Uncanny Tales of Crush and Pound Annual 3 Read online

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  The plane landed fifteen minutes behind schedule in Dallas, and the layover was just long enough to allow them to get to their next connection by the airport rail system. Dr. Tatum and Seth lugged their carryon gear into the boarding line with the rest of the black suits, and they kept quietly to themselves as they waited to board the next flight. The flight attendant greeted the passengers one by one and received mostly grunts from the STUN agents whereas Seth returned a friendly smile and a question.

  “Is it okay to use the restroom, ma’am? We had very little time between flights,” he asked, and she pointed down the hallway.

  “All the way down,” she replied. “Liquids only. No solids,” the attendant added, and Dr. Tatum grimaced.

  “Yes, please, Seth. I warned you about drinking the water on the last flight,” Dr. Tatum admonished him, though she knew she should mind her own bodily functions.

  “We’re going to a dry place in California. The last thing I want to do is show up dehydrated, Doc,” he explained as they moved single file down the aisle. When they arrived at their seats near the rear of the plane, they stowed the baggage away, and Seth headed straight for the facilities. Dr. Tatum kept an eye on him, and thankfully, none of the STUN agents followed him to the back. Within a few minutes, he strolled back down the aisle and reclined in the seat with relief on his face. He fastened his seat belt, and the plane took off for California.

  “Read this to yourself,” she said as she handed him her notebook. Dr. Tatum had been scribing notes in code since the beginning of their journey, and she pointed to one sentence in particular. Seth was trained in the shorthand code, and he absorbed the information with a gulp. He frowned, and his forehead wrinkled with concern. She returned the look with a nod. The message had read, “I was demoted to field agent,” and Seth was perplexed at this turn of events. As his mind lingered on the subject, he realized why she was wearing a uniform like his own instead of her usual business attire that went along with management. Rather than ask any questions that would make her feel awkward, Seth reached out his hand for her to shake.

  “Glad to have you on board,” he said with a wink of his eye. She shook his hand, and he handed her back the notebook which she stuffed into her carryon bag. The seat belt sign turned off, and they remained silent for a couple of hours while the plane traversed over the western deserts of the United States. Just then, two of the STUN agents stood up from their seats and wandered past Seth to the back of the plane. He closed his eyes to get some rest for only a moment when he felt an arm reach tightly around his throat. His air supply was cut off by the black-suited arm, and he glanced over at Dr. Tatum as she struggled with the other STUN agent. Apparently, the two agents had faked their interest in the restroom, and they had intended to attack the DAM agents. Dr. Tatum grabbed Seth’s wrist with one hand and the necklace with the other, and they both turned into shadows. Dr. Tatum was new in the use of the necklace, and she found herself along with Seth and both STUN agents suddenly outside of the safety of the plane. The jet rushed away from them at several hundred miles an hour, and all four of the unlucky participants found themselves stranded in the clouds, thousands of feet above California. Amazingly, they were not falling toward the earth with any great speed. In fact, Dr. Tatum wondered if they were falling at all, but she held on tight to Seth and the necklace for fear of the outcome if she let either one go. For his part, Seth quickly adapted to the severity of the situation, having experienced the effects of the magic on his body in the airport previously. But the same could not be said for the STUN agents. The one that had Seth in a chokehold released his death grip and fell off Seth’s back. Seth quickly snatched the agent’s coat with his free hand and saved his life. The other agent panicked and smacked Dr. Tatum’s wrist as she held the necklace, causing her to rip the thin gold chain from around her neck. She squeezed the charm between her fingers, and she refused to let go with the struggle while the determined agent clawed at her hand. He thrust his open palm at her clenched fist, and he lost balance for an instant and tumbled off her shoulders toward the earth below with a scream that faded as he pierced the clouds beneath him. Her eyes opened wide with the understanding that the use of this artifact had deadly consequences, and she cut her gaze toward the other STUN agent who fought to keep grasp of Seth’s arm.

  “Stop struggling with us if you want to live,” she instructed, and as he listened, he looked down to where his partner had punched through the fluffy vapors below. There was no sign of him, and the agent looked back up at Dr. Tatum with a nod.

