Redemption

The Messenger has always had a... unique view of the world around it. No less so as Sally and the others fight to save the young woman that it possesses.

Chapter 7

-Redemption-

The Messenger was bored, frustrated and bored. All its work the four nights before had been for nothing. It had sneaked through the pit of hell for what, nothing but a few singed hairs! If the Messenger didn't get to punish these sinners soon it would go mad. As if that wasn't bad enough it had to sit and watch as the old one prattled on with the butcher and the harpy. It was disgusting the way they bantered back and forth about their evil misdeeds.

The Messenger tried to ignore most of the conversation until a twisted, wiry creature with the forked tongue of a snake slithered his way up to the group. It prostrated itself before its master and hissed something unintelligible. The old one and the butcher conversed with the thing for a while. The Messenger could not make out most of the conversation. From what little it could make out there was something wrong with the old one's pet ogre. Perhaps if it had been injured during it's recent trip to the corrupted surface world it would be weak enough for the Messenger to destroy it once and for all. The group looked to be readying to follow this twisted snake-creature, so the Messenger took her place behind the old, fat one. It resented having to push his bulk around, but it was told to bide its time, it had to blend in.

The snake-creature led them to the witches filthy hole where she performed her hideous experiments on the living flesh of her victims. A hideous beast lay at the feet of one of her victims. It was a huge, slobbering monstrosity that growled at her as she passed. They were led into a small room in the back of the witch's filthy pit. The snake-creature held the filthy curtain back for them to enter, and followed behind them. There, sitting on a bloody altar was the Sentinel, flanked by his female counterpart and the witch herself. The Messenger braced herself as the old one said something to the Sentinel, who began screaming for It's blood. It had been a trap! The nerve, the outrage of it made her furious. They would learn that the Messenger was no easy meat.

“Damn you,” the Messenger hissed, and pivoted to drive an elbow into the kidney of the snake-creature behind her. The snake-creature was not there. Instead the ogre caught the Messenger's arms and hurled it to the floor before descending, jaws agape and hungry for It's flesh.

A sharp word from the harpy brought the ogre up short. A short argument ensued that was again ended by sharp words from the harpy that sent the butcher lumbering from the chamber to prepare his tools. It appeared the harpy liked her meat cooked. With a swipe of a wicked talon the harpy tore the grimy blanket from the back wall and tossed it to the ogre, barking an order as she left the room.

The witch and the female sentinel helped the ogre wrap the Messenger in the filthy blanket and dragged It out of the pit to the massive stone alter in the center of the chamber. The ogre held the Messenger still as the harpy spouted profanities at the dancing minions below. She continued her litany, laying a talon on It's head and beginning a slow, droning chant that was taken up by the assembled minions below. As the chant grew the Messenger could feel the life being leached out of it. God's voice was loud in her head, insistent and angry. It demanded that the Messenger free itself and punish the sinners. As it's life drained away a warmth began to replace it. The Messenger pleaded with the voice to help her... Wait.. Had it referred to itself as her? A tingling sensation filled her body as the warmth grew. Soon the Messenger felt like the fire that burned within her would consume her very soul.

Memory began to float past as she was burned away. Her parents, the horrible things they had done. Wait, the memory that floated past felt wrong somehow. The true memory floated past. Her parents, proud, loving, and patient dealing with a troubled child that was prone to violent fits of rage. She remembered the voice, and what it had made her do. She wept inside, her soul screamed with the realization of the truth. Why? Why had the voice made her see these twisted things, do these twisted things? The voice had lied to her about everything, she realized. It was not God whispering in her mind, far from it. More memory floated past, the truth lay bare before her until she felt ready to burst. She willed the fire to consume her, begged the light burning within her for the release that death would bring.

“No,” it said in a soothing voice, “Give yourself to my father's love, and have life anew and untainted. Come to the father through me and have life eternal.” She gave herself to the light, allowed it to consume her.

