Dark Forces

"There are some cool old mine ruins up there, up by that mesa way up on the hill. It was pretty neat to explore. It's like a whole abandoned town! I think there is some kind of power plant going in up there too, under construction."

"Oh? Sounds neat! You mean, like a diesel generator, or like a big coal or gas plant?"

"No, I think actually it was geothermal. Like that big one right outside Fernley. The signs said 'Azzacov Geothermal Project,' something like that."

At the mention of that name, Mom looked startled, almost spooked.

"What, what's wrong?"

"Oh, I don't know, that name...it just sounds familiar for some reason. But I can't place it. You weren't poking around where you shouldn't have been?" Mom asked.

"Well, it was right behind the old mill, and I didn't see any signs or nothing. Maybe you read about plant in the paper or something and that's where you heard about it."

"Hmm, maybe. You are always careful of rattlesnakes, right?"

A mother always worries about these things, I thought. Rattlesnakes were actually the least of my worries, but I told her I was careful.

After dinner, I hung out in my room reading, studying the rocks I had found. Erin would be sharing this bed with me tomorrow night, I thought. Sitting on the bed, I called her on the phone. I of course told her about my adventures in the hills- the stuff I wouldn't tell Mom, and thankfully Erin had the sense not to scold. Like me, her sense of adventure had not been dulled by age and a sense of "responsibility." But I had no intention of going back to that mine. We exchanged small talk for quite a while. Her daycare kids, my dealing with grandma's house, summer plans, future plans. I wanted a future with her. I had thought more and more about it and even with no concrete plans for the future, I wanted to make it work. Before we hung up, she told me she had planned to arrive by around 5 the next afternoon, if all went well.

In the distance, I could hear the yelps of the coyotes. Lonely plaintive cries. From somewhere not too far off came the croaking of frogs joining this chorus. I liked the sounds. The desert felt alive, not barren at all, this time of evening. It was peaceful, even though the circle of life could be violent, especially if it is disrupted and out of balance. Maybe the raccoons would eat the frogs, and maybe the coyotes eat the raccoons before they would get old and lonely and die off. Whatever creepy unease I had felt up at the mine had long wore off but yet, as I sat there, I couldn't help but feel some misplaced anxiety. I didn't even know what I was anxious about. Well, Erin would be here tomorrow and that will help, I thought. Eventually I turned off the lights and got ready to drift off to sleep.

Was it me, or was that glass globe thing I had found the other day, now sitting in the corner, glowing faintly? Or maybe just a reflection from the streetlight outside?

8.

Erin rolled into town right as the afternoon was wearing on and it was starting to cloud up. We hugged, kissed, and the first thing she asked for was a glass of water. I could smell her summer sweat and wanted her feverishly, right then. I was 23, she was barely 21, and we were both in our sexual prime. As old fashioned as Mom could be, at least she had not insisted that Erin sleep in the other spare bedroom. But there was a catch there. Mom had intended to put her to work.

She had met Mom many times of course. Mom had almost started to think of her as a daughter in law. We sat and chatted for a bit. She had had an uneventful seven hour drive, boring and uneventful. "It's so bleak!" she said.

"But it's not! It's subtle, but when the flowers are in bloom, you can look down and see some striking beauty that is so easy to miss. And the mountains, the wide open spaces, you'll see." I replied.

But after some catching up and general small talk, Mom pointed out that there was two mattresses and an old china hutch that needed to be moved out onto the trailer from the guest bedroom. "Grunt work, that's us!" I said. "Sorry about that!" (Although on the plus side, now that the mattresses and furniture were gone, Erin had no place to sleep now except for my room, ha ha!)

9.

The afternoon thunderstorm had already blown over, and there was just the wind and scuttling clouds in its wake, and the familiar aroma of sweet desert brush. As Erin and I were seated on the couch, holding hands and exchanging longing glances, Mom mentioned something about getting something for dinner, as it was late afternoon.

"I'm going to run down to the store for a sec. You kids need anything?" Mom asked.

"Uh, more Chessmen cookies? If there are any left?" I replied.

("Condoms?") Erin whispered, giggling.

"What do you guys think; pork chops and zucchini sound good?"

"Yeah, that'd be fine I guess." I replied.

"Okay, I'll see you guys in a minute. Be good!"

