Displacement Day

Visitors from Elsewhere, Part 2

He looked back toward the few buildings and cars behind him. Pretty mucheveryone in the area, including people driving through the neighborhood, must have comeout to see what the hell was going on.

Acouple of young men approached the edge of the payment, probably fromthe little hatchback parked in what would be oncoming traffic if theroad were intact. One gangly young man held a vape, the other anenergy drink.

"Folks,it might be best if you just stayed back."

Theystopped. The vaper cleared his throat. "Um, what happened?"

"We'regoing to have to figure that out."

Outof the corner of one eye, Howell noticed a young woman in sports braand leggings holding a smart phone. Her lips moved but she was toofar away to hear, not that it mattered.

"Dispatch,I've going to have a look around." He turned and took a few steps."And I know civilians are coming out all over the place to checkthings out. Can I get some backup."

"Rogerthat. Be careful, Robert." A pause. "Be advised that we may notbe able to get backup there for some time." As she spoke a phonerang twice.

Robertturned his attention back to the desert sand, which looked likedesert sand and felt like sand underfoot. He didn't know what else toexpect. Anyway, the plants were much more interesting. He knelt downfor a closer look at some of the grass. It was tempting to pick oneof the berries or whatever they were, but maybe they were highlypoisonous. He knew nothing about botany, at least nothing that mightbe useful here.

Hestood up and looked around, suddenly taken with the idea of findingother new plant species around. The terrain was uneven, highly so inspots, so he couldn't see anything but small sand dunes and sky.Except for the top of a plant that look kind of like a fern butpurplish-black.

He keyed the radio. "I'm taking a look at this plant. Anything else toreport?"

"A couple of accidents, a live electrical line, and someone who saw amonster."
Howell resisted the urge to laugh out loud. "ShouldI go to the cruiser and get my patrol rifle?"

He'd been walking as he talked and was now about 20 feet from the plant.The part he couldn't see before was just as uninteresting as the top,aside from the odd coloration. It was also surrounded by small bladesof grass.

"We should get a botanist or two out here."

Movement made him turn to his right. Instinctively, he reached for his serviceweapon. A snake burrowing into the sand. It had to be, but it lookedlike it had legs. No, it was a big centipede, really big.

He turned toward the creature so the body cam could report it, but he was too late as it had disappeared under the sand.

He walked on, watching the ground a bit more closely and resolving to turn back in another half minute or so.

Another movement on the right caught his attention. Someone was out there, crouching over yet another patch of grass. At first glance it wasn't clear if the person were male or female. They wore a sand-colored robe and wide-brimmed hat. The person looked at him – a woman,probably no older than 25.

She stood up calmly.

Howelltook a few steps in her direction.

She took a step back. One hand went to a pocket in her robe.

"Ma'am, you really shouldn't be out here."

She scowled it seemed, the shadows cast by the had made it a bit hard to tell.

Something felt odd, like the sensation of a bug crawling up his neck. He shook his head a little.

"You should go back." He pointed over his shoulder back at the small bit of Ridgeway just outside the desert.

The sensation continued.

Mystery Woman took a step forward now. "Hello." She took her hand out ofher pocket and waved.

Mentally disabled?

"Come with me, please." As he said that he keyed the radio again. "I found a civilian out here poking around and, well, eating some of the plant life."

She walked up to him then past him.

"Ma'am, do you have any ID?"

"ID?"

Thanks to his longer legs it only took a few steps for him to come upalongside her. "What's your name?"

"Seraphine."

They quickly reached the edge of the desert, now on the northeast side ofthe farmhouse where the influencer with the camera had been.

"Follow me, please."

He turned toward his parked cruiser without waiting.

"Where are we going?"

"To my patrol car." He looked at her. There was that crawling sensationagain. "You aren't in trouble."

"I know."

Now Holland could see more people who had gathered to check things out,or perhaps people who had some business in a part of Ridgeway that seemed to no longer exist. Many of them were talking on their phonesor filming something.

"Whereare you from, Seraphine?"

He looked at her. She seemed to not understand.

"Are you from Ridgeway?"

She shook her head. "No. Out there." She pointed into the desert."

"Wait by my car please?" He pointed to the rear fender. He needed to get in the car and have a discrete chat about Seraphine.

Once he was inside with the door closed he got back on the radio. In therearview mirror he caught a glimpse of Seraphine watching him. There was that crawling feeling again. Before he could think about it, Dispatch replied.

He explained the situation. "So, any chance of a social worker coming out?"

After a moment of silence, Howell changed his mind. "Never mind."

He got out of the car. Seraphine was standing there looking at some of the locals, who were looking at her. Her body language had changed nowand she seemed more poised, more confident. She turned to look athim.

"What happened?" She motioned at the scene around them, the normal parts not the desert area that just appeared. "Where is this place?"

Her language skill seemed to have improved. "Seraphine, you really need to tell me where you live?"

"I told you."

"I know you pointed over there. I thought you meant somewhere in Ridgeway."

Again, that sensation of something crawling.

"Large town in Tennessee. Was. What happened to it?"

"We don't know."

She nodded. "I have an idea."