Crisis on the Ridge

The grease on my hands smelled like diesel and dirt. I had been tinkering with the broken tractor by the barn for a few hours now, mostly to pass the time away until Nick arrived.

I already hated him. I was annoyed how my brother Leo talked about him constantly, and I hated how effortlessly put-together he seemed in every story.

I gave a loud, drawn-out sigh, deciding it wasn’t worth doing this in the afternoon heat. But just as I began to head towards the house, a shiny black rental car came into view through the forest road and rolled to a stop into our driveway.

Out stepped Nick.

He looked like a walking luxury outdoor catalog, with his blindingly white T-shirt and sneakers so clean that I thought with a smirk—Wow, this guy definitely has never seen a real day of work.

“Leo!” Nick called out, sounding way too cheerful for my liking. “This place is awesome! The air smells like pine trees!”

Leo jogged out of the barn, grinning like a golden retriever. “Nick!” He greeted. “You made it!”

I gave a loud groan—maybe a bit too loud—and let my wrench fall into my toolbox with a loud CLANG. When he still didn’t notice me, I placed one foot on the old tractor’s tire and tried my best to strike a ‘cool, rugged country girl’ pose. I wanted him to see me—how rugged we country folks really are. How much he didn’t belong.

He finally turned, but instead of looking self-conscious, he smiled at me. “Oh, hey, Jamie. Good to see you finally!”

“You too.” I said with obvious forced politeness. I nodded down at his perfectly white sneakers. “You might wanna watch where you stick those feet, Nick,” I added. “Down here,” —I tossed my hair a little— “We never wear city sneakers.” I waited for him to become self-conscious.

“Oh,” Nick said, laughing a little. “No worries. I have hiking boots in the trunk—so I’m ready for whatever you guys throw at me.”

I could feel my jaw tighten slightly. He wasn’t intimidated by me—at all.

Leo appeared from the barn again. I hadn’t even realized that he’d been gone. “Jamie, chill.” He chuckled. “Let Nick get those shoes dirty if he wants to. It’s not your business. Anyways…” He threw three heavy hiking packs on the grass. “I wanna hike up the ridge and make a campfire for dinner.”

“Right now?” Nick asked, raising his eyebrows.

I snatched my pack off the grass. I had been waiting for this hike the entire day. “Sure.” I snickered. “You want to comb your hair or something?”

Nick just chuckled. “Never mind. Sounds like an adventure, Leo. Lead the way!”

…

By the time we hit the halfway point, the trail got pretty steep next to a cliff. Patches of clay and tree roots made this part of the trail extra dangerous. Leo was a few yards ahead of us, totally ignoring the tension behind him.

“Watch your step here,” He called over his shoulder. “Did you see the sign back at the beginning of the trail? It said, ‘Hazardous trail, do not enter.”

“Wait—” Nick muttered. “You mean, this isn’t your own backyard? Is this government property?”

“Sure,” I answered easily. “I’ve been climbing this ridge since four. The government doesn’t care.” I glanced backwards and saw a troubled look on Nick’s face. I couldn’t help but say in a sweet voice, “Don’t worry, we tough ones will get you through.”

Nick looked up sharply, catching my gaze, not saying anything. This was my chance. I stepped up on the dangerous ledge and quickly walked across, skillfully keeping my balance. Turning, I folded my arms, ready to watch Nick cross it.

“You should probably take the longer path around,” I said, making sure he could hear the cockiness in my voice. “It’s a little tricky for city folk. I don’t wanna spend the rest of the evening trying to save you from the cliff.”

Nick stopped at the bottom of the ledge, and as he looked at me, his face changed. For the very first time, the nice, easy-going look left his eyes. He looked at my folded arms. He looked at the smirk on my face. He finally got the point I was trying to make this entire hike. He finally knew I wasn’t just being a tough country girl—I actually thought he was pretty dumb. His jaw tightened, and his eyes grew cold. The nice guy was gone, replaced by a quiet, mutual dislike.

“I can handle a little cliff, Jamie,” he said coldly.

“Sure,” I smiled calmly. “Prove it.”

“Watch me.” He muttered. Stepping onto the ledge, he kept his eyes locked on mine instead of watching his step. He wanted to show that he wasn’t an invalid. But just then, his boot hit a patch of slippery clay. Before any of us could react, his boot slid out from under him, and he braced himself as he lost his balance. The heavy pack pulled him down, and he slid sideways off the cliff, tumbling through the bushes and landing hard in a ditch at least six feet below.

