Dead and Forsaken (3 page)

Surprisingly
enough stories like his were not that unusual. It seemed like some
object or another always mysteriously ended up in somebody’s
rectal cavity. The staff just learned to accept their claims and
perform the extraction to avoid all the nasty details. The room was
loud, crowded, and smelled bad. Many of them had already waited
close to two hours. I slowly walked through the room so everyone
could see me before heading to the back patient care area. A young
white man holding a toddlers hand was angry at the registration
staff because he had to wait so long. His son was sick with a fever
and after several hours he still hadn't received any medical
attention. At one point he was kicking the door to the back patient
area until I showed up. I spoke to him briefly and stood by for a
second but left after he calmed down. In the back I stopped by the
plumbing work area. The hall was congested but the work area was
clear and safe.

Randy
the maintenance man said that he had to take out a couple feet of
pipe and replace it. He was going to be here all night. He had his
work area blocked off and all his tools were out on the floor. I
told him I would check on him later. I received a radio call from
Hernandez. He said they needed security in holding. Staff tried to
check the vitals of an intoxicated patient. A wild animal had
attacked the man when he tried to urinate behind a building.
Something leaped out of the shadows. He was so drunk he thought a
woman attacked him. As time went by there was a noticeable change
and increase in aggressive behavior. He became agitated and struck a
male staff member without provocation after they asked him if he had
a history of psychotic episodes. Behavior like that could
potentially be an imminent risk to everyone. Hernandez was
requesting additional officers to help d-escalate the situation.

I
stopped by the security desk and grabbed the leather restraints.
Then I ran down the main hall to holding. When I got there Officer
Darden and Lt. Arvayo were fighting to keep the man down in the bed.
The staff was standing back watching and waiting for directions.
They normally followed our lead when dealing with out of control
people. There were a lot of innocent people close by. We had no
other choice but to end it quick before it could escalate. Officer
Darden was holding the patients legs while Lt. Arvayo had his arms.
I placed the restraints on him while they held him down. We placed
one arm up and one down to limit his range of motion. He continued
thrust and try to kick.

“
Let me go asshole!' he
cursed. “It's just a scratch! I'll be fine! Don’t make
it harder on yourselves by pissing me off.”

“
Don't worry sir!” Lt.
Arvayo told the man. “The staff will take good care of you!”

The nursing staff gave him a shot
to sedate him. If he continued to act out he would be referred to a
mental health representative and exercise more appropriate control
measures.

“
I think he’s OK now!”
said the nurse. “We’ll be fine. You guys can wait
outside.”

The
other officers went back to their posts while I stood by. Soon the
drugs began to kick in and he stopped struggling. Once he was asleep
they dressed his bite and scratch wounds. The doctor decided to
leave him strapped down until further assessment. Everything was
okay so I left.

The sunrise broke over a deserted
stretch of Interstate 10 just between Eloy and Red Rock in southern
Arizona. A highway patrol officer traveled through the barren
terrain looking for a missing tow truck and its driver. There were
no other cars in sight. The tow truck company had been trying to
reach the driver by radio and cell phone for almost twelve hours.
The officer spotted a pair of skid marks after a couple of minutes.
It appeared that something must have been out in the road and caused
a vehicle to swerve. The tow truck had been pulled over onto the
right shoulder of the highway. He also spotted a disabled Dodge
Caravan in front of the tow truck. The officer drove past the two
vehicles then made a U-turn. He radioed his location to the
dispatcher before pulling behind the two vehicles with his flashers
on. The officer told dispatch that he didn't see anyone and was
going to take a closer look. As he exited his air conditioned car it
was already getting hot. In a few hours it would be sweltering. The
tow truck driver's door was wide open but the cab was empty. The
trucks head lights were still on but the officer couldn’t see
anyone in the van. It looked like the driver hit something before
losing control.

The front passenger side of the van
was in a patch of cactus. The tire was in a ditch. The Dodge's
windshield was smashed and covered in dark stains. Hair and what
looked like skin was embedded in the vans grill. The vehicles bumper
had buckled in the same spot. The right front side of the hood was
crumpled inward. The indentation was massive. One of the headlights
was broken but the lamp was still inside. Glass from the driver's
side window covered the van's floor. Something busted a hole through
the window. The officer saw the van's side door open so he went
around to the passenger's side. The dirt on the ground was disturbed
indicated that there had been some sort of struggle.

As he moved closer he spotted the
decomposing remains of a woman lying in the sand. Her torso was
mutilated and picked clean. Next to her was the partially eaten
corpse of the tow truck driver. His face was unrecognizable. Luckily
he still had on the company’s hat and overalls. His lower body
including his feet, legs, and genitals had been eaten by some sort
of wild animal. The officer choked back vomit as he walked back to
his patrol car to call for back up and an ambulance. A wave of panic
had come over him. When he reached the passenger side door he leaned
in and grabbed the microphone to his radio. Right before he could
key the microphone someone grabbed him from behind.

