After about a half hour, Greg spotted a shack in the woods about two or three miles from the farmhouse. He immediately pointed it out to the pilot, who called the Command Post and reported its GPS coordinates. Commander Turley placed a black “X” on the map where the shed had been located, and called out the grid coordinates to the searchers. Steve looked at the map he had been given, and drew an “X” on it. He pulled out a compass and drew a line from their current location to the X. Using the compass, he figured out the direction they should travel in to reach the shack. Picking a landmark in the distance, he told Tom to follow him, as he headed in the direction of the shack.
Steve and Tom slowly made their way through the thick underbrush in the direction of the shack, stepping over fallen logs, and checking for snakes and poison ivy along the way. Tom reminded Steve about how he had seen this scene in the movie First Blood, and how the character Rambo had subdued or disabled a dozen armed officers in the woods. “Rambo?” Steve replied, “These guys are more like Dumbo!” This caused Tom to laugh, and soon they were both laughing thinking about all of the mishaps that had befallen the trio since their escape from the insane asylum.
They were still laughing when Steve almost tripped over a wire strung about four inches above the ground at their feet. Steve threw out his arm and nearly “clotheslined” Tom as he advanced toward what he felt was the direction of the shack.
“What the hell did you do that for?” Tom croaked.
Steve pointed to the wire as he signaled Tom to be quiet. Tom massaged his now sore throat, and whispered “What is it, a trip line?”
Steve nodded and followed the wire to a box of nails with a stick of dynamite sticking out of it. At that moment, Steve made a command decision, and that was to back off a safe distance away and call the other search members to warn them about the booby trap.
Steve and Tom walked back the way that they had come and put what they thought was a safe distance between the bomb and themselves. Tom called the CP and advised them about the bomb, and gave an approximate location. A second later, there was a loud “boom” coming from a short distance to their right. Steve and Tom both dove to the ground as a dozen more explosions occurred around them. Tom heard a whizzing noise and felt a burning sting in his left earlobe. Steve felt a stab in his left shoulder, and heard objects whistling through the bushes above them.
“Holy crap!” Tom yelled, “that was ridiculous! Are you ok, Steve?”
“I’m hit,” Steve replied.
“Where?” Tom asked.
Steve pointed to his left shoulder, where a nail head protruded from his shirt. There was blood running down his shoulder from the wound, but thankfully it wasn’t life threatening. They quickly checked each other for injuries, and each said a quick prayer of thanks for escaping death. Steve pulled his wallet out, and asked Tom to pull the nail out of his shoulder. Steve bit down on the leather wallet as Tom counted to three and pulled the nail out with a multi-tool he always carried with him. Steve moaned and almost passed out from the searing pain that shot through his shoulder. Tom cut a strip of cloth from the bottom of Steve’s shirt and bandaged the wound the best he could. He cut another strip from the bottom of his own shirt and made Steve a sling for his arm.
Steve gritted his teeth and struggled to his feet. Tom helped him, and they carefully surveyed the area. There was a thick layer of smoke all around them, like fog as it settles, and Steve could hear screams of pain coming from somewhere off to their right. They carefully picked their way through the bushes to the area from which the screams were emanating.
What they saw was appalling! From what Tom and Steve could gather, the dogs had tripped the wire causing the first in a series of explosions. Both dogs had disappeared in a cloud of blood and fur. The K-9 handler had been ripped in two, and his legs were five feet away from his torso. He was screaming hysterically and trying to crawl to his lower half, while his insides trailed behind him. There were nails sticking out of his face, and blood was everywhere. Three other deputies lay dead a few yards away. One deputy had a saw blade embedded in his sternum, one had the top half of his head sheared off, and the third was partially decapitated just below the chin.
Tom heard his radio, and heard the helicopter pilot asking what had happened, and what their status was. Tom answered him and requested medical assistance. The helicopter pilot advised Tom that he would call for a medevac chopper immediately.
Steve called the Command Post on the radio and apprised them of the situation. When the smoke cleared, Steve and Tom found two more badly wounded officers in the bushes nearby. “Who did all of this?” asked Steve.
“I don’t have any idea which one of these guys did this to us, but I know what I’d like to do to them right now,” said Tom.
Chapter 35
Doc heard the series of explosions from the relative safety of the cave, and shuddered. What the hell am I doing tagging along with these psychos? I should be a thousand miles away from here having Mai Tai’s on a beach somewhere, forgetting about this whole ugly situation, he thought. He wasn’t sure what series of events had brought him to this point, but he was absolutely positive that he didn’t belong in here with these two.
Doc could hear screams of pain coming from outside the cave. Just before the explosions, he had heard dogs barking. Now the only sounds he heard were screams as people lay dead and dying in the woods.
Doc thought to himself, Maybe Slasher could use some corrective surgery to rid himself of the demons that dwelt within him, also. Normal people don’t blow up a bunch of people with no remorse.
Doc looked over at Slasher and Diablo and thought when this is all over, perhaps I will perform a double header, so to speak, and cure them both. Doc knew that he couldn’t anesthetize them both at once, so he would have to have some time alone with each of them. First, however, they would have to get out of here to a much safer place.
