DISCLAIMER: I do not own the television show Jericho or any part of it. The characters are not mine in any way. I am just borrowing them for a bit. I am not affiliated with CBS, the television show Jericho or the writers of Jericho. I am not affilated in any way with Star Magazine or Kate and Ryder Hudson....they just fit the scene.
Special thanks and credit again goes to Marzee. She is a joy to work with!
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Storm on the Plains, Part 1
Jake had left with Jimmy for an extra patrol shift, Johnston had gone to spend some time alone in his deer stand and Gail was volunteering at the medical center for the afternoon. The only people at home were Heather and Jacob. Heather smiled to herself. It was a perfect time for a jailbreak.
Heather stood at the kitchen window watching Jacob throw the ball for Dreyfuss. It didn't seem like that dog ever got tired of bringing it back. She didn't know what Jake had said to Jacob earlier but the boy's whole attitude had changed.
She walked out on the back porch and sat down on the steps.
"Jacob," Heather said, waving him over, "do you feel like a field trip?"
"A field trip?" he asked. "Heather there's nowhere in Jericho to take a field trip. There's nothing fun here."
"Well, I thought we might go out to the ranch."
"But what about Dad? Won't he be mad? I'm grounded, remember?"
"I don't think he'll be mad if it's for science class. Surely you have a burning science question that can only be answered at the ranch?"
He smiled hesitantly at her, "Are you mad at me? I'm sorry I was rude last night," he said, ducking his head.
She reached over and turned his face so they were looking at each other, brushed his very long bangs out of his eyes and smiled at him, "Honey, I was never mad at you. Why don't we forget the whole thing?"
His whole body relaxed and he let out a held breath, "Ok."
She ran her fingers through his hair. It was amazingly thick and very long.
"We need to cut your hair before summer or you'll burn up. When was the last time it was cut?"
He looked at her with shocked eyes, "Heather, only Mr. Joshua, the Hair God, is allowed to cut my hair. That's Nana's rules. She says no one else can do anything with it. Nana says everyone else makes me look like a Kansas hillbilly. I can't get my hair cut til we go back home and Mr. Joshua does it."
Heather smiled sadly, "OK. I didn't know about Mr. Joshua. I think you'll change your mind by July. You can pull it back in a ponytail til you decide to cut it. Instead of a Kansas hillbilly you can look like Ryder Hudson."
"Who?
"You know, Kate Hudson's son. He has really long hair. Looks like a girl....." Heather saw total confusion on Jacob's face. "Never mind, I guess you don't read Star magazine."
They sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying the spring sunshine.
"Hey," Jacob said, "how bout we go look for snakes at the creek. That's science, ain't it?"
"Snakes?" Heather asked, squeamishly.
"Yeah, snakes, frogs, lizards, turtles, that kinda thing. Grandpa said there's a creek and a cave in the woods out at the ranch."
"You know we don't actually have to touch them, right?" Heather said, shuddering at the thought of reptiles. "Jacob, I will not pick up a snake or a lizard."
"Come on, don't act like a girl. It'll be fun."
Heather laughed and got up, "Ok, let's go. But, Jake, I will not pick up anything slimy. Got it?"
Jacob laughed and his eyes twinkled with mischievousness, "Heather, snakes and lizards are not slimy."
They grabbed jackets, hats and backpacks and headed out the front door.
"Wait," Heather said, stopping on the front porch. "I need to leave your Dad a note."
**********
They stopped at the medical center on their way out of town to tell Gail where they were going.
Jacob and Heather stopped at the front desk, "Excuse me?" Jacob asked.
Nurse Rebecca Lawson looked up with a smile. When she saw who it was her smile faltered but she quickly recovered, "Yes, can I help you?"
"Yes, please, we need to know where we can find my grandmother."
Gail had come up behind them and watched the whole interaction. She had been keeping her eyes on Nurse Lawson ever since the night of Jacob's accident when she had overheard her and Jake's private conversation revealing the fact that Rebecca was Jacob's mother.
"How about right here behind you," Gail said, smiling at Jacob and Heather. "What are you two doing here? Is everything alright? I thought Jacob was on house arrest."
"We decided to take a school field trip. We're going to go out to the ranch house and look around and then head to the creek and look for slimy things."
"Snakes aren't slimy. I told ya," Jake said.
