Dean stumbled backward, but didn't fall.
"You don't git to ask no questions, you just do what's you're told." he hissed at Dean. He grabbed Dean by the shoulders, turned him and pushed him in the direction his father had started walking. Dean strained at the bonds which held his hands, but they remained fast.
"There's no use worryin' `bout your friend." Jackson said quietly to Dean as he passed beside him. "He's not gonna make it past tonight. He's pretty well done for now." Jackson followed up the trail his Pappy had made and Dean was shoved along behind him by Ethan bringing up the rear.
"They found the plane and the pilots, but there's no signs yet of Dean and Ted." Dale reported to the group in the Games Room where they had all gathered to wait impatiently for news. "The FBI Agent was astounded by the accuracy of the location we gave him. It was only 5 miles off."
"What do you mean 5 miles off ?" Davey asked.
"The plane was 5 miles to the west of where you projected it would be." Dale responded.
"We didn't tell you where the plane would be." Kevin said with obvious exasperation. "We told you where Dad and Uncle Dean were. It was them we were focused on."
"Oh, God. I can be so stupid sometimes." Dale muttered, obviously crestfallen from the error.
"It's not your fault, Dale." Jamie assured, coming up behind him and rubbing a hand over his back fondly. "We told them about what we were looking for and they took it for granted it was about what they were looking for."
"I'll call the Agent back right away and clarify what has happened." Dale stated and hurried back toward his office. Davey turned and saw the worried look which continued to occupy Denny's face. The young boy sat on his Uncle Eric's lap where he had been since they had moved to this room from Dale's office. Davey walked casually over to his brother hoping the others would not take any notice.
"What's going on Denny ?" he asked quietly. Denny's sad eyes looked into his and Davey could feel the ebbing of life from the part of his brother which was bonded to Ted. "Come with me, we have to see Dale right away." Davey instructed. Denny rose from Eric's lap and grabbed Davey's hand before their uncle had any time to react. They exited the room and ran down the corridor. Those left in the Games Room looked around blankly at each other. Jamie and Kevin were the first to take off after them and everyone else was right behind them.
"Dale, Dad is dying and we have to go to him, right now." Davey announced as he and Denny burst into the office.
"They have him! They have him!" Dale shouted as he leapt up from his chair in excitement, the telephone receiver still gripped tight against his ear. Everyone came pouring into the office. "The FBI Agent figured out why there was the 5 mile difference and dropped rescuers by helicopter on the spot we originally designated. They found Ted and he's being evacuated to the Emergency Trauma Centre right this minute. The medical corpsman on the rescue team says he will be all right." There was a cheer from the assembled group. The four Guardians grouped together closely, three of them watching the fourth intensely.
"He will be all right." Denny verified as he gazed past the assembled bodies into the future. It was the first time he had dared allow himself to look forward, the eight year old boy in him totally fearful of what he might possibly see.
"What about my Dad ?" Jamie questioned. Dale's face darkened.
"He wasn't there, Jamie." Dale said. "There were footprints of several people and signs of where they had walked into the forest, but as yet we still don't know where he is." The mood of the entire room turned sullen again.
"I've tried to reach out to him with my mind." Jamie said, speaking primarily to his brothers. "I'm not strong enough to do it alone." As he looked directly at each of them, each brother nodded. They moved together into a square and joined hands. With minds joined as one, Jamie reached out to his father's mind.
"Dad."
"Jamie, where are you ?"
"I'm in your mind, Dad. Are you okay ?"
"I've been better, but I'll be all right. You have to get to Ted, he is injured."
"He's been rescued, Dad. He's on his way to the Trauma Centre. Search and Rescue is coming for you. They discovered tracks where Uncle Ted was found."
"Tell them they must be careful. The men who have me are armed. Three of them. A father and two sons by the name of Dunmore."
"Dale will tell the FBI Agent right away."
"Can you include Dale in this communication and let him see what has happened to me ?"
"Yes, but I will have to take the memory from you first and then transfer it to him."
"You take it, but I don't want you, or your brothers looking at it, is that clear ?"
"Yes, Sir. We will do as you ask." Jamie moved his eyes from Kevin, who stood across from him and looked into Dale's eyes as he sat at his desk, protectively watching the four young men. Dale was startled at first until he realized the nature of what had been given to him.
"Tell Dean, I understand." Dale requested. His message was relayed.
The hike to the Dunmore's homestead had taken about three hours. Dean estimated they had covered about five miles in that time. The pace had been steady and the terrain uneven. During the trip Jackson, the youngest had dropped back several times so he was walking even with or just ahead of Dean.
