It was six o’ clock and pitch dark outside when Mulder stopped the car. The dirt trail that he followed ended, and a mile of woodland lay between him and the county line. He grabbed his duffel bag that was on the seat next to him. He unzipped it and pulled out an old pair of black boots and a generic army fatigue costume. He bought the outfit just a few days ago and was planning to wear it to the upcoming Halloween party at work. When Mulder first heard of the Ebola quarantine, he expected military guards to be all over Hazzard. He made the decision while he was packing that if he was going to crash the party, he might as well come dressed for the occasion. The guy who sold the outfit to him said that it could pass for the real thing. Mulder guessed that he would find out whether or not the pitch had any truth to it.
He quickly dressed into the uniform, grabbed a small flashlight from the glove compartment and left the car for the woods. For a while, he had trouble traipsing through the Georgia mud and thicket with only his flashlight to guide his path, but when the Hazzard border came into view, the spotlights bordering the county line shined brilliantly enough to guide airplanes to the ground. The sight was absolutely intimidating, and the young agent’s plan to quietly sneak across the border vanished.
From behind a cluster of trees, Mulder watched a squadron of men with specialized Hummers and an idle civilian helicopter busily walk up and down the county line. Something big was going on. Mulder knew that he was in way over his head, and he also knew that the best thing to do was to head straight to Chickasaw and call Skinner and the Lone Gunmen, but something important was happening at that very moment. Everyone was in a hurry. Were they evacuating? He couldn’t take a chance on calling for help only to have that same help arrive to a deserted town. He had to find out what was going on. The question was how?
He looked at the roaming soldiers again and saw that every last one of them were dressed in army fatigues, just like him. He decided to do the really dumb thing and walk right into the middle of the excitement. He saw this move in a movie once. If he played it cool and acted like he knew what he was doing, nobody would notice an extra soldier walking around, or so he hoped. It wasn’t a smart plan, but his options were limited. He took a deep breath, pulled a camouflaged canvass hat from his rear pocket and put it on. He stood up and walked right out of the trees into the clearing.
A few eyes stared at him as he briskly crossed the grass and immediately set off his paranoia alarm. Mulder’s adrenaline soaked muscles wanted to run as fast as possible through the horde and back into hiding. He had to put great effort into slowing down and looking natural. The few soldiers who watched him appear from the woods quickly lost interest and returned to their duties. Mulder’s ruse was working.
He crossed the county line, passed the spotlights and cars, and walked right into the mob of men. He lowered his head and pulled his cap over his eyes. People passed him by not even noticing him. This was working better than he thought! He walked slower trying to blend into the movement around him. Ahead of him were the Hazzard trees, reentry into hiding and safety. Mulder’s slow shuffling turned into a trot. He headed towards the foliage and was a few feet away when a hand suddenly fell on his shoulder.
Mulder gasped and turned in startled dread. The lieutenant standing behind him reacted to the scene with puzzled confusion.
“What’s wrong soldier?”
Mulder stared blankly at the guy. “I...um...was just...uh...taking a bathroom break.”
The lieutenant’s confused demeanor turned angry. “Is that anyway to talk to a commanding officer, soldier!”
“No, sir!” Mulder quickly stated. The shock of contact quickly wore off. Fox rebounded and fell into character. “I’m sorry, sir. I was just trying to take a bathroom break in the woods...sir.”
The lieutenant eyed him suspiciously. “You’ll have to hold it. We’re leaving for the hunt. Get in the truck.”
Mulder looked behind the soldier and saw a truck filling up with soldiers preparing to leave. “You...you want me to get into that truck behind you?”
“Yes!” the lieutenant was getting irritated. “Now! Move it!”
The young agent took a deep breath and swallowed hard. He hesitantly walked past the commanding officer towards the motor vehicle. The canvass-covered convoy was full of soldiers armed with guns. Mulder felt like he was about to go skinny-dipping in an ocean full of sharks. He anxiously looked for a way to avoid getting in with the rest of the men, but the lieutenant walked right behind him preventing any way of escape. He reached the truck and felt a nauseous sense of claustrophobia overwhelm him. He pulled himself into the back and broke out in a cold sweat as the eyes of over a dozen men watched him enter. He sat down on a crowded bench as the commanding officer hopped onto the truck behind him. He was trapped.
“Everyone sit tight and relax,” the lieutenant yelled. “The drive will only take an hour.”
Fox slouched into his seat, stared at the floor, and pulled his hat low over his eyes. He should have listened to his instincts. This was the last time he tried anything daring. He crossed his arms, quietly tried to avoid eye contact with the other men, and prepared himself for the longest hour of his life.
************************************************************************
Bo woke up from behind a large bush at the bottom of an oak tree covered in leaves. He sat upright surprised that it was already pitch dark. When he decided to chance taking a nap, the sun hung low over the horizon. Had he slept so long?
