Night Crawlers

by Ron L. Carter

Jed was getting tired of stealing in the same old places and doing the same old things week after week in Red Mountain, Randsburg and Johannesburg. It started to seem never ending to him and he was getting bored with the entire idea of breaking into houses. He talked to Justin about a plan he came up with to steal from the tourists and bikers that came into the town of Randsburg. He had been to the rustic little town several times and found out that during some week-ends there are up to 300 bikers and tourists sight-seeing throughout the town.

  The town was perfect for tourist because of the history of the little old town. Jed told Justin a few of the locals told him, “The tourists and bikers love to come to the old ghost town to get a glimpse into the past.” There aren’t any straight streets or right angle corners in the entire town and the roads just follow the lay of the land. There aren’t any stop lights, gas stations or malls, just one general store. The heart of the town hadn’t changed much since the first homes and buildings were built there on the side of the mountain years ago. The general store has an old fashioned soda fountain that’s famous for their “Black Bart” floats. Every third weekend of September is a big draw to Randsburg for the tourists. It’s Old West Days with music, hayrides, arts and crafts and so much more and it keeps them coming back year after year.

  Jed told Justin, “There are tons of people that come in on ATV’s and four wheel drive vehicles to have a stiff cheap drink at the two watering holes, “The Joint” or “The White House Saloon.” Jed found out the two bars are open Thursday through Sunday so those are the days Jed wanted to target them. Jed said, “Some of the tourists stay at the Randsburg Cottage Hotel/bed and breakfast and they’ll be easy prey for us. We’ll lie in wait until after dark and break into the cars and the four wheel drive vehicles while the people are in the bars having drinks or once they are in for the night at the hotel. There’ll be a lot of expensive cameras, IPads, lap top computers and other high priced toys people have now-a-days. If we do it right, we can break-into the vehicles and get some of those items before they even know what’s missing.” He told Justin that the last time he was in Los Angeles the “Fence” told him to steal some of the new devices people were using and he would pay big money for them. He showed Jed how he could disable the tracking devices on all them so they couldn’t be traced. “We can take that stuff to Los Angeles and sell it for a lot more than some of the little stuff we’ve been stealing out of the houses.”

  Justin was very excited about the idea of doing something different. He had also gotten bored with just stealing from houses. He foolishly believed it would be easier than what they had been doing as he said, “That should be fun.” Jed knew better, this was going to be harder than anything they’d ever done before because the risk of getting caught was a lot greater. He told Justin, “We’ll have do this the same way that we’ve always done things, slow and easy. We’ll also have to be more alert than we’ve ever been before. I want to keep this plan between just the two us. I don’t want to let Joshua or mom know what we’re up to.” He figured his mom would be against the entire idea, so why tell her. Justin agreed to keep it to himself.

  Jed started planning their strategy, thinking what would be the safest and most effective tactic. He went over everything in his head until he thought he had it pretty well planned out. Once he felt comfortable with everything, he pulled Justin aside and went over some of his ideas with him. He said, “We’ll have to go up to Randsburg and scope out the area for several days before we ever steal anything. We’ll need a place to hide that is close to the bars, but not so close that we’ll be spotted. We’ll have to hit the vehicles fast, taking anything of value as quickly as we can. We need to limit what we take to one or two items from each vehicle. This way the owners won’t notice anything missing. Once we are out of the car we need to hit the lock button on the door and lock it back up just like it had never been touched. Keep an eye out for bike helmets because some of them are worth up to a few hundred dollars apiece so if we get a chance we might take a few of those too. We can get fifty to a hundred dollars for one of them but we’ll only be able to carry about two at a time on the way home. If we get spotted, we’ll meet up on the other side of the hill and then circle back down and around to Red Mountain and home.”

  Jed and Justin spent several nights going to Randsburg after dark and scoping out the area. They snuck around the bars, being very careful not to be seen. Once they picked out their hiding spot they decided they would give it a try the following Thursday night when some of the tourists started coming in.

  At first it was a little awkward for them. They had never operated under or near the lights and around people coming and going all the time. It was a little tricky to maneuver around without being seen as people came in and out of the bars. They were both a little uncomfortable with everything so it was going to take a few tries to get used to it. People were also coming and going from their vehicles and some were walking from the bars to their homes or hotel lodging and it was busy and a little confusing. There entire mode of operation would become a little more nerve racking than what they had ever done before. After watching and observing everything for a few hours they talked about it and knew that most importantly they’d have to be quick.

