*authors note*
ALL CHARACTERS ENGAGED IN SEXUAL ACTIVITY ARE 18 YEARS OF AGE OR OLDER
I switched it up a little and put it in the first time category. Read on and you will find out why!
Thank you all for all your support and feedback. I hope you guys enjoy reading this stuff as much as I do writing it.
I have noticed that there's an element to this story that may have gone unnoticed. I've had a few people leave feedback claiming that this story took place some years ago, and that I modified it to have some modern aspects to it. That isn't true. This story is based off my life, not note for note, but most of the things that happen have happened to me in one way or another. In this modern world, with all this technology, there are still people who live like me and my friends do. Sure we have all the latest technology, but we also drive old trucks and use CB radios to communicate. Out in the sticks, so to say, there isn't great cell service so the radios can, and have, saved some lives. Mine included.
With that being said, I hope y'all enjoy chapter four. I apologize for the delay of chapter three, life sort of got in the way. I should be able to write more in the coming weeks so hopefully chapter four gets to you sooner. Happy reading!
*****
Ch. 4
"Hey, James, wake up." Ally hissed somewhat frantically.
"Hmmm? What's up?" James replied, still groggy from his lack of sleep.
"There's something outside. I don't know what it is."
"Stay put," he started, now wider awake after sensing the urgency in her voice. "I'll go check it out."
Climbing out of his sleeping bag, James threw on his boots, Carhartt, and grabbed the twelve gauge he always brought with him on these trips. They were camping in the middle of the woods in the middle of winter, so he assumed it wasn't a bear since they're all hibernating for the winter, but he grabbed the gun just in case.
As he stepped out of his tent, he saw Donny and Tyler had each crawled out of their own tents to investigate the sound as well. Giving each of the boys a nod, he clicked on his headlamp to give himself some light to see, since it was a cloudy night and the moonlight wasn't peeking through.
When he turned to look behind his tent to where the noise was coming from, he stopped dead in his tracks. It was a moose. He knew moose killed a lot of people each year, but he also knew it was mostly because they assumed the moose was harmless and were cautious. Just as James had stopped in his tracks, so did the moose, momentarily blinded by the light from James' head lamp.
Grunting, the moose turned toward James and started to move towards him. This wasn't his first encounter with an angry moose, but it didn't scare him any less. Aiming his shotgun to the sky, he let off a warning shot and a loud angry yell.
The noise from the gun and his fearless yell was enough to spook the moose into turning and charging away. James couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. It had all happened so fast. If he had made the wrong move, he could have been killed, or even worse, someone else could have been killed. With his heart beating fast and adrenaline pumping, he pushed another shell into the magazine tube to replace the one he spent and sat down by the barely smoldering fire.
He checked his watch and saw that it was now almost six in the morning, meaning they would all be awake in about an hour, ready to eat, break camp, and hit the trail. Knowing he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep, he stoked the fire for a minute and it finally roared back to life, providing him and Donny, who had decided to stay up with him, with a welcoming warmth.
"Yo," Donny whispered, breaking the silence. "I need some help man."
"Anything. You know that."
"Something's been off with Marybeth lately," he said, looking into the fire, showing no emotion.
"How you figure?" Said James, suddenly more curious as to what his friend had to say.
"I'm not sure. We just haven't been hanging out as much recently, and when we do, it's with the whole group, not just us."
"I've noticed. Have you tried talking to her about it?" James suggested sheepishly, knowing Donny hates talking about feelings to anyone, even Marybeth.
"Fuck no," he started, but before James could chime in, he added, "I probably should though. This isn't something small."
"That's the spirit." James said with a chuckle. "What do ya say we get some breakfast started for everyone?"
**
Four hundred something miles of sledding later, the crew rolled back into town and loaded their sleds onto the trailers. Each one of them sad the week had to come to an end, but happy they got to experience it once again. Once the sleds were loaded and strapped, the trucks warmed up, and trailers hooked up, the knuckleheads climbed up into their respective trucks to begin the journey home.
James and Ally were cruising along, this time not in the lead, barely 15 miles south of the bridge when he heard his CB go off.
"Yo somethin' ain't right here James." Bobby called out.
"Copy, what's the problem?"
"Eh, not sure, something sounds loose in the front end."
"Seem major?" James asked. He knew Bobby knew his truck so he figured he'd be able to tell if it was anything big.
Before Bobby could answer he saw the truck in front of him drop low and saw a wheel rolling away towards the shoulder. Sparks were flying everywhere.
"What the fuck was that?!" Bobby yelled frantically, already losing speed and veering towards the shoulder where his wheel just had gone.
"Ya lost your fuckin' wheel. Keep 'er steady and try to get to the shoulder before ya die out."
"Fuck! Copy, moving now."
"Y'all heard it, pull off onto the shoulder. Tyler and Donny pull ahead of him so we can sort of block him off from traffic."
"Roger."
"Roger."
"Well this is just great," James said to Ally with a laugh. "Luckily, we've got the same truck, and I've got all kinds of spare parts, especially for the front end. Hopefully we can fix it so we can hit the road."
"That would definitely help," Ally said, chuckling at her boyfriend. He always thought everything through.
Getting out of his truck and walking up to Bobby, who was already out and at the missing wheel, James couldn't help but laugh at the situation.
"What's funny?" Bobby shot at him, faking anger and failing to hide a laugh of his own.
"How'd ya manage to drop a wheel? A tranny or a driveshaft I can see, but a wheel? I haven't even done that!" James said, his laughter uncontrollable now.
By this time the rest of the group had made it to Bobby's truck, and Bobby set off to retrieve his runaway wheel. While he was doing that, James and Donny started to assess the situation.
It didn't take more than a second to see what caused the runaway wheel. The threading on Bobby's axle spline had busted, leaving nothing to hold the wheel and the hub assembly to the axle, thus causing the wheel to slip off. Lucky for Bobby, the ball joints pointed up and not down on his truck, because if they had pointed down, the truck dropping to the ground like that probably would have busted off the stem on the joint, creating a much larger problem. (I know most of you don't have any clue what any of that means, and I apologize.)
"Hey bud!" Donny called out as Bobby was approaching, rolling his wheel in front of him. "Figured out why yer fucked!"
"And why would that be?"
"Straight busted that axle spline in half bud," Donny replied, "unless we can find a parts store that's got that in stock, you're shit outta luck my man."
