REBEL WORLD Chapter 1

REBELS ON A LOST WORLD
CHAPTER ONE

Sergeant Jody Brewer was angry. He also had a mind throbbing hangover, was extremely tired, more than half asleep and the cigarette he was smoking tasted like it had been plucked from a urinal. With a sudden quick and rough flick of his wrist, he tossed it through the half open car window, glancing out the rear view mirror as the butt hit the dark highway and burst into a myriad of sparks.
"Screw Smokey," he mumbled to himself, as he absentmindedly thought of the fire hazard he'd just created. He casually glanced at his passenger who was sleeping soundly, curled up snugly in the car's soft cushion seat. His passenger's name was Gary Brett. He was supposed to have caught the four thirty afternoon bus to Memphis so he could be processed into the Army the next day.
Jody and a couple of out of town recruiting buddies had partied hard the night before, finally being kicked out of the local equivalent of a bar around one in the morning. As soon as he'd gotten home, his wife told him that Brett had called stating that he had missed the bus to Memphis.
With a flurry of curses, he'd called Brett and arranged to drive him in to the Processing Station. Ordinarily, he wouldn't have bothered, except next week was the end of the month cut-off and without Brett he'd be short of his magic monthly quota. The area commander was already hard on his case about falling short for two months in a row. One more zinger and he could kiss the recruiting life good-bye.
"Ass hole," Jody bitterly spat, envious of Brett consuming the sleep that he himself so badly needed. "Least he could do is stay awake and talk to me to keep me from falling asleep." Jody yawned, bringing his left hand up to stifle his spreading jaws. A sudden, sharp, unexpected wave of nausea swept over him. He glanced dizzily at his watch.
"Four-sixteen A.M. Shit!" He'd really drunk too much. Just ahead he saw the stop sign at the intersection of Highways fifteen and seventy two. The slumbering little town of Walnut spread out to the south. Sure enough, over by the truck scales was a State Trooper's patrol car. He'd learned to be cautious at this particular intersection, there was always a city or state cop sitting there, jacking his jaws and drinking free coffee with the guys who ran the truck scales. He pulled out slowly from the intersection, dimming his lights as a courtesy to the men in the little shed and, more so, to impress upon the cop that he was fully alert.
Probably still got enough booze in my system to flunk a blood alcohol test, Jody thought. Boy! The Captain'd have a shit fit if I got nabbed for a DUI. He automatically lit another cigarette, more from habit than from need. Gary Brett sat up grumpily and mechanically lit one himself.
"Where we at?"
"Just passed the Tippah County line," Jody replied. "You been snoozing since we left Corinth," he continued, in a somewhat snide tone of voice, in an attempt to make Brett feel guilty for having dozed off.
"Something up ahead," Brett muttered, suddenly leaning forward to get a better look through the bug smeared windshield.
Jody took his foot off the accelerator and began to slowly apply the brakes. The headlamps sliced through the dark and lit up the highway for about twenty yards but did not penetrate the inky blackness to right or left. He brought the car to a slow stop, placing it in park but leaving the motor running. They both gaped quizzically through the windshield.
"What the hell!" Jody snapped, glancing quickly at Brett who was opening his door and slowly getting out of the car. Jody quickly joined him. They slowly walked down the road in front of the car for fifty feet or so and stopped, both staring at the scene in front of them lit up by the high beams from the car. About thirty feet ahead, Highway seventy-two was neatly chopped off as if by a giant meat cleaver. On the other side were gigantic trees, some ten or more feet in diameter. One had been sliced cleanly in half where it met the road, the white interior shining like a neon sign. Without conscious thought, they simultaneously turned and raced for the security of the car. Jody obeyed no speed limit in his mad dash back to Walnut.