Dillon Hunt And The Desert Oasis Resort by Chad Stewart (books suggested by bill gates txt) 📕

“What! Why would they do that?”

Dillon paused, trying to think of the best way to explain it to Jordan without sounding like a total crackpot.

“Well—?” Jordan’s frustration began to be more evident as Dillon didn’t immediately answer.

“Because they think that I have some abilities that will be able to help them.” He knew it sounded stupid but it was the truth. There it was. He was now officially a crackpot!

“What kind of abilities?” asked Jordan skeptically.

“I notice things,” replied Dillon cryptically. Great! That sounded even stupider! he thought to himself. “I don’t know how to explain it, but I observe things that others don’t.”

Jordan looked at him without saying a word, then smirked. “Sure you do,” he said sarcastically. “There must have been some kind of mistake with this Orion Group drafting you. I mean … you’re only twelve! You can barely look after yourself let alone help some secret organization find a missing person. It’s like believing that I can shoot lasers out of my butt!”

“Believe what you want then,” Dillon said with a dismissive wave.

Jordan was silent for a moment. “Sorry man. I’m just confused about all this. It’s a lot to process. How about you use your special abilities and get us outa here. And we’re not going back up there!” he said, indicating the stairs they rolled down.

“No you don’t,” Dillon replied. “It’s your turn now. We’re not going anywhere until you tell me how you are even here!”

Jordan shrugged as if it was no big deal. “I knew you were up to something ever since I saw you talking to your friend when we were at the amusement park. Then there was your reaction to me when I came out of the haunted house.”

Dillon blushed a little.

“I definitely knew something weird was going on then. It wasn’t like you to act that way. And when you and Claire went to town I tracked your phone and cross-referenced it with google maps. You were nowhere near the library.”

“Wow,” Dillon said, impressed by his brothers ingenuity. “Why didn’t you tell Mom and Dad?”

Jordan snorted. “That’s not what brothers do bro. Besides, I figured you had your reasons for sneaking around. I just didn’t think it was this,” he said with a wave of the hand displaying their immediate surroundings. “And … ” he started to say with a mischievous smile.

“And what?” Dillon asked.

“And there might be a time in the future when I need a favor from you, which I am sure you will be more than happy to help with now that I know your ‘secrets.’”

Dillon paused, digesting what his brother was implying. He realized now that, despite his earlier heroics, Jordan was still the same old Jordan: always trying to get something out of him.

“Okay, okay, I get it,” he resigned. I just still don’t get how you got here?”

“Oh yeah … ” said Jordan, almost as though he had forgotten where he was in his story. “So because I knew you were lying about your’s and Claire’s excursion to town I thought I would keep a closer eye on you for the next while; and it’s a good thing I did. So after you left the room I followed you to your meeting spot with your friend, snuck into the back of the car, and voila … here I am!” he said, brimming with pride.

“But how did you get passed Dad?” Dillon asked, his curiosity peaked.

“Well that was the strange thing. I waited for Dad to get in the elevator and then went down the staircase on the opposite end of the hallway because I thought that’s the one you took. But when I got to the side door and outside the hotel I didn’t see you anywhere. I honestly didn’t think you would try to sneak out through the lobby!”

Dillon blushed, remembering his lack of reconnoissance which forced him to go through the lobby.

“I was about to head back inside, thinking that I missed you when I saw you head down the street through the crowd and into the tree line,” Jordan continued. “I followed you through the trees, around the guard house and, when you were having a conversation with your friend up there, I snuck into the back of the car. ”

“Wow,” Dillon said again. “That’s quite the story. I didn’t think you were that observant,” he said with a smirk. “You’ve really impressed me big bro.”

“Ya, I’ve been known to surprise people from time to time. Not just a dumb teenager am I?” he said with a smile.

