Chapter 7: the Trek to Minturn

The pace coming down through the wilderness was slow. After four hours of bone-jarring travel, the men decided to stop for lunch. Buck had to focus totally on steering the lumbering Beast between the trees. He was carefully dodging the massive boulders that were scattered around in the forest.

He had only driven the Beast once before during a training lesson that every protector was required to take. Buck decided it would do all of them some good to stretch for a while. Driving around another sixty-foot pine tree, he was elated to see a small stream running through a clearing. "We'll eat lunch here," Buck declared.

Tex looked over at Buck asking, "Are we gonna have a hot or cold lunch?"

Buck thought for a second realizing the men had been cramped up in the Beast for close to four hours. Since they were in the forest, they didn't dare have the windows rolled down for fear of a mutant squirrel or some other small deviant becoming an uninvited guest.

The original men had put a lot of effort into the design of the Beast. They had forgotten one thing, a smoother suspension to accommodate the enormous extra weight from adding all the new weapons.

Buck answered, "We'll have a hot meal now while it's safe to do so. The closer we get to civilization, the more cautious we'll have to be. But for now I think we safe."

Bear grinned, exclaiming, "Hallelujah! My stomach thinks my throats been cut. I'm starving!"

The leader acted bewildered; looking at the famished giant. "Starving? You ate enough breakfast this morning to feed four men," Buck chuckled.

A low rumbling sound came from Bear's stomach, sounding like the Hummer when Buck first turned the engine over. "Yeah, I ate breakfast, but like Momma Bear always says, I'm a growing boy, Bear said. I can't help the fact that the rest of you have the metabolism of a anorexic. My pet canary, Pepe eats more than you guys."

Tex snorted, looking back at the perplexed Bill and asked, "Hey pard, have you ever seen a five-hundred pound canary?"

Jet, who normally kept an inscrutable face, broke out in a high squeaky laugh.

Bill looked at the giant next to him with innocent amazement and asked. "You have a five-hundred pound bird?"

That made Buck and Tex crack up, howling until tears were in their eyes.

Bear's eyes narrowed, looking at Tex. "Just keep it up shrimp, and I'll feed you to Pepe," referring to his little bird.

Buck and Tex got the venison steak out of the small ice-chest in the rear of the Beast, while Jet and Bill started making a fire. As procedure dictated, one man stood guard while the rest went about making lunch. It paid to never take chances while in the forest, especially with meat cooking in the frying pan.

This hard lesson had been learned by loosing a couple that had made a picnic not two hundred yards from the yard of the Sanctuary. They had been slaughtered by a mutated mountain lion that smelled the aroma of fried chicken. Since then the protectors insisted that no one go outside the Yard without an armed escort.

Bear sat on the roof of the Beast. His position offered a three hundred and sixty-degree view of the small clearing. Scanning the edge of the woods, Bear kept his eyes constantly in motion, looking for any movement that would signify a threat.

He watched as the other men ate. Swearing under his breath, he saw Tex taking exaggerated bites. Bear glared at his friend, his own stomach rumbling.

Tex grinned and blew him a kiss impishly, which Buck noted. "Are you done acting like a five year old?" Buck asked.

Knowing he had pushed the joke a little too far, Tex nodded with his mouth full of meat. "Then go take over for Bear, and if he should accidentally drop his M-60 on your noggin, I don't want to hear about it," Buck admonished.

With a sheepish look on his face, Tex picked up his M-16 and walked over to relieve Bear, making sure the he was out of the way as Bear climbed off the Beast, just in case the big man was really upset with him. "Sorry pard," he said as Bear climbed down.

Bear gave Tex a friendly punch in the shoulder that put Tex on the ground. "No worries my little friend," said a smiling Bear as he walked over to the fire. Seeing the light play between the two comrades Buck chuckled as he cut Bear a massive 5 lb steak of venison.

Then calamity reared it's nasty head. Bear was just reaching for the plate when a low grunting sound came from the opposite side of the Beast that wasn't in view from the campfire.

Tex was just getting up off the ground when he heard the sound coming from behind the Beast. He whirled to see a wolverine barreling down on him. It swerved at the last second intent on the aroma of the venison and nothing else.

Tex yelled a warning to the men by the campfire, "Watch out!" The ravenous wolverine made straight for the campfire, and the unsuspecting men.

Buck had killed his share of mutants in his time, but this one astonished even him. A normal wolverine was about ten to twelve inches tall and only two-feet long, weighing anywhere from sixteen to twenty-five pounds. It was known for its unwavering courage against animals that were ten times its size.

This mutated wolverine stood close to two feet tall and five feet long. Its mouth opened as it grunted revealing three-inch long teeth.

The mutant's four-inch claws ripped into the soft ground with every bound the wolverine took, its blood-red eyes focused on the venison lying on the plate meant for Bear.

