The Z Contingency

Chapter 38

Gary had been driving for over two hours in the heavy rain. The wipers were slapping away the sheets of water madly across the windshield. With the headlights reflecting off the downpour, Gary missed the sign indicating a sharp turn in the main highway, and instead went down a large side road that appeared to be straight ahead of him. Five miles past the missed turn, Gary sensed that he was not where he wanted to be. He reached over to grab the map from the dashboard.

“Deer!” Simon shouted, in the same moment that Gary had turned his attention away from the road. He slammed on the brakes, and turned the steering wheel sharply to avoid hitting the large animal standing in the roadway, sending the car into a spin. Gary could see the deer bolting away as the car swung past its first rotation, and careened head-on into a tree to bring the car to a full stop. Due to the heavy rain, Gary had not been driving very fast, so the force was not enough to deploy the airbags, for which Simon and Gary were both grateful. Their seat belts had saved them from any real injury, although Gary’s shoulder was sore from the restraint.

Simon recovered from his daze first, and managed to grab their bags from the trunk without getting too wet. Pulling out and donning their rain gear, the two men exited the car to survey the damage.

“Looks like we’re walking from here. I think the axle’s broken.” Simon gestured to a small boulder that showed all the signs of having recently been struck by a large, heavy object. “Let’s see if we can figure out where we are on the map first.” Simon got back in the car and turned on the overhead light. They studied the simple map for a moment, then Simon said, “We somehow got off the main road, probably here,” Simon pointed to the place on the map where Highway 74 took a sharp turn south. “This side road forks off at that point. From the turns I remember feeling, I’d say we’re in this area. Grab your gear. If we go this way for a bit, we should get our bearings.”

“This is a long hairpin. If we go across here, we’ll get back on the road here.” Simon pointed to two locations directly across from each other where the road turned back on itself. They appeared to be separated by less than a mile, if the scale of the map was accurate. “That should save us several miles of walking.”

“Shouldn’t we stay on the road?” asked Gary. “It seems to me that there would have been a good reason for making the road in a hairpin.”

“It could have been for any number of reasons, and we’re in a hurry, so this shortcut will be quickest.”

“What do you call the longest distance between two points?” Gary chuckled grimly. “A ‘shortcut.’” The two set off on foot, ignoring the rain that was drenching them, each lost in his own thoughts. As they crossed the muddy terrain, Gary gave silent thanks they had not had the chance to change out of their hiking boots.

After about twenty minutes of slogging through brush and weeds that grew higher than their heads, Simon suddenly hissed, “Gary! Stop. We’re surrounded.”

“What?” Gary looked around. A puzzled look spread across his face. “What are you talking about. There’s no one here but us.”

“Wrong.” The single word was accompanied by the unmistakable sounds of guns being prepared for firing. Five figures in full camouflage gear arose from the brush, encircling Gary and Simon. Gary’s mouth dropped open, and he looked over at Simon in wonder.

“How...?” stopping short as Simon raised his hands up slowly over his head, while gesturing for Gary to stop with a raised forefinger. Gary raised his hands as well, as Simon took a slow half-step forward to address their captors. Gary returned his attention to them as well.

Three men stood before Gary and Simon. The one in the middle was clearly the leader as he did not have his gun pointing at the pair. He was taller than the two to either side of him. His demeanor suggested he was educated, and intelligence could be seen in his eyes. His uniform, although similarly camouflaged, was somehow crisper looking than theirs, and he carried himself with an air of authority.