  “You have my attention,” he simply said as he grabbed Seth’s arm with both hands. Dr. Tatum thought introspectively for a moment, but only random thoughts of fear were running through her mind. She needed a plan, something to work with to get them safely out of this mess. Some better way of getting to ground than falling would be preferred. As she thought long and hard, a look of fright came across Seth’s face, and Dr. Tatum turned her head in the direction of his eyes. A bright, shiny object was in the distance and growing quickly in size. It was a passenger jet heading toward them, and when she understood that the time for thinking was over, Dr. Tatum released the charm of the necklace from her grip. Instantly, the three tumbled through the clouds below toward the earth, and they all screamed as if they thought that this was the end. The broken chain slipped through her fingers, and Dr. Tatum thought that she had lost the item entirely, but she managed to clamp down on one end as she fell. The other end flapped around loosely in the wind, and she let go of Seth’s arm and grabbed the loose end of the necklace with her hand before the charm could free itself from the chain. The three people fell through the clouds, and they watched helplessly as the shadow of the jet passed by in the clouds above. It was a fearsome and wonderful sight to behold, and Seth yelled out in excitement as they narrowly survived the near collision with a jet in the sky.

  “Doc!!” he screamed as he and the remaining STUN agent drifted slowly away from her in the sky. They had not let go of each other’s hands though Dr. Tatum had released them to catch the necklace, and they stretched out their bodies to drift slowly toward her. Her body was angled with her feet pointed down, and with the decreased wind resistance, she fell faster than they did for a time. Seth passed over her head, and he angled his body straight up and down so that he would fall faster. The STUN agent followed suit, and the three danced through the atmosphere as they plummeted to earth. Ground was steadily approaching, and when he felt that Dr. Tatum was close enough, Seth desperately reached out his free hand to grab the collar of her shirt. He succeeded, but with success came failure. They were now all joined together again, but the sudden tug of her uniform disturbed her hold on the necklace, and the charm flew off the chain and into the air. As the treetops below gained definition, Dr. Tatum swiped out at the falling charm, and it passed through her fingertips. With a final strike of her palm, she nicked the charm from the air, and the magic suddenly worked. She had only a novice level of control of the enchantment, but the most miraculous event came true with their feet dangling just feet above the tall pines of the cliffs of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Though not well understood or controlled, the magic of the charm had worked to save them from bursting upon the rocks of the mountaintops, and Dr. Tatum was suddenly reminded of the pumpkin chucking contests she had watched on television. They remained suspended in the air just long enough to get their bearings on what to do next. Seth spoke up first.

  “Doc, I think we can drop down into the limbs of the tree below,” he explained. “One of us should try to climb down to the ground, though it might be better if he goes first,” Seth said as he nodded his head toward the STUN agent. “What’s your name, dude?”

  “The name is Steven,” the agent replied with a deep, gruff voice and looked down at the treetop under his feet. “If you can swing me out a little to the left, I can grab the limb when I fall.” Dr. Tatum was new at this herse
lf, and she had her doubts, but since the STUN agent had instigated this whole event by attacking them on the plan, she agreed with Seth that it was his responsibility to go first. Seth swung the man back and forth in midair until Steven’s body was lined over with the tree, and together, they released one another’s hands. With the liberation from body contact, Steven was subject to gravity once again, and he fell in an arc to the treetop below. The first limb caught Steven’s body weight full on and bent down into the needles of the limbs beneath. With a snap, the limb bent past the point of recoverable deformation and broke with the man’s weight. Steven fell a few inches onto the next limb, and he came to a stop as his fall was arrested in the multitude of limbs that branched out beneath. The STUN agent then slowly descended the tall pine into the thick foliage below. Dr. Tatum then looked over at Seth and frowned.

  “If I toss you over, you’ll be able to get down, too,” she explained. “But that will leave me suspended out over the open ground with no way to swing and reach the tree.” Seth listened and analyzed all of the variables before answering, and he did not have a smile as he spoke.

  “You’re right, and if I swing you over, then I fall when you let go of me,” he acknowledged. “I’m not married to that solution either.” They held hands and thought over the options quietly while Steven climbed to the ground, and then Seth came up with a thought. “Doc, have you ever square danced?”

  “What?” she replied with a look of surprise at the completely absurd question. It was bad enough that they had literally missed their flight; dancing was not on her mind.

  “Here,” Seth said, and he grabbed her with one arm around her waist as he held her other hand. He then twirled her around in midair, and they actually moved horizontally in space above the trees. The dance had taken them too far to the right of the tree, and Seth spun her one rotation in the opposite direction, moving them just a little closer than they had been before.

