Oakton

by B. Chen

  Chapter 7. Terror in the Dark.

  While I was laying in bed thinking about stuff I heard an odd sound up on our roof. My bedroom and Mel's are on the second floor. I can hear the rain on our steel roof, I kinda like it. Mel hates it.

  I thought the rain was further away from what I saw on the display in the living room a few minutes ago. The rain sounded odd, like a ticking sound the more I listened to it. I stayed flat on my back for a little longer listening for the sound of thunder.

  I stood up and went to the window to lift the shade. I about wet my pants when I looked out to see two large mechanical spiders hanging on my window screen with their bodies tilted looking right back at me. They looked just like the ones I saw running down the street a while ago. I jumped back as I gasped, "Oh Jesus!" to myself. Raising my hand to my neck I had to gasp a few times they startled me so badly.

  They appeared to be hanging there using tiny needles on the bottoms of their feet watching my room trying not to be noticed. Like a seven inch diameter spider could be invisible! I got an idea why they were there. I think they are trying to locate my home base, where to find me when I might be of use to them. My heart was still pounding in my chest.

  I raised my hand to gently wave at them. Both of them raised the tip of one front leg off the screen briefly. I took that to be a response but it also registered as being like creepy. Guess I'm not a big fan of animals, spiders or drones.

  Just then I heard footsteps coming up the stairs. Expecting to see Mom walk in my room it turned out to be Mel going into her room, closing her door. She always slides the lock when she goes in her room. I turned back to the window but now I could see more spider leg tips around the edge of my window screen. I had no idea how many there were.

  I turned to walk to my closet, grabbed a baseball bat and headed for the stairs then outside. The entire sky flashed with lightning as I stepped out the kitchen door. Around the back side of the house I slinked quietly. Never felt any rain drops, the ground looked dry. Made me wonder if the sounds I heard on our roof were Beth’s spiders on a spy mission.

  Over to the north side of our house I saw the spiders were gone from my window screen and none were to be seen anywhere. I turned to look at Beth's place but it was quiet, all the first floor windows had lights on. They must be eating or something. The shadow of Daisy ran past one window. Worthless animal.

  Back towards the kitchen door I turned to look at the sky, which was getting dark, the sun was setting about now. It smelled like rain. In my room I checked the radar, we were only a short distance from the leading edge of the storms, maybe thirty minutes or less till it rains. Since I was still dressed I went back downstairs to the barn to fill up the tank on both quads. Dad was sitting in the living room watching the news or something with Mom. Everyone was going on about the flood.

  I went back to my room, back to lying on my bed with stuff to think about. Slowly, the sound of thunder approached Oakton. Slowly, the flashes coming in the window became brighter. I had the shade up, curtains open, it flashed in the entire room. It didn't last long before I could hear the sound of the rain on the roof over my room. I listened as it became harder, then the sounds of the wind picked up as the front moved closer.

  It was still winter but this was more like a spring thunderstorm, sometimes they get fierce. After all, we do live in Tornado Alley. I'm guessing the conditions today aren't right for tornadoes but we could get a lot of rain and lightning.

  The rain fell real hard for a while. It came down on our steel roof like the roar of a powerful surf or something. I dozed off for a while.

  Sunday 7pm.

  It was a brilliant flash which woke me up, a huge crash immediately after it. A tree must have got hit in town. I paused to listen for a limb or tree trunk cracking but all I heard was a big increase in the rain as if the thunder shook the clouds. My heart was still pounding from the enormous thunder explosion only a couple hundred feet from my ears.

  Oh wait, I know what got hit. It was the power line again. My room was dark, the computer was off, the house was silent except for the rain sound. We must have lost power again. How lovely.

  Looking out the window I saw we weren't the only ones in the dark again. It must have struck the power line running towards Highway 73. The wind was way up now. I could see those tall old oak trees really bending. The rain was still very heavy, like the outer spirals of a tropical hurricane, 'cept not as warm.

  Something caught my eye over in Brown's yard, thought it was Ben running across the yard but he hates the rain. By the next lightning flash there was nothing to be seen. But I swear I saw a boy or a man, someone running across their yard just then.

  Downstairs there was little activity. Mom had a flashlight on, Dad was outside or in the bathroom, Mel was helping Mom light some candles. The computer in Dad's office was on, so was his desk lamp like nothing was wrong. Like me, his motto was 'always be prepared.' He had a large UPS keeping his desk lamps and computer up and running. I walked over to shut it off since he wasn't using it and there was nothing minimized. We might actually need that power for lights or something later if the power company is too busy to get to us soon.

  Lights were on in the barn, Dad must be out there firing up the generator or something. I got my rain gear from the hall closet and went outside to survey the town. I saw several lightning bolts strike the field on the other side of Brown’s house. The rain gauge on the post in the yard already showed over an inch, which is amazing in only about thirty minutes.

