Dark Crossing

by Thomas A. Watson

  The dirt road headed up the side of a hill and then ran along the ridge. After three hours of riding, Mary looked around. “Where the hell are the stinkers?”

  Hearing Johnathan riding up, Mary slowed down. “Hold up,” Johnathan said, stopping his horse. When Sandy was beside them, Johnathan pointed to the southeast. In the distance, they could see light radiating from the earth. “That’s close to Branson.”

  “That’s a lot of light,” Sandy mumbled, then looked around them. There was no other artificial light across the dark landscape.

  “Not as much as you’d think. With all the lights out and our eyes used to the dark, it seems very bright,” Johnathan told her. “You two ready to switch?”

  Mary looked over at him. “You told us to keep our distance thirty to forty miles, yet tonight we are shooting for seventy.”

  “If we can,” Johnathan corrected. “We will stay on dirt roads and the horses like those much better than cross-country.”

  “I’ll take the lead,” Sandy said, moving off. Johnathan followed her while Mary fell in behind him.

  Following the dirt road through the hills, Sandy, like Mary, was unnerved with the lack of stinkers. More than once, Sandy had slowed just to sniff the air. One time she stopped, smelling a skunk but soon moved on, and the miles and hours passed to the soft hoof beats of the horses.

  A few miles away, Sandy saw Hwy 65 snaking through the valleys. She stopped when she saw a group of lights heading south. “I see them,” Johnathan said behind her.

  “They seem to be going fast,” Sandy noticed, watching the lights disappear behind a hill and then reappear.

  “Over seventy easy,” Johnathan huffed. “Let me lead,” Johnathan added, passing her.

  Not arguing, Sandy followed Johnathan and was shocked when he moved off the road and down the slope. Following Johnathan down the slope, Sandy thought she heard faint gunfire way off in the distance as they passed under the highway.

  Reaching a small valley, Johnathan led them across a little river. “We moved faster than I thought,” Sandy said, guiding her horse into the water.

  Seeing a peninsula on the opposite bank, Sandy was surprised when Johnathan didn’t head to it. Instead, Johnathan rode out of the river and headed up the hill that ran along the river. When they reached the ridge, Johnathan stopped and Sandy rode up beside him and saw him sighing contently.

  Turning away from Johnathan, Sandy looked down into a small valley and saw a collection of buildings laid out neatly. “What’s that?” Sandy asked, searching hard for stinkers.

  “That is the first camp Lance and Ian attended as Boy Scouts,” Johnathan said with relief.

  Sandy looked back to Johnathan as Mary rode up to them. “That’s the camp where you and Bill had to be chaperones?” Sandy asked.

  “Yeah, we can resupply here and then pull back to the river,” Johnathan replied, kicking his horse and riding down into the valley.

  “I knew he was aiming for a spot,” Sandy grumbled.

  Before Sandy followed, Mary spoke up, “He didn’t want us to get our hopes up.”

  Kicking her horse, Sandy just nodded and followed Johnathan down the hill. Looking down, Sandy saw Dan beside her. “Dan, go to Johnathan,” she whispered, waving Dan forward. Looking up at Sandy, Dan turned to Johnathan and then trotted up beside him.

  When Johnathan exited the trees, Sandy looked around the cleared valley floor for any movement. Besides deer, the field was empty. Moving up closer to Johnathan, “Where to first?” she whispered.

  “There,” Johnathan said, pointing at a brick building that stood alone. “That’s a store, a Boy Scout store.”

  “Out here?” Sandy asked.

  “What better place for a Boy Scout store than a scout camp?” Johnathan grinned. “This camp isn’t part of the local council, or any council. A doctor from Springfield owns the land and started it. I met him when I was here.”

  “Yeah, you doctors tend to seek each other out,” Sandy snickered.

  “Seems that way,” Johnathan grinned. “Anyway, the doctor started this camp for scouts around the country. It’s over a thousand acres and very nice.”

  “I’m sure his boys loved it,” Sandy said, looking around.

  “Boy,” Johnathan corrected, “and he never saw it. Died of cancer when he was five and all he’d wanted to do was be a Boy Scout, so his dad built this camp after his son died.”

  Giving a startle at the story, Sandy let out a long sigh. “Life sucks ass,” she moaned.

