his head while I dashed off into the woods.
I was relieved to find the rifle they gave to me propped up against the rocks just as I left it. I made my way back to Gary’s Jeep as Miles and Brad were stowing their weapons in a compartment underneath the storage bin behind the
back seat. I handed my rifle to Gary. He took it and placed it with the others. Vargas made a mad dash from the cabin and hopped in the back seat. Gary was driving a nd shotgun belonged to Miles to accommodate his long ass legs. That left Me, Vargas and Brad to try and wedge ourselves in the back.
Gary backed up the Jeep and hit the gas as gravel and dust flew from the tires
as we headed back down the mountain. For those of us in the back we were
fortunate that Gary’s Jeep was a convertible. With all the bumps and rocks we plowed over all three of us would have sustained some head trauma it the Jeep were a hard top.
At the bottom of the mountain we turned right heading south on Highway
97. We passed two vehicles in less than half a mile. “That’s probably their vehicles”, Vargas offered. “Shouldn’t we do something with them”, I inquired? “No, let the state police dick with it, we need to get away from here as fast as possible”, Vargas repli ed.
It was quiet for a few moments when a thought occurred to me. With Vargas about as powerful as I was, why did he resort to using a weapon instead of using his mind; so I asked? He gave me a sly grin and responded, “Remember what I said about my heart. It won’t take very much activity to put an end to my existence, so my best course of action is to use more conventional means until we reach our destination, then you and I will join forces to blow the crap out of
Round Mountain”. That comment brought a satisfying grin to my face.
“When are we heading to Round Mountain”, I asked? “Soon, but first we make
a pit stop in Klamath Falls which is where our second hide out is located, so enjoy
the ri de”. I was satisfied; I knew where we were going and I figured we would head for Round Mountain soon after we get to Klamath Falls. I was hopeful they had some type of plan in place. My plan of walking up unannounced didn’t seem too promising. I asked if anyone had a map. I had no clue where Klamath Falls
was. I was too tired to try and find it; between the flying car and our latest round
of excitement I was exhausted. I laid my head back on the seat and almost fell
asleep before my head touched the back of the seat.
21
The dark blue Jeep was blazing its way south on Highway 97. It passed a late
model black Audi. They would not notice it though; it was well hidden by the trees and the dark of night. The vehicle waited almost thirty seconds before pulling out on 97 in pursuit of the dark blue jeep. They kept their headlights off while keeping a safe distance between vehicles. Two miles had passed when a second vehicle joined the caravan on 97. The black BMW pulled behind the Audi and employed the same tactics with keeping the lights off.
A cell phone started chirping and the driver of the Audi picked it up from the tray of the console. The driver knew who it was and didn’t even look at it before he answered. “Yeah Reed, You think that Beamer can keep up”? “Fuck you Foster, you just call my cell when you want to do this”, Reed answered sarcastically. “A little testy tonight, I told you that Ranker had shit for a plan and
he wouldn’t make it”. “I can’t comment on his plan, but from what I understand,
no one has been able to get close to this kid, and now he has help. So tell me
Foster do you think your plan will have a happy ending”?
Amateurs, all of them; just remember that you and I were the ones to bring in that fat ass Vargas, and we will bring this one in too. Hey, since Vargas is with him maybe Mr. Baily will double the amount if we bring in both; what do you think”? “Un likely, but it’s worth a shot. How do you know Vargas is in the jeep”?
“Night vision headgear was a great idea of yours. If you would have had them
on, you would have seen him in the back seat with Billy”. Reed could tell Foster
was getting ri led as his breathing was highly audible. “Okay Foster settle down,
just need to know when Landrey is joining us”? Foster’s breathing was returning
to normal, “He’ll join us in about ten miles and fall in behind you, then we’ll pick
up the pace and get a bit closer but not enough for them to know. When I call
you on the cell, that’s when we hit the lights, I ram their little jeep off the road,
and then you and Landrey will shoot Billy with the Tranquilizer darts and I will
dispose of the rest of them”.
“Are you sure the kid can survive a crash like that”, Reed asked? “From what I’m told, the amount of electricity in him acts as a shield; he won’t feel anything and with any luck the crash will knock him out which will make the task easier for
you and Landrey”, Foster concluded. “Do we know where they are headed”, Reed inquired? Foster sighed and replied, “Yeah, they’re heading for Klamath Falls, but that’s irrelevant since they’re not going to make it”.
22
Gary’s head actions was concerning to Vargas. Gary kept checking the rear view mirror every couple of seconds. “What’s up chief, you see something”?
Gary made another glance at the mirror and replied, “Boys, we got us some company”. Vargas quickly jerked his head a round to have a look. The street lights were few and far between, but Vargas kept watching until they passed one. He kept looking and then added, “There’s more than one. How long have they been following”? “Maybe ten minutes, maybe less”, Gary said as he continuedchecking the mirror every few seconds.
Vargas looked over at Billy, who was sound asleep, figuring they could use his help with this, but Vargas was confident that he could handle whatever the pursuing party was going to throw at them and let Billy sleep. He remembered how much it took out of him when he had to use his power for an extended period of time and figured that Billy needed the rest.