"I thought she would never leave" Erin said a minute later. And taking my by the hand, led me into the bedroom.

"Rip 'em off, big boy. Let's see what you got for me." I couldn't get undressed fast enough. Just the smell of her body under that skimpy sun dress- I'd been waiting practically all day to sneak a peek underneath it, and seemingly, she had been waiting all day to let me, as she practically threw me down onto the bed and climbed on top of me.

We made passionate love, raptured in the warm delicious nakedness of our bodies. It was the most fulfilling, satisfying sex I remember having in a long time. I felt like I was going to explode as I rocked her body, twitching under me, and when I orgasmed, it was like a volcanic eruption. Outside, the clouds scuttled by overhead and there was the occasional peel of distant thunder. We both lay there afterward under the blankets, listening to the rain.

"Oh no. You can't be finished yet, booger breath. Take me again!" she said, giving me a playful slap on the butt.

I loved to hear her talk that way to me. My appetite was almost instantly refreshed and it was time for another round. It was like we both had boundless sexual energy that afternoon.

The wet smell of sagebrush desert air after a storm has that effect, I noticed.

Later that evening, after a hearty home cooked meal of pork chops, steamed rice, and fried zucchini, and Erin had finished helping Mom with the dishes, the two of us went out back together to look at the stars.

There was still light in the air. A vivid bright red streaked with orange and yellow at the horizon, with the sky rapidly darkening behind us. The beauty of a desert sunset may be fleeting, but it is unsurpassed. We held hands and whispered. The stars were just starting to come out, and we could hear the chorus of crickets and in the distance, a coyote howl. A neighbor's dog barked in response. Maybe that was Pete's old black Labrador, I thought.

"We can go over and meet him tomorrow, I think you'd like him," I was telling her about Pete Threebears. "He's a cool old dude..."

"You are right."

"What? You mean about Pete?"

"No. I mean, it IS beautiful here. Thank you. Thank you so much for inviting me out here, your mom is so sweet and you...you are so..."

Without finishing the sentence, she kissed me again. And as she did, the last vestige of yesterday's unease melted away. It was a perfect moment. We sat there a long time, as the light faded and the stars came out one by one. They really are much brighter out here than in the city.

10.

The next morning, after breakfast (which Erin and I had both helped Mom with, best pancakes ever!) we were making plans for the day.

"You guys want some couples vacation time, I bet." Mom said.

"Yeah. Actually I was thinking, we were talking about taking the jeep up to old Pioche. The old ghost town. I was gonna show her around."

"That sounds awesome. It's pretty old and interesting I bet. Will there be rattlesnakes?" Erin replied.

Mom gave me a look.

"Well, I wouldn't worry. It's too hot for them in the middle of the day anyway. We'll just watch our step though."

"Well if you go, take plenty of water. I'll start working on the bathroom, you guys probably don't want to be here for that." Mom replied.

"Well, uh, not particularly." I replied, laughing. I had already helped her re-tile the other bathroom, the master bathroom off Grandma's room a few days previously and although it wasn't hard work, it wasn't something either Erin or I were looking forward to either.

"You guys know where you are going?" she asked again.

"Yeah, I got the map book and stuff. Plus my phone is charged, here...let me show you," I said. I ran and grabbed the atlas from the other room and showed her the dot on the map where the old ruined town was.

"Okay, well, you kids have a nice trip. Don't let the ghosts get ya!" she said.

11.

We made a quick stop at the store again, as before, for water and sandwiches.

"He's back again! And whose this?" said the clerk. She was the same local clerk from the other day.

"My girlfriend Erin from California. Drove up to visit. Erin, this is..." (Leaning forward to read her nametag, because I had honestly forgotten her name) "...Stephanie."

Erin smiled politely and said hi.

"You like it here?" Stephanie asked.

"Yeah, it's um... Quiet out here. Pretty nice. We're gonna go up to, um, where is it again?"

"Pioche" I replied. "Thought we'd check out some old history. Hey, speaking of which, what's going on, they are opening some new geothermal plant up by the old Disaster Peak..."

Stephanie stared at him in horror.

"...You did NOT go up there, did you?" she interrupted.

"Well, yeah, I mean, I didn't realize they were..."

"So that's where it is. I know about that power plant place, but I didn't realize that was where it was. Or I would have warned you. Listen, you better hope they didn't catch you poking around up there. I'd stay the fuck as far away from that place as I could. And if you did actually go there...jeez. That is not a good place."

