The Dark Rift: Ascension (The Dark Rift Book Series 1)

by RM Brewer

  "Great. I’m counting on all of you to tell me if you're having any problems. This is a fairly short climb and you can rest while you wait for Bob and me to go to the top. Let’s get going. Everybody keep quiet."

  Noah bent down to look in Hunter’s face. "Hear that, boy? We gotta keep quiet. No barking. Okay, boy?"

  Hunter wagged his tail and licked Noah’s face.

  Jodie started up the pathway, followed by Christy, Noah and Hunter, Mei, and Nick carrying Leah. Bob followed, last. They moved silently for about fifteen minutes and the path became abruptly steep.

  Jodie motioned to the group to stop. Nick lowered Leah to the ground.

  "Looks like this is a good place to stop. Find somewhere off in the trees to hide while Bob and I continue on."

  Bob moved to the front of the line as the group started to disperse into the woods. Before Nick could pick up Leah to carry her, Bob grabbed his arm to stop him and pulled him to the side. "If we're not back in two hours, take everyone and get out of here, whatever way you can, okay?"

  Jodie wondered if any of them would be able to get out of this situation alive.

  "Okay, boss. You'll be back, though," Nick said.

  Jodie and Bob started up the trail. When they were about a hundred feet or so away, out of earshot of their companions, Jodie turned to Bob and said, "I just want to find a way off of this mountain. We can’t go back the way we came, but if we can find a road to the other side, maybe one of us can walk down and get some help. If we do find anything up here, I’m not sure that we should even approach it."

  Bob nodded. "Yeah, I know what you mean. It seems like there’s a lot of effort being made to either keep us from getting up there or force us into a trap. Trouble is, now that they know about us, whoever they are, none of us will be safe again until we resolve this."

  Jodie considered Bob’s statement, afraid he was right.

  They kept moving until the path became so steep they had to crawl on all fours. When the path leveled out and they thought they were close to their destination, they stopped and looked around in the dimly lit forest.

  The view looked about the same as it did below. No roadways, fences, or signs of a military installation were present, as far as Jodie could see in the starlit night. Not hearing anything other than nighttime forest sounds, they moved on, looking for the continuation of the trail, but saw nothing. They stood, scanning the dark forest ahead for a sign of something, anything.

  "I don’t understand," Bob said quietly. "We can’t be that far off, can we? I mean, we should be right in the vicinity of the coordinates on the map, but there’s nothing, nothing at all. It should be right here."

  "Let’s keep walking a couple hundred feet. It’s hard to tell where we are in the dark. We could still be coming up on it," Jodie said.

  "Or, we could have missed it already," Bob said.

  They moved on, searching in the darkness for another half-hour. Jodie leaned up against a tree, trying to get her bearings and thinking of how disappointed the rest of the group would be, finding out that nothing was at the top of the hill. Especially Noah, she thought. They would need to find Fester another way.

  Jodie looked over at Bob, who appeared to be staring at something. He motioned to her in the direction from which they came. She could hear rustling in the underbrush from where Bob was pointing. Whatever or whoever was coming through the forest was making a lot of noise. She pulled her gun out, pointing it into the darkness, and waited. Branches started moving in front of her. Suddenly, something burst through the trees and her trigger finger tensed as Hunter ran up to her, tail wagging.

  Jodie relaxed her hand holding the gun and leaned down to calm him. "Oh my God, Hunter," she whispered in his ear, hugging him and letting him lick her face. "You almost had a really bad day."

  Jodie looked up toward where Bob was standing, but he was gone. She moved through the trees, telling Hunter to heel, looking for Bob. She turned to Hunter to pull him closer and the dog’s body became rigid. The quiet seemed to roar in Jodie's ears and she realized the sound she was hearing was her own breath. She jumped as a scream pierced the still air of the woods. It sounded like a man’s voice coming from the direction of the path she and Bob walked up, but Jodie couldn’t be sure. She scrambled back to the path and crouched to the ground, peering into the darkness.

  "Hunter, I have to go down there and you have to stay right here. You have to do this for me. Stay, boy," she said, navigating down the steep path in the dark. Hunter sat and watched. Jodie crept back onto the path as a shot rang out. She fell to the ground, slamming her face on the gravel, scraping her palms. She heard men’s voices and saw flashlight beams swinging back and forth in the darkness up ahead. She waited and listened, watching the lights, separated by a hundred or so feet.

