Mountain road hit-and-run site¶
The mountain road hit-and-run site is a stretch of winding mountain road below the Radford ski lodge where the team is shadowed by an unknown flying craft in Radford Horror 03 and Kurt Larson's car hits Agent Murphy. A nearby clearing is where the burned man's remains are found in Radford Horror 04.
| Type | Location (road and forest clearing) |
| Aliases | Mountain highway stretch; the clearing; hit-and-run site and clearing; mountain road |
| Region | Mountains near Radford, Virginia, below Alpine Lodge |
| First appearance | Radford Horror 03 |
Description¶
The road is a winding mountain highway with ski lodge signs. The ski lodge has a parking lot, buildings, cabin roads and ski-lift access roads (Radford Horror 03). Midway down the mountain a dirt road leads off to a clearing where an armed group meets. After Murphy's flashlight weapon is fired, the trees beside the road are left burning (Radford Horror 03).
In Radford Horror 04 a clearing in the woods is where the burned man's remains lie. A circle of ground is melted to glass, and tire tracks lead into the trees and simply end (Radford Horror 04).
History of events there¶
The hit-and-run¶
At dusk in Radford Horror 03, Kurt notices stars going out above the lodge. A large dark silent object circles over the car, between an ultralight and a Cessna in size, under a couple of hundred feet up, and powered. It seems to follow them specifically. Dick "The Biz" Baxter leans out with a flashlight (he has torn off the rearview mirror to look up) and rolls a 12: the object flares a dazzling "evanescent" blue, makes a noise they have never heard, shows folded compact shapes, and zips over the tree line (Radford Horror 03).
At that moment a man in a black suit steps out 10 to 15 feet ahead. Kurt brakes rather than swerves and hits him at about 50 mph. The man cracks the windshield, rolls over the car and falls behind. The Biz thinks aliens just blew up the windshield (Radford Horror 03).
Meanwhile, Huell Kendrick finds an idling vehicle in a clearing and overhears tense Spanish, then five or six people with flashlights (one with a shotgun) spread out. Andrew Howard is questioned by two of them at the car and drives off after sensing he'll be shot. See Armed group in the woods (Radford Horror 03).
Kurt and the Biz find the struck man alive, vomiting blood, clutching a flashlight and a briefcase. He shows a badge: "I'm Agent Murphy. I'm NSA. You are fucking this up for me." When Kurt grabs him, Murphy points the flashlight: a blue-purple flash and a rapid electric clacking set Kurt's shirt on fire (3 harm) and blind both agents for 30 to 45 seconds. Kurt spits his "LSD tooth" dose into Murphy's mouth, and Murphy flees. When the Biz chases, Murphy fires behind him and trees burst into flame, and he drops off a ledge (Radford Horror 03).
In a scene the party does not witness, Andre cuts to a delirious Murphy (skull fracture, one eye partly out, foaming blood) shooting at birds until the device overheats and he vanishes in a pulse of light (Radford Horror 03). The pulse is the device burning him and the ground around him; the team finds what is left at the clearing later that night (see below).
The clearing¶
The cold open of Radford Horror 04 shows a slumped, partly smoldering figure beside burning trees, approached by a coyote that begins to eat him. After Kurt is treated at the ER, the team returns around midnight. Broken glass and blood remain. Kurt luminols the faded blood and follows it to a clearing, where mildly high coyotes are eating the remains and scamper off. A circle of ground is melted to glass; only the back of the suit, the back of the skull and a little brain remain, and the briefcase is a melted wad. Kurt finds scorched teeth and the NSA ID (Radford Horror 04). The two scenes follow one another: the overheating device consumes Murphy in the pulse of light at the end of Radford Horror 03, and Radford Horror 04 opens on his half-burned remains on the glassed ground it left behind (Radford Horror 03; Radford Horror 04).
Where the man stepped from the woods, tire tracks lead into the trees and simply end, and footprints lead back to the road. Kurt cannot say how the car was removed (Radford Horror 04). See Murphy's briefcase and documents.
The Biz then cleans the scene: he removes the glass and blood and walks down the thin burned trees so they are out of sight (Act Under Pressure 13) (Radford Horror 04).