“It’s not what we do that people remember, it’s how we do it,”
read Roger Christenson as he closed the old book and placed it on the table
in front of him.
Jon McPhereson looked up from his paper work. “That’s fairly
deep. What’s it supposed to mean?”
“It means that no matter what you do in life people will look
more at your methods rather than your motives. Even if you do great
things if you walked over your opposition then you’ll be seen as a tyrant
rather than a king,” replied Edgar Jackson as he poured a cup of coffee.
“You want to pour me a cup, too?” asked Ranger Phillips.
“Sure,” replied Edgar as he grabbed another styrofoam cup from
the holder.
The four men, Edgar Jackson, Agent Trainee Roger Christenson,
interim Police Chief Jon McPhereson, and Ranger Alex Phillips had gathered
in the conference room to wait for Agent Damian Coles and Officer Shawn
McPhereson. Edgar and Roger had come back from the Walter home to
find Jon and Ranger Phillips already sitting in the room. Ranger
Phillips had been studying the white board and the myriad drawings and
words scrawled on it, all of which had to deal with the Morris case.
Jon had been working at reducing the large amount of paperwork that had
accumulated when Chief Morris had gone down with a stroke after finding
out that Peter had been the victim in the grisly murder at the high school.
“Gentlemen,” greeted Damian as he entered the room and headed
straight for the coffeepot. “We have found some very interesting
evidence that could be the breaking point of the case.”
“It’s about time you got back, Damian,” replied Jon. “We
received a letter for you earlier today. Let me see if I can find
it.”
“What did you find?” asked Edgar curiously as he stirred his
coffee absently.
“Well, you should go first, we have some visual evidence to share
and Shawn has to go pick up the film in about thirty minutes. In
the meantime we should have just enough time for you to share your discoveries.”
Roger sat up and opened his notepad. “We interviewed the
Walter household,” he started. “Things came up there and we ended
up staying longer than we had originally intended. Lucy Walter has
no idea on who would want to murder Peter and wasn’t really in any condition
to tell us anything.”
“Which is understandable,” interrupted Damian.
“That’s what Edgar and I thought as well. Anyway we comforted
her for awhile and then Edgar suggested that we talk with Reverend Walter.
He really didn’t tell us anything we didn’t already learn from his parents,
Peter was fairly religious, good kid, pretty much the same story we heard
earlier. It was off the subject of Peter that we learned some interesting
things about the Reverend. He appears to be a religious fanatic and
a racist from his remarks to Edgar. He was very upset about the lack
of religious fervor in the town and believes that the end of the world
is coming very soon and that he has to lead the town out of the darkness.”
“Sounds like your typical run-of-the-mill fanatic all right.
Can any of you local people shed some more light on Reverend Walter?”
“I think Jon would know more about him, he’s lived here all his
life. All I do know is that he is a racist and does not approve of
me,” replied Edgar, still stirring his untouched cup of coffee.
“I don’t really know the Reverend very well,” answered Jon truthfully.
“All I do know is that he has a semi-rabid following in the region.
He mails out newsletters and pamphlets and has people go door to door preaching
the word of God. We’ve had some complaints against him, mainly on
disturbing the peace with his preaching on street corners although he did
assault Anna Johnson once when he thought what she was wearing was too
skimpy. He called her a whore and a minion of darkness.”
“I gather this happened recently,” suggested Damian.
“Yes. This summer actually, she was out with Lucy and Janet
Kauff. I heard that Lucy got quite a talking to by Reverend Walter
after she got home. The argument woke up the neighbors and the next
morning she was wearing a lot more make-up than she usually does.
Peter filed a report about it but Lucy came in later that day and rescinded
his report. We really couldn’t do anything about it because Lucy
was the victim and she was the only one with the power to file charges.”
“Domestic abuse?” Roger asked as he quickly scribbled down more
notes. “Edgar, that sounds similar to what you were told.”
