After a round of high handicap golf our group,fed and content to tell the same old stories, was advised by one of our regulars to “…listen to this one!”
A new comer to our group will not be named. Only he was one of four brothers, who were the sons of a physician. The storyteller, the oldest and now middle-aged.
“Two of my brothers wound up at Appalachian State University. One, an 18 year old freshman. Barely enrolled he joined his brother and another freshman who was from the mountains nearby. They knew little about this mild looking youngster and his girl friend who showed them a secluded mountain top scene. Little attention was paid to the fact that there was only one entrance and exit on the summit.
Typical college fun as the sunset began to show off. Suddenly and raucously, a pickup truck appeared with three rednecks straight out of “Deliverance”, as it roared up the mountain, blocking the sole exit.
Things progressively worsened as the newcomers taunted, threatened, cursed and terrorized the young group. No one did anything to cause trouble but trouble didn’t care. As the sky darkened so did the mood.
The booze ran short…so now some fun. The girl repeatedly threatened, one of the boys was actually stabbed in the thigh with a pocket knife.
The first words out of the student brother’s new found male friend went something like this. “Come on fellows this is getting bad. I have a I/2 gallon of Jack Daniels hidden in my truck. Why don’t I just give it to you guys and you back off my friends?” GO GET IT MAN, FAST.
But the brothers wondered for a moment if this would only make things worse. With real concern for the girl.
Until their new found friend came back from his truck, not with whiskey, but with a .30/.30 deer rifle aimed squarely at the hillbilly leader. The game changed. “GET YOUR ASSES OUT OF HERE”spoke the mild teenager.
His friends, with great relief, thinking the horror about over. Not so.
Amazingly the driver alone got in the customized pickup. It had the top sawed off and was actually a “convertible” truck. Or, in his mind, now a weapon that he now floor-boarded straight at the rifleman.
Bad mistake.
Our hero, without flinching, waited and then jumped back to avoid the “missile”, like a matador. Next the mountain yelled as the .30/.30 blew the back of the driver’s head off.
Next, it sought the other two, who now fled toward the woods and the night. One made it. The other, not so, catching a round in mid-back.
As this guy  hobbled himself into the dark, our horrified bewildered brothers wondered “what now?” No question, as new group leader loaded the bunch into the truck and drove straight to the Boone,NC police station.
Late at night now, the shooter/driver/hero now confessed. After describing the roughnecks to the single sheriff on duty, he stated, “…these kids did nothing wrong. I shot them both.”
The huge officer stared straight into the young man’s eyes, saying nothing, expressing no emotion for a long time. Suddenly and with great force, he grabbed the confessor around the waist and picked him roughly off the ground.
“You got those sorry bastards. You got ’em !!! We’ve been chasing those SOB’S for months. And you got em.”
Two twists: 1. It might seem peculiar that with both shot in the back or back of the head, that subject never came up.
Also, interestingly, both of the other two were captured and sent to central prison for long terms. The one with the back wound was partially paralyzed, had to “wear a bag”. He required a lot of special medical attention for his wound, yet the Doctor who provided care for him never told him he was the father of the two student/brothers.