Samson fell unconscious onto the library floor.
CHAPTER 13: HUNT FOR A NOMAD
Chance - Henryetta, Ok
Gavan sat at his home office. He sighed a breath of frustration, knowing the task he had to accomplish. He had to inform the parents of the youth group the situation on Sam Otto, but he felt unsure about it. Getting on his computer, he opened up a social media platform and then wrote:
Update on Samson Otto
I just returned from visiting Sam in the hospital. He is doing fine but, at this time, the family is requesting no visitors. Sam had a shoulder injury, and his body is having the associated stressors of a severe injury. As grim as that sounds, the doctors and nurses assured us it could have been worse.
Sam is not in any trouble, but due to the nature of the situation, please be aware that there may be police present in his room. I am only saying this so that people are not shocked by the case. Karen and Valant Otto wanted me to thank you for the prayers, and the meals you prepared, but hope you will respect their requests for no visitors.
God bless,
Gavan
Immediately, using the same social media platform, Gavan opened the messenger platform and sent a message to Elena:
That social media post was not a lie, but it is such a whitewash of what happened, I feel a little concerned. I am only telling you this because I know you were the last person to see him and I don't want your mind tied up with what actually happened.
The room was packed. In Gavan's area, there was a general medical doctor, a shoulder specialist, his parents, his siblings, Highway Patrol, the Okmulgee County Sheriff, and the Henryetta Chief of Police.
I was not lying when I said that he was very fortunate. The shoulder injury and the associated shock were terrible, but the shoulder injury itself could have been a lot worse. Trauma can be fatal, but it was caught early. Like I said, considering what happened, it could have been worse.
Gavan’s computer dinged with a message. Looking down at the messenger platform he saw a messenger from Elena:
That doesn't tell me anything. What happened to him?
Why were county, city, and state police in there?
Gavan wrote back: Short answer – he was kidnapped and assaulted.
Sam had been driving home, that night after you saw him at the gas station. He said he was at the light, and then suddenly his door was open. He turned his head to see what it was, and in thirty seconds, Sam said his seat belt was cut, he was lifted and tossed out of his car. He got up to run, and when he did, his car was already gone.
He ran, trying to evade who was chasing him and was thrown to the ground. Before he could get up and run a third time, he was tackled, and the assailant did some-sort of MMA move and broke his arm at the shoulder.
The strange thing is, the police found his car about the same time they saw him. They nicknamed his vehicle, "The Dirty Word," because all anyone did was a curse when they thought about it. The car had been completely stripped. All the car’s panels and floorboards were cut out though some were put back into place. What is strange is that nothing was stolen. Whoever did this must have been wearing gloves, and been familiar with forensics, because there was no evidence inside the car.
His story, I'm afraid, is still pretty inconsistent. I think he may have been lying, about certain things, but there was one thing he was consistent about.
When they asked him who had done it, his reply was always the same.
“The Walking Man, the Walking Man did this to me!”
Gavan: Elena, you said you had a friend who was good at research, right?
Elena: Yeah, what’s up?
Gavan: Could you please forward my information to her? I think I may know some answers.
CHAPTER 14: ALIEN EARS
Elena - Henryetta
In the current situation, fear never departed from Elena. All her senses were exhausted from the constant efforts of self-preservation. While she never gave up concern, she would grow too fatigued to maintain her vigilance. She felt so much fatigue it bordered on indifference. Elena stood in her kitchen looking out the window.
"Something died out there," she said, each word slow and dramatic.
She looked deep into the woods.
"Someone died out there. You know this. It is time to go see for yourself."
Elena thought about the day she found the puppy. She had almost gone into the woods but had stopped when she discovered O'Reilly. Elena went back into her room, then into her closet. Just like on the day she had found O'Reilly, she picked up her arm and its holster. Doolin attached her holster to her belt, grabbed her pistol from her closet, did the function check on her Austrian designed gun, and then walked back to the door. She opened the door and stared out at the wooded area.
"You know what you have to do," she said to herself.
She holstered her weapon and walked out to the wooded area. Her senses were always stronger than that of other people. She could see and smell better. Elena tilted her head back, and let the wind bring the scent of death to her. There was something in the woods. The wind brought her a unique, and a strange smell. She feared that someone, the Walking Man, was watching her as she walked into the woods. Elena pulled a hair tie from her pocket, and tightly pulled her hair back against her head, exposing her ears. Now, she would hear anything that approached.
From the time she had been in elementary school, she had never tied her hair back in front of people. Elena's hearing was great, but her ears were always a point of self-consciousness. The physical structure of ears brought her unwanted attention and embarrassment. Exposure was not just an issue; it was a downright phobia.