“It does,” Edgar thought ruefully. “Maybe there is some
truth to the hearsay.”
“What’s this,” asked Damian as he leaned forward.
Edgar placed his full coffee cup on the table and rubbed his
eyes. He sighed, “I had heard a story that after his wife got pregnant
with Lucy he was furious because he only wanted sons. Something to
do with honoring the saints. He had already named his first four
sons after the authors of the Bible and wanted to go down the apostles.
He didn’t want to have a daughter and he definitely didn’t want to name
it Lucy. I heard that a few weeks before Lucy was supposed to be
born Reverend Walter hit Mary down a flight of stairs. The doctors
managed to save the baby but not Mary and Reverend Walter was so upset
that he named the baby Lucy right before Mary died, I guess it was an apology
of sorts.”
Jon reached under his paperwork and pulled it a flat manila envelope
and handed it to Damian. “This came in the mail earlier today.
By the way, I had heard a similar story about Mary Walter’s death.
Reverend Walter is one of the few people that we actually keep a regular
file on in the station. You can go down and check it out tomorrow
morning if you want.”
“I think we’ll do that,” replied Damian as he tucked the envelope
into his jacket pocket. “Roger, I want you and Edgar to go to Anna
Johnson’s house and talk to her about this cult thing that might be going
on. I’ll take a look at Reverend Walter’s file and then go to Murbrook
and see what information I can get from the morgue about Peter’s death.”
“I got the pictures, Damian,” said Shawn McPhereson as he entered
the room and handed him the pictures.
“Very good. This is what we found in the basement of the
school when we went,” said Damian as he placed them on the table.
Collective gasps were heard from the men in the room as they stared at
the pictures. “As you can see the writing and symbols were all done
in a sort of red medium. Shawn and I both believe that it could very
well be blood, it has a similar consistency, texture, and color.
Shawn took a sample and brought it to the lab earlier today. I gather
that the writing appears somewhat similar.”
“Yeah,” murmured Roger. “Exactly the same words that Peter
Morris spoke to me when Edgar and I saw him in the school.”
“Exactly, I think that this has something to do with his murder.
Do you have another white board, Jon? We might need to make some
more notes.”
“Yeah. There should be another board behind the first one.
All you have to do is flip the board. It’ll be difficult to read
both boards at once, but it’s all we have.”
“It should be fine,” reassured Damian.
Roger sat up and flipped the board over. “I’ll take the
notes then.”
“Okay then,” started Damian as he cleared his voice. “We’re
definitely going to want to start to make a list of major suspects as one
of them appears to be Reverend Walter right now. We’ll add to the
list as we start to uncover more information. If anyone wants to
add anything else then just interrupt me whenever you get a thought.
As of right now we’re at an odd sort of predicament, we have a grisly murder
with only one serious suspect and even that suspect is a little iffy.
From what you and Edgar heard and what Shawn and I saw on the wall then
there must have been something that Peter Morris knew about his death.”
“Isn’t that a pretty big leap in logic and faith, Damian?” questioned
Jon.
“It is a very big leap in faith,” admitted Damian. “But
then I’ve had successes with leaps of faith and logic.”
“He has a point, though,” piped up Ranger Phillips. “Why
would Peter be saying those things if he didn’t know something? It
wouldn’t make any sense.”
“This is a ghost that we’re talking about, though,” exclaimed
Jon. “A ghost! This seems more like a movie script rather than
a police case.”
“You weren’t there, Jon. That basement was pretty messed
up, and Damian is right, whoever did this did it recently. Also we
weren’t there when they all went to pick up the body. There has to
be some explanation for all of this and until we figure it out I don’t
think we can really rule out Ranger Phillip’s explanation until we have
concrete proof. After all, brother, just because we’ve never seen
a ghost doesn’t mean that ghosts don’t exist,” said Shawn.