He was losing the fight with his cold. The fever that he feared back at the Beaudry’s house had finally come. Though the cocktail of cold medications did relieve his congestion and cough, they did nothing to stop the other symptoms of his illness. Bo shivered uncontrollably as the deceptive chill of a fever brought all physical exertion to an abrupt end. He didn’t have the strength to go on. When he was sure that nobody was following him, he crawled behind a large bush, covered himself with dead leaves from the forest floor in a futile effort to get warm, and rested. He didn’t want to sleep. He wanted to use the dark and break for the Tennessee border, but the fever brought him to his knees. He just couldn’t fight it anymore.
He staggered to his feet then quickly leaned against the tree. His head was spinning. With shaking hands, he reached into his back pocket and pulled out all the cold medications he took back at the house. He sorted through the cardboard boxes reading each one with difficulty. A full moon was out, but the trees blocked out the majority of the light. Bo thumbed through the collection until he found aspirin. He popped the lid and swallowed two pills. This would help, he told himself. He would be better soon.
He ran his hands down the bark of the oak and felt a rope rest against its wood. The young farmer chose this sight to rest because one the Beaudry’s traps was set up next to him. He needed all the protection he could get.
He looked into the forest and tried to prep himself for the hike into Tennessee. But the second he pulled away from the tree, his head spun. There was no way he was going to find help tonight. He lay back down and stared into the sky. He was so angry with himself. The lives of everyone in Hazzard depended on him, and he was failing. He still didn’t know where his family and friends were. He still didn’t know why the town was surrounded with soldiers, and he had no clue why everyone was trying to kill him. He had to do something. He had to find out what was going on.
He looked at the rope resting against the tree and to his own surprise came up with another idea. He could use this trap to his benefit. If he could capture one of the soldiers and separate him from the rest of his unit, he could force the guy to talk. It wasn’t much of a plan, but he couldn’t lie around doing nothing. It was time to stop running and to take a stand.
************************************************************************
After Mulder calmed down enough to stop envisioning his dead body sprawled on the ground littered with bullet holes, he realized to his delightful surprise that his plan was actually working. Maybe riding this whole situation out was the key to success.
The truck came to a stop somewhere in the middle of the woods in a grassy clearing where it met up with other troops from the surrounding area. Fox was the first to jump out of the vehicle’s rear. His eagerness to get away from the mob, however, was quickly overwhelmed with curiosity.
He scanned the clearing and saw what looked like the military’s version of a football skirmish line. About sixty men with machine guns and survival supplies set up camps for the night. Trailers and mobile kitchen units parked side by side preparing for dinner and tomorrow morning’s breakfast. If it were not for the busy people scampering around the clearing, the environment would have actually looked serene. The full moon and dark silhouette of the trees gave Mulder a strange sense of security. No one could get a good look at him here, but he had enough light to see what was going on.
The frantic activity of the men consumed the area. Something big was definitely happening. Mulder decided to push his luck. He nonchalantly walked to one of the tents that was located a few feet behind the truck. In front of the flaps, he found an opened, foldout table with various maps spread across the surface. He took a quick look around making sure that wandering eyeballs were not staring at him; then, he glanced at the maps. They were blown up geographical outlays of Hazzard County. Various red circles marked two areas: one close to the Tennessee border and the other close to the Chickasaw County Line. He saw walkie-talkies, binoculars, and other “hunting” equipment resting near the corner. Mulder thoughtfully stroked his chin. Inside the tent, he heard the background talk of four men. He crept near the opening and caught the phrase “our target in the woods”. Then, it dawned on him. There was a manhunt going on!
He looked around and searched for any biological hazard protection gear. He didn’t see any. No one wore any rubber suits with glass helmets that filtered the air. It was as if the disease he saw in Atlanta died itself. This whole skirmish was a preparation for a major manhunt, and whoever this guy was, he took importance over any experimental disease.
“Soldier!”
Mulder jumped and turned to the voice of the lieutenant who first cornered him back at the Chickasaw border. The commanding officer stood with a plastic tray that held a steaming pitcher full of coffee and several coffee cups. He looked warily at Mulder as the agent stood at attention and saluted.
“Yes, sir.”
The lieutenant handed him the tray. “Take this to operations.”
“Operations?”
“Yeah, the silver trailer near the trees?”
Mulder stared where the lieutenant pointed and saw a large, deluxe trailer at the end of the row of men and tents. It looked almost as if it were nestling in the dark and trees. Fox took the tray from the soldier’s hand and saluted.
“Yes, sir. I will take care of it right away, sir.”