  Abruptly, light shone down on the forest floor, followed by several thumping noises. Jodie looked towards the direction the noise came from and thought she could see a shadow of something swinging through the air. In the dim light, she could make out two figures moving up the path. A bright flash temporarily blinded her as the retort from a gun blast rang in her ears. She blinked hard to try to see and heard the thumping noises again. Another muzzle blast lit up the dark forest. She tried to make out what was happening in front of her, but light trails still floated across her vision. Her ears were ringing. Jodie touched her face and felt something wet and sticky. Brushing her hand against her forehead, she winced at the pain from touching an open wound on her scalp.

  "Jodie Watts? Are you out there?"

  Jodie recognized the voice, but didn’t know what to make of the situation and if she should respond.

  "Jodie, it’s Chuck Wending. Are you out there?"

  "You’re gonna want to drop that weapon, Wending," Bob commanded. Jodie slumped back toward the ground, relieved to hear Bob's voice.

  "But, I’m here to help you," Wending said, sounding a little whiny. "Okay, I’ll drop it."

  Jodie called from the relative safety of the trees. "I’m over here, Bob." She stood up slowly and clicked her flashlight on, illuminating Wending standing in the middle of the path, Bob holding a gun on him.

  "Look, I took care of those guys for you," Wending said. "They’ve got trucks filled with bodies back there. And, what happened to Jodie’s cabin?"

  "Why are you dressed like that? You look like an auto mechanic," Bob said, lowering his gun.

  "I had these in my truck," Wending said, pointing to his coveralls. "Thought I could move in the dark better."

  "I think I scratched my head back there," Jodie said, as she met Bob and Wending in the trail. She felt wobbly on her feet. Wending reached out to steady her as her legs buckled. He lowered her to the ground gently.

  "You got any first aid supplies with you?" Wending asked.

  Bob bent down and shined the light in her face. "Oh my God, Jodie, what happened to you?"

  Jodie was nauseous. And her head hurt. She wondered why the pounding between her ears was increasing in intensity. Even though she was very dizzy and her vision was blurred, Jodie could see that Chuck Wending had tears in his eyes. She felt him grasp her hand. She heard rustling and Mei crawled out of the forest, backpack in hand.

  "Let me help, please," she said to Wending. "You’ll have to let go, Officer Wending." Mei pulled his hand off of Jodie’s and pushed him back. She took the flashlight from Jodie's hand and shined it at her face.

  "I think I hit my head on a rock or something when I fell," Jodie said.

  "No, I don't think so," Mei said, digging in her bag, bringing out a handful of gauze and pressing down on the top of Jodie’s head.

  Jodie jumped at the stinging pain.

  "I saw a lot of these kinds of wounds when I worked in the city. Looks more like you got shot. A bullet must have grazed your head. You’ve got a nice four-inch crease from your forehead to the top of your scalp." Mei rummaged in her first aid kit for supplies and dabbed at the wound with gauze and sterile solution, causing Jodi
e to grit her teeth. She breathed deeply, fighting the urge to vomit. Mei pulled away the gauze. "At least it’s not too deep. You’re lucky. Another inch lower and we might not be talking to you right now."

  Jodie wiped the tears out of her eyes. Lucky was about the last thing she felt.

  "She’s shot? Who shot her? I’ll kill the son of a bitch," Wending blubbered.

  "Well, Chuck, since no one fired their weapon except for you, maybe you’d like to take a wild guess," Bob said.

  "What? No ... Oh my God, Jodie. I’m so sorry."

  Jodie thought their situation was comical, in a way. On top of all the other blundering, now, the idiot had shot her in the head. Yet, she felt sympathy for him. Even though he was an absolute ass the previous day, she sensed that Debi from the Drive ‘n Dine was right. There was a good man underneath all of that bluster. "No need to be sorry, Chuck. It was an accident. We might not have made it if you hadn’t been here," Jodie said.

  "Did you see anybody else on your way up here, Officer Wending?" Bob said.

  Wending stood, staring at Jodie, not responding.

  Bob cleared his throat. "Officer Wending?"

