14 year old Jared
Tate zoomed down the mountain ski slope on his black snowboard. Snow and ice sprayed out behind him. He was rapidly approaching the ski outpost
for the visitors from the Vale Valley Ski Resort. He looked back and saw his pursuer right
behind him on his own snowboard. He
tried to pick up speed but to no avail.
The black guy pulled up beside him and grunted, “You’re going
down.” “Not today,” replied Jared and
shoved the other guy into a snow drift.
Jared flew into the outpost, slid to a stop, raised his fist and
shouted, “Whoo hoo!” The black pursuer
appeared beside him covered in snow.
“You pushed me down and now I have
snow in my undies, Jared,” Grant joked.
“You were in my way,” the boy teased
back. Grant was Jared’s best friend and
next door neighbor. “Well we should probably go back to
town and get dry,” he suggested.
“Not until Thomas gets down
here. He’s trying to master the art of
skiing, but it’s not happening.” Jared
replied with a smirk.
“Is that him?” asked Grant. Down the slope came a skier who looked like
he was break dancing rather than skiing.
“That’s my cousin all right,” the
boy sighed. He suddenly tripped, his
skis caught in the snow and he ended up kissing the ground. A few minutes later, when he arrived at the
bottom, he was covered in so much snow that he could have been the abominable
snowman. Thomas was 17 years old and was
spending Christmas break with his grandfather and cousin, Jared.
On the way home in Thomas’s Camaro,
Jared received a call from his genius friend, Matt. “Hey, Jared.
Are you up at the slopes?”
“We’re on our way back. Why?”
“Well, I’m watching the news and I
was making sure you weren’t hurt in the accident.”
“What accident?”
“A ski lift just fell. I just wanted to make sure you weren’t on
it.”
“I’ll talk to you when we get
back. Wait for us at my house.”
“Okay, bye.” Jared hung up. “Hey, Thomas, go back. There was an accident with a ski lift. Let’s check it out.”
“Jared,” Thomas replied, “I’m
freezing and I just want to go home.”
“I’ll buy you a box of donuts from
Krispy Kreme,” Jared bargained.
“Deal!” Thomas immediately responded.
Back at the outpost a large crowd
surrounded the sight of the accident where the police were taping the area
off. A news reporter was explaining what
had happened to the viewers, “…the seat just fell off. It crashed into the snow and if the
passengers hadn’t fallen out none would be alive today. After this commercial break we’ll be
interviewing the passengers…” Just then
a sudden movement caught Jared’s attention.
A Middle Eastern looking man with a tangled mess of black hair that fell
to his shoulders was standing under a tree to Jared’s right. He wore a black winter coat and pants and a
satisfied smile on his face. He was
staring down at a wrench in his hand, but when he looked up Jared saw that one
eye was emerald green and the other…was red.
_______________________________________
Judas Groat looked at the parcel of
chaos he had just delivered to all the people in front of him. It was only a ski lift this time, but this
was only the beginning. He turned away
from the crowd, whipped out his smart phone, and punched in a number. “Part 1 is complete,” Judas reported,
“Prepare to commence Part 2. In 10
minutes detonate the bomb to start the avalanche.” He hung up.
Judas suddenly heard a sound behind him.
Judas spun around and saw a sandy haired boy fleeing into the throng of
people. It was apparent that the kid had
heard the orders given over the phone.
The boy would pay…with his life.
_______________________________________
“The ski lift was just Part 1 of the
plan,” Jared told Grant and Thomas, “He… what was that?” They listened and heard a faint rumbling. They looked up and saw a wall of snow
descending upon a distant ski slope.
They glanced at each other eyes wide.
Part 2.
_______________________________________
Jared and his buddies were gathered
together at his house in the game room.
Jared lived with his Grandpa, who had become rich through his wise
choices in the stock market. The house
and the adjoining 93 acres had cost $4,500,000 without the furniture and
decorations. Down the street were
similar houses. In the game room there
were many classic arcade style games along with an Xbox, Play Station 3,
hand-held gaming devices, and a few war simulation games. Matt was attempting to beat Pac Man, Grant
was toying with a 3DS, and Thomas was rocking a simulator. All the while Jared was trying to think of
how to stop the ski resort saboteur with the stoplight eyes.