  “Hey! This seems to be working,” she admitted with a smile. “I’m glad that STUN agent is down already. It would have been awkward if he had tried to cut in our dance,” she joked, and they both laughed together as he looked into her eyes. For a moment, he felt the flutter of butterflies in his stomach again, the same way that he had felt at the ghost sawmill months before.

  “Was it infatuation,” he thought to himself, and he quickly broke the gaze by looking down at the tree that was positioned below them now. He cleared his throat, and when he was confident of his next move, he let go of her hands and fell down onto the limbs of the evergreen below. Within seconds, he had climbed around to the other side of the tree, and though he could no longer see Dr. Tatum in her shadow form, he guessed that he was out of the way of her fall. Suddenly out of the bright sky, she appeared, and she dropped smoothly down onto the many limbs of the treetop. She slid the magic necklace safely into her pocket, and she turned to Seth while Steven was on the ground out of sight.

  “Look, we are really in a very awkward circumstance,” she whispered. “We’re alone on a mountaintop forest with an enemy agent waiting for us at the bottom. No matter what we did to save his life, we have to remember that his partner fell to his death trying to steal the necklace from me. I don’t know that we can trust Steven, but I have always believed that it’s better to have your enemies close by so that you know where they are.” Seth nodded.

  “Yeah, unless we use the necklace to sneak away while he’s asleep and unaware, he’ll be able to follow us by our footprints and the sounds of our footsteps in the underbrush,” he explained, and from the vantage point of the treetop, he looked around at the surrounding area. “You know, winter is coming on soon, and this is very rugged wilderness. If we leave this guy out here and escape from him, he may not survive. I don’t think that I can carry that burden around on my conscience. Can you?” Dr. Tatum digested his assessment, and she could not argue with her own conscience either.

  “He can stay with us if he behaves,” she declared, “but if he can’t behave himself, then we will have to resort to binding his hands.”

  “Agreed,” Seth replied. “Look at it this way, we don’t have any documents to steal or anything else besides the necklace. Becoming a shadow in the wilderness will not buy any of us water, food, warmth, or safety from wild animals with a keen sense of smell.”

  “Nice, that makes me feel better,” she countered, and she started climbing carefully limb by limb down the tree. “I hope they don’t find my notes on the plane,” she added. Seth followed and within a few minutes, they could see the forest floor through the foliage below. Steven was waiting impatiently by the trunk of an adjacent tree with his arms crossed.

  “About time you two showed up,” he grunted and stayed right where he was. He watched them petulantly at the base of the other tree, and he never offered to help them down the last few limbs to the ground. Dr. Tatum did not seem to care as she was happy that he kept his distance, but Seth thought that Steven could have shown some appreciation for their fine work in keeping him from plummeting to his death like his partner. He was a STUN agent though, and they were not trained to be merciful, thankful, or easily distracted from their goals. Seth would keep a close eye on this one, and he would discuss sleeping arrangements carefully with Dr. Tatum before he would let Steven pull a trick on them during the night. If they had to sleep in shifts, then so be it.

  “Where do you think we are?” Dr. Tatum asked, and Seth shrugged his shoulders in naivety while he examined the forest around him.

  “By the looks of the trees, the woods are pine and incense cedar mixed together,” Seth said as he rubbed his hands across the bark of several surrounding trees. “This is the type of thicket you would expect to see in eastern California. Before we were attacked on the plane, I thought I saw the Sierra Nevada range, but I can’t be certain.”

  “Maybe you should look before you leap the next time,” Steven grunted. “Thanks to you two, my friend is dead, and we’re stranded out in the wilderness.” Dr. Tatum bristled at the STUN agent’s comments, and she hesitated as she glared at him.

  “Take some ownership for your actions,” she ordered him. “If you guys hadn’t attacked us, then we wouldn’t be out here. And don’t think for one minute that the DAM won’t be looking for us, so don’t get any ideas about taking care of us out here in the woods. I sent a message out to the agency while we were in the airport, and your fellow agents will be snatched at the Fresno airport,” she informed him, which was only a bluff, but what he didn’t know would only help them. “If we’re missing, the authorities will be looking for us, including you and your partner. By the looks of your provisions, which are none, you aren’t prepared for what we’re about to go through. These mountains and forests go on for hundreds of miles, and you still need us if you want to have any chance of getting back to civilization.” Steven pulled back his suit coat and showed them his holstered pistol, but Dr. Tatum was not deterred. How he had gotten such an item past airport security was a mystery to them, but STUN was an organization that had contacts in every part of the government, and since they were not labeled as a terrorist organization, at least not yet, there were always options for getting weapons past security. Hands could be greased, eyes could be averted, and misdeeds could be overlooked as long as there were never any serious investigations. And there rarely were in the case of STUN.