He turned and marched towards the silver bullet shaped vehicle. Tonight was indeed his lucky night. This was his chance, maybe the only one he would ever have. He was able to get this far without being caught. If he kept acting like he knew what he was doing, he could go into the heart of this operation and find Scully. In and out, and no one would know the difference until it was too late. He made his way past the men with guns and stared at the ground to avoid eye contact. He walked up the trailer steps, put on a grim face, and knocked on the door. It swung open, and Mulder looked up.
Alex Krycek’s eyes grew so wide they looked like they were going to pop out of his head. Mulder’s mouth almost dropped to the floor. The two men stared at each other in silent shock. Suddenly, Alex’s hand dove for something inside his jacket. Mulder knew he was getting a gun, and he acted fast. He threw the tray on Krycek. The scalding coffee splattered on his skin. The spy yelled in pain and fell back. Mulder pulled out his magnum from inside his uniform. He ran into the trailer and locked the door behind him. He pushed Krycek backwards, and he fell to the floor.
General Lewinski came running from around the corner. Mulder raised his gun’s nozzle and aimed it at the old man.
“Stay where you are!”
The General’s hands shot up into the air. Krycek reached once again into his suit. Mulder aimed the gun at him, and he froze.
“Don’t be stupid, Krycek!”
Alex looked up at Mulder with hate burning in his eyes. Fox ignored it.
“Take it out with your LEFT hand and throw it aside.”
The telephone started ringing as Krycek angrily tore his gun out and threw it in front of his attacker. Fox kicked the weapon away. He grasped his own gun with two sweaty hands. This whole scheme was falling apart faster than dropping mercury. He turned to the general.
“You. Get over here.”
Lewinski visibly shook. He meekly walked over to where Krycek was. Mulder wiped cold perspiration from his lips. He was breathing fast and hard. The phone rang incessantly. Krycek saw his enemy’s confusion and pounced on it.
“There’s no way your going to escape, Mulder. You’re a dead man.”
“Open your mouth again, Krycek, and you’ll eat lead for dinner! Now, both of you! Face down on the ground! Hands behind your head!”
Alex and the general turned on their bellies and did as they were told.
“Now what?” Krycek demanded.
Good question, Mulder thought to himself. A knock pounded on the door grabbing everyone’s attention.
“Commander Krycek, is everything alright?”
Fox froze. The soldier must have seen the struggle at the entrance. The young agent went down on one knee, grabbed Krycek by the collar, and placed the gun by the temple of his head.
“Tell him everything is alright, Alex!”
The door pounded again. “Commander?”
Krycek remained silent. Mulder pressed the gun harder against his temple, and Krycek cussed under his breath.
“NO!” he yelled in angry defiance.
Mulder gave him a swift blow to the back of the head, and Alex went unconscious. The general tried to struggle to his feet, but Fox aimed the gun at him freezing his movement.
“Commander Krycek is in the middle of disciplining a soldier!” Fox yelled to the soldier on the other side of the door. “He doesn’t want to be disturbed!”
A second of silence passed. “Commander, I must insist you open this door!” The soldier wasn’t buying it. Mulder glared at Lewinski and ominously waved the gun in his face. The general swallowed hard. The phone still rang.
“It’s alright,” Lewinski yelled with a tremble in his voice. “We’re disciplining a soldier. Come back later.”
Fox scurried to his feet and peered through the window. He watched a young, uniformed man walk away from the front door down into the group of roaming soldiers. He hailed someone from the crowd, and the lieutenant appeared. Mulder watched them intensely. The two soldiers talked with agitation, and they left the scene in a hurry. Mulder was made, and he knew it. He had less than five minutes at best.
“You, Twiddle Dumb. Pick up Twiddle Dee and go in that closet behind you!”
The general looked behind him and saw the pantry. Mulder waved his gun in his face, and Lewinski reluctantly staggered to his feet, grabbed Alex by the collar, and dragged him into the closet. Fox ran and shut the door on both of them. He grabbed a chair, tilted it, and wedged it under the doorknob. It was a poor barricade, but he didn’t have anything else. He quickly scanned the area looking for a way out other than the front door.
The answering machine unexpectedly went off. Mulder trotted towards the back of the vehicle when a voice came over the speaker that stopped him dead in his tracks.
“Krycek you idiot! This is Bill Simpleton!”
Mulder turned to the telephone blown away at the voice. A cold chill raced down his spine as the man spoke. The president? The President of the United States was allied with THEM!
“Krycek, I can’t believe you have this line connected to an answering machine! You call me the second you get this message, and you be sure to erase this tape when your through!”
Simpleton hung up, and Mulder raced to the phone. His head spun. This was very, very, very bad. He just stepped on the toes of Big Brother! The full might of the government’s police forces was about to concentrate on him!
