Chapter 6

"Boy, you sure want to know about that mine, don't you? Tell you what, you refill my coffee and I will give you the whole story. There really isn't much to tell other than we made a lot of money out of it 'till the quartz market dried up back east. See, Ira found it by accident when he was staying here one winter. Oh, he is the one who built this cabin, 'bout thirty five years or so ago if I member correct. It used to be just one small room, but we spent weeks hauling in logs so we both would have a place to stay since we were both ole broke cowboys. We found the valley by accident and since his family owned everything around it he asked for it. It used to be all green and had a small pond right out there in the middle. When the earthquake hit back 'bout thirty years ago, it caused the little stream to dry up. Ira was the one who blew the wall at its lowest point to get a wagon in here to load the quartz into. Well now, let's see. When Ira found the hole in the wall he shined a lantern in it after opening it up a little. When he did this big ole horny toad jumped right in his face. Scared the hell out of him it did."

The guys were rolling cigarettes 'till Zeke quit laughing and got back to the story. I had to admit his way of telling it was or would have been a lot better than my story telling.

"Where was I, oh yeah, the horny toad. Well, when Ira couldn't see much further than fifteen or so feet he called me to come see what he had found. Hell, we thought we had found the back way into some old Spanish mine. There used to be a lot of them around here. He decided to open it up so we could go in and check it out. Well Ira had never used dynamite before. He used a little too much and opened up a bigger hole than what we needed to get in. Hell, he almost blew a hole through the whole cliff. If it hadn't been hollow inside you would have another road in here. We finally got inside with lanterns and saw all the quartz in the walls and thought we had us a sure enough gold mine. We went a little crazy for awhile using the picks to break big chunks out. We took it outside to break it up to get the gold out when we finally realized there weren't any gold in any of it. From what we hadn't broken in pieces, it just looked to be pure pink colored quartz. Hell we threw tons of it outta there but never did find any gold. Then one night, Ira happened to see some light coming through a hole in the back wall of the cavern. He went all Ira on me again and blew the hell out of it. It took two days for the dust to settle this time. Hell, I'm hungry, let's all go to the truck stop and have some breakfast burritos. Once I get my stomach filled and pay the boys off I'll finish my story and give you the layout of the cave and tell you what else you will find in there, if you ever decide to go in. If it were me I would throw some gas in there and get rid of those snakes. Those things are aggressive as hell when you disturb a breeding den. Say a half hour or so we will meet and eat. Thom's buyin'!"

Before I could say anything, he had the truck going and gave me a big grin as he headed up the drive. I hadn't planned on going out this early, but he knew I wanted to know about the cave so I didn't have much choice. I cleaned up the coffee pot and cups, washing them and leaving them in the dish drainer as I grabbed my pistol, putting it on my belt and closed up the cabin. If BK came early he had keys to everything, so I headed out. I didn't scrape this time but I still had to ease through the dip before I pulled through the gate. When I went to close the gate I saw immediately it wasn't a gate anymore; it was now a barrier and like Zeke said, it would be hell to get through. The chain was welded to the post and it was three times larger than what was on there before. Hell, when I first picked up the end to loop it around the pipe on the gate, it felt heavy enough to be anchor chain from a ship. The links were huge! The lock was big, but it barely was long enough to snap through the chain links. When I walked away, I turned to look back at it before I got in the car and the new sign welded to the gate had me chuckling. It said; THIS IS PRIVATE PROPERTY AND IF YOU GO BEYOND THIS POINT EXPECT TO BE SHOT! I just knew BK was gonna laugh his ass off when he saw it the first time.

I got to the end of my drive and saw Shelly and Mikey coming up the road on their ATVs so I waited till they got to me.

"We were just coming up to your place to shoot some snakes. Mom and Dad are gone all day and Mikey and me are bored. We got all our chores done so we decided to come up here."

"I know your dad is on the blockade, but where is your mom?"

"She's at the school helping out today. The women all volunteered to cook supper tonight so we are stuck here all day. We are supposed to ride in later with Dad to eat."

"Well, I am headed in to the truck stop to have some breakfast. Why don't you guys go with me and we will stop at the school and tell your mom where you're at? I would prefer to be there if you are shooting snakes in case something happens."

"Can you follow us back to our place so we can put our rifles away?"

"Sure, go ahead and I will pick you up out front."

I watched as she told Mikey what was happening. He got a big grin and they took off on those ATVs faster than I would ever think about running them. When I stopped in their drive, they were already coming back out of the house and piled into my car. Shelly got in the front and Mikey in the back, and I made them buckle up. We went by the blockade but I didn't see Barry's SUV, so I went directly to the school. Sure enough, it was parked in front, so I went in with the kids.

He was sitting at a table doing paperwork so I followed the kids over. I stood back as Shelly told him what was going on and he waved me over. When I sat down the kids ran back to the kitchen, I guess, to tell their mom what was happening.

"Thom, we got some big problems around us. I got word last night that Mexico is in a full scale epidemic. The army has increased patrols on the border with orders to shoot to kill anyone crossing illegally. This bug has reached Willcox already, and no one knows how unless one of the truckers stranded there was a carrier. The blockade on ten turned back a large caravan of RVs last night, but they only went back to Steins and are all parked there. This thing is spreading faster than the Sheriff thought it would. He is coming in today with the load of MREs the Army is bringing. I am going to have him swear you in as a Special Deputy. He is bringing all the paperwork with him along with an ID and a badge. I took a survey of weapons and for the most part they are the common ranch rifles. The Sheriff is getting some more ammo from the Army since they have plenty to spare. They got a big shipment in a month ago for summer training, so they have enough to give some to the different counties. Zeke has a short wave and has been keeping me updated on what is going on so far around the country. We are setting up portable spotlights at both blockades so no one can slip by at night. From what Zeke and the Sheriff have told me it is really getting bad all around our area. I have a feeling if it gets any worse we are gonna be in a shoot out with people who are trying to escape the infected areas. Bowie is still clear so far and they are making sure no strangers come in. I have been put in charge here, but I just don't know what to expect."