Before Dillon could respond Jordan’s face suddenly took on a deadly serious demeanour. “That’s not the most interesting part of the story though,” he said, looking Dillon in the eyes. “Just before I managed to get to the door, while I was still climbing out of the car, I saw a van pull up in front.” Dillon’s heart skipped a beat. “Before I knew what was going on, someone got out and opened the back door to the van and out came that snake-thing from upstairs. Thankfully, whoever that was, didn’t see me. He opened the door to the center and let the creature inside, then went back and sat in the van. I texted you to get out of there, but you didn’t respond.”

Dillon pulled out his phone, but the battery was dead. “I guess I missed it."

Dillon shuddered as he thought about the creature again, and how Derek was still up there with it. “How did you get in here then with the van out front?” Dillon asked.

“As soon as he went back into the van I got out of the car and snuck up beside it. I got a glimpse of his reflection from the mirror and noticed that he was preoccupied with looking at an iPad or something. I figured that he was too busy to notice me so I rushed inside as quickly and quietly as possible. I heard the commotion in the back room as soon as I got inside and ran there as fast as I could—and it’s a good thing I did!”

“I’ll say,” Dillon agreed. “I’d be snake chow right now if you hadn’t gotten here when you did.”

At this point Dillon knew it would be wise not to tell Jordan about his dreams, even though they seemed to be living one of those right now.

They both looked around trying to take in their surroundings for the first time since they came crashing down the stairs. They appeared to be in a naturally shaped cave. The room was squarish with a tall ceiling that was about ten feet high. They could only make out a little of what they saw from the strangely glowing fungi that clung to the ceiling and walls. The absolute silence of the place was eery.

Dillon reached in the backpack and pulled out the flashlight. As he shone it around the room he just knew that this was the very same place he had seen in his dreams.

“Okay. There should be another hall, tunnel, or something like that out of this room over here,” Dillon said as he flashed the light in the direction, walked passed his brother, and headed to the other side of the chamber.

“Right—your ‘special ability’ told you that,” mocked Jordan. As he followed he pulled out his phone thinking to see if he had any bars and also to engage his flashlight function.

“That won’t work,” Dillon said as he noticed what Jordan was trying to do.

“What—” he started to respond then noticed that his battery was dead. “How did you know that?”

“Lucky guess,” Dillon replied. Jordan stowed his phone again and came to stand beside his brother. Dillon found the tunnel he was talking about without any issues, but before they entered it he quickly went over to the far wall and shined his light right where he knew the symbol on the wall would be. Sure enough it was there. The back of the hairs on Dillon’s neck stuck out and a shiver went down his spine.

Jordan looked to the symbol then back to Dillon. “What is it?” he asked.

“I don’t know. It keeps showing up so I can’t help but think that it’s important somehow.” Dillon noticed that the writing he saw around the symbol in his dream was missing again.

Jordan was quiet as Dillon pondered its meaning for a moment.

“Okay we should get going,” Dillon finally said after trying to process what was happening to him. He was scared. But he knew he had to stay strong and see this through. He wondered why he was only able to get glimpses of some of the events in his dream, and whether or not they were actually future events, like some sort of premonition, or if it was all just a coincidence. Something was unnerving here. He also wondered if Gwen would fit into all of this? Maybe his dreams were only images of what might happen, not necessarily what will happen?

Before they went into the tunnel he gave Jordan the flashlight and took out a torch and lighter. Dillon dug around for a moment and produced a small bottle of something that was in the bag. It was marked “oil.” He unstoppered it and put a bit of the oil on the cloth that was entwined on the end of the torch. Then he sparked the lighter and lit it up. It was surprisingly bright for an old fashioned tool.

“Who uses torches nowadays!” Jordan exclaimed as the dry stick came to life.

“Someone who knows that electronics aren’t going to be very useful down here,” Dillon answered, as he pulled out a hunting knife from the bag before slinging it back on his shoulders again. He reached into his pocket and produced the makeshift compass. The arrowhead needle was stuck in a constant state of spin.

“Where’d you get that?” Jordan asked, bending lower to get a better look at it.

“It used to be