Scrambling backwards, the three men ended up on opposite sides of the fire. Buck's hands flashed, whipping out his Glocks as he simultaneously unleashed two thunderous rounds from each pistol into the chest of the mutant.

Watching the impacts strike the deviate, Buck was astonished to see the wolverine merely agitated by his attempt to kill it. The original hunger that had drawn the monstrosity to the fire was forgotten. As the slugs burst through its chest, it stumbled then rose looking for its attacker.

Jet and Bill had ended up on the opposite side of the fire, safe for the moment. After Buck's initial attack the injured mutant whirled until it's blood-shot eyes landed on Jet and Bill.

Jet saw the wolverine eyes focus on the two men. It snarled, displaying its razor sharp teeth and charged. "Back!" warned Jet, pushing Bill away from the action.

Jet had his Uzi's resting on his narrow hips, but his hand streaked to his beloved katana. Deftly slipping between Bill and the oncoming mutant, he focused on the spot between the mutant's eyes.

Bear and Buck watched helplessly, the mutant was between them, and Jet. Bill was standing almost behind Jet. If either Bear or Buck tried to intervene, a stray bullet might find one of their own.

Tex was in the same position. The mutant was now too close to the group by the fire. Frustrated at his failure to spot the monster, he watched, hoping for an opening.

Now injured, the wolverine charged, flecks of bloody froth dripping out of the corners of its mouth. Consumed by the pain in its chest, its hunger was transformed into rage.

The mutant had killed larger prey than this two-legged animal in front of it. Eye's glowering; the animal let out a snarl and charged. The samurai warrior was almost in a trance as he prepared for the onslaught of the mutant, his chi clearing his thoughts of everything except the charging monster.

The undaunted samurai waited, anticipating the speed of the oncoming monster. Knowing that his timing would need to be perfect. His weight rested on the balls of his feet. "Wait," his mind cautioned.

When the wolverine was only two feet away, Jet leaped three feet in the air. At the apex of his leap, he straightened his body horizontally and spun so he was looking down at the charging mutant.

In slow motion, Jet watched the as beast snapped the air where his feet had just been. Jet spotted his target, his gleaming katana sliced through the air cleaving the monster's skull in two. The lethargic mutant stumbled three more steps before it collapsed, still snapping it's formidable jaws.

The samurai circled in front of the wolverine warily, seeing its malevolent eyes glaze in death. He wiped off his katana on the mutant's fur.

The whole incident lasted less than twenty seconds.

Jet stepped over to Bill inquiring. "Are you alright?" Bill's eyes were wide, his face showed astonishment at what he had observed. "You killed it with a sword!" he stuttered incredulously.

Jet nodded, aware that the man probably had never seen a samurai master in action, so he explained, holding his katana before Bill's eyes, "These are the weapons of a samurai. Together they are called the Daisho. Individually this is called a katana. Its name is Abunai Oyoji which means Dangerous Father."

Jet's left hand flashed down effortlessly slipping out the other blade, holding it up for Bill to examine. "This is called a shoto. Its name is Ataru Arashi which means Striking Storm."

Bill admired the beautiful, yet deadly blades. Asking their owner, "Where did you get a set of pig stickers like that? And what's with the strange names. I've never heard of those words before."

Jet smiled. He knew that many Japanese had parted with ancestral traditions long before the day of the meteor. The few Japanese that had survived had no masters to carry on the teachings. "They were named long ago. This Daisho has been passed down through my ancestors for over three hundred years. Their names are in the Japanese language."

Buck walked over inspecting the mutant shaking his head, " Nice work Jet. But why the katana instead of the your Uzi's?" He inquired.

Jet pointed to where Bear and Tex were standing. "I was afraid a ricochet might get one of the Bonehead Brothers."

Jet shrugged his shoulders adding, "Besides I needed the exercise."

Buck nodded turning to Bill. " Would you mind taking over sentry duty? I need to have a confab with the Bonehead Brothers."

Bill was still trying to recover from the awesome display that Jet had put on. He nodded his acknowledgment while heading towards the Beast.

Tex and Bear went over to Buck, both feeling like fools for letting their guard down.

Buck was all set to rip into them, but saw the two men felt bad enough already for letting the uninvited guest slip in. So he decided to let them off easy, "Here's the way I see it. I shot the mutant, and Jet finished killing it, so you two get to dispose of it."

Tex started to argue, but was cut off by an elbow from Bear who said, "That's fine by us boss, seeing as how it's partly our fault the dang thing got into camp."

Tex eyes glowered at Bear as they went over to pick up the dead wolverine. "You didn't have to jab me so hard, ding-a-ling. I think you bruised a rib or something!"

Bear grinned at his partner. "If you had tried to argue your case with Buck, more than a rib would have been bruised and you know it." Bear reflected, "Come to think of it, maybe a good dressing down is what your oversized ego needs."

Tex insisted. "I don't have an oversized ego you hair-brain. My girl Sue says that I'm the perfect man."