The world was fire and light without end. There was nothing left within her, no voice, no pain, and no memory. She was a she, she knew that somehow. She tried to recall a name, her name. What had she been called? Nothing came. Who was she? A name floated up from the emptiness inside. Bobbie Hathoway , that's right, her name was Bobbie Hathoway . Vision cleared and the world came into focus, she stared into the eyes of a large, dark skinned man with short stubble covering the sides of his head. He looked down on her with concern in his kindly, dark eyes. Another name floated from the surface, Joshua, and the memory of a kind man helping her carry her things down to her new home.

Another memory, fuzzy and indistinct like a half remembered nightmare. This man had stopped her at every turn, kept her meddling from causing permanent harm to the group. She loved him for that, he truly was a kind man. Another memory floated to the surface, a beautiful wedding ceremony followed by another wedding where this man married a beautiful red haired woman. The memory made her feel warm and happy inside. More memory surfaced, the truth of what had just happened. There was no detail to it, memories of the past seemed to fade away, details lost completely. The past was like the memory of a deep wound. It had happened, she knew, but whatever had caused it was healed. All she really knew was that these kind, loving people had saved her.

She smiled warmly up at Joshua and said, “I know you. I know you, and I thank you for what you have done.”

The large man that held her gave an uneasy smile in return and gently sat her on her feet, she looked down and was surprised to find them bare. The cold stone of the cavern floor felt good beneath her toes, which she wiggled experimentally. Everything felt new and exiting, this world seemed unfamiliar to her and at the same time she recognized it as if from a long forgotten dream. Her past was gone now, faded into nothingness, nothing remained to her but the future.

Bobbie blinked, her eyes adjusting to the dim light of the chamber. Someone nearby was speaking loudly, as if addressing a crowd. Bobby couldn't make out the words, the sounds foreign to her ears, but they too were somehow familiar. As the world swam into focus so did the speaker. She was a beautiful, dark haired woman. She gestured as she addressed the crowd, her smile and sparkling eyes punctuated her words as they echoed through the chamber. Her tone and actions gave the words she spoke an air of thankfulness and praise that was echoed by those she addressed. Another name floated to the surface of her mind, Sally. This woman's name was Sally. She had been married the same night as Joshua to a man... What was his name? Again a name floated to the surface of the fog of memories, Bill. Sally had married Bill.

There was someone else that she needed to remember, someone important. Someone she had to help, to protect at all costs. His work was important and she was meant to make sure he was able to complete it. She searched the fog that was her memory, reached for the name that was so important. Time and again she searched, but the name would not come. Bobbie began to feel light-headed, the world fading to white around her. In the light a name flared bright, burning away the fog that clouded her memory and the remains of her past burned with it �" Jim.

Bobbie fell to her knees and raised her eyes to the heavens. “Thank you Jesus!” she thought as the world faded away. Strong hands caught her as she slipped into unconsciousness, and for the first time in her life she dreamed pleasant dreams.

*****

Jim lay awake in the early morning hours thinking of the events of the day before. It had become a daily ritual, every morning he would spend a few hours in quiet contemplation and prayer. He knew it was early morning, his watch had just chimed four times indicating the hour.

The watch had been an anniversary gift from his wife, the last gift she had given him before her memory went. Where she had found the thing was a mystery, most likely she found it on some forgotten shelf in a forgotten antique shop somewhere. Places like that had fascinated her. It was an amazing piece, some watchmaker's masterwork. It had a beautiful gold face that had sections cut out so the intricate gears and springs within could be seen. The chime was like the sounding board of a music box, and could be set to play a pleasant melody at a given time as well as chiming the hour. Jim was careful to wind the watch every morning.

Jim finished his silent reflection as the warm smells of breakfast began to fill the chamber. He gingerly swung his legs off the side of the bed, barely stifling a groan as fiery tendrils of pain shot through him from his broken leg.

