6 Miles With Courage

by LaCorte, Thomas

  At first he had little motivation to stand up and meet the oncoming vehicle. After all the last two had went right past him, but after consulting his watch he had a change of heart. It was precisely one o’clock and if this was the ranger than this is the moment he had worked so hard for.

  In the distance a pickup truck was coming. When it was close enough to see blue lights on the roof, well then Ryan knew at that very moment that it was indeed the ranger!

  Ryan made a desperate move. He decided that it was time to put an end to whether or not he was among the living or the dead! He simply could not bear to see the ranger drive right by without stopping. He walked out into the center of the road and stood there facing the oncoming truck. Either the ranger was going to stop or he was going to drive right through him. Ryan simply was not going to have it any other way!

  Standing in the road with half the clay washed off of him he looked like some kind of a creature, like a melting orange statue as the truck bore down on him from one hundred yards away. Ryan raised not his hand, as that technique failed him the last time. No, he just stood his ground fully expecting the truck to pass right through him—not feeling a thing. He closed his eyes and waited.

  SCREEEEECHHH! Ryan opened his eyes to the horror of the truck sliding sideways as it tried to stop!

  It slid to the left! It slid to the right! It straightened back out. It came to a smoking, steamy stop, just inches from Ryan’s chest. The ranger stared in disbelief thinking he was about to run over the Skunk Ape!

  But when he saw it was a young man, well he just got angry.

  The ranger flicked on his flashing blue lights and stepping one foot out of his open door, he leaned out into the drizzled and bellowed at Ryan, “What are you trying to do, get yourself killed?”

  Ryan answered with a slight smile, “I thought I already had,” he said, “yesterday.”

  “Are you the ranger that comes by here every day,” Ryan asked. You see Ryan was not yet convinced that his ordeal to find the ranger was over.

  “And are you that certain ranger that spoke with a Rob Sykes every day at lunch time for about six months?” Ryan asked as the steam coming off the hood stung his eyes, yet he never flinched, never moved an inch.

  Ryan could see the ranger as he mulled the question over in his brain.

  “He is a surveyor who was working near-by,” Ryan added.

  “Oh yes, Rob, I got to know him pretty well, why he and I—”

  That’s all that Ryan had to hear, it was time to give in to exhaustion. The blood left his brain, his knees buckled, and Ryan collapsed. He disappears in front of the truck leaving the ranger in mid-sentence.

  Putting the truck in park the ranger ran around to the front of his vehicle and with both hands under Ryan’s shoulders dragged him to the side of the road. He retrieved a blanket and a rain coat from his truck. He put Ryan on top of the blanket and covered him with the rain coat. He went back to his truck and pulled out an umbrella. He bent down alongside of Ryan and with one hand gently lifted Ryan’s head up.

  Ryan heard a distant voice calling to him.

  “Are you alright sir? Sir, are you ok?” the ranger called to Ryan.

  At first Ryan did not know who the stranger above him with the umbrella was talking to. It had been sometime since anybody called him sir!

  “I’m fine,” Ryan said weakly batting his eyes trying to clear them to get a better look at the ranger. The ranger wiped Ryan’s eyes with a towel he pulled from his jacket.

  “I’m Ryan Sir, Ryan Sykes!”

  “Son is that supposed to mean something to me?”

  “My father is the land surveyor that you had lunch with,” Ryan said.

  “Oh, ok,” He said looking at Ryan intently.

  “Have you not heard of a missing or overdue airplane?” Ryan asked.

  “Well yes I did, not more than forty five minutes ago,” the ranger said, “Why?” he seemed puzzled.

  “That was our plane, we were the ones that crashed and I have to get back to him, I have to save my father, he’s dying!” Ryan said growing faint.

  “Are you sure, I mean are you really sure you were on that airplane and that it did indeed crash?” The ranger asked with considerable skepticism. And rightfully so, there had been no report of a crash only of an overdue airplane and after all the report did just come in.

