Firefly Light

The Story of Hinton: Side story 2

This is another chapter that was removed from the book.

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Hinton, a small town in the hills of southeastern West Virginia, home to a little less than three thousand people, turned out to be one of those extraordinary places, a place where a special set of circumstances led to its survival. When the plague struck the mortality rate was only around 50% in the town and immediate vicinity and, although hard hit, they still had the numbers to function. Two of the town's strongest assets, Major Garrison Ratliff and Summers County Sherriff Roy Meador, recovered from the disease. Within days of the passing of the disease these two strong willed characters had rallied and organized those that remained alive in the town. Working together the citizens of Hinton were able to keep the town functioning as a self sufficient community.

Fortunately, due to their relatively remote location, at first they experienced few problems with bandits and the community was able to stabilize its situation in peace. Within days of the disease ending survivors that had lived in outlying areas and smaller groups of houses who could no longer make it on their own began drifting into town and the population increased significantly. Within two years the population had grown to over three thousand. They had well run farms nearby with a market in town. Organized hunting provided fresh meat from a multitude of game in the area. A number of health care professionals were among the survivors and a clinic was made operational to treat peoples health needs as best they could. The houses and buildings were maintained by experienced work parties. Other teams were sent out to salvage material from abandoned structures in the area. With all things considered, the good folks of Hinton didn't have it too bad.

This tiny pocket of the old world that had survived into the new had even managed to harbor some of the, now very rare, ordinary barnyard animals. What the people of Hinton were able to save became one of the main sources of new herds of cattle and flocks of chickens in the farms of the future.

Eventually, when one of the town's salvage parties roamed far enough south, they reported back that it appeared as if the government built city down the road was still manned. Mayor Ratliff decided to send a delegation to ask about trade. Perhaps they could obtain some needed items, like medication or ammunition from these people. He and the Sheriff were glad to hear the group report back that trade had been agreed too, but looked at each other when they were told that the leader was calling himself a king. They were even more surprised at this kings offer of taking in the entire population of Hinton.

A town meeting was called and the town hall was packed. The offer was presented to the town council and the citizens and was soundly turned down by all. Life in a larger place may have a lot of advantages, but they were all suspicious of the requirement to pledge their allegiance to this unknown king and become one of his subjects. They were quite reluctant to give up their independence. Besides, Hinton was doing relatively well and its citizens had no desire to abandon it. The delegation was sent back to Hamilton accepting the trade offer, but turning down the offer of living in the city.

Life went on as both places continued to rebuild and improve their situations. The two communities had occasional contact with each other and traded some items, but otherwise kept to themselves. They both had plenty of internal or local issues to keep them occupied. This situation remained the stable for another 8 years.

On the beautiful clear morning of September 15, 10 AV the town of Hinton came under sudden and unexpected attack from a large gang of about seven hundred brigands traveling south down Route 20. Sheriff Meador had formed a small army of one hundred deputies and a couple hundred volunteer auxiliaries for town security. They had proven more than sufficient up till now, but this time they were crushed and brushed aside. Sheriff Meador was killed in the firefight. Mayor Ratliff met the invaders with a rifle in his hand and died defending the town as well. The town was sacked, raped and pillaged and it was clear their tormentors meant to stay. A few townsfolk escaped and headed south to ask for help from Otania.