“Okay, okay. It looks like I’m outnumbered here,” replied
Jon as he picked up one of the pictures on the table. “If it’s a
ghost of Peter Morris then it’s a ghost. We still need to gather
more evidence, however, like what does this symbol mean.” Jon turned
the picture around to the rest of the men in the room.
Edgar and Roger gasped simultaneously as they looked at the symbol
in the picture. “Look familiar?” Edgar asked Roger as leaned closer.
“Yes it does…very familiar,” replied Roger. “Gentlemen,
I think Edgar and I have just made a breakthrough in the case.”
“How?” asked Damian curiously.
“After we left the Walter household we stood outside talking
next to Edgar’s car,” Roger explained. “We were just about to leave
when Edgar saw that exact same symbol in one of the second story windows.
It looked like it was made of red glass and it was glowing like a light
was behind it, but I couldn’t see any lights on upstairs.”
“It looked exactly like that?” said Damian cautiously.
“Yes, exactly. A triangle in a square with three spines
off the top of the triangle.”
“Edgar?” asked Damian as he turned to the high school principal.
“Agent Christenson is correct. The symbol in the picture
is exactly the same as the one in the window.”
“Well then, we now have a lead of sorts to go on but let’s not
get too hasty. This could be a red herring or something else entirely,
yet the circumstances for coincidence would be stretched to their limits,”
mused Damian.
“There has to be a connection then,” drawled Ranger Phillips
wryly.
“That there is, our problem will be finding that connection.”
“We could ask the Walter family, not just Lucy and the Reverend
but all four brothers too,” suggested Roger.
“I doubt that’ll work,” replied Edgar. “The rest of the
family is very close-mouthed considering how outspoken their father is
on his views of life. He’s also kind of domineering to the rest of
his family, all four brothers still live in his house even though they’re
all over twenty. He still runs that household with an iron fist,
always has, probably always will.”
Damian pondered over what Edgar had said as he fiddled with his
pen. “That makes asking the Walter brothers very difficult to do.
If they know about the symbol then they’ll probably not want to talk about
it. Their father might also not know about it, it could be a secret
of some sort and if their father learns about it then they could get into
trouble and any evidence that we might learn could be lost. We’ll
have to start asking side questions to people, start feeling out what this
symbol might be about. Edgar, Roger was telling me that there was
some sort of spirituality movement in the school, was there any evidence
of this symbol there?”
“I can’t remember for sure but it might have something to do
with Neo-paganism. I know a lot of students were interested in the
old pre-Christianity religions and Wicca. Actually some of the students
had a demonstration on the weekend about Neo-paganism they even had a Wiccan
come and speak at the school. It was a pretty massive undertaking
for high school students, they formed a club, made a budget, and did some
fundraisers. If I remember correctly it was one of the more popular
clubs in school. Almost everyone was involved in it.”
“When did this happen,” asked Roger as he stopped taking notes.
“Last year was its biggest year with the most participation.
It was still a fairly small club when I came here five years ago.
I think it was started nine years ago by a group of five students, but
it didn’t really become a club until I started here and it really didn’t
have any membership until last year.”
“Is it still around?”
“No, it got disbanded at the end of the school year because some
students had started to dress oddly and many of the teachers had problems
with their dress so the PTO created a dress code and banned ‘witch clothes’
from the school. The students held a mini-demonstration but it fell
apart really fast and at the beginning of the semester the club lost their
funding so the club was forced to break up.”
“So you were never there during the time of this Neo-paganist
club?” asked Damian.
“Yes. But not very many people knew what it was about.
It kept kids out of trouble, though, which I believe in. Most teachers
were just upset about the clothing issue not the club itself or what they
studied. It’s a shame it was broken up, clubs are a healthy way of
getting a student to learn more about things they enjoy. It also
keeps them out of trouble and away from the television which I consider
a major benefit for students and teachers.”
“I hate to interrupt, but what is Neo-paganism and Wicca?” asked
Jon.
“Neo-paganism is a new religion of sorts,” explained Damian.