He snatched the receiver and dialed the Lone Gunmen’s number. He was now officially way over his head in trouble. He needed to call the rescue team. He waited impatiently for an answer as the phone rang. He nervously ran his fingers through his hair and wiped cold sweat away from his hairline. He kept a worried eye on the door expecting soldiers to come pouring in at any second.
“Pick up!” he yelled.
Mulder heard a click and Langly’s voice came over the wire. “Hello?”
“Langly!”
“Mulder?” Langly heard Fox’s panic. “Mulder what is it?”
Mulder was about to answer when a large metal object rocketed through the window and fell to the ground. He instinctively dropped to the floor for cover. A large bang exploded on the front door. A group of soldiers beat against it with a battering ram. The door buckled.
“Mulder!” Langly screamed.
Mulder hung up the phone. He was out of time. The metal object that crashed through the window spewed a yellow gas into the air. Tear gas. He ran to the back of the trailer past the gas and into a bedroom. The battering ram hit the door again forcing it to buckle even more. Mulder slammed the door shut and locked it. The trailer was surrounded, and he knew it. He turned and saw a window to the outside. He looked up at the ceiling and saw an opaque skylight.
************************************************************************
The battering ram pounded again, and the aluminum door bent in half and fell to the floor. The lieutenant and a team of twenty soldiers stormed into the vehicle. Once inside, they ran into the desperate screams of Krycek and Lewinski. The two hostages pounded against the pantry door choking on the fumes of the tear gas. One of the gas masked soldiers flipped the chair out of the way, and Krycek fell out of the door gagging. The lieutenant helped him and the general to their feet and dragged them out of the trailer into the fresh air. The officer ripped his gas mask off and checked his two superiors sprawled on the grass coughing and crying. He stood upright and watched a dozen more soldiers rush the trailer. Then, he saw his men stumble out confused and empty handed.
“Where is he!” the officer angrily yelled.
The masked covered men shrugged their shoulders and filtered in and out of the trailer trying to figure out what happened to the target. The lieutenant saw his man push against the rear window, and it easily popped open. The private stuck his head out into the air, and the commander moaned. He looked down at Krycek whose eyes were now swollen like golf balls.
“Sir, I’m afraid he escaped through the back window.”
“Didn’t you put men around the perimeter?” Krycek angrily barked as he staggered to his feet.
“Yes, sir. I did, but...Sir, he must have sneaked...”
Krycek angrily pushed the lieutenant aside not giving him a chance to finish. “You men listen closely! I want this imposter, and I want him tonight! I need thirty of you to form a search party and comb the woods! The rest of you stay here and keep your eyes open! Our man is dressed in uniform, so take a good look around and memorize the faces you see right here and right now! From now on, you see anyone you don’t recognize shoot him! DO NOT FAIL ME ON THIS! MOVE!”
Krycek’s enraged scream resonated in the air. The men scrambled, ripped their gas masks off their faces, and raced into the woods. Krycek pulled Lewinski to his feet and followed the soldiers into the trees. There was no way Fox Mulder was going to get away with this. Before the night was out, Krycek was determined to put a bullet in Fox’s head himself.
************************************************************************
Mulder lay flat on his belly on the roof of the trailer barely breathing. His heart raced wildly against the metal roof. He listened to the soldiers disperse into the foliage and breathed a sigh of relief. They didn’t see him. Opening the rear window to decoy attention away from his escape through the skylight bought him time, but he wasn’t out of danger. His only hope was to disappear into the trees and make a break for the county line.
He waited until the troops filtered out of sight, and when it was relatively empty, he rolled to the edge and dropped to the grass. Keeping low to the ground, he loped into the shrubs. He jogged in a crouched position until the campsite disappeared out of view. Then, he straightened and ran at full speed. Time was against him. It wouldn’t take long before the borders swelled with men. He had to cross into Chickasaw before dawn came exposing him, and the run to county line was going to take a couple of hours.
For a good twenty minutes, Mulder’s race across the Hazzard woods was a solitary one. The agent felt his overwhelming sense of paranoia settle down, and he stopped running to lean against a tree and regain his bearings. He gasped for a breath and felt like throwing up. He hadn’t run like that since high school. He decided to pace himself. Walk for half an hour then jog. It wasn’t even midnight yet. He had time to reach Chickasaw. The important thing was to stay hidden, and everything would be all right.
Just when Mulder thought he had a grip on the situation, a gun blast shot through the air. A red flare streamed into the sky. Mulder sprang upright staring with dread at the firework. They found his tracks. He turned to continue running when something grabbed him by the ankle. It yanked his leg backwards, and he fell face first into the ground. It pulled him across the grass. Mulder screamed as the Beaudry’s trap hoisted him upside down five feet into the air. He swung uncontrollably. He reached for the rope that bit into his ankle but couldn’t grab it.