  You could see candle light in Meek's and Brown's places but nobody else was outside. Who else would stand outside in the rain staring at the neighbor's houses but me?

  There were some intense flashes in the sky, looked like they were just a little north of Oakton and holy crap were those thunder crashes ear splitting. Wish I could buy a stereo capable of that performance!

  I walked out to the street to see if there was a transformer on a pole on fire or something since you can see all the way to Highway 73. Nope, no smoke or fire. There's one farm between us and the highway, it looked dark too.

  The rain picked up so I went back inside. I never saw Dad anywhere.

  Back upstairs into my room I laid on my bed to listen and think. Not sure how much time went by, I must have dozed off again.

  Sunday 9:55pm.

  The rumble of new thunder woke me up again. Plus something else had changed, the power was back on in the house. Either that or Dad had the generator running out in the barn.

  I got back up on my feet, turned on the PC to check the weather radar. Based on what was going on outside, I'd say another line of storms must have formed right over Falls City.

  Looking out my bedroom window I was checking out the neighborhood lit up mostly by the flashes of lightning. What I saw scared the crap out of me, like a scene from some nightmare.

  First, I could see Bullet running lose in Meek's yard only wearing her bridle. She looked terrorized running circles around the house. Then something even more horrific caught my eye. In one brilliant but short flash from the storm clouds I caught a glimpse of something so totally wrong, it looked like a shiny wet person was squatting on the roof of the bus shed, like a guerrilla fighter hiding in the trees.

  I stood there with my hand on my chest, heart pounding, sick to my stomach, the feeling of raw terror pumping huge amounts of adrenaline into my veins. I waited for another flash of lightning, which never seemed to come. So I darted across the room grabbing my rifle and a magazine off the desk, then back to the window. I panicked, didn't know what to do. I wanted to scream or do something but it seemed I was frozen in the spot at my bedroom window waiting for the storm clouds to flash again.

  Then it came. FLASH! I stared right at the bus shed, there it was again, the outline of someone looking totally covered in black slimy mud or grease or something. No hint of clothing I could see or any details, but it was definitely a person on the roof of the shed, crouching down moving his head side to side lik
e a soldier on reconnaissance duty. He looked small compared to the size of the shed.

  Now it was dark. I was still frozen with fear. Next flash was far off but I think I saw the man or boy was gone from the shed roof but I caught a glimpse of him running down the middle of the road heading east towards Patton's property.

  I turned to run out of my room grabbing my .22 cal pistol too along the way. I also grabbed the bat signal, the rest of my mags and my device, running down the stairs, around the kitchen table, across the mud room out the door into the yard.

  The barn was lit up but nobody was around. Around the back corners of our house, I kept close to the side walls stepping into what would be Mom's flower gardens this spring. Right now I couldn't care less. All I could think about was being quiet and invisible. Luckily I still had my cammo stuff on. My heart was still pounding in my chest, the rain dripped down onto my head then ran across my face, down my cheeks. I could feel a trickle of cold water running down my shirt right over my spine and across my chest and stomach.

  I thought my heart was pounding so loudly it could be heard all over the yard. The lightning flashed again with moderate thunder, but nobody was in our yard as I peeked around the corner of the house towards the bus shed.

  Standing there leaning into the corner of the house, slowly getting wetter I realized the water was coming from the gutter leak above me, so I stepped back-the dripping on the top of my head stopped.

  I heard the sound of something across the street by Beth's house and could barely see Bullet was still running like a crazed-terrified animal around their house again and again. The bat signal laser was in my pocket. Fishing it out without lowering my aim at the bus shed I pressed the button aiming it straight inside her bedroom window on the far wall. I pressed it numerous times to make the light flash on and off and shake a bit to make a large red smear on her wall.

  It felt like the tip was getting warm, it was about the longest I ever ran the laser before. You could see an occasional red flash as rain drops fell through the beam on its way to Beth's room across the street.

  A huge weight was lifted when I caught a glimpse of movement in her room. I think I could see a sliver of pale face in the corner of her other window, I knew she was looking around to see what was up. I started moving the light around in their yard so she’d look down and see her horse on her next lap around the house.

  Leaning forward again to survey the entire scene of our yard, the road, and Beth's yard I made a mad dash for the road heading straight north. Never tried it before, not even in football practice. I ran as fast as I could, jumped, and stretched my legs making it across the ditches along both sides of the road without crashing onto my face.

  I kept up the mad dash, panting, holding my rifle out in front as I headed as fast as my legs could manage for the corner of their house to assume basically the same spot there as I just left at my place. Bullet ignored me as she rounded the house another time.

  The sound of Meek's squeaky backdoor opening was something that slightly soothed my aching pounding heart. I nearly smiled but my chest still heaved with rapid breathing from my forty yard dash over to their house.

  "What the..." was all she said as Bullet rounded the house again in a panicked race to nowhere. At least she'd be more likely to survive if she wasn't standing still; horses are after all prey animals designed for flight as their primary defense.