Elena's ears were leaf-shaped, with points at the top.
Other elementary school students ridiculed the young Elena for her "Nimoy-ears." They called her Lena Nimoy after Leonard Nimoy. Kids could be cruel. Even as an adult, on no-good days, her mind would relive the harassment she endured because of her ears. Since then, Elena ensured her hair covered these unique features, going as far as taping her ears down. But now, her ears were exposed, and she felt she could hear everything.
While she used her hearing to stay on guard, she followed the smell in search for whatever was in the woods. Elena pushed the branches away and snuck into the woods. She conducted a scan of the hidden area but did not see anything that grabbed her attention.
Elena continued following the scent.
"Bingo!" she said to herself.
She saw gray colored objects and each step she took brought them into better view.
There on the ground was a carcass with an exposed rib cage, and above it was an exposed skull. A few days ago Elena would have shaken uncontrollably, but she was now too tired to be overwhelmed by any emotion. She looked down at the bones and then up. The unique scent caught her attention, and she followed it. As she walked towards the direction it was coming from, the stench grew stronger.
"There," she said to herself. "Another...another carcass."
The first skeleton had been torn apart by animals but this one was still intact. A fallen cedar tree covered all of the body minus its feet. She stepped closer and kicked the figure's foot. The foot was stiff and unresponsive to Elena's blow.
Curiosity did not overcome her fear, but it briefly distracted her from it.
"What is this?" asked Elena.
The corpse under the brush was not like the skeleton that she had found earlier. The body was still intact, and other than the smell it showed no other signs of the breakdown. However, its skin looked different from what Elena expected. It did not have the yellow tint she had seen in open caskets. The figure’s skin was dark green, and it had shoulder length black hair.
Elena wanted to touch its skin but her hand shook so much he pulled it back.
"What is happening in Henryetta?" asked Elena.
CHAPTER 15: CRIES-FOR-WAR
Elena - Henryetta
Gavan Jenkins, remembering Elena Doolin’s advice looked at t
he number in his phone.
Sasha Ferrell.
There was something almost mystical about the name as he contemplated contacting her. He knew that she was great with research, but the boys in his youth group were not just in love with her, it was like they were hypnotized with her. Gavan grimaced and picked started to send a text message. He knew she would be a great resource:
Gavan: Sasha, I am Elena Doolin’s friend. She told me you were an English teacher and are good at research. Do you think you could help me?
Sasha Ferrell: What’s up? I think Elena mentioned you before.
Gavan: I am researching a...project for my high school reunion. I have been tied up with some unexpected issues, and I was wondering if you could help me.
I'm a just a poor dumb preacher, so I can't compensate you that well, but we'll think of something.
Sasha: Alright, text me the information, and I’ll get back to you. Yeah, we will find a way for you to pay me back, lol. ;)
***
Sasha Ferrell met Gavan at the church door and followed him to his office. Gavan's office, which he usually kept neat, had yearbooks and newspapers stacked on his desk. He pointed to the documents on his desk.
"Alright, Sasha, here are all my documents on my high school, and here is all the information I resourced to get it. Elena said you could do this thing, where you take all of my pictures, and through face recognition, you sift through them and identify who the people are. Can you do that?"
“Yes, I can. Great skill for an English major to have. I did a lot of research that way.”
“Research? I just thought you wrote pretentious essays about The Great Gatsby," said Gavan, then he immediately felt inappropriate for being flirtatious. “So face recognition software...is that something a lot of English teachers have access too?"
"The Great Gatsby? Oh, it's a great novel alright. You wouldn't understand because you're a poor youth minister," she said, biting her bottom lip and winking at him.
“Oh, right here,” he said playfully pointing at his heart, “do you think you’ll be able to see all that information without your monocle?”
"I don't know; I may have to depend on the common-folk to help me.”
Gavan felt butterflies in his stomach, and he smiled at her broadly, unable to contain his new-found excitement. He was still single and had not flirted in such an aggressive manner since he was a teenager. He noticed she voided his second question, and kept the conversation in the realm that made him uncomfortable; she was trying to get him to flirt with her. Gavan thought of the students he mentored and instantly grew embarrassed. His face turned red, and he was afraid. Sasha noticed it.
“Now, what did you want to show me?” she asked, grabbing his bicep.
Slowly, Gavan looked down at her hand, and then back up at her.
“Gavan!” cried a voice from down the hallway. “Oh, Gavan!”
The church secretary, Zena Carouthers, entered the room. Her eyes lifted above her glasses in surprise, as she stepped into his office. “Oh, I hope, I…didn’t disturb anything?”
