Story #152 - Case by Case Basis

Case by Case Basis

Opening the case wasn’t really an option.

Still…what would he find inside?

Walt Weirman forced his mind away from steel container beside him and kept his eyes on the road. There were precious few vehicles out this way, and if he crashed he’d be stranded for a few days if he was lucky, and eaten alive if he wasn’t.

Palming the cell phone in his pocket with one hand, he checked the signal strength. It was no surprise that he’d lost all but one bar, and that one was more than likely a lie. He’d tried using the phone that way before, and the reception could be described as…awful.

It had been a long slog from Aldran, three hundred miles south. The plan had been to cut straight through the backcountry – he wasn’t really familiar with the roads, but he had been driving for a living for the better part of his adult life, and was sure he could handle whatever road he came across.

The road hadn’t been the problem; it was a stop for quick nap and a bathroom break that had yielded a strange discovery in the bushes, and one that now sat on the passenger seat of his car. It was blind luck that had him stumble over the case in the dark, stubbing his toe through his thin shoe and sending a massive curse out into the darkness. The silvery glint of metal in the moonlight had been the only thing that had made him stop to pick it up – along with a burning need to toss it into the darkness as far as he could. He’d teach inanimate objects to hurt him!

Once he’d got it out of the thick underbrush, his desire to hurl it into the woods had subsided, and his desire to find out what was inside had ramped up significantly. The “property of the US military” stamp on both sides of the case also helped to encourage his interest, but had the unintended side-effect of making him more than a little frightened.

Leaving it in the woods wasn’t an option; he was as patriotic as the next man, and had almost chosen a career in the army. If the boys in green had lost something, he would do the best to get it back to them.

Back in the car, he’d been able to coax a Web page out of his phone and found that there was a “blank” space on the map fifty-three miles north of his current location, one that began and ended abruptly over the space of a few pixels. He’d bet good money that an installation was firmly entrenched there – one that was looking for a missing case.

A deer slipped across the increasingly bumpy road, jarring his mind back to the moment and causing him to swerve sharply. Its eyes were sharp; sharper than they should have been for such a docile creature, but Walt chalked it up to a trick of the headlights. He tried to follow the thing into the woods with his eyes as he slowed the car, but it was gone before he got a good look.

The case on the seat jumped forward, slamming its weight onto the floorboards of his car. Though the road was getting rougher, there hadn’t been a bump to account for that, and a small seed of fear began to climb up his spine.

If he was being honest, it was more like a fruit coming to ripeness; something had seemed “off” since he first turned onto the secondary highway. It wasn’t the first time he’d felt this way, but drivers couldn’t afford to let their feelings about a certain stretch of road or darkened mass or gravel get to them, or they’d never get where they were going.

He’d been ignoring his instincts for so long it came naturally to him, and his instincts were almost always proven wrong. The night bred strange thoughts in those behind the wheel.

Grabbing the case, he slammed it back onto the seat and then buckled it in for good measure. The base couldn’t be much farther away, and his desire to open the case was getting stronger. He’d gleaned quite a bit about it just from the corner of his eye, the most important fact being that it didn’t appear to have a lock of any kind. A scorched circle around the handle spoke to the fact that it had once been secure, but someone – or something – had changed that.

There was no backup combination lock, and only two small latches were all that stood between him and a satisfied curiosity.

Didn’t he deserve a quick look? There was probably nothing of interest, but he’d earned at least a peek at it for his decision to return it. He shook his head. It wasn’t his.

What if something was missing from the case? If he returned it in the wrong condition, the guards at the base might shoot him. Looking inside would let him know if there was anything he should be worried about. It was the only safe choice.

Gripping the steering wheel hard in both hands, he focused on the road ahead. The gravel width was narrowing, paring down to a single lane for travel. Any vehicles coming the other direction would have almost no time to react to his presence on the road, and he’d have no chance of stopping if he wasn’t paying attention.

It was only a change in the light that gave him warning.

Jamming on his brakes, he brought the car to a skidding stop at the edge of a large crater. Small rocks skittered over the lip, plummeting into the abyss below. The car’s headlights gave no indication of deep or how wide the chasm was; neither bottom nor edge could be seen.

He was out of the car quickly and to the lip of the hole before he thought the better of it. Gravel slipped away from him as he took two quick steps back and pulled out his phone. The installation – what should have been the installation – was marked as his current position.

A sound from the car pulled his attention from the hole, and he could see the passenger seatbelt strain and then snap.

Two solid hits and the windshield broke, sending the case flinging out into the middle of the depression. Leaping back into the car, Wilt slammed it into reverse and hit the pedal.

He’d made his delivery – he didn’t have any interest in waiting around for payment.

- D