“Guys, we can’t let this creep
terrorize this town without a fight,” Jared said hoping, for some support. “Call the police. They’ll handle it,” Matt suggested.
“Next level,” yelped Thomas.
“This game is so cool,” Grant
squealed.
Jared explained, “The police would
never take us seriously.”
“Besides, the ski slopes are closed
for the rest of the weekend,” put in Grant with a joking smile.
“But how would we find the man you
told us about?” asked Matt.
Jared smiled. “You know those long range mini tracking
devices you wanted us to test?”
“Yeah.”
“Well I was able to toss one onto
our mystery man. Do you have the
transmitter?”
Yeah, right here in my backpack”,
responded Matt, “He’s half a mile east of here.
He’s at the…at the… achoo!”
“Gesundheit,” said Thomas who was
now stuffing his face with his payment pastries.
“Sorry,” apologized Matt, “he’s at
the big house for sale, down the road.”
“I’ll go get my Taser,” said Grant
with a look of pure joy on his face, “even if we die before we get to the front
door, better safe than sorry!”
_______________________________________
Judas Groat was at his hideout
brooding about his mistake of letting someone hear his plans. The boy had probably told the police,
compromising the whole operation. “If I
ever find that meddling kid he’ll never know what hit him.”
The intercom buzzed, “Mr. Groat?”
“Yes, Dosh?”
“The bombs are ready. When you give the word the Vale Valley ski
resort will be off the map.”
“Very good, Dosh. Go check on security. Make sure nobody gets in. And if you see a boy with sandy hair, blow
his head off for me.”
_______________________________________
“So what’s our plan?” asked Matt, “I
mean how are four kids with one Taser and a few electronic gizmos going to stop
a gang of terrorists?”
“If we can take their leader captive
we can stop whatever Part 3 is and call the police,” replied Jared. “Why
not just call them now?” Matt persisted.
“Because all they would do is yell
at the people inside and invite them to put a bullet in their heads.” “But how are we gonna get in?” Thomas asked.
Grant smiled, “Leave that to me.”
_______________________________________
“Hello, sir, I’m here to offer you
some chips,” Grant said. He was standing
at the door of the terrorists’ house.
“Chips? How much?” asked the man at the door.
“They’re free” replied Grant,
holding up the cylindrical container of chips.
“They must be moldy or
somethin’. Lemme’ see em’.” The man who had only one eye and a “My name
is Butch” name tag on snatched the container of chips from Grant. He ripped off the lid and was hit in the face
by a spring propelled snake. While he
was stunned, Grant whipped out his Taser and shocked the living daylights out
of him. Jared, Thomas, and Matt joined
him at the front door. On the way
through the house they found a kitchen, where they armed themselves with frying
pans and carving knives. They moved
quickly through the hallways, knocking out or tasing anyone who got in their
way. Using Matt’s tracking device the
boys were able to find their way to the operations central (master bedroom) in
the house. Inside they saw the
mysterious terrorist leader focusing on whatever was on his iPad screen. “On three we rush in and capture him”,
whispered Jared. “1…2…3!” The boys rushed in, surrounded the man, and
raised their frying pans and Taser.
“You’re terribly rude for barging in,”
said terrorist dude glaring at them with his green eye and still looking at his
screen with the red. “I’m in the middle
of defeating an Angry Birds level.”
Confused, the boys glanced at each other nervously. Jared was beginning to think he’d been a
little too impulsive when making this decision.
“We’re here to make a citizen’s
arrest and take you to the police”, Thomas declared to the man.
“Arrest me? Well, how will you do that when you
yourselves are captured?” Jared looked
behind him and found himself staring down the barrel of a shotgun. “Simple really, you don’t. So you’re the brat that heard me giving one of
my men orders over the phone,” the man said to Jared. “Oh, how rude of me not to introduce
myself. My name is Judas. Judas Groat.
I’m here in this ugly little city to kill hundreds of people that waste
their time sliding on snow using flat slabs of fire kindling. After we’re done here we’ll be going to
sabotage the Kentucky Derby and then we’ll attack the White House, where that
simpleton, O’Henry, thinks he’s running the country. With the US thrown into turmoil over their
president’s assassination it will be weak and open to attack. The U.S. will fall within the decade.”