  “You may need that for the bears and mountain lions before we ever get back to civilization,” she told him with a glare. Dr. Tatum was not afraid of the agent, and Seth admired her for her bravery and yet wondered just how smart her display of bravado was. Still, he felt that showing fear of the enemy agent would have been a far worse choice. Dr. Tatum then turned her back on Steven and faced Seth.

  “We’re going to need food and protection from the weather,” she told him, and he knew she was asking him for his help. Seth had been a survivor in the Middle East, and he had extensive experience in survival training, but that
was mainly desert regions. They were in a forest region now, and he scanned the surroundings for clues on what they might need.

  “Winter will be here shortly,” he said as he brushed his bare arms for warmth. “It’s a long way out of the mountains, and though I know this goes against your love of wildlife, Doc, we are going to have to make fur coats for protection.” She winced at the suggestion, but then she nodded her agreement. “There will also be rain, snow, and ice, and the snow and ice probably won’t melt once the ground is blanketed. At night, we’ll need fire, and luckily, we’re surrounded by wood.”

  “How far out do you think we are?” Steven asked as he listened in on their conversation. Seth had gotten a good look from the top of the tree, and he remembered seeing the desert of Nevada in the far horizon. If they went more towards Nevada instead, they would be taking a chance on entering Death Valley. That seemed a poor choice since they could at least find water easily in the rivers on the California side of the mountains.

  “At least a hundred miles. Maybe more,” Seth replied, and Dr. Tatum agreed. “Since you have a gun, would you mind sparing the gun powder from the bullets for starting fires?”

  “Yeah, I can share my gunpowder with you, but I don’t think you’ll like the results,” Steven replied and laughed with a dark mirth as he crossed his arms. Seth’s expression was unchanged.

  “Suit yourself,” he said as he searched around on the ground for a branch. When he found one long enough to use as a walking stick, he handed it to Dr. Tatum. She accepted it while he searched for another.

  “Are we just going to stand here all day?” Steven said as he tested Seth’s patience. No one replied, and Seth stood up and cleaned off the debris from another dead branch. When he was certain it was right for his needs, he started walking out into the forest with Dr. Tatum following closely behind. Steven huffed at their disregard for him, and he fell in behind, making sure to keep ten paces between himself and the agents of the DAM.

  They walked on that day for what seemed like hours, occasionally coming out of the forest and onto an outcropping of rocks. Daylight kept them warm as they started out their journey, and Seth led the way until they reached a valley between two mountains. It was a narrow pass made of rock and brush that led between two mountains of solid stone, and it rose high into the sky and blocked the sun from their view. The rocky ground that they walked on was slanted upward towards the mountain on either side, and the slanted surfaces met in a crack that meandered through the crease in the divide. The only way to hike through was to pick a side and lean toward the mountain. After a hundred yards of leaning, the angle of the slant increased, and they found it difficult to maneuver forward without favoring the walking sticks they had made. Steven held up the rear, and he discovered that he was having to hold onto the side of the rocks to keep from tumbling into the crease below. If he fell, he would roll down into the crack, and the angle was so harsh on both sides, he knew that he would never be able to get out on his own.

  “Hey! Seth! I can’t keep up!” he yelled out as he held onto the side of the mountain, and sweat beaded up on his forehead. It was cool outside, and the sweat indicated the nervousness that had been building in his mind. His fear of falling behind had outweighed his pride, and he decided to ask for help this one time. Seth carefully slipped by Dr. Tatum on the narrow ledge, and he warily crept back along the slant until he reached Steven. He then placed one hand on his ribs to steady him, and he felt the holstered gun beneath.

  “Don’t get any ideas,” Steven warned as sweat dripped from his forehead down onto his nose.