“Nick!” Leo shouted, whirling on his heel.

The woods went completely quiet, except for the sound of gravel and dirt dropping down the cliff.

…

Nick wasn’t physically hurt, but anyone could see from his face that his feelings were hurt. As we pressed forward, his blindingly white t-shirt looked like a camouflage rag, and there was a nasty scratch on his arm.

By the time we reached the summit, the silence between us was louder than the howling wind at the peak.

Leo dropped his pack near the stone fire pit by an outcrop. “Alright," he said. “I and Jamie will gather some firewood, and Nick, do you think you can clear the fire pit?”

Nick gave a barely noticeable nod and slowly got down to start cleaning.

“What is wrong with you today?” Leo hissed the second Nick was out of earshot, shoving a pile of dry branches into my arms. “You pushed him onto the ledge on purpose. He could’ve broken his neck!”

“He’s fine.” I replied grudgingly, avoiding Leo’s gaze. “He just wanted to prove how tough he is.”

“He was trying to be nice to you!” Leo replied, his voice sharper than I ever heard before. “Grow up!”

We headed back to the firepit in the dusk, and I dumped the branches in.

When I saw Nick pull his small, silver lighter out, I sat on a log across him, watching his every move.

“You want some help with that, city boy?” I asked, smirking. “The wind is picking up… and only real country folks can start a fire in this weather.”

Nick didn’t look up, but quickly flicked the lighter. The flame danced, caught the edge of a dry leaf, and died as a sharp gust of wind blew it out.

I let out a soft, mocking laugh.

Nick suddenly stopped. He slowly lowered his hands to let the lighter rest on his knee. “You know, Jamie,” he said, his voice calm, quiet, and cold. “I came out here because Leo said you were chill. That you wouldn’t care if I was from the city. I thought maybe I was imagining things. But now I get it. You’re just plain mean.”

My eyelid twitched, and the humor drained out of my face.

“I’ve spent the last three hours trying to be a good sport while you tried to embarrass me every chance you got.” Nick added, leaning forward. “If you got a real problem with me, tell it straight to my face instead of hiding behind a tractor and trail.”

Leo froze, looking back and forth between us.

The dark fire pit sat between us, but the air felt like it was about to explode.

My mouth opened to fire back, my face burning with defensiveness and shock. But before a single word came out, a heavy, dragging noise broke the silence from the bushes behind us.

Crunch, crunch.

It sounded like boots dragging through dry leaves. Heavy, uneven footsteps.

The crunch of leaves stopped just outside the firelight. We all froze, staring blindly into the dark. Leo reached for the knife hanging on his belt. A man stepped into the flickering orange glow. He was wearing a tattered camo vest and carried a heavy, double-barreled shotgun. His wide, glassy eyes darted frantically between us.

“They’re coming.” The old man muttered, his voice raspy and shaking. “They’ll see you. Take you away.”

Clearly, this old man was out of his mind.

“Um…” I bravely raised my voice. “We just wanna cook dinner over the fire. We’re not bothering anyone.”

Leo elbowed me, whispering, “Shhh! He totally lost it. We need to leave. Right away.”

“They’re coming. Too many for you to handle.” The old man croaked. Stepping forward, he raised his shotgun. “Hands up. All of you. Move away from the firepit. Now!”

My heart hammered against my ribs. I glanced at Leo, who gave a tight, barely visible nod. Rising slowly, we backed into the shadows with our hands raised. The old man prodded Nick’s shoulder with the gun.

“Single file. Noise, they’ll get you.”

We stumbled for at least thirty agonizing minutes— farther and farther from the place I was familiar with. If I slowed down, the barrel of the shotgun would push me forward again.

“Where is he taking us?” I hissed to Nick, who was right ahead of me. The response was a cold prod in my shoulder.

“No talking.” The old man snapped.

Finally, we reached a concrete structure jutting out of a hillside. “Quick!” The old man barked, unlocking the door with a key and pushing us in. The hallway led into a dark, descending stairwell. The air tasted metallic and chemical, and the deeper we went, the harder my heart pounded. At the end of the hall sat a massive steel blast door—the kind I saw in movies of underground bunkers. There was a sign hanging on it with faded hazard symbols.

All of a sudden, the old man stopped. “Shet!” He snapped.

In the distance, we could hear voices. A split second later, he rushed towards us, opening a random door and shoving me inside. Pointing his shotgun at the two guys, he forced them in after me.

“Quiet.” He said, dropping his voice to a whisper. “Or they’ll find you.”

