"Don't move him, he could be seriously hurt," Jason whispered. He as afraid that the men might come back or hear them as they walked away. He quickly looked Jeb over as everyone watched in silence. He lifted up his eyelids and then at the bump on the side of Jeb's head near the temple.

"We need to get him to a doctor just in case he has a brain injury or a concussion," Jason announced softly.

"Yeah, but sumthin' is goin' on up here and we need to git to the bottum of that too. They mite' be growin' that stuff on our land!" Jacob said in an angry voice. Everyone shushed him, pointing to the upstairs. He then said again in a lower voice, "Grandma would be spastic if she knew that stuff mite be back here and we didn't tell her!"

"She would also be "spastic" if she knew we left poor Jeb here too," Stephanie fired back at her cousin, Jacob. "Our main concern has to be him."

"I never said to leave him! I just was meanin' to..." Jacob said, but he was interrupted.

"Look, I am not in the mood to hear another argument. This is what we are going to do," Jason said, snapping at his two cousins. Adam had to smirk at the situation. His big brother was now telling them what to do. Jacob noticed the slight grin and gave Adam a side-glance, but he listened. "Stephanie and Jacob are going to take Jeb back to the Blazer and get him some help. You guys will call Dad and tell him what is going on."

"Hey, first of all, I am not goin' anywhere with her and where are you two goin"?" Jacob said looking at Jason.

"Yes you are. Stephanie needs a good strong person to help her lift him back. We are going to check on what is going on back here. We are experienced with this kind of stuff," Jason argued back. He did not want to take his cousins into a possibly bad situation. He knew that Adam was experienced enough and to be honest, Jason felt like he had to have his "right hand man" at his side.

"I am strong. Are you saying that I need a boy to help me carry someone? Don't play that game with me Jason Kramer. I.." Stephanie started in, but an angry Jason cut her off.

"No, I never said that. You guys know the way back better than we do and you know the roads better. You are strong, but you are still going to need help getting him back. Let's face it you are a team and you always have been a team just like Adam and me, we are a team. Now let's get this going, the more time we waste arguing, the less daylight we have and the less time Jeb might have too," Jason said to group. Jacob and Stephanie looked at each other. Jason glanced over at his brother, but Adam just looked to the ground. Jason knew that he was going to have to talk to his brother soon about what he heard. It was all a mistake. Jason may have had doubts, but when the times turned hard, he noticed that the doubts left his mind and all that he wanted was his brother, Adam. He had to tell Adam that he was wrong, and that was going to be a pleasure. Jason was glad that he was wrong about his feelings.

So the two cousins cradled Jeb as best as they could and started the long trail back to the Blazer while the brothers made their way on up the ridge.

The Kramers made their way eastward across the ridge from the old shanty. Both boys walked in silence. It was starting to spit snow again. Adam wondered what they were going to find. He figured that it was just a moonshine still or something like that. Surely no one would plant marijuana out in the open on someone else's property! It was too cold even if they were growing something. Nothing could grow in the cold December wind. The boys walked for just a quarter of a mile when they came to a clearing. They could see almost to the river from the peak. All they could see was the white haze of the light snow that was coming from the northwest.

"It looks like a whiteout is coming," Jason whispered to his younger brother. "We had better find what we are looking for before we freeze ourselves to death."

"Jason, I just don't see how anyone could grow something in this cold. It has to be a still," Adam replied. He huddled up in his jacket as the wind picked up, stinging his face with small ice pellets. He frowned. "I thought snow was supposed to be soft and fluffy!"

"It is, but ice is hard and cold. Quit complaining and keep looking."

"For what? All I see is , is..." Adam was lost in thought though.

"What? What do you see?"

"Naked trees and dead brown grass."

"I am glad that you are not a poet!" Jason said with a chuckle. "Naked trees? Where did that one come from?"

"Well do you want me to call them leave challenged? That is the only thing I could think of calling them. What do you call them Mr. Hemingway?" Adam quipped back. He was very irritated by his brother's lack of sensitivity.

Jason just grinned at his brother. He did enjoy teasing him, but he could tell that Adam was not enjoying being the object of his laughter. "All right baby brother! I will lay off of you." Adam shot him a glance and then playfully hit him in the shoulder. Then Jason spoke up. "Actually, I would call them bare trees."