  “Oh I’m sure alright. I just spent twenty hours walking six miles through a miserable swamp to get here!” Ryan exclaimed with a raw truth in his eyes.

  The Ranger now convinced set Ryan’s head down gently. His eyes grew big as pie plates as he stood up telling Ryan, “You don’t go anywhere, now you just stay right there a minute, I have to make a call on the radio.” He danced with nervousness and excitement on his way to the truck. He was halfway there when suddenly he turned around and shimmied back to Ryan saying again, “I mean it now don’t you go anywhere!” and turning he ran back to the truck to place the call that would set the rescue operation into full motion.

  Ryan lay there in the grass. He could hear the ranger on the radio. The traffic, as little as it was, slowed down to gawk at the young man on the side of the road covered by a rain coat. The ranger’s truck was still in the middle of the road, its lights flashing.

  Ryan had a great feeling of content wash over him. He had done it! He had gone the six miles, and he had done it with courage.

  Everything should be routine from here on out. The fate of his father now lies with God and the skillful hands of the first responders and also with Sheriff Bob Mallory. The weirdness is over—or is it?

  Ryan will feel the need to lead the search party down the river for it’s his ribbons and his ribbons alone that mark the trail to his father. And as Ryan will soon discover things are about to get a whole lot freakier!

  Chapter Twenty Seven

  The ranger station is but a short distance from where the ranger found Ryan. It would be the staging area for the rescue attempt. The ranger helped Ryan into the pickup truck and drove him to the safety of the station at the boat ramp. Sherriff Mallory notified him that they would be landing to question Ryan. When Judy got the call she dropped everything and headed for the station.

  Judy made the wise decision not to inform Ryan’s siblings of the situation for there was not a thing they could do but worry. Ryan’s brother was off at college and his sister was on a mission trip. Neither did she take the time to call Ryan’s best friend Brent.

  She grabbed Ryan some clean clothes and took with her towels, snacks and drinks. As if the ambulance was not going to have supplies! But that was Judy.

  Judy did not pay very close attention to what the sheriff’s deputy told her either. All she heard was that Ryan had been through an ordeal and that a rescue operation was being organized to go back and get her husband. She was on her way hoping that this was not much more than the stunts her husband had pulled before. She would get the details when she caught up with her son.

  When the ambulance pulled up Ryan looked out the window of the ranger station and asked, “Who is that for?” thinking that they were there a bit early for his father. Surely it couldn’t be for him, he was expecting to see the boat and rescue party so that he could lead them down the river.

  “It’s for you,” said the ranger, “nothing serious but you should be looked at by professionals.”

  The ranger told Ryan to stay inside a moment while he went to talk to the ambulance personnel. He knew it was Ryan’s intentions to get on that rescue boat just as soon as it arrived. He had listened to Ryan’s story of the crash and he was worried that Ryan may be hiding injuries or that he may have internal ones that he knows nothing about.

  Ryan purposely withheld the details of the death of Jebediah and Obadiah for fear that the search party would be distracted. Ryan would give all the details once his father was rescued.

  For now the drizzle had stopped and the early afternoon sky, although grey, seemed to brighten up somewhat as the ranger stepped out o
f the station. The paramedics were taking the stretcher out of the back of the ambulance but before the ranger could speak with them two sheriff cruisers came sliding into the lot with their lights flashing. Out of the first cruiser stepped Judy. They had intercepted her as she was speeding to get there.

  Ryan saw his mom through the window and went to the doorway where he stood and watched her as she stepped out of the car. She spotted him in the doorway wrapped in a blanket. She walked towards him with a plastic shopping bag, one in each hand. One has clean clothes the other snacks and drinks.

  “Happy Birthday honey!” she said. Ryan did not answer—his face quivered—he was too choked up with emotion at the sight of her. Her steps slowed as she grew nearer to him. The closer she came the less it looked like Ryan; the dirty face, the matted down hair, the far-off look in his eyes. When she was three feet from him, both bags dropped to the floor.

  “Ryan?” she said faintly.

