10-31-2021, 12:56 AM
(This post was last modified: 10-31-2021, 01:06 AM by VioletDove.)
She raced along pushing her old pickup as fast as it would go. She wanted to get to her ranch as fast as she could, her parents were visiting and she had to make sure they were ok. She arrived to see her hired hand doctoring wounds that were bleeding profusely along the chest of her palomino gelding. She left the pickup running as she ran to help him.
As she arrived by his side he turned to look at her “Maria” he whispered as he grabbed her and hurried his face in her hair.
“Josh, where are my parents?” she asked as her panic began to rise.
She looked over at the barn to see the two getting out of their 1959 Bonneville. They clutched each other as they walked toward her. Her mother began to cry when she saw her.
“We thought “ she started and continued to cry.
Her dad stepped in and said “As the storm rolled in we decided to put the car inside the barn but it hit before we could get out to open the doors.” He paused a moment before he said “We saw you die. You were there on top of the horse you’ve been training. We both saw you get struck by lightning.
“That horse” her mother said pointing to the one Josh was putting ointment on.
Maria considered carefully before she asked “Josh, did you have any unusual visions?”
He looked at her sadly “I saw the world explode. You and everyone I care about was gone”
It clicked then. The storm had made everyone go mad by showing them their greatest fears. She didn’t mention what had happened to her because it embarrassed her a little. Her mind we immediately to trying to solve why they weren’t like the people in town. She came upon a theory.
“Josh where were you when the storm hit?”
He pointed to the old tractor still running in the field some distance away. The old tractor was somewhat of a relic with none of the new gadgets the modern ones have, not even a radio.
The storm seemed, in her mind to be something like a solar storm. Only this one not only fried electronics but people’s minds as well. The old vehicles they were in must have shielded them from the worst. She also had an idea that it wasn’t natural and who was behind it. She needed to be sure but she couldn’t let on what she did in secret. They’d already seen her death no reason to tell them that she hunted monsters in secret.
The smell of sulfur hit her nose. It was very faint, some distance away “Well, well, well, you split hoof son of a bitch, I‘m coming for you.”
She went in the house, grabbed her .38 and three bottles of whiskey. This enemy she knew could be killed but hopefully could be subdued. She ran to the truck, Penny and Bella on her heels, to the calls of “Where are you going?”
She yelled back through the rolled down window “I got a meeting with the devil!”
She rumbled on, kicking up dust, up a winding road that took her to the top of the highest hill in the area.
There he sat, on a ledge overlooking the town.
“Hello Marie” he said eyes never leaving the chaos he’d created.
“Drink with me” she said setting out two glasses and pouring whiskey in them.
He reached out to scratch the dogs behind their ears and chucked as he took the glass and downed the amber colored liquid. “Matches your eyes” he mused then pointed at the town below “Look at them down there, trapped in their fear. Your’s though not the deaths of you loved ones but spiders? I sense guilt coming from you, I enjoy that too. Not as good as fear but nevertheless. Maybe I’ll keep you and your little farm for last.” He motioned for her to refill their glasses and she did.
They stayed that way for a long time refilling glasses and watching the townsfolk destroy the town and each other.
As she arrived by his side he turned to look at her “Maria” he whispered as he grabbed her and hurried his face in her hair.
“Josh, where are my parents?” she asked as her panic began to rise.
She looked over at the barn to see the two getting out of their 1959 Bonneville. They clutched each other as they walked toward her. Her mother began to cry when she saw her.
“We thought “ she started and continued to cry.
Her dad stepped in and said “As the storm rolled in we decided to put the car inside the barn but it hit before we could get out to open the doors.” He paused a moment before he said “We saw you die. You were there on top of the horse you’ve been training. We both saw you get struck by lightning.
“That horse” her mother said pointing to the one Josh was putting ointment on.
Maria considered carefully before she asked “Josh, did you have any unusual visions?”
He looked at her sadly “I saw the world explode. You and everyone I care about was gone”
It clicked then. The storm had made everyone go mad by showing them their greatest fears. She didn’t mention what had happened to her because it embarrassed her a little. Her mind we immediately to trying to solve why they weren’t like the people in town. She came upon a theory.
“Josh where were you when the storm hit?”
He pointed to the old tractor still running in the field some distance away. The old tractor was somewhat of a relic with none of the new gadgets the modern ones have, not even a radio.
The storm seemed, in her mind to be something like a solar storm. Only this one not only fried electronics but people’s minds as well. The old vehicles they were in must have shielded them from the worst. She also had an idea that it wasn’t natural and who was behind it. She needed to be sure but she couldn’t let on what she did in secret. They’d already seen her death no reason to tell them that she hunted monsters in secret.
The smell of sulfur hit her nose. It was very faint, some distance away “Well, well, well, you split hoof son of a bitch, I‘m coming for you.”
She went in the house, grabbed her .38 and three bottles of whiskey. This enemy she knew could be killed but hopefully could be subdued. She ran to the truck, Penny and Bella on her heels, to the calls of “Where are you going?”
She yelled back through the rolled down window “I got a meeting with the devil!”
She rumbled on, kicking up dust, up a winding road that took her to the top of the highest hill in the area.
There he sat, on a ledge overlooking the town.
“Hello Marie” he said eyes never leaving the chaos he’d created.
“Drink with me” she said setting out two glasses and pouring whiskey in them.
He reached out to scratch the dogs behind their ears and chucked as he took the glass and downed the amber colored liquid. “Matches your eyes” he mused then pointed at the town below “Look at them down there, trapped in their fear. Your’s though not the deaths of you loved ones but spiders? I sense guilt coming from you, I enjoy that too. Not as good as fear but nevertheless. Maybe I’ll keep you and your little farm for last.” He motioned for her to refill their glasses and she did.
They stayed that way for a long time refilling glasses and watching the townsfolk destroy the town and each other.