Stampede
Close Call
On his way to Rick’s tent, Seth passed Randy’s morning Tai Chi lesson. He taught everyday from sunrise for an hour, but most people showed up to thirty minutes early to stretch and exchange greetings. Randy moved in perfect harmony between discipline and internal peace. His quiet, graceful, and methodical forms gave evidence to decades of training. The sun’s rays shimmered off his pearl white silks, while the morning breeze occasionally flapped his shirtsleeves and pants.
Seth saw Rick crawl out of his tent and start for the bathroom. He called to him. “Hey Rick, yo man, wait up.”
Rick turned but kept walking. “Hi Seth. Marcus got some oysters and mussels from a group that came in last night… I’ll be right back.”
Seth laughed, pointing his thumb back over his shoulder. “I’ll be at the bench by my tent.”
“I’ll meet you there.”
Seth wrote a list of materials to get in town. He got up to pour a second cup of coffee and noticed Rick coming back with a couple water jugs.
“One of the guys at the faucet said Megumi requested these.” Rick placed them on the bench.
“Right on, thanks. I think she’s making sauces for the far side of the lake.”
“Sorry I had to go, but I really had to go… so what’s up Seth?”
“Remember when we sat around our campfire taking in the emptiness? Now campfires sprinkle the hillside surrounding the lake.”
Rick looked down toward the lake.
Seth grabbed Rick by the shoulders and turned him around. “And our little meadow here in Whistle Punk is the hot nightspot because of the Rock Band gatherings.”
“Yeah, Danny didn’t get back to his tent until after ten o’clock last night.”
Seth handed Rick a stack of hundreds. “Can you take a trip to the lumber yard and grab a bunch of 2 x 4s, some plywood… and screws. Here’s a list.”
“What are we building?”
“A food serving area in the meadow just past the stage, and a food line right over there under the trees. Think kitchen Rick. Get any additional things you think will help, like tarps.”
We need to really work on food preservation. Ice and coolers can only go so far.”
“Yeah, we have plenty of propane and grills. Maybe we can send the word around camp for any people from Reno, or any of the towns around here. They might have a fridge we can bring up? We can get two or three on the truck at a time. We just have to keep up with the generator juice if you know what I mean?”
“We have plenty of gas for the generators. People are bringing it up with them.” Rick scanned the list. “Maybe when we pick up the fridges we can grab things like pots and silverware?”
“Yeah. We’re on the same page.”
“I’m pretty sure the pickings will be slim in all the stores, but I’ll see if I can find a few large tents. We can set up stations for keeping our meats and dairy… and then we can use the camping coolers for storing grains.”
“Perfect. Makeshift walk-ins, food prep, and a couple small buffet lines. That’s what we need. The key is in the truck, and the tank is full. I took all the tools out, except the tie-down straps, so it’s ready to go.”
“Great. I’ll go out the back way.”
Seth pointed at the money. “And take one of Randy’s guys with you.”
“Good idea. I saw Randy a few minutes ago up the hill. I’ll go catch him.” Rick put the money in his front pocket.
Andrew passed Seth and Rick, heading for the Rock Band setup. “Hey guys. Mind if practice a few songs? I’ll keep it quiet.”
Seth patted Rick on the back. “Thanks man. I’ll see you when you get back.” He turned to Andrew. “Sure. But you should use your headphones and the little monitor. I don’t want a crowd to form.”
Andrew chuckled. “Yeah, I guess you heard.”
“Heard what?”
Andrew nodded toward the lake. “On the other side it sounds like a distant concert. Too far away to hear clearly, but loud enough for people to know they were missing something.”
Seth shrugged his shoulders. “Well we have several different camps surrounding the lake. I’ve made sure Whistle punk has a few representatives from each camp, and nobody’s said anything to me yet.”
Jovel snuck up behind Seth. “Nobody is going to complain to you Seth. I don’t think it’s too much of a problem, besides it’s only from eight to ten, two nights a week. Hey, are we still going to get propane?”
“Yeah, we have a bunch of empty cylinders. We should refill them while it’s still available. I heard they are down to one or two filling stations in Truckee.”
“No problem. Where are the keys?”
“Oh, Rick has my truck today, and Cruz is working on the Ford. We’ll take the minivan?”
Jovel took his sunglasses off. “Sure. Are we taking the back roads to 89 and straight into town?”
“Yes sir. The van should be already loaded with as many empty propane tanks that can fit.”
“Okay. I’ll pick you up on the other side of the dunking stations by the docks.”
Seth pointed to Andrew who started playing Rock Band. He raised his voice loud enough for Andrew to hear him. “Andrew. Use the headphones.”
*****
Driving along Donner Lake, Seth could see the traffic on 80 was terrible. “Dude, this sucks. Let’s go around it. When we get to the Chevron, let’s go over highway 80. Turn left at the light in front of the high school, and go up Northwoods.”
As they climbed up the steep hill Seth told Jovel how people often lost control coming down during the winter. “The only other road off this hill comes out way on the other side of town, so they risk it here. I got up to about forty-five on my mountain bike one summer, and that’s not even peddling.”
At the top they came to a three-way intersection where Northwoods connected back with Northwoods.
Jovel rolled his palms up from the steering wheel. “What’s up with that?”
Seth pointed left. “Hey, turn here. This street is a huge loop around the area, so it comes right back here. There’s another street I want to show you that follows along the outside of it, Ski Slope. Remember when we came down from the summit into Truckee?”
