Artifact 13: Rusty gets Real Scared

Rusty rides along with the Army and gets quite upset with what he sees at the crash site.

Artifact 13: Rusty gets Real Scared

 

Rusty sat alone in the jeep under orders by US Army Lieutenant Koski to stay put. Even though he sat there some distance from the soldiers, he heard the corporal’s cry.

Apparently, the corporal had cried out too loudly for the Lieutenant because the officer put up a hand toward the corporal to quiet him down. Through the jeep’s back window, Rusty could see the corporal pointing toward some of the crash debris, but could not see what he was specifically pointing at because of the position of the jeep and the dust on the rear window.

            The youngest private among the soldiers walked closer to the crash area to see what the corporal had seen and let out his own spine-chilling shriek. Rusty jumped at the startlingly cry, instinctually craning his neck to see what they saw but only seen the upper parts of the men’s bodies as they clustered around something. He watched a minute or so as they took turns either standing there or bending over to closely examine whatever it was. Rusty’s curiosity built and began to get the best of him.

Rusty wondered what they could have found that they hadn’t expected. That find apparently proved shocking. The Lieutenant said something to the private who ran to the truck and brought back what looked to Rusty like a first aid kit even though he didn’t actually see a Red Cross on it.     

            Rusty thought about just getting out and taking a better look, but he remembered that talk show host, what was his name�"Marble? Madle? on the radio talking about the incredible and sometimes appalling things that the military did in the name of national defense. The radio host had a couple shows about how the military abused unsuspecting soldiers with experiments like exposing them to exploding A-bombs or horrid chemicals. He also said that the military would order civilians to do as they are told and if they spoke or acted out against the military they would be punished in a number of unusual ways.

Rusty thought of himself as quite the fearless cowboy when in drunken saloon sprawls or dealing with enraged steers but dealing with the military employing weapons having all sorts of deadly capabilities was a whole other thing. He decided to sit tight, but that decision didn’t stop him from trying to see all he could from his sitting vantage point and spying through the dusty rear window.         

            Straining his ears beyond the hum of the big radio, Rusty could hear excited orders given by the Lieutenant to the soldiers who ran back to the truck for other things. But after they returned, it was suddenly still and quiet. It looked to Rusty that all the men squatted down around the same spot and stared. Rusty sat back a second to collect his thoughts and contemplate. 

Then in contemplation, he saw something that he had missed because he was so intent in looking over his left shoulder out the back window. The rearview mirror on his side of the jeep had caught his attention. At the moment, it just showed the broad side of the large truck, but Rusty reached over and adjusted it to see the soldiers. With the mirror in a repositioned angle, it reflected a clear, unobstructed view just past the truck’s rear bumper. Clearly in the mirror, he could see the men squatting, examining something on the ground even though a distance away.

 He saw the rear of the truck, the men, and the edge of the debris. Looking back over his left shoulder, he saw the soldiers stood up and two of them carried what looked like a stretcher, but it seemed too low. The Lieutenant flashed a worried gaze toward the jeep. Rusty snapped around forward facing again unsure if the Lieutenant saw him looking at what they were doing. After a few seconds, he ventured another glance. Apparently, the Lieutenant didn’t notice Rusty’s attention, couldn’t see him, or simply didn’t care. Rusty checked the mirror in time to see that the men did in fact have a stretcher with a body that looked oddly colored and small, but it flicked by his restricted field of view too quickly. He fostered a sudden fear.  Were there children? Or Asians on the stretcher? What alarming experiments was the Army doing now? 

Rusty thoughts spun. If he exposed his knowledge or concern out here by getting out of the jeep he could either go back on the stretcher like those poor people whoever they were or could easily end up dead and forgotten out here with the debris.

            He saw the truck rock a little as they put the body in the back of the truck and returned with the stretcher. Rusty then saw the binoculars between the seats. Could he risk a glance through them without being seen? He glanced back again to see the men gathered in another area slightly further to the left, and they again stared intent on the ground. Was it another strange body?  Rusty wondered. 

He picked up and uncapped the binoculars. He tried spotting the men out the open door, but he realized he had to expose the binoculars and his upper body outside the jeep to get the correct angle to see. He was sure the soldiers would see him. He saw the activity in the mirror, and he sat back. Rusty had an absurd idea, but it might just work.