  “Especially now,” Johnathan admitted, stopping beside the building. He stood up in his saddle. “Hold my horse,” he told Sandy.

  Wondering what the hell Johnathan was doing, Sandy rode over and took the reins of his horse while Johnathan stood up on his saddle and reached up, catching the edge of the awning. Pulling his body up, Johnathan felt his arms giving out. Throwing his right leg up and catching the lip of the awning, Johnathan rolled onto the awning, panting. “Dumbass,” he huffed, getting up and taking his backpack off.

  Leaning over the edge, “Watch out,” he warned, dropping the backpack.

  “I was wondering why you were taking your pack,” Sandy said, moving to get off her horse.

  “Leave it there. You and Mary take your packs off and hang them on your pack horses,” Johnathan instructed, moving to the building. Sandy looked up at the awning, knowing she would have to jump up while standing in her saddle to grab the lip.

  “Honey, you will have to grab my wrist, so I can reach the edge,” Sandy said, and Johnathan jumped up off the awning, catching the edge of the roof. Much easier this time, Johnathan pulled his body up.

  He turned around and looked down at Sandy and Mary taking their packs off. “Meet me at the front door,” he called out softly.

  Mary looked at Sandy as they tied the horses to the guard rail. “Sandy, I’ll keep watch. You go in with Johnathan and let him show you where everything is. Then I’ll go in with you,” Mary offered, cradling her AR.

  “Okay, seems he really knows this place,” Sandy said, looking in the glass double doors. In the very back, she saw a small light on the roof.

  “That’s why you can show me,” Mary nodded, glancing around and saw Sandy jump back from the door. Spinning around, Mary saw a soft green glow from a chemlight. Then she saw Johnathan walking toward the door, holding the chemlight behind him.

  Mary had to squint her eyes and look away from the chemlight. Blinking her eyes, Mary sighed with relief that she still had her night vision. “Damn light is blinding me,” she heard Sandy say. Turning around, Mary saw Sandy was looking away from the light.

  Johnathan opened the door. “Yeah, don’t go to the light,” he sang out.

  “You said no lights,” Sandy said, moving to the door.

  “Sandy, the only window in this building is the front doors. I almost broke my neck trying to find these chemlights. Lucky for me I found the green, so we won’t lose our night vison. Now come on, we have to move,” Johnathan said, letting Sandy in. When she was in, Johnathan put a box at the base of the door to hold it open.

  Stopping at the first rack that held Boy Scout button-down dress shirts, Sandy smiled, rubbing them. “I’m coming, baby boy,” Sandy mumbled. Out of instinct, Sandy pulled the price tag up. “Johnathan,” she snapped, and he moved beside her.

  “Yeah?”

  “Why didn’t we get Lance’s uniforms from here? His scouting uniforms cost more than my designer clothes,” Sandy gawked, letting the tag go. “This shirt is brand-new, but costs half of what I paid.”

  “Like I said, the doctor, Sam started this for his son. The gear in this store, he sold at cost. There is no website, sweetheart. Remember that construction job Bill took in Missouri?” Johnathan asked, and Sandy nodded. “You’re standing in it. Bill built this building for Sam at cost. And for the past three years, I’ve sent Sam a donation check for five thousand dollars.”

  “Whoa!” Sandy gasped, looking at Johnathan. Johnathan was a p
enny pincher bordering on being a miser.

  “Yeah, Sam didn’t charge any troop when they came. He provided everything; they just had to get here. Sam even paid for several troops to come here from the poorer areas of the country. That’s why Bill and I had to pitch in,” Johnathan confided with a sigh.

  Looking at another rack of clothes, “If I would’ve known about this, I would’ve driven Lance and Ian here to get their uniforms,” Sandy said.

  Quickly walking around the store, Johnathan showed her where everything was and then grabbed duffel bags. “Make sure you get two pairs of boots, so we can rotate each day,” Johnathan said, and Sandy sighed when Johnathan cracked a chemlight for her.

  She looked down at her hiking boots that had a large hole over her toe on her right boot, and a large gash on her left. Moving back to the boots, Sandy wanted to cheer at seeing Merrell, North Face, Timberland, and other high-quality boots. Seeing her size, Sandy grabbed the box and kicked her torn boots off. Since they had started, Sandy was on her second pair, but both had been cheap brands.

