{"id":601287,"date":"2026-06-26T07:16:15","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T07:16:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/?p=601287"},"modified":"2026-06-26T07:16:15","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T07:16:15","slug":"hells-coming-with-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/hells-coming-with-me\/","title":{"rendered":"Hell’s Coming With Me"},"content":{"rendered":"

I hadn\u2019t even realized he was alive when I rucked him back to the station. Dead of winter, covered in snow and blue as the ocean. Cold to the touch, then all of a sudden he\u2019s wiggling on my back, grunting curses and throwing up red. Damn near dropped him, the only thing I could think of at the time was to pat his ass and tell him he\u2019s safe.
\n+++++<\/span>It took five days for me to learn his name. It wasn\u2019t as big a deal when he told me. He wasn\u2019t infamous yet.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cTuck Haggardy, I escaped Solace, I guess,” then his coma took him again.
\n+++++<\/span>I threw out a lot of stew waiting for that young man\u2019s story. What I got wasn\u2019t what I wanted either. Should have known.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cSolace is fifty miles east. You’re on Shadowfall, in my ranger station.\u201d That was the first thing I said to him.
\n+++++<\/span>The boy nearly died from laughter; I thought he\u2019d pop a stitch.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cDamn, I figured the mouth of hell would have been closer to that shit hole.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>I got angry. I worked hard to protect this mountain.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cMouth of hell?\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cYeah, I\u2019m sure it was close to where you found me. That\u2019s where I come from.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>Of course, I was confused. His whole face was black and blue, swollen, split-open and leaking. He could have been telling the truth for all I knew. He looked like Hell\u2014 Hell may have been where he came from.
\n+++++<\/span>I got up from my chair set next to his cot and crossed the lookout, opened the cabinet, and brought my bottle of rye.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cThat\u2019ll help. Then you can have some food.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>He drank greedily.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cThat\u2019s all we got, so pick your lane.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>Once he was full he set it down next to him and said thank you.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cI can tell I owe you somethin\u2019\u2026 I got nothing\u2019 to give though.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>I shook my head.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cI don\u2019t need anything from you. Don\u2019t burden yourself. Just tell me your story and we\u2019ll call it square. Not tonight, but when you’re ready. Snows packing in and we got a few nights to find out where you come from.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>It only took a day to hear the whole thing. This is what I wrote down afterward. So I could remember.
\n+++++<\/span>Sometimes I wish I had thrown it in the fire.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

Course, it started like everything else.
\n+++++<\/span>Money.
\n+++++<\/span>I didn\u2019t have it. Someone told me I could find some.
\n+++++<\/span>Headed out west after I picked the pocket of some old timer in Chariff, sixteen nuggets of gold in a torn envelope from someone named Carlton.
\n+++++<\/span>Only took one nugget for the river boat out there.
\nGamblers took a few more.
\n+++++<\/span>Bandits for the rest on the last leg. Killed the showgirls and cut my calf muscles so I couldn\u2019t walk back.
\n+++++<\/span>Called it funny.
\n+++++<\/span>I didn\u2019t think so. They were pretty.
\n+++++<\/span>I crawled most of it. The irony\u2026 we were almost there.
\n+++++<\/span>The last five hundred yards the Preacher carried me. Like you did I guess.
\n+++++<\/span>That\u2019s what preachers are supposed to do\u2014help those in need.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cThe Lord lifts up those who are bowed down\u2014Psalm 146:8.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>That was the first one he taught me. Be grateful, it could be worse. I didn\u2019t know any better. I believed him.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cYour path hath led you here, opened you up\u2014you\u2019ve bled on my threshold and taken my nourishment. Now that you’re here, it is my duty to inoculate you against the fever of wickedness.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cBut you must submit. Obey to your lord thy god.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>But I didn\u2019t I much have a choice, did I? I wasn\u2019t walking out of there anytime soon.
\n+++++<\/span>And by the time I could, I didn\u2019t see a reason to.
\n+++++<\/span>I could have tripped over it on the way out.
\n+++++<\/span>You didn\u2019t do that.
\n+++++<\/span>You just sit there and listen. Make me breakfast, feed me whiskey.
\n+++++<\/span>Why?
\n+++++<\/span>Hmm.
\n+++++<\/span>Well, as I gained my strength back, I became more useful. Chorin\u2019, running boxes from the grocer to homesteads. I kept busy.
\n+++++<\/span>Sometimes the preacher would make special requests.
\n+++++<\/span>Sometimes he\u2019d get angry.
\n+++++<\/span>And I just let him. It was my penance.
\n+++++<\/span>Payment.
\n+++++<\/span>As you can see, I ain\u2019t no kid no more.
\n+++++<\/span>I was there for a while. Part of Solace I guess.
\n+++++<\/span>I never felt peaceful. Not ever.
\n+++++<\/span>Course, I wasn\u2019t the one the town was named for.
\n+++++<\/span>Some people don\u2019t live in a place, they just help make it run. When they can\u2019t no more, they just get replaced.
\n+++++<\/span>That\u2019s the thing about badness, once you got a bit of it, there\u2019s no pulling it back out. Barbwire \u2018round your soul. Once the banker started coming to the church for late night meetings.
\n+++++<\/span>That\u2019s when I picked something up that had been laying at my feet quietly.
\n+++++<\/span>There\u2019s something wrong when the bank and the church are the only brick buildings in a boomtown.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cGod is good. God is great. God puts gold in the offering plate.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>And I told them miners do. The town folk do.
\n+++++<\/span>And they ignored me.
\n+++++<\/span>So I told them in church. I told them everything.
\n+++++<\/span>They should have listened to me, instead of the bullshit the Preacher was spewing.
\n+++++<\/span>He\u2019s a black magic preacher.
\n+++++<\/span>And I\u2019m just a thief.
\n+++++<\/span>And the whole town beat the shit out of me.
\n+++++<\/span>Damn that whiskey startin\u2019 to make me feel better.<\/p>\n

