Oakton

by B. Chen

  Chapter 5. The Coming Storm.

  I woke up Saturday night around 9pm after a nap.

  My room was dark and cold, the window was still open a little. I looked around. My PC was on; the only light in the room was from my twenty four inch display. My rifle was still leaning against the wall by the door. I got to my feet and glanced out the window at Beth’s bedroom window.

  I stared north towards their house while I pushed my window shut then checked messages on my device. One was from Ben; he was ‘ready for all contingencies.’ He loved using that word!

  The weather radar was displayed on my computer screen. There was a line of storms that stretched from Amarillo to central Colorado moving slowly north-east, towards us. There were flood warnings posted for the entire Missouri and Platt River basins from South Dakota to St Louis. We had severe thunderstorm and tornado watches for the entire eastern half of Nebraska. We were in the bull's-eye for the heaviest potential rainfall.

  I went downstairs to check on dinner leftovers. The meal Dad and I had earlier was like five hours and one bonfire ago. My stomach was talking again. The rest of the house was dark and quiet.

  By 10pm I was back in my room, back at my window looking at Beth's window. Beth saw me and waved. I lifted my arm to wave back so I turned to get my rifle and walked back holding it up to my chest. We can see each other above the waist.

  Then Beth stepped away from her window but returned seconds later with her pride-and-joy crossbow and a smile. I laughed. I really like her, she's lots like me. We never argue, always get along. Sometimes when we're alone we complete thoughts for each other. I know almost everything about her and she does with me too. We never keep secrets, never have. Too bad we can't be ourselves around our homes when the old folks are home.

  I turned away towards my desk to slip on my headband flashlight then walked down stairs and out the kitchen door, around the house and into the yard below my bedroom window. The only windows on this side of our house were my parents' bedroom windows and mine above theirs. Their shades were pulled, I was safe.

  She disappeared from her window only to emerge stepping out the back door carefully walking around the puddles towards the street. I slowly walked to the foot bridge. It was dark enough outside that nobody could see us.

  Like walking on a balance beam I crossed the footbridge then sitting inside the school bus shed. Beth arrived seconds later in black sweatpants and a heavy gray University of Nebraska hoodie. She sat by the door on the other bench. As soon as we made eye contact and smiled, she reached in her sweatshirt pocket pulling out a tiny bottle of bright pink nail polish and a flashlight, then kicked off her shoes and landed both her feet on my lap. I've done this for her many times before.

  In all honesty we’ve always treated each other more like family than anything else. Since my junior year she caught my eye in a whole new way. Here lately, she's looking more and more like a woman than a sister.

  “What you thinkin bro?” Beth asked while I was painting her nails. She had a tiny flashlight aimed at her toes for me.

  “I think I got a serious problem, Dad is still in total denial, plus now he’s really mad at me.”

  “Same with mine. Dad thinks it’s some deadbeats from the reservations trying to steal horses or something.” Beth added.

  “Is Bullet gonna be okay?” I asked her but she knows I'm not much of an animal person.

  “The vet let us bring her home tonight. She got IV fluids and antibiotics; she should be back to normal by morning.” She said dropping her first foot back to the floor, I was already on the second set of toes.

  “That’s good; we may need a riding horse.”

  “I hope not.” I looked her in the eye just then ‘cause I wasn’t sure what she meant by that, like her baby should never be rode too seriously or carry two skinny kids at one time or something?

  “You lose any more cats?” I asked her.

  “Don’t know, haven’t looked. You?” Beth asked me.

  “Mel’s dog's still gone. She didn't say nothin' 'bout the barn cats.” I said but trying not to sound freaked out. I pushed her other foot off my lap and handed back the nail polish bottle.

  “I got a really bad feeling about this, especially with the flood warnings.” Beth added.

  “Beth, we’re four, count ‘em, one two three four miles from the river.”

  “John, there’s a dry river bed that runs from the r i v e r all the way around our hill! We’re surrounded by the old Missouri River bed. The Winnebago Creek bed runs right around us, it's the old Missouri River bed. Hell, in 1840 this hilltop used to be part of Iowa! When they buried their dead here this place was east of the river. We’re only as safe as the flood controls up river from us. Do I gotta spell it out for ya?”

  “No. I’m freaked out about enough right now.” I answered.

  “Don’t be. We live on ground that’s higher than anything for miles in every direction. It’d take an Old Testament style flood to fill our basements.” She said holding her arms out just like her father did arguing with her at our bonfire in the street earlier today.

  “Maybe it’s just the thought of another historic flood and all the hassles and the closings and the mud and the sandbags and doom and disaster talk for week after week, then the mosquitoes, and all that crap.”

  “Hey there bro, winter’s not even over, don’t fret the mosquitoes just yet, it’s only March!”

  “So what about all these animals disappearing, what’s goin on round here? You seen anything new today?” I asked repeating what we both already knew.

  “I was taking a close look at Bullet’s back legs; it looked like she got scratched by something over and over until she bled. No knife cuts, no stabs, nothing, just scrapes like severe scratches or something. That’s why she needed the antibiotics more'an anything. Doc said she only lost a little blood, maybe a quart, but she weighs almost half a ton (500kg)!”

