The Bones in the Cactus
By 18lzytwner
Chapter 1
Arizona Desert, Saturday at 9:00 pm
Arizona State had just won its third straight football game and Billy Bob and his roommate David were going out to celebrate. The two drunken college boys headed out to a nearby portion of desert, not far from their off campus apartment, to shoot off some fireworks. Neither one could remember whose idea it was to bring the shotgun but so what if they blew up a few cacti.
"Help me get this steady," Billy Bob slurred as he almost tripped over his own feet. David grabbed the bottle rocket he'd brought from home in Pennsylvania and stuck it into the ground.
"How are we lighting it?" His buddy asked.
"Use the shotgun," Billy Bob chuckled.
"Won't it just explode then?" David wondered.
"You're right. I think I got a lighter in the truck," Billy Bob nodded slightly and hauled his two hundred and thirty pound frame to the cab of the two thousand and four pickup truck. There he fumbled around until he found what he was looking for in the glove box.
"Here," the bigger boy chucked the BIC lighter at David who caught it and proceeded to fall down. To this Billy just guffawed loudly for about ten minutes before his friend managed to get himself steady and light the lighter. Carefully as he could, David lit the bottle rocket and they enjoyed the moment before Billy shouted,
"Where are the M80's?"
"Check the cup holders!" His roommate shouted back. Sure enough there they were in the cup holders and that's when Billy had another brilliant idea.
"Why don't we stick the M80 into the cactus and shoot it with the shotgun?"
"Oooooooooooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhh, I like your thinking!" David smirked as his friend handed him two of the dangerous little bombs. He placed them so that they leaned against the cactus and essentially used the prickly spines to hold the target up before backing up about two feet.
"Dude you got to get further back. The prickly thing could fall on you," Billy stuttered. The real truth of it was that the shrapnel from the M80's and the shotgun shell would probably do more damage at that range than the skinny little cactus would. Following his friend's advice, David backed up about two more feet and pumped the shotgun.
"Fire in the hole!" He shouted before squeezing the trigger. His first shot missed completely which only caused Billy Bob to laugh so hard, he almost hurt himself. Re-aiming the shotgun, David fired once more. This time it was a direct hit and the cactus' base exploded and the prickly desert plant fell backwards. The explosion threw the idiots back toward their vehicle but all they did was laugh about it.
"That was awesome!" Billy howled.
"We got anymore of those things?" David asked.
"Yeah two more. Blow up that one," his roommate pointed to a cactus about the same distance away from the truck as the other one. David stumbled over to the cactus and set it up for destruction.
"Let me shoot it," Billy said and his friend handed him the weapon. Blinking a few times, Billy tried to steady himself. He couldn't and his first shot missed by a good fifteen feet.
"You're not sober enough," David told him.
"I is too," his roommate replied. The second shot was closer but now the weapon had to be reloaded.
"I only have one shell left. Let me shoot," David whined. Billy gave him a look and put the shell into the shotgun.
"I gots it," he said and he aimed the weapon. Pulling the trigger, the shot finally hit its mark and the cactus' base exploded. Both boys kept laughing and laughing until they heard the sirens in the distance.
"Shit! It's the cops! Let's go!" Quickly the two hopped back into their truck and fired it up. However as they turned it around to try to reach the road, two squad cars pulled up. The officers exited the vehicles with their weapons drawn.
"Get out of the truck!" One yelled. David and Billy did as they were told. Once they were cuffed and loaded into the back of one of the squad cars, both officers surveyed the damage.
"Drunken college boys," the elder officer, Rick Gerber, shook his head.
"Hey Rick, you'd better come take a look at this," the younger officer, Brian Elkhart, called. Gerber approached the younger officer expecting him to be pointing out what had happened when he already had a good idea. However what he got was something entirely different.
"Are you seeing what I'm seeing?" Brian asked.
"Yeah. You'd better call the coroner," Rick told the young deputy. Quickly Elkhart picked up his shoulder radio and called to the station.
"Dispatch this is Delta fourteen please come back,"
"Dispatch is receiving you Delta fourteen," came the reply.
"Dispatch, please send out the coroner to my location. We found something," Brian said.
"Coroner and backup en route, Delta fourteen," the dispatcher told him.
Brennan's Apartment, Sunday at 9:00 am
A knock on her door shook her out of her sleep and the forensic anthropologist looked at the clock. It had been a late night last night and she had been looking to have the day off. Booth had promised to swing by in the afternoon so they could spend the day together.
Another knock got her out of bed and she threw her bathrobe on over her shirt and boxers. Making her way down the hall, she called out,
"I'm coming,"
"I can't wait," the voice on the other side of the door was all too familiar.
"I thought you weren't coming over until later. I filed my report late last night," Brennan smiled as she opened the door.
"Unfortunately, this is a business call not a social one although I'm wishing it could be," he let out a low whistle as he saw she was wearing one of his t-shirts.
"What happened?" She asked as she let him in, closing the door behind him.
"There's a body out in Phoenix that needs your expertise. We're catching the next flight out," Booth told her.
"When did you get the call? They are two hours behind us," the forensic anthropologist wondered.
"Last night at midnight. The Phoenix field office has already contacted me and they've booked us a stay at one of the local hotels. The next flight leaves Dulles at noon," her partner smiled.
"I'll pack my bags. Does Cam know?" She asked as she headed back down the hall.
"Yup. She'll have the Lab ready for when you send the body back," he followed her down the hall.
"You're going to help me pack?" Brennan raised her right eyebrow.
"You know me. I'm always willing to help," Booth had a big grin on his face.
"Even if that packing leads to me taking a shower all by my lonesome?" She smirked.
"Oh you won't be by your lonesome," he leaned down and captured her lips in his.
To Be Continued...