Diablo said, “Let’s get going. I don’t want to be anywhere near here when the cops recover their wits, because they’re going to be pissed!”
They started walking toward the back of the cave with Slasher in the lead. Slasher carried a lit lantern, and Diablo carried an unlit one.
Diablo wouldn’t admit it to anyone, but he was afraid of the dark, and had just recently realized that he was claustrophobic, as well. He felt fine when they were in the large chamber, but when they started squeezing through narrow passageways and crawling under huge rock formations, he started freaking out. It felt to him as if the walls were closing in on him. Cold sweat beaded on his forehead, and he started shaking uncontrollably.
After about a half an hour, the lantern started to sputter, and a few seconds later dimmed and died. Now it was dark in the cave, and none of them could see anything at all. Diablo fumbled around in the dark, trying to light the lantern he was holding. He heard a noise behind him in the passageway. It sounded like something rubbing up against the walls, and it sounded close. Must be my imagination, he thought. He lit one of the matches that they had found in the shack, and found that he was staring into a pair of large, brown eyes set in a ferocious looking, furry face.
“HOLY SHIIIIIIIIT!!” screamed Diablo as he backed up into Doc, trying desperately to get away.
“Ow!” said Doc, “what the hell was that for?”
“B…b…b…b…bbbear!” screamed Diablo, as he tried to push past Doc in his haste to get away. Diablo dropped the lantern and they heard it shatter when it hit the ground.
Diablo grabbed Doc, and used him like a human shield. At first, he shielded himself against the bear, but after hitting his head a dozen or so times on low-lying object, he decided to hold Doc in front of himself and let Doc absorb the blows from the stalactites hanging from the ceiling of the cave. He ran forward as fast as his legs would carry him, and heard the hollow thud of Doc’s head hitting six or seven objects. Doc was whimpering, Diablo was screaming like a banshee, and Slasher was just trying to get out of Diablo’s way.
After a few minutes of this, Slasher, who was looking back to see if everyone was keeping up, tripped over something and went flying onto the back of the bear, who was still chasing the other two. Slasher grabbed two hands full of fur and held on for dear life.
Diablo looked back, and to his astonishment, saw Slasher riding the bear as it was barreling down on them. Diablo thought Holy Crap! Slasher has balls of steel to try riding a bear! Diablo thought he saw a hint of light ahead, and sprinted toward the light carrying the now unconscious Doc in front of him.
Diablo dove for the exit and dragged Doc with him through the opening. Once in the open, Diablo breathed a breath of fresh air, and looked around for a place to hide from the bear. He stuffed Doc in a hollow log, and climbed a tree nearby as high as he could climb.
As the bear neared the exit, Slasher started thinking about how he was going to escape the clutches of this bear once they were out of the cave. He wasn’t sure that he could outrun this creature in the open, but he was sure that he was faster than Diablo and Doc. He thought about what his uncle had told him years ago when he had asked his uncle how to escape a bear. His uncle had told him: “Just reach down the bear’s throat, grab him by the balls, and turn him inside out, and he’ll run the other way.” Somehow, Slasher didn’t find that information all that useful now.
The bear went crashing through the exit to the cave with Slasher on his back holding on for dear life. Slasher knew that the bear couldn’t reach him where he was now, but that if he let go, he would be easy prey for this monster. He had been nearly scraped off of the bear’s back when the bear squeezed through the small exit, and now the bear had plenty of room to move about.
The bear started bucking and running around, clearly annoyed with Slasher for being on his back. After a minute or two of this, the bear headed for the nearest tree, and Slasher figured that the bear was going to try to scratch him off his back. As soon as the bear was near the tree, Slasher grabbed for a branch and climbed with all he had. As he climbed out of reach of the bear, he could hear the bear clawing the trunk of the tree. When he looked down, the bear was climbing the tree after him. Man, this bear is really pissed, thought Slasher, as he climbed higher and higher to get away from the angry beast.
What seemed like hours later to Slasher, he was so near the top of the tree, he was worried that the trunk wouldn’t support his weight. The tree was swaying crazily from side to side. After one particularly long sway, Slasher jumped to a neighboring tree and grabbed for a branch. He caught the branch and swung himself up on it.
Chapter 36
While Slasher was being chased by what appeared to be a tree climbing bear, Diablo recognized this as a perfect opportunity to put some distance between him and the bear. He climbed down from the tree he was in and ran as fast as he could away from that area. He paralleled the river, and headed North away from the bear and the cops. He was careful to stay under the trees, so he couldn’t be easily spotted by the helicopter, which circled the area overhead. Every few minutes, he would pause and listen to see if he heard the helicopter or the bear. Fortunately, he did not hear the bear, but when he heard the helicopter, he would duck down and remain still. The helicopter continued making wide circles overhead, which told Diablo that he hadn’t been spotted.
Diablo continued heading North for what he figured was at least a mile. He was walking now, and the pain in his butt was almost unbearable. With every step, came a fresh wave of pain. He was going to make that bull pay for doing this to him! Diablo adjusted his course and headed for what he figured was the location of the pasture where the bull was grazing.