  “Oh mom!” he said.

  After raising his arms she saw the rest of his mud-caked body. But it did not matter to her as she embraced him in a very long hug.

  “Mom I have to go to him! I have to go to him soon! I promised him I would be back!”

  “Who Ryan, go to who?” Judy asked with both hands clasping his face.

  “Dad!” he said.

  “Where is your father?”

  Before he could answer her she turned towards the ranger and the ambulance crew who were caught up in the reunion of a mother and her son.

  “What are you people waiting for?” she exclaimed, “don’t you have a shower in this place?” she said as she ushered Ryan back inside with the others in tow.

  “Where is your father?” she asked again as she scrambled around looking for a shower. She found one and turned it on.

  “He’s in the plane mom and he’s trapped!” Ryan said, “I have to go to him!”

  “Oh!” Judy said raising a hand to cover her mouth.

  “Well then you will go to him and you will bring him back!” she said, “now here, take this bag of clean clothes and get in the shower, they need to check you for injuries. I will fix you something to eat,” she said as she ushered him into the bathroom.

  “As soon as he gets out of the shower you can check him over,” she said addressing the paramedics. Then she turned to the ranger.

  “Where is Sherriff Bob Mallory? I need to speak to Bob!” she said.

  “He is on his way in the helicopter and should be here momentarily,” he replied.

  He had no sooner finished speaking when the sound of a chopper could be heard in the distance. Leaving Ryan in the shower they all walked to the door and stepping out, watched as the circling helicopter was preparing to land.

  After what seemed like an eternity the chopper put down. Judy stepped out and waited for the blades to come to a stop as the engine wound down with a whine. Bob Mallory stepped out and started walking to Judy. They met halfway and embraced tightly. It was out of concern not passion.

  Ryan had stepped out of the shower and watched their embrace from the window. He knew about the situation between his mother and Bob and he certainly didn’t trust him. He knew the rescue team was needed to extract his father but the last thing he wanted was Bob alone with his father. Ryan felt he must be present when Sherriff Mallory arrived on the scene.

  As Bob, Judy, and the ranger headed back inside Ryan turned to the paramedics.

  “Let’s get this over with,” he said, “My father is waiting for me.”

  The paramedic’s checked his vital signs and dressed his wounds. They were minor wounds but they were telling him that they wanted to take him in for observation as Bob and Judy walked into the room.

  “Absolutely not, I told you I have to get back to my father,” he said. He waited for them to argue with him but surprisingly they began to pack up their gear and grant him his wish. After all he was an adult now and the decision was entirely up to him. They reluctantly left but not before getting an assurance from Ryan that he would get himself thoroughly checked out when he returned from helping his father.

  “Ryan how are you son?” Bob asked sincerely.

  “I’m fine Bob but my father isn’t. He’s in a bad way Sherriff!”

  Judy said, “I’ll go and heat you up something in the microwave Ryan,” as she rushed out of the room leaving the two of them to discuss the gravity of the situation. The ranger went to help Judy find her way around the kitchen.

  “Ryan, please sit and tell me what you can. I need to know as much as possible to properly organize the rescue operation,” Bob said taking a seat next to Ryan.

  “Mike told me that your plane crashed about—”

  “Mike? Who is Mike?” Ryan asked.

  “That would be Mike the ranger that found you,” said Bob.

  “Oh, how rude of me, I never even asked him his name.”

  “You do have a boat coming don’t you?” asked Ryan.

  “Yes, yes I do!” answered Bob.

  “And we are going to need a raft also because there are too many trees—”

  “Ryan,” Bob said cutting him off, “I need you to start from the beginning and I need you to just give me the important details like you just said, the trees, but start from the beginning,” Bob took out a pad and pencil.

  “We were on our way up to scout a job when we were passing over the river,” Ryan said gazing off into some far corner of the room.

  “Dad asked if I wanted to get a closer look and I said sure! He cut the engine and took us down low. He was explaining to me about the job when he said he would take us back up and then that’s when it happened,” Ryan paused.

