Among the Oil Derricks: Chapter 9

CHAPTER 9

Derek did not appear to have slept well, for he was bleary eyed when he came out of his room. He had other reasons to worry. He wanted so badly to be friends with Drake that he had made himself vulnerable in more ways than one. Despite the night ending well, like Drake, his dreams disagreed and filled his night with anxiety. On top of that, he had the worst sensation like a criminal hiding from the law. He was sure by the time he awoke that his sleep cost him more energy than waking would have.

“A silver Honda Odyssey was found T-crashed with a tan pick up off the interstate today US HWY 180,” a new reporter’s voice blazed through the radio on the way to the caves, “Two bodies were found on site. The police are presently identifying them. They had no IDs on them. The bullets that shot them were from an AK-47 assault rifle.”

Derek clicked the radio off with a short explanation of, “Depressing.”

Drake did not bother to protest, but couldn’t help but wonder if Hades had anything to do with it.

Out of the three, only Emilie seemed fully herself. She greeted them cheerfully when they arrived at eight before asking them if they slept at all the night before. Today she had a silver compass necklace. Both didn’t know exactly what to say. “Today we only have one more hike then you’ll have seen the bulk of Carlsbad Caverns, Derek. We’ll be done. We could put it off until tomorrow,” Emilie began to suggest.

“It’s okay,” assured Derek.

“If you are sure,” Emilie looked doubtful, “It’s the Slaughter Canyon Cave at one, so we have several hours. I turned in my car today, can I ride with you?”

“‘Course.” They climbed in.

“So, where do you plan to go tomorrow?” inquired Emilie with a tinge of sorrow.

“I don’t know,” replied Derek in a playful tone, “where do you want me to go.”

“Don’t ask that!” cried Emilie, “That is a silly question!”

“No it’s not!” Drake jumped in suddenly catching on to all of Derek’s fumblings in regard to Emilie over the past few days, “It’s a good one.” Derek winked at Drake.

“Oh, I see,” scoffed Emilie good naturedly, “You two schemers playing your boyish games. You two could be brothers!”

“You wouldn’t know what to do if we were,” teased Derek.

“Hmm…” Emilie was skeptical, “but you didn’t answer my question.”

“You didn’t answer mine.”

“I asked first.”

“Alright then, I don’t know,” answered Derek with satisfaction. Emilie smiled. Drake’s eyes wandered from one face to the other. Emilie’s cheeks were slightly flushed and Derek’s face hinted with a pleased but shy smile. A knot of emotion twisted Drake’s stomach, something between sorrow and joy, putting him out of mood.

They ended up hiking Guano Rode arriving back at noon. They ate lunch then jumped in the car to go the Slaughter Canyon hike.

“Here we are,” Emilie said at last.

“There looks like there is already a group there with a ranger,” Derek pointed out.

“We shouldn’t be late,” Emilie climbed out, “Maybe everyone else is just early.” That turned out to be the case.

Drake had never been on this hike before. The sun beat down relentlessly and he was warm. Usually he would not have cared, but because of his already bothered mood, it only succeeded in irritating him more.

The hike was several miles and Drake loitered behind. Derek stayed behind with him. Drake’s eyes aimlessly roved the surrounding forest. Suddenly he saw movement. What was that? The boy stared hard in the direction of the movement. Yes, that was cloth! That was, yes, a man. It was one of the men that had been with Hades! The stranger did not notice him, but creeped through the forest away from the group. Had he been with the group originally? Drake wondered. It didn’t matter now. What was he doing?

The path said no trail, but that was where the man was. Drake held his breath with anger trying to decide what to do. “What’s wrong?” Derek asked. Drake didn’t answer.  “Drake! Drake! Stop! What did you see?” The twelve-year old was running.

Derek gasped for breath when he finally caught up. “I have a feeling we weren’t supposed to separate from the group.”

“This is important!” Drake insisted in a low voice continuing forward, “I know I saw one!”

“One what?” Derek was at a loss.

“There!” Drake cried vaulting over a gate with the “No Path” sign and bolting after him.

“Hey!” an authoritative voice shouted.

“Drake! What-wait-come back!” Derek ran up to the gate and after hesitating jumped over.

Drake sprinted to the top of the hill. He glanced around frantically to see where the Stranger had gone when suddenly all he saw was earth. The next moment Derek helped him to his feet.

“Whoa…!” He exclaimed when Drake tried to run, holding onto his arm.

“I can’t get caught; they can’t catch me!” He gasped struggling, “Let me go!”

“I can’t come with you,” Derek let him go.

“Don’t!” Drake snapped in a bitter voice sprinting up the path into darkness.

“You, boy, stop! You’re not -” The ranger reached Derek who had begun to walk back down. “Is he your responsibility?”

“No,” Derek replied, “He’s just been - hanging out with us. I’ll - uh - I’ll be going now… to the tour.”

“What happened?” Emilie asked.

“Not now,” Derek answered in an after-shocked voice.

A thorough search was made, but no one found him. Cameras caught no sign of him. Some security were tempted to close the park early, but that was decided against. Derek was questioned about Drake and what he knew. Emilie escaped the questions because Derek didn’t mention her whatsoever. At this point, he was beginning to be afraid of getting in trouble with the police. He hadn’t fully thought of it before, but he supposed now that there was some sort of law declaring he ought to have told someone that he knew where Drake was, and that he probably shouldn’t have allowed him to stay with him.

“Where do you think he could’ve gone?” Emilie asked when he joined her.

“I don’t know, but he doesn’t want to be found,” Derek replied, his voice was heavy out of his concerns.

“He’ll need food and water and a place to sleep,” Emilie murmured, “You don’t suppose he’d steal, do you?”