Suspicious, Jared inquired, “Why are
you telling us this?”
“Because,” Judas answered, “you
won’t be alive much longer.” All of a
sudden there was a sound of sirens coming from the driveway.
“This is the police”, they heard
being said through a megaphone, “Don’t do anything dumb.” Then faintly, “Aw, there goes my coffee. Bad dog!
Hey, who gave the dog my doughnuts?”
Grant stifled a laugh.
Jared saw Matt look around
sheepishly, “Sorry. I called the police
as a backup plan.”
Judas growled, “Take care of these
kids, boys. Then come help me deal with
the nincompoops outside.” Then he
stomped out, red eye blazing.
“Now!” shouted Jared. Every one of the kids turned and inflicted
bodily harm on their guards. In about five
seconds terrorists were lying on the ground with cuts, indentations of frying
pans on their faces and prong marks from a Taser. The boys were feeling pretty proud of
themselves until they heard - Bang! Bang! Bang! – in rapid succession. It was the sound of guns being fired.
_______________________________________
Judas Groat was at the front balcony
doors. They had been glass but a few
bullets from some cops’ guns had fixed that.
The terrorist leader grabbed his sawed-off shotgun and blasted away at
the police who were cowering behind their cars.
All of a sudden a police car went up in flames. Apparently one of his minions, who were also
firing at the cops, had scored a hit to the car’s contents under the hood. There came a sound from behind him. He turned and saw the four kids he’d thought
were dead by then run past him. Judas
grabbed one of them, a scrawny kid with glasses, and pushed his gun against his
head. The terrorist dragged the kid, who
was flailing all his appendages and screaming for help, to the balcony. He bellowed, “Take another shot and I’ll put
a hole in this boy’s head.” The cops
held their fire. Still dragging the boy
he ran down to the garage where two identical black SUV’s were parked. Judas called his second-in-command, Dosh, on
his disposable phone and commanded him to meet him in the garage. When he arrived Judas barked at him, “Get in
one of the SUV’s, I’ll take the other.
Lose any pursuers and meet up in Littleton.”
“Yeah, boss,” replied Dosh, “But
what about the kid?”
“I’ll throw him into the woods
somewhere along the way.” The kid, who
was Matt, tried to yell for help, but Judas clamped a hand over his mouth. “Dosh, give me some duct tape. I’m gonna wrap this kid up so he can’t get in
the way.”
_______________________________________
While Judas Groat had been busy
taking Matt hostage, Jared, Thomas, and Grant had snuck downstairs. “We don’t have much time,” Jared
explained. “They’ll probably take a car
and drive off with Matt, while trying to lose the police. If we hide in the back, we can hi-jack the
care and turn Judas over to the police.”
“I can’t think of anything better,”
sighed Thomas. “Let’s do it.” The boys walked into the garage and they knew
they had a problem. There were two cars,
not one.
“Two of us are gonna have to take
one car, while one of us takes the other,” Grant decided.
“Grant, you go with Thomas. I’ll go alone,” stated Jared.
Thomas was quick to retort, “No,
Jared. Grandpa would never allow it and
I think it’s a bad idea.”
“It’s okay,” intervened Grant, “I’ll
just lend Jared my Taser.”
“Well hurry up,” Jared said
urgently, “’cause someone’s coming.”
Grant tossed his Taser to Jared.
They all climbed into the back of their decided car, and, as soon as the
doors shut, Judas Groat stormed in and the previously recorded events
occurred. After taping Matt’s hands
together behind his back, his feet at the ankles, and putting a piece over his
mouth, Judas shoved his hostage into Jared’s car and got into the driver’s
seat. Without bothering to open the
garage door, the terrorist leader drove straight out into the night leaving an
SUV sized hole in the door. A few cops were
thrown aside by Judas’ car with Dosh following close behind his own
vehicle. After recovering from the jolt
of blasting through the garage door Jared slowing raised Grant’s Taser above
the back seat, took aim, and squarely landed a hit to Judas’ arm. The terrorist screamed once and then plucked
the needle from his skin and threw it behind him. He turned, his red eye burning with
malevolence. “You’ll pay for that, you
little pest.” He drew a gun and began
firing shots without aiming, busting the back window. One rogue bullet continued flying ending up
embedded in Dosh’s shoulder in the other car. His car flew off the road and
stopped with a tree implanted in the hood.