"That sounds like fun," Gail said, kissing Jacob on the forehead. "Did you grab the keys for the house?"
"No, I thought we would just look around outside," Heather said, putting her hands on Jacob's shoulders. She leaned down so that their heads were level, looked up at Gail and whispered, "We're really just bustin' out of jail."
Gail smiled and whispered, "I know. I've done it myself a time or two. I won't tell the warden."
They all laughed.
"Wait," Gail said, "let me get my purse. I have a key for the house on my key ring. It's ridiculous to go all the way out there without going in."
"Thanks!" Heather said, excitedly.
Heather and Jacob walked to the door. They turned and waved.
"See ya in a little while," Jacob said.
Rebecca Lawson looked at Gail, "Is that Jake's wife?"
"Yes," Gail said, smiling, "well it'll be official in a few weeks but they might as well be. It's like she's my daughter. She couldn't love Jacob more if she had given birth to him. And he just adores her. Do you know my son?"
"I used to, a long time ago. I'm sure he doesn't remember me. They make a cute family," Rebecca said quietly. She picked the chart up for the next patient.
"Yes, the do," Gail said, with a tight smile.
**********
Twenty minutes later they were making the turn to go out to the ranch house.
Heather stopped the truck and looked at Jacob, "How adventurous do you feel?"
"I don't know. Why?" Jacob asked suspiciously.
"Wanna learn to drive? This is a private drive so there won't be anyone else out here. Want to give it a go?"
"Sure," Jacob said, his eyes bright with excitement.
"Have you ever driven before?"
"My Uncle Mike has a dune buggy. He let me and Joey drive it on the beach sometimes. I can drive a go cart too."
Heather smiled at seeing how excited Jacob was. "This'll be a little different. Let's trade places."
Jacob slid over to the driver's seat.
"Do you know what all the pedals are?" Heather asked.
Heather spent the next few minutes giving a lesson on driving a stick shift.
"Ok," she said, "let's give it a try. Push the clutch all the way in. All the way, it's kinda hard. Now put it in gear and slowly slowly let your foot off the clutch and give it a little gas."
They spent the next 15 minutes hopping and sputtering down the driveway to the ranch house. By the time they got there they were laughing so hard tears were running down their faces.
"Drivers Education and science class. See there was a good reason to leave the house," Heather said, still hiccupping with laughter.
**********
They got out of the truck and walked up to the back door of the ranch house. Heather fished in her jeans pocket, found the key and opened the back door. They walked into the kitchen. There were still flowers scattered around the room. Jacob looked around the room and looked at Heather with raised eyebrows.
"Your Dad and I had dinner here Friday night."
"Oh, ok," he said, shaking his head.
They walked through the house. It was definitely in need of repair but all in all it seemed sound. There were four large bedrooms upstairs and one downstairs. Heather thought it was perfect and fell in love with it even more. She started making mental notes of what to do in each room and possible colors of paint (if any paint could be found).
She was pulled out of her mental redecorating when Jacob came in the room carrying a bat and baseball glove.
"Whatcha got there?" Heather asked.
"I found this bat and glove in the closet. Look, it's got my dad's name on it," Jacob said, holding the glove out for Heather to see.
Heather looked and saw an old ball glove with Jake written in childish handwriting.
"Your grandmother told me that Jake played baseball very well. He played on the Jericho team every year until he graduated from high school."
"Really?" Jacob said, "I like baseball too. Dad never told me that. Think it would be alright if I brought these home with me?"
"I don't see why not. Did you find anything else?" Heather asked.
"I found some comic books in a box. They're not scary ones, I promise. They're Superman, Batman and the Hulk. I'm gonna take those too, OK?"
"Let's take them out of the box and make sure there's no mice ick and then we'll put them in the truck."
They took them down to the front porch and put them in a milk crate that Heather had in the back of the truck.
"Hey, let's go look for this creek you were talking about," Heather said. "We'll do some science and head home."
They grabbed jackets and started walking across the field behind the house.
"Heather," Jacob said, tying his jacket around his waist, "I'm really hot. Will you help me pull my hair back? I can't do it good since I gotta cast."
"Um hmm. It's only gonna get worse. You better let me cut it," she said, reaching into her pocket. She pulled out a lavender hair band.
"Heather, that's kinda sissy. I can't wear lavender."
