“I know, but I was only guessing a hundred miles a night,” she said, taking his hand.
“Man, do I miss cars,” Nathan yawned, and drifted off to sleep.
Chapter 24
Day 61
Hearing a low, deep-throated growl, Nathan opened his eyes, looking around for Ares. When Nathan saw Ares in front of the buggies, he sighed then heard. “Tat-tat-tttat-ttttat-ttttshhhhh.”
“Shit,” Nathan snapped, and crawled out from under the buggy, half crawling and running toward Ares. “Ares, back.” Still growling, Ares eased back as Nathan looked down at the diamondback rattlesnake raised up and ready to strike. The rattle was moving so fast now it was hissing. “How many times do I have to tell you to leave them alone? You can’t play with the rattle. One would think since you’ve been bitten twice you’d leave the damn things alone.”
Nathan found a long stick, then saw Athena standing on the hood of his buggy. “You are smarter than Ares about some things.”
As Nathan walked over to the snake, John got out of the buggy. “Man, I’m glad you got up. Ares wouldn’t listen, and you didn’t teach us about rattlesnakes.”
“Now you know why I don’t try to find them. My dog is an idiot when it comes to rattlesnakes. These he loves to play with, even if he has been bitten,” Nathan said, moving closer to the snake. Even though he was several yards away, when the snake struck at him, he jumped back.
“Man, that thing is meaner than the copperhead,” John said.
“No. Look at the snake and the dirt around it; my dumbass dog dragged it up here,” Nathan said, flipping the snake back with the stick. He really didn’t want it to slither under the buggies.
The snake kept turning around to head for the buggies, and Nathan kept flipping it away. The snake was fat and he could only flip it back a few inches, then the snake would crawl forward a foot. “You are pissing me off,” Nathan announced. When he backed into a buggy, Nathan grunted. “Ares, I really don’t like you.”
Flipping the snake back, Nathan quickly shoved the end of the stick on the snake’s head and reached down really quickly before it got out. He grabbed the snake right behind the head and picked it up. Hearing a gasp and a high-pitched moan, Nathan turned to see Amanda looking at him like she was about to die. “Amanda, I’m not kidding, don’t you yell.”
Amanda was looking at Nathan holding the snake’s head straight out, but the end was touching the ground. She started trembling and her mouth opened.
“Amanda, I’m not kidding. If you yell I’ll make you hold it,” Nathan warned, and Amanda’s mouth snapped shut and both her hands covered her mouth. Feeling the snake pull away Nathan looked at it to see Ares had the tail in his mouth. “Ares, stop!”
Ares let go, and Nathan looked at Amanda. “Amanda, this is a rattlesnake.” Then Nathan felt the snake pull away again. “Ares, stop! If you make this snake bite me I’ll burn your woobie!” Ares didn’t care, he wanted the shaking toy. Feeling the snake’s head sliding out of his hand, Nathan pulled his knife out and quickly sliced the head off.
Ares started spinning around, shaking his head, making the rattle sound off. Throwing his head back, Ares threw the snake’s body in the air. When it landed, he grabbed it in the middle and whipped his head back and forth. “Ares, when we get home, I’m going to kill you,” Nathan vowed.
He turned back to see the others beside Amanda with looks of shock. “Amanda, it’s just a snake. If you look where I caught it you can see where Ares dragged the damn thing up here. Now come here.”
Slowly, Amanda edged to him. “I’m not eating it.”
“With what Ares leaves after he plays with them, there isn’t much to eat.” He looked back at Ares, shaking the body and throwing it in the air. “Just be glad I got the head off before he started doing that.”
“You mean he does that with live rattlesnakes?” Jasmine asked.
“Yes he does. You never knew a person could move so fast till your dog throws a rattlesnake on you,” Nathan said.
“Ares has thrown a snake on you?” Amanda gasped.
“At least half a dozen times,” Nathan said, rearing his arm back and throwing the head away. “Now you know why I never showed you a rattlesnake.”
“What did you do the first time?” Jasmine asked.