“Alright you piece of pig slop!”
Fox looked down and saw a blonde, mud covered, homeless looking young man in a dirty yellow shirt appear from behind the bushes. In his hand, he held the base of the rope that ran over a tree branch and kept Mulder in the air. Fox moaned while he swayed. This guy had to be one of those uneducated, backwood, secluded hillbillies that you read about in NATIONAL GEOGRAPHICS.
“You’re MY prisoner now!” the young man angrily yelled.
************************************************************************
“Sir,” the lieutenant called to Krycek, “we’ve found tracks!”
Krycek and Lewinski raced towards the swarm of flashlights near the bushes. Krycek was terrified that they wouldn’t find anything in the darkness. Lucky for him, Mulder was not an outdoor type of guy. The lieutenant and his ten men hovered over fresh boot prints firmly planted in the mud.
“I shot the flare. The others should be here soon.”
Krycek nodded. “How far is he?”
The lieutenant shook his head. “Don’t worry. He’s not going to get far at all. This is going to be as easy as hunting poultry in a chicken coop.”
************************************************************************
Bo gripped the rope tightly and struggled with the dangling man’s weight. Though it probably wasn’t right, he was enjoying this. He had been aching for payback all day long.
“Okay pal,” Bo said with confidence. “I’m going to ask you a bunch of questions, and you’re gonna answer all of them or your face will hit the ground so hard you’re head will split open!”
The soldier quickly reached into his uniform and pulled out a gun. Bo gasped at the unexpected move and let the rope slide through his hands a few inches threatening the guy with fatal impact with the ground. The soldier didn’t waver.
“You let me down right now, you lousy redneck, or I’ll show you first hand what kind of damage a magnum can do!”
Bo defiantly pulled the rope and raised the guy a foot higher into the air. He was too angry to be afraid. “You pull that trigger, and I’ll let go of this rope which means you’ll break your neck!”
“I’ll shoot you dead first.”
“From six feet in the air upside down? I don’t think so.”
“I AM THAT GOOD!”
“And I say you’re full of it!”
“If you think that then you are as dumb as you look!”
“I ain’t the one hog tied, you sorry piece of sh...”
Another shot rang in the distance and another red flare lit up the sky. The two men went silent and turned to the firework. Bo looked around with worry. He couldn’t believe these people were hunting him in the dark. The flare was close which meant the other soldiers were not far. They were surrounding him.
“I don’t have time for this,” he yelled in panic to the soldier. “Who are you people! What have you done with everyone in town, and why are you trying to kill me!”
Fox Mulder stared at Bo Duke in stunned disbelief. He pulled his gun to the side. Though the blood was rushing to his head and blurring his vision, he saw something about this guy’s demeanor that struck him odd. The guy was as pale as the moon. He was terrified.
“My God,” Fox said softly with realization. “You’re the man they’re hunting!”
Bo gave Mulder a confused look. “Who are you?” he asked suspiciously.
“Listen to me,” Fox said as calmly and as quickly as possible. He holstered his gun showing he meant no harm. “I’m not with them. I am an undercover FBI agent!”
“Yeah, right!”
“I am!” From up in the air, Fox saw bushes shake a few feet away from where he hung. He frantically turned to his captor. “They’re near! You have to let me down. They discovered my identity! They’re chasing me!”
Bo stared with serious skepticism at the soldier. The guy was afraid, truly afraid, but still, the uniform, the gun, and the flares. He didn’t know what to do. Mulder pulled his gun out and threw it at Bo’s feet. The young farmer stared at the weapon lying harmlessly in the grass.
“Please!” Mulder cried. “They’ll kill me!”
************************************************************************
Krycek, Lewinski, and the lieutenant squatted behind a large bush twelve feet away from their targets and stared in total disbelief at the almost comic scene. Fox Mulder was hanging upside down from a large oak tree and being held hostage by the hick! The runner and the agent were killing each other! This was almost too good to be true! Alex didn’t care if Mulder shot the runner. He didn’t want to bring him back alive anyway. But he wanted to save the pleasure of cracking Fox’s skull open for himself.
“Give me the gun,” he told the lieutenant, and the officer handed his machine gun over. Krycek brought the scope to his eyes and flipped it off automatic into single shot mode. He turned on the night vision and put Mulder’s head in the center of the cross hairs.
“After I do this, get the runner and bring him to me alive.”
************************************************************************
Bo looked at the gun then back up at hostage. He still wasn’t sure what to do but instinct told him to trust the guy. He sighed and lowered Fox.
Without warning, a shot burst through the air. Mulder screamed in pain as a bullet entered his shoulder. Bo dropped to the floor and let the rope slide through his fingers. Mulder crashed to the ground and turned on his back winded by both the impact and the bullet.