He slammed the door shut, the bolt clicking into place.

We were locked in.

“Hey, let us out!” I wailed, throwing my shoulder against the door.

“Save your voice, Jamie.” Nick said in a low voice. “That won’t work.”

I turned defiantly to him. “How would you know?” I retorted. Nick looked back at me evenly. “I’ve been kidnapped before.” He answered. “Down in the city. Instead of panicking, you have to think things through and find a simple way to escape.”

I shrugged, knowing he was right. The room was almost pitch-black, except for a bit of light filtering through the cracks in the door. “There’s no windows. How could we escape?” Nick turned his phone flashlight on and shone the beam around the room. I caught sight of a desk in the corner, and without hesitation, sprinted over. Yanking open a drawer, I found a yellow folder marked as ‘TOP SECRET’.

“Guys, guys!!!” I gasped. “Come look!”

Leo and Nick crowded around me as I carefully opened the flap and pulled out a sheet of paper from inside.

“‘Metro II Missile Silo’,” I read aloud. “‘Decommissioned in 1999. Code Name: Mission Fat Kid. Radiation leak detected six days ago. Interior breach pending’.”

“Um—” Leo’s voice cracked. “Radiation leak? We’re breathing this right now?”

“Look at this.” I continued, my heart racing. “It’s from Washington DC. ‘Complete containment and cleanup required in the next week with zero public interference. Any unauthorized witnesses are to be detained under national security procedure’.”

“That old guy.” Nick muttered, his jaw tightening. “He wasn’t a lunatic. He’s the site watchman. He’s keeping us here so we don’t tell locals about what’s going on in their own backyard.”

Suddenly, a loud siren began to wail outside the door. I could see red lights flashing through the small slit in the doorframe, casting a bloody glow over the room. Then, through a loudspeaker, we heard a sharp voice command, “Radiation levels— critical. The bunker will be sealed in 60 seconds. Evacuate immediately.”

“The cleanup failed.” Leo yelled above the noise. “We’re gonna be sealed in here alive!”

“Stop yelling all over the place, Leo,” I said, my breathing ragged with panic.

“Step back, both of you.” Nick muttered. Turning on his phone light, he handed it to Leo. “I got it, I got it.” Leo stammered, grabbing the phone. Nick jammed his pocketknife into the manual latch above the lock.

“Jamie.” He said, his voice tense. “Push the desk leg in under the door when I lift. Leo, you push.”

“I was way ahead of you.” I said, managing a bit of sarcasm through my panic. I jammed the leg in, and right away, heard the pins crack loudly. “Push, Leo!” Nick commanded. As Leo threw his shoulder into the heavy iron door, I dropped the leg, grabbed the handle, and helped shove the door wide.

“Run! Go! GO!” I yelled.

I bolted up the exit stairs into the cool night air, Leo and Nick right behind. Then my heart almost stopped beating. A searchlight cut through the dark, pinning us.

“Federal agents. Freeze!” A National Security guard shouted, rifle pointed directly at me. “Hands on your heads!”

I stepped forward bravely, staring down the barrel. “Are you blind?” I snapped. “The ridge is about to blow up, and you’re trying to arrest us for ‘knowing about it’!”

“Get down!” the guard barked angrily. Nick stepped up beside me.

“If you waste time arresting us, we’re all dead. Is the salary worth dying for?”

The guard hesitated, panic flicking across his face. But before he could decide, a dark figure darted out of the bunker. It was the old man.

“Leave them alone!” He snapped. “We’re all gonna be dead soon enough if we waste time!” He closed the heavy iron door after himself, locking it securely. “East opening, sealed.” He said into a radio. Then, he turned to us. “Get down! Brace yourselves in case of explosion!” He yelled.

All of us—including the National Security guard—threw ourselves down on the cold ground as an underground roar shook the ground. I wasn’t sure what was going on down there—all I knew was that we were alive and safe.

Silence fell.

I slowly got to my feet. “We actually made it.” I breathed. “Is everyone alive?” Nick looked at me, his face serious.

Through this terrifying experience, we had somehow quit caring who was tougher—who could hike the ridge faster—all of the stuff that somehow seemed childish now.

“Good work back there.” He said clearly, a look of respect on his face.

“You too.” I replied, letting out a long breath, the tension leaving my shoulders.

Leo got up, giving a dazed grin. “I gotta be losing it.” He said, rubbing the grime off of his forehead. “Did I just hear you guys agree on something?”

Neither of us answered, but as we got up to make the hike home, I knew the war was over.

…