Displacement Day

CHAPTER 13 - Demons on Earth?

At about 9 PM, Freddie called Robert toreport a hyena-like creature spotted on the shoulder, on a highwayleading to Knoxville. The location was only 9 miles away, give ortake. "I'm going out there to take a look, I think. How long agowas this?" 

Freddie said it was about 10 minutes. "Shit, I'm driving around and taking a look.

"Freddie, those assholes from Fish and Game never said anything about that animal I shot. Neither did anyone else. How about that?""Well, some crazy shit happened. Maybe they want to avoid people panicking or something.""Maybe so. I mean, you might be able to cover up some demons escaping." He closed the door and locked it as he continued the conversation."I'll check in later and let you know what I find if anything."Whitney decided to bend the rules about using his patrol cruiser and drive a little above the speed limit to reach the area of the last sighting. He honestly didn't expect to find a monster out there.He reached the closest mile marker in just under eight minutes and slowed down. There was nothing much out here, just lights from some rural homes and distant lights on the horizon – probably a rest area or a truck stop.He pulled over near some trees beyond which lay a pasture or just an empty field. He couldn't tell. He got out and went over the metal barrier to look around. Nothing seemed to be out but a few motorists and some bugs. It was late in the season for many of them, which Robert liked. His night vision got better by the minute, but it was too dark under the clouds to see a hell of a lot.Then movement near some trees caught his eyee. He froze and watched. Something gray or black moved under some trees about 50 yards away. It might have been a deer or even a bear. Then it emerged from the trees again, heading east. For about two seconds it looked like a deer but then a little moon light hit it. "Holy shit." It was a bigger and fatter version of the Demon Dog thing he'd shot last week. Robert instantly regretted not having an AR-15 or a shotgun. "So, Whitney, what the fuck are you going to do with no gun and no camera?" He hadn't planned this out. The creature stopped and sniffed the air. Robert noted that he was downwind of the animal. It looked around and then looked right at him. It was about 60 yards away, too far to engage with a handgun. He decided to go back to his patrol car and call it in. While straddling the barrier on the edge of the road, he paused and looked back. The animal was looking right at him. Its body was now facing in his direction. He got in the patrol car as fast as he could. The animal kept heading in his direction. A second animal emerged from the trees about 40 yards from where he had been standing. Robert started the car and took off without watching for traffic. He spared a look to his right and noticed one of the hyena-like beasts at the barrier watching the car. It hopped the barrier a couple of seconds ahead of another similar animal. "Holy shit!" He briefly debated whether to call it in. Bad idea.**** Drummond came out of his parsonage in the morning, to find Cat waiting outside a side door to the church. She was wearing her brown robe, but not shoes or hat."Good morning, Cat.""Hello. Is this your church?""I've been running the place for about three years now.""I see. Can we talk about the situation in town. I'm worried about it.""Follow me then. I was just heading to my office." He laughed a little. "I'm not sure Darren turned on the radio to check in. "Sergeant Whitney, I'm heading out to the convenience store. Any news or instructions?" "Actually, I wonder if you saw anything last night, maybe 3 hours after sunset." "Not really, why?" "Someone told Iris about a flash of light, like a transformer blowing out. It was down on the southwest part of town." "That would've been too far away to see actually. Maybe it was lightning." He didn't believe that either. "I'm going down there to look around, watch that part of the desert, maybe talk to some people." They hadn't discussed a real rotation or patrol schedule or whatever in a couple of days. "Roger that. I'm about the step out the door."The convenience store still had a few things worth stealing inside, maybe. The gas and diesel were gone now, but there was still some kerosene. Was there? He decided to check, but also take another sweep of the store to see if there was anything he and Chloe could use. The He was about to call and check in. He grabbed the radio, turned it on, and looked up. Cat was approaching, in the same outfit she'd worn earlier in the day, minus the hat. "Hello Darren. Is this your new job?" "Yeah, guard duty. We're watching the desert. What brings you out? The store has been closed for several days." "I know the store is closed. I asked the nice lady at the motel. But,..." she paused to look around. "I think this is a good place to stand guard." She'd obviously noted that the land here was several yards higher than the nearby desert. You could see for almost a mile. "Do you think anything valuable is still inside?" "There might be things worth stealing like smart phones, the cash register, electric motors in the coolers, even copper pipes."why without electricity or a phone."They walked in silence to his office, Cat right next to him. He noticed that she didn't smell like perfume or sweat or much of anything.He entered his office first. "So, Cat, what can I do for you? I don't suppose you're a church-goer. Or are you?""I am religious, yes, but not Christian. Anyway, I wondered if your church