Diablo imagined the bull quietly, unsuspectingly munching on grass in the pasture with his back to the fence. He saw himself sneaking up silently behind the bull with a stick of dynamite in his hand. He saw himself lighting it and inserting it into the bull’s butt, and running like the wind. He saw a puzzled look on the bull’s face just before a massive explosion, which rained hamburger meat down all over the pasture. He imagined himself walking up to the steaming carcass, and telling the bull: “How’s it feel, you son of a bitch?”
After about an hour of trudging through the woods, Diablo could see a pasture in the distance. As he neared the pasture, he could hear the snorting of a bull. Diablo carefully approached the fence and scanned the pasture for the bull. The bull was standing in the pasture with his back turned to Diablo, eating grass, seemingly unaware of his impending doom. Diablo wondered if bulls had souls, and his skin prickled with anticipation. What would a bull’s soul be like? Would it make him stronger, meaner, more virile? Suddenly, he imagined himself hung like a bull, and almost giggled.
The bull seemed unaware of Diablo’s presence, and it seemed to Diablo as if the bull was almost daring anyone to enter his pasture. What arrogance, thought Diablo. This bull really thinks he’s invincible. Well, he was about to find out that he wasn’t. Diablo fished around in his pockets for a lighter, which he had taken from the shack, and a stick of dynamite. He inserted a fuse into one end of the dynamite, and as he held the dynamite in one hand, and the lighter in the other, he slipped silently over the fence and into the pasture. Diablo imagined himself like a Ninja silently and seemingly invisibly approaching his enemy. Diablo hated this bull more than anything else in the world right now, and the thought of exacting his revenge on the vile creature made his skin prickle with excitement. At last, something was about to go right for him, he thought.
Chapter 37
Steve and Tom worked for over an hour dragging the wounded to a clearing where the med-evac chopper could airlift them to the nearest trauma center. Both were tired, sore, and covered in the blood of the victims. The clearing had been about a half a mile South of the shack, and luckily, the SWAT team members who hadn’t been killed, were able to drag most of the victims to the clearing.
After the victims had been removed, the surviving officers searched the area for signs of the fugitives. During the search, one of the officers discovered a cave entrance nearby. SWAT team members entered the cave and checked it for more booby traps. They reemerged from the cave a few minutes later telling everyone that the entrance was clear, but that the cave had many passageways, which had not yet been cleared.
Tom and Steve entered the cave, followed by most of the search team. The SWAT team went up ahead, clearing the passageways as they went forward through the winding labyrinth. The trail was easy to follow, because the floor of the cave was muddy, and footprints could be easily seen. Nonetheless, nobody wanted to take any chances after the nightmare that had occurred outside earlier. Tom and Steve followed closely behind the SWAT team, and noticed that a lantern had been discarded along the way.
A few minutes later, one of the SWAT team members called Tom to the front. Tom and Steve threaded their way to the front of the line, and saw a set of bear tracks join the footprints. Steve pointed out a second lantern, which was broken on the floor of the cave. “Wow,” said Tom, “These guys went toe to toe with a bear in this cave in the dark, and there are no corpses in sight?”
Steve pointed out that some of the stalactites had been broken off, and there were hairs on some of the rock outcroppings. The SWAT team leader pointed out that the footprints (and bear tracks) appeared to veer off to the right down another passageway. Several of the officers followed this path, but reported that it made a circle and rejoined this path. They also reported that one of the sets of footprints seemed to have disappeared in the process. “Could one of them have been eaten whole by the bear?” asked Tom.
“No, I think I know what happened,” said Steve, “but I don’t think you’re gonna believe me.”
“Try me,” said Tom.
“I think that one of the fugitives may h
ave hopped on the bear’s back, and rode the bear out of here,” said Steve.
“You’re right,” said Tom, “I don’t believe you.”
“Hear me out,” said Steve. “I think that they were running around this circle to get away from the bear in the dark, and stumbled on the bear. Naturally, the bear couldn’t turn around in these skinny passageways, and it must have seemed to them to be the only option, so one of them hopped on the bear’s back.”
“Holy crap!” said Tom. “We are going to find body parts scattered all over the ground outside this cave. Now we have a pissed off bear to content with as well as three psychos.”
Chapter 38
Doc woke up in a log with a horrible throbbing in his head. “What the hell happened?” he asked himself. The last thing he remembered was someone grabbing him from behind and running through the dark cave. He remembered hitting something hard and then everything had gone black. Now, here he was stuffed into a hollow log.
Doc lay still and listened to the sounds that were coming from somewhere above him. Someone or something was up in a tree nearby, and was snarling in anger. From the sound of it, this was a large animal, and it didn’t sound friendly. Doc tried to guess how far away this animal was, and figured that it was probably fifty or so feet away.
Doc slowly crawled to the end of the log, and peeked out. At first, he couldn’t believe what he saw, a bear in a tree. I thought bears couldn’t climb trees, he thought to himself. This bear looked to be about halfway up a large tree about fifty feet away. I had better get out of here before that bear makes it to the ground, he thought.
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