Johnny sighed. “Will go down in history as the biggest calamity to befall man, that’s for sure. And I’ll have to thank Tres again for pushing us toward the cave. We made it through a very tough time. Have to wonder how the people on Knotts Island fared.”
The brakes on the Plymouth ground against the drums as the car pulled to a stop at the barricade.
The lone guard walked to the car window. “Mr. Hardy, Mr. Tretcher, what you coming in for?”
“Hoping to score a few parts for Jack Reynolds’ tractor, and maybe brake shoes for his car here. Back right is grinding the drum.”
The man wiped his nose on his sleeve. “Did you try twisting the adjustment all the way in? Will make it harder to stop, but it should keep that drum like it is until you can change out those shoes.”
Johnny nodded. “Did that just before the last trip. Keeps resetting on us.”
The man frowned. “Can’t say you’re gonna find shoes for that beast. You know, you could always rip that whole rear axle out and put in a modern one. Plenty of dead cars to choose from.”
Mace replied, “That’s a good idea. We still have acetylene for our torch. Tres could weld up whatever we need. We’ll have to consider that. Thanks, Tommy.”
The barricade guard stepped back and waved them through. The auto parts store had been picked clean of points, condensers, and the other parts needed for the tractor. A note for barter was posted with a ‘name your price’ trade for moonshine. The store owner was offered a gallon of shine for displaying the post. He gladly accepted.
A quick stop at the town saloon saw a trade of fourteen gallons of moonshine for four laying hens.
The barkeep offered a shot. “You fellas have made me one of the richest men in town, if you can call this rich. I’d just like to thank you for your business.”
Johnny collected and downed his glass with a strained face. “Still not used to the Tabasco kick that stuff has. Burns enough all on its own.”
Mace asked, “What news you have from outside?”
The bartender turned a chair around and sat down. “We had two soldiers in here a couple weeks ago saying they got attacked by another camp. Both sides lost half their men before the attackers retreated. One of them said their food ran out first of February and the commander told them to disperse. They were released, and with no food. They were coming from the Army Reserve Depot just south of Baltimore and hoping to join up with a camp in Charleston. You know it’s bad when the Army is fighting each other.”
The Caldwell police chief walked through the door. “Mr. Hardy, glad you’re here. Drop off a new supply?”
Mace nodded. “Didn’t know it was that important to you, Chief.”
The chief pulled up a chair to their small round table. “So long as we keep the yokels supplied they’ll keep manning those barricades. What’s new out your way?”
“Just trying to get ready to plant some crops. We got the seed needed for this year. This fall we’ll have to set aside enough to give next year a kick. Just glad we have enough of the old people in the valley who still know what they’re doing. Everything will have to be done old-school now, and they’re the ones who know how.”
The chief nodded as the bartender set a shot of shine down in front of him. “Sad thing is, the city folk tossed their elders to the curb first. Said they had no value and were using up the resources of the young. I heard up in Philly they had gangs going around culling anyone over forty-five. If you looked close and couldn’t prove your age, they went ahead and whacked you right there. We had a man passing by in January that said New York was rampant with cannibalism.”
Johnny frowned. “I would bet this summer we’ll be seeing more exodus from the cities as the food people stockpiled disappears. And all you have to do is think about the big farms that delivered all the corn and grain from the Midwest. Those massive tractors won’t be running this year. You can probably scratch ninety percent of that production. Small or community farms will be where it’s at.”
The chief nodded. “I wanted to talk to the two of you about that. We have the people here in town that can supply the labor and security if your co-ops can manage the farming around here. You have the land and we have the people. We need to work out some type of crop sharing agreements.”
Mace crossed his arms. “We have eight co-ops from here over to Ronceverte and down to Second Creek. I think between your two towns and the land in the valley, we should be able to come to a mutually beneficial arrangement. We have a co-op meeting tomorrow. You should go and I’ll bring it up.”
The chief said, “If we can do this right this year, we can do it from here on out. That gives us all something to work for.”
Johnny replied, “Had the same conversation with my wife a few months back. She said essentially the same thing. We need something to hope for, a plan for the future. A path toward a better future.”
The chief stood. “I do like your wife, Mr. Tretcher. Wonderful woman.”
“Next time you see her be sure to tell her so. She’s still smarting from having to turn hungry people away in the cold.”
The chief sighed. “We’re all smarting from that, Mr. Tretcher. Difficult times call for difficult measures.”
Chapter 3
*
Mace stood, picking up the caged chickens they had traded for. The two men walked to the Plymouth and were soon crossing under the railroad bridge leading back to the cave.
Johnny tapped his fingers on the dash. “I’ll measure up the axle of the SUV when we get back. The brakes are disc, but that shouldn’t be a problem. Just had them replaced before this all happened.”
Mace slowed as a stray cow walked into the road. “That looks like one of the Catters��� herd. That’s just to the right up over that hill. They still had six head last I talked to them.”
“What’s that red number three painted on the side of it?”
Mace pulled to a stop as the cow turned to look at him. “He painted a number on the side of each one so he could keep track of them from the house. Kind of makes it easy to see if one is missing. Why don’t you tie it to that post over there and we’ll go check this out.”