“Good morning,” came a cheery voice from the other side of the blanket that provided Jim with his own private space, “Are you ready for your chair?”

“Yes, thank you,” Jim replied. He did not recognize the voice, though there was something familiar about it. The face of the young woman who pushed the chair into Jim's blanket-walled room was easily recognized, however. The young woman smiled warmly as she walked over to Jim and delivered a kiss to his forehead.

“G-good morning,” Jim stammered, “Bobbie is it?”

“Yes sir,” Bobbie said, helping Jim transfer himself into the chair, “Now, let's get you comfortable.”

Jim was taken aback by the kindness and warmth that seemed to radiate from the girl. She was completely transformed from the person she had been just the day before. Everyone in the cavern had felt the power and warmth of God's love as he poured his mercy into the young woman as their prayers echoed through the chamber. The uneasy feeling Jim had felt around the young woman was gone, replaced by a feeling of peace and warmth. Even the way the girl dressed had changed, today she wore a green sun dress instead of the overalls and plaid shirt she normally wore. Even her over sized work boots had been replaced with a pair of comfortable looking shoes.

“Well, Bobbie,” Jim said, trying to hide his nervousness, “you certainly look nice this morning.”

“Thank you, Jim,” Bobbie said happily as she rolled Jim out of his room and started toward Bill's kitchen, “Would you believe I found this dress buried in the bottom of my bag. It was wrapped around one of Bill's good knifes and a box of rat poison. Bill said the knife had been missing since he and Josh killed that bear. I have no idea how it got in my bag, but Bill was happy to have it back. I gave the rat poison to Dr. Green, I couldn't think what else to do with it. Most of the clothing in my bags are nice, but it looks like it was chosen at random. Some of it is too big, but Sally says she can help me take them in. All of the clothing is new, but for some reason half of it is men's clothing. It is like someone went into a clothing store and started stuffing things in a bag. Sally has been a great help sorting through my things and helping me get the things I need.”

“That's nice of her,” Jim said as he was rolled towards what smelled like a great breakfast. He was amazed. Sam had been quiet and brooding, prone to dark moods. This cheery, vibrant, and surprisingly chatty young woman seemed so far removed from the way she had been just the day before. Jim found Bobbie pleasant so far, but it was hard to look at her and not remember her as Sam, “So, other than the mismatched clothing did you find much you could use in your bags?”

“Sadly no,” Bobbie said with a sigh, “There was just the clothing and a few things that were just weird, like the knife and the rat poison. There was a surprising number of knives of various sizes, a handgun that I gave to John, four cans of gunpowder, and a large hammer. I have no clue what I would want things like that for, but there they were.”

“Yea, sounds odd,” Jim said with a nervous chuckle. He was beginning to feel blessed that they had not seen the full extent of what the Messenger had been capable of. Jim was a little surprised when, after getting him settled in his place, Bobbie took a seat next to Sally. Before long the others had been served and Bill joined them, bringing plates containing one of his omelets.

“Oh, that's SO good,” Bobbie said after taking a bite, she continued eating with every sign of enjoyment. It was as if she had never eaten before, the tastes and textures exploding on her tongue. She was surprised when, after the first few bites, she looked up to see the others at the table staring at her in amazement with forks half raised.

“What? It's good,” The others nodded their heads in unison.

“I'm glad you like it,” Bill said slowly. Bobbie smiled and laughed as the others resumed their meal.

After breakfast was over Bobbie prepared to take notes on the morning meeting. The first eight pages of her notebook were doodled on and filled with the same phrase repeated on every line in a harsh, angular hand. 'They have sinned, and now must fry. The Messenger will make them die die DIE.' Bobbie looked at the pages quizzically for a moment before ripping the pages free and putting them on the table, handling them gingerly as if the filthy words could stain her fingers. Sally took the pages and crumpled them before walking over and tossing them into Bills compost barrel.

