CHAPTER 22
Following the tracks of the invaders wasn't very hard at all. It hadn't been very long since baby kidnappers had peeled off; the crew pack their things into Jimmy's surprisingly resilient car. The group of survivors followed the shallow tire tracks that were left by semi trucks, they did so with haste as the tracks were being filled with more snow by the minute. Along with the tracks, they followed a breadcrumb trail of discarded weapons and ammunition. After two hours of traveling down a beaten and decaying mountain road, they had reached their destination.
Their car halted to a stop in front of a dead end. A thick and eerie fog haunted the area in front of the car, it obscured most of the dead end from the car's halogen headlights The fog looked like it rolled across the hood in visible swirls, like spooky wraiths of the cold. The only thing they could see in front of them was a small passageway in a wall of evergreen trees that towered in front of them. The opening was clearly impassable by way of their car, so they stepped out of the car and scanned their immediate surroundings with their flashlights.
As the squad made their way to the trunk to retrieve their weapons, their beams cut through the heavy fog to reveal several giant semi trucks parked at a beaten up curb at the base of the wall of evergreen trees.
Gavin recognized those as the trucks from before. They were parked at the curb of what may have been another residential lot. Perhaps it was an abandoned cabin lot, thought Gavin. The guns were no longer in the bed of thee trucks, the doors were locked and the windows rolled up. Gavin made sure to check.
Behind Gavin, Jimmy was handing out weapons like an ice cream man handing out cold, decadent summertime treats to children out of his ice cream truck. Gavin and Blane already had their treats: A three round burst SMG for Blane and Gavin chose to keep his shotgun.
Jimmy gently closed the trunk, being as quiet as he could. NO one knew what they were signing on for once they walked that path and came out on the other side that was god knows where, they were all scared half to death. For all they knew, the mission could be anything from a spec ops hostage rescue mission to a Rambo style shootout, or anything in between.
Jimmy approached Gavin and Jake with a silver and mahogany colored assault rifle with a banana clip, suppressor, and flashlight rigged to the side of the gun. In a chest holster, he stored his revolver. The rest of the group approached the trio, appearing out of the mist like movie monsters.
Eddie, Matt, Sara, and Darya were armed with identical matte black assault rifles with straps that wrapped around their shoulders and across their chests. The rifles bounced off them as they approached, the wind blowing through their hair and strapping their shirts loosely around their torsos as they walked towards the guys.
Eddie had a cocky smirk on his face as he walked beside Matt. Eddie slightly put his foot out and tripped Matt.
"Whoops." said Eddie playfully as he continued walking, Sara and Darya didn't seem to notice a thing and the trio grinned, clearly amused.
Matt tilted his head up form the snow, his face was powdered with snow. He grinned, "Man, you about to get it now." Matt lifted himself up from the snow and ran up behind Eddie and slapped him hard in the back of the head before reassuming his position in the lineup.
Matt cleared his throat, still brushing snow off his face and black V-neck that stooped far too low down on his chest. "Jimmy boy, what's the plan?"
Jimmy turned to face Matt, looking worried. "No idea, just go through there and..." Jimmy motioned towards the gap in the trees. "And hope for the best."
Matt pulled back the slide of his gun and released it, "Game on."
The group readied their weapons and started into the eerie passageway. Although Jimmy was clearly nervous as he tugged at the far collar of his black turtleneck sweater, he decided to lead. He was fueled by righteousness and anger towards the sick sadist who had kidnapped his friend and then stooped as low as taking his baby too.
The compadres filed into the pitch-black passageway that was made even more ominous by the complete absence of any natural light whatsoever. Claustrophobia quickly encompassed the group. The passageway was only wide enough for one person to go through at a time, and they had to shimmy sideways as well. Jimmy decided bravely to lead, the rest of the group silently and reluctantly lined up behind him; Jake and Gavin stationed themselves at the end of the line and faced backwards in case of an ambush. After all, an ambush was just as likely as anything was at the moment.
The tunnel's path was obscured by stray branches riddled with sharp thorns that stuck out from the hedge walls. The walls were, to Jimmy's best guess, giant hedges; he judged this by the cold feeling of leaves brushing up against his arms that were bare because he'd rolled his sleeves to his elbows. The anxiety had caused him to feel uncomfortably warm, despite the frigid temperatures that cold winter's night.
After a long and bruising walk through the tunnel, they walkout onto an expansive lawn. The field was overgrown with tall golden spears of elephant grass. the towering grass must've ben at least ten feet tall. The coverage was so dense that there must've not been a single square inch that wasn't populated by the densely grown blades of grass.
But, barely peaking over the grass and set to a backdrop of a dark and stormy sky, was the snow-blanketed dome of a building; from which a flagpole that flew an American flag that flapped and whipped wildly in the wind.
Jimmy inhaled the cold, thin air and exhaled tiny swirls of smoke. He rotated with his hands on his hips, taking in his serene and belittling surroundings. He rotated back to face the dome and looked down at the grass. He turned back around to face his scared friends.
Jimmy gave a slight nod, knowing what route to take, and why he was going to take it. He turned around and parted the tall strands of golden grass. He looked over his shoulder with one foot into the path to see his reluctant and unbudging friends, who he may never see again.
As Jimmy disappeared into the copious filed, the group, stunned, looked at each other. They wondered whether they should pursue or not. After no one decided to pursue for a good couple minutes, Eddie scoffed as he took Jimmy's place.
"You guys..." Eddie rolled his eyes and parted the opening into the field. "All I got say to you is, there's something not right here. And I'm going to follow my best friend and get to the bottom of this. Just remember, what's right is tight, no matter how wrong it seems." he stepped in and looked over his shoulder one last time, "It's time to stop being afraid." with that he vanished into the field.
ns 15.158.61.23da2