  When Thursday night came, they waited until everything was clear and then they darted quickly over to one of the vehicles and used their Slim-Jim on the car lock. They slid the metal device down between the window and the frame of the door and in just a few seconds the door to the car was unlocked and they were inside getting what they could grab. They got a few items, locked the door to the car, and immediately retreated back into the darkness. They then waited several minutes and went back and hit another vehicle the same way. They did that three more times that night and got some nice items before they disappeared into their dark hiding place. From there they just waited to see what would happen next as they watched the people they had just stolen from come out of the bars and get into their vehicles and drive away. It went just like Jed had planned, the people didn’t even know someone had been in their car, at least not until they started looking for what they had lost. He knew that was only their first few vehicles and he also knew it wasn’t going to always be that easy. They would have to wait and see how the sheriff’s department in Trona would deal with the tourist’s complaints.

  After that night they began to get almost everything they stole while the Tourists and other unsuspecting patrons of the two bars parked their vehicles out front and went inside for a drink. The easy ones were the Four Wheelers because sometimes they would just leave things lying on their floor boards or under the seats. They weren’t thinking about getting something stolen from them as they would leave their helmets or something else of value in or on their vehicles while they went inside for a cool one. During that time Jed and Justin were raking in the cash because they were selling everything they could steal and for a good price.

  One evening, while Jed and Justin were preparing to go out on a job a large group of bikers came into town after hearing about the two bars at Randsburg. They were the stereo-typical looking “Hell’s Angels” type of bikers that everyone has heard about or seen. They had some pretty nice looking bikes. They were both loud, obnoxious and having a good time as they spread out and started going back and forth and drinking in “The Joint” and “The White House Saloon” bars. Some of the bikers left their helmets on their bikes not thinking it was that big of a deal in this little quiet town. Jed and Justin were just sitting in their hiding place and watching everything as it unfolded. At one point, when the bikers were all in the bars Jed and Justin took turns darting over to the bikes and stealing one of the helmets and returning to their hiding place. Once they had four helmets they figured they better not press their luck so they decided it was time to take them and head back to Red Mountain.

  Just before they started to leave one of the bikers came out of the bar and noticed his helmet was mis
sing. That’s when all hell broke loose and all the half-drunk bikers came out of the bars ready to fight. Then the other three bikers noticed their helmets were also missing and the noise escalated. Once everyone was outside, they jumped on their bikes and Jed and Justin heard one of them say. “Let’s find out who took our helmets! We’ll tear this town upside down until we find them.” They also heard one of them say, “Let’s kill the bastards when we catch them.” That’s when things got a little scary for Jed and Justin. They were starting to wonder if maybe they might have made a huge mistake in taking helmets in the first place.

  A couple of the bikers had guns and they pointed them up in the air and fired off several rounds while they were screaming into the silent night air, “We’re going to find you and kill you.” The bikers started riding their bikes all over town going in between the houses and the buildings looking for the culprits. Jed and Justin watched as they kicked over mail boxes, trash cans and anything else that was in their way. They were looking in every nook and cranny in town. Justin believed it was just a matter of time before they found the two of them in their hiding place. Jed was also hoping they didn’t kill some innocent person that had nothing to do with the helmets, but was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

  After watching them vandalize the town for about twenty minutes, Justin peered over at Jed with a really scared look on his face and said, “Maybe we should give them back, Jed.” Jed wasn’t sure what they should do, he was also starting to believe the bikers might find their hiding place and then kill both of them. The bikers were tearing up the town and terrorizing all the locals as they continued to look for whoever stole the helmets. Finally Jed said to Justin, “I think putting the helmets back may not be a bad idea Justin. If we put them back we’ll have to be real careful or these guys will kill us for sure. When none of them are watching for us, we’ll take the helmets and put them in the middle of the street between the two bars, so that way they can find them right away.”

  They waited for a few minutes, when all the bikers were looking everywhere else in town for them except where they were hiding, and took the helmets and darted back into the street with them and set them down. They then ran back to their hiding place and watched to see what was going to happen next. Justin was breathing fast and hard as he said, “I hope they don’t kill us, Jed.” Jed told him, “Just stay put and hope that none of them spotted us.” It wasn’t long and one of the bikers saw the helmets in the middle of the street and soon all the bikers heard that they had been returned and they all met up at the bar area. The noise from all the bikes was so loud it was echoing down the canyon like a flood of water. By the time they returned to the bars the bikers had already caused a lot problems for themselves because they ransacked Randsburg. They knew the sheriff’s department would soon be out in full force looking for them so they regrouped and headed out of town as quickly as they could leave. A couple of them were firing off rounds from their guns and some were “whooping” at the top of their lungs as they left.