was doing anything to keep order or feed people or something.""Well, we have some food I stockpiled, just on general principles. And I had a few visitors, church members who were nervous about this or that.""Have any of your, um, people, have they asked about leaving town?"Drummond shook his head. "One person mentioned a town that was maybe 90 miles southeast."Cat looked down at the floor for a few seconds. "Do you think there is a town?""Didn't you grow up around here? I mean, I have no idea.""As far as I know, the place exists. I come from north and west of here.""Were you born in the desert, or whatever it is?""No.""Do you happen to know what happened here?"She shook her head. "You?""I have no experience with anything like this. Not an idea.""I heard you found a van that might be connected.""I don't know how you heard that, but no. We found a guy who drove himself to the desert and died. We don't know why?""Interesting. Why did Darren drive the van back into town?"Darren had to think. He guessed that looked odd. "He wanted to secure it for later.""Later? When you go back to Tennessee?""Yes.""Do you think the van is connected somehow?"He shrugged."I think you believe it was. And, I think you are right.""Would it be possible for me to look at this van?""You'd have to ask Sergeant Whitney.""Thank you. I will." She walked away then.Darren wanted to ask a couple more questions, but something made him abandon the idea almost immediately. The flash of blue light came to mind again. It was just heat lightning though, wasn't it? He decided to check in with Charlie later and discuss the idea."Holy shit!' The possibility of using that device was so obvious. But, well, maybe they could figure something out. It was probably heat lightning.****Darren used up a little of the radio's battery life to share his suggestion to fire up that machine in the back of the van. Charlie said they'd talk after the morning meeting, which was a waste. Mike was AWOL, supposedly out by the oasis on patrol. Joe and Iris were late and had little to add. They went back to their duties right after the short discussion.Iris did add one thing by asking a question they must have all thought about. "What about batteries?""We'll have to go around asking for more I guess. What else can we do?"After she left, Darren approached Charlie in his commandeered office. "So, what about checking out that device and trying to turn it on?""We need a power source and I'm really busy.""Was there a power source before? What about the van?"Charlie seemed to be thinking about that as he studied a random selection of papers spread out on his desk. Darren didn't remember the thing being plugged in or even having a power cord.""Look, you can fiddle with it you want. Don't forget your patrol assignment.""Of course. And, what if I manage to turn it on?""I don't know.""Don't turn it on, or whatever, just try to connect a power source to it.""Thanks Charlie.""Where did you get the idea that the old van is important? Was it Cat?"Darren nodded. "Did she talk to you?""Yes she did. And she also suggested we turn it on. I said there was no fucking way if it does what she thinks."Darren started to search his memory, trying to recall every little thing Cat had said, or did. "And what did she say?" "She told me it probably created the portal that brought us here." He believed it but didn't want to say so."Did she? And did she explain how she came to this conclusion?""Same way you did, I bet. Didn't we see it just before appearing here, wherever here is?""I guess we did. Still, no one can make a machine that sends a whole town into an alien dimension. Right? Right.""So, what else is going on?""I don't know. I do know I'm taking another look at that equipment though."**** Robert checked the morning news on television as he ate his granola cereal. Most of it was boring and normal enough. He was going to switch to CNN until the anchor lady said something about last night. Someone had caught a strange image on video, a flicker of blue light. It looked a bit like a transformer blowing up, but the light last almost two seconds and flickered only at the end. "What the hell?" A viewer captured this image about two miles northeast of Ridgeway late last night. We reached out to him by phone this morning..." Robert turned off the television. "Shit, I was hoping for news about those creatures." He looked down at Blaster, who didn't seem to care. "This bears investigating." Why he said that and what he tended to investigate where hard to know at that point. Seven days after Ridgeway disappeared, with Charlie and Allison in it, no one seemed to understand what the hell was going on. Robert knew he wouldn't be able to add much to the investigation. He turned off CNN and got ready for his day. Halfway through getting dressed, he decided to report the creature encounter.