"HELL ON EARTH"

chapter 9

"Stop, we must form a plan." Jeff yelled to his men. The ten men stopped in there tracks ,as they peered down at a 500 pound grizzly bear. The men were awkwardly perched on the side of the mountain, staring down at certain death. A fall would kill them ,and get them eaten , a well executed plan would save thier lives. Jeff knew, that no one could go up against this beast with a pitch fork , unless they wanted to be lunch. He also knew that on the mountain, they were doing all they could not to slip, which means no one could get off a clean shot. "Jeff I want u to shuffle to the left and ill move to the right , one of us will have a clean shot on the bear, while the other one distracts it". Pike said as he began moving to the right. The mountain was almost straight up and down, the only way the man were not falling to thier deaths, was that , they were perched on a ridge ,and the ridge moved along both side of the mountain as far as the eye could see. Jeff moved left very slowly and methodically, as Pike did the same, but to the right. The massive grizzly took to Pike, and followed him to the right of the group of men. This of course ment that Jeff would be taking the shot. This ridge that these man stood on, was only mabey a foot wide, one wrong step and they would surely fall to their death. Jeff knew the limited space would make the shot very difficult, but not impossible. He pulled up the cold metal assault rifle ,and moved the scope into his line of vision, matching his cross hairs with the grizzly's head , he pulled the trigger. With one shot, the bear fell backwards in a heap of its own infected blood.

Jeff felt a sense of relieve pass over him , of course he knew it would be short lived, but for now his people were safe. Scaling down the steep mountain , the men moved very slowly. After about an hour the warriors touched level ground. Celebrating ,the men began to hug each other, and give thanks to Jeff."The worst is not behind us, that building will be full of something or somebody who, will not welcome us kindly, we must push on my friends and find what we have come for." Jeff tried to motivate his people , but in these times motivation was not easy to come by.

After a quick bite to eat and some water ,the ten men pushed on away from the cover of trees, and into a wide open prairie. The flat land provided no cover , but offered a unique advantage, the warriors could see the enemy coming a mile away. Walking was easy the terrain ,was nothing but dead Brown grass and flat land.Jeff was reminded of his trip to Africa with his wife and family, just before he enlisted into the marine corps.

"I see a cat about 500 yards out" yelled Pike. The men moved in to a tight diamond formation all facing the big cat, preparing for the threat. "They sure are ugly" said Jeff in a joking tone. Ten men one very large cat, that wanted to do nothing more then kill every one of them. The panther had no eyes, it's ears and tail cut off. Jeff with the semi auto assault rifle steadied his aim and took a deep breath. The sound of the bullet penetrating the sound barrier echoed through the silence,like a fighter jet taking off the runway .Jeff's rifle hopped as the bullet was released, he watched through the scope as that hot lead hit the cat, right between the eyes. After the insanky large cat fell the men slowly approached it , with extreme cation jef bent down and examined his kill."People did this!!!... somebody is cutting off ,the ears and tails of these creatures, my guess ,is they are marking these animals". Jeff said. " You mean people have something to do with this"? The young man from the back of the group spoke up. "I would not doubt that one bit ...said pike, "jeff is right the tails and ears are cut off clean , only a scalpel could do that".

Jeff and Pike knew ,that the people cutting off the tails and ears of these animals , had to be in that building. The men once more , began on thier journey, but now they had more motivation, to stop what ever was going on. The men walked in silence, afraid of making to much noise, afraid of attracting these mutalted beasts. As the sun gave way to the moon , the ten men found themselves in the dark of night. They knew it was unsafe to travel in the pitch black , but making camp seemed just as dangerous. Pushing on Jeff and his men walked slowly, and very quietly. Hearing something rustling in the tall grass, Pike stopped the men. Assuming the tight diamond formation, the ten men waited for something to attack. Standing in complete silence , scared for thier lives.Was the ten warriors of Bethlehem Colorado about to take their last breath ??Something was coming , footsteps in the tall grass , could be heard with out a doubt. The footsteps did not move quickly, instead they moved slow and steady , like a lion moving in on its kill.

Waiting patiently, they could hear the beast getting closer and closer . As a faint image started to appear in the black of night , the men quickly readied thier weapons . The image that the men saw was not of a beast , no , not a beast at all . From the darkness approached a woman!!!! Pointing a military issued 12 gauge assult rifle directly at jeff's chest. Pike grabbed a flashlight and qickly pointed at her face. The woman was absolutely stunning, with her long blond hair dropping neatly to her shoulders, and her ocean blue eyes sparkling when the beam of light touched them. Thin with broad shoulders , she stood just five foot six inches tall. "Its just a tiny little woman" said one of the men from the back. Jeff instinctively responded " she might be tiny , but that gun is not let's do what ever she asks".

"Don't shoot...we are friends" ...said Pike. Jeff had dropped his weapon,as did everyone else. "What are you doing out here at night"..asked the woman. "We are lost said jeff, we have been for days". The woman with a nervous look in her eye said.."I am also lost , I have been out here for a week. The people in the big building , about two miles from here captured me. I was able to escape , but I have no idea where to go. Can you help me"? Jeff spoke up first ..."why did they take u captive"?

The woman was visibly shaking as she said.."I don't know , they told that they were going to run test on me, like experiment with me. Jeff said .." ok get her a bit of food and some water.....pike follow me". Jeff and Pike went away from the group, to discuss if they could trust her. Pike believed the young lady and so did Jeff. Upon agreeing that they would help her, the two walked back to the group. The two announced that the young lady could stay. "My name is Elena" she spoke . "Well Elena , I want to let you no that we are not lost ,and that we are headed for the big building . Elena asked why and Jeff told her as they prepared to continue thier journy.She seemed very concerned for the safety of the group, but the men knew there was no turning back now.

As they began walking , Elena explained that there was armed guards, security cameras . She asked how they planned to even get inside the gate. The men honestly had no clue ,but was sure they could figure it out when they got there.
After walking what seemed like many more hours then it they actaully did, the group had no more attacks, and were now standing about five hundred yards from the big building. The building was at least 6 story's tall and took up the better part of 10 acres. The fence went all the way around the building ,it was 16 foot tall with razor wire going all the way around it on the top . The group decided to step back, and ponder on how to get in. Elena said " the guards leave at two am and two pm every day, it is thier shift change."

"Well that's it then, we wait till they leave and we go in." Said Jeff. Everyone looked at him sorta of dumbfounded, as if to say 'are you freaking cazy', but no one said a thing . It was settled , the group would wait until shift change to make thier move.