  After they were gone, Jed took a deep sigh of relief as he said to Justin, “Man, I’m sure glad those guys didn’t find us. They probably would’ve strung us up from the nearest tree and hung us like one of those old cowboys in the old days. We would’ve just been another casualty of this old west town.” Justin was also relieved they were gone as he said, “I think they were ready to kill us. Let’s don’t take any more of those guy’s helmets, okay, Jed?” Jed agreed as he said, “Don’t worry Justin, I’m marking those off our list of things to steal.”

  They waited for a few weeks before they went back to the bars in Randsburg to steal anything after that experience. When they returned to the bars at Randsburg they were just scoping out the area to try and feel comfortable about stealing from there again. That’s when they noticed there was a new girl that worked at the “The Joint.” From a distance, she looked like she may be about Jed’s age and she was petite, with sandy blond hair. Jed looked over at Justin as he laughed and said, “She looks like she is about my size and type.” Justin laughed and replied, “I was thinking she might like me.” After that they would only see her once and a while when she came out during her breaks or to see what was going on outside. Jed figured she was just checking to see how many people were across the street at “The White House Saloon.”

  A few times they waited for the blond to get off work just so they could get a look at her. One night, just before she got off work, Jed told Justin, “stay put, I just want to get a little closer and see what she really looks like.” He darted quickly across the street and waited for her to get off work. He was crouching about 20 yards away in the dark where she couldn’t see him. Jed was able to get a close up look at her and he figured she was about nineteen or twenty years old and she was a lot prettier than he originally thought. Once she was gone, he darted back across the street and met up with Justin. He told Justin, “She is really pretty and one of these days I’m going come up to the bar and see if I can get to know her.” Justin laughed and said, “You better not, mom won’t like that. She’ll get mad.” Jed just ignored that he said that because he’d already made up his mind that he was going to meet her someday. He was just about old enough to get in the bar, but figured if nothing else, he could go in and order a soda or something from her just to meet her.

  As the weeks passed Jed and Justin continued to wreak havoc on the visitors to Randsburg. They were able to pull off their pilfering until they finally caught the attention of the sheriff’s department in Trona. They had responded to the biker incident and to the visitors of the town that had been reporting that someone had gotten into their vehicle while they were sightseeing. This had gone on for several weeks until the sheriff department couldn’t ignore it any longer. They assigned a first year rookie deputy sheriff to the case by the name of David Stokes. His job was to find out what was going on in Randsburg and to see how someone was getting into the guest’s vehicles while they were visiting the town. He’d only been with the sheriff department for a little over four months and he was gung ho about his job.

  As soon as Stokes was assigned to the case he went to Randsburg and started asking the locals about what they thought was going on there. He talked to the bartenders and other people at the “The Joint” and “The White House Saloon.” They told him that some of the tourists and four-wheelers had reported things being stolen while they were in the bar having a drink or two. No one could confirm the accusations because they never saw or heard anything themselves. Little did they all know, but they had been under surveillance from Jed and Justin and they had been stealing from the tourists for a several months. Some of the local town’s people told Stokes that if the guests were losing personal belongings out of their cars, it was probably the work of the Night Crawlers. They believed they may somehow be connected to the reported thefts. Stokes had heard stories about the Night Crawlers, but didn’t know if they were true. Everyone at headquarters believed they were just a rumor that was going around town. No one had ever seen them steal anything or been able to pin point their location so they couldn’t confirm the rumors to be true.

  After he did all the interviews with the local town’s people and some extensive investigations in the other part of the town, Stokes began to stake out the area near the two bars in Randsburg. On Thursday through Sunday nights he parked his police car down the street about two blocks away and hidden from sight. From where he was parked he could see down the narrow street where the two bars were located. He stayed there night after night for about three weeks hoping he could catch whoever was lurking in the dark shadows and put an end to their stealing.

  Jed and Justin hadn’t been back to Randsburg for a few weeks and because of that they didn’t realize Stokes was lying in wait for them on their next trip into town. It was a quiet Friday night when they made their way back to their favorite hiding place in Randsburg. To them, it was just another night like all the
rest of the nights they had been out stealing. Nothing seemed any different than before. They were going to complete their mission they had come to do and then get out of there and go home. As they sat and watched for a while, the town seemed still and a little spooky. To Jed it felt like some of the ghosts of the past were still walking the streets on that dark and quiet night. It seemed like an especially deserted place to be, except for the visitors that were coming and going from the “The Joint” and the “White House Saloon.” Jed thought, why would anyone want to be in this lonely little town this time of night?