Jovel turned left. “Yeah.”
“Remember along Donner Lake when I pointed at the hills on the top of the ridge on the other side of 80? This is that street. You got to see the view man. We’re already here.”
A quarter of a mile up the road Seth pointed to a street sign. “There it is. Ski Slope Way. I used to live at the top, but on the other side of the loop. This road was my bike ride. Man I miss living up here.”
“Why did you leave?”
Seth shook his head. “That’s a long story… a long and sad story. I’ll save it for a soft rainy night by the campfire. Oh, check it out. We’re almost at the top. Pull over at the end of those houses. Wait until you see behind them.”
Jovel parked in front of a dirt road next to the last driveway. They walked to a chain with a reflective placard blocking the end, where they looked down on Donner Lake. Jovel leaned back from the sudden drop. “Wow! I had no idea it was that steep.”
“You don’t want to miss the corner back there and take this thinking it’s a road. There’s no chance to survive.” Seth pointed west toward the trail of white lights trying to clear the summit before curfew. “Check out those lights. How many of those cars are coming here?”
“How many are going to the super preacher conventions up at Tahoe? That’s what I want to know.” Jovel looked down the slope and shook his head. “Dude, I don’t think I would even snowboard down this thing. This is crazy. I can’t believe they build homes here.”
Seth pointed to an imaginary path down the smoother parts of the hill. “I think I could ski it, but I don’t know how much fun I would have? And you can only fall once.”
They walked back up to the car. Jovel opened his door and started to get in. “Do you want me to turn around and go back down?
Seth got in and closed his door. “No. We’ll keep going. It winds around a little ski area, and then drops down by Alder Creek. Either direction will take us there. Do you remember that road?”
Jovel took a deep breath and rubbed his chin. “Not really? Where is it?”
“When we took 89 going in to Truckee. I pointed and said it was a back road.”
“Oh yeah. That’s pretty close to camp.”
When they reached highway 89 Jovel recognized immediately where they were. He turned left and started down the road.
Before he could get up to the speed limit, a car came flying up from behind flashing their lights. It passed the minivan, and cut them off while slamming on the brakes. Jovel swerved enough to barely make it around their skidding car, but his rear fender caught their bumper and spun them around.
Inside Seth saw two guys with purple hats on, and cussed at them. Their car came to a stop in the gravel beside the road. Jovel regained control of the minivan, punching it to try and get away. The guys in the truck fired a few shots and gave chase.
Seth looked back over his shoulder. “Don’t take the fire road. We can’t risk them knowing our back door.”
Jovel looked at his gauges. “Where are we going? We can’t outrun them and I only have a quarter tank of gas.”
Seth slapped the dashboard. “I got it! Turn left up Sagehen Road. That’s the road to the retreat house we stayed in before hitting the lake. You can lose them in the turns. It’s all technique at that point, right?”
“Yeah, but we’re a rolling bomb, and we aren’t rolling very fast.” Jovel looked in his side mirror to see if they made the turn. Their headlights came into view.
Seth looked at his side mirror but it exploded, followed by the rear glass shattering. They stared at each other for a second.
Seth yelled. “Go!”
Jovel yelled. “I am! They’re shooting at us!”
Seth turned in his seat. “Punch it fast man. If we can get just one turn ahead of them we have a chance. Nobody can fire around corners. Come on Jovel, we can’t give them another clear shot.”
Jovel’s cornering gave them a sizable lead. They reached the lodge from last month, turned left and went down the dirt road. A trail of dust filled the air.
Seth pointed to a chain link fence. “Turned around and back it up to the fence. Leave the high beams on and let’s get out of here.” They quietly ducked out the back into the darkness.
A hundred yards down the gully, Jovel stopped running. “Seth. I can’t… I can’t…”
Seth stopped and came back. “It’s cool. That little trick should buy us some time. They can’t just run up to the van. They might even look in the house.”
Headlights panned the hillside as the other car came down the hill and skidded to a stop. Seth and Jovel dropped to the ground. Seth put his hand on Jovel’s shoulder. Jovel looked and Seth put his finger to his mouth. “Shhh…. We got to stay low.”
They both poked their head up from the brush and watched their attackers size up the scene.
Both doors opened at the same time. Two men got out and pointed their guns at the minivan. Two other guys climbed from the back seat and started scanning the area with handheld searchlights.
The gunman fired a shot in the air. “Hey Amigos! Show me your hands!” He shot out one headlight. Nothing happened, so he shot out the other headlight.
The other gunman pointed to the gully on the left of the van for one guy to shine his light, and pointed the right side for the other guy. He yelled to the van. “Hey muchacho! You remember me?”
The first gunman said something in Spanish. The guys with the lights turned and started back for their car.
The other gunman started to fire into the minivan. “You’re going to remember me!”
The fifth bullet knocked the head off one of the tanks, and the sixth bullet sparked from hitting the metal frame of the van. The explosion triggered several immediate explosions and launched flaming gas containers around the area.
The concussion from the explosion slammed the door shut on one of the shooters, taking his legs off at the calf and knocking him into the car. The other shooter was nowhere to be seen.
A tank landed in front of the two guys with searchlights. The impact ruptured the container and it sprayed the men with fire. They ran around trying to put themselves out. One fell in the field, starting a grass fire. The other fell to his knees in front of the car, his smoke rising through the headlights.
Seth and Jovel watched from the shadows. A distant siren pulled them back into reality. They stayed low and followed the fire roads back to camp.