  Just then I got a picture in my mind of Bullet sneaking out from the paddock and casually strolling down to where the best grass grows but accidentally getting her lead stuck on a headstone and cutting her leg by bumping into the other nearby stones trying to free herself. I kept those thoughts to myself.

  “Say, I got an idea, your folks still home?” I asked Beth.

  “Yeah,why?” She asked.

  “Let’s go for a walk, take a look around.”

  “Like where?” She asked as her face lit-up.

  “Up to the cemetery?” I said pointing out the bus shed doorway to the north.

  “What you thinkin?”

  “Call it a hunch.” I couldn’t fully explain right then, I was still getting an idea in my head. I knew we needed to explore on the north side of town but I couldn’t say why.

  “Meet me by my driveway in ten minutes.” She jumped to her feet running across the street, trying to go around the puddles in her yard running around the back side of their house where she disappeared. I headed for my room to get my little hunting .22 caliber pistol to stuff in my pocket and my hunting knife strapped to my lower leg. Got my leather Indian-style jacket and cap and headed out to the street. Nobody else was up inside.

  I walked down our driveway to the street, turned left heading north. I could barely see Beth walk down her driveway standing in the street waiting on me. I bet she'll be similarly equipped. She had on her camo gear, her crossbow and arrows on her back with a wide leather strap. Her weapon had a tiny targeting laser built-in the stock too. It made a large targeting cross '+' with scale markers instead of just a simple red dot.

  We both turned to walk towards the cemetery. The area was quiet. Maybe a distant car could be heard splashing down a far off dirt road. It was cloudy, humid and getting colder. It smelled like distant rain. It smelled musty outside. All we heard really was our shoes crunching on the soggy dirt road.

  We walked down the gradual hill towards the cemetery. There was enough light from the sky to barely see where we were going. The sun set almost three ho
urs ago and there's no street lights in our town but the clouds kept it a little lighter outside reflecting the city lights from Rulo and Falls City (the town without any waterfalls).

  I really wanted to hold her hand but was too afraid to just do it. We were walking slower than we might in school occasionally brushing against each other's arm. To be honest we were spending more time looking and listening. We were trying to be invisible on our little spy mission, no flashlights were on, just our crappy human night vision. It was hard to see much of anything. The world was just shadows and different patches of gray and black but we knew the area between her house and the cemetery really well.

  Just then I spotted something large, dark and moving along the street. We were only maybe twenty yards from the cemetery; 'it' was on the other side of the road. Beth saw it too. We both froze in fear, hearts pounding, breathing fast, sweat beads forming. She silently pulled her crossbow and one arrow slowly over her shoulder to take aim.

  I reached for my flashlight and the power button.

  As softly as I could I whispered, "You ready?" and she replied, "Ready."

  Out of the corner of my eye I could barely see the crossbow was at her shoulder ready to fire.

  "Got you!" I screamed as the flashlight came on illuminating a medium sized female white tail deer who stared briefly into my light then bounded off to the east away from the cemetery. Then another one bolted from the cemetery, clearing the short stone wall in a single leap, across the street running after the first one. Too bad it's not deer season. My heart was pounding, Beth lowered her weapon. I clicked off the flashlight.

  She pushed it back over her shoulder but kept an arrow in her left hand. The large strap over her shoulder meant all she really needed to do was yank the strap which pulled the crossbow over her head right into her grip, slam the arrow on top and was ready to shoot in about one and a half seconds, much faster than me digging the pistol out of my pocket, hitting the safety and taking aim. Her competition-grade crossbow was a gift from her father. Like I said, she's quite the tomboy and a very good shooter too. I guess you could add machinist and marksman to her list of attributes too.

  This time she lowered her right hand taking my sweaty left hand in her grip. We were like two scared kids not like two sweaty high school seniors who knew each other since kindergarten.

  Inside the cemetery we went our separate ways briefly as we walked to relative's graves to pay our respects, then meet on the stone bench way in the back.

  “You know, no matter how many times I come here during the day this place still gives me the creeps at night." We sat close to each other, thighs touching, holding hands on my leg.

  “Yeah." That was all she said with a sigh as she leaned into me. I could feel her trembling from the cold and the adrenaline boost.

  “If there's two deer standing here eating means there's nothing else goin on y'know." I reminded Beth trying to put her at ease.

  “Yeah, it's a good sign, 'cause they'd run from about anything 'cept maybe a raccoon or a mouse."

  “Okay, let's talk, take an inventory of what we know and don't know." This is a chat we’ve had before for other problems, same exact script. It's something we've done together since we were little kids trying to overcome a problem. We sort of compare our notes out loud to each other just to see what we're missing or wrong about.

  “For a few days, since the snow started to melt, small animals have started to disappear, dogs, cats, come to think of it I haven't seen any critters around here 'cept those deer since last weekend. Maybe one or two barn cats is all, but I don't think I seen any of them in a couple days now either." Beth clearly summarized everything we both knew.