He remained sitting in his seat and trained the glasses on the mirror. He could see the scene, but of course, predictably, it was completely blurry. Could they be focused?  He used binoculars before on the range to spot lost cattle but training them on the mirror just a few feet away to see something in the distance might be plain impossible. He twisted the knurled knob and slowly the scene in the mirror became amazingly and perfectly into view. But it proved a very small view at that. He watched carefully.

             The men made their way to the rear of the truck with the stretcher, and Rusty was ready to see what they held. What Rusty saw jolted his very being. The naked body was neither a child nor a foreigner but some kind of strange, deformed person. In the brief, split second he could see the stretcher, Rusty glimpsed a thin gray person, skinny to almost boney physique with one skinny arm and fingers slipping off the side of the stretcher. Rusty wanted to look away, but he couldn’t will himself to do so.

The body had a too large head with no hair, and the head was turned in his direction. He glimpsed what he would never, ever unsee. Sick to his stomach, Rusty lay the binoculars in his lap. The thing he saw that would burn forever into his memory had those frightening eyes: huge, oval black eyes with no brows or lids. What the hell was this abomination? He put his head in his hands unbelieving the sight he had just seen. Did he witness the result of some atomic experiment on people?

            The strong man named Russell Young was distressed like never before in his life.  Rusty honestly quaked with fear. He thought he might heave�"bile rose and caught in his throat. Now he understood why the soldier shrieked when he had seen these poor dead people. The soldiers hadn’t expected those bodies either. Snapped out of his distressed thoughts, Rusty shockingly realized the Lieutenant was coming back to the jeep. Pull yourself together.

 Quickly looking over his shoulder, he saw two soldiers walk to the truck, one distressed soldier pausing before getting in back with the ‘cargo.’ The Lieutenant and the radio operator turned toward the jeep.

Rusty fumbled with the binoculars and jammed them back into the case without the caps that lay on his lap. He slapped his hand over the caps just as the Lieutenant grabbed and folded the seat forward for the radio operator to get in. Rusty wondered how to look for the soldiers; he opted for his best, or so he hoped, nonchalant face. He gritted his teeth and put on an impassive face. Turning to the rear, he was going to say something to the soldier as he sat, but he froze�"stopped short�"when he saw the soldier’s face as white as a ghost. Rusty regrouped.

             “Find what you needed?” Rusty asked, hoping for a reveal of some sort, but he really doubted anything much from the lieutenant. His left hand gripped the binocular caps, and he slid his hand between his legs as he glanced at the open case. Rusty wondered if he’d get a chance to put them back on the lenses or at least inside the case. Would the lieutenant notice? “I heard one of the soldiers and�"” Rusty said, probing, but he couldn’t finish his sentence.  

            The Lieutenant whirled around to face Rusty.  “Did you see something?” 

            Surprised, Rusty faced the Lieutenant down. “I couldn’t see a thing, but I heard you say something about the crash debris not looking right before you left here and then a soldier cried out.”  

            “Ah, oh yeah, the debris looked too…bulky or perhaps there was too much of it…but it was just the way it was scattered, and Jones,” the lieutenant forced a humph, “he thought he saw a snake�"still a kid, you know�"seeing things.”

            “So…I suppose you picked up the important pieces? Isn’t there a lot more left?”  

             “Some of the pieces, but ah, we’ll have to return with another truck and, ah, scientists that work with this sort of equipment�"experiments,” Koski said. “We have to go, in a hurry to get, to return this, these parts to post,” he turned to the back. “Private, try to raise Crow’s Nest.”

            Rusty looked at the private who had regained some his color, but when he picked the handset from its cradle, Rusty saw the man’s hand shake and almost drop the set. Rusty noticed an unsaid concern between Koski and the private.

            “Mister Young, could you step away from the jeep while we make contact? Over there, please, it’ll only be a minute or so.” Koski pointed to the side of the jeep opposite the crash debris.

            Rusty got out and walked over to where Koski indicated. He turned back, but only saw the two whispering back and forth. After hearing the private’s muffled voice, Rusty only heard static on the speaker. He saw the Lieutenant fumble with indecision looking at the private, looking at the crash, and then back at the radio. Koski gestured Rusty back.