Vargas leaned to his left and was giving Brad some instructions. As Vargas was leaning forward to inform the front row of the plan for their followers, lights flashed on and the Jeep was rammed from behind. They didn’t hear it coming, as Gary was trying to regain control of the jeep. The jeep was already on a steep
embankment a few feet off the road with dust and debris spraying in all
directions.
Gary made a hard turn to his left to try and climb back up, but the turn was too severe and the Jeep started to role. The Jeep twisted and turned and flipped over seven times before coming to a stop at the bottom of the ravine.
Gary and Miles went through the windshield. Gary landed face first on a pile of rocks while Miles ended up bending the wrong direction as he was flying sideways and hit a thick pine tree backside first. Neither of them survived the initial impact. They were gone. Vargas had tried to hold on to Billy and Brad, but Brad bounced out of the back seat and landed in a pile of broken tree limbs near the bottom of the ravine, about twenty yards to the left of where Gary and Miles
landed. He was still alive, but just barely.
Vargas and Billy were tossed out of the Jeep right when it started to flip and they both rolled down the steep hill about one hundred yards or so and landed in a pile of some dead brush before being abruptly stopped by a small stream. The fall got Billy’s attention; the cold running water woke him up completely.
23
I remember trying to sit up and then confusion sat in as I couldn’t understand why my pants felt wet. I looked around as Vargas was a step ahead of me, he was trying to stand. What the hell happened, one minute I’m asleep, and the next I’m sitting in a small river. After taking a quick inventory and satisfied that everything was where it was supposed to be, I tried to stand up but went back down again as
the dizziness hit.
In my daze I was able to see
flashlights coming down the hill. Thank god someone had stopped to help us. I was able to get to my feet and rocked my way over to Vargas as he was almost at the bank of the river when I heard a gunshot, followed by a scream which was followed by two more gunshots. It took a moment to sink in as my dazed condition still prevailed, but I realized that
whoever was there was not here to hel p us.
I dashed over and caught up with Vargas and the edge of the embankment and we pulled ourselves back onto dry land. Confused and tired was not a healthy combination right now. Vargas had ahold of my arm as we tried to get a
fix in on where the shots came from. I could feel a warm sensation running down the bridge of my nose and between my eyes. It was dark but I knew it was blood. I started to whisper to Vargas if he was okay when he grabbed his shoulder and hit the ground. What the hell, I didn’t hear any gunshot go off. Ouch, crap something just hit my arm, and again no gunshot.
Vargas and I sat down on a pile of rocks along the side of the river when our
shooters came into view. Three of them, two of which had a normal looking rifles
while the third had a smaller and very narrow barrel on his. I looked at Vargas and he was already looking at me. The two with the normal looking rifles were taking aim at us. My eyes were feeling heavy and as I peered over at Vargas, his eyes were looking a bit droopy.
We looked at each other, Vargas said, “You take the left, I’ll take the right”. I nodded in agreement, but we needed to do this quick as I didn’t know how long I would be able to keep my eyes open. The shooters took anothe r step closer. I took aim on the shooter on the left and made the shooter turn his rifle on the guy
with the small rifle and fire. Vargas made his shooter hold his weapon straight u p so not to be aimed at anyone. Then as I made the shooter turn back, Va rgas made his shooter take aim at his partner, as I did with mine. Somehow we managed to make them fire at each other at the same time. The shooter on the
left fell face first on the rocks, while the second clutched his chest and rolled into
the river facedown.
A satisfying grin came over Vargas’s face as it did mine. Then I got to thinking about if Gary, Brad and Miles were alive, but before I could finish that thought, my eyes found themselves closed while darkness found me.
24
I woke up to the sound of running water and the snoring exploits of Vargas. The sun was out which normally would be nice except for when you have a splitting headache. I rolled over to my side and found some shade from a nearby
tree. My head was pounding, my stomach felt sour, and I wanted to hurl, but I knew that would make my head hurt even worse, so I just laid there until the feeling diminished somewhat.
After a few moments I was able to sit up without falling back over; a good sign I thought. I stumbled to my feet and went down to the river; actually in daylight it wasn’t much more than a fast moving creek. I knelt down on the bank and started splashing water on my face, then cupping my hands together to greedily quench my thirst.
Wiping water from my forehead, I discovered that the right side of my face
was crusted over with blood and I could feel whatever cut I received whenever I
opened and closed my mouth. Last night’s events were still a mystery, as I slept
through what happened until I landed in the creek.
I felt my shoulder tighten as I tried to spread my arms and stretch. My ribs, on my right side were more than a bit sore, it was downright painful. I stepped back into the sunlight to access any other abnormalities that I had yet to discover. My
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jeans were ripped in a few places, and a small cut on my left knee. I suppose I should feel lucky to come out of this with just the basic cuts and bruises, but looking up the ravine I could see what was left of the Jeep; that’s when I remembered the gunshots.