  On the next go-round, Beth started running and caught the lead as Bullet ran past. It took some skilled handling and calm speaking but Beth got her under control and headed back for the paddock, I followed still breathlessly panting. Did I mention that Bullet got her odd name because of her speed?

  "What happened?" She asked.

  "I think we're under attack!" I yelled at a whisper as the skies flashed and the rain continued a moderate rate. “What we’ve been afraid of? It just started!”

  "What you talkin about?"

  "I saw it, scared the crap outta me! There was a guy on the roof of the bus shed. He jumped down and headed towards Patton's old place."

  "What you mean?"

  "I saw some dude, all shiny and black like he just crawled out of a bucket of oil or something on the roof of the bus shed about two minutes ago. The lightning was all there was to see with, he's crouched down like a guard watching for stuff. Then I saw him running up the street about as fast as Bullet, he looked kinda small for a man."

  She stood staring in my eyes to see if I was kidding, but terror was written all over my drenched body, lit only by the flashes of lightning from the storm clouds above Oakton. She pulled the gate to the paddock shut while watching my face. I had rain water and hair almost in my eyes so I paused to wipe my entire face dry with one hand, but I must have looked panicked to her when I did it.

  Just then it hit me that it was this guy from the bus shed roof that probably spooked Bullet, maybe the same person who sliced her leg the last time. I didn't mention that out loud, just flashed through my brain but it made sense, Bullet knew but she couldn't tell us, except by her actions, but it all fits.

  10:02pm.

  What we didn't know at the time was in Brown's field something far far worse than any of us could have imagined was happening right now.

  As the rains fell and softened the soil the 'stumps' we saw earlier were slowly steadily rising from the mud. At first they looked like tree sapling trunks but were actually the bows of ancient reed canoes the Pawnee once made for their deceased warriors buried in their cemetery.

  They would dig burial pits a bit larger and shaped like their reed canoes, the deceased Pawnee warriors were placed in the dug-out area, wrapped and preserved with oils and spices then buried whole.

  Slowly, by the light from the storms overhead the shapes of several reed canoes slowly raised in unison towards the heavens. First one started to move, then another.

  Then in their rider compartment area appeared the muddy blackened top of someone’s head, then another, as they slowly rose towards the stormy sky. Only God and Mother Nature herself were witness to the horrific events unfolding at the old Pawnee burial grounds north of Brown's house.

  Now the reed canoe hulls were about three or four feet high, pointing straight in the air. Partial faces were visible as if a deceased Pawnee warrior was still laying in the dug-out. The storms seemed to intensify as if on command from the Indian Gods as now heads and necks could be seen during the flashes of lightning.

  Then shoulders and chests appeared, coated in slimy black mud the bodies of the warriors emerged from the mud as they clung to the inside of the very reed canoes they intended to someday ride to their places in heaven but were now returning as warriors to protect their sacred lands once again.

  The storms worsened, the rain fell harder as if in celebration of the births unfolding in the farm field nearly alongside the rapidly filling dry creek bed just to the north. The entire loop of dry creek bed surrounding three sides of the Oakton high-ground was rapidly filling with Missouri River flood waters.

  A few more minutes went by as the four warriors rose past their knees from the earth that had kept them safe for hundreds of years was now giving them up as the nearby flood waters rose far above anything they had seen before, except at the time they were alive and this was the normal location of the mighty river.

  No man witnessed the births. Each of the small skinny warriors opened their brilliant white eyes stepping away from their reed coffins. Their canoes continued their re-birth; rising from the native soil that always provided them life since centuries ago when the Pawnee and the buffalo herds were all there was in this part of the Great Plains.

  The soldiers crouched and ran for a nearby tree as one by one their reed canoes fell over ready once more for service. The Pawnee spoke in whispers speaking also with their hands in gestures and faint spoken language. One turned his head, then all four quickly crouched low to the earth.

  Another soldier ran to join them from the south-east. The men hugged briefly but remained in a l
ow crouching huddle speaking slightly in an odd dialect no living man could understand today. The rains slowed to moderate but the sky continued to flash as the storm morphed into an electrical event with flashes of lightning every second, sometimes faster. It was an impressive display of nature, the rare electrical storm. The rain continued to fall as the tips of more canoes started to emerge from the field.

  Behind the closely huddled Indian warriors the water from the flooded Missouri River had already reached Oakton. Once again, first time in over one hundred years the Fricke Cemetery was less than fifty feet from the river's edge. It was as if time had flung itself backwards. The Pawnee seemed to recognize the terrain but the old town was gone, and the new homes were strange, huge, vulnerable, and on their sacred lands. They had but one thing to do, protect their sacred mound from the invaders. The plan was set; it was kill the invaders. The men separated heading in different directions around Oakton. Their only weapons were stone tipped spears, rocks fashioned into cutting blades, and cunning as well as experience killing buffalo with their bare hands, they were experienced hunter-killers without remorse.