  Making sure they fit, Sandy pulled another pair down and tried them on when Johnathan walked over, handing her a large duffel bag. Taking the bag, Sandy tossed the boots she’d had on inside, then tried on two more pairs until she found more that fit.

  Leaving those on, she moved around the store and grabbed clothes. She passed Johnathan stuffing a duffel bag with freeze-dried packages of food. Walking down the aisles, she shoved stuff in her bag and then came to a display case.

  Walking around, she opened the back and pulled out a tomahawk. Liking the feel, she put it in the bag. Looking at the rows of knives, Sandy grabbed a multi-tool like Lance had. Further down, she saw the same brand but bigger. Taking that one as well, Sandy tossed them in the bag.

  Johnathan was the only one who had a multi-tool, and he had taken it off a stinker he’d killed. Seeing sharpening stones, Sandy looked up for Johnathan, but saw he was shoving stuff in another duffel bag. They had knives, but nothing to sharpen them with.

  Grabbing several, Sandy tossed them in and stopped. “Holy cow,” she gasped, pulling out the biggest Swiss Army knife she had ever seen.

  Walking over, Johnathan laughed. “Yeah, that’s the biggest one I’ve ever seen.”

  “Why doesn’t Lance have one?”

  Tapping the glass case, “Look at the price,” Johnathan answered, and Sandy looked down and her eyes got big. “Four hundred for a knife is a bit much. But I did offer to buy Lance one and he said no.”

  Setting the box holding the Swiss Army knife down, “I got knife sharpeners,” Sandy said, then turned around to grab stuff behind the counter off the wall.

  “I’m loaded. I’m taking over for Mary,” Johnathan said, pulling three duffel bags to the door. “I grabbed a small scanner, so don’t get another. I know an extra would be nice, but we need to start thinking hard on weight for the horses. I also got one of those solar rechargers, so leave the others.”

  When Mary came in, she stopped at the counter and noticed the battery display case was empty, then saw the large Swiss Army knife. “I didn’t know they came that big,” she said, looking at the knife in the box.

  Like she would get in trouble, Sandy turned around, looking at the door and saw Johnathan standing outside. “Shh, I’m getting two for Lance and Ian,” she whispered, tossing the display knife and box in her bag and then grabbed another one out of the case. “Come on, Johnathan said to get two pairs of boots, so we can alternate.”

  “I’m loving that,” Mary sighed, walking over and saw Sandy’s old boots on the floor. Kicking hers off, Mary started pulling down boxes. Leaving her chemlight with Mary, Sandy pulled her bags across the floor to the front door.

  “Can you put these on my pack horse?” she asked Johnathan.

  Taking Johnathan’s place guarding them, Sandy purposely didn’t look over when Johnathan grunted, picking the first duffel bag up. “I saw dog food. Did you get some?” she asked.

  Strapping the duffel bag down, Johnathan turned around while shaking his head at the weight of the bag. “Yeah, I grabbed a fifty-pound bag.”

  “Why do they have dog food here?”

  Loading the next duffel bag, “Sandy, the Boy Scouts had to become compliant with the laws and have supplies for service animals,” Johnathan answered, moving back beside her.

  “Where else are we heading? The cafeteria?” she asked.

  “Maybe, if we have room,” Johnathan said shaking his head, then pointed at a building on the other side of the valley. “That’s the equipment building, and that’s our next stop.”

  “How did you know about the roof?” Sandy asked.

  “I couldn’t be a chaperone last year when Lance and Ian came here with Bill, but I was able to visit one day. Sam smoked cigars and that’s where he would go to smoke,” Johnathan told her. “He wanted a store for the scouts and that’s how Bill found out, and the rest is history.”

  Hearing grunting behind them, they saw Mary dragging two duffel bags across the floor. “Ladies, the horses can only carry so much,” Johnathan said, taking her chemlight and putting it in his pocket.

  “Oh, I’m throwing away what I’m replacing,” Mary declared sternly as Johnathan took the bags and carried them to Mary’s pack horse.

  Closing the door, “If we had any more thread, I could repair some of my clothes,” Sandy said, turning around. “Now I don’t have to, I can get rid of them.”