            “Their refueling must have taken longer than planned,” the private offered.

            “Yes, so we’re on our own.” The Lieutenant paused. Sitting back into the seat, he swung the briefcase back to the private who stowed it.  “All right…we’re going back to post and obtain orders there.”

And with that, he turned on the ignition and stepped on the starter button.  The engine idled to life, the Lieutenant ground the gearshift into first, and let out the clutch too fast. The jeep lurched forward and almost stalled, but he stepped on the accelerator. The jeep bucked three more times, caught, and sped around a tight turn back the way they had driven in. 

             “Mr. Young we have to return these parts to post right away, so we have to proceed with all possible due speed. Is there any faster way to the highway other than through all these gates?”

            “No.” Rusty shook his head gazing out the jeep’s windshield.  “The only other way would put you cross country longer and probably slow you down before reaching the highway. It might be faster if I just opened and closed the gates when you drive through.”

            “NO!” Noticeably excited, the Lieutenant took a short breath and continued calmly, “No. I’ll just have my truck cargo man get the closures like before.” 

             Rusty didn’t answer as the jeep picked up more speed and roared over the bumpy terrain. He wondered how the ‘cargo’ in the back of the truck handled the jostling ride.  The Lieutenant must have thought the same thing and looking in his rear mirror he backed off their speed a little.  
            Rusty did his best to control himself by not appearing overly scared, prying by asking questions, or revealing that he maybe knew something daunting.  He was quiet, trying to understand what he had seen and what, if anything, he might do. The ride back to the Corona Ranch homestead went rapidly with Rusty jumping out and opening gates, the trucks speeding through and the soldier in the truck closing up. Rusty wasn’t sure if the gates were closed behind them because of the speed that they proceeded, but he was more concerned with what he had seen and trying to comprehend it all then a possibility of loose steers.  

            Soon they arrived back at the homestead. John Thompson came out of the house to lean on the porch railing lighting up another cigar, apparently done with the branding. Rusty also saw Tab and Amos at the barn tacking up two horses. The private tried Crow’s Nest on the radio, but there still wasn’t any answer to his queries. 

             “Mr. Young,” the Lieutenant said leaning over to Rusty and gripping his forearm firmly before he could get out, “we must trust you and Mr. Thompson to help the United States Army today. It’s your civic duty to do the right thing and support the Army.” He paused to make sure Rusty paid close attention which he was. “There may be people interested stealing the Army’s property for their own personal gain. We place our confidence in you to report any trespassers that go to the crash or those who ask questions. Do you understand, Mr. Young? What I mean to say and more to the point�"you could be imprisoned for saying too much to the wrong persons who ask questions. Understand the implications?”

  Rusty looked at the Lieutenant, then his boot, and finally Mr. Thompson on the porch. “Yes sir, I understand completely.” He could feel his hands sweat; he could feel the sweat bead on his forehead. Rusty jolted in shock when he realized that his hand still gripped the binocular caps. He slouched and slowly slid that hand into his pocket. Rusty got out of the jeep, and the private got out with him to sit in the passenger seat. 

            “There will be trucks returning soon to clean up the crash debris, but I can’t say when exactly.”

            “All right, sir.” Rusty answered walking around to the driver’s side. “We’ll keep our eyes peeled for anybody who may be too interested and call the Army post pronto.”

   “Good man! Thank you for your assistance, Mr. Young, I’m sure we’ll see you another time.”

The Lieutenant put the jeep in gear and the two vehicles roared out of the driveway. Rusty just stood there watching them drive off and saw the other private sitting in the back of the truck moving like he worked on something, but Rusty couldn’t see what it was. He continued standing there even though John called his name. Rusty silently turned to John but didn’t answer or move until the trucks turned onto the road and sped away.

            “Rusty�"what was that all about? All that patriotic talk, calling the Army post and so on?” John asked. “So, what did you see out there? Did you find it? The crash? Speak man!”        

But Rusty just took his hat off, slowly walked over to the porch, and sat down hard on the top step. He stuck his hat on the crook of his bent knee and stared at the ground. John Thompson came closer to study his troubled foreman.

            “Russell Young, what the hell has gotten into you?”