“Probably be lucky it’s still here when we get back. Might as well paint ‘free’ on the side of it.”
Five minutes later the Plymouth pulled to a stop in front of the Catter property. The door to the house was wide open.
Mace was the first out of the car. “Gate’s open out back. Go around this side. See if you can come in from the back.”
Johnny slipped down the side of the house as Mace stopped at the front door. “Hello? Anyone home? Mr. Catter? You in there?”
Dan Catter lived with his wheelchair-bound teenage son.
Johnny called from around back. “Door’s open here as well.”
Mace again called out. “Mr. Catter? Thomas? Anyone home?”
No response was heard.
Johnny came through the kitchen as Mace moved through the living room to the interior hall.
“Mace, this does not look good.”
A door to a back bedroom was partially open. A thin rubber tire-track had rolled through a pool of blood, now mostly dry.
Mace entered the room. “They’re dead. Shot in the head.”
Johnny took a deep breath. “Pen out back is empty. Whoever did this must have missed that one cow.”
“Or the others are walking loose, too. The kid does have a gun in his lap.”
Johnny winced. “Suicide?”
Mace moved closer to the dead teen in the wheelchair as he checked a closet. “One way to tell. Look over that revolver. Tell me how many rounds are in it.”
Johnny picked up the weapon, flipping it open. “None. No spent casings. Gun wasn’t fired.”
Just outside a window, a teen girl could be seen sprinting away.
Mace raced to the front door. “Hold up! Tammy Snyder, is that you?”
The girl slowed to a stop and turned as Mace caught up to her. “I
didn’t do nothing. They was like that when I got here.”
Mace held up his hand. “It’s OK. Nobody thinks this was you. But do you know anything about what happened? That’s your place just down the road there, isn’t it?”
The girl nodded. “I saw when it happened. I mean… I think when it happened. There was a stake truck that come up from over the hill like you. We don’t get much traffic so I ran to my window to look. Truck pulled in the drive and two men went into the house. They come out ten minutes later, loaded three cows out of the pen in the back and drove off.”
Johnny asked, “How long ago was that?”
Tammy shrugged. “Maybe an hour? There was a fourth cow in the pen, but it wouldn’t fit in the truck. One of ‘em tied a rope to it and was pulling it behind ‘em for about a hundred feet. Then he cut it loose. Probably was going too slow. Is Thomas and Mr. Catter OK? I called in but no one answered. I was too scared to go in. Then you pulled up.”
Mace put his hand on her shoulder. “I’m afraid not. Go tell your father there was trouble. We think the Catters were murdered for their cows. We’ll head back and see if we can find anything out about someone going up or down the road. Oh, and tell your dad that fourth cow is tied up out by the roadway. Somebody needs to bring it back here. And tell him we’ll be back as soon as we know anything.”
The teen girl nodded, turned and ran.
Mace frowned as he sat behind the wheel. “We’ll drop the chickens and then check with the neighbors down the road. Whoever was keeping watch at our drive should have seen that truck if it passed our way.”
Johnny put his hand up on its usual spot on the dash. “Hard luck to make it through the winter only to be robbed and murdered. That truck couldn’t have come from Caldwell. They don’t let anyone pass through.”
Several minutes later, the old Plymouth ground to a halt at the drive to the cave.
Tres stood. “Get the parts?”
Mace slowly shook his head. “No. I need you to take these chickens down to the cave. Turn them over to Vanessa. We’ve got some grisly business to tend to.”
“What should I tell Jane?”
Johnny said, “Somebody robbed and killed the Catters about an hour ago. You see any trucks come through here?”
“A stake body with three cows. I thought about stopping them to ask who they were.”
“Be glad you didn’t.”
Mace shifted the car into reverse. “Tell Jane we’re gonna take a shot at tracking them down.”
Tres backed up, setting the two chicken cages gently on the ground. “Darryl Tucker should be down there at 219. You can ask him which way they went. If he didn’t see ‘em, he heard ‘em.”
“Be back as soon as we can.”
Tres picked up the chicken cages as the Plymouth moved down the road toward the next intersection. Darryl Tucker was slouching in his chair as they pulled up.
After checking on their neighbor, Johnny sighed. “They killed Darryl. Right through the chest.”
“Ronceverte or south toward Union?”
Johnny pointed. “Gotta be Union. Ronceverte wouldn’t let someone out of the valley with three head of cattle without the owner being there to vouch for them. They consider this their food supply just like we do.”
As they pulled out onto 219 heading south, a huge shadow crossed over the road in front of them.
Mace brought the car to a stop. “OK, what was that?”
Johnny shook his head as he attempted to look out the windows. “Can’t see. Went behind those trees, whatever it was.”
Mace got out of the car, looking around at the clear blue sky above. “That was flying. And it was big.”
Johnny opened his door and stood. “And it was a wide shadow.”
Mace replied, “You thinking what I’m thinking?”
Johnny nodded. “Yeah, let’s go back. If those cattle are still in this valley, somebody will know. If they’ve left, then there isn’t much we can do about it anyhow.”