"It's all I have," she said, "sorry."
He narrowed his eyes in a perfect imitation of Jake, "OK, but don't tell anybody."
"My lips are sealed," Heather said smiling. "Turn around." She quickly pulled his hair into a ponytail and then put it thru the hole in the back of his baseball cap.
He reached back and felt his hair, "Heather! That's how girls do it. Don't do it like that!" He pointed to the base of his neck. "Just put it there, not high up like a girl," he said indignantly.
Heather redid it, exactly as requested, trying not to laugh.
He felt again, "Thanks," he said, turning his Padres cap around backwards.
He bent down, grabbed a rock, threw it up in the air and hit it with his newly acquired bat, "I play baseball at home. I play shortstop and second base. Well, I used to anyway."
Neither of them noticed the banks of thunderheads starting to form in the Southwest.
Heather pointed towards the woods ahead of them, "Is that where the creek is?"
"I think so," Jacob said, running ahead.
Heather turned around. She couldn't see the house anymore. She couldn't believe how far they had come. It made her a bit nervous.
"Hea-ther, come on," Jacob shouted.
She smiled at her soon to be son and hurried after him.
The creek was beautiful. Water was pouring over rocks. It could have been a really relaxing place if there wasn't an eight year old throwing rocks. "I'll have to remember this place when Jake and I come out here," she thought with a smile.
Beside the creek was a hill with an irregular opening to the cave Jacob had mentioned earlier. They put their jackets on a rock beside the cave.
Heather sat down on a rock and closed her eyes. She missed the very mischievous glint that came into Jacob's eyes.
"Heather," she heard in a laughing, sing song voice.
"Hmm?" she said without opening her eyes.
"Oh, Heather," she heard again, a little louder.
"What?" she asked.
"Heather," she heard right in her ear.
She opened her eyes and saw a large green frog an inch from her face. Heather let out a scream that could have woken the dead and jumped backwards, right off the rock. Jacob collapsed in laughter.
"OK, Miss Lisinski, science teacher, what kind of frog is that?" Jacob asked, continuing to laugh.
"One that almost gave me a heart attack!" she said, still trying to catch her breath.
The wind picked up and there was a distant rumble of thunder. Jacob instantly stopped laughing and looked at the sky with a nervous look.
Heather knew how afraid he was of storms. She looked up and saw the angry looking sky. She put her hand on Jacob's arm and he jumped.
"Come on," she said, taking his hand, "let's head back to the house. We may get a little wet but if we hurry we'll miss the storm."
There was another rumble of thunder. It was a lot louder.
"Nooooo," Jacob said in a small voice, "we can't go out there."
"Honey," Heather said, trying to sound calm, "we can't stay in the woods. It's not safe. Come on. Let's go home."
There was a deafening clap of thunder and a streak of lightening that left negative imprints on their eyes. The sky was a very unhealthy green color now. The wind had turned vicious. It started to rain and hail.
Jacob was frozen in place. His face a mask of fear. Heather was scared but she wasn't going to let Jacob see it. He was scared enough. With the way the sky looked, Heather was afraid there could be a tornado.
"Jacob," Heather said, getting down eye level with him, "Jacob," she said, giving him a small shake, "we've got to go in the cave. We've gotta get out of this storm. We've got to go now."
She pulled him towards the cave, shoved him through the entrance and ran in after him. The last thing Heather saw before running inside the cave was a funnel cloud forming. She heard the tell tale sound of a freight train. Heather knew what was coming. She pushed Jacob down and laid on top of him, trying to protect him any way she could. She felt him shaking under her. She murmured nonsense things to him trying to calm him. Rain, dirt and leaves blew in through the opening with a force that stung. After 20 minutes the fury of the storm moved past them leaving a gentle rain. Heather and Jacob sat up. Jacob still had tears running down his face.
They got up and brushed themselves off. Just as they started to walk towards the cave opening, there was an ominous tremble under their feet. The hillside above them gave away, collapsing the entrance.
Jake pulled up in front of the house. It had been long afternoon and he was ready for a shower, dry clothes and dinner. He had gotten soaked during the storm earlier. Wet jeans were just not comfortable.