“My guess is he’s too smart to go near any place with people and especially cameras,” Derek answered, “He’ll stay away from shops for sure, that’s where the rangers will wait for him.”

“Then where can he go?”

“This might surprise you, but I did actually read up on this place while you and Drake were doing the hike. There is a lot of edible vegetation around here. He can probably identify them. I think he’ll head back to the oil derrick, honestly.”

“That’s nearly forty miles!”

“But right now its the safest for him, isn’t it? And he got down here somehow, didn’t he?”

Meanwhile Drake had crept back to the parking lot as soon as he escaped from the caves. He listened to the conversation of tourists. “We’ll head back to our RV in Carlsbad for the night and come back tomorrow, okay, kids?” one father was saying to his family as they began to get into a truck.

“Daddy! Daddy! We forgot to go to the Gift Shop!” a little boy cried.

“Do you have to go, Eddie?” the father asked. Eddie nodded desperately. The father sighed, “Okay, why don’t you kids stay-”

“Oh, we want to go, too,” the second oldest girl exclaimed, “Please! Daddy! We have to go to the Gift Shop! We have our own money!”

“We will try to be quick and we won’t be bad, Daddy!” the oldest girl added wisely, “It is not even evening yet. It will save us from sitting around bored in the RV. Please!”

“Alright, then!” the dad consented with good will, “Let’s all go in. But thirty minutes, max! Understand?” The kids nodded gleefully and skipped inside the shop.

After they had gone, Drake meandered up to the truck. The back was open. Looking around carefully, Drake jumped in and slid to against the back. When the family got in he would slide to under the window. He knew there was some road work that would force the driver to slow down enough for him to jump off without hurting himself. He held his breath as the family came back out.

“Thanks! That was great! I love my new pocket watch,” one of the girls was saying, “It looks like Bilbo Baggins a little, don’t you think, Ro?”

“I don’t know, Kay,” she shrugged.

“I love my new pocket knife!” the little boy exclaimed, “It has my name on it, too!”

“I have a magnet for a fridge so we can remember,” said the third girl.

“Great idea, Chris!” the girl called ‘Ro’ told her.

The four kids climbed into the truck, the father on the driver’s side. “Mom will be glad for us to be back.”

“I wish she could have come with us,” the girl called “Kay” said.

And so they talked kindly and lovingly all the way back. Drake heard each word from under the open window. Rather than feeling lighter with their words, he felt darker. His heart hardened with bitterness, nearly breaking with sorrow. This was how family was supposed to be! Something he had never had, something he would probably never have. Finally they were getting near the oil derrick. Drake knew the road work had to be soon. Abruptly the truck slowed down.

“Whoa!” one of the kids cried, “Dad! Didn’t you see that.”

“Does my breaking fast scare you?” the dad teased.

Now was the time! Taking his chances, Drake slide to the back and jumped over landing behind the truck. He didn’t hear any exclamations. That was a good sign. Quickly, he ran to the side of the road. It was less than a mile walk to the derrick, now. If he hurried he could get there before anyone who knew him could see him. It was not long at all when he strolled into his old yard. The Carlyle’s were gone for the day, he knew, but they hadn’t moved out yet and the horses were still there. Drake supposed he could saddle up Spero for one last ride and go to The Sanctuary. He had blankets and sealed food there. He also had his torch and all his journals. He even has some clothes.

“Drake! There you are!” a voice behind him exclaimed.

Drake whirled around to see Emilie and Derek. “What? What are you doing here?”

“What is going on?” Derek demanded.

Drake looked angry, but then he sighed. “Someone is trying to ruin my life and the caves.”

“What are you talking about?” Derek asked with considerable agitation while Emilie asked in a gentle voice, “What are you saying, Drake?”

“Some doctor! He bankrupted the Carlyle’s for their land, they’re trying to find my caves, and they’re lurking around Carlsbad Caverns for no good reason! I’ve heard them talk! I know he’s trying to steal, I just don’t know what, but I’m going to stop him!”

“Drake, you can’t do that!” Derek exclaimed, “You need to go to the police…”

“They won’t believe me!”

That was true, but Derek wouldn’t budge, “Drake, if we all did what we thought was right, it’d be a crazy world. Sometimes we have to sacrifice things so more isn’t taken away, it isn’t paying tribute, its being wise and patient to get the goal done as thoroughly as possible! The best way to know you’re doing things right is by following certain laws, principles, and morals  -”

“Morals!” Drake shouted, “Who are you to talk to me about morals? I’ve seen your movies… morals! How many kids do you have, Derek Walker? How many, if they haven’t all been aborted, and by how many different women? I know! My grandpa was an actor his wife was a model. They weren’t even married and they left each other immediately. My dad was brought up a spoiled actor’s son! Then my mom, she was a model, that is until they both were so messed up they couldn’t even hold those jobs. I hate you people! I hate the lot of you! You - you - you killed Ashley and destroyed everything I cared about! Just go away!” Drake ran away as tears poured down his face.

Derek stared after him not noticing how Emilie looked at him with something between a frown and a smile. He made a move to go after him, but Emilie touched his arm to stop him, “He’s not ready to talk to you, let him be. I’ll go find him.”

Derek was crushed. Drake’s rejection was touch, but Emilie’s now would destroy him. Emilie hurried down to the stables where Drake had just ridden out of on Spero. She saddled up Ama and rode after him at a much slower pace. There they go. With a heavy, sinking heart, Derek sat down on the porch, his face buried in his hands feeling like a failure.

“Derek Walker?” a police officer stood in front of him.

“Yes?” Derek lifted his face from his hands wondering how long it had been.

“Derek Walker, you are under arrest for harboring a runaway,” the officer brought out a pair of handcuffs.

“What?” Derek stood stunned. He could see two other officers down the road.