“It’s based off a lot of the old pre-Christian religions like Celtics,
druids, faeries, and even witches. It’s a little hard to explain
but it uses those old beliefs and practices and celebrates the old gods.
It’s popular right now but is still part of the underground. There
are some fundamental differences between it and other religions, but really
its just the same as the others, they just worship different gods and goddesses.”
“Aren’t there enough real religions out there?” complained Jon.
“It is a real religion,” replied his brother quietly. “It’s
just an alternative to what’s out there. Some of Lita’s friends are
Wiccans and they told me all about it. They’re really nice people,
much nicer than Reverend Walter and his little group of fanatics.”
“I’ll take your word for it then. Do you think that they
might know what happened to Peter?” said an unconvinced Jon.
“Probably not. Most neo-pagans that I know tend to stay
away from the spotlight,” replied Damian. “Most people don’t understand
neo-paganism and they’re generally afraid of what they don’t understand
so most neo-pagans try to keep a low profile. Although they have
been trying to spread their religion around and eliminate the taboos surrounding
their religion.”
“So where does that lead us?” questioned Jon wearily.
“Right where we started,” answered Damian simply.
Static sounded over the loudspeaker as Ricky Morris spoke, “Uhh…Agent
Coles and Chief McPhereson, Anna Johnson just came into the station.
She said that she wants to talk with you two about the murder case.”
“What’s she doing here?” asked a surprised Jon.
“She must have something to say,” mused Damian. “Roger,
you and Edgar go and talk to Anna, find out what she knows. Try and see
if she was part of the club that Edgar was talking about. Here take
the picture with you and see if she remembers seeing anyone wearing something
like this as a pendant or a bracelet or even a tattoo.”
“Okay,” replied Roger. “We’ll be back later then.”
“Good luck,” said Ranger Phillips as Roger and Edgar left the
room.
“Anna,” greeted Edgar as he walked into the waiting room and saw
the tall red haired girl sitting in a chair. He remembered that she
was a terrific athlete and gotten a scholarships to play basketball at
Uconn and Duke. Her most striking feature was the fact that she was
over six feet tall, easily one of the tallest students in school, she even
towered over most of the teachers. “How are you?”
“Hello Principal Jackson,” said Anna quietly. “I’m fine.”
“This is Agent Trainee Roger Christenson.”
“Hello, Miss Johnson. Did you have something to tell us?
I’ll let Mr. Jackson handle the questions, okay? I’ll just sit over
here and take notes. If you need anything just ask and we’ll stop
the questioning and get whatever you want,” said Roger as moved a little
further down the room and sat down.
“Do you need a glass of water?” asked Edgar as he sat down across
from Anna.
“No thank you.”
“Okay, do you want to begin then?”
“Yeah, I guess so. I’ve been talking to Lucy and she said
that you guys came to her house and asked a bunch of questions concerning
Peter. She’s been really broken up by his death everybody is in shock
by his death. He was such a nice kid, I mean everyone in school liked
him. He was smart and stuff but people never took that as an offense
because he was so easy-going. He and Lucy made a great couple, they
were so cute together, I just don’t know…I can’t figure it out.”
“Was Peter having any problems before his death,” asked Edgar.
“Not that I know of, but then you know that Peter wouldn’t ask
for help from anyone. I know a couple of weeks before he died he
and Lucy had a small fight about him being too introverted. Lucy
wanted him to be more open and he said something about that being harder
than she thought it would be, the fight didn’t last very long though.”
“I see. I know that this might seem a little off the track
of what we were talking about, but were Peter, Lucy, or you any part of
the Neo-Paganism Club?”
“No, I was never really into that stuff. I’m not that religious
of a person. I know Lucy was interested for a little while but Peter
had no interest in it. He said something about it being a passing
fancy. Lucy used to go to the meetings every now and then and even
got some books on the subject but her father saw her with them and made
her burn the books. If Peter hadn’t intervened then Lucy might have
been grounded for the rest of the school year last year.”
