Slain

           

         The heat could blister her skin into the new age of cancer and Kaycee wouldn’t care. With her Midwest arm out of the Jeep window, she ran her fingers through the warm, dry air with pleasure. Back home, it was thirty-seven with sleet and here she was under the balmy eighty-two sun. Her boyfriend, Kendall drove her and their friends along a steaming gray ribbon through the New Mexico desert, which would eventually lead to Four Corners. In the back, over the harmonious vocals of Casting Crowns, her childhood friend Cain fought with Jan over the last ho-ho.

            “How can you eat anything else?” Kaycee tilted her head back so they’d hear her above the rushing wind. “You guys practically bought out the gas station of its junk food.”

            Cain and Jan’s faces morphed into wounded gasps. “This is not junk food, Kaycee! Donuts, Little Debbie, and Gatorade are the stables of a road trip.”

            “They’re also the reason we have to stop every hour.” Kendall grumbled over the growing wind. 

            “Were we the ones who bought a 32 oz. Pepsi?” Cain nudged Kaycee’s shoulder, making her blush. “The one time I splurge and you guys won’t let it go.”

            “It was this morning!”

Kendall glanced at Kaycee out of his peripheral, but kept driving to stay out of the conversation. He was the designated driver for their second day of travel. The four had found themselves fortunate enough to have spring break all on the same week this year. Being in three separate states, that was a small miracle. Kaycee would’ve been content to go home, but Cain had insisted it was the perfect time to get acquainted with his Navajo roots. Plus, Jan was studying in Albuquerque and he missed her.

“Her Pepsi, your ho hos…” Kendall griped as Kaycee batted Cain back. “And all I get is the gas bill.”

Cain shrugged, arm around Jan. “Told you not to eat that burrito-“

“Ewww!” Jan cried with Kaycee, jabbing Cain’s ribs. In that same moment Kaycee burped, which sent Cain reeling with laughter. Blushing even harder, Kaycee went back to watching the desert fly by. She had to smile; these moments of happiness and friendship… Thank you, God. 

The rest of the jeep settled down, falling in sync with the same content Kaycee found herself in. She thought of starting up a sing-along as C.C. started ‘Come Thou Font’. Jan would join her and they would spend a few hilarious minutes getting the boys to harp in. The song, however, didn’t make it to the second line before cutting out. Than back in, then back out again.

“What gives?” Kendall messed with the volume.

“Dead spot?” Cain suggested, leaning back up. Kaycee almost knocked foreheads with him. “It’s a CD. We’ve played it so much, it might be damaged.”

“Then the whole radio is too.” Kendall pointed. The display flicked on and off, same as the music. Kaycee’s stomach flip-flopped. She hated the thought of car trouble. 

“I’ll pull over and check the battery.” Kendall decided, shifted the jeep to the side. 

“Go the extra two miles to that sign up there.” Jan pointed ahead at the lone billboard. “Kaycee and I can get a photo while you men take care of business.”

“So sexist.” Cain teased her. Jan stuck her tongue out. Kaycee gave silent thanks for her friend’s optimism. Kaycee, while she tried, was more pessimistic… especially when it came to any kind of vehicle. But that was because anything with wheels hated her. She couldn’t go a month without engine trouble or a flat tire. Kaycee would take walking any day… even in the four-foot snowdrifts back in Vermont.

“Hear the word,” Jan was reading off the billboard as Kendall eased the jeep into park. “Live the word… oh, it’s advertising a church.”

“Pretty good slogan.” Cain remarked, climbing out after Kaycee. Kaycee arched her back so the sun blinded her, Jan jumping out beside her. While they stretched and found the camera, Kendall looked over the radio and Cain popped the hood to check the oil- so he’d feel useful. Jan got a couple snapshots of him flexing his muscles, and then Kaycee joined in, giggling at their ‘grease monkeys’. She handed the camera back to Jan. “Get me in a panoramic with the desert. It’s so big!”

“Ok.” Jan readjusted the focus as Kaycee ran several yards into the golden-red dust. The bushes were the only resemble of shade, minus the billboard’s, stocked behind it like a cape. She turned around as Jan yelled. “Squat down! It’ll look like you’re carrying the mountains on your shoulders!”

Good idea. Kaycee sent her a thumbs up, squatting. Jan held the camera to her face, growing still. Kaycee waited, but Jan stayed still. In fact, her stillness changed. 

“Jan?” Kaycee frowned. “Did it take?”

“KAYCEE!” came the terrified cry. “Get back here!”

Some friendships ran so deep that when certain questions were asked, you listened. There was that much trust between them and Kaycee launched herself forward. She hadn’t made it five steps before her foot hit something and sent her sprawling. Kaycee hit the ground, coughing and retracting her shin from the hot griddle of its surface. It was so hot… deceptively so, given the breeze…

FILTHY CHILD!