Mace backed up the car. “I still think we need to close off that bridge at Second Creek. Had we done that, this probably wouldn’t have happened.”
When they returned to the cave, Jane, Vanessa, Tres and Jasper were standing on the drive in front of the gift shop, looking up at the sky.
Johnny was the first out of the car. “What’d you see?”
Tres shook his head. “Well, I know what I saw before now. It was a massive spaceship.”
Johnny laughed. “Yeah, right…”
“We all saw it,” said Jane. “Probably three hundred yards long and seventy-five yards wide.”
Jane walked over, placing her hand on Johnny’s forearm. “And it was not from this planet, unless we’ve been missing something big.”
Tres nodded. “It was whisper quiet, too. Just floated across, but at a good clip.”
Jasper said, “If I was to guess, it’s headed toward Richmond.”
The group stood in silence for several minutes, scanning the sky.
Johnny said, “Anyone else thinking what I’m thinking?”
Mace replied, “The interference came from those ships?”
Johnny nodded. “Only thing that makes sense. EMP came from them, too.”
Jane added, “Not sure what we should do about this, or can do about this.”
Mace took a deep breath. “I think we need to get the co-ops and the townsfolk together.”
Two hours later, a group of forty-two people were standing beside a centrally located barn, all in deep discussion.
Mace held up his hand and whistled. “People, this way.”
Everyone quieted and turned to face him. “Who here saw the ship?”
Most hands were raised.
Mace continued: “The one we saw was three hundred yards long by seventy-five wide. It was a silverish-gray, and was covered with conduits and such on the exterior. It also had two large nozzles protruding from the back, but there were no signs of thrust of any kind. Nose of the ship came into a point. If anyone saw something other than that, please hold up your hand.”
As Mace scanned the small crowd, no hands were raised.
Mace glanced back toward where it had gone. “Our guess is it was headed toward Richmond. Anyone else see it going in another direction?”
Again, no hands were raised.
One of the townies asked, “What is it? I mean, from where?”
Mace shook his head. “I wish I knew. Everyone saw the same thing. I brought us all together to discuss our options. What do we do? What can we do? Should we organize watches for more? Should we think about defending ourselves, and if so, how?”
Blank stares were returned for almost a minute. “OK, for the moment. I guess we just keep doing what we’ve been doing until we have more information. Although, I would suggest each co-op assign a watchman. We keep an eye on the sky 24/7. We can talk among ourselves in the meantime, and meet back here at noon on Thursday. Anyone have issue with that?”
The small crowd was silent.
Mace took a deep breath. “Before we go, I have one more thing to discuss. I just came from the Catter place. It’s over here just below Caldwell. A stake-body truck pulled in their drive about noon today. Two men went inside and murdered Dan Catter and his boy Thomas. They then went on to rustle three head of cattle before killing Darryl Foster at the 63-219 intersection. Our best guess is they went south from there.
“Anyone else with a vehicle who would volunteer your time, we could use your help in canvassing the valley going south to Union. If these butchers are anywhere near us, they’ll be back, and that puts all of us in danger. And for those who think you don’t have skin in the game, we now have three less head of cattle as part of our valley food supply. We can’t have outsiders coming in, murdering our people and stealing our food.”
As the crowd dispersed, half a dozen volunteers came over to aid in the search for the murderers of the Catters. The directive was given to canvas the neighbors along 219 going south for anyone wh
o might have seen or heard the truck go by.
Johnny hopped in the car with Mace. “We start hitting up the homes right on the highway below Second Creek.”
Mace nodded. “There are so few vehicles running. Hearing one come past has to draw people’s attention. Somebody saw something.”
The duo stopped by the cave to fill the others in on the meeting before proceeding down to 219 and Second Creek. The first three homes they checked, no one answered the door.
The door of the fourth opened. “What you need?”
Johnny asked, “A stake body truck should have gone past here around noon. You see or hear it go by?”
The man sucked on a toothpick. “Hauling cattle. Yeah, they went by. Had a second truck following them. Can’t say I’ve seen them through here before. What’s the problem?”
Johnny glanced back at the road. “They murdered three people and rustled the cattle. We want to know where they went and if they’ll be back.”
The man spat his toothpick out onto the grass of his front lawn. “I lost my pigs last week. They took a shot at my boy when he tried to stop ‘em. Different truck, but I bet it’s the same thugs. I heard rumor of a big livestock trade going on over in New Castle. Given the situation, I doubt buyers are asking many questions.”
Johnny turned toward Mace. “Will take us an hour to get over there. What are the chances we’ll find three cows with red numbers painted on their sides?”
“Only one way to find out.”
Johnny turned back to face the man. “Any markings on your pigs?”
The man half frowned. “Both are black and white, nothing unusual other than their ear tags. They would have a 56 and a 57 on them. Although, most likely those would get removed. And it’s been a full week. I’d have gone over there but I don’t have any working vehicles.”
Johnny gestured toward the car. “If you have the time now we could take you over with us. Not sure how we bring your pigs back if we find them. But it wouldn’t hurt to identify the men doing this anyway.”
HADRON Axiom Page 3