“That’s interesting,” said Roger as scribbled notes onto his
legal pad.
“It is,” agreed Edgar. “How encompassing was the club?
Was everyone involved in it?”
“Well, not everyone but there were a lot of people. I think
the PTO thought there were more people than there really were because it
was like a fad of sorts. It was a high school thing it was a diversion
from the usual after school stuff, so for a little while it was interesting.
The officers even invited a neo-pagan to talk, he was really informative
and interesting. The only people that didn’t go to it were Peter
and Mary Jane Rauling. Peter was sick and went home early and wasn’t
really planning on going anyway. Mary Jane wasn’t interested at all
in neo-paganism but then she’s an out and out atheist so she doesn’t believe
in anything.”
“Mary Jane?” asked Roger curiously.
“Yes. She was second in the class behind Peter…actually
she had a major crush on him and was always competing with him for the
best grades,” said Edgar as he looked up at Roger.
“So neither Peter or Mary Jane went to speech and neither of
them were very interested in it to begin with, so it might be a big coincidence
but there are a lot of loose strings tying together,” thought Roger.
“Anna, what was said at the meeting? Anything important
or controversial?” questioned Edgar quickly.
“No, I mean I wouldn’t really know cause I never went to any
of their earlier meetings. Lucy said it was pretty run of the mill
stuff though nothing special.”
“Did you learn what sect of neo-paganism they followed,” asked
Roger. “Wiccan for example?”
“No, it wasn’t that. I would remember that because that’s
what Lucy would talk about when she talked about neo-paganism. Actually
from what I heard the rest of the group talked about, it sure didn’t sound
like neo-paganism, it sounded like some sort of magic casting group.”
“Magic? Black magic?” asked Roger as he put his legal pad
down.
“Yeah, something like that. I don’t know I’m not one hundred
per cent sure about what they really wanted to do but over the summer a
bunch of kids started to talk about getting a Circle together and casting
some powerful spells, like in the movies.”
“Doesn’t sound like the neo-paganism that Damian was talking
about,” observed Edgar.
“No, its not. That club was using neo-paganism because
they don’t understand it or they understood it and needed a cover name,”
answered Roger.
“You seem to know a lot about it,” said Edgar.
“Yeah, my town had a good amount of Wiccans in it, it was one
of the few places they could gather without having to deal with all the
headaches of people who didn’t understand their religious beliefs.”
“How come you didn’t say anything back in the conference room
then?”
“I didn’t think I had to, I really don’t know very much except
for all neo-pagans have a rule to hurt no one and to only exercise their
power for good and only when they absolutely have to. These kids
sound like they wanted to use power for the sake of using it, they probably
didn’t understand neo-paganism at all and were just interested in the Hollywood
version of it.”
“I see,” said Edgar as he turned back to Anna and showed her
the picture. “Anna, did you ever see something like this around school?”
“Yeah, that was the club symbol for the hierarchy of the club,
you know the President and Vice President and stuff. Although they
called it the Priestess and stuff like that. After that neo-pagan
spoke at the school all of the officers had that symbol on a black string
around their neck. It was pretty cool because the symbol always glowed
red, they used to use it to drive the teachers mad during films when the
teachers had to turn the lights off,” said Anna excitedly.
“I think this is what Damian was looking for,” said Edgar with
a slight smile on his face. “Let’s go tell him about this.”
Roger stood up and walked over to where Ricky sat. “Ricky,
go get Shawn. I want the two of you to take Anna home, okay?”
“Sure, Agent Christenson,” nodded Ricky.
Damian looked at Roger’s notes on the white board. He rubbed
his temples and stared back at them again. “So you think that this
group might have something to do with what’s going on?” he asked Roger
and Edgar.
“Yeah, the coincidences are remarkable,” answered Roger.