  It was around nine thirty that night when Jed and Justin made their move and crept swiftly out of their hiding spot. They looked up and down the street as they quickly darted across to one of the parked cars. By that time Stokes had been staking out the area for so long that when he first saw them cross the street he couldn’t believe his eyes. He had already started thinking that maybe all the complaints about the thieves in Randsburg weren’t really true. He had convinced himself that people were getting things stolen out of their cars somewhere else and trying to blame it on Randsburg. When he saw them with his own eyes they were almost like a blur as he watched them dart across the street. He instantly realized all the reports were true and knew they were the ones he was waiting for. He said, “Holy crap, I can’t believe my eyes, there they are right in front of me.” He jumped into motion, started his car and unconsciously flipped the switch for the flashing red lights. Jed and Justin instantly saw the flashing lights and immediately darted back across the road to their hiding spot. Stokes saw them dart back across the street as soon as he turned on his lights. He went flying up to where he had last seen them cross the street and his car came to a screeching halt. He grabbed his flashlight with gun drawn and headed in their direction.

  By the time Stokes had made it to where he last saw them, Jed and Justin had left their hiding area and were heading up and over the hill. They split up just like they had planned earlier and were fading into the darkness by the time Stokes made it near their hiding place. As Stokes shined his flashlight toward the hills he caught just a glimpse of one of them as he pursued him on foot up the hill as far as he was willing to go. They were already on the other side of the hill by the time Stokes had only gotten about half way up. He knew he wasn’t going find them in the darkness all by himself so he stopped. He was huffing and puffing as he said, ok, that’s as far as I can go. I’m not chasing these guys on foot and all over these stupid hills. He also figured if they had guns or other weapons the two of them had the advantage over him in the darkness.

  Once they were on the other side of the mountain Justin was winded from the chase and had to stop and catch his breath. He ducked behind a group of rocks for just a moment as he started taking slow deep breaths. Not fully aware of what he’d done, he had stopped right next to either Mojave or western diamond back Rattle Snake. He heard the rattles of the snake just about the same time it bit him. He and Jed had heard the Western Diamond Back was one of the deadliest venomous snakes of North America and very prevalent in the desert. They had been warned about them by their dad and had even seen them before, but always stayed clear of them. Now Justin had just been bitten by one of them.

  Justin could feel the sting of the snake’s fangs as it bit him into the right calve just below the knee. He let out a yelp, like a dog when it gets kicked by someone, and he instantly jumped away from the snake in pain. He immediately knew what had happened and yelled to Jed to let him know that he had gotten bitten by the rattle snake. Jed quickly made his way over to Justin and saw what happened. He said, “Oh crap! Where did it get you?” Justin pointed to his calve muscle and said, “Right here, and it burns.” Jed checked to make sure they were clear of the snake and took Justin by the arm and started leading him down the mountain toward home. As they started down the hill he said, “We’ve got to get you home as soon as we can but don’t run. It’ll just make the poison get into your blood stream faster.”

  Even though Stokes lost Jed and Justin in the darkness, he was not giving up his chase. He returned to his car and started driving in the direction where he’d last seen them go up toward the hills. He was driving in all areas that he could reach with his car and shining the car lights and his flashlight all over mountains looking for them. He continued his search for quite a while but never saw them again. Even though Stokes wasn’t able to catch the Night Crawlers that night, he was one of the only ones that had ever gotten a glimpse of them. Because he had actually seen them cross the road to their intended target and chased them, Strokes’ boss was going to make him stay out at Randsburg for several more weeks just trying to see if he could catch them.

  Jed wasn’t worrying so much about Stokes at that point, he knew they had a much bigger problem on their hands, and that was keeping Justin alive. Time would now determine if Justin lived or died. Jed knew he had to get Justin back as soon as he could so they could get him to the hospital in Ridgecrest. He said to Justin, “Just try and relax and slow down your breathing and I will help you back to the house.” They headed back down the hill to Red Mountain and while on their way back Justin asked Jed, “Do you think I’m going to die, Jed?” Jed was scared for him but knew he had to keep him calm. He lied and said, “Nah, it’s just a little old snake bite. You’re going to be fine once we get you to the hospital.” Jed knew in his heart that he wasn’t sure if Justin would live or die, they still had a thirty minute drive to Ridgecrest once they got home. He knew time would be of the essence once he got Justin back home or he possibly could die, but he wasn’t going to tell Justin that.

  It had already been over thirty minutes since he was bitten when they finally made it home. Justin’s leg was already starting to swell and he was in a lot of pain by then. Jed immediately went into Lynn’s room and woke her up. He told her what had happened to Justin and that it had been about thirty minutes since the bite. She was startled and upset, but quickly jumped out of bed and threw on some clothes. She had Jed grab a sweatshirt from Justin’s room and she grabbed a towel and got it wet. She threw it to Justin and said, “Put on the sweat shirt and wipe the charcoal off your face while we are on our way to the hospital.”