“Exactly what I did the last time, pissed and shit my pants screaming like a bitch,” Nathan confessed. “Ares was a puppy and we were fishing with Apollo. I was cleaning fish and heard Ares playing with something, but I didn’t notice that when he shook his head it rattled. Then out of nowhere a rattlesnake landed draped over my arm. Well hell yeah I freaked out when it started moving. I started screaming and swatting it off as I danced around, pissing and shitting my pants and screaming for Apollo to kill. I didn’t care if he killed Ares, the snake, or me, I just wanted something to die. When I finally stopped doing the gay cootie dance I saw Apollo standing in the water. I had to take my pants off and wash them in the river. I just threw the underwear away.”
As Nathan finished, a long black strip sailed through the air, landing in front of him. The others jumped back. “I know the head is gone. That’s the only reason I’m not doing the gay cootie dance.” Ares dashed over and grabbed the snake, and started whipping his head back and forth violently.
When Ares took his war elsewhere Jasmine moved over to Nathan and grabbed his arms. “Nathan, I love you with all my heart. I want to have your kids and grow old with you,” she declared. “But if your dog throws a rattlesnake on me, I’m going to shoot his ass. I swear to God I will.”
“Jasmine the only reason he’s alive is because when you have a live rattlesnake land on you, you cannot begin to believe the adrenaline dump. My hands shook for days afterwards and I couldn’t shoot. When I could, I calmed down to find I couldn’t pull the trigger,” Nathan said.
Jasmine shook her head. “I don’t care. I will use a thousand rounds, but Ares will die.”
“I will feel bad, but that is justifiable homicide,” Nathan said as the snake landed beside them. “That’s how he kills them, he beats them to death.” Jasmine noticed the headless body moving and jumped back, doing the gay cootie dance.
When Ares came over to grab it, Jasmine put her foot on the snake and pulled her pistol, aiming at Ares. “Ares, if you ever throw a rattlesnake on me I will kill you.” Ares lay down, bowing to Jasmine. “Now go play away from me.” Scooping up the snake, Ares continued the beat-down.
Amanda moved over to Nathan. “You wouldn’t let me freak out over a snake.”
“None of the snakes landed on you. In any book that is a valid reason to freak out,” Nathan said.
“How long does he do that?” John asked.
“Till only the rattle is left,” Nathan said.
“Which time was the worst?” John asked.
“All of them,” Nathan said and John just looked at him. “Last year we are camping in the Grand Canyon. I was sitting by the fire in my camping chair thinking how beautiful nature is when all of a sudden a rattlesnake landed in my lap. I levitated out of the chair doing the cootie dance. I’m sure they heard me in Dallas as I ran screaming and jumped in the Colorado River. Let me tell you, that river has a fucking current. It carried me almost a mile downstream before I could get out. The river cleaned my pants out for me, but I got back to camp and Ares was still beating the hell out of the snake’s corpse.”
All of their faces were twitching, trying not to laugh. Jasmine wrapped her arms around him. “You are a very good and brave man.”
“Whatever, let another rattlesnake land on me. I’ll piss and shit doing the gay cootie dance as I scream,” Nathan said.
“No, I would’ve shot the dog,” Jasmine said.
“I didn’t have a gun; they didn’t allow them in the park then. Ares wouldn’t come close enough for me to use my knife,” Nathan admitted. “You guys go back to sleep, I’ll take watch.”
“I’m sleeping in the buggy,” Amanda announced.
�
��It’s safer under it, Ares throws them in the air. I can guarantee you, a rattlesnake would never make under there. The only reason that one had a chance was because I stopped Ares. I stopped him for purely selfish reasons: I didn’t want the shithead throwing the thing on me or John,” Nathan said.
Amanda watched Ares whip his head around, growling and beating the corpse. “I’m getting back on your woobie.”
The girls climbed back under the buggy as Jasmine looked up at Nathan. “How many has he killed?”
“I have no idea. I can tell you he has two shoe boxes full of rattles though,” Nathan said. She kissed him and climbed under the buggy. Nathan climbed in his buggy, watched the Mew, and pulled out the Homeland radio. He looked at his watch. “Three o’clock, time for my shift anyway.”