  “I got a really bad feeling 'bout this Beth."

  “Which part, the animals or the floods?"

  “Both, maybe they're connected, maybe not. I have no idea."

  “What should we do?" Beth asked.

  “I think you should keep Bullet inside and be ready for anything."

  “What you thinking?" Beth asked.

  “I don't know, but something's making my stomach tied in knots, like I never get this way."

  "I'm not that far behind you."

  We sat for a few moments in silence staring off into the very dark cemetery while we were both thinking. It was still too dark to see much of anything. Just enough light to slowly walk back out to the street without walking into any headstones.

  "Hey Beth, what do your folks tell you about the location of the old town and the Indian graves?"

  “Oh, that old story again?"

  “Can you just tell me what you were told?"

  "Dad said the old town was located on both sides of the road all around this cemetery sort of going up the hill towards where we live but it went along the river a bit, like there was a foot path that's gone now. He said we needed to understand that back then the river was about the only way to get from town to town. That's why Oakton was right here back then."

  "And the Indian graves?" I asked trying to keep her talking.

  “Dad said they're over more like behind Ben's place towards the north-east." She said raising her arm pointing towards the east from where we were, across the street from the cemetery and a ways into Ben's field.

  “I wonder what happened to the headstones?"

  "He said the Pawnee never used grave markers but they did bury their best warriors laying their corpses inside reed canoes to carry them up the river to an afterlife."

  "Seems like a waste of raw materials." I answered.

  “It's religion to them and besides I think they had nothing but time on their hands most of the year."

  “I wonder how many are buried out there?"

  "Dad said about a fifty, maybe less but they go back to the 1500's maybe earlier. I think this was the reason this site was chosen for town since there were already humans living here trading. The Pawnee were first. Then came the white settlers and explorers like Lewis and Clark. The first railroads in the 1860's changed everything, so did some of the bigger floods."

  "Let's walk some." We walked for a moment towards the cemetery gate. Then I spoke again. "Gotny ideas?"

  "I dunno? What we need is to find some remains. That'd tell us a lot." As usual, Beth comes up with the best plan.

  "What about the one you just buried?"

  "The back legs were gone."

  "That's where most of the meat is on a small animal."

  "Exactly." She said.

  "Maybe we should explore more. Like a search party. Probably take a closer look at Patton's old place and their basement too."

  "Good idea John." We kept walking.

  We both found our way out of the cemetery and onto the road heading towards home. I switched on my flashlight shining it towards where she said the Indians are buried. There was somethings sticking up from the ground in the field on Ben's property.

  “What's that?" Beth asked raising her arm to point at some stumps sticking out of the field. About all there was on the field was the remains of last year's soy bean plants.

  “I have no idea." We started walking on the soggy field towards something sticking up maybe a hundred feet from the road.

  "Looks like a tree stump." Beth said scratching the side of her head.

  "Looks like a bundle of twigs or small branches or something but it's hard as a rock." I shook it but it wouldn't move. The ground was clearly disturbed like someone'd recently tried to dig it up. "I think the frost is gone from the ground now, everything's getting dryer in the fields, just like Dad said." We both looked at each other by the light of my little LED flashlight.

  “Shine it around."

  I turned on my flashlight to shine all around us in a circle in every direction. We saw a few more stumps sticking up and more signs of digging.

  “Guess I never paid good attention to Ben's field before but I don't remember there being anything growing here cept beans and corn for the past few years, do you?"

  "No, I agree, just crops
." Beth replied with a worried tone.

  "Something's wrong here, I think we should be headin' for home."

  “Let's go." She agreed. “I’m starting to feel sick to my stomach too.” She mumbled out loud to herself.

  This time I got some nerve and took Beth's hand to steady us as we walked back towards the street. Without talking much we made it to the street then to her driveway then to the barn near their place.

  Beth got the end of the hose, turned it on to rinse the mud off our boots and pant legs. We didn't talk much.

  I gave Beth a quick brotherly hug and headed for home. Off in the far distance to the south-west I could see flashes of lightning up high in the clouds but it was way too far to hear any thunder. That was hours away yet. Since we're up so high we can see further than almost anyone else in the county. The Richardson County Sheriff's deputies like to come here to watch the sky for tornado clouds because of our elevation. We've never been hit but it came close a few times.

  By the time I got home it was 9:41pm. I checked the weather radar on the computer. The storms were getting closer but seemed to stall over central Kansas. They do that sometimes because of the change in elevation and the location of the jet-stream overhead. On the news the big topic was the flooding that was slowly moving down the Missouri River towards us. Rulo was forecast to reach flood stage tomorrow night, Omaha late tonight. They called for twelve feet above flood stage; the walls were built to twelve feet above flood stage. It would be a long night for lots of people.

  I set my boots on the electric boot dryer by my desk then laid on the bed to listen and think about what we saw. All I knew was something was very wrong outside but the old folks were way too busy to pay attention to a few missing cats and dogs or anything that might involve the neighbors or might make them get near the others. It just pissed me off, that childish attitude they all had.