“
GROOOWWWL!”

Seconds
later he felt something bite down and pierce his neck.

“
GNAAAW!”

The
pain was unbearable as his blood squirted out and splashed on the
patrol car's roof and windshield. He fought to get free but was bit
a second time on his shoulder.

“
GNAAAW!”

He
tried to use the microphone to call for help but on the other end
all the dispatcher heard was his labored breathing and a gurgling
sound.

“
Uggh!”

Suddenly
the microphone went silent. That was two days ago.

******

About the same time I started
walking around Border patrol agents found something similar just
south of Phoenix in an unguarded stretch of desert. It was easy to
separate the dead from the living because no one was left alive. So
far the remains of at least 20 people were found but the death toll
could rise as more bodies are recovered. Several vultures circled
overhead attracted by death. The gruesome scene included the remains
of men, women, and children. Some were found in the brush while
others were laid out in the open. Equally surprising agents also
recovered an undisclosed amount of drugs. They discovered remains up
to a mile away from original coyote campsite. The patrol found
various body parts spread out over a large area of the waterless no
man’s land. They also recovered several assault rifles,
semi-automatic pistols and shotguns. The crime scene investigators
said the evidence was suspicious and concerning. Forensics team
members believed the bodies had been fed on by a pack of wild
animals.

As they followed a single set of
footprints leading away from the site it appeared the person was
running. Dry droplets in the sand indicated the person was injured.
After rounding a bend in a rock formation the tracks showed the
person was no longer running and had started walking. With every
step the victim took cast off blood droplets became larger. A short
distance later the evidence showed that the walk had become a
sporadic stumble. So much blood had fallen on the ground they
expected to find a body not a witness. Several feet away the patrol
discovered the place where the victim finally collapsed. The only
thing around was a couple bushes and a few sparse patches of grass.
A human sized imprint had formed in a rare stretch of soft sand and
gravel. A stream of crimson fluid created a highlighted outline.
Incredibly after losing so much blood the victim had the strength to
get back up. The tracks leading away began as a clumsy crawl before
becoming a drunken stumble. Neither the victim nor his remains was
ever recovered.

Last month several U.S. Government
officials reported a record number of deportations and violent
incidents along the border with Mexico. The Mexicans were sensitive
about negative stories around its handling of the drug cartels.
Every year smugglers managed to transport billions of dollars in
illegal products across the US and Mexico border. That included
drugs, guns and immigrants. Millions of U.S. citizens cross the
border to visit Mexico every year for tourism and business. Homeland
security was advising all U.S. residents to avoid traveling across
the border. Less than a week ago two thousand soldiers from the
Mexican army were deployed to several communities on their side of
the border. The increased activity was picked up by one of our
satellites. The Mexicans told everyone they had to put down a couple
of local riots started by the drug cartels. Our military used an
unmanned reconnaissance drone to see if it could pick up any armed
engagements or rioting. After a closer look by the unmanned drone
the CIA discovered that the Mexicans were digging several large
craters using back hoes and large hydraulic excavators.

According to the evidence they
gathered the excavation sites were mass graves. The graves were
filled with thousands of Mexicans who were shot or decapitated.
Details about the sketchy operation were hidden. The information was
kept out of the news until Washington got more evidence. The State
department was worried about Americans being caught up in the
violence or prevented from leaving the region. They needed to know
if there was a potential threat to the United States. What they
didn’t know at the time was that a strange sickness was
spreading across the U.S. – Mexican border region. Mexican
officials had not publicized it but the northern half of the country
was under a government ordered quarantine. The Mexican government’s
negligence and effort to hide its problems had already caused
damage. Border Patrol reported an increase of hundreds of Mexicans
fleeing their homeland to America.

Until recently the flow of
immigrants had slowed down because of the weaker U.S. economy and
tighter security. The fear was that whatever was going on could
cross the border and engulf Arizona or other border states. The
President was prepared to send several thousand troops to the border
if necessary. The United States was already involved in two wars
over seas and dealing with several volatile countries in the Middle
East. We didn't need any trouble in our own backyard. The
inhospitable border was already lined with high tech monitors,
sensors and heat seeking cameras. The National Guard troops would
help with surveillance and fill in the gaps in the fence network.
The move came after several years of pressure from the states along
the border. They have been asking for help to stop illegal
immigration and drug trafficking. A lot of the illegal immigration
was caused after a change in policy that limited the number of work
visa’s given out. The President needed evidence so he could
react accordingly. He didn’t want it to appear like America
was acting like a bully but now they had proof something was going
on. A short time later a search and rescue helicopter from Tucson
spotted a van in the desert. They also found several Spanish
speaking illegal immigrants. The members of the group were all
bloody and dehydrated from spending time in the scorching desert
heat. Juan Jimenez one of the rescued immigrants could also speak
English so he was questioned by ICE agents. He was scared but agreed
to tell agents what happened to him in the desert.