Listening to the radio and reading the notes Amanda had rewritten for him, Nathan was in total sponge mode. So when Ares stuck his bloody face in, holding a rattle in his mouth, it did catch Nathan off guard. “Damn it, Ares!” Nathan said, and slowly took the rattle out of Ares’s mouth. Like all the others, it was in pristine condition. Ares never chewed on them, he just wanted to beat the snake off his rattle.
Getting out, Nathan walked around waking everyone. He had to drag Emma out by her ankles to wake her up. Emma informed everyone she didn’t like that. The only reason Emma shut up was that the ‘plane’ was flying. The girls sat around Nathan as he fed Emma. They were all sitting quietly, eating, when Nathan reached back and handed Casey a bottle of water.
“Thank you,” Casey said taking it.
Realizing what he did, Nathan closed his eyes and shook his head. “You know, you can just ask. You don’t have to force it in my head.”
“Yeah, no kidding,” Tom said.
“What?” Casey asked.
John took a breath and Nathan held up his hand. “Don’t, they could put stuff you don’t want in.” John nodded as Jasmine started snorting.
When the sun dipped below the horizon they loaded up, and Jasmine actually frisked Ares to make sure he didn’t have a rattlesnake. Seeing everyone ready, Nathan stomped the gas, throwing up dirt.
In a very bad mood and feeling belligerent, Nathan sped right through Landers. He had to dodge several cars, which he flipped off, as they raced down Main Street. There were people walking around, but they didn’t see the buggies till they were literally next to them and soon lost sight of them in the night. Many noticed the American flag flying on the lead vehicle and waved after they passed, but Nathan never slowed, keeping his speed at fifty till they reached the other side of town. Then he pegged the needle at sixty.
That’s how they traveled. Nathan didn’t bypass the small towns, he just blew through them. Amanda never had to call out a turn, as Nathan would powerslide on most of them. Then Jasmine would call for him to slow down so they could catch up.
Sitting in her gunner’s chair, Jasmine watched in awe as Nathan hauled serious ass, and John just copied what Nathan did, not as smoothly, but still pulling it off. When she saw a sign telling them ‘Grand Teton National Park fifty miles ahead’ she knew they were hauling ass. Nathan had covered a hundred miles in two hours.
Jasmine jumped when she heard Nathan’s voice in her ear. “Be ready for company. Jackson Hole is just south of here. If we see a roadblock, we’ll stop, blow it to hell, and drive through.” A hundred questions popped in her mind about the wisdom of that choice, but she didn’t think this was the best time ask them.
As the road rose up and the trees started showing up, Amanda smiled. “Yeah, girl, we are back in forest,” Nathan said.
She looked over at him. “Nathan, are you getting a headache?”
“No, I want to drop off this letter and keep going,” Nathan said.
Amanda smiled. “That’s okay then.”
When they reached the turnoff heading north on 89, Nathan saw a roadblock to the south, heading to Jackson Hole. He slowed, turned north, and gunned the engine. Looking down, Nathan smiled, seeing the needle buried at sixty. “We have a truck from that roadblock following us, over” Jasmine radioed.
“Smoke his ass, over,” Nathan called back.
Jasmine made Ares lie down as she turned around. Leaning over the gun, she put the crosshairs of the thermal scope on the grille. She really didn’t want to kill them. She slowly squeezed the trigger, and when the gun bucked, she startled, letting the trigger go. She saw the tracers hit the road in front of the truck and she saw someone climbing out the passenger window with a gun. Lifting her aim, she could kill them now.
Pulling the trigger back, Jasmine sent a stream of lead back and watched the first few tracers ricochet off the windshield. But the ones following pummeled the engine and cab. The truck swerved off the road and crashed into the trees. “They should’ve stopped with the warning,” Jasmine said, looking back to make sure no more vehicles were coming.
When she turned around, Jasmine saw a sign saying Yellowstone was ahead, but didn’t see the miles. She keyed her radio. “Going a little fast, over.”
“We should be able to make Idaho after dropping this letter off, over and out,” Nathan called back.
“I guess he doesn’t want to talk to me,” she said.
It wasn’t much longer before she saw Nathan slow down and go off-road around some toll booths. Then he whipped back on the road, speeding up. “I always wanted to see Yellowstone,” Jasmine said, then saw Nathan weave across the road. She noticed he was dodging a buffalo. “Damn, they are big,” Jasmine said as they passed it.
