02/20/2019
Scrog was watching from his hideout. He checked his watch. 30 seconds till blastoff. He was excited. No way they were getting out of this one. He was angry they even made it this far, but he had to give them credit for that. No matter, he thought, it was going to end here. And if they somehow managed to escape the mine, Scrog had one more surprise up his sleeve.
Ranger grabbed my hand and we sprinted as fast as we could out of the entrance to the mine. The countdown clock blurred as we ran past. I saw it hit 1 second and for a moment I thought, this is it. It all comes down to a second. Rex is about to be an orphan. Ranger jerked me to the left of the entrance, pushed me down, and threw himself on top of me just as the explosion rocketed through the camp, sending flying shards of rock everywhere. He covered my head with his hands to shield me from the debris. We lay there for what seemed like forever, trying to catch our breath.
Ranger rolled off me and looked me up and down. "Are you ok babe?" he asked, concern filling his eyes. "I'm ok," I said. I looked at Ranger. He had a cut over his left eyebrow and the side of his face was streaked with blood. He had superficial cuts on his arms, and I could see a gash near his ribcage. "You look terrible," I said. He ignored me, and we got to our feet. "Where is he?" Ranger asked Tank.
"We haven't seem him, but we are sweeping the area," Tank said. We found a car nearby so he's out there somewhere." "Probably watching the whole thing," Ranger said. "When I get my hands on him, he's going to wish he blew himself up in that explosion." I knew Ranger meant every word he said.
Scrog couldn't believe what he was seeing. They actually made it out? How the hell did they find him in time? He ran that route many times and could never come close to making it out that fast. He was on the verge of becoming completely unhinged as he gripped his hair with his fingers and clenched his teeth. Scrog couldn't lose this game, he had to come out on top. It was his destiny. He was born to be Ranger. Scrog pulled something out of his pocket and made his way down towards the camp.
We saw Julie coming up the hill with two Rangeman guys. Ranger gave me a puzzled look. "It's a long story," I said. "Julie?" Ranger said. "Hi," Julie said. "Are you ok?" she asked. "Yes," Ranger said, giving her a hug. "I hate that you were dragged into this. Your mother is going to kill me." "It's ok," Julie said, "I wanted to be here to help."
"Good to see you Julie," a voice said. We all turned, and there was Scrog, standing with something in his hand. 10 guns were immediately aimed at his head as he was surrounded by Ranger's men. "Ah ah ah, I would tell them to back off if I were you," Scrog said. "Tell me why I shouldn't snap your neck myself," Ranger said. Scrog ignored Ranger and turned to Julie and said "You're looking well, Julie." Julie didn't answer. "That's a really nice bracelet you're wearing." "My father gave it to me," Julie said. "The REAL Ranger." Ranger slowly turned his head back to Julie and said, "I didn't give you that bracelet."
"You see," Scrog said, "every good bounty hunter always has a backup plan. You really should have more than one backup plan. Julie is my insurance policy. The bracelet is actually an explosive device that was armed the minute she clipped it to her wrist." Julie didn't move, didn't blink. "I'm holding a dead man's switch so you better tell your boys to lower their weapons. I'd hate for us to have an accident." Ranger signaled to his men, and they dropped their guns. "Now I know it was a big risk," Scrog said. "If she had taken it off it would have been bye bye Julie, but I had a feeling this would work out exactly the way I had planned." Ranger's face was devoid of expression, his breathing was even, but his hands were balled into fists at his side and his eyes were dilated black.
"There's one last puzzle you need to solve, though I don't think this one will be easy. If you look carefully, you'll see a little panel that you can remove from the bracelet. Inside the panel is a 4 digit numerical keypad. You get one shot to guess the correct code. Enter it incorrectly, you all die. Try to get it off, you all die. Try to stop me, you all die."
Scrog smiled as he slowly backed away. "I have done nothing but think of how I would destroy you since we last met. I have finally proven my worth. I will declare victory and the true Ranger is now mine!" "Let him go," Ranger said through clenched teeth. Everyone turned back to Julie. I couldn't do it. Scrog was not going to get away with this.
As Ranger, Tank, and the others gathered around Julie, I slipped away into the darkness to follow Scrog. At the top of the hill Ranger and I locked eyes. He gave one small nod of his head and turned back to Julie.
I wasn't sure what I was going to do other than follow Scrog. I was far enough away that he couldn't hear my footsteps, but I was worried he would get into his car and drive away, and we would be back to square one. I lost sight of him and then he was suddenly in front of me, smiling his crazy smile.
"What are you doing?" he asked. "Are you coming to join the real Ranger?" "Yes," I said. "You didn't treat me so well last time," Scrog said. "I was confused," I said. "Now I know what I really want, and I only want to be with you." If I wasn't careful, I was going to vomit right here on his shoes. The lies I could come up with sometimes floored me.
"Anyone who can come up with a plan this elaborate deserves to have me by his side," I said. "If the fake Ranger loves me, then surely I'm a good prize, right?" Scrog stared at me, trying to decide if I was telling the truth or not. He looked past me, back towards the camp. "I didn't hear anything explode yet, but we have to wait until we know for sure that I've won," he said. Scrog sat down on a rock, being careful to keep his finger on the trigger. "Maybe we should just blow them up now," Scrog said. "No!" I said. "I mean, well that wouldn't really be fair, and one thing I know about you is that you are fair. All the great bounty hunters are fair." "True," Scrog said. I breathed a silent sigh of relief.
I wasn't sure what I was doing here. If Ranger couldn't diffuse the bomb then I would be stuck with Scrog, and I had no idea how I would get away. Suddenly I heard a sound in my ear. I had forgotten all about the earpiece I was wearing. The words "We got it" rang through my ear. Scrog heard it too and lunged for me, but not before I pulled the gun that Tank had given me out of the back of my pants and shot Scrog five times in his cold, black heart.