******

“
Coyotes are both heroes and
unscrupulous criminals to us illegal immigrants.” explained
Juan.

“
To be successful at their
job they had to be violent and menacing to keep people from talking.

It's
a lucrative business for the gangs and cartels. Some of these
organizations are multilayered and very sophisticated. We had a
large group of people from cash strapped small towns and villages
throughout Latin America. All of us wanted to fulfill our dreams in
America. We wanted to earn money so we could live a better life. We
were teenagers or young adults who had never been more than twenty
miles from where we were born. We risked everything hoping to find a
job in the service industry or as a laborer. We were expected to
work as many hours as we could in order to send our wages back home
to help our families. A dozen or so armed human traffickers watched
over us while they prepared for the trip. They took us out to a
remote area on the Mexican side of the boarder.

We were isolated from the outside
world. All of us were kept in an empty warehouse with no furniture
or working plumbing. We slept on makeshift beds made out of
cardboard staked on the floor. The warehouse was falling apart and
full of rats. For most of us being surrounded by trash and junk was
no different than the poverty stricken conditions we were trying to
escape. Many of the local Mexican police officials knew about their
operation. It was easier for them to line their pockets with cash
rather than apprehend the smugglers. They looked the other way in
order to collect the large bribes the coyotes coughed up. These men
had been doing this for a while. The smugglers were skilled at
surviving the harsh climate and navigating the dangerous desert
corridor. It was a risky job and had a certain element of danger.
They split us up into three groups of people with four smugglers
escorting us. This would help us get through a more porous but
rugged section of the border. They hardest part was getting past the
occasional patrols. The coyotes would meet back up on the other side
of the fence once the coast was clear. They told us it would be a
three day walk to their camp. The leader chose
men like me and my
brother who were muscular and in good shape. We were forced to carry
large forty pound burlap sacks filled with marijuana on our backs.
Drugs were another way for the gang to earn money. In no time at all
we had navigated a narrow path along the fence line and went up down
embankment. After breaching the fence we climbed up a steep ravine
into the United States. We walked for several hours in a single file
line through rough terrain in order to evade detection. The coyotes
frequently change directions and led the way through the darkness.

Once we got on this side of the
border the smugglers attitude changed. They were no longer that
understanding. Some of the women and children were overheated but we
did not stop. They didn't let us take a lot of breaks or drink
fluids either. The plan was to hide during the day and walk all
night. It was colder at night in the desert but still in the triple
digits. We were going to rendezvous with the rest of the group once
we got closer to Tucson. From there we would travel to Phoenix in
stolen unmarked vehicles. Along the way we came across wild pigs,
lizards, and snakes everywhere we traveled. One night I saw a dog
following us but then I saw its pointy ears. The smuggler leading
our group said that a pack of real coyotes was following us so
everyone needed to stay close. Later on that night when we stopped
to camp we heard them singing to each other. A few hours later we
heard them again but it sounded like they were fighting. The next
morning we found five of their dead carcasses. Buzzards circled
overhead. They had been hastily skinned and eaten by some other
animal. The bodies of the coyotes had claw like marks on them and
were stripped of their meat and organs. Rotted meat was tangle in
their fangs. Others had bald patches from their fur being ripped out
at the root. The footprints in the sand around them looked human not
animal. Some of the immigrants were really spooked.

Our smuggler didn't let us waste
any time thinking about it because we needed to meet up with the
others. We gathered up our bags and drug bundles and left. We had
each paid one to three thousand dollars for fake ID's and social
security numbers along with transportation. When we got to the
remote campsite they stole the rest of our money and valuables after
we had already paid them for our passage to America. We were
reluctant to resist the extortion and the worst was yet to come. The
more depraved men in the coyote gang forced themselves on some of
the young women. A number of them were warned that they would never
make it out the desert alive otherwise. We thought about running
but guards were posted around the camp. Family members that tried to
help the victims were beaten. Another man was just simply shot
execution style. After that no one else resisted and nobody was safe
from those perverts. Those monsters made the girls have sex with
men sometimes twice their age. If they were lucky it was only a blow
job but most of the time it was in the pussy or up the ass. These
rapes were not just sexual. They were used as payments for people
who couldn’t raise the full amount of money required for
transport. Many of the unwilling girls had their underwear torn
from their bodies. The sweaty strangers climbed on top of them and
did their business right out in the open only a few feet away. With
every scream and whimper we could feel their pain. They screamed and
screamed trying to fend them off. A chorus of several voices echoed
through the remote canyon. The coyotes held their arms down and
told them to shut the fuck up. The rest of the smugglers were
yelling like wild men or laughing. They were so jovial that you
would have thought you were at a wedding or quinceanera. Their
intoxicated friends cheered and rooted them on chanting fuck that
bitch! The women laid there lifeless in disbelief. It was impossible
to push the stronger men off them. A beautiful girl with blonde
highlights tried to kick her attacker in the balls but missed.