Into The Darkness by Doug Kelly Page B

martial law? They agreed this was a bad situation and they should
surreptitiously continue toward the dams and away from this city and the
military base.
    According
to the map, they would get closer to the base as they went toward the dams. At
the first dam, the Air Force base came into view just past the crest of the
riverbank on their right side. The men noticed a walking trail parallel with
the river and going toward the dam. Unfortunately, the trail was on the
military base’s side of the river. Kevin retrieved the binoculars from the
backpack and slowly scanned the dam and trail. He saw no one patrolling the
dam. He wondered if the military was just patrolling streets in town and roads
into the military base.
    The
men stopped at the riverbank where a tree had bent over and leaned into the
river. The tree’s fallen canopy gave them cover from unwanted observation, as
well as a place to secure the rafts.
    “This
is it,” said Dylan.
    “Now
what?” Richard asked.
    “We
get these rafts to the top of the dam one at a time, and move as fast as we
can.”
    On
dry land, Dylan placed the front of the raft on his shoulders and looked
forward with an uncomfortably bent neck, but the pistol felt reassuring, tucked
in the waistband of his pants. Kevin and Richard held up the raft from the
back. They all moved to the top of the dam as fast as Richard could go. At the
trail’s crest at the end of the dam, the rear of the raft suddenly fell to the
ground. When Dylan turned around and straightened his neck, he saw the
horrified look on his friend’s faces. Their eyes were wide, jaws open, and
their hands were in the air. Dylan turned quickly forward and saw two soldiers
with automatic weapons running toward them. The soldiers had been just over the
crest of the dam and out of view.
    The
first soldier commanded, “Freeze! Don’t move or I’ll shoot!”
    “The
colonel said we can shoot intruders. Should we shoot them?” asked the second
soldier.
    “Get
the colonel. He may want to see this,” said the first soldier.
    Dylan
stared in silence at the remaining soldier. The name on his shirt was Ramirez.
He looked young. Probably still a teenager. Ramirez paced around the three men,
still pointing his automatic weapon at them. He had the men standing on the
trail with their hands on their heads. He stopped behind them and began to
taunt them.
    “Bang…bang…bang,”
jeered Ramirez, as he stood behind them and laughed.
    “We
didn’t do anything!” screamed Richard.
    “Shut
up, fat ass!” commanded Ramirez. “Now get your fat ass on the ground. Face
down. Now!”
    Ramirez
stood over Richard and straddled his body. He began to poke Richard’s head,
neck, and back with the barrel of his rifle. Ramirez was debating aloud to
Richard exactly where he should shoot him before he threw his body over the
dam. As the rifle barrel slowly worked its way down Richards’s spine, Ramirez
noticed the pack of cigarettes in Richard’s back pocket and took them. He lit a
cigarette, pulled the smoke deep into his lungs, and slowly exhaled.
    “Thanks,
fish bait. I needed a cigarette,” Ramirez sneered mockingly at Richard.
    Still
standing over Richard’s prone body, Ramirez did not notice the second soldier
returning with the colonel.
    “Ramirez,
what are you doing?” barked the colonel.
    Ramirez
jumped at the sound of the colonel’s voice. He flicked the lit cigarette into
the air, dropped the pack of cigarettes, and nervously stood at attention.
“Sir, we captured intruders, sir.”
    The
colonel turned to the second soldier. “You said you captured terrorists.”
    The
colonel was a short, stocky man with a shaved head, camouflage hat, and
sunglasses. He stepped in front of Dylan and Kevin to get a look at the captured
men. He stared at them and tilted his head to the side. He kept looking back
and forth at Richard on the ground and the two men standing, and then he took a
step back and began to laugh loudly as he removed his hat