"Bare, naked, in the buff, it all means the same."

Jason had to hide his grin. But he knew that they had a job to do. He was about to start walking on along the ridge when he spotted a wooden contraption that looked like it was built into the side of the hill just on the other side of the ridge line. He pointed to it and motioned Adam to follow him. The brothers creeped over to the suspicious set up. They were able to find a spot in the briars to hide to be able to get a closer look. There was a small window in the door and a light could be seen in through the small opening. The boys did not have to wait long though. Soon two men walked out of the door.

"So do you think that it will be ready in time?" A man with brown dirty looking hair said. He had a dirty flannel coat on with hunting bibs on. The other guy looked about the same except he had hunter orange toboggan on instead.

"Yeah, providing nothing goes wrong," the second man replied. Adam and Jason were able to recognize the voices as being the ones from Jeb's house.

"If you are referring to the old man, no one even cares if he lives or dies," the scummy man replied.

"I am not into killin' Jim. It says in the Bible 'Thou Shalt Not Kill' and I am not going to break a commandment for anything. He isn't gonna say anything. He hasn't for how long now! Let's just go and check on him," the man in the orange cover said.

"He is fine. I will send Junior up. How's that? Satisfied?" his partner quipped. The man in the orange cap nodded in agreement. "Now we need to go into town and get the rest of the supplies that we are going to need. We need to avoid that holiday rush stuff."

"But that is the best time of the year!"

"Humbug is what I say. Too many people rushing into too many small places. Let me go and get the keys and we better get going. I hope Junior has the truck warmed up. It is going to be a cold walk," the man named Jim fired back gruffly. The dirty looking man walked back to the hut in the hill and came back just as quickly. Soon both men were out of sight, leaving the Kramer boys with their opportunity.

The brothers sneaked down to the hillside and quickly made their way into the shelter. It was easy to see once they got in that it was a huge cave that was covered by a layer of cement bricks and wooden panels. The room was very warm, but the boys did not see any plants. It looked like a hunter's cabin except there was not any electricity and no running water. The men had several jugs of water along with a wooden bookshelf that was serving as a food storage bin along one side of the cave. There was a campfire along the other sidewall that kept the cave very cozy and warm. Sleeping bags were rolled up not too far from the campfire.

"What can they be hiding?" Adam said, looking around at nothing out of the ordinary. It was nothing for people to make little hunting shelters out of the caves and caverns in the hills.

"Let's got further back and see," Jason said, grabbing the flashlight on the shelf.

The boys went back into the cave. It was damp, but very humid. Then they entered into a huge open area and both boys just stood there stunned by the sight. Huge green plants growing everywhere. They were not planted into the cave floor though. The plants were growing out of troughs, filled with rich dark brown soil. The room was incredibly humid for it being winter and snowing outside. Neither of the two boys could believe that anyone would go to that much trouble to grow something that was possibly going to cost them their freedom.

"What do you think?" Jason asked, still gazing at their find.

"How in the world could someone smoke that stuff? It just looks so weird. I mean think about it. They are living like paupers just to grow this stuff. Do they really get their money back?" Adam said, wiping the sweat from his face. It was very warm, especially since the boys still had their coats on.

"You would be surprised at how much they could get this for on the streets."

"Don't you mean the back roads? I have not seen to many streets like back home lately," Adam said jokingly. Jason just smirked at his comment.

"We had better get back and talk to dad. I want to get back before daylight."

"How are we going to get back since Stephanie and Jacob took the Blazer?"

"Just have to walk to a house and call. That is one thing that is like home. Everyone knows everyone!" Jason said, taking one last look at the plants. He had never seen marijuana plants growing like that. He had actually never seen the live plant until then and thought that the growers actually had a good set up. Very well thought out, he remarked to himself. But he felt something that made his blood run cold. A strong unfamiliar hand cradled his shoulder.

"Adam, please tell me that is you," Jason whispered. He did not want to turn around.

"Sorry Jas," Adam answered.

"Sorry Jas, my name is not Adam. They call me Junior and all I can say is that you are both in a heap of trouble."