Chapter 11: A Fight With The Devil

Hank and Rachel drove the lead vehicle. Angela rode with Melissa and Mark. Mark sat behind the wheel and followed at a safe distance. Melissa sat next to him in the passenger's seat. "These things are as big as buses," she told Mark.

"Yes, I'm glad Hank thought to make certain I got a Class B license." They had been a day late before they got started on their planned trip. Hank urged Mark to apply for the commercial license in order to have more versatile driving privileges.

Mark reached over and placed his hand on her left thigh. He grinned and squeezed. She patted his hand and sighed. Angela cleared her throat and gave them a troubled look. Her entire life, up to then, had been spent as a devoted follower of the teachings of the Mormon Church. After the last confrontation with her bishop, she made a clean break with the church in her mind. Yet, the years of religious conditioning still lurked in her mind. All of those years could not be erased in an instant.

"Mother, last night, for the first time in my life I experienced love and sex and it was wonderful. Before then all we ever did was to snuggle and kiss. My beloved and I made love to each other in a way neither of us can describe. There are no words to describe what happened between us. Please understand, Mother, we intend to make a baby right away." Melissa reached over and squeezed Mark's inner thigh.

Angela gasped and retreated into her own mind. She sat back in one of the passenger seats by thee breakfast nook and watched the countryside roll by. Angela napped and they drove at a steady seventy miles an hour. When they stopped for fuel, Rachel changed places with Hank. She drove while he rested. Angela drove the other motor home while Melissa and Mark sat huddled together. Angela was troubled. Mark went back to the bedroom and took a nap with his clothes still on.

Later, Melissa came back and joined him. Fully clothed, they slept in each other's arms. Mark awoke when they stopped for fuel again. It took a moment to clear his head. Then he stumbled out and began to man a pump. It was barely sunrise and the sky had a reddish pink glow in the east.

Hank came over to Mark. "I feel something is not quite right. I used to get these feelings during my tour in Afghanistan. They were never wrong."

Mark tried to link with Teacher and got nothing. "Melissa!" he called with his mind and got a weak reply. He ran back the few feet to their motor home and saw someone struggling with Angela.

"No!" Mark yelled and charged forward. Mark stiff-armed the man and he fell to the pavement. Mark stomped once as hard as he could and ran into the motor home. Melissa sat on the side of the bed with a dazed expression on her face.

"Mark, what happened? I couldn't reach you or Teacher. What's wrong?"

Angela called from the front entrance, "Hank is struggling with two others."

That snapped Melissa out of her stupor. She jumped up, ran past Mark and her mother and jumped out the door. Mark stepped outside just in time to see her leap into the air and do a double kick while in mid flight. Hank polished off the other one.

A black SUV slid to a stop and an individual got out of the driver's door. He pointed a weapon at Hank and Melissa. "Get back," he ordered. He did not see Mark.

Mark ran up and blindsided him. Melissa stomped on his head and Hank grabbed the weapon from a broken hand. Something inside the SUV gave Mark a headache. "What is this?" he asked aloud.

Melissa said, "Hank, there is something in that vehicle that gives us both headaches. Please get it."

Hank went inside and came back out with a silvery looking egg. "Shoot it with that weapon," Mark told him; his skull felt like it was in a vice. Hank did as ordered and the pain left all at once.

"Teacher," Melissa tried to connect, "Can you hear me?"

"I am aware of you now. We were blocked."

The news jolted Mark. Teacher had seemed so invulnerable until this happened. "Teacher, what can you tell me about the way you were blocked?"

"I have a blank in my memory I was not aware of until now. There seem to be other gaps in my data storage." Melissa got a distinct impression the term "data storage" was a convenient fiction to refer to something neither she nor Mark was incapable of understanding.

Melissa heard and was disturbed as well at this vulnerability. "Would you be able to learn anything more if we brought the weapon and the device that did the blocking?"

"Perhaps. Bring them with you when you return."

Mark thought it seemed odd that no attention was drawn to their scuffle out there between the motor homes. Mark saw Hank search all three of the unknown enemy and remove the contents of their pockets. Melissa and Mark searched the SUV and found a case containing four more odd looking items that seemed to be weapons. She took them along with her.

"Help me drag these clowns into the SUV," Hank ordered. Melissa threw the case into their Motor home and grabbed one of the three. Mark grabbed the second and Hank dragged the last one. They dumped all three into the back of the big vehicle. Hank got in behind the wheel and drove it across the road.

That side of the road dropped off into a steep ravine. He headed the SUV down and jumped out. Seconds later there was a muted "thump" from the direction where the SUV went down the steep incline.

"Are they dead?" Mark asked.

The look on Hank's face was that of a soldier dealing with an enemy. "Perhaps they are," he answered.