***<\/p>\n

\u201cHow\u2019re your legs now?\u201d The only thing I could think to ask. His puffy eyes looked at me.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cWhat?
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cYou\u2019re going back. It\u2019s fifty miles, I\u2019m not carrying you.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>It was a statement of fact so I said it plainly.
\n+++++<\/span>The young man didn\u2019t speak for a bit\u2014considered his next statement\u2014knowing being this naked with another man in his condition was dangerous. At least that\u2019s what I think was happening.
\n+++++<\/span>He could have just been summoning the strength to reply.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cThey\u2019re fine\u2014Preacher took good care of me.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>I found myself in a spot I didn\u2019t like. There was something about his stillness, even though he looked like a thousand year old saltwater barn it made him terrifying.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cWhat do you plan on doing?\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>This was what he wanted to talk about. After another sip, he coughed and said: \u201cI told them if they send me to Hell, I\u2019d come back, and Hell was coming with me.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>I didn\u2019t blame him. I\u2019d want to burn it down too, at his age. I remember when my life was a small price for revenge. I remember Haw Haw and One Time staring down that terrified kid, knives out, ready to skin him for sleeping on the fire line.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cYou\u2019re not worried about salvation? Is your soul worth the satisfaction?\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>That\u2019s when I realized Tuck only had half his teeth remaining.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cThat\u2019s not my concern anymore. It\u2019s gone already, how do you think I got back here?\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cThat\u2019s not true boy. You\u2019ve got a choice. You can let them collapse on each other. I\u2019ll give you a job. You can work your penance protecting something instead of destroying it.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>Outside, the snow fell softly on cedars.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cThere are some things you can\u2019t forgive. Twisting faith for profit. That\u2019s evil. I\u2019ve seen evil. It helped me see what I wasn\u2019t. All of this, my face. My legs. Everything\u2026
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cI ain\u2019t Job,\u201d Tuck said.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cTelling on yourself a bit there, aren\u2019t you?\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cHell\u2019s that supposed to mean?\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>I tried to meet his eyes. This was important. I needed to be heard.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cJob was chosen by god. That what you\u2019re saying?\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cI am the righteous hand of god. The devil they forgot,\u201d sent shivers down my spine. Who was this boy.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cSo you kill ’em all then, or you gonna leave the women and children, devil?\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cYes.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>I\u2019d known killers, mountain men protecting their traps, men who\u2019d been told to kill for their country and given a rifle.
\n+++++<\/span>I\u2019d come close in a bar about Tuck\u2019s age.
\n+++++<\/span>But I\u2019d never had this look of hurt and fury that sat bandaged before me, sipping his whisky and speaking of murder.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cNow I have a choice, don\u2019t I?\u201d It was a mistake to say it out loud to the man who just crawled out of hell, but the company had afforded me some grace.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cYou saved an executioner. That\u2019s what you\u2019re getting at.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cNo. I saved a man. What he does after that is his business. Your choices don\u2019t affect me, Tuck. You are the master of your destiny.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s a shame I hadn\u2019t crawled to Shadowfall. Things would have been different.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cDefinitely, but you made it anyway. That\u2019s what matters now. You don\u2019t ever have to think about Solace again. You can outlive the bastard. You could spit on his grave.
\n+++++<\/span>But not if you burn that town to the ground.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cHow many more people does he have to enslave to earn his punishment?\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cHe\u2019s not an infection to be burned out. The people in that town are just like you. Under his thumb.
\n+++++<\/span>Don\u2019t commit suicide for them.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>It was at that moment Tuck lost all respect for me. It was undeniable in his eyes\u2014all traces of humanity vaporized like slush on the stovetop.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cI said something. They didn\u2019t. We are not the same.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>Then Tuck stood, somehow\u2026 and for a moment I was completely terrified.
\n+++++<\/span>\u201cThank you for your kindness. It looks like the snow has stopped.\u201d
\n+++++<\/span>Then he left, using my spare wool blanket. I didn\u2019t even think to follow him. It\u2019s not in my habit to chase after things I can\u2019t understand.
\n+++++<\/span>Like you know, three days later he strung that preacher up in the town square, saving him last as the town was engulfed in flames.
\n+++++<\/span>That\u2019s the story I heard that next fire season, told around small campfires by my crew. Only one person left, a boy whose luck is still to be determined.
\n+++++<\/span>Can I say I tried my best? I\u2019ve lost sleep with that. A good thing leads to a tragedy. It was a miracle that boy had survived\u2014frozen solid and alone in the wilderness. I spent five days building the strength that leveled a city.
\n+++++<\/span>Guilt is not a thing one should assign themself.
\n+++++<\/span>But we do it naturally.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[Image Credit : Photo by Donald Merrill<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a>]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I hadn\u2019t even realized he was alive when I rucked him back to the station. Dead of winter, covered in snow and blue as the ocean. Cold to the touch, then all of a sudden he\u2019s wiggling on my back, grunting curses and throwing up red. Damn near dropped him, the only thing I could […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":699,"featured_media":601301,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1465,2010,1452],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-601287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-m","category-murdered-by-crows","category-short-story"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1Zyqm-2wqb","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Hells-Coming-With-Me.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601287","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/699"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=601287"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/601287\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/601301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=601287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=601287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.close2thebone.co.uk\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=601287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}