The Trip On The Devil's Highway

“Shit, I said to myself. I was in an attitude. I was hungry, thirsty. I know there’s no one with me but that doesn’t matter I am fuckin’ pissed and I gotta talk ‘bout it “Why in the fuck did I start when I did? I should have known better. The sun went down what…four hours ago? I can’t be sure. I don’t have a watch and the goddamn radio broke last week. How in the hell am I supposed to know where I am or what time it is?”

 I rolled down the window and screamed, “What the fuck time is it?” Yeah, I knew in the back of my mind that I wasn’t going to get an answer but I thought what the fuck?

While I was waiting for a response that’d never come I saw a sign along the road. It read “WEST US ROUTE 666.

I had heard about the road from a friend of mine who had taken it years before. If I remember right it was Jac, Donna, Guf and Ronnie who went on the trip. I wasn’t ask to go ‘cause I was spending 15 days down in the town lockup. I still don’t know why I was locked up…fuck I offered to share my beer with that cop when he stopped…he didn’t take it but he took it. I imagine those cops having one fuckin’ party after work. I had two cases and that sum bitch tool it all.

Jac was the leader. He always set up everything.

I remember they left about 6:00 in the evening. It was just getting a touch of the orange of a sunset and they were travelling west but the sun was up enough for Jac to need his sunglasses.

I watched from my cell as they drove off. Yeah, it bothered me but what was I going to do. Now, I have some shit to tell you. The next morning the judge stopped down and signed the papers to let me out with just a strict warning. “Thank you Your Honor,” I said as I stepped out of the cell and went out into the fresh country air. Yeah, I said “thank you,” but what I was thinking was that fuckin’ jerk cost me a trip and I wasn’t happy about it.

Anywho, I went down past Jac’s place. Now it wasn’t that I was thinking about the trip or anything stupid like that. It was just that I was on my way to the Pancake House and his house was on the way. Jac was sitting on the porch with Guf and they both looked like they seen a ghost or something.

“What’s goin’ on,” I asked. Neither of them answered. They just stared off in outer space or something. “What’s wrong,” I asked again.

“Ronnie…Donna…they went into the woods to take a pee and they never came back,” Jac said. “Me and Guf…we looked for them but there was no trace…not a single trace anywhere. I don’t even think that they went pee…at least I couldn’t smell no pee.”

Guf interrupted, “There was no lights and no strange noises. It was quiet as Dr. Baker’s tomb on a Sunday morning so that means that Bigfoot didn’t do it!” He was getting excited but I just let him talk. “Yeah, I believe in Bigfoot. I heard him…I know I did but not last night…it was quiet as Dr. Baker’s tomb on a Sunday morning. It truly was.”

“Where did all that happen,” I asked.

“Out on 666…I think it was mile marker 76…out by that exit for Murphysborough,” Jac said.

I got them to calm down, which was easy since they were almost catatonic already, then I called the cops. Jac and Guf retold their story again and as so as they finished the cops put handcuffs on them and took them down to the station. I don’t know what for but they were there most of the day.

Yeah, they did have a search. They used helicopters, dogs and even brought in the National Guard. The dogs did pick up their trail at the side of the road but it only went 50 yards into the wood. One guy said that the grass was messed up…you know footprints and everything but they ended at the same place the dogs lost the scent. Other than that…no trace was ever found and Ronnie and Donna were listed as missing and their case was kept open for a few years after that night.

Now, that was 37 years ago. Jac and Guf moved to Pennsylvania and set up a hooka plant outside of a small town called Carbon Creek. Me, I stayed in the town I was born in and I worked at one of the factories before they decided that I was making more money than they could afford so they let me go. Here’s something I still have trouble believing…last year both Ronnie and Donna came walking into town just as if nothing happened.

The thing was neither of them had aged one day in nearly four decades. They looked just the same as the day that they left…except for one thing…they were both pregnant…very pregnant. The town’s doctor examined both of them and they were about eight months along and in perfect health. Within a couple weeks both gave birth to beautiful babies, Ronnie had a boy and named his Alex. Donna had a baby girl named Alexis. The babies were beautiful and, amazingly they both looked alike.

Donna and Ronnie never told what happened to them the night they disappeared and they said….yeah they said that they have no idea how they got pregnant or who the father was so most people just let it go without really asking any questions.

I drive to Murphysborough a couple times a month to see my daughter and my two grandbabies and I always drive Rt. 666 but every time I pass mile marker 76 I don’t stop but I can’t stop wondering what happened to my two friends and if it ever happened to anyone else?