“Thank you,” Bobbie mouthed, receiving an encouraging smile in return. She took careful notes in a neat, rounded script that seemed to have a soft, feminine feel to them. It looked nothing like the horrible words that she had found on the first pages of her notebook. She soon lost herself in her work. The feel of the pen in her hand, the soft scrape of the pen as it danced across the paper, it had a sort of romantic allure to it. She smiled as she found herself making detailed notes of everything that was said, no matter how insignificant it seemed to be.

When it was over she closed the notebook, and sighed happily, holding her precious notebook to her breast. She did not stop when the meeting drew to a close, instead she took notes in a separate notebook as she pushed Jim around the chamber, writing down his observations and noting a few of her own as well. She reveled in the sensation as the words formed on the paper as the tip of her pen played it's sweet music on the page. She found herself dancing to the sweet sound, her feet moving to the rhythm of the words themselves.

She chose her words carefully, rhyming some words and choosing others to contrast the words before. She stopped as Jim's conversation with Joshua about the trees and the many uses of the various parts thereof.

“Are you alright?” Joshua asked, a look of concern on his face.

“Of course Joshie,” Bobbie said, giving Joshua a sweet smile, “Just taking notes.”

“But you were dancing,” Joshua said rubbing a hand over his scalp, “and humming to yourself.”

“I was enjoying the work,” Bobbie said, “I think I like writing, it has a sort of... intoxicating allure to it.”

“I think I know what you mean,” Joshua said returning the smile, “I feel the same way when I am building things. The way the parts fit together to make something new is fascinating to me. I am glad you found something you enjoy doing.”

“Thanks Joshie, I knew you would understand,” She looked at the wood that was stacked everywhere along the walls of the upper part of the cavern then looked at Josh nervously, “Josh, I was wondering... Is their any possibility that you could figure out how to make more paper? From like the wood chips or something perhaps?”

Jim seemed surprised at her question, “I hadn't thought of that Bobbie, that does sound like a good idea though.”

Bobbie looked at Joshua with an exited expression on her face, “Well, I hadn't thought about that,” Joshua said running his hand over his scalp once more, “I will have to put some thought into it. Perhaps...”

Joshua trailed off, deep in thought, pulling out his sketchpad as he seated himself on a nearby log. As he seated himself a nervous looking young man with long hair scurried up to them. Bobbie couldn't remember the young man's name, but she thought the way he rung his hands as he waited to be noticed was cute, and his eyes were a beautiful hazel color. She offered him an encouraging smile, and surprisingly he shied away from her.

“Hello, Nathan,” Jim said, “Don't worry, I won't bite.”

“Sorry Sir,” Nathan said, and leaned in close to whisper something in Jim's ear before scurrying back towards Dr. Green's clinic near the upper passageway and turning to wait for them to follow.

“Well,” Jim sighed, “it seems we have an emergency of some sort at the northern passageway.”

“What sort of emergency?” Joshua asked, closing his sketchbook.

“Not sure,” Jim said as Bobbie began rolling him toward the clinic, “I couldn't quite hear what he said, but it sounded urgent. I really wish there was a way to get the poor guy to come out of his shell a bit.”

The three followed Nathan to the barricade that Joshua had erected to keep the wild animals that had taken up residence in the upper tunnels out of the chamber. There was a thick, black substance oozing under and around it coming in through the cracks below and six inches up the sides. The black rain had mixed with the ash outside and was now slowly flooding the upper passageway. A substantial amount of the black mud had already pooled in a low spot on the chamber floor and more flowed in by the minute.

“Crap,” Joshua said, “We forgot about the rain.”

What followed could only be described as poetry in motion. The first thing Joshua did was to run to the nearby clinic where he ripped down the nearest blanket wall and used it to staunch the black flow while his assistant's began hauling some of the stripped logs over to build a more permanent patch. They used more blankets around the metal barricade which Joshua described as a gasket to help seal the cracks.

