Dillon Hunt And The Desert Oasis Resort by Chad Stewart (books suggested by bill gates txt) 📕
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- Author: Chad Stewart
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As they stood there looking at the carving on the wall, trying to make sense of it, they both heard the sound of something coming from down the tunnel. They jerked their heads around, Dillon waved the torch in front of him so he could get as much light as he could. From the shadows he saw movement coming toward them. Gwen tightened her grip on her brother’s arm. Dillon reflexively went for a weapon, but quickly realized that the only thing he had that would help was the torch.
Suddenly something jumped from the shadows. It hurled its bulbous body toward them. Gwen shrieked. Dillon pushed his sister aside and the creature sailed between them. Dillon slammed into the side of the tunnel opposite Gwen. He looked to where the creature had landed and, as the light of the torch touched the area, he noticed a large spider-like thing quickly spinning around. It was about the size of a soccer ball, had grotesque pincers protruding out of its maw, and a large hairy bulbous body. It had two massive lidless eyes and made a strange clicking sound as it moved its head side-to-side. It flinched and shied away from Dillon as though its eyes were incredibly sensitive to the light.
Gwen yelped again as she saw the creature in the full brightness of the torch. Immediately, despite the torchlight, it seemed to hone in on her and pounced. Dillon launched forward and swatted it out of the air with the torch. It made a screech as it hit the wall hard and slumped to the ground. Its many legs flailed wildly as it tried to right itself. Gwen leaped away as Dillon went in and hit it again and again and again until it stopped moving.
“Wha … What is that?” Gwen asked, wiping away tears from her eyes.
“I don’t know,” replied Dillon as he poked at it with his foot. “But let’s not wait around to find out.” With that, he grabbed Gwen by the arm and started off down the tunnel the opposite way the creature had come. As soon as they started off, they could hear more movement coming toward them, lots of movement. And that clicking! Gwen tried hard to suppress her fear but couldn’t. “There’s more coming!” she screamed.
Dillon pulled his sister down the passage as fast as he could. The sound of the monster’s many legs was getting louder as the creatures were closing in, and the clicking they made was terrifying. As Dillon and Gwen ran they could hear the sound of running water coming from up ahead. The tunnel dipped and turned, obviously not being man made, but rather formed by some natural process from long ago. The sound of the water was getting louder, almost drowning out the sound of the creature’s advance. They rounded another corner and the tunnel opened into a large cavern. They found themselves on a wide ledge that was about ten feet long and ended in a shear drop into darkness. The cavern was dimly lit; its walls sparkling as though the two were looking at the night sky except that the sky was all around them.
Dillon didn’t have time to enjoy the scenery, however, as the bulbous beasts came charging around the corner. Dillon and Gwen backed toward the ledge as Dillon held his torch as high as he could out in front of him as far as he could, trying to illuminate as much area as possible. The first creatures who came out of the tunnel immediately flinched and slowed as the light hit their eyes. They still seemed interested in the pursuit, but moved cautiously as the brightness of the torch stung their eyes.
One of the creatures leaped at them, but Dillon was quick to knock it out of the way with the torch. Sparks flew as he made contact with it and it issued a horrifying shriek as it tumbled from the ledge and into the dark below.
Gwen wept as the others, about ten in number now, slowly approached, pincers snapping. “Get away from us!” Gwen shouted, picking up a nearby rock and tossing it at the nearest monster. She hit it in the eye and it shrieked as it backed a little.
“What are we gonna do Dillon?” asked an agitated Gwen.
“There’s only one thing we can do Gwen,” replied Dillon in as even a tone as he could muster. He looked down at his sister, picked her up in his arms, and leaped from the ledge.
“Dillon! Dillon!” Gwen nudged her brother.
Dillon moved his head slightly, his eyes fluttering open. Staring at him were the bright eyes and beaming smile of his little sister. He looked around groggily and realized he was in the back of the Hunt family van as they were travelling to Dust Valley Desert Oasis Resort.