************************************************************************
Krycek knew the bullet would miss the second he pulled the trigger. He cursed under his breath.
“Attack!”
************************************************************************
Mulder and Bo jumped to their feet. Fox grabbed his gun and ran with the young farmer for the cover of the trees. They barely had time to dive behind the large oak before a hail of bullets exploded around them. They cringed as the pellets shredded the bark.
“We have to get out of here!” Mulder yelled.
“Follow me!”
Bo grabbed Mulder’s collar, and the agent winced as the bullet dug deeper into his shoulder. Both men made a break into the woods. The soldiers saw the movement of foliage through their night scopes and knew their prey was making a dash for it. The troops ran out of their hiding places after their targets. The thick trees blocked all light from the full moon. Bo and Mulder ran blindly through the foliage barely able to see the path they were taking.
They abruptly reached a clearing. Ahead of them was an open meadow. The two men hesitated crossing it. They didn’t want to be in the open without cover. Suddenly, the voices of men echoed through the dark woods behind them. The soldiers were catching up. Bo looked at Fox, and both knew they had no choice but to make a sprint for it. They bolted out of the shrubbery across the meadow. Ahead of them was a steep hill with a two-tiered plateau. They reached the incline and fell on their hand and knees grabbing and scaling the dirt. Fox staggered behind Bo. His wounded shoulder spasmed with every movement of his arm.
The soldiers burst out of the foliage seconds later. They flew across the meadow with their guns cocked and ready to fire. Bo reached the first tier of the plateau and pulled himself up to level ground. He looked below and saw Mulder struggling behind him.
“Give me your hand!”
He extended his hand down to the agent. Fox reached with his good arm, and Bo hoisted him up to level ground seconds before the sound of machine guns blasted through the air. Both men hugged the grass and cringed as bullets battered the ground below and beside them. Bo looked over his shoulder and saw a fallen sapling.
The sound of guns stopped. Mulder crept towards the edge of the ravine and looked down. A dozen men were scaling the hill after them. He turned to Bo.
“They’re coming after us! We have to keep moving!”
“Wait!” Bo ran to the sapling. “Help me!”
Mulder raced to his side. The two grabbed the dead tree, dragged it to the edge of the cliff and pushed it over. The sapling spun down the hill like a juggernaut. The soldiers looked up and screamed. They turned and tried to slide down to the ground, but they weren’t fast enough. The hurtling tree ran over the small army throwing them to the ground and breaking one man’s shoulder.
Bo and Mulder ran for the top of the plateau using the chaos as cover. The incline grew steep, and both had to struggle to the top. Grab. Pull. Grab. Pull. The exertion was killing Mulder’s shoulder. Bo reached level ground and pulled himself onto the flat earth. He turned on his belly and looked below. Mulder was right behind him. He grabbed the lawman’s collar and pulled him on his stomach to the surface.
They scrambled to their feet turned to run when the thumping sound of helicopter blades froze them in their tracks. They spun and saw a civilian helicopter swoop down behind them. The spotlight from chopper singled out the two runners. Mulder acted immediately. He pushed Bo to the side throwing them both to the ground and out of the light. A carpet of bullets followed seconds later just missing the two.
***********************************************************************
Commander Sean Charvez jumped at the sound of a machine gun going off. From the passenger seat of the helicopter, he leaped to the front and grabbed the pilot by the collar.
“What are you trying to do!”
He pushed the pilot’s hand away from the gun trigger, and the pilot responded by shoving him back into the seat.
“My orders are to stop them!”
“You’re orders are to bring them back alive!” Charvez screamed.
************************************************************************
The helicopter froze in the air then slowly turned searching the ground for the fugitives with its spotlight. Bo clambered to his feet ready to run, but Mulder grabbed his shirt.
“Wait!”
He pulled out his magnum. The agent aimed then shot hitting the spotlight and killing it. Everything went black, and Fox couldn’t see a thing. He made a guess where the pilot was located and shot again.
**********************************************************************
The bullet cut through the glass hitting the pilot in the shoulder. The aviator screamed in pain as blood splattered on the leather seat. Charvez hopped over the injured man’s lap and pulled the throttle back taking the helicopter out of the area and out of the line of fire. The pilot angrily pushed him back into the seat and wrenched the throttle free from his grip.
“What do you think you’re doing!”
*********************************************************************
Bo heard voices coming from the edge of the cliff. The soldiers were quickly scaling the incline. They would soon be on level ground.
“Come on!”
He grabbed Mulder by the sleeve and broke across the top of the plateau. They hit the edge and slid down a steep slope back into the Hazzard trees. Once in the shrubbery, the thick foliage blocked out the light of the full moon, and both men once again ran blind.
“Where are we going!” Mulder yelled.
“Just keep up.” Bo yelled back.