Jared took another shot with the Taser, this time hitting Judas in the
neck, rendering him unconscious.
However, there was now a dilemma.
The terrorist leader’s foot was still heavily planted on the gas pedal,
while his hands were limp at his sides.
They were on the highway WITH NO DRIVER!
Jared scrambled into the front of the car, accidentally stepping on
Matt’s face in the process. “I hope
you’ve got your driver’s license,” Jared grunted to the unconscious Judas
Groat, “’cause I only got a permit.”
With that he yanked the wheel to the right, pulling them off the
road. But Judas’ foot was still firmly
fixed on the gas. Jared reached down
trying to take the man’s foot off the gas, while still trying to keep control
of the vehicle. “Here, hold this,” Jared
said to the unconscious man. He placed
Judas’ hands on the wheel, hoping they would stay in place. The boy quickly reached down and pulled the
man’s foot off the pedal. They had
survived.
“Mmff Ummff”, Matt grunted. He motioned impatiently for Jared to remove
the duct tape that kept him bound up. He
obliged. Matt whimpered as the duct tape
tugged at the few hairs that he had on his arms and legs. When it was time for the piece over his mouth
Jared asked his muted friend, “All right so how are we doing this? One – take it off fast, or two – take it off
slow and drawn out.” Matt hesitated and
then held up on of his newly freed hands and showed a “1”. “On three…Three!” The tape came off accompanied by an
“Ooooowwwww!”
“You OK?”
Matt answered with a groan.
“I’ll take that as a yes. Now we need to get our duct tape happy
terrorist buddy to the police.”
“Weeeoooooooo,” wailed a police car siren.
“That was fast”, said Jared,
impressed.
_______________________________________
Thirty minutes later the 4 boys and
all the terrorists were at the police station.
The boys were relaying their experiences, while the terrorists were
being questioned.
When they finally came out into the
lobby, Grant gloated at the terrorists, “Did you really expect to get away with
this? You really thought your evil plans
would prevail? It’s no wonder we stopped
you.”
“You think you’ve stopped me?” Judas
snarled at him, “You’ve stopped nothing.
I had my men plant bombs somewhere in this town. It will kill thousands of people in their
sleep tonight.”
“Boss,” asked the guy named Butch, “you
talkin’ about the bombs at the resort?”
“Quiet, you imbecile!” shouted the
terrorist.
“Officers,” announced the sheriff, “get
to the resort immediately. We’ve got
some bombs to defuse!” The sheriff
turned to thank the boys…but they were gone.
_______________________________________
Jared said, “Who knows how many bombs
are set? The police won’t be able to
deactivate them all.”
“If the bombs are connected,” Matt
stated nervously, “I might be able to stop them all.”
“We have no better ideas,” Thomas
decided, “Let’s try it!” They all piled
into Thomas’ Camaro and sped toward the resort. When they arrived they began
searching. Soon Grant found it near the
indoor pool. “Perfect,” exclaimed Matt,
“I’ll get to work!” After a few minutes
of working Matt became frustrated. “It’s
too well wired,” he complained.
“What does that do?” asked Grant and
pushed a button on the bomb.
“Grant”, the boy genius wailed as a
countdown appeared on the bomb’s tiny monitor, “you just started the
timer. We now have …thirty seconds until
it explodes!”
“Oh,” Grant replied awkwardly.
Suddenly Thomas jumped to his feet
and exclaimed worriedly, “Snap! I forgot to lock my car!” But in the instant he jumped up he had
accidentally kicked the bomb. It skidded
across the tile floor…and landed in the pool.
Glub-glub. The bomb began to
spark and crackle.
“We’re dead…” Jared saw that the water had somehow affected
the bomb and the timer had stopped. All four
boys stared at each other and then began whooping for joy. The villain’s attack on Vale Valley had been
thwarted.
Now that you've read this entire story I want to ask you what you think of it. Now I'm going to tell you something. I wrote this four years ago in eighth grade. Thanks for reading!
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