He turned the door knob and found it locked. "Why is the door locked?" he wondered. That was definitely not something he had expected. He fished his keys out of his pocket and opened the door. The living room was cold and empty. There had been a bad storm earlier, maybe it had gotten worse here than out on the edge of town, Jake thought. He wondered if they were in the basement. Jake started towards the kitchen, where the basement door was, and noticed there was a note taped to his and Heather's bedroom door.
In Heather's perfect block teacher's writing:
03/19/07 1:30pm
Dear Jake,
I have taken Jacob with me out to the ranch. We are having a science field trip for school. We're also going to look around the house.
See you this evening!!
Love you,
Heather
Jake looked at his watch. It was 6:30. They should have been back hours ago.
He went in the bedroom, quickly changed into dry clothes and left the house. The only thing on his mind was making sure Heather and Jacob were OK. Jake stopped at the medical clinic on his way out to the ranch.
He walked in and saw his mother at the desk, "Mom, have you seen Jacob and Heather? They're not at home."
"Not home? Where are they?" Gail asked.
"I don't know. There was a note saying they were at the ranch but they should have been home hours ago."
"They're not home yet? They stopped by here on the way out of town. They were headed out to the creek to look for snakes. Are you sure they're not at the house."
"Pretty sure, Mom."
Johnston walked up behind Gail, "What's going on, Jake."
"Jacob and Heather went out to the ranch this afternoon and their not home yet."
"Well lets me and you head out there. Let's not worry yet. She probably just had car trouble. I bet they're in house waitin' for someone to come get them. Let's go," he said picking up his hat. "Gail, we'll be home in a little while."
Rebecca walked over to Gail, "Is everything alright? Is your grandson hurt?"
"I'm sure everything is just fine, Dear," Gail said. "There is absolutely no reason for you to worry."
**********
"Jake," Johnston said, getting settled in the car, "where did you do patrol at this afternoon?"
"East side of town, out near Tacoma Bridge. Why?"
"Well, I didn't want to say anything in front of your mother, she worries enough, but that storm that came thru here today was really bad out on the other side of town. It wouldn't surprise me if there weren't some twisters out that way. The sky was that green color. Without the Weather Channel we'll probably never know unless someone specifically tells us. We need to stop and get Stanley, in case we need some help."
"Dad, you don't think their hurt do you?"
"Jake, I didn't say that. I said in case we need some help lifting. Don't borrow trouble. But, uh, just in case why don't you step on it."
Jake listened to his father and roared out of town. They stopped at the Richmond's and picked up Stanley. There were trees ripped up and tossed around all the way down the driveway to the ranch. It definitely looked like something had come thru here. The house didn't look like it had been touched. Heather's truck was covered in wet leaves but otherwise looked ok. There were trees down around it but nothing had actually hit the truck.
Jake checked the doors on the house. Both were locked. Stanley pulled open the door for the storm shelter but it was empty.
"Where the Hell are they?" Jake asked, to no one in particular. "They couldn't have just disappeared."
"I think they went out to the creek," Johnston said, bending down and picking something up.
"The creek!? Why do you think so?" Jake asked.
"I found these," Johnston said, handing Jake a wet, muddy, ripped Padres baseball cap and two gum wrappers. "The cap was tangled in that barb wired fence and the gum wrappers were stomped in a foot imprint of a small shoe.... looks like one Jacob would be wearing."
"Let's go," Jake said, starting to run for the gate.
Johnston grabbed his arm and pulled him back, "Wait, you don't have any idea what's out there. Did you bring a gun?"
Jake pulled a pistol out of his jacket pocket, "Never leave home without one."
He walked back to his car, opened the trunk and handed Johnston and Stanley each a shotgun.
They quickly walked into the field and towards the woods. The ground was a mangled mess of churned up dirt, tree limbs and wet leaves. Trees that had once stood in the field were either laying on the ground with roots exposed or snapped in half. A black singed circle was in the middle of one hill where lightening had struck the ground.
"Why the hell did they come out here," Jake thought, getting more scared the farther they got and the more damage they saw. He started jogging faster and faster towards the creek.
"Jake you need to slow down so we can keep up. If you step in a hole and break your ankle you ain't gonna help anything. Now slow down."
Jake slowed down for about 10 steps and then he started jogging again. By the time the creek was in site, he was at a dead run.
The creek was a muddy mess. In the dim light that remained Jake could see the cave entrance had collapsed under a mud slide. There were muddy footprints everywhere. He recognized the Nike imprints of both Heather and Jacob's shoes. They had been here... where were they now?
