Westie

So to start off be patient with me please, I’m new to diesels, and working on my own stuff in general. I’m young and don’t know a whole lot about anything. But a few months back I had to replace the vp44 on my 2001 5.9 Cummins. Me and my dad had to work on it at separate times since he was working nights and I was working days. Well we eventually got it off and the new one on. And when we got what we thought was everything plugged back in and ready to go we went to try it and the two wires that connect to the two studs on the same side of the intake horn for the grid heater we’re left undone and we’re laying against something. So when we started it I went to the front and seen the wires spark, I ran around and shut the truck off. Now when we try to connect the two wires to the studs, wires get hot and start smoking. Even when both batteries are unplugged when we put the wires on and try to reconnect the batteries the wires to the batteries start getting hot. Does anyone have an idea what could be going on, like I said I’ve not worked on diesels a whole lot and am needing help.