She was just enjoying the view and the ride till Nathan powerslid onto a gravel road. Jasmine held on for dear life as John tried it this time with speed. As they came around the curve, John let off the brake and stomped the gas. The buggy was actually going down the road sideways as John fought to straighten them out. A half a mile down the road the rear wheels were once again behind the front ones.
Catching her breath, Jasmine lowered her head inside. “John, I can make him slow down. You don’t have to do the powerslides.”
“That was fun,” he said, grinning and not taking his eyes off the road. Shaking her head, Jasmine sat back up as they blew down the gravel road.
“Slowing,” Nathan radioed. Jasmine watched him slow, then pull off the road into a small clearing. Before John was stopped, Nathan was out of his buggy. When John stopped, Jasmine jumped up, ran over the hood, and jumped off.
“We’re here?” she asked, walking over to Nathan.
“Yeah, the turnoff is just up there. It will take me two hours to get up and an hour back. If I’m not back in four hours, move to the rally point and wait one day. If I call and say, ‘beat it,’ head home. If I call and say, ‘come,’ that means come and get me,” Nathan said, tightening his vest.
“Nathan, come on let’s just take a buggy up,” Jasmine said.
“No. We don’t know if it’s safe, and the road is too narrow to turn around. Now remember, if you head home, use the code words on the computer at the final rally point,” Nathan said. Jasmine just stood with her mouth open, and Nathan kissed her open mouth. He let her go. “Ares, time to work.”
Ares ran over as Nathan jogged off. Jasmine turned to the group. “We covered a hundred and eighty miles in less than four hours.”
Casey had a smile ear to ear. “And Pepper is still happy because she didn’t have to carry me here.”
Not knowing how to respond, Jasmine looked at the forest. “Let’s pull the buggies into the trees in case someone comes down the road.”
Without his pack, Nathan was keeping a steady pace with Ares trotting along beside him. Nathan was halfway there when Ares moved in front of him and stopped. Nathan skidded to a halt and looked around. Not seeing anything but trusting Ares, he moved to the side of the road and slowly walked.
It wasn’t long before Nathan rounded a curve and saw a hot spot beside the road holding a rifle about fifty yards away. “I see you, and I’m sure you see me. You raise your rifle and I will be forced to kill you!” N
athan called out as he walked forward.
When he was ten yards away, Nathan stopped, and the man still hadn’t moved. “Dude, I can see you.”
The man slowly moved to the road. “What are you doing here?”
“Whatever I want,” Nathan informed him.
“How did you find this road?” the man asked.
“I was told where it was,” Nathan said.
“By who?”
“My fairy godmother,” Nathan popped off.
“Mister, you’re not giving me answers,” the man grumbled.
“Unless you suck me or pay my way, I don’t have to answer to you,” Nathan spat.
The man shook his head. “I have a friend who lives down this road, and we don’t like visitors.”
“Let me tell you something, Sparky, I didn’t want to come down this damn road, but I promised a dad I would. Now since you look like a man without a shred of honor, I don’t expect you to understand,” Nathan said, relaxing his stance.
Nathan could see the man’s jaw twitching as he ground his teeth. “Just tell me the name of the person the dad sent you after.”
“His son’s name is Frank,” Nathan said.
He saw the man jump back, relaxing. “Why did he send you?”
“Are you going to ask me on a date? If you do, I like it swallowed. I have things to fucking do. Now, is Frank around?” Nathan popped off.
“Mister, you can piss someone off,” the man complained.
“I’m not the one playing twenty questions. Now, you are either going to let me go and see if Frank is in his cabin tucked back in the woods, or I’m going to kill you and do the same damn thing? I want to give Frank this damn letter and be on my way,” Nathan said.
The man nodded. “Okay, but if you don’t have a letter, you won’t walk back down.”
“You gonna let me ride ya?” Nathan popped back. The man didn’t answer as he turned around, walking up the road. “You may think you’re a badass, but in my book you don’t even rate a cloudy day,” Nathan said, breaking into a jog as he passed the man. “I told you, I’m in a fucking hurry.”
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