  "Uh, what? I mean, no, but I don’t think we got ‘em all. I mean, I got the two on the path and there were five. Can I pick up my gun? I might still need it."

  "Yes, just be careful of what you’re shooting at, okay?" Bob said.

  Wending bent over to pick up his rifle and looked at Jodie. "She gonna be okay?"

  "Yes, Officer Wending," Mei said. "She'll be fine."

  "I don’t know what to say, Jodie. I’m so sorry. By the looks of your cabin, I didn’t know if you were even still alive. I saw that mess and I wanted to kill them … I mean, I knew if I didn’t kill them, they’d probably kill me."

  Jodie wondered if he said it right the first time. She knew he wanted to protect her. The site of her cabin probably triggered homicidal thoughts in him. The same kind of thoughts she was having.

  Another flashlight clicked on in the distance and Bob aimed his gun at it. "It’s just us, boss," Nick called out. "Is Jodie okay?"

  "She'll be fine," Mei said, tearing off a piece of tape to secure the bandage to Jodie's forehead.

  Leah limped through the woods toward them, aided by Nick. She held onto a stick, bent at an odd angle. When she got closer, Jodie could see it was her cane, or what was left of it.

  "I tackled two of ‘em and Leah knocked ‘em out with her secret weapon," Nick said. "Looks like she’ll need a new walking implement, though. Wending, you’re tied with Leah, minus the half-point for shooting Jodie, that is."

  Jodie desperately wanted to laugh, but thought any sudden movement might make her sick. She was able to smile at Nick, though.

  Bob looked around, past where Nick was standing. "Weren’t Christy and Noah with you?"

  "I put ‘em over there." Nick pointed off to the other side of the path. "I didn’t think it’d be a good idea if we were all in a bunch somewhere. I’ll go get ‘em once I finish helping fix up Jodie." Nick reached out and patted Leah on the back. "Good goin’, partner." He bent down and started tearing off strips of tape for Mei to finish securing the bandage on Jodie's head.

  Jodie felt like she was slowly being consumed by the pain in her head. She knew she couldn't let it control her, though. They were still in danger. "How did you know there were five?" she asked Wending.

  "I didn’t really know until I got close to them. They were all kinda stupid, ya’ know? I followed them up the hill in my truck at first and they had their lights on the whole time. They were hauling seven dead guys dressed in camouflage. What the hell happened back there?"

  "The dead people, did they have Gypsum logos on their uniforms?" Jodie said.

  Wending nodded.

  "They must be the people who attacked us back at the cabin. We were lucky to get out alive. They killed my neighbor, too," Jodie said, feeling responsible for putting her old friend in harm's way. "Was his body in the truck?"

  "You mean the old guy just up the hill from your cabin? I found him on the ground by his house. I called it in. Never had any kinda run-in with him before." Wending lowered his eyes and looked at the ground. "Well, at least I took care of their trucks. I didn’t want them to escape, so I flattened their tires and put some sand in their gas tanks. I woulda done more, but I thought I better get up here, quick. The one that got away won’t be gettin’ down from the mountain too fast. Even if he does, I got the State Police on the way. Wait till they see what’s in those trucks."

  "Leah, can you show me where you clocked the two guys? We should probably tie them up, post haste," Bob urged.

  "Yes, but I think I might need a little help now that this cane is a bit shorter." Leah held up the bent cane.

  Officer Wending extended his arm. "I'll give you a hand, Ms. Fenton."

  "No, thanks, Officer Wending. On second thought, I'll give it a go myself, if you don't mind." Jodie could see the apprehension on Leah's face.

  "Well, okay. Just trying to help."

  "If you want to do something, come with me and we'll tie up those guys," Bob said.

  "You got it," Wending said.

  Jodie thought everyone must have grown tired of Wending's version of help, even though he did save them, in a way. "Oh, Nick, before you go get Christy and Noah, I forgot to tell you that Hunter’s up at the top of the slope where Bob and I went. I think he’s there, at least. I told him to stay," Jodie said.

  Nick handed a piece of tape to Mei and put the roll back in the first aid kit. "Thanks, Jodie. He must have run away from Noah when we were splitting up." Nick whistled and Hunter came bounding through the brush, tail wagging. "Okay, boy. Let’s go get your buddy, Noah. He's probably very worried about you. You need to learn to listen better."