Gavan felt like he was going to explode from the intense heat on his face. His skin became bright red with embarrassment. Beads of sweat began to cover his forehead immediately.
"No, Zena. Sasha is helping me with a research project," he said, being honest, but still feeling like a liar. He tried to change the topic, "Is there something I can help you with?”
“Yes, it’s Sam’s mother. She said she tried calling you but you didn’t answer. So, she called the church phone.”
As Zena spoke, Gavan pulled out his smart-phone, and shook his head in disbelief. “Five missed calls? That’s not possible, how could I have been so distracted?”
“Is everything, okay?” asked Sasha, “Sam is one of my students. Should I be worried?”
"I don't know. She said he is distraught. She is on the phone in the auditorium," said Zena. “Gavan, will you go and answer that, or will you call her back on your phone?”
"My phone seems to be working, and the ringer is on. How could I have missed both the vibration and the ringing?"
“Gavan? Will you call her on your phone?”
“No, no. This thing must be cursed. I will answer the other phone. Please, excuse me, Sasha. I must take care of this.”
“You must do what you have to,” said Sasha.
Gavan hurried down the stairs, and into the area outside of the auditorium. When there was no one in the building, the lights were turned off, and because there were no windows nearby, the room was dim. In the twilight, Gavan saw the phone and walked towards it.
“Hello?”
“Gavan, is that you?”
“Yes, Mrs. Otto, what can I help you with?”
"I don't know; it's Sam. I’ve never seen him like this before. I don’t know why he is acting this way.”
"Don't you think it's because the Walking Man assaulted him? The kid's gone through a lot."
"No, I know my son. He's always funny, and talkative. He's gotten beaten up before, and yes, the Walking Man is scary, but that is not what is bothering him. That would be fear and nervousness, but he isn't acting that way."
“Everyone responds to things different –”
"I thought you'd say that, but I know my son. I can tell when he is scared. At night, and when he is left alone, the security guard makes frequent trips to his room. Sam gets very scared when the security guard leaves. But his fear is something greater than just when the security guard.”
“In what way?”
“He is no longer funny. Dallas has been in here, some of the boys from the football team, but his jokes aren’t funny. They are mean. He loves to hit people in football, but he's not mean-spirited. Not my boy. Sam accused one of his friends of sifting through his phone; I have never seen him act paranoid like that. After his friend left, I got onto him about it and told him he wasn't kind to someone who cared about him. He became irate and screamed at me. His mood has been random. Each day is different."
“Do you think it’s a concussion, the effect of shock?”
"No, the doctor said that he had no injury to his head. The shock had an impact, but he is fully hydrated, and the doctor wants to release him from the hospital."
Zena tapped Gavan on the shoulder. With the phone still up to his ear, he turned to her. Zena was notorious for speaking to people while they were on the phone, or in the middle of something. Mrs. Otto continued her rant, while Zena started to talk to him.
“She was on your computer sifting through your files, and she shot me the look of death when I asked her how she knew."
“I’ll go take care of it,” whispered Gavan as he still held the phone to his ear.
“I’m so scared. Where did we go wrong?”
"Ah, but Sam was kidnapped," said Gavan.
“I’m not thinking about that at all, I mean, why is he acting this way? Did we do something wrong?”
"I- don't think so, I'll come to check on him."
“Please do,” said Mrs. Otto.
“I will.”
The youth minister felt a hand grab his arm. He looked around, and there was Sasha Ferrel, her hand still on his arm. This time, he did not feel excited by her touch. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck, standing straight as if at attention.
“You must be able to see in the dark, how did you know where I was? You have never been through this way before?”
“I’ve been here with Elena before. Well, I think the city of Henryetta owes you a medal.”
“Me?”
“What did I do?”
“Come here, and I’ll show you.”
The two walked through the dimly lit room. The hallway was dark, and Gavan felt her bump into him two or three times as they walked.
"This girl is beautiful. But why does she suddenly repulse me?" thought Gavan.
He thought of the mean glare that Zena had directed at him, while he was on the phone. The teenagers had teased Zena, because of some of he
r more charming personality traits, but she was a good woman. At times Zena gossiped, but overall, she was kind. Church leadership kept her out of the clothing room because she gave so much away.
"There," said Sasha, who held up a long pale finger, with a fingernail so long it almost looked like a claw. “You found out who he is.”
Gavan walked behind the computer and sat down.
“No, that’s not possible.”
“You should be proud, you found him!”
"No, that's not possible. I refuse to believe it!" said Gavan and clutched his hand with both hands.
"Gavan, you should be excited," said Sasha.
"Asher Cries-For-War can't be the Walking Man!" screamed Gavan.
The Dark Lord of Oklahoma Page 8