  Leaning over to Sandy, “I got three sewing kits,” Mary whispered.

  “I got two,” Sandy grinned as they walked over and led the horses across the valley.

  Reaching the long building, Johnathan pulled out the bolt cutters and cut two locks off the door. Walking in, Johnathan pulled the chemlight from his pocket and saw Sandy pull hers out. “Tie the horses up, we won’t be in here long,” Johnathan told them, walking in.

  After they’d tied the horses up, Mary and Sandy walked in and saw Johnathan setting three compound bows on a table. Then they looked on the wall and saw racks of them. “Look how small they are!” Mary exclaimed with a longing smile.

  “The bows you are using are ancient compared to these,” Johnathan called out from the back of the building. “Not only are those smaller, they are much lighter.”

  Tapping Mary’s shoulder, Sandy pointed at the boxes of arrows. Not small boxes that held a dozen. Three-foot-tall boxes, two feet wide and deep with a hundred arrows standing up and packed tight. “We’re taking one. Those are the lengths we shoot,” Sandy whispered, moving to the row of boxes.

  Mary carried the bows and Sandy pulled the box to the door, then they moved back to see Johnathan grabbing stuff from the other wall. Walking over, they saw the wall was lined with saddles and Johnathan was grabbing saddle bags that rode on the fronts of the saddles, and rifle scabbards.

  As Johnathan put the stuff on the table, Sandy turned to the back wall and saw a long metal closet. Inspecting it, Sandy saw it wasn’t sheet metal. It was thick with large welds at the corners. Looking at the two doors with a thick hasp, Sandy ran her finger over the biggest padlock she had seen. “Johnathan, your bolt cutters aren’t cutting this lock,” Sandy proclaimed.

  Walking over to the right side and reaching behind the cabinet, “Don’t have to. Remember, I was a chaperone here,” he said, pulling out a key.

  Smiling as Johnathan moved to the lock, when he opened the door, Sandy shoved him aside to look at rows of guns. Then she looked closer at the guns. “These are only 10/22s. Aren’t there any M4s or ARs?” she asked.

  “Sweetheart,” Johnathan laughed. “This is a Boy Scout camp, not a military armory.”

  Passing back two 10/22s, “You didn’t see these,” Johnathan said, holding up a 22/45. Sandy smiled and then noticed the barrel.

  Looking from the pistol to the 10/22 she was holding, “Those are suppressors,” she gasped.

  “Yep. Sam wouldn’t let the kids shoot guns that weren’t suppressed. He didn’t want to be respon
sible for hearing damage,” Johnathan explained, taking the suppressors off three 10/22s. “Doug got these for Sam. All Sam had to pay was the tax stamp for the pistols. Doug covered the stamps for the ones on the rifles.”

  “Why the hell weren’t Mary and I introduced to Sam?” Sandy snapped. “He sounds like a person I would’ve liked to have known.”

  Passing the suppressors back, Johnathan knelt down to the bottom of the cabinet. “He never came to us, we always came here. Remember, Doug took my place last time,” Johnathan said, pulling out metal boxes of ammo. “I talked to Sam a few times every year, as did Bill and I’m sorry, we should’ve talked him in to coming for a visit.”

  “No,” Sandy said as she and Mary looked around.

  “He was keeping a dream alive,” Mary finished.

  “Start toting this to the door,” Johnathan said, pulling out more ammo cans. When Mary reached over and grabbed another 10/22, Johnathan looked at her. “Why another one?”

  “So you can keep it on Bill’s saddle, and when you change horses during the night, you don’t have to move your Ruger,” Mary said while Sandy snuck back in, grabbing more boxes of arrows.

  Nodding, “That’s smart,” Johnathan said. “Grab another scabbard.”

  Thirty minutes later, Johnathan was leading them back toward the river. When he didn’t turn to the peninsula, Mary and Sandy just shrugged and followed. Half a mile away, Johnathan led them into an oxbow. The opening was only ten yards across and opened up to a three-acre wooded area.

  “Bill and I fished with the boys here that first year,” Johnathan explained, climbing off his horse. He looked around the area, remembering the laughter of the boys echoing off the forest. “Doug and Bill fished with them here the last time.”

  Climbing off her horse, “I love it,” Sandy smiled. “My baby boy was here.”