Relative to the other homesteads and farmhouses, Jake’s house was unusually close to Frank’s, but the two families from different eras enjoyed the friendship that blossomed from that closeness.
The men exchanged a few final words and nodded as they parted. Sasha stood to stretch, let out a high pitched whine and trotted off with Jake. Jake and Sasha crossed the fence and continued to the back of the property to finish the morning outing.
The cool morning air was the first sign of autumn’s arrival. The gentle breeze would soon rustle the pecans from their perches amongst the long rows of trees. He looked forward to trading them for some of Mrs. Thames’ locally renowned pecan pies.
Jake’s pleasant thoughts wavered as he returned to the realities of his situation. It had been peaceful enough for longer than any of them expected, but the problems of the cities and suburbs had finally reached their sleepy community.
Besides the price of everything rising by a factor of five and the mass unemployment, the first sign of the approaching storm had been the blackouts. Originally, it seemed innocent enough; a sub-station failure during a thunderstorm that probably just needed a quick repair. When the utility crew had arrived onsite, however, they were beaten and robbed. By the second or third ambush, a worker was kidnapped and ransomed.
The crews eventually refused to perform any repairs without a police escort. In the beginning this prolonged the blackouts by several hours. As cities spiraled further into chaos, however, the delays became much longer. This only seemed to escalate the cycle of violence and unrest, fueled by the deterioration of an expected quality of life.
Jake’s mind continued to wander as he approached the back of his house. After several more steps, his wife’s silhouette appeared at the threshold of the back door.
“Come on in hun, breakfast is almost ready.”
Jake stopped for a moment and grinned at her, his right hand instinctively coming to rest on the wooden grip of the .357. Sasha poked her head between his legs, plopped down on her haunches and looked at Kate.
“What’re you two trouble makers staring at?” Kate struggled to hold back the smile that was creeping across her face. She playfully put her hands on her hips and feigned disdain.
“We just wanted to take you in for a moment. You look beautiful.”
“Oh hush!” she quipped, still smiling, “I look like a wreck. Save your smooth talk for when you need it!” She spun abruptly, hiding her blushing cheeks from him, and marched back inside in an exaggerated manner.
Jake grinned and scratched Sasha behind her ears before continuing towards the house. Her tail wagged in delight as she bounded along beside him.
Katelyn planted a loud kiss on Jake’s lips and smiled as she handed him two plates. He winked before turning and carrying them to the rectangular table in the dining nook. He admired her figure as she grabbed her plate and a fresh pot of coffee and turned towards him. She shot him a wink before pouring the coffee into several cups already waiting on the table.
Geram, Jake’s younger brother, was slowly dragging himself to the table with one eye still closed. He stretched his arms to the ceiling, before slumping into the chair opposite of Jake. “Bacon, eggs and home-grown blueberries, Kate you’re too good to this man. Say, you got a sister?”
She laughed, “Yes I am and you know she’s married, Geram.”
“That’s alright, as long as you make an extra plate when you cook for this guy, I can cope.” Geram grinned as he popped a blueberry in his mouth and took sip of his coffee.
“You’ll have a plate here as long as you want,” Jake added. He finished his first egg, before continuing, “Mr. Thames lost a calf last night to some poachers. They field dressed it in the pasture and left what they couldn’t carry. Did you see anything last night?”
“I had a dark SUV creep by us at about zero one hundred, but I never saw them come back. I tried to get a number on the occupants with my binoculars, but it was too dark to see inside the vehicle, even with the full moon.”
Jake nodded, “The only vehicle I saw on my watch had the same description. They passed by around 4, but they weren’t creeping.”
“That would’ve given them enough time to get the calf.”
Jake nodded in agreement as he stabbed several blueberries with his fork. The light banter at the beginning of breakfast had faded and the three were more solemn now. Kate topped off the boys’ cups and left them alone as she went to feed Sasha some scraps.
Jake pushed his plate aside and leaned forward. He eyed Geram and said, “It’s been two days since you showed up. They don’t let you just drop in on family while you’re in active duty. You ready to talk yet, SEAL?”
Ch apter 2
Clayton
Washington County, Alabama
The muddy waters of the Tombigbee and Alabama Rivers converged just north of Mt. Vernon. The heavy rains upstate had caused the rivers to swell well past flood stage much earlier than normal. They were set to crest in two days’ time. Most of the logging roads that dutifully followed the ridges of the river swamp had several feet of water over them already. The deer and hogs had long since retreated to higher and drier grounds. Of all nights, this night deep in the backwaters should have been the domain of croaking bullfrogs and grunting alligators, but not tonight.
A hush rolled across the cutoff that meandered between the two rivers. In the distance, the ascending groan of an outboard motor could be heard. The low moan had little to do with the unnatural hush across the swamp. It was the blood-curdling howl that emanated from somewhere seemingly within it.
Immediately after, a second, more primal howl answered. Finally, they cried out in unison. This strange chorus of animal and mechanical baffled the lords and princes of this natural kingdom. They felt compelled to their silence as they waited in anticipation for the appearance of the strange, midnight wayfarer.
Clayton threw his head back once again and let out a howl befitting some mythical beast, to the untrained ear at least. He knew it drove Moses crazy. The dog was already bounding to and fro in the custom-built, shallow-draft, aluminum boat. Finally, Moses could abstain no longer. He put his front paws on the bow and offered up his interpretation for any lycanthropes that may have been confused by Clayton’s less than perfect rendition.
Clayton let out a bellowing laugh at Moses, before leaning forward and banging the dry well in several quick successions. Moses instinctively crawled into the bottom of the boat just as it performed a perfectly timed S-motion. The two stumps were not visible even in the daylight hours, but Clayton knew exactly where they were.
T he swamp was his.
An onlooker would have been convinced of his lunacy, if not because of the spectacle of his howls, then absolutely because of his choice to brave the unpredictable floodwaters at night. He roared forward at full-throttle by the light of a full moon, which was all but hidden by the thick canopy of willows and Spanish moss just above. Clayton was no fool, though. His homemade apparatus of a motorcycle helmet and night vision goggles transformed him from a mere mortal into a backwater demigod, and he reveled in it.
The night was his.
After emerging from the darkened cutoff, they ducked low and cut a diagonal path across the moonlit river to a small tributary, commonly called a slough, on the other side. In less than half a minute, they were back in the welcoming confines of the heavy canopy.
After they braved one final bend, Clay yanked the kill switch from the mud motor. He leveraged the boat’s momentum to push it through the thick wall of vegetation and trees that grew along the submerged banks. The craft drifted into a clearing a couple hundred feet beyond. A shy snapping turtle on a nearby log dove into the murky depths as they passed.