"Why?" I thought, wishing someone had told me this earlier.

"It's just not. Don't fuck with it. I'd stay away...As far...as I could. That's all I can say. It's one of those 'don't ask questions' things. Good luck to you guys."

She would not say anything more. I guess I had realized I was treading on sketchy ground when I saw the vehicles and what not at the bottom, and even more when they had fired up the generator- I had quite honestly been really spooked. But whatever it was about that place seemed to spook her even more. I paid for our supplies and told her thanks.

"So what's up with that power plant place anyway? She seemed kinda freaked out about it." Erin said, as soon as we were in the car and out on the dusty open road, heading out of town.

"I don't know. It's obviously some kind of private generation station of some kind, but when I went up there, there were no signs for it or anything. I didn't even realize it was there, until I got to the bottom of the mine pit. It was like they were trying to conceal it or something."

"Do you think it's, like, some kind of government secret?" she asked.

"Well, yeah, who knows, but what's so secret about a geothermal plant. I mean, they got that big one right outside of Fernley- Nightingale Hot Springs, or whatever it is. And there's signs all around that place."

I went on, "There have been some weird government vehicles around town, Mom's seen them, but I just figured they were BLM fire crews or something. But man, that lady, Stephanie, she did seem a little freaked out when I asked her about it. We won't be going there, though, don't worry!"

"What about that guy in the white car?" she asked suddenly.

"What guy?"

"When we left the store, there was some guy in a white Ford, I swear to God it was like he was staring at us. I didn't think to mention it, but now..."

I honestly hadn't noticed the guy she was talking about, but now that she said that, I hoped she was just being paranoid.

"I dunno, maybe he was just checking you out. You do look good in that sleeveless dress you know."

"Oh stop it!" she said playfully slapping my arm.

We continued out on the open road, stereo cranking, wind blowing through the open window, and a trail of dust like a comet behind us. Just enjoying the day, looking forward to another desert day's adventure, and being two young people in love with life and with each other.

And neither of us knew that just after rolling out of town, an unremarkable looking man in an unremarkable looking white Ford sedan had gone into the store, and after questioned a frightened store had got back into his unremarkable looking Ford sedan and made a quick phone call.

12.

The road continued past Disaster Peak and on up north. I pointed out the ruins of the old mill visible up top of the bluff, and the strange drill rig. But I nervously kept looking on the road ahead, not daring to be too obvious or stare too long. We passed the turnoff road that led up the hill to the ruins. As we did, I noticed a vehicle, a white truck, was quickly rolling down the hill towards us, trailing a cloud of dust. This was unsettling. Who else could have gone up there, except for one of the employees of the power plant? And why, after we passed the road and were well beyond it, were they now turning and following us, quickly gaining ground?

I had gone silent. Before long the white truck was rapidly closing the distance between us. I sped up.

"What's wrong?"

"I got this guy riding my ass. I don't want to go too much faster, maybe I better pull off the road and let him by."

I found a pull-off spot and slowed down, waving my arm to let the truck by. But yet, to my dismay, he slowed down as well, and did not pass. What the fuck was he doing? I pulled back onto the road and continued on, but as soon as I did, the truck followed, and continued riding my rear bumper. I was now feeling quite nervous. Erin said, "What's wrong?"

"I thought this guy wanted to pass, but he didn't. I pulled over but he didn't go on by. Now he's just fucking with me."

"Well, be careful! God, what if he's dangerous!"

"I KNOW He is!" I was suddenly quite nervous. I didn't need this on a day like today.

"Look, we gotta get out of here. Maybe back to town or something. He must be some fucked up tweaker, but I don't know what he wants with us- we weren't doing anything to him!" I said.

"RYANN!"

She screamed. I rounded a corner as the road wound between two low hills and suddenly, two beige Humvees were parked nose to tail, blocking the road, engines idling. Standing behind them were six men in beige uniforms. A white Ford sedan, unmarked by any insignia other than a tell-tale "US Government" license plates, was sitting behind the two Humvees. I slammed on the brakes and tried to pull a quick u-turn, but as I did, the truck behind me braked, and veered across the road to block our escape.

"Oh my GOD!" Erin screamed. What's going on! What did we DO?!"