“Wow, that was a crazy dream,” he whispered to himself.
“It must have been!” Gwen exclaimed. “You were moving around pretty good. And mumbling stuff.”
“Oh yeah … like what?” Dillon asked, a look of curiosity splayed across his face.
“I don’t know exactly,” Gwen stated. “It was kinda hard to make out. I think it had something to do with spiders. I thought you were going to wake up screaming actually.”
Dillon looked at her seriously for a moment and then smiled; his usual disarming smile. “Well it’s a good thing that didn’t happen.”
Gwen giggled.
The car trip to Dust Valley Desert Oasis Resort was about eight hours from home and, as far as car trips went, it was pretty standard for the Hunt family, except for Dillon’s dream. His imagination was always exceptionally active, but when he went to bed he didn’t normally have such intense dreams. He thought that maybe it was all the excitement and anticipation waiting for the family vacation.
Jordan, as always, had his face stuck in a game of some sort; whether it was DS, phone, tablet, or the like. The only sounds you would get out of him were the sounds of victory (“Yeah!!!! I told you, you were going down!), or defeat (“Ahhhhh! … What the … ! … Oh come on!). After Dillon woke up Gwen would notice him marking down something in his book every time Jordan made one of his outbursts.
“What are you doing?” she leaned over and whispered.
“It’s a social experiment,” he replied. “I’m marking down how many times he loses verses how many times he wins.”
She smiled and nodded. “How’s he doing?”
“Not very good I’m afraid.”
Gwen giggled and then went back to playing one of her games on her tablet.
Claire had her face securely planted in her phone, making sure she was able to keep up on the latest drama with her friends. After all, she was fourteen and, it was rumoured, that the world would stop spinning if she missed something that happened on social media! Once in a while she would grimace and complain when the van hit a dead spot in the cell service, and then resumed again when the service came back.
Dillon, however, continued to read the information he had found on Dust Valley Desert Oasis Resort. As the van continued to roll along down the highway on their lengthy trip, Dillon noticed a distinctive change in the scenery which caught his attention. The landscape went from lush green forests and mountain scenes, to flat arid land. He started to notice areas with large plateaus high in the sky, shrub brush, even small canyons. He saw a variety of different wildlife: antelope, large birds of prey, and even a few wild horses. The sky was vast, strikingly blue, and lit up with bright sunshine. As they drove further to their goal the ground turned to a baked reddish-yellowish color.
A couple of hours after their last rest break the van began to slow again as Dad decided that it was prudent to make another quick stop for a restroom break at one of the Exxon stations. Apparently he also needed more coffee in his system as well. Mom, as always, reiterated about ten times the need for all of the kids to go to the restroom as there may not be another stop for a while. As per usual, Jordan complained that he had to get off of his gaming system.
“You know, Jordan,” Dad said, “there is a pause button on your system for a reason.” Jordan mumbled something incoherent and put his game down.
As Dillon jumped out of the car the heat hit him! It felt like he had just opened the oven to check on the chocolate chip cookies! Man, he thought to himself, I didn’t realize it was going to be this hot!
The restroom was one of those outdoor ones where you had to get the key from the attendant inside the station. As per usual Jordan managed to get the key before Dillon could and occupied the restroom first. As Dillon waited outside he noted the nice scenery of trees and brush that was around the gas station. The station was nestled up beside a hill that was filled with the hardy desert shrubs. The wind blew slightly, but there was no way it was going to lessen the heat. In fact, the wind made it seem hotter! Not refreshing at all.
As Dillon was waiting for Jordon to finish he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. He turned to see a small prairie dog standing on the pavement just outside the tree-line looking at him. Dillon smiled. “Here boy,” he said as he stooped down, trying not to appear intimidating. The prairie dog looked around a bit, came toward him a few feet and then darted back into the forest when the restroom door swung open.
Jordan looked down at his brother. “What are you doing?” he asked.
Dillon stood. “Nothing,” he replied. “Just trying to make a friend.”
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