Kaycee froze from investigating her trip, not daring to look toward the whisper. Instead her mind flung into action, throwing up its steel walls and double-locked doors. Oh come thou font of every blessing-

THAT THE BEST YOU CAN DO! The whispers laughed. NOT STRONG ENOUGH FOR HIS WORDS, YOU DRAW UPON THE WORDS OF MAN? PATHETIC!

Kaycee’s mind reeled, searching for the right weapon, but the attack had come so suddenly… so strong. It chilled her, even in the baste of the heat.

“Kaycee!”

Kaycee lifted her head, intending to yell back at her friends, her brothers and sister in Christ Jesus… but instead she caught sight of the object that’d tripped her. Immediately, her heart swelled. Lord, give me strength. 

AND WHY SHOULD HE.

“Man does not live by bread alone!” Cain shouted, his voice close. “By the words of our Savior in Christ Jesus, get behind us, Satan!”

There was a familiar hissing, from pain at her friends’ words, shouted in spirit and conviction. I’M ALREADY BEHIND HER, FOOL! YOU THINK IT MATTERS WHICH DIRECTION.

“They’re coming!” Jan cried, her voice high with fear. “I saw them! In the camera, from every direction!”

Her words hit Kaycee with a realization. The radio wasn’t broken. There’d been no need for Kendall to check the battery, no need for them to…

“A time to tear down and a time to build!” Kendall shouted out. He was drowned out by Cain’s sorrowful cry. He fell to his knees, a few feet from Kaycee. She couldn’t look directly, but she saw the enemy on his back, hideous as ever. 

REMEMBER ME?

They all remembered. Five years or fifty couldn’t erase the memory of that battle. Caine would always bear the scars and they would bear the loss of a friend, his soul lost to hell. Kaycee’s breathe still left her in horror at the thought of Van.

A TRUE DISCPLE WOULD’VE SAVED HIM.

Tears in her eyes added to Kaycee’s confusion. She clutched her hands, shaking with fear… wait, what was she clutching? Kaycee looked down; wood? Like a wave, hope surged through her and she gathered the strength to scream. “There’s a cross here! Get to the cross- in the name of the Father, come to the cross!”

Her words were sent out like a shockwave, repelling the demons back. There was several clinging and leering from the dry brush and cracked cacti. Kaycee’s sight cleared, pulling herself up as the others joined her. At their feet laid a cross, fourteen feet in height, furrowed in dust of many weeks. Forgotten, unattended, and uprooted. It needed to be replanted!

“Cain, take that end.” Kendall ordered, leaping over the stem. “Jan, you and Kaycee dig a hole!”

Jan was grabbing Kaycee’s wrist then to a spot at the base of the cross. The dirt proved soft enough and they dove in with both hands. The voices kept on in their taunts and tearings, causing Kendall to stumble when he and Cain started lifting the cross. Cain huffed. “C’mon man! All things are possible through Him who gives us strength! Let me see that strength, brother!”

Kendall re-gripped the cross, where Jesus’ left hand would’ve bled out. “I… God…”

“Faith as small as a mustard seed.” Kaycee cried out over a wind that was growing again. “And what? Kendall, WHAT!?”

Kendall strained, eyes to the glinting sun. “Say to this mountain, move…” he rose to his feet, grunting with the weight. “And it will!”

“Praisie Abba Father.” Jan choked in awe and dust. It was getting so they couldn’t see. But not from the dust; the sun! It was burning bright… not hot, just bright. The demons were shrieking now, their own terror turned on them as Cain and Kendall pushed the cross higher and higher. Kaycee and Jan dug for all they were worth, bouncing Scriptures from one mouth to the other like a Gospel tag team. 

“Put it in.” Jan ordered. Kaycee faltered. “It’s not deep enough.”

“Do notdoubt the power of God.” Jan responded fiercely. “It’ll stay. He’ll make sure of it.”

IT’LL FALL… JUST LIKE YOU ALWAYS DO.

“No!” Kaycee grabbed the foot of the cross and guided it to the hole. Splinters snagged into her palms, but she only worried about pushing the dirt back and packing the beam in tight. Still the wind blew and the sunlight increased ten-fold. Kaycee felt the weight across her back; but it didn’t burn. She risked a squint above, where the cross loomed straight. She breathed out. “Finished. It’s finished, Lord.”

Jan’s hand squeezed hers as Cain and Kendall knelt beside them, surrendered around the cross. Arms around each other and heads bowed low, they waited. The heat grew immense, cutting off all the whispers and shrieks.

Then, it was still. It was quiet.

It was peaceful.

Kaycee opened her eyes, looking up cautiously with the others. Cain’s forehead rested on the cross. Jan took her breath in great gulps to keep from hyperventilating. Kendall’s arms loosened from around her to look behind them. Kaycee gave another line of prayer before copying him. There was nothing but the desert. God’s desert, reclaimed!

“Jan.” Caine got their attention on Jan’s face, pale and exhausted. Kaycee was certain they all looked like that. Jan eased her hand into Caine’s eyes hardened in determination. “I’m okay.”

“We all are.” Kaycee swallowed, her heart falling back into her chest. “Praise God.”

THE END