Chapter 154 Camping Armadillos and Gunshots
Hannah ran over and lay on Jack's back, watching with pleasure as he continued to complete the last details bit by bit, leaving a lip mark on his face with a click from time to time.
Mr. Bonham shook his head and turned to find Aunt Molly.
In the afternoon, everyone was ready to set off. Walker drove his F150 loaded with grill tents and other camping equipment, Emily drove a Subaru Forester four-wheel drive SUV with their two children, and finally followed by Jack's Firebird.
After waving goodbye to the two old men, the three cars sped towards the desert area on the southwest border.
Perhaps because Emily's car was following behind, Walker's speed slowed down slightly, but the speed was almost 90 miles per hour for the entire journey, which took nearly 4 hours.
In a wilderness, three cars stopped one after another.
"Just right here. We will camp here at night. Emily's supply point is in front of us. There are no drone patrols here at night. It is a commonly used passage for immigrants."
Walker got out of the car and pointed not far ahead.
The terrain where everyone is now is slightly higher. It can be called a hill for the time being. The location Walker pointed to is less than one kilometer from the top of the mountain. From there, the terrain begins to drop, forming a not-so-steep slope.
A small path can be seen below the slope, which is obviously the kind that has been stepped on.
"We set up three supply points on the surrounding hillsides, each with 20 barrels of drinking water and a small amount of food."
Emily pointed to three locations and introduced them to everyone.
"We come every week to pick up empty barrels and replenish new drinking water and food. The money we spend comes from everyone's donations."
Illegal immigrants from Mexico are one of the pillars of the Lone Star State's economic boom, and ranchers welcome the cheap labor.
Illegal immigrants can apply for legal status as long as they work hard in the pastures and stay for enough years. It can be regarded as a fight or a fight. Of course, this is just a beautiful way of saying it.
"They set out from Mexico and need to walk nearly thirty kilometers in order not to be discovered. Every year, frail children and women die in this desert. There is only so much we can do."
Emily looked a little helpless.
"It's too dangerous here. Do you come alone every time?" Hannah was a little worried.
Emily smiled and comforted, "Jerry will accompany me every time. She should be there soon, and I have an AR-15 in the back of the car. You don't have to worry."
Hannah's expression was a little strange, "Is it Jerry who runs the bar? Your love rival? She's not still single now, right?"
Emily smiled and patted her, "Jerry is our mutual friend, and Walker has always been loyal to me. Don't talk nonsense."
Walker looked proud that you can't provoke our feelings, and kissed Emily on the cheek. She pushed him away and urged him to get to work quickly.
Jack and Walker moved the grill out of the car together. The two Walker children were also very diligent and capable, and they quickly put up three tents.
Jack took a shovel and dug a shallow trench around the campsite. Jack sprinkled it with sulfur powder to repel snakes and insects. In this kind of desert, rattlesnakes and scorpions are the most common guests.
"Jack, come and see."
The two children of the Walker family were already very familiar with Jack. After setting up the tent, they began to wander around. Suddenly Stella ran over and took Jack's arm and ran away.
Jack followed the little girl to a rock with some confusion, and saw a thick rattlesnake fighting with a strange creature.
The strange creature is quite big, about half a meter long. It is ugly and ugly. It is covered with a hard carapace like a pangolin, but has long sparse hair. It is not afraid of the rattlesnake's fangs and bites it with all its strength. The opponent's seven-inch position.
The rattlesnake looks strong, but it is helpless against the heavily armored enemy. Its body is twisted into a ball but it is completely unable to break free.
"Is this an armadillo?"
It was also the first time for Jack to see this American specialty. He had only seen it in the animal world in his previous life. He had the impression that this thing would shrink into a ball when it encountered danger, but he did not expect that it could fight with a rattlesnake.
After a while, the rattlesnake was bitten to pieces, and the armadillo began to eat from the head.
"Can we catch her and play?" Stella was curious and wanted to come forward, but Jack held her back.
"If I remember correctly, armadillos may carry the leprosy virus."
Jack took out his mobile phone and took a picture of the scene in front of him. The sky was not completely dark now. It was rare to see this kind of ancient beast that only appeared at night and was recorded in the Classic of Mountains and Seas. He didn't know how the ancients recorded this. An animal unique to the New World.
Bats, armadillos and longhorns are all iconic animals of Texas. He didn't expect to see one of them so quickly. Bats were nothing interesting, but he also wanted to see a longhorn. He heard about this kind of cattle. The horns can grow to more than 3 meters and taste good.
After pulling the two curious children back to the campsite, there was already a pickup truck, and a beautiful woman with a very different style from Emily was chatting with everyone.
This is the Jerry they mentioned before. Like Emily, she also has long golden hair, tied high on the back of her head, but compared to Emily's gentle temperament, this girl has a bit more wild flavor.
After a brief introduction, the men and boys were rushed to light a fire to barbecue, and the girls were laughing and carrying supplies to supply several nearby supply points.
Augie put on his headphones out of boredom and went into the tent to listen to music. Jack and Walker lit the barbecue and chatted while cleaning up.
"Can you tell us about your experience in New Mexico?" Walker asked with a smile.
Jack raised his eyebrows, "What do you know?"
"There are not many secrets within the law enforcement department. Some rumors have spread. Rumors say that an FBI encountered an ogre in the mountain forest and discovered a gold mine."
Jack laughed, "It's that natural gold nugget that reminds you, right? But strictly speaking, I'm not an FBI yet."
He tried to be as insensitive as possible and gave a rough description of the encounter.
Walker felt a little regretful: "It's a pity that the whole case was kept strictly confidential, otherwise this legendary story alone would have allowed Jerry to treat you to a month of free whiskey in her bar."
Jack was about to answer when suddenly there was a gunshot in the distance, followed by a scream, "Walker!"
The two men were startled, looked at each other, turned around, pulled out their pistols almost at the same time, and ran towards the direction where the gunfire came from.
As he ran, Walker shouted to his son, who also heard the gunshots and was getting out of the tent in confusion, "Put a gun on your mother's car."
Auggie nodded quickly, opened the trunk of the Subaru, and followed with the AR-15 on his back.