Getting On Nerves

I got done cleaning all my guns at the hotel room, and I then proceed to go to Walmart to get a few extra outdoor items along with the things I had brought from home in case I could no longer stay in a hotel room and had to do a little camping. I picked up about 10 of the 5 gallon propane containers, 2 big 10 gallon gasoline containers, a big bottle of Jack Daniels, and some other odds and ends to keep me sane if I had to wait for him, after all, he did have a reputation for taking his time to prepare and plan for whatever he was about to do. Unless he was setting a trap for me, he really got shit moving when the ball was in his court. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't this time so I was prepared to wait. I stopped at a gas station to fill up my tank, and the 10-gallon gasoline drums I'd just bought. Once I was done I headed up to set up and wait. I arrived around 11 PM.

I told Mike to meet me out at Red Rock in 2 days from when I left him the note. I figured he was going to take the day in between to check out the place, for advantages an disadvantages, cover, terrain, and which spots would offer the greatest advantage over the other i.e. high ground with lots of covers. I had already done this the week before, and I luckily have spent my fair share of time in the area hiking along, just to get out of the city even it was just for a moment. You'd be surprised at how much more you take in when you hike alone and don't have any distractions. I knew this particular area well, almost like the back of my hand. Mike didn't so I had a few ideas on where to lay a trap for him if he decided to come the next day and do some scouting. I knew he would be looking for good ambush areas, somewhere I wouldn't expect and where he would have an extreme tactical advantage. There was an area about 2 miles in from where the paved road turns into dirt, big boulders surround the road, along with tons of wild trees and bushes. Monsoon season was just coming to an end so the vegetation was nice and thick providing lots of sight coverage. I was planning on parking my car right after this area in order to provide the illusion that that's where I would ambush him, however there's a big overhanging plateau formation way in the distance, it had 3 great perch areas that looked over this entire stretch of road for about a mile and a half in each direction. This was the best chance I had, and I needed to take it.

I arrived at around 11 PM and parked my car way off the dirt road and out of the line of sight from people who would be driving on it. I packed up all my gear I would need for the night and started the trek up to the area I chose to watch from. I only brought 2 of my guns, my 9mm just in case it's always good to have back up, and my baby that was a little hungry to do some hunting, the Barret 50 cal. I finally trekked up to the plateau and got the rifle set up for a good shot of incoming traffic. It was around midnight at this point and I figured I'd just relax with some jack and some shitty easy cook meals for a bit. I had no internet or phone service, so it was good old fashion books and a few good comics to keep me entertained. I had other stuff back in the car but I was content for the night. Around 2:30 to 3 have I heard a car coming down the dirt road toward me. I was a little curious as no one is usually out here at this time of night. I figured it was a park ranger or some love crazy kids that just wanted to be alone. Wasn't worried about either as I had hidden the car extremely well, and didn't have any electronics or any other things that would alert people to looking up in my direction. I watched as the car got closer and closer to the area I was planning on leaving the car for Mike to see. The car, a blue Toyota RAV IV had rental stickers on the sides of the windows which made me think it was some tourists enjoying the desert at night. But then once I started thinking about it, someone who doesn't know the area, especially while traveling at night wouldn't even leave the Scenic Route roundabout, let alone come to some random off trail in the middle of bum fuck Egypt. It dawned on me that Mike probably had to rent a car as I... well blew his up. Oops. I waited for a minute and after being stopped at the area for a minute, someone got out of the car. And holy shit it was Mike. He had a fucking big ass bulletproof jacket on, along with some huge assault rifle. It looked like an AR-15 but way more decked out and more like something fucking Rambo would mow people in the rainforest down with. I waited for him to drop his guard a look around a bit and then I took a shot. Missed by a bit. Holy shit how dumb could I be I didn't reset the scope after cleaning the gun. Fucking details man. So I went to another perch point and reset the scope, and then I added a few other things into the equation like distance and angle, and everything checked out. Mike was behind a boulder that was blocking my view from where I had first shot at him, but this new perch was just to the side of it. He slowly inched his way into my scope and lined up a second shot. Boom, holy fuck this gun sounds beautiful. The bullet drop was a bit more than I anticipated so I hit him in his knee. The bullet blew his fucking leg completely off his body from the knee down. I shot at the gun 3 times to disable it and empty my clip. I made my way down to him and he was looking at me with a shocked look like how the fuck did you hit my leg. I put a tourniquet on his leg, but of course, searched him for weapons first. He still had that original 9mm with the suppressor on hehe first shot at me with. Memories man. I then shot him up with an epi pen I always kept in my first aid kit to keep him alive for a bit longer. A bit cruel, yes but I didn't want it to end just yet, I had other things for him to see. I dragged him over to his car and put him in the front seat so I could watch him. I went over to him with the bottle of jack and asked if he wanted a last drink. He sure took that fucking opportunity up that's for damn sure. I loaded all of the propane tanks into the back along with both of the gasoline containers. We drove for about 45 minutes, him barely awake, but still fully conscious, and really enjoying the jack. We got up a little way on the back HWY to Mt. Charleston and eventually got to a good straight away with a sharp turn at the end, with nothing but a little guard rail in between the road and about a 1300 ft drop. I found a good sized rock on the side of the road an started to pour the gas all over the inside of the vehicle. All Mike did was close his eyes and wait. When I was done an about to launch it, I went up to the door and asked him a simple question, "You want it fast and quick, or long and horrible?" He looked at me with a smile and held up the nearly empty Jack Daniels bottle. Fast, but let me finish this first. He chugged the rest of it and said something I'll never forget, "I definitely don't want to die just yet, but you sure set up one hell of a fucking game for yourself." He knew I had put a hit on myself right after I left him that very first note in my apartment that said Tag, you're it! He looked up forward out the windshield to the sky and said, "Do it, make it quick and clean, and light this fuckin thing and get the fuck out of the area." Until the very end, he was a damn good sport about it, if the tables would have been turned I don't think I would have been so nice about it. Boom, in one temple out the other. I set the gas on the fire in the back first and placed the car in drive. I then let it fall on to the gas pedal, and the car took off. It strayed to the right a bit, but it was going pretty damn fast by the time it hit the edge. I was walking for about 5 or 6 minutes before the propane tanks exploded. They can handle a bit of heat I guess. They went off one after another, and the last 4 or 5 of em all went off at once. I got off the high ways and started walking the trail back to my area. And that's all how this should have ended, but I'm sorry to say that it hasn't.