The rest of the day was a flurry of activity as Joshua and his assistants rushed to shore up their dam, making sure that no more of the acidic muck made it into their home. Bobbie and Jim stayed near the edge of the commotion, out of the way of Joshua's assistants as they worked, yet close enough to understand what was going on. She stayed by Jim's side, sitting on a log and happily taking her detailed notes. After a wile her work was interrupted as a wet nose forced it's way under her notebook. She lifted the notebook and Rembrandt looked up at her with his big brown eyes. Bobbie reached down to scratch the dog behind the ear and he reached up and licked her face. She laughed with delight as she played with the large dog. She looked up to see Joshua and Jim staring at her in wide eyed amazement.

“What? He's so cute,” she said, tacking his head in both her hands, “Who's a good puppy then?”

“He really seems to like you,” Jim said after a moment.

“He is such a sweet puppy,” Bobbie said scratching the massive dog between the shoulder blades. She settled herself on the log once more and Rembrandt curled up at her feet.

“Anyway,” Joshua said, “I don't know how long this barricade will last. It depends on the rain really, if it lasts too long the weight will eventually break this down no matter how much wood we use to shore it up. To tell you the truth Jim, I am worried. When we were out cutting wood the air felt heavy, I think it was close to being saturated. All those strikes generated a lot of heat. Any body of water that got hit will have flashed to steam in an instant. I have a feeling it will be raining for quite some time, and after that it will get really cold out there.”

“So, what can we do?” Jim asked, concern making him look far older than he really was.

“I don't know,” Joshua said with a sigh, “short of collapsing the tunnel, there is really no good way to do this. That really isn't an option either though. We have the gun powder, it should be sufficient to bring the roof of the tunnel down if we put it in the large crack near the entrance. The problem is that to get it there we would have to wade through that acidic muck. Another problem is how we are going to set it off.”

“I'm sure you will figure it out,” Jim said.

The work continued through dinner and into the night. By the time Bobbie got Jim settled onto his bed and found her way to her blanket's, she had worked her way through a quarter of her notebook. As soon as her head hit the pillow sleep overtook her. Her rest was far from peaceful, she awoke with a start from a particularly odd dream. It was like a map had been drawn in her head. She felt an odd sense of urgency. She got to her feet and, without bothering to dress, slipped out into the darkness.

*****

Joshua woke from a peaceful dream with a start. Something was wrong, he knew it, he could feel it. He sat up and tried to clear his head. The wrongness was there, pressing, urgent, and intense. After a few moments Kelly sat up beside him. She looked into his eyes and he nodded to her before climbing out of their bed to pull on a shirt. Joshua pushed aside the blanket and found Bill and Sally waiting outside.

“You feel it too?” Joshua rumbled in as close as he could come to a whisper.

“Yea,” Bill said, scratching his head, “Something isn't right.”

A few moments later they were joined by John, “We've got a problem,” the one-time sheriff said, “my gun's missing.”

“What?” Bill asked incredulously, “How?”

“I don't know,” he replied, “I just woke up and it was gone.”

“Was it loaded?” Sally asked.

“No, But someone got into my ammunition as well,” John said, “Forced the lock on my gun case and everything. Not sure how without waking me and Jaime. But that is not the only weird thing about it, whoever it was only took the revolver and one round. The handgun that Bobbie had in her bag and a full box of ammo weren't touched.”

“Oh no,” Joshua wailed, rushing over to were he kept his tools and supplies, “Crap! All four cans of gunpowder are missing.”

“You've got to be kidding,” Bill said, “Why w..” a muffled explosion shook the chamber followed by the cracking sound of wood breaking from the upper passageway.

*****

Bobbie padded down one of the side passageways carrying a blanket-wrapped bundle over her shoulder. Loose rocks on the cavern floor bruised the bottoms of her feet as she ran and she had stubbed her toes on protruding rocks several times, but she didn't care. She had urgent work to be about, important work. She prayed softly as she ran that she be able to complete it in time. So far the tunnel she was in was free of mud, she thanked God for that.

