Chapter 119 Part 119
Asher
He stepped into the cabin and closed the door behind him. The two boys were scared to death; he placed the rifle against the wall, and took his beanie and gloves off.
“What are you boys doing this far up in the woods?”
“We’re really sorry. We were just going to stay for a few nights. We didn’t take anything,” he said.
“I don’t mind that you’re here. I want to know why you’re here,” Asher said.
“Our dad—”
“Shut up, Oscar.”
“Your dad kicked you out? Maybe got a little aggressive with you? Is that where you got that shiner?”
“It doesn’t matter. I’ll find someplace else for us to crash,” Joel said.
He’d never officially met the two boys, but they were afraid, probably a little cold, and more than likely, starving. Asher put his backpack down on the floor, and walked over to the small furnace. He opened it and put more wood inside.
“Do you boys know who I am?” They both shook their heads. “My name is Asher Fitzgerald, and this is my cabin. These parts of the woods are on our land.”
“We didn’t mean to trespass.”
Asher gave them a smile. “Are you boys hungry?”
Oscar nodded his head, and Joel gave him a look. “Maybe a little.”
“When did you get here?”
“Two nights ago,” Joel said.
“You can eat what’s in my backpack. I didn’t bring much food, but you’re welcome to what I have.”
Oscar got to his feet, and started rummaging in the backpack. Joel looked warily at him. “What are you going to eat?”
“When you’ve had something to eat, I’ll take you back down to the ranch, and get some proper food in you,” Asher said.
“Are you some kind of pervert?”
“Excuse me?” Asher was shocked, but maybe he shouldn’t have been. These boys had clearly been around the block once or twice.
“You like boys, and luring them in with the promise of food, and who knows what else? We won’t fall for that,” Joel said.
“What the hell kind of life do you two lead?” Asher shook his head, as he thought about Joel’s statement. “You go to school with Bear Claw, right?”
“Yeah, we know Bear Claw. Weird kid. Some days he walks past our lunch table, and puts two lunch bags down, and just keeps walking. It’s always on the days when we didn’t eat the previous day.”
“Would you believe Bear Claw, if he told you that I wasn’t a pervert? Would you believe the sheriff or Pastor Mitchells?”
“I’d believe the sheriff,” Oscar said, as he handed Joel a stick of dried meat, and sat down next to him.
“Once we get out of the woods, you can call him, and ask him what he thinks of me,” Asher said.
“Aren’t you the guy that went looking for that missing child in the woods a while back?” Joel asked him.
“That was me.”
“They had this whole article about you in the paper. It said you were a war hero, and that you’re brother’s a deputy sheriff, and your family owns a cattle ranch. They called you the town’s golden boy.”
Asher grinned, and shook his head. “I wouldn’t call myself a war hero, but I was in the Army. The rest is accurate, though I’m not so sure about the golden boy status. I got into enough trouble as a teen, and Sheriff Connely can testify to that.”
“What happens to us if we go back with you?” Oscar asked him.
“I have a big house with a downstairs bedroom. You boys can settle in there if you want. I have plenty of food, a big family that will welcome you to the ranch, and then we can talk about what to do from there.”
“You’re not going to tell us to go home?”
“Nope. What I see are two teenage boys fighting to survive while looking out for one another. I can see the signs of abuse, and I’d never let any child go back to that.”
“Honestly, Mr. Fitzgerald, you sound too good to be true.”
“Yeah, I can see how you might think that, but what have you got to lose by trusting me?”
“You could be a serial killer,” Oscar said, with a smile.
“Wouldn’t I have already killed you then?” They were both wary, and it was a good thing that they were. It was how they had survived for so long. “I’ll tell you what. You can take my cell phone, and keep it with you. You can walk behind me, and I’ll even give you my rifle. Once we clear the woods, you can call whoever you want to and ask them about me. I know most people in town.”
“You’d give me your rifle? Why?”
“That’s me offering you trust. I understand why you’re skeptical, it’s not a bad thing to be when you don’t know someone.”
Joel nodded his head. “I can work with that.”
“Good. Now eat up so we can get out of here. We can make it back to the house for lunch.”
When the boys finished the dried meat he’d packed, and devoured the biscuits, he smothered the fire and looked at what they had with them. They literally had the clothes on their backs, and he felt another rage building inside him.
The boys walked out ahead of him, and he smiled when he saw that Joel hadn’t taken the rifle. He slung it over his shoulder, and pulled the door closed behind him.
The wolf’s howl had him bringing the rifle’s butt up to his shoulder, and stepping in front of the boys. A twig snapped to the right, and Asher peered over the sights of the rifle. The wolf was right there, the same wolf that had protected that little boy.
The wolf staggered but stayed on its feet and Asher held the rifle out to Joel. “Don’t move, and don’t shoot it.” He recalled Bear Claw’s words clearly, and he knew that this was what he’d seen.