Devils Ridge: Shadows of the Old West by Joseph Sackett

Author:Joseph Sackett [Sackett, Joseph]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Ravaged Realms
Published: 2023-10-03T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter twenty

No Escaping the Past

Little Bear sat on a chair outside his trailer, Axle eating dog chow from an enormous bowl. It was mid-morning and the sun was already hot. He dabbed at his forehead with a napkin and rolled himself a cigarette. The doctor said he needed to quit, but what the doctor didn’t know—what Little Bear could never tell him—was that contracting lung cancer, or any other form of cancer for that matter, was way down his list of things to worry about.

He’d just received a call from J.C. who sounded like he’d just been on a long run, or in a wrestling match with a bear. He’d told him about what had happened to the hotel manager, and how she’d been gutted and tossed on the schoolteacher’s lawn, as if the killer was bringing him some sort of sick gift.

Little Bear had heard about things like that from his ancestors. They told of the Adlet, a half human-half dog creature which was created by the cross breeding of humans and canines. Horrified by the birth of such grotesque creatures, the distraught father would throw the Adlet into the wilderness to fend for itself, hoping the unnatural abomination would perish in the cold. However, if the pup survived, it would often scavenge in the forest for fresh meat, hunting rabbits and young deer. It would then bring the bloodied carcass back to the family home as a gift for its mother, who would find it in the morning, festering outside her front door. The father, angered that his mutated offspring had returned, would confront the Atlet, chasing it away. But, as the pup grew older and much stronger, it would return to the fold, only to slaughter its father and mortally wound its mother so that she may never abandon it again.

He sipped his coffee and shook his head. He couldn’t believe that he’d allowed this to happen. His father would often tell him never to trust the greedy white man, for they would do anything for a nugget of gold and the kiss of a beautiful woman. He knew he should have done more to stop the mining, but maybe he wanted some of that gold, too. Maybe he wanted a better life for himself. He looked back at this trailer with a door that barely closed properly, and a roof that leaked when the heavy rains came. Why shouldn’t he want more for himself? Damn it, he deserved it!

Little Bear had grown up in the hills with his family—that much of his story was true—but he’d left out a lot when he’d given J.C. his potted history. Hell, he’d left out the real juicy stuff.

Little Bear had done jail time. The sheriff knew that, which was part of the reason why he’d brought him in for questioning after J.C. had been bailed out. Not the only reason though. The gold had a big part to play in it—he knew that—but his eight year spell in Colorado State Penitentiary had come into the equation, too.

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