“I mean Peter was not a large follower of the group at all and he even
held a negative view of their practices. He was a strong Christian,
something that’s awfully rare to find in a high school setting. He
didn’t go to that meeting and never met that neo-pagan, only one other
person didn’t go there and her name is Mary Jane Rauling, an atheist.
You also have the same symbol on the officers of the club and remarkably
enough Mark Walter’s best friend, Andrew Peeler, was Secretary of the club
although the position meant nothing, and you have Mark and Lucy in the
school at the same time and Lucy was curious about the subject.”
‘Now this is where things get a little hard to believe, but logically
if Lucy was curious about it then Mark might have been as well. Maybe
even more so because he probably had a little more freedom in the household.
Also, Anna said that Lucy had books about neo-paganism but she couldn’t
have bought them herself because she had no job or allowance. Therefore,
I believe that Mark was the one who supplied her with the books and the
interest in a new religion, as it was something different from what their
father preached.”
“You have quite a convincing argument,” said Jon McPhereson as
he poured himself a cup of coffee. “It fits, too, because when Shawn
was in high school he and John Walter used to hang out a little after school
and John was always interested in alternatives to Christianity, but then
I guess you’d almost have to in that household.”
“It is very convincing. Congratulations, Roger you’ve just
made yourself a full FBI Agent in the field. The Bureau told me that
I could promote you whenever I felt it necessary and that was some pretty
good work right there,” smiled Damian as he clapped his hands. The
rest of the room followed suit and Edgar walked forward and shook Roger’s
hand.
“Thank you,” stuttered Roger as he blushed bright red.
“I hate to break the party short, but it’s getting late and I
should be heading home. I have a long drive tomorrow,” said Ranger
Phillips as he grabbed his hat. “If I see your brother on the road,
I’ll make sure to say hello.”
“Have a goodnight, Alex,” said Jon as Alex Phillips left the
room.
“So what are we doing tomorrow?” asked Roger as he sat down.
“Well you and Edgar should probably go to Mary Jane Rauling’s
place and ask her some questions. Shawn is going to follow up on
this neo-pagan that visited the town last year. I told Ranger Phillips
to keep his eyes open for anything related to neo-pagan practices outdoors.
He says that he might have something he can follow up on, he’s going to
take some pictures and give them to you. And Jon and Ricky are going
to hold down the fort and start digging into a bunch of the old files.”
“What about you? Why is Ranger Phillips giving those pictures
to me?”
“You know that letter I got?” sighed Damian.
“Yeah.”
“Well it says I have to go back to Washington, they have a breakthrough
in the Morgan case and they need me to clear up some information and I
have to testify for the Simmons case as well. I tried calling and
pushing the dates back, but it’s now or never. I can close out both
cases now so I decided its probably better to go. You should do fine
here, Edgar, Jon, Shawn, and Ranger Phillips are all highly talented and
capable men. You’re on the right track, Roger, just follow your instincts
and don’t rule anything just because it doesn’t make sense initially.
You’re a good agent, a real proof of what the Bureau can turn out.
Good luck.”
“Thank you…”
“Agent Coles,” shouted Edgar as he followed Damian down the hall.
“Ahh, Edgar, do you need me for something?”
“Yeah. How do you think he’s going to handle it?
That’s a lot of pressure to handle for a rookie.”
“Well, Principal Jackson, if that’s what you call yourself these
days, I’m hoping that you’ll prevent him from making too many mistakes.
I know that you got a different training from me and Roger, but you know
procedure and you had a good record.”
“So you checked up on me?” questioned Edgar.
“Of course, it’s not everyday that I get to meet the infamous
Edgar Jackson again. I heard the story of how you got to be principal
here, you sure you didn’t have Uncle Sam pull any strings for you?” joked
Damian.
“No, I had the credentials from earlier, I just lied about where
I was principal last. The records don’t lie, Damian, I received my
degree way before you did,” quipped Edgar.
“Different department, my friend. Anyway, do you need anything
while I’m still here?”
