Chapter 2: Another Ditch In The Road

            The hours passed by as Charlie and Lenny drove from Brisbane to the border of New South Wales and Southern Australia to the outskirts of Broken Hill. Their destination was a deserted country road that Charlie knew no one ever traveled, or at least he thought no one traveled. It was nearing four in the evening by the time they made it to the town, and almost five when they reached the road.

            Lenny struggled to keep his mind off of what he was doing, especially now that nightfall was about to set in. It would only be a matter of time before they would drop Daniel’s body off on the side of the road and leave him there to die a cold and unforgiving death.

            Charlie had stopped the van beside a fencepost and got out. He stretched, his back cracking and his bones popping back into place. The long drive had been a strain on the 40 year old, but at least it was over. Lenny soon followed, his heart sinking every step he took.

            “Why do we have to do this?” he asked aloud.

            “Because we need the money,” Charlie replied, hearing him even though he was all the way on the other side of the van.

            “But we don’t have to kill him. We can just tie him up, blindfold him, and keep him in the van,” Lenny vainly suggested.

            “Lenny, he’s probably already dead. That blow was one of the hardest ones I’ve ever given anyone. If he survived that, it would be a miracle,” Charlie said. He opened the back door and climbed in. “Now come on! We need to get him out of here and get back to town so we can write the ransom note.”

            Lenny reluctantly complied. He helped Charlie haul Daniel out the back of the van and set him down propped up against the fencepost. It was a gruesome sight, especially all the blood that had penetrated the blanket and soaked through.

            “God, save me,” Lenny prayed softly as he walked away and climbed back into the passenger’s seat of the van. Charlie started the car and they drove off back to Broken Hill.

*          *            *

            Camie Irving was on her way out of her small cottage in the country when she heard her best friend and partner, Trinity Williams, groan from her bed. That day had been long and exhausting for both of them, tying down most of the farm equipment and making sure that the animals had enough food to keep them satisfied that day. It was nightfall now, and they needed to be fed again. The sheep also had to be brought back from the pasture.

            “Max, come here boy!” Camie called to her Australian Shepherd as she stepped into the kitchen towards the back door. Max came bounding in from the other room, his energy level always at its highest. He was ready to work. He ran past Camie and straight to the door to start pawing at it.

            “Calm down, Maxi. We’ll be out in a second,” she said, grabbing his collar and pulling him away from the door. She turned back towards the rest of the house and yelled, “Trina, I’ll be back in an hour. If I need you, I’ll call you on the two way. Bye!”

            Trina mumbled something inaudible as Camie was opening the door. Max ran outside and began jumping around in the freshly fallen snow. It seemed as if this was his favorite season. He followed Camie out to the stables where she kept the horses, cows, and pigs. She went straight to her filly’s stall, Aphrodite. She was a beautiful black purebred Arabian that her grandmother had bought for her just before she passed away only a few months earlier.

            With her horse saddled up and her dog by her side, Camie rode out of the stables and past the gate that led to the farm. It was now down the driveway to the pasture where the sheep were still grazing. Flashlight in hand, she led her horse and her dog inside through the gate. Max ran past Aphrodite and straight towards the sheep to herd them. Camie, on the other hand, started to make her rounds of the fence to make sure that no sheep had gotten stuck on the inside and no wild animals had tried to get in from the outside.

            As Camie came up on the side of the road, she noticed something large near one of the further posts and decided to check it out. As she rode Aphrodite closer to the object, she noticed that the object was wrapped in a blanket covered in blood. Fearing the worst, Camie climbed off her horse and walked over to it and gently started peeling off the blanket.

            “Oh, my God!” she gasped, finding a young man wrapped inside with a large gash in his head. At the moment she thought he was dead, but taking a closer she discovered the tiny bit of steam that escaped his lips. He was still breathing.

            Plucking the two-way radio from her belt, she turned it on and shouted, “Trina! Come quick! Something’s happened!”

            “Camie, are you okay?” Trina shouted back. “What’s going on?”

            “Saddle up and bring a cart with extra blankets. You’ll see when you get here,” Camie replied.

            “Did something get one of the sheep?”

            “No, just come out, now!”

            “Alright, I’m coming.”

            As Camie waited for her friend to arrive with the cart, she got down on her knees and began taking the man’s vitals. With her finger pressed up against his neck, she found a very weak and unstable pulse. He was very cold and probably hypothermic. He shivered, but at least he was alive. Camie began to wonder how long he had been out there in the snow and prayed that he would live through the night. Wrapping the blanket around him once again, she draped herself against him and used her body as a shield against the elements until Trina arrived.

            Camie used the time she had before her friend came to study the man’s face. He was young, probably somewhere around his late twenties, with sandy brown hair and somewhat resembled Kevin Costner. She gently raised her hand and touched his cheek. It was still somewhat warm, but not warm enough.

            “God, where the hell is Trina?” Camie asked. As if someone had heard her, the sound of hooves filled the air, running fast and evenly. Camie looked over her shoulder to see Trina galloping her horse, Moon Dancer, straight for the fence where Aphrodite was standing, the cart and blankets behind them. She sighed with relief and rose to her feet.

            “Camie, what’s going on?” Trina immediately asked the moment she dismounted, her voice filled with concern.

            “Take a look at this,” Camie replied as she led her over to the bloody blanket. After peeling it back, Trina gasped as she put her hands up to her mouth.

            “Oh, my God!” she whispered. “Is he dead?”

            “No, but he will be if we don’t get him to the house fast,” Camie said. She and Trina lifted the man off the ground and gently set him in the cart, the blankets wrapped tightly around his body. Camie stayed with him as Trina mounted Moon Dancer and took Aphrodite by the lead.

            “Hey, where’s Max?” Trina asked. With a high-pitched whistle, she called the dog to her and he came scampering over. With everyone and everything found, it was back to the house as fast as possible.

            As soon as they reached the little cottage, Max ran ahead and waited at the door as Camie gently lifted the man out of the cart and took him inside. He felt so light. He must have not had anything to eat or drink in days. She set him down on the couch in the living room and started pulling the blankets away from his body to make sure he wasn’t hurt anywhere.

            “How is he?” Trina asked as she rushed in.

            “Besides that gash on his head, I don’t see anything else wrong with him besides the fact that he’s so cold and probably gonna die of hypothermia if we don’t warm him up soon,” Camie answered as she felt for a pulse again. “At least his heartbeat is going up. Last time I checked it was at about 50 bps, it’s up to about 80 now.”

            Trina sat down beside him and gently ran her hand down his face. “He’s so cute. I wonder how he ended up here in the middle of nowhere with that kind of head injury. It looks like someone just hit him in the head with something.”

            “Someone was probably trying to kill him,” Camie came up with her own assumption. “Then they decided to dump his body in a remote location so no one would ever find him. How could anyone do something like that?”

            “I don’t know. There are quite a few sick people in the world.”