Chapter 21

Ling, pulling Cal behind her by his ear, followed Millie and Melvin out of the plane. Betsy was inside with Kelly and the rescuers planning how to free the two men trapped in the chairs. Jimmy was over by the fire piling branches on it after getting it restarted. Ed was with him giving him pointers on the care and management of a good campfire.

Ling threw Cal to the ground. Looking at Millie, she asked, “What’s the story with him?”

“He’s an asshole,” Millie answered.

“I figured that much out already,” Ling said looking down at Cal with an expression of disgust.

Angry, Melvin said, “When the bear showed up, Cal closed and locked the door to the airplane.”

“He locked me out,” Jimmy said.

“He did what?” Ling asked in a low angry growl.

“He locked me out of the plane,” Jimmy said.

“With the bear,” Millie said.

Cal said, “It was us or him. I picked us.”

“You made the wrong choice,” Ling said.

“That’s your opinion,” Cal said.

Ed knelt next to Cal and, in a conversational tone of voice, said, “I love my wife. Ling is a great wife – loving, caring, and very giving. Unfortunately, when she goes too long without killing someone, she gets a little cranky. I bet it’s been two years since she even had a chance to really hurt someone bad.”

“It’s been longer than that,” Ling said. “It’s been that long since I was in a good fight. Well ... except for that one with Betsy.”

Ed said, “I know how Ling feels about all kinds of situations. The one that she really dislikes is when someone puts a child at risk. She would love nothing more than to take you into the woods and scatter your body parts all over the place for the scavengers to find. I’d be careful what I say, if I were you.”

Ling looked at Melvin and said, “I guess by the black eye that you opened the door and let Jimmy in.”

“Cal jumped me. Fortunately, Jimmy was small enough to climb in through the busted front window.”

“He jumped you?”

“He grabbed me from behind, spun me around, and belted me in the eye. I didn’t expect him to prevent me letting Jimmy in the plane. I honestly thought he didn’t realize Jimmy was out there,” Melvin said.

“I grabbed the stick and broke it over his head when he kicked Melvin,” Millie said.

Ed grimaced. “Let me see if I have this right. You sucker punched an old man, and then kicked him when he was down.”

“He was going to let the bear in the plane,” Cal said.

Ed said, “Ling, cuff him. I’m sure the Mounties will be charging him with something.”

Ling pulled out a pair of handcuffs and had Cal trussed up in a matter of seconds. She wasn’t all that gentle about it, either.

Inside the plane, the four rescuers were laughing at Betsy’s plan for removing the chair that the men were pinned against. They had examined it and knew they’d need some specialty tools. What bothered them was that the woman, who they knew was a Druid, was actually taking her seriously.

“She’s going to pull the chair out,” one of the men said to another.

“No way in hell,” the man replied back.

“She wants to fight a bear.”

“It had to be a cub.”

Betsy rolled her eyes.

“Are you ready, Mom?”

“Yes.”

“Are you guys ready?”

“Sure.”

Betsy said, “I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I found them.”

She leaned down, set her feet, and pulled. There was a groan as metal started to bend, and then tear. The chair suddenly released, and Betsy tossed it off to the side. Kelly was moving over to the man seated next to the window. The others were staring at Betsy.

“Well, help him!” Betsy shouted.

The four almost tripped over themselves moving in to take care of the injuries. They were under instructions only to stabilize him until the woman finished with the first man. One of the men looked over at the other man and noticed that the Druid woman was having sex with him.

“What the hell?” he shouted.

“Get to work,” Betsy said.

After a couple of minutes, Kelly climbed off her patient. She pushed the other four men out of the way and climbed on the second patient.

Betsy bounced over and held out a sandwich and a soda. “Well, Jake. I’ll bet you’re hungry and thirsty.”

“Yes,” Jake answered looking confused.

Without thought, he took the sandwich and soda. He glanced over at his brother, and was reminded of what he had just done. Seeing what Kelly was doing with his brother, he looked down at his crotch. He put down the soda, and tucked his cock back into his pants. He looked up at Betsy with an embarrassed expression on his face.

Betsy said, “Don’t be embarrassed. I’ve seen her do that, before.”

“She had sex with me,” Jake said.

“Yes, she did. She healed you. How do you feel?” Betsy asked.

“I feel fine,” Jake said looking around wondering if he was hallucinating.

He looked down at his legs. His pants were torn. He remembered seeing bone sticking out. Now his legs were whole.

Betsy said, “That’s good. I was really worried about you.”

“I kind of remember you. You kept appearing and disappearing,” Jake said.

“Well, eat up. Your body needs the protein and the water.”

Jake opened the soda and took a long drink from it. He put the can down and went to work on the sandwich. It tasted like the best thing he had ever put in his mouth.

Kelly staggered back and collapsed onto the floor. Healing the two men had taken a lot out of her. They had been in very bad shape. Their legs had been only the most obvious injuries.

Kelly said, “It’s a good thing you didn’t move them. They’d have died within hours.”

“That’s what I figured.”

John was slowly tucking his cock back into his pants. He had regained consciousness only to discover he was having sex with some strange woman. He wondered if he had been on a bender in some hole in the wall bar. Betsy handed him a sandwich and a soda.

She said, “Here you go. Eat up and have a drink.”

“I think I’m going to give up drinking. What happened?”

“We were in plane crash, and you got hurt really bad. Momma Kelly just healed you,” Betsy answered.

John said, “All I remember is pain.”

“Eat your sandwich. You need the protein,” Betsy said.

Kelly said, “Give me a few minutes to rest before I go after the last one.”

“Okay,” Betsy said.

The four rescuers had stepped back. They had seen the extent of John’s injuries. They could also see that there was no sign of them now. They kept looking at each other and at John and Jake.

One of the men knelt down where the airplane seat had been. He picked up a bolt and examined it. The bolt had snapped just under the head. He held it up and said, “She broke a steel bolt.”

“She tore the hell out of the support,” another man said while examining the seat assembly she had so easily tossed aside.

“I didn’t believe her.”

“Neither did I.”

Outside, Ed was squatting by the fire watching the wood burn. Ling was seated on Cal. Melvin and Millie were seated on the ground. Jimmy was idly poking the fire with a stick.

Ed said, “I talked to your mother before we came out here.”

“Betsy said she was okay,” Jimmy said.

“She’s fine. The doctors wanted to take her to the hospital for observation, but it wasn’t necessary. Kelly healed her and the fetus. They’re both going to be fine,” Ed said.

“That’s good to hear,” Jimmy said.

His current situation was unusual. He was currently out in the wilderness alone with a bunch of strangers after a plane crash. His mother had been carried off to a hospital. His father was in a distant city. He felt that he was handling it well, but he wished one of his parents was there.

Ed said, “I know you aren’t thinking about college yet, but I want you to know that I’m going to put in a recommendation at the Druid College that they accept you, if you pass the entrance tests.”