  “What? Like helping you?” he replied as he steadied Steven and himself along the steep incline of the rock surface. Steven never returned an answer; he simply followed side-by-side with the DAM agent and kept as tight a hold on the wall of the mountain as he could. Dr. Tatum waited patiently until they were within a few footsteps of her, and then she moved on ahead. The last thing she wanted was to be near her enemy in such a treacherous environment. It was a tricky task trying to maneuver through the pass, and she did not want the added distraction of a hand-to-hand struggle included with the labor. The hike turned around a dark bend between the rocks, almost like a stone tunnel that led a hundred feet through to daylight on the other side, and Dr. Tatum was able to place one leg on each side of the wall and lean on the walking stick to stagger through the crease in the mountains. Seth followed and led the way for Steven, never once fearful of the strong, calloused hand that rested on his shoulder. The stone surfaces were cold, and Seth’s hands tingled from the heat transfer that occurred from his body to the rock at his slightest touch, and Seth tried to minimize the surface area by using only his fingertips and the walking stick. In fact, if it had not been for the walking stick, he was sure that he would not have been able pass through the dark seam successfully with the added pressure of keeping Steven’s body balanced against his own. A few minutes later, they had tracked through the darkness and reached the exit of the seam where the opening led into daylight on the far side. One would have hoped that coming out of the light at the end of the tunnel meant that they would have a much easier hike on the other side. That was not the case. Dr. Tatum stopped at the end of the precipice, and she surveyed the broad expanse of mountains that spread out before them. The colors were varied with dark greens, greys, the blue of the sky, and the white of the clouds, and the scene was quite picturesque. The dilemma was not with the beauty of their surroundings, but in the peril that came with the beauty. From the slit in the rocks, she looked down the sides of the mountains to the earth below, and there was a seventy-degree incline that sloped downward into a deep canyon. On either side of the slit, there were no safe paths to tread along the mountainsides. There was, however, a thin rock protrusion that jutted out from the mountain on the left side, and the protrusion led out for at least a hundred yards to meet an outcropping of manzanita trees. Dr. Tatum looked at her fellow travelers for input, and Steven spoke up first.

  “This is a fine mess you’ve gotten us into,” he said as he scowled back at her. “You could have just given us the files at the airport, and we would have been on our way.” Dr. Tatum remained cool and calm.

  “If your partners are any good at their jobs, then they now have the files since we’re not in the plane to protect them. That means your sacrifice paid off for STUN. Maybe they’ll erect a bronze statue in your likeness,” she replied with a wily smile. “For my part, I would like to have the files for kindling over the next few weeks until we find our way to civilization.” She then dropped the argument that she had held back, and she looked at Seth for support. “Do you have your phone?” Seth nodded with a slight frown.

  “Yeah, I’ve already thought about that. There’s no reception out here though, so I turned it off to keep the battery from dying,” he explained, and then looked to Steven with raised eyebrows as if he were passing the question to him as well.

  “I don’t have a phone,” Steven replied a little too quickly. Seth was betting that he did have a phone, maybe even a satellite phone, and if that were true, then they could be tracked by STUN if it were on. There was nothing that they could do about it now, but if the chance presented itself, they would have to see what could be done to disconnect the phone if it did exist. It would be nice to be rescued from the wilderness, but there was no way that he wanted to be captured by STUN. As Seth gazed back through the tunnel which they had climbed through, he noticed a movement of the light at the other end, and he thought that he saw a shadow creep through the light and disappear into the darkness. It was followed by the snakelike motion of a tail. He blinked, and the motion was gone.

  “Come on, Doc. Let’s keep going along the ledge. Maybe there’s a trail that leads down into the canyon,” he rationalized though he was only hoping or guessing in an attempt to keep moving. Dr. Tatum examined the narrow ledge hesitantly, but when she thought back to where they had come, she barga
ined that he was right about the forward progress. The air was cold, snow had collected on the peaks above, and it would not be long before they would be caught out in the air with very little protection.

  “Seth, can you take the lead in this section?” she asked, and Seth was reluctant to let Steven get too close to her, especially on such a tight ledge where a fall could be so easily engineered.

  “You’re doing fine, Doc,” Seth complimented her. “Just turn sideways and edge along and try not to look down. And you should probably leave the walking stick behind so that your weight is balanced,” he advised and placed his own stick into the tunnel. Dr. Tatum handed her walking stick to him, and he placed it alongside the other. She turned sideways and placed her left foot onto the ledge. She then tested her foot for traction, and when she was certain that she was safe, she stepped out onto the narrow rock ledge with her back facing the mountain. She then slowly made her way along the track, and Seth gave her a few minutes to get ahead. While he and Steven waited, the sounds of pebbles falling echoed through the tunnel, and Seth looked over Steven’s shoulder into the dark. Something was moving inside there, maybe even following them. There were many wild animals in this country, and some of them like the bears and mountain lions were predators. He wondered if they were going to make it back to civilization without coming across any of them, and he doubted they would be lucky enough to travel the hundred mile distance without having to confront one or both of the creatures. It seemed that they were already being stalked at the outset. Steven heard the movements as well, and he placed his hand inside his suit where the pistol was holstered. For once, Seth was glad that his adversary and companion had such easy access to a weapon.