Stanley had been over looking at the mudslide. He looked up at Jake with a sick expression on his face.
"Jake, what were they wearing?" Stanley asked quietly.
"I don't know. Why?"
"What color coats do they wear Jake? Think!" Stanley yelled at him.
"Heather's is pink fleece and Jacob has a bright blue jacket with Gap across the front."
"What's over there? Why are you asking me that question?"
Stanley pulled two muddy, ripped jackets out of the mudslide, one pink and one blue. He bent down and picked up one small white and red shoe.
Jake felt kicked in the stomach, "Oh God no," he whispered, in a voice that ripped Johnston's heart out.
He ran towards Stanley before Johnston could grab him. He jerked the jackets out of Stanley's hands. He bent his head into them and fell to his knees. Stanley squeezed his shoulder, tears running down his face.
Jake threw the jackets aside and jerked away from Stanley's hand, "NO! They're OK," he said in a desperate voice. He started digging in the mud with his hands.
Stanley looked at Jake, "Jake, what are you doing?"
Johnston ran over, knelt down beside his son and started scooping mud, "Stanley go get some men and lanterns and shovels. We have to save my daughter and grandson."
**********
Chapter 16 C, Storm on the Plains
Heather and Jacob grabbed on to each other so they didn't fall from the force of the mudslide. All light was gone now. Nothing came through.
"Jacob, are you alright?" Heather asked. "I can't see anything. Are you hurt?"
"No, I'm OK," he said in a small voice.
"I don't have a light of any kind. I guess we just stay here til someone comes for us. Here sit down beside me," Heather said, trying to pull Jacob down beside her.
"I have a flashlight," Jacob said. "It's one of those shake kind."
Heather sensed him pulling something out of his back pocket. All of a sudden there was a small beam of light.
"Thank God for eight year old boys," Heather said, hugging Jacob to her.
She took the light from him and shined it around the room. There was a passage leading further into the hill. She looked over at Jacob and took his hand.
"Honey, I don't know what to do. We can sit here and wait for I don't know how long or we can go that way and see if we can get out. I don't know what's down there. I don't know if anything is down there at all. I don't know if it's safe. What do you want to do?"
"I don't want to just sit here. Let's go," Jacob said.
"Jacob, where's your shoe?"
Jacob looked down at his feet with a surprised look on his face.
"I guess I lost it."
"Why don't you take that one off and tie it to your belt loop. When we get out of here, we'll go back to the creek and find the other one."
They walked for about an hour. The passages twisted and turned and split off. They tried to stay as straight as they could but before long they were hopelessly lost.
They came to an area where several passages came together.
"Why don't we rest. We'll try to figure out what to do next," Heather said.
Heather leaned her head back against the wall and closed her eyes. She felt wind on the right side of her face.
"Jacob, I think I feel a breeze. Be still and tell me what you think."
"Yeah, it's coming from that way," he said, pointing to the opening to the right.
"Let's go that way then. Maybe we can get out. I bet everyone is worried to death."
They hurried down the passage. They got to a bend and discovered a slit in the rocks about 5 inches wide. That's where the breeze was coming from. There was no way out.
Heather bowed her head and leaned against the wall and started to cry.
Jacob looked at her and put his hand in hers, "Don't cry. We'll be ok."
Just then the flashlight went out. The sudden lack of light was startling. Jacob's eyes slowly adjusted and he noticed there was a very faint light ahead.
"Heather, look. There's light."
She smiled at him, "Thank God. Maybe we can get out."
"But, Heather, we don't know who it is?"
"Let's be careful then."
They slowly walked towards the light. At the next bend they stopped. Jacob slowly peeked around the corner. He motioned Heather to follow. They walked out into another place where several passages met. There were supplies everywhere. Water, blankets and food was piled up. Jacob turned around and looked at Heather with a big smile on his face. He ran over to the far passage and reached for a bottle of water. A buzzing rattle came from behind the case.
Heather gasped. She knew what that sound was.....a rattlesnake.
"Jacob, don't move. Don't even breath," Heather whispered.
Suddenly out of the darkness of the passage a voice yelled, "Jesus, Kid, don't move." Jacob was suddenly yanked into the air and a gun went off.
To be continued......