Bobbie rounded a bend in the passage and suddenly her feet slipped in the ooze that had begun flowing down from the main passageway. She slid at full speed into the wall but did not slow her pace. It didn't upset her, she was not bothered by this, it was bound to happen sooner or later. She ran on splashing through ankle deep muck. Her feet burned, her side ached from where she had slammed into the wall, and her lungs burned from the long run through the cool air of the side passageways. The side tunnel Bobbie was in intersected the main passageway about two feet up the wall, between one step and the next she was knee deep in the acidic mud. She stumbled and once again slammed, shoulder first, into the wall of the passageway. Bobbie screamed in agony as her right shoulder dislocated itself against the unyielding stone. Pain laced itself through her arm, hot and sharp like needles in her bones. The arm itself hung useless at her side. It didn't matter, the pain didn't matter, the only thing that mattered was doing what must be done. Bobbie paused only long enough to put the knotted end of her bundle in her teeth long enough to retrieve her flashlight. The knee deep mud slowed her progress as she trudged onward. The mud burned where it touched her skin, she felt as if she was walking through thick, boiling syrup. Thankfully the mud grew shallower the farther up the tunnel she went. After what felt like hours she reached her destination, the mud only halfway up to her knee's. She searched the ceiling of the passageway where it intersected what remained of the parking chamber. The stone and debris from the cave in funneled the black mud directly into the passageway.

The crack Joshua had spoken of looked like a dark wedge cut into the stone. To reach it Bobbie had to drag the remains of the old generator into the mouth of the tunnel. She untied her blanket and pulled out John's revolver. She used a pair of pliers from Joshua's tool bag to remove the lead bullet from the single round she had brought with her and inserted it into the gun. She opened all four cans of gunpowder and poured a large amount down the barrel before tying the end of the shoestrings she had scavenged from her over sized work boots to the handle and threading it through the trigger guard. It only gave her twelve feet, but hopefully that would be sufficient.

Bobbie pulled the hammer back on the revolver and tied the bundle together again, making sure the end of the barrel was partially inserted into one of the powder cans. Balanced on the top of the generator. Bobbie wedged the bundle as far into the crack as she could. She carefully pulled off her plaid nightshirt, wincing as she pulled it off of her limp arm, and stuffed it in the crack to help brace the bundle. Bobbie began climbing down off the dead generator and backed her way down the tunnel, trying to get as far from the crack as possible. She didn't get far, however, before her heel struck something on the floor. As she fell into the acidic muck Bobbie heard the muffled POP from the revolver just before the world exploded in pain around her.

*****

Bill and Joshua sprinted to the upper passageway. The bottom of the barricade had been pushed outward about three inches, it's mounts ripped from the wall. The door that had been set in it's center had been forced open by the pressure, it's wooden braces broken and splintered on the floor. Dark mud oozed through the openings into the chamber.

“Wake my assistants,” Joshua said, turning to Bill, “we need to contain this before it becomes a problem. Well, more of a problem anyway.” Joshua rushed off towards his tools once more, returning momentarily with some plastic bags and a roll of gray tape. He put a leg in one of the bags, and started wrapping the tape around it.

“ Sally,” he said working on his other leg, “Tell my assistants to shore this up as well as they can, but be ready to open the door when I knock.”

“No problem,” Sally said as Joshua ripped holes in the bottom of a third bag.

“What?” Kelly said as Joshua applied a liberal amount of tape to his waist, “You can't seriously be considering going out there. That mud is thick and mostly acidic.”

“I'll be fine dear,” Josh said giving his wife a kiss on the cheek before pulling on some thick work gloves and wading into the muck.