Mike and I met for the last time at Red Rock Canyon about 6 days ago, and ever since then, some really weird shit has been going on. I really don't know for sure if they're all connected, it's obvious that some of these occurrences do, and the pieces that are fitting together are constantly leading back to one thing: The organization I originally hired. But my mind is trying to make everything that has happened to me from the past 6 days all of them fit together. I fear I'll miss something if I don't make them fit, something that would end up saving my life possible. In the end, I'm just mashing up all of my experiences and clues I've gathered in the past 6 days, trying to find some sort of picture of the game they're playing with me. All I know is ever since Mike and I finished our game of tag, my life has gotten turned completely upside down. Enemies are everywhere, and worst yet I don't even know who they are, what they look like, and what they want from me. I can't trust anybody except for people I knew before I started this game, and in a city with this many people, I don't have a whole lot of options.

First off for the past 6 days, I've been having massive migraine headaches, it literally feels like there's an ice pick slamming into different parts of my brain with each pulse of my heart. I got regular light headaches every so often as any other person does, they were nothing some Advil couldn't fix. These are different, they're happening every fucking day, multiple times a day and nothing I take gets rid of them I have to wait for them to pass which takes a few hours. I can barely stand when they happen, and light aggravates them, I even have my laptop screen on its lowest light setting to minimize this.