"Who are these guys? I don't KNOW!" I said, panicking, heart pounding. I tried again to quickly turn around, ram the white truck and back out, but the Humvees had closed the distance, neatly blocking us in on 3 sides. The six men immediately ran up and surrounded the car, guns drawn. As they did, a neatly dressed man, non-descript in a khaki suit, stepped out of the Ford and approached our boxed-in vehicle.

The man in the white pickup had also emerged and had drawn a pistol. He ran around to the passenger side where Erin hunkered down, white as a sheet.

"Step out of the car you two. NOW!" one of the uniformed men barked.

"What is this, who are you guys, this is a mistake! We haven't done anything wrong, what's going on?" I said, heart pounding.

"Out of the car motherfucker!" He had un-slung his gun and was pointing it directly in my face. Some kind of automatic rifle, probably an M-16. Erin had exited on the passenger side and as soon as she did, the white pickup driver and another one of the goons had tackled her and cuffed her in one smooth motion. She was screaming, crying.

"We haven't done anything! What are you doing! What do you WANT?" I asked.

A shot rang out. The man in the suit had walked up and fired a pistol into the air.

"OUT OF THE MOTHERFUCKING CAR NOW!"

I stepped out of the car and immediately felt myself being slammed to the ground and cuffed.

The man in the suit spoke. Voice calm, professional. "Son, you are in big trouble. You want to know what this is about? You are being arrested on a federal trespass warrant. We know you were up on the mesa the other day. We saw your car and we've been tracking you ever since."

"But I didn't know, I mean yeah I was up there, but there are no signs up there... I didn't know..."

"That's because, you see, we don't want people to know it's there. We don't want to draw attention to it by putting signs all around it. We are with the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission, and this is a top secret federal energy project. I guess you could say it is bad luck on your part to have stumbled onto our project site, but still, you people are from out of town, and well, most of the locals know well enough not to mess with things that don't concern them."

"Am I going to JAIL?"

"Well, in a manner of speaking...yes. You are being detained. I am going to be honest with you and I'm not going to lie about that."

"But you can't just stop us and haul us off to jail like this! Without any warning!"

I was horrified. My head was spinning; what would I tell Mom? And now I had dragged Erin into this mess...

"Here is your warning." One of the uniformed men said harshly. "Shut the fuck up before you get pistol whipped."

"Spengler, that won't be necessary." The man in the suit said. "Let me handle this. You can deal with the woman."

"Well, can I at least get a phone call?" I pleaded "And what about her, she had nothing to do with it! She didn't even get here until last night!"

Erin was crying inconsolably as two uniformed men dragged her into the back of one of the two Humvees. She tried fighting them but they were too strong.

"You kids don't seem to understand. We are not the police." The man in the suit said, now grinning vacantly. "If we were, I guarantee things would be going much better for you than they are about to. And I am truly, truly sorry for you. I really am. If it makes you feel better, my men will be in town soon and they will let your mother know what happened to you. But now it's time to go. Take him into the car." He said, addressing his thugs.

"But dude wait, where are you taking us!!"

There was no reply. I felt myself lifted, and marched into the waiting Ford sedan. They tossed me in and slammed the door. I was alone in the back seat. Wherever it was they took Erin afterwards, I never found out. I only watched as she sat, struggling in the back of one of the Humvees, until I saw one of the soldiers lean over to her, and she suddenly slumped down.

Two men got into the car on either side of me, shoving me into the middle. But unlike Erin, I gave no thought to fighting. Somehow, I still thought I could get us out of this if I acted calm. Maybe they would take us to a senior chief officer and I could explain everything. One of the two men drew something out of his shirt pocket.

The last thing I remembered for a long time was the sting of a needle in my right arm, and the man in the suit, the smiley vacant man, looking at me and grinning stupidly. I quickly faded into unconsciousness.

13.

Two hours later, Back in town, about 15 miles away, two Humvees pulled up to a small white house. Armed men were seen leading a screaming, pleading woman down the driveway, as she was protesting her innocence. They stuffed her into a waiting car and sped off. The few neighbors who witnessed this were shocked, naturally, finding it hard to believe that the town's new visitor, Helen Canfield's own daughter, would have done something to deserve such treatment. However they were also terrified, and cowered in their homes and would not dare speak to anyone of this event.