Nice And Spice

8

Previously on Nice and Spice...

Yvonne passed away...Theo has become an alpha...Brett found out just how good I am at giving bj's. Now we find ourselves out in a small area of the mountains. What happens, we shall see...

I pull into a small parking lot off the side of the highway, at around 8:30 pm. It's a pretty quiet night as I park and reach into the back and grab one of my Walkie Talkies. I have 6 sitting down under the back seat, all in chargers, and ready for use with headsets. I have 2 Dewalt DXFRS800's, 2 Gocom G9 IP67 Waterproof Two Way Radios with a built-in flashlight and SOS, and 2 Uniden SX507's. I grab one of the Dewalt and plug in a headset, while Theo grabs the other as we test to make sure they are working and have clear sound before getting ready to leave.

"Jackson - Vidal callout." I wait 30 seconds for a response.

"Go for Vidal, Jackson." I hear my mom say.

"Jackson - Baker Callout." I say calling Brett.

"Go for Baker." Brett replies.

"Jackson - Murdock callout." I say calling out a third one.

"Murdock here Jackson, What do you need?" My grandma asks.

"I'll be 10-7 with Theo, emergency contact Dewalt DXFRS800, channel is as follows, Delta-Charlie-Sierra 22. 4-10?"

"Vidal, copy. Dewalt DXFRS800, channel Delta-Charlie-Sierra 22." She repeats back to confirm she has it.

"Baker, 10-4. Dewalt DXFRS800, Delta-Charlie-Sierra 22. Coordinates to follow with a meet up location if needed?" Brett asks.

"10-4!" I reply, before placing the mic back on its hook. My grandma repeats the directions back as we finish packing up.

"Ready to go?" I ask, grabbing my smokes, as he nods and walks around to where I am. I lock the truck up as we start our way down the path to the waterfall.

We're about ten minutes into our walk when I speak up and ask him what's on his mind.

"I'm afraid." He responds.

"Afraid of what? The future?" I ask, moving closer to him.

"Yea, but not just the future...I'm afraid that I'll fail...afraid that I'll hurt you again." He replies quickly but with pause. I stop him and look in his eyes. I hold his gaze for a few minutes and cup his cheek, pulling him in for a hug.

"You won't fail. You didn't mean to hurt me, it was just a reaction, besides I've forgotten about it." I say as he looks up, tears welling in his eyes.

"How do you know?" He asks, pulling back and running off down the path. I move into a jog, chasing after him, trying not to lose sight of him, until I do. I finally find him sitting on the grass, staring at the waterfall, crying.

"I failed my mom. Promised to keep her safe and I failed. I lost her and I'm afraid of losing you, along with everyone that I love." He says between sobs. I sit next to him, looking at the water hoping it will give me the words to say.

"What happened to your mom wasn't your fault, there was nothing you or anyone could have done at that moment. She lives on because you do, you keep her memory alive. She was an amazing woman and she did a great job raising you. Your mother was so proud of you and she made that abundantly clear." I pause for a couple minutes to hug him.

"You'll never lose me, or any of us for that matter. We are the ones who stick together through thick and thin. My mom told me a quote a couple years ago that really stuck with me. The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest form of fear is fear of the unknown. That's a quote from a famous author, H.P. Lovecraft." I say as he looks at me.

I look up at the star filled night sky and feel a tear well up in my eye.

"I was once in your shoes, afraid that I wouldn't be good enough, that I too would fail and now...now I look at each day with confidence. I love you and nothing in this world is ever going to change that." I add on.

"I love you too." He replies as an emergency rings out over the walkie talkie.

"ATTENTION ALL WOLVES...ATTENTION ALL WOLVES. This is a warning to all coming to the lake. Stay away...I REPEAT Stay away, hunters have been spotted near the premises. More information to follow." I hear my grandma, Sherry Murdock say over the walkie talkie.

I pull out the emergency muster point coordinates for the Vidal pack and get ready to send them out over the walkie talkie.

"Vidal - Baker - Jackson Emergency Coordinates are as follows: +52.81957 Latitude x -116.10995 Longitude. When you arrive, park in tree cover, blackout your lights, and grab your Uniden SX507, it is set to our private channel. Wait for instructions to follow at 11 pm." I say as Theo and I get up running towards the truck. I get in the driver seat, start the truck and peel out of the parking lot. My CB radio flickers on as we pull onto the road speeding away. Theo is leaning in the back, shutting off the Dewalts and setting them back on their charger as well as grabbing both of the Uniden SX507's. He hands one to me. I clip it onto my waist and turn it on.

As we drive to the meeting spot my grandma comes out over the cb with more information.

"To all those who are listening in, We have reports of four mercenaries walking through the forest. We don't know how many there are in total or how they found us, but the first step is to fall back to your pack muster coordinates, stick together and stay safe.

It takes Theo and I about thirty minutes to arrive at the muster point and it looks like we are the first ones to arrive. We quickly scout the perimeter, about 50 kilometers in each direction and set up the sensors to alert us if anyone enters the perimeter.

"Theo, are you done setting up the sensors?" I call out on the walkie talkie.

"I am. Meet you back at the truck." He replies as I break into a run. I stop as I see something out of the corner of my eye, so I check my surroundings and note something before breaking into a run again. When I get back, I make sure there is room for the other two trucks and set the back seat up like a bed so Theo and I can sleep. As I finish Theo comes running in and jumps in the passenger seat.

"Okay, let's get this set up." I say hitting a switch on the left side of the steering wheel. A cover starts moving down along the windows around the cab of the truck, with covers on the lights as well as a Mini Portable Projector popping up from the center console. A screen comes on asking for an authorization key.

"Jackson Alpha Prime Authorization 0-9-0-5-2-0-2-0." I say as there's a ding and the screen changes to a home screen. Along the top there are 6 tabs that read, Drones, chat, notes, sensors, cameras and operators. Theo looks at me and grabs my hand.

"Yea, the authorization key is our first date. I remember it so well because you left me french notes, paid for an amazing and delicious dinner and made the night memorable. The system is all voice activated as well." I say as I place a kiss on his lips. We're snapped from our thoughts as the sensors read Nolans truck entering the perimeter.

"We better finish!" I say as we turn our attention back to the screen. I had 6 small security drones installed into the bed of my truck, so glad I got my new truck back from the mechanic a few days ago. It's a 2022 Ram 3500 Limited 4x4 Mega Cab with a 6'4" box, and pretty much the same features as my last truck, but with a few added on too.

"Release Security Drones 1-4 around the perimeter at a holding pattern of 100 km's from our location in each direction. Set Security Drone 5 in a holding pattern around the trucks and dirt road. Activate truck sensors, pull up notes and log this, I heard what sounded to be a base 500 km's north of our location. Set authorization to a second voice sample in 5 seconds." I say as it runs everything as I say it. Theo speaks and the voice registers it to the Alpha prime key alongside mine. I see on the cameras outside my truck, 2 trucks pull in and park in the trees. They blackout as the time clicks five minutes from 11 pm. I look over at Theo and lean towards him a bit.

Here we have our heroes stranded in the woods amongst danger! Can they make it out safe!

Read on to find out....