My continuing piece of blog fiction, well, continues...
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DARKENING
STURGEONS
Chapter Twenty-One
by John L. Harmon
“This is
Straker,” Ben answers the cell without checking the incoming information. Initially his ear is met with static, but
quickly a determined voice sporadically struggles through the crackling
interference.
“—slie
Johns checking in to—eed of assista—”
“Leslie,”
the Sheriff speaks loudly, “you’re breaking up.
Please repeat.”
Officer
Leslie Johns appears to have not heard his instructions. “—eadquarters with Joe—what to d—”
“Leslie,
can you hear me?”
“Norris
and Cartwri—down—all others—pletely abandon—”
Listening
to his churning gut, Sheriff Benjamin Straker shouts into the electronic chaos,
“Officer Johns, take Joe and vacate Sturgeons immediately! That is an order!”
Silence
greets him as the call is unceremoniously dropped.
“What’s
going on, Ben?” Clyde quietly inquires.
Ben slowly
shoves his cell deep into a pocket. “I’m
not completely sure. Leslie is at
Headquarters and from what I could make out…”
He shakes his head in disbelief.
“What is
it?”
“Officers
Norris and Cartwright have been injured or worse.”
“Should we go back?”
Ben,
listening to his churning gut once more, answers with somewhat faltering
bravery, “No, Clyde, we need to push forward.”
Samuel and
Christine give each other a helpless look, uncertain of what to say, and then turn
in unison. Clyde gives Ben a silent nod
and they continue to follow. All
conversation concerning the yearbook and the strange science fair project is
put aside as the four walk through the densest part of Stickler Woods.
Clyde
focuses on nothing in general as he mentally kicks himself. He feels a fool for allowing the thought of
Old Man Stickler to bother him so while Officers Norris, Cartwright, and Johns
were dealing with real troubles.
Christine
stares stoically ahead, while inside she struggles. She could see the fear and pain in Clyde at
the tragic news of his colleagues. This
surprisingly complex Chief Deputy touches something inside of her once again,
only deeper and stronger this time.
Samuel
nudges up his black frames and focuses on the destination shown on the gadget
in his hands. Since there is no bandage
for the emotional pain Benjamin is experiencing, this is the only thing he can
do for him at the moment. To arrive at
the last recorded location of the energy reading as quickly as possible.
Ben keeps
his head down, looking at the ground beneath him. An evacuated town, citizens lost, Officers
down…it is too much to think about.
Keeping eyes on the earth stabilizes him and soon gives him something
else to dwell on.
He notices
that they are now walking on a trail of some sort. Not a hiking trail, more like a forgotten or
disused road. The most fascinating
aspect of this overgrown road is the fairly fresh tire tracks that have been
imbedded in the sporadic areas of dirt.
“We’re
here,” Samuel announces, as the scientific duo comes to a halt.
Before
them stands a tall, ominous, rusted metal gate with a large ‘S’ at its center.
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JLH
Love weird stuff at 'remote' sites in the country... or at least out of the cities where we don't expect it to be.
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