**** Darren looked around the little fenced in parking area for anything he might use to inspect whatever was in the back of the van. "I don't know what the fuck I need." He gave up and opened the back of the van. "Maybe something's been stolen, like a battery?" He climbed in to look around. The back of the van was cloaked in shadows, so it was hard to see any tool marks or scratches. Still, it didn't seem like anything was removed. Darren still couldn't see a power cable or even a place to plug it in. He double checked the back and side for small ports or holes. Sure enough, there was a hole where a small metal prong might fit. It felt like one of those jacks where you might plug headphones into a computer, back in the days before USB ports. He couldn't immediately think of anything common that worked that way. Maybe the machine took an adapter. Which was obviously missing now. On a hunch, Darren pressed some buttons on the device. He could only see four button-like shapes to the right of the hoop thing. No where else were there any hints of controls or ports or anything else. "It must be internally powered then." LED lights inside all of the buttons came on, all blue Darren noted. "Hey Charlie." He was out of the van in a flash. "Charlie. I turned it on!" Darren rushed inside. Charlie was at the coffee maker pouring himself some water when Darren got inside. "Hey, I turned that thing on." "And?" "Shit, I don't know. Come out and take a look." Darren turned to go outside without waiting to see if Charlie was following. He could hear Charlie though. When they came outside, Charlie's radio emitted a soft burst of static. "That's strange isn't it." Charlie shrugged. "A little bit." They went to the back of the van, where it was obvious that the lights were still on. "And, it works but what is it doing?" Darren didn't know so he could only shake his head. "Cat and I talked about it, as you know. She seems to think this is the reason we're here." "She doesn't seem that reliable to me." Darren nodded. "Well, yeah. How would we test what she said anyway? I have no idea." On a hunch, Darren grabbed Charlie's radio and started checking the different channels. He gave each one a few seconds. "I'm wondering if we can get a signal now. I mean, if Cat's correct, we might be in contact with our home dimension or whatever." Charlie seemed stone-faced. "Really?" Darren went had tried all eight of the cheap radio's channels and didn't get anything. "Shit, I wish we had smart phones with power." He started cycling through the channels. "I'll get mine and try it." Charlie left. Darren soon reached the end of the channels. Then he saw the radio. The keys were in an envelope taped to the sunshade. He knew that. A quick scramble to the front was all it took to grab the key and put the truck in Accessory mode. Mercifully, the battery had juice. The radio powered up and crackled with static. It probably wasn't on a local channel. "Holy shit!' He tried a few channels. On the fourth station, 1040 AM, he heard a voice. "Wow!" He turned up the volume, to hear a couple of guys talking about high school football. A big AAAA game was coming up between two favorites to win the state high school title. Darren pumped his fists in the air and punched the roof of the van. "Hell, yes!" "Hey, if Charlie's phone has any juice...". Nope. They'd be out of mobile phone range." "It worked!" Darren looked over at Charlie, who was standing near the driver's door now." "Are you a high school sports fan?" "I am not, but I'll take it." Darren nodded in agreement. "But, how do go from listening to sports, to reversing whatever the hell happened?"**** Robert's first step after leaving that odd debriefing was to call Charlie again. Again, he got no signal. "Fuck!" He took a few breaths and put the phone down." Nothing I can do about the disappeared part of Ridgeway." He didn't know what else he could do really, except carry on with his patrol work. Questions about the town and those officials would eat at him though. He knew that. Did the government know what happened in Ridgeway? Magic wasn't real and neither were aliens, probably. The Bible would have mentioned aliens if there were any other civilizations out there. After three tickets for moving violations and a warning about talking on a mobile phone while driving, he assumed nothing much would happen. But, two minutes after finishing his lunch and returning to his patrol car, something did happen. He only caught the end of the exchange, but it sounded like a protest against the government had broken out in Cookeville. And that was the most interesting part of the day. He thought the Cookeville thing would be the highlight of the day for a few minutes. Dave tented him, to tell him about a farmer being killed by a hyena or large dog at a farm not too far from where he was. Robert tented back a 'thank you' and checked in at the station as quickly as possible. He was afraid any time wasted would mean important information went missing. About 30 minutes after getting his friend's text, Robert reached the farm – it was the best he could do without breaking the law most of the way. Robert pulled over and checked his rear-view mirror. The federal guy was watching his car but not moving. So, Robert got out and walked toward the man. He was wearing his badge clipped to his waistband. "Hello there, I'm Robert from Humboldt County." "I see. This isn't Humboldt County is it?" "I heard about the attack. I killed some sort of big hyena-like thing inside that desert where Ridgeway used to be." The man remained silent, as if expecting more information. Robert had little to offer though. "I wonder, is this the same sort of creature. Like a hyena but bigger than a mastiff?" The unnamed federal guy shook his head. "We can't share any information outside of official channels." "Man, what kind of bullshit is that. Someone got killed by an exotic animal. We both know it." He had more to say but the approach of another two men in similar outfits distracted him. "I guess you'll tell me to run along. The man just nodded. "If there's a report, I'm sure you'll be made aware in time." Robert nodded, keeping a neutral expression because he didn't expect to be told anything that he had not been able to figure out.