"What's your name ?" he asked.
"Dean." was the answer given.
"I'm sorry about Ethan hitting you." the younger man said. "He ain't usually like that. He can be descent, if you just go along with him. The old man gets him worked up. Ethan's hit me a couple times, but he's always really sorry `bout it. It's always when Pa has been goading him and running him down. He's real good to me other times. Sometimes when he's ruttin' in me he's real tender and talks to me softly. Now Ethan's got you, the old man is goin' to be after me all the time agin. Don't fight when Ethan comes fer ya, or he'll beat ya real bad. I fought the first few times and he left me black and blue. When I finally did what he said and enjoyed the feelings, he was real good to me."
Another time the one-sided conversation took another turn.
"What's it like where you come from, Dean ? This is the only place I've ever known. I never been more than twenty miles in any direction away from our land. Pa says a man can walk fer days and the country is all the same. Pa says there is nothing worth seein' anywhere else anyway. Ma had been other places. Before she died she learned...taught us about things. She told us bout cities where buildings are tall as from here to them trees over there. It seems impossible to think bout that far goin' straight up. Is it true ? Someday I'd like to see that.
And another conversation took an unexpected twist.
"Makin' you come with us as a worker ain't right. Pa knows better. I don' know what's got into him. He's been feelin' poorly lately. I think he wants someone else for doin' the work he can't do no more. Ethan is jus' horny. He wants somewhere else to stick his dick. He don't think things through sometimes. I wish I could help you, but even if you got away, you would die in the forests. Yer a lot safer bein' with us than on yer own. I'll make sure ya get enough to eat, jus' don' get Ethan mad at you and you'll be okay.
The homestead itself was in a sheltered valley and was a magnificent piece of land. The two buildings on the property were rustic and small. One was the cabin in which the three men resided. The other was a type of barn and storage facility. Dean was shut in a windowless, corner room of the storage shed while the three Dunmore men went to their cabin. At least his hands were finally free.
While Dean rested on the straw covering the ground of the little room he thought he had drifted off to sleep as he heard Jamie speaking to him in a dream. No, he wasn't asleep. Where was Jamie ? Speaking to his son in his thoughts was a unique experience. He was greatly relieved to know Ted had been found and was being properly looked after. A rescue team was only a matter of a couple hours away. All he had to do was wait patiently. As he recalled the pleasure of hearing Jamie's voice the door to his little room suddenly swung open.
"Come out here." Ethan snarled. "It's time for you to earn yer keep." Dean stepped out of the room into the larger barn-like area. When Ethan moved aside, Dean saw Jackson standing naked behind him. The young man had his head bowed and was staring hard at the ground, his hands held crossed in front of his privates, obviously embarrassed being exposed to a stranger. "I'm gonna give my lil brother a reward for all the good times we've had together. I'm gonna let him have you first, then I'll show him how to do it right." The big man chuckled. "Take your clothes off, or they're gonna get ripped."
"I really don't want to do this, Ethan." Jackson told his older brother.
"Stop bein' like that, Jackson." Ethan said with a certain amount of exasperation in his voice. "Ya been good takin' it, now ya gotta be a man. Ya gotta do it like a man."
"Being on top doesn't make you a man, Jackson." Dean commented. "It's the quality of your love that makes you a man, not the position you express it from."
"You shut up." Ethan yelled, pointing his finger at Dean. "My brother is a man, like me. He's goin' ta fuck you like a man."
"Ethan, your brother is a man. A good, true loving man." Dean counseled. "When you're with him, he shows you the love he has for you. Think of the good times you've had together. When you hold him in your arms, he's a man, a man you love and loves you in return. He doesn't need to prove himself to you, or anyone else. You already know." Ethan was confused. As he stood trying to decide what to do, Jackson moved up close to him and wrapped him tightly in a big hug. The big man resolved his turmoil and hugged his brother back.
"I want you to take Dean back to safety." Jackson told his brother quietly. "Holding him here is wrong and I don't want you to be a part of it." Ethan looked into his brother's eyes and slowly nodded his head.
"You traitors." snarled their Pa from the doorway of the shed. "I do everythin' so's we got the help to carry on our lives and you two want to throws it all away. Well ur a couple'a damn fools. We stold this townie fool away. The laws gonna be after us. The only way he's gonna leave this spread is feet first." The elder man raised his rifle, cocked it and pointed it in Dean's direction.