  “I hear it, Seth,” Steven replied as he turned his head to look into the dark. “We better keep moving. Whatever’s back there will have to skirt the ledge, too, if it wants to get us. I’d rather take my chances in the daylight than in the dark.” Seth was in front of Steven, and he looked out into the great openness of the mountain sky and felt a little sick to his stomach.

  “This would not be a good time to succumb to vertigo,” Seth thought to himself. He agreed with Steven that they needed to put distance between themselves and their pursuer, but that notion did very little to help his sudden anxiety. He cautiously stepped over onto the ledge where he could follow Dr. Tatum along the mountainside, and he kept a safe distance from her so that she would not also feel pressured to hurry dangerously along the slender passage. As he stepped side-to-side along the narrow course, he looked out over the peacefulness of the view and tried to clear his mind. He succeeded in resisting the strong temptation to look down, and Seth’s nerves began to relax.

  With Dr. Tatum and Seth many feet ahead, there was ample space for Steven to move. He joined them on the ledge, and he started out on the tapered shelf with more urgency than even Seth had. He must have seen something in the dark and found that he could not bear to wait any longer. The sound of a loud meow and purr came from the slit between the mountains, and they all froze in their tracks on the mountainside. They waited for a moment until they got up the nerve to keep moving, and they started shuffling along the narrow ridge to the far side again. While Seth moved, pebbles fell down onto his shoulders from above, and he recalled the threat of falling rocks that always went along with rock protrusions. He felt the need to look up and risk a rock falling into his eyes, and he wished that he had stayed ignorant. Climbing along this narrow ledge was dangerous enough, but what he saw above made him fear for his safety. The teeth and whiskers of a mountain lion were stretched out in a yawn above him. The giant cat was situated on a ledge ten feet above with its belly pressed against the stone. Another meow came from the cat, and a paw reached down as far as it could stretch to snatch his head, but thankfully it missed by a couple of feet.

  “Guys! Keep moving!” Seth yelled, and Dr. Tatum hurried her pace toward the far end of the ledge. On her way, she noticed that the ledge that held the cat also followed along to the short trees at the end of their own path. It may be that they were going to be caught by the cat somewhere, but there was no hope for them on the ledge so she kept going. When she was within ten yards of the end of the ledge, she saw something gray move from within the manzanita trees, and she stopped where she was until she could positively identify what lay within the shrubbery. She held her breath as the animal rubbed its head and then its hind legs across the trunk of the short but thick tree. In an effort to hold her calm, she turned her head and looked out across the peaceful scene of the canyon below, and she saw a flake of white drift across the dark background of the trees. It was snow, and it began to come fall from the sky and coat the trees of the valley. She sniffed in the brisk, fresh air, and she was reminded of her childhood. Behind Steven, a grey head popped out of the slit of the tunnel, and a third great cat tilted its head in wonder at the three hikers of the lonely mountains. Seth bent over to dodge the cat’s great paw that reached down to him from above, and he nearly fell into the abyss of the canyon below, but Dr. Tatum blocked all of this out of her mind.

  “Where are you, Crush?” she said as she felt hope slip away on the side of a cold mountain.

  **********

  The black suits marched single file from the airplane, and when they gathered outside the coffee shop in the terminal, one of them held up Dr. Tatum’s bag. Inside, there was a file folder and her notebook, and the STUN agent retrieved them before tossing the remnants into the trash. There would be an investigation concerning the four missing passengers, and it was imperative that they disperse for now and regroup later at Three Rivers. He slid the file and notebook into his own briefcase, and he disappeared into the crowd.

  ###

  To Be Continued

  Dr. Tatum, Seth, and Steven, the STUN agent, are trapped in the wilderness of the Sierra Nevadas. Their only hope is to find their way back to civilization, but can they survive the attack of the pride of mountain lions??? Will Crush and Pound return from the lost world of Scalus Mountain in time to save them??? What is the importance of Huit Brighter to the DAM, and will they find him before the STUN agents capture him and bend him to their will??? Find out in the further adventures of the DAM, to be continued in Uncanny Tales of Crush and Pound 13.

  About the Author

  Christopher D. Carter is an engineer by day, and transforms into a writer and artist by night. He lives with his wife and cats in central North Carolina.