While still in the woods, Mulder heard the sound of rushing water. Both men emerged from the shrubbery into a clearing. Ahead, standing in front of the full moon was a moonshine still. It was close to a cliff that had a six story drop to the Hazzard rapids below. Fox bent over breathing hard. Bo could see that his partner was having a hard time keeping up with him.
“What…what is this place?” Mulder asked trying to catch his breath.
“It’s a still.”
“A what?”
“A moonshine still! A couple of family friends hide out here making white lightening.” Bo pointed into the distance. “Officer look. You see that stretch of land on the other side of the chasm? There’s a bridge that leads there. On the other side is a dirt road that will take us straight to the Tennessee border.”
Mulder quickly straightened prepping himself for another sprint across the countryside. “What are we waiting for!”
The two men dashed across the clearing and past the moonshine equipment. The raced to the edge of the cliff then stopped. The wooden bridge connecting the two land masses looked like it was blown away by a missile. Bo and Mulder stared at the wreck in speechless dread.
“Do you know another way across?” Fox asked.
Bo stared numbly at the bridge, then at the woods, then at Fox. He didn’t have an answer and slowly shook his head. The unexpected sound of a helicopter murmured quietly in the air. Bo and Fox turned towards the forest, and the silhouette of a helicopter cruised into the clearing. The two men made a break back in the direction of the trees. The helicopter halted in the air, turned, and carpeted the path in front of the men with bullets. Bo and Mulder froze.
“Hands up!” a voice screamed from the speaker.
The two fugitives gave each other a solemn look then reluctantly put their hands into the air. The helicopter hovered close to the ground in front of the men intimidating them and staring them into submission.
***********************************************************************
Sean Charvez put his speaker down and breathed a sigh of relief. He was afraid they would try jumping over the cliff, but luckily they seemed to have enough sense to know that the drop might kill them. The last thing he wanted to see was the breakout of violence. The pilot, however, had a different attitude about the whole thing. His shoulder bled profusely and stung. He was dying to get his finger on the trigger. If Charvez were not an officer, the two runners would have already been dead.
“It’s almost as if you want them to escape!” the pilot angrily muttered.
Charvez turned to him glaring. “I am your commanding officer! You will obey orders without question, and YOU WILL WATCH YOUR MOUTH!”
“Yes sir!” the aviator responded with biting sarcasm.
Charvez worriedly ran his fingers through his hair. He was losing control of his men. He did not forget what the farm boy did for him when he fell in quicksand, and he did not want to kill him now. But, he couldn’t let the other soldiers know what his intentions were.
“Commander Krycek wants these men alive,” he said hoping to throw the pilot off his trail. “I intend to give the commander what he wants.”
The pilot reluctantly nodded and acquiesced. “Very well. But you better tell those two yahoos to move into the clearing. That’s a still they’re standing next to. Any gun play and it’ll explode.”
Charvez picked up the mic.
**********************************************************************
Bo and Mulder heard the click of a loudspeaker turning on, and a voice blared in unison with the whirling sound of the helicopter’s blades.
“It’s over you two. Throw the gun aside and walk into the clearing!”
Mulder closed his eyes angry with himself for getting caught. He was trapped. He reluctantly pulled his magnum from its holster.
“Officer?” Bo kept his hands in the air and spoke quietly trying to conceal his conversation.
“What?”
“You see that box out there about three feet in front of us?”
Mulder looked into the distance and saw a medium sized wooden box resting on top of what looked like a generator.
“Yeah?”
Bo licked his lips. “You see those stick like things poking out of the box?”
Mulder gave the box a second, harder look. Though the moon was full, it was still hard to see exactly what Bo was talking about. He saw what looked like the silhouette of several round foot long sticks poking out of the box.
“Yeah?”
Bo nodded. “That’s dynamite! It’s sittin’ on a gas generator, and right behind that generator is a still that’s probably full of moonshine!”
The helicopter cruised forward. The people inside were getting tired of waiting for their prisoners to comply with orders.
“Move it gentlemen!” the loudspeaker yelled.
Mulder pointed his gun face down towards the ground. He and Bo both started walking very slowly towards the clearing.
“We’ll be blown to bits in the fireball.” Fox said to Bo without breaking his gaze on the helicopter.
“Not if we jump in the river.” Bo mumbled back.
“We’ll drown!”
“Well it’s either the river or a firing squad!”
Mulder looked to his right at the deep drop into the water. He looked at the still on the other side of him. He only had one shot at this, and the timing had to be perfect. “Alright, on my signal.”
The voice on the loudspeaker blared again. Charvez lost his patience and was now just plain angry. “Drop the gun now!” he yelled.
“Now!” Mulder screamed.
