The gas tank of the Raptor was running low. However, if they could siphon the fuel from the wrecked Suburban, they'd have no trouble returning to Highway 13 and heading back to the previous town. In the worst case, they'd eventually come across another vehicle on the road and could contact the outside world. That seemed like the safest plan.
But no one present was foolish. Being ambushed by a group of monsters on the only road leading to a remote town could only mean one thing. On this moonless night, who knew what kind of fate was befalling the residents of that secluded town?
While Rossi and Hotchner discussed their options, Jack dragged three more bodies out of the bushes where the creatures had ambushed them, adding them to the two corpses already lying on the ground.
Reid had regained consciousness but was still dealing with nausea from a mild concussion. He crouched by the front of the Raptor, studying the corpses under the headlights. Blood was still oozing from his armpit, but he seemed oblivious, fully absorbed in his analysis. Jack could only pull him aside to tend to his wound.
"What are you studying?" Jack asked.
After washing his hands with bottled water, Jack opened a leather pouch from the car and took out a small silver flask. He poured some diluted "water of life" onto his hands to sterilize them. Then, without hesitation, he poured the remaining alcohol over Reid's wound, making him grimace in pain.
"I'm trying to figure out what turned them into this," Reid replied.
Jack found a small bottle of Yunnan Baiyao in the pouch—perfect for stopping bleeding and relieving pain. As he bandaged Reid's wound, he briefly recounted his experience in New Mexico.
Only Rossi, who had helped summon SEALs, and JJ, who had heard Jack's story, knew about what had happened back then.
"That's basically it. The monsters here look even more disgusting than those cannibals. At least the cannibals still resembled humans," Jack remarked, adding his own disgusted take on the situation.
Reid immediately latched onto the key point. "You're saying the ones you encountered in New Mexico were mutated by radiation?"
"That's what they say. The entire tribe was controlled by a twisted family, using them to mine deep in the mountains."
Jack suddenly stopped mid-sentence. Why had they chased down this lead? Wasn't it because of a glass bead containing nuclear radiation and a photo of a nuclear test site?
Emily, who had been listening, ran to the back of the Raptor, grabbed the Geiger counter Jack had once used, and approached the bodies on the ground.
Beep, beep, beep! The Geiger counter began to sound off loudly.
"Where do you think these monsters came from?" Rossi and Hotchner, deep in conversation, were drawn to the noise of the counter. Everyone exchanged glances, realizing that calling this a coincidence would insult their intelligence.
These creatures had to be connected to Jeremy somehow, and the answer might lie in the nearby town of Belle Lake.
---
There was no need for further discussion. The group began taking stock of their weapons and ammo: two Noveske N4 assault rifles, each with a magazine and two spares. JJ had emptied two magazines earlier, but thankfully, there were enough bullets left in the Suburban's weapon box, though reloading them was tedious.
Everyone's sidearms were Glock 22s, each person carrying two spare magazines—plenty of ammo. Reloading during combat would be their main concern.
Jack's FK 7.5 was also well-stocked. After developing an ammo shortage phobia, he always carried four spare magazines and two extra boxes of bullets.
Their last heavy hitter was the Barrett MK22-MOD0-ASR sniper rifle. Hotchner and his team had flown in on a Gulfstream jet, and when they landed, they had conveniently packed the rifle into the Suburban.
The weapon's case had top-notch protection, so despite the Suburban being wrecked, the rifles stored inside were perfectly intact.
While a sniper rifle wouldn't normally be useful in a close-quarters encounter, Jack had previously used a Barrett on a Southeast Asian island as a makeshift heavy machine gun, so this time might be no different.
The two assault rifles were handed to JJ and Hotchner, while Jack gave his Glock to Emily, whose marksmanship was far more reliable than Reid's.
Reid's sidearm was given to Rossi, and Hotchner handed his backup revolver to Reid for self-defense. Reid's main task was to manage the ammo, ensuring the group had reloaded magazines during firefights.
Wearing bulletproof vests and carrying the Barrett, Jack climbed into the Raptor's truck bed and slapped the side of the vehicle. This time, Rossi took the wheel, with Hotchner in the passenger seat.
Rossi drove slowly. The windshield had been shattered by the earlier ambush, so they had removed it entirely, but that left them exposed to the elements, making it hard to see at high speeds. Additionally, they were wary of running into another ambush on the road.
Jack, in the back, wearing a wireless earpiece, could hear Reid's excited chatter.
"It feels like we're the A-Team, out to punish evil and defend justice," Reid said, referencing the classic 1983 TV show The A-Team, which held a similar place in American television history as Journey to the West did in Chinese culture.
"Shut up, Dr. Reid!"
"Be quiet!" came the collective response.
---
Half an hour later, with the headlights off, the Raptor crept out of the forested mountain road and arrived at a crossroads. Yet, all around them, it remained pitch dark. Not a single streetlight was on.
"Reid, are you sure we didn't take a wrong turn?" Jack, scanning the area with the Barrett's night vision scope, saw nothing unusual. The town was supposed to have a few hundred residents, and even in a quiet Midwestern town, there should have been some signs of life. Even if cannibals had invaded, there should have been noise.
Gunfire and smoke would have made more sense.
"Most of the residents are probably down by the small lake on the western side of the town, celebrating the 'Mountain Man Music Festival' with the tourists," Reid replied. "There shouldn't be many people left in the town. I suspect the ambush we encountered wasn't meant to target those entering the town but to prevent anyone from escaping to get help."
Jack was racking his brain to recall the plot of the movie. From what he could remember, Reid might be right. In Wrong Turn, the cannibals slaughtered the entire police station when no one was around, all to rescue the old man who helped them capture tourists.
But beyond that, the details eluded him. Who even remembers the plot of a low-budget gore fest? The appeal of those movies was always about the beautiful women fighting monsters, not the plot.
The Raptor continued its slow crawl. As they passed a road sign, Rossi stopped the car again. Hotchner, in the passenger seat, shone his flashlight on the sign.
A severed head had been impaled on top of it, blood flowing down and splitting the words "Welcome to Belle Lake" in two. The atmosphere of terror had reached its peak.
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