Secondly 3 days ago I was waiting at a light intersection in Henderson (a city connected to Las Vegas on the Southside). The left turn light turned green, but the other lights for people that want to go through the intersection were still red, so I remained stopped, waiting patiently with no other cars in front of me. The first car turning left started through the intersection, then out of nowhere a car going at least 60 to 70 MPH barrels through and t-bones the car. The car that was t-boned while turning spun a few times and ended up on the other side of the intersection, finally stopping on the corner of the sidewalk, to the left from my position; while the other car that sped through the light barely made it through the intersection coming to a grinding halt as its engine dropped and the front end completely caved in. Everyone slammed on their brakes and the intersection was pretty much wide open so I hit the gas and drove through and parked my car in front of her, with my right side wheels up on the curb. I jumped out of my car and ran to hers praying she was okay and attempted to open her driver's side door but it was also caved in where the other car had impacted so the door lock was busted to shit from the looks of it. I ran to the passenger side and unlocked the door through the broken window, seeing the unconscious woman strapped into what looked like a metal death box. I had an unbelievable sense of recognition come over me, I knew I had seen her before but I had no idea where; like walking past someone that you've seen shooing at your favorite grocery store, or recognizing someone that jogs around your block morning, only this time your both standing in line to buy movie tickets. You recognize them and you know you've seen them around somewhere, but you don't know exactly where. I quickly pushed the thought out of my brain in order to focus. I tried getting her out of her seat but I couldn't access the belt buckle latch attached to the seat as it was completely encased by the caving-in driver's side door. I searched my pockets frantically for my pocket knife and cut through the belt. As soon as that was done I picked her up as carefully as I could and set her down on the curb just outside the passenger side of the car. Adrenaline is quite an amazing chemical when it fully kicks in and flows through your body, she felt like she only weighed 30 pounds when I picked her up. As I was laying her down on the sidewalk I saw a little chunk of metal sticking out of her thigh through her tight jeans. It was protruding out about three inches, but I had no idea how far it extended into her thigh. I took off my belt, it's funny I actually referred to it as my lucky belt ever since I got away while running from the cops drunk in college and because of all the other ridiculous situations I've gotten out of while wearing it. It's stretchy with no designated loops so it can fit around anything as small as a stop sign post, to something as big as the fattest contestant of the season premiere of 'The Biggest Loser'. I sipped it under her leg and pulled it as tightly as I could a couple inches above where the metal was sticking out. Right as I did that she opened her eyes very slightly and looked at me, then after a few seconds she closed them as she blacked out again. I kept my fingers on her neck to feel her pulse and was there, faint, but it was there. I lifted up her leg really quickly to see around red stain as a pool of blood started gathering underneath her thigh, trapped there due to her tight skinny jeans. Every 30 seconds or so I checked and thankfully it wasn't getting much bigger. Looking back it seemed like time itself was going so slow as I got her out of the car and tended to her injuries, I completely blocked out the world around me. As soon as I knew she wasn't going to bleed out, I heard the faint sound of sirens in the distance. Reality snapped back as I looked around to survey the scene. Most people were just standing around on the opposite side of the street from where I was, some on their phone presumably to 911, and others just shocked at the accident they had just witnessed. I looked over to see two people pulling the man who ran the red light out through his window, his car about 2/3rds the length it used to be. Even a bit of the front doors of the car was warped a bit which explained why they couldn't get them open. It maybe took the paramedics 4 or 5 minutes to get to the scene, but it felt like an eternity. Two ambulances came flying to our location, one went and parked by the other man's car, and one parked in front of mine. I checked her pulse one more time and it was still there, faint and it damn sure seemed to be clinging to life, but never the less it was there. As soon as he took her vitals and gave her a quick look over he asked me for a quick summary of what had happened. I explained and asked if she was going to make it and be okay. To my relief, he said yes, and explained she might not have made it if it wasn't thanks to you putting the Mr. Lucky belt, and the fact that I had left the object in her leg. I learned as a young kid in boy scouts never to remove an object that was stuck in a person, as it can lead to even more blood loss, and then very quickly, death; and proper tourniquet placement on the arms and legs to prevent a person from bleeding out. I chuckled a bit inside, who would of fucking imagined that I would ever put any of the stuff I learned for my first-aid badge to use in the real world. He asked if I wanted my belt back, and I told him, no, and to attach a note to it that explained that it was her lucky belt now and that it saved her life. We laughed for a quick second as he agreed and as I turned around a police officer was approaching me. I'm not too big of a fan of cops, but I figured I was not in any sort of trouble as I had just helped secure the victim of the accident. He asked me if I could give a statement as to what happened, and I agreed. He turned around and asked me to follow him to his car to get the paperwork, and I saw the other man sitting up on a stretcher the other EMT's pulled out, He was yelling and slurring his words, and acting as any obliterated person would after they had just caused that bad of an accident. I kept looking at him and he seemed familiar as well. I didn't recognize him as well as I did the woman I'd helped, but I had defiantly seen him before. I heard him shout in a drunken manor at the EMT "My breaks didn't stop, huh brake pedal didn't duueee nothing and me students shtapppp!" We continued to the cop car and I gave him my statement. As we were finishing up another cop came up to the side of him chuckling a bit and said, "The guy's BAC was .21 according to the Breathalyzer. We also found a half-empty beer can over on the passenger side door. He's saying something about his breaks not working but he's so fucked up he probably was hitting the gas pedal instead." The officer taking my statement nodded and the other cop walked off back to the scene as the tow trucks had just arrived. The officer who was taking my statement turned and put the pad and pen on the seat of his squad car. "We're done here," he said in a serious tone, and I turned to walk away. I told a few steps away and I heard him say "Oh, by the way...", "Yeah?", I asked, "I heard you saved that woman's life by slowing the bleeding down until we got here." I turned around and said, "I don't think I saved her by any means, I was just trying to give her as much time as she could get until the paramedics arrived." I was turned around and started walking away and heard him say in the quiet deep voice, "Hmm, seems like you did the opposite for the other guy who flew off the mountain pass on the other side of Mt. Charleston a few nights ago. Perfect place to go off too must have been at least 1000 ft plunge or more." I stopped dead in my tracks, all the blood that was in my face fled, replaced with a substance that felt cooler than liquid nitrogen. Frozen there, and without turning back around to face him, "E-excuse me?", I asked, my very soul not wanting to hear his answer because I knew I was completely fucked. "Oh nothin', you save one life, and end another; I think that God would call that even, don't ya think?" He said, his voice getting more and more cheerful after each syllable left his mouth, like a proud hunter knowing his prey was cornered with no possible way to escape. Feeling like I was frozen in a block of ice, having nowhere to go, I replied, "I can't really say... God hasn't said anything to me yet, but I'll let ya know when he does." As I spoke I literally felt like a dead man walking like this man behind me was taking the very energy of my soul as he stared at me. He started laughing, "Well who knows you may get that chance sooner than you think..." he said, and then his voice suddenly going back to the previous deep monotone darkness it was before, "...but who am I to say that?" I heard him turn around and take a few steps into his cop car, and shut the door behind him. I was just standing there frozen until I heard the car door shut, causing the regular world to return as I slowly walked back to my car.