  “What happened?” Bob asked as he wrote.

  “There was a bang and a shudder and then silence, there was oil on the windshield and the propeller, the propeller had stopped still! And we were sinking!” Ryan said.

  “Go on, go on,” Bob said.

  “Dad said to brace yourself we had no time for a “Mayday”. We hit the trees in less than a minute. The last thing I saw was netting or vines, yes it was vines in the treetops and then came a big bang and then everything went dark, I woke up ten minutes later.”

  “You were alright but your dad, not so good?” Bob asked gently.

  Ryan started to sob but he quickly regained his composer for his mother’s sake.

  “He is pinned in so bad that the only thing I could see was the back of his head. I mean just a patch of his black hair and there was blood on it. He told me he could hold out until tonight.” Ryan said.

  “I know your father and if that is what he told you than you can hang your hat on it, so now tell me how are we going to find him? How on earth did you get here? Mike told me that you told him that you walked out? Is that right?” Bob asked in disbelief.

  “Yes that’s right, my dad had a G.P.S. unit and with his machete I hacked my way out to the river where I built a raft. After crossing it, I came to Forest Road 77 and then to Highway 19 where Mike found me.”

  “Do you have the G.P.S. unit?”

  “No, but I marked the trail with bright survey ribbon like my dad said. Just in case something happened to the G.P.S. unit. All we have to do is motor down the river for 2 miles, launch the raft to the shore, than hike in 2 miles to my Dad!”

  “What happened to the G.P.S. unit? If we can get our hands on it the chopper can fly right to the spot and lower down everything we need. Ryan we need that unit!” Bob said.

  “I left it on my raft,” Ryan said, and he left it at that.

  Judy walked in with a nice hot plate of food that she and the ranger cooked up. She handed it to Ryan and he eagerly dove in.

  “You know Ryan, as soon as the media gets a hold of this you’re going to be a local hero.” Bob said as he watched Ryan wolf down his food.

  “Yep, I can just see it now, “Local boy walks six miles—alone—with the greatest of courage.” Bob said.

  Ryan was just about to finish up his plate, just about to take the
last bite when he inadvertently let it slip.

  “Oh, I wasn’t alone,” he said!

  Ryan kept his head down, his fork came to a stand-still, and he closed his eyes for he knew what was coming next. Man! He said in the silence of his mind.

  “Ryan?” Bob asked waiting for Ryan to open his eyes and raise his head. He opened his eyes and took the last bite of food, and after setting the plate down on the table in front of him stared blankly at the plate. It looked to Sherriff Bob and his mother that he was hiding something. His mother knew that he was indeed hiding something.

  His mother spoke, “Ryan?”

  Ryan does not look up as they patiently wait for an answer. Now he is in a quandary. Does he tell them that he was not alone because he carries within him all the love and courage of all the generations of Sykes that came before him, like his father told him? Or does he tell them the truth, the whole truth?

  His mother spoke again, “Ryan?” she paused and then said, “What did you mean, you were not alone?”

  Ryan comes up with of a way out.

  “Do you want me to lie to you, or do you want me to tell you the truth?” Ryan asked.

  “We would like the truth of course,” his mother said.

  “Ok, after leaving the wreckage with dad’s G.P.S. unit I was tracking on the bearing that dad gave me to follow and tying ribbons on trees along the way when I fell into a deep hole. A tall dark stranger in bizarre clothing helped me out. His hair was piled up in a bun and he was every bit of seven feet tall.”

  Ryan paused for a moment as Mike and his mother now took a seat, all three of them looked at each other, then they looked back at Ryan. He continued.

  “I think he was an American Indian re-enactor or something, he looked like a Seminole. Anyway I wanted to thank him but he just vanished.” Ryan paused again at the creaking of the chairs as they all sat back.

  “I made it to the Oklawaha River where two monkeys tried to take my pack and a panther tried to attack me after nightfall.” Ryan’s mother gasped.