"No, Pa." Jackson yelled, lunging at the barrel. Before he reached his mark, Ethan's big hand grabbed his brother's shoulder and pushed him out of the way as he in turn moved to block his father's aim. The sharp crack of the rifle firing exploded in their ears.
Dean removed the rifle from the old man's hands as he stood paralyzed, staring at Jackson, covered with blood, sitting on the ground holding Ethan's lifeless body. Ethan had indeed grasped the barrel of the rifle before it fired. When he jerked it aside, the gun went off and the bullet caught Ethan in the neck, severing his carotid artery. Ethan bled to death in less than a minute with no action from Dean or Jackson having any effect.
An hour later the rescue workers arrived and two hours afterward everyone was gone. The valley was vacant.
The past two days are only now starting to seem real to me. Dean has kept me with him most of the time. It's like our places have switched and I'm now his prisoner, but I know that is far from the truth. I woulda been lost forever if he hadn't been with me.
Dean told the rescuers Pa forced all of us to leave his friend Ted and come to the homestead. He told them Ethan was killed trying to take Pa's gun from him. He never said anything bout me and Ethan bein' part of anythin' what happened to him. The Doctors talked to Pa when we got to the city and put him in a hospital for people who don't think right. They also said Pa has cancer and is not going to live much longer, so the sheriff don't think there will be no trial, just a coroner's hearing bout Ethan's death. Dean says that won't be no problem.
After the sheriff was done talkin', a big, shiny car took us to the hospital to see Ted. He was still not awake, but after Dean got on the telephone and had some papers sent to the people who run things, they told him Ted was much better and should wake up sometime soon. Dean said he was going to stay with Ted and send me to a hotel to sleep. I told him I weren't goin' nowhere without him. We had not eaten anything most of the day and the nurses brought us some juice and sandwiches wrapped up in see-through paper. A little after it got dark outside, a nurse came and told Dean people was in the waiting room to see him. He was gone a little while and when he came back he said he wanted me to meet some people.
I was real nervous about new people. The waiting room was almost full. Dean introduced me first to four young guys, Jamie, Davey, Denny and Kevin. I almost started to bawl when he told me they was his and Ted's sons. I thought how what we done would have taken their Pa from each of them. I felt so guilty I couldn't help it. The little one, Denny, looked at me when I shook his hand like I was a coyote sneakin' out of the chicken coop.
Dean introduced the three men who traveled with the boys. They were Eric, Anson and Dale. They were part of Dean's family, Eric was Ted's brother, but he didn't say how the others were kin. When Dale shook my hand, he had the same cold look in his eyes as the young boy. It made me really nervous and a little afraid. I stayed in the waiting room while Dean took two or three of the people at a time to see Ted. Denny or Dale watched me the whole time the others was gone.
Dale and Eric insisted Dean get some sleep while they stayed with Ted. The boys all said so too and Dean finally gave in. We rode in another big car which carried all of us. I never imagined cars like this, or so many of them speeding round on the roads. The hotel was bigger'n our whole spread and went straight up, taller than any ten trees I ever seen. The elevator ride terrified and excited me, both at the same time. Dean had what they called a Suite". It had three sleep rooms, all joined up to a room fer sittin' in. Each of the rooms was bigger'n both the cabin and barn at home put together.
Anson seemed to know where everythin' and everybody should go. He said one room was for Eric, Dale and him, one room was for the four younger guys and the other one was for Dean and me. Each room had two giant beds someone called, king sized'. Just after we got there, Dean said we needed to go and eat somethin', before it was time to sleep. I knew it'd been dark for quite awhile outside, but the lights everywhere were so bright it was hard to tell. I didn't know what to make of everything. There were things everywhere I didn't recognize or understand. Dean must have knowed how scared and unsure I was cause he didn't make no fuss about me stickin' close to him as a shadow.
We all sat round a big table in the restaurant. I told the man Id have what Davey had, `cause I didn't know what any of it was. I watched him and did the same as he did when he ate. Dean looked mighty tuckered and I was feelin' a might weary myself. When we was done eatin', Dean talked to everyone.
"I want everyone to make a special effort to guide and help Jackson." he said. "We are all lucky enough to be back together and Ted will soon be with us as well. Jackson has lost his brother and his father today. He doesn't realize it yet, or understand what it means, but he has joined a new family. He is entering a different world, a world he knows little about and I want all of you, his new brothers, to guide him gently into it."
I looked around the table. Everyone was smiling and welcoming me to their family. Everyone except the young boy, Denny.