  Lynn told Jed to stay with Joshua while she took Justin to the hospital because she didn’t want to wake Joshua and have to worry about him wanting to go with her. Jed didn’t really want to leave Justin because he was scared for him and wanted to be there with him just in case he didn’t make it. He also knew his mom was right. She didn’t need to take Joshua with her because he would just be in the way.

  On the way to the hospital Lynn asked Justin how he’d gotten bit by the snake. She said, “You guys have been all over these hills and never gotten bitten by the snakes.” She knew there were rattlesnakes around the area but they avoided town most of the time. Filling a little pressured from his mom, Justin then spilled the beans and told her what he and Jed had been doing at Randsburg. He told her about being chased by the Sheriff before he was bitten. He said, “We usually hide around the Yucca plants but this time I hid in some rocks just to catch my breath and that’s when the snake bit me.” Now the pain was becoming a little unbearable and that’s when he asked Lynn, “It hurts real bad mom, do you think I’m going to die?” She looked over at him with a worried look on her face and replied, “No, you’re not going to die. We just have to get you to the hospital as quickly as we can so they can get some anti-venom in you.” By the time she made it to Ridgecrest she was going almost one hundred miles per hour in the old truck.

  Once at the hospital, she rushed Justin into the emergency waiting room and told them that he had been bitten by a rattlesnake about an hour earlier. They immediately rushed him into emergency room and started giving him intravenous (I.V.’s) fluids. It took several hours of emergency anti-venom treatment before they had him stabilized. Once they had him stabilized and out of immediate danger they checked him into the hospital.<
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  The entire time Lynn and Justin were gone, Jed was extremely anxious and upset as he paced back and forth across the living room floor. His mind was going crazy as he wondered what was going on. His mind kept expecting the worst. As he paced the floor he was praying that Justin was okay. He was also blaming himself for Justin being in that predicament. He thought, if I would’ve just stuck to stealing from the houses and stayed away from the cars none of this would’ve happened. At that very moment in his life, he’d never felt so alone. He and Justin were very close to each other since they were born. They had done everything together and even worked as a team before their dad died and now there was a chance he was going to lose Justin too. He made a promise to himself that if Justin lives they would go back to just stealing from the neighborhoods and leave the Randsburg bars alone. It’s just not worth all the trouble it has caused.

  It wasn’t until the late morning hours when Lynn finally returned home and she didn’t have Justin with her. Jed thought she looked ragged and beat up and the same way she looked when Sherman had died. With tears in his eyes and fearing the worst, Jed asked, “Well, did he make it? Is he alive?” Lynn looked at him angrily and replied, “Yes, thank the good Lord, he’s alive. We got him there just in time. The doctors figured it was one of those western diamond back rattlers that bit him from the damage it caused to the tissue in his leg. The doctors said he may lose his leg or the use of it, but right now it’s just too early to tell.” Jed wasn’t happy to hear about the leg damage, but he was relieved that Justin was alive. For Jed, that was the most important news he’d heard.

  Lynn then informed Jed that Justin had told her all about what they had been doing in Randsburg. He told her about the stealing from the tourist cars and how they were making a lot of money off of what they had stolen. She had an angry look on her face as she said, “That was very foolish and careless of you to get your brother involved with that hair brained idea.” Jed was also angry with himself, and embarrassed that his mom had found out that way. He said, “I know, Mom, but it was a quick and easy way to make more money and it worked for us.” She told Jed that he had to promise her that if Justin did recover fully, and started helping him again, he’d never go to the bars at Randsburg and steal from the cars again. That was easy for Jed because he’d already made up his mind he wasn’t going to go back there and steal from that place again. He very quickly agreed to her simple demand and promised her he wouldn’t go back there again.

  It was about a week later, when Justin finally got out of the hospital. The doctor told Lynn he saved Justin’s leg but he had lost some muscle tissue. The doctor also said Justin was going to be laid up for a few months just recuperating. Other than that, he was going to be okay and probably wouldn’t even have a limp.

  Not having Justin work with him was going to leave Jed in an unfamiliar predicament. He would have to go out alone at nights and do the break-ins by himself until Justin was fully recovered. Jed had already accepted his fate. He felt like that was his just reward for putting Justin in that position in the first place. He was just happy Justin pulled through the entire ordeal and was alive.

  * * *

  Chapter 9 - Chelsea