Vargas had stopped snoring and was starting to stir when I went over to him. His yellow Oregon Ducks tee shirt was ripped on his right side at the shoulder, revealing a rather large gash right above his armpit.
Vargas was able to sit up after two failed attempts. The look on his face was more of a pissed nature than dazed, as I was . I pointed towards the creek and he acknowledged with a nod. After a few moments of splashing and drinking, he lumbered his way over to me.
“Damn, that was the same drug they shot into me when they captured me and took me to the compound”, Vargas declared as he continued to ru n his tongue around the inside of his mouth to try and get rid of the bitter taste which was one of the side effects of the drug. “What kind of drug was it”, I asked? “Don’t know except that it’s one that they use to get bears out of trees”, he replied with a shrug.
We heard a rustling sound behind us coming from behind the pine tree just to
our left. I slowly turned and noticed a squirrel sitting on a pile of rocks that took up residence at the base of the tree. I looked over at Vargas and smile d, “Guess I’m a little jumpy”. Vargas studied the squirrel and replied, “Well, now I know who took a crap in my mouth last night”, as he continued his tongue ritual to get
that awful taste out of his mouth.
I started laughing at his comment, but my ribs put a stop to any prolonged laughter. Vargas turned towards the ravine when I noticed the baseball that was growing out of the back of his head. The squirrel took offense to Vargas’s remark as he scattered away from us.
“What do we do now”, asking although I knew the options were limited at
best? “Are you kidding, we’re going to Round Mountain”, Vargas replied, brimming with confidence. Looking up the ravine at the scattered remains of the Jeep brought more questions to mind. “How are we goi ng to manage that, the Jeep is trashed and”…………….. I stopped as Vargas gave me a look of disbelief, “You seem to forget, that there are other vehicles parked up on the road; we just take our pick”.
That made sense, which I’m glad one of us is able to do, since my mind is still in the hazy mode. I followed Vargas as we went up to the Jeep. I almost screamed in delight as I came across my backpack which went flying without me last night. Memories were returning as I patted the pockets of my jean jacket. I was flooded with relief as I found my phone still tucked away in my right front pocket. My relief sank as quickly as it appeared when I pulled my phone out and saw that the screen was smashed. I turned it on, but nothing came up on the
screen. How was I supposed to keep in touch with Jenny? I needed to tell her
what had happened last night so not to worry.
Vargas was digging around the twisted remains of the Jeep as I continued to fiddle with the phone. Vargas hollered with delight, “Found it”, as I looked over as he held up the small leather satchel that held the emergency money. Things were looking up to a certain degree. We started to walk up the ravine towards the road when we came across Brad, who had been shot point blank to the head. His eyes were staring lifelessly above him. A little farther up I came across Miles as Vargas located Gary.
Miles was almost bent in two in the wrong direction. Gary landed on a pile of
wood. Unfortunately one of the limbs he landed on had impaled him through the
chest. My stomach was turning at the sight of my friends, or what was left of
them. Vargas was getting pissed as I felt the ground starting to rumble under my
feet. “Save your strength”, I pleaded as he looked over and threw his arms up in
the air; helpless to his friends.
We continued our climb as I grabbed ahold of Vargas’s arm, “Wait a minute, I think we are missing a couple of things”. Vargas rolled his eyes and started climbing again. “Hey wait, you want to tell me where the other bodies are”? That brought him to a halt as he turned back to me as I pointed towards the creek, “Those three that we
wasted last night; where did they go? And if they rose from the dead, then I don’t want to know”.
Vargas stopped for a moment trying to recount last night’s events before succumbing to the drugs. “I’ll be a son of a bitch”, as he turned and sprinted as fast as he could up the ravine. I followed but was not catching up to him. He may be overweight, but he could move.
We reached the road, oblivious to the fact that we might be spotted by traffic. There was no traffic to be seen, and there were no vehicles to be seen. We looked at each other tired and confused. Somehow, the vehicles disappeared,
but more importantly was the faint sound of sirens blaring in the distance and heading this way. We retreated down the ravine before the sirens got too close. We’ve been set up, but for what, and we weren’t going to stick around to find
out.
25
The Sheriff and the Captain had started southbound on highway 101, but with the help of his NSA friend, Adrian Montrosse, the Sheriff was receiving pings on his phone showing the most recent locations of Billy. After explaining their slight detour to Captain Ackers, the Captain replied, “I’m just here for the scenery”.
They had just past Sister’s Mountains on highway 20 and getting ready to merge with highway 97 south when they heard the call come in on the radio.
“You think that the vehicle at the bottom of the ravine had something to do with
Billy”, Bill inquired? “I’m just hoping that Billy’s not in the group that died in the crash”, The Sheriff replied. “So that’s why we headed in this direction first, because you weren’t getting anymore pings from his phone. Did it occur to you that the phone may be turned off, or he ran out of juice”?
The Sheriff shot Bill a look while explaining, “Even when the phones off, it still
The Road to Round Mountain II - The Alliance: By C.G Roberts Page 7