  Everyone departed with their tasks, leaving Jodie and Mei alone in the path. "I think I’ve got you about as fixed up as I can with what we have. If this keeps on bleeding, you might need a stitch or two, but we need supplies and more light for something like that. You know, Jodie, even though he shot you, you’ve got quite an admirer in Chuck Wending, but that man is dangerous, even when he’s trying to help."

  "I know. He was such an ass when we first got here. Turns out, he probably saved all of us, even though he almost killed me. I’m beyond confused as to why people are after us. Maybe we can get some information out of the two guys Leah knocked out. She's pretty impressive with that cane."

  "If I might make a suggestion, maybe it would be a good idea if you didn’t worry about anything right now other than how you’re feeling. Are you dizzy?" Mei said, shining a light into each of Jodie’s eyes.

  "Not too bad. Better than before. Thank you for everything," Jodie said, grasping her hand and holding on.

  "Okay, well, I’d love to hold your hand. The rest of you, too, but right now, I need to finish up here." Mei gently pulled away as Hunter ran up to Jodie, followed by Christy, Noah and Nick. Hunter greeted Jodie with a wildly wagging tail.

  "Oh my God, what happened to you?" Christy said as she came upon Jodie.

  "Wending’s aim wasn’t so good," Mei said.

  "He shot you? Oh, Lord. That man is a nitwit --" Christy looked up abruptly.

  Jodie sat up slowly and turned to see what she was looking at. Bob was sprinting toward them, followed by Wending dragging Leah along.

  Bob came up next to Jodie and bent down to whisper. "We have to get out of here, now. We found one of the guys over there, dead. His throat was cut. The other one’s gone."

  "His throat was cut? Who …" Jodie let her words trail off. She already knew the answer. Gypsum was doing everything necessary to cover their tracks. Her growing fear was interrupted by Hunter, who had run about a hundred feet away and was barking at something on the ground.

  "Nick, keep that dog quiet," Bob whispered loudly.

  Nick ran over to Hunter. "Here, boy. What did you find? Uh, Bob, I think you might wanna see this. Hunter found something."

  "What is
it?" Bob walked over toward Hunter, who was digging at the ground.

  "It’s a vent or something, I think. I can see light in it. It’s really dim, but it’s lighter in there than out here."

  Bob and Nick walked over to where Hunter was digging. Everyone followed, with Mei guiding a wobbly Jodie and Wending holding onto Leah’s arm.

  Noah looked down into the vent. "What is that, Mom?"

  "I don’t really know, honey. I think I can guess, though." Christy looked at Bob. "Can you get the cover off?"

  "You’re not suggesting we go down in there, are you?" Wending asked.

  Before anyone could respond, the sound of a branch snapping echoed through the woods. With her head pounding, Jodie tried to regain her composure as best she could, raising her gun and aiming blindly toward the noise.

  "Everybody get down," Bob whispered. "Lights off. I don’t think those guys are gonna give up just yet. Going down there might be our only option. Maybe we can find a place to hide until Isaiah sends help. Officer Wending, can you keep an eye on the woods while Nick and I get this cover off? Oh, and try not to shoot any of us, okay?"

  Training his weapon toward the noise in the forest, Chuck Wending mumbled, "Yeah. Got it, but I'm not going in some vent in the ground. We might never get out of there."

  Bob and Nick tugged on the vent grate, sweat pouring down their foreheads. "This thing must weigh a couple hundred pounds," Nick said. He pulled harder and the grate finally released, sending him flying backwards. As he fell, the heavy grate came with him and he dropped it in mid-air, back toward the vent. Jodie watched it, preparing herself for the deafening sound of metal on metal. As it was about to make contact with the vent, Chuck Wending flew across her field of vision and grabbed it. It slammed down hard on his hands, making a deep, dull sound followed by a loud crack.

  Bob and Nick scrambled to lift the grate off of Wending's fingers. Once they pulled it up, they cast it to the side and Nick went to Wending, whose face was filled with agony. Wending pulled his hands toward his abdomen and curled up in a ball. Jodie could hear him straining not to scream. Mei moved over by Nick, pulling Wending's hands away from his body. She barely had time to apply bandages before Jodie heard someone moving in the brush near them. Bullets hit the ground around them, tearing through vegetation, sending up sprays of dirt.