A Deadly Mold

Mysterious Fort

January 12, 1898

It was the next day that Victor and Dutch, recovered from the effects of the mold, rode out and placed signs warning people not to go out into the town. They also looked back at the farm they had left alone the day before. Only to find the small family dead from shotgun wounds and the Father had killed himself after. There were a few more people rounded up, suffering from different stages of the disease that Victor and Dutch gathered into a wagon and brought back to Crossroads to be treated by the Doctor, whom Melody had taught to create the potion she used to cure us.

"That is poison." Doctor Millard had complained.

"Yes, it kills molds and weeds." Melody said. "Enough of it could kill a person, but we ain't using enough to do that. Just the amount to kill the spores of mold."

"It's not right for a physician to use a poison on their patient." Doctor John Millard argued.

"Better than letting their patient die, I'd imagine that would be against a Doctor's code too." Melody replied.

January 13, 1898

Andrew had borrowed a saddle horse, Melody and I were mounted on the carriage horses who were used to the saddle as well. I had decided to search the woods for any other side of this mold that caused madness and death in the woods themselves. It couldn't be mere coincidence that animals were attacking Crossroads' residents and the madness that appeared at Alleta. There had to be a connection between the two events, possibly in the woods between Aletta and Crossroads.

I did not expect what we did encounter. We were riding together when the limb of a nearby tree snapped off above my head. With the echo of the rifle shot still in my ears, I ducked and pulled my horse behind a large pine fir. As did Andrew and Melody. The fir hid us, but didn't stop the barrage of bullets that threatened us. We finally rode off in the opposite direction of the shots, putting the firs between our retreat and the shots.

"What was that about?" I asked as we finally felt safe enough to stop and talk.

"Most likely someone affected by the madness." Andrew drew his rifle now. "I can ride back and get around them. They had some fairly clear shots at us, but continued to miss. It's possibly that their madness has caused them to become uncoordinated."

"Do you think you can get around them?" If Andrew could, I would have liked to see what they seemed to be protecting. "They may not be poisoned by the spores."

"I can do it. Miss Green." Andrew assured me and road off with his rifle in his hand.

Andrew came back with two horses and two men lying over their saddles, tied in place. One of them was alive. A bit bruised. They wore dark clothing of wool. Tall Russian peasant boots and the living one was making it obvious that he was alive by his livid cursing in Russian. Which I found interesting. After all, why were Russians in the wilds of America's Mid-West state of Missouri.

Russian is a language I do speak, though not well. "What are you shooting at us for?"

His response may not have been very appropriate for I did not understand it. I tried asking the question as Andrew unceremoniously tossed his bound body from the horse to the ground. This caused the man to let out a whole string of words that once again I didn't know, no doubt some crude words that I would never have been taught.

"Who are you?" I asked the man. He fell silent.

Andrew gave the man a swift kick. No response. Not even threatening the man with a revolver seemed to work. We left the man tied up and gagged in the forest along with the two extra horses. We rode on past what must have been a sentry post. We found a commune with four more guards. That we could see. Two of the guards stood guard at the gate of a small wooden fort with one log building and what appeared to be a green house made of glass.

Two other guards were lounging in the courtyard. Possibly off duty. I imagined that there might be more guards and other personnel in the building. There was no Russian flag flying. It was possible that the Russian guards were mercenaries of some sort. Not official Russian soldiers.

A few weeks back a Secret Service agent brought soldiers down here to attack a harmless group of refurgee Indians. Now that we actually need such an army they have already gone. Of course they had lost their quarry, much to their disgust. Here seemed a real threat to our nation, but we had no troops to ride to the rescue in this case.

"Lets find out how many soldiers are in that building." I finally determined a course of action. "I say we start a fire behind that back wall and see who scurries out of there."

"That sounds like a plan." Andrew said.

Whoever these people were they were not very proficient. True they post sentries, but so far they hadn't noticed that their advanced sentries were gone. The two men by the entrance remained there, not bothering to patrol or even check the wall. The two men in the courtyard sat there with their rifles beside them, doing as little as possible.

This allowed Andrew to sneak behind the small fort, build a fair size pyre of dead branches and leaves. Which he eventually ignited. As the gray smoke from the fairly dry pyre began to waif over the wall, one noticed it right away. It was the two soldiers in the courtyard that first noticed the smoke. They quickly headed to the main gate, taking their rifles with them.

All four soldiers went to the back wall where Andrew's pyte was really producing more smoke then fire. Between the four of them they managed to put the fire out, by scattering the branches. They had a well pump inside the compound and they filled buckets of water which they brought to the back wall to help drown what was left of the fire.

One of the soldiers went into the large building. Two other men headed our way. No doubt, to call in their two advanced sentries. At this point Andrew had one of their heavy military weapons. It was a six shot large caliber weapon of Russian military make. Andrew positioned himself. Drew a bead on one of the men and shot him square in the chest.

These people were up to no good. In the woods near a town contaminated by some form of mold. Near another town where wild animals are attacking citizens. They had some sort of compound where they were growing something in a green house. I had no problem with Andrew shooting one of them.

Once his companion was shot, the other soldier ran back to the fortress. Andrew shot him as he ran away. Shooting someone in the back might not be chivalrous, but neither was poisoning a town or wild animals who are used to frighten another town. That left the two soldiers in the courtyard. Andrew positioned himself and managed to shoot the man. Who had been hearing the shots, but didn't appear to know what to do about it. Until it was too late.

As the other soldier came out of the building he brought another person with him. Whoever it was was dressed in a pink pajama costume the pants and blouse made of satin. A veil over square hat covered her face. Even her boots were pink satin. They spotted the dead body of the other guard immediately. The woman strode to the body and examined it. The other soldier looked around and seemed much more nervous than the woman.

Andrew wasn't willing to reveal our position with another shot. Although, it appeared that only the woman and her solitary guard were left behind. The woman stood up straight, possibly standing only five foot seven inches. About two inches shorter than myself. The bizarrely dressed woman strode back into the main building. The nervous guard behind her. Once they were both safely in the building we began to wait again. Thinking that at some point they had to come out of the building.

I don't know what we were expecting. The compound blowing up was not what we expected. We had expected that at some time they would re-emerge from the building in some way. That never happened. At first I wondered if they had blown themselves up. The nearby greenhouse also exploded. With a white hot flame that no doubt burned everything inside of that greenhouse.