Bo and Mulder turned and ran for the edge of the cliff. The pilot saw the men break into a run. He grabbed the gun trigger from Charvez, spun the helicopter sharply and tried to get a shot in. He was too slow. Bo dove off the cliff. Mulder turned, jumped, then shot at the box as he went over the edge.
The lawman hit the mark. The box of dynamite exploded igniting the gas and moonshine. A huge fireball erupted lighting up the night sky. The flames encased the chopper, and Charvez and the pilot screamed. The pilot grabbed the stick and yanked it backward almost on the verge of panic. The helicopter shot up and back out of the fire’s reach. Then, just as suddenly, the ball of flames died, and only a small brushfire remained.
Alex Krycek and his small army burst from the Hazzard woods. They reeled at the sight of the clearing. The place looked like it was hit by a patriot missile. Shrapnel fell from the sky, and large chunks of searing, twisted metal lay scattered on the ground. Krycek saw the helicopter wobbly dance in the sky and land awkwardly on the ground with a thud.
“Dang it!” the young spy cursed into the air.
He raced towards the helicopter with Lewinski and the soldiers behind him. By the time he reached the machine, the blades had already stopped whirling. Charvez and the pilot stumbled out of the chopper sweating and breathing hard. Had the gas tank spent a few seconds more in the flames, they would have blown up. Charvez bent over and tried to control his shaking.
Krycek ran behind him and grabbed him by the shoulder. “Where are the prisoners!” he demanded.
Charvez shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir. They jumped.”
“They what!”
Krycek jogged to the edge of the cliff with Charvez and Lewinski following close behind. He peered over the edge. The six stories of air ended where violent rapids began. Krycek couldn’t see very well into the darkness, and he cursed the night. His prisoners had escaped him…again. He looked and felt like a fool. The soldiers would never be able to find them in the dark, and the violent sound of the rapids assured him that the rabbit and the fed were already swept way down stream. He bit his lower lip in rage. He felt his face grow hot and knew he was blushing with anger. He felt like hitting something.
“Do you think they survived?” Lewinski meekly asked.
Krycek turned to his two men. “Of course they survived! Our rabbit is a cross between GRIZZLY ADAMS and freaking SUPERMAN!”
With that statement, Alex lost all patience and stomped away angry. Lewinski watched him leave and wearily rubbed his tired eyes. This was the beginning of a very long night, and he didn’t know where to begin to clean up this disaster. Loose ends were always messy. He slowly followed his commander and walked into the swirling smoke and circling men.
Commander Sean Charvez watched everything in strategic silence. He looked at the soldiers running around without direction. He watched the commanders pass by the chopper stooped with worry and sluggish with doubt and misgiving. It was chaos, and Sean Charvez loved every minute of it. They did deserve it after all. He peered one last time over the cliff into the rapids dancing in the moonlight below and knew without a doubt that Krycek was right, the rabbit would survive.
“You go boy!” he whispered to himself, and he smiled.
************************************************************************
Mulder groggily woke up and felt something press against his open mouth and blow warm air down his throat. He jerked at the strange sensation, turned his head away, and breathed in a mouthful of air that rushed to feed aching lungs. He turned on his belly coughing and gagging the river water out of his system. The world spun, but with each breath, his tense muscles relaxed and everything became clear.
Bo hovered over him watching his patient snap back into consciousness. Mulder turned on his back and realized that he was on dry land, on a bank.
“What happened?” he asked disoriented.
“You passed out in the water. I had to give you mouth to mouth. ” Bo replied.
Mulder shook his head and regained his bearings. “You pulled me out of the river?”
“Yeah.”
“You…you saved my life!”
Bo weakly smiled. “You’re welcome.”
Fox looked at his rescuer and noticed for the first time that the young man was shaking. He looked really bad. He was soaked to the bone, covered in mud, and had just run through a gauntlet of bullets, but it wasn’t these things that made him look so battered. In the pale moonlight, Fox could tell that Bo’s skin was as pallid as the white rocks near the river’s edge. Bo fell into a coughing fit, and Mulder heard the deep rumbling sound of congestion in the young man’s lungs. He looked closer and saw that the guy’s nose was bleeding, just like the dead animals at the center.
“Are you alright?”
Bo wearily nodded. He crawled beside a large boulder barely able to move. He wiped the blood away from his lips surprised that his nose was bleeding. The cold medicines were wearing off, and the cough and sinus congestion came back with a vengeance. The fever, he knew, was not far behind.
“I’m fine. I just...I just need a second to rest.”
Bo lay on the ground and closed his eyes trying to ward off the onset
of another pounding headache. Mulder sat upright and looked at his rescuer
sprawled on the ground. He realized with stomach churning dread that this
young man looked a lot like the sick sparrow back at the center in Atlanta.
His rescuer was infected with the plague.