“You'd better be,” Kelly yelled up the tunnel behind him, “I will make it a point to kick your sorry behind if you don't” Sally did her best to hide a smile as the doctor turned and stomped off in the direction of her clinic, grumbling as she went about how she had to go and marry the most capable man in the camp.

Joshua was smiling to himself as well. Kelly really did love him, she just had a funny way of showing it. He worked his way up the passageway through mud that in some placed reached halfway up his thigh, in others only to his knees. The bags wrapped around his legs worked remarkably well to keep the acidic sludge from reaching his clothing and skin. The mud made the climb up the tunnel difficult, every step felt as though he was wearing two hundred pound weights on his legs. The ooze felt warm through the plastic, and the air in the tunnel felt heavy and humid with a strong chemical odor. The muck was just liquid enough to keep him from getting stuck, but it slowed his progress quite a bit despite his strength and lengthy stride.

Joshua kept a steady pace as he went, but his legs were getting tired from dragging them through the thick mud. The farther up he went the shallower the mud seemed to be, however, and soon it was only ankle deep. He quickened his pace as much as he dared, and soon found himself staring at a wall of rock and rubble where the passageway had once opened into the parking chamber. He ran his flashlight over the barrier, almost afraid to find what he sought. Lying curled next to the chamber wall and covered in black mud was a small, still form. Fearing the worst, Joshua hurried to Bobbie's body and rolled her onto her back. The young girl was almost naked, wearing only her underclothes, gripped in her hand was what looked like the burnt end of a shoestring. Joshua could not find a pulse and their was no sign of life in the young woman's small body.

Joshua ripped a hole in the bag, just above his chest pocket to retrieve the handkerchief he kept their. He carefully wiped the mud from her face and tilted her head back. Joshua pinched Bobbie's nose and breathed gently into her mouth. Nothing happened. He pumped her chest four times then once again gave her breath. Still nothing happened. Joshua repeated the process twice more, on the third breath he gave her, Bobbie coughed and rolled onto her side, breathing raggedly. Joshua sat back against the tunnel wall, relieved. Bobbie was still unconscious, but she was alive.

Joshua wiped as much mud off the rest of her as he could before gently picking her up. Bobbie's skin was red and blistered, and she hung limp in his arms. Her right arm hung at an awkward angle, the shoulder bruised and discolored. He carried her down the tunnel, careful not to jar her too much. By the time he reached the barricade his lungs were burning from the fumes and his legs ached as if he had just ran four miles. He kicked at the door with his foot three times, after a few seconds he heard the scrape of wood being pulled away and the door swung open. He nearly lost his balance as the mud began to flow through the open door. He stumbled into the chamber, gasping for breath but didn't stop moving until he reached the shower.

Without bothering to hang the blanket that served as a shower curtain, Joshua pulled the rope that caused the lukewarm water to flow over them growing warmer as the cooler water was replaced by water that had run through the new stove. He began gently scrubbing the muck off of the young woman and was soon joined by his wife. Kelly pulled the curtain closed and took over the washing with a fresh towel, removing the girl's undergarments and discarding them. Bobbie's hair came away in clumps when Kelly tried to wash the mud out of it, her eyebrows too were gone. The Girl's skin was bright red where it wasn't covered in bruises. Kelly inspected Bobbie's right arm, then with a sharp movement popped the dislocated limb back in place. Bobbie moaned weekly as Kelly inspected her for other broken or dislocated bones.

“She's going to be in a lot of pain when she wakes up,” Kelly said, shutting off the water and opening the curtain where Sally waited with a soft blanket to cover the young girl in, “Nothing is broken, but her skin looks pretty bad. Her legs and feet are the worst, but I don't think there will be any permanent damage. Come on, let's get her into bed.”

Joshua followed his wife to her clinic, as he gently lay Bobbie down she managed to get one eye open, “Did it work?” she asked feebly.

“Yea, it worked,” Joshua answered, “you did good.”

“Thank God,” Bobbie said, and slipped once more into unconsciousness.