Anthem's Fall

Chapter Forty Six

Chapter Fifteen

Huntington, Vermont

Not unlike a small meteor, a metal object soared unseen through the cloudless morning skies of New England, traveling silently over expansive miles of vibrantly colored fields and woodlands before colliding into the broad side of a mountain with a faint thud. A barely perceptible concussion reverberated outward from the wilderness and through the small village below. From the far side of the mountain, a flock of white birds took to the sky, the only inhabitants to take notice of the disturbance in the otherwise pristine day.

A rather unimpressive white-and-green police cruiser—the only one on duty—drove across a long-neglected country road. Faded lettering on the side of the vehicle read, Huntington Police Department. The fenders were beginning to show peeling rust spots, and the tires needed replacing.

In a large sense the outdated cruiser matched the pastoral outlandishness of the town. Situated a comfortable distance from the lone state highway that ran across Vermont, the only visitors to pass through Huntington, aside from the one or two thousand locals, were passing tourists from southern New England—most often sightseers looking to experience authentic Vermont foliage or hike Camel's Hump, one of the region's larger mountains. The Huntington village center consisted of little more than a gas station variety store and a family-owned hardware shop at the foot of the mountain.

  To some Huntington would most aptly be described as comfortably quaint, to others, unsettlingly secluded.

  Officer George Henderson, a twenty-year veteran of the force, drove the cruiser with his rookie partner Mike Fuller sitting next to him. The season's foliage was in full bloom, and the maple trees that loomed over the wood fences on either side of the road shown brilliant red, yellow, and orange in the morning sun. Dryness unique to autumn hung pleasantly in the air, accentuated by the drifting note of a wood fireplace or burning pile of leaves smoking somewhere in the nearby hills.

  "Dispatch to cruiser, dispatch to cruiser." The radio on the dash awoke the two officers from their gentle reveries.

            "What's up, Beth?" George said, taking his attention away from the fields outside his open window as he leaned forward to the dashboard and spoke into the transceiver.

            "We just got a trespassing call up on Baron Road," said Beth, the third and only other officer on duty. Beth was back at the station, which consisted of an office, a few desks, and a holding cell. Her voice sounded uncharacteristically apprehensive.

            George and Mike exchanged a confused glance and Mike doubtfully shook his head.

 "You've got to be kidding me," George said into the transceiver. "Trespassing on Baron Road? That's practically halfway up the mountain."

            "Yeah, I know," Beth's voice crackled from the outdated radio. "The call was really weird. Mrs. Janson was shouting something about men from the woods trying to get into her house."

 George brushed it off with a wave of his hand. "I'm sure it's just some hunters or a group of hikers that wandered off the trail and need to use a phone."

  "I would think the Jansons are used to that kind of trespassing by now, George," Beth's voice paused with concern, and the static worsened as their cruiser passed between two hills. "I could barely make out what Mrs. Janson was saying. She was hysterical. They live on fifty-eight Baron Road. Get there quick, you guys. I'm sure it's no big deal, but the call gave me the creeps. I'm pretty sure I heard her use the word giant."