“I should be okay, I have the Bureau hotline so I can reach you
whenever I need to. I might need a gun though, I had to turn mine
in when I left and I didn’t think I’d ever need one again but with things
like they are now… It’d be easier asking you for one than having
to get one from Jon, it might blow my cover.”
“What cover? You’re retired,” joked Damian as he pulled
out a gun and handed it to Edgar. “You remember how to fire one of
these things?”
“It’s like swimming, once you need to do it you do it.
Hopefully I won’t have to use it at all. My retirement is my cover,
Damian. I was living in peace before you had to rear your ugly mug
here.”
“No one ever appreciates me.”
“I think they do, that’s why we’re all enormously glad to see
you leave,” replied Edgar as he held the door open for Damian.
“Very funny, Edgar. I can see you’ve finally found some
humor after all these years, too bad you looked in all the wrong places.
Seriously, though, if you need me, you call and I’ll get back here as soon
as possible with all the federal agents at my back. I shouldn’t be
gone too long, however, two to three days at most.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. If this case gets any stranger
we’re going to need that help and that infamous Coles logic of yours.
Have a safe trip, Damian. Good luck with the testimony, they’re always
a headache at the court house.”
“You too, Edgar. Keep an eye on Roger he has a good head
on his shoulders, let’s make sure he keeps it that way,” said Damian as
he shook Edgar’s hand and got into the car and drove back to the hotel.
“Was that Damian,” asked Roger as he rushed out of the station.
“Yeah, don’t worry about it though, I can give you a ride back
to the hotel, Damian has a busy morning tomorrow, we on the other hand
still have a lot of work to do and by my calculations we still have a lot
of night to do it in,” said Edgar as he led Roger back into the station.
Ricky Morris yawned deeply, he was exhausted having worked nearly
fifteen hours a day for the past three days ever since Peter had died and
his dad had had a stroke. He stared out the window and yawned again.
“If you keep doing that you’re going to put me and Anna to sleep,” commented
Shawn.
“I’m sorry, I can’t help it.”
“Yeah, I know you’ve been working yourself fairly heavily over
the past few days.”
“I need to do something, I mean I have to redeem Peter someway.”
“Yeah I know, hey man we’ll find out what sick piece of crap
did that and beat the shit out of him for a few weeks, that’ll make you
feel a little bit better.”
“Sounds good,” smiled Ricky. “Hey Anna, we’re here…oh she’s
sleeping.”
“Must be tired, she’s had a tough week too, you could say the
whole town has…what’s this?”
“Anna,” yelled Ricky as he turned around and pushed her shoulder.
Anna stirred awake and looked at Ricky. “Are you expecting company?”
“Umm, no, not that I know of. Why?” Anna sat up and
looked out the windshield and saw a group of people in black robes.
One member of the group walked forward to the car and stood in front of
it. Shawn stopped the car and watched as the figure walked around
the car to the driver’s side window.
Shawn rolled the window down as the figure pointed at Anna. “You
never should have told them Anna. Now you and they must pay for your
sin,” boomed the figure hollowly.
Shawn grunted as the figure grabbed Shawn and pulled him through
the window. “Ricky roll up the window and lock the doors! Do
it Ricky!” yelled Shawn as elbowed the figure in the head.
Ricky moved quickly and hit both the power locks and power windows
for Shawn’s window. He quickly turned to Anna and ordered, “Get down
and stay down.” Ricky then grabbed Shawn’s back up gun from the glove
compartment and loaded it. Outside of the car Shawn was fighting
for his life as more of the figures jumped on top of him, many of them
bearing metal clubs in their hands. The pile on top of Shawn stopped
moving and the figures all stood up and encircled the car.
“Dear Lord,” muttered Ricky as the figures jumped on the car
and began to shake it and hit it with their clubs. Ricky looked up
to see a metal club fast descending on the windshield he heard the glass
break and Anna scream before all hell broke loose…