Chapter 25
Crawfordton
The woman scout dropped Ayanna back at the Farm. Ayanna gave Elijah a cursory report of what she knew and changed her clothes, then hurried home. It was not much later than usual. Ayanna was home in time to have some rabbit stew.
Amy said, "You sure get into your work." She started going through her hair. "Where did you get all of these burrs in your hair?"
"The brush."
"Brush? Out on the farm?"
"If you go over there you won't see any now," Ayanna said.
"I hope they're paying you well," Amy said.
"I got a half-dollar today."
"A half dollar! That does sound like a lot. For working on the farm?"
"Well, it is for two weeks of work."
"That's it?" Amy asked. "What are you doing over there?"
Phil thought he had better help Ayanna out. He patted Amy on the rear, "If you want to make an easy half-dollar, Babe, I can work out a deal with you."
Amy blushed, and glanced at Ayanna. "Hush, Phil. No talking like that."
Ayanna was exhausted after that day. She went to bed early, but couldn't stop thinking about Patrick and Rata.
Patrick and Rata walked all night and all morning the next day with their prisoner, but they did not stop at the house, nor Shanesville. They went directly to the Farm.
Patrick took the Hexman out to the shed while Rata went into the house to get Elijah. Bella was doing some cleaning in the house.
Rata told Bella, "Hey, I like what you've done to the place. I can actually see out the windows."
"Thanks, Rata."
Elijah came down the stairs.
Rata told Elijah, "The package is in the shed."
"Very good! Did you have any trouble?"
"Yes."
"Anyway, I knew you would come through. Good work."
"It's what I do. Patrick was very helpful."
Rata said, "You know, Bella, that man of yours is a very good worker."
Bella said, "You guys worked way too late."
Rata said, "That's no lie. I'm planning on sleeping all day. Would you excuse us a minute, Bella. We've got business."
"Sure." She left the room."
Rata said, "This Hexman we got was already a prisoner of the Hexmen. I think they were going to have him for dinner."
"That's very interesting," Elijah said. "Anything else?"
"Not really."
Elijah said, "Go ahead then. Ayanna and I can take it from here."
"You can?"
"More than likely," Elijah said.
He went out into the shed. "Looks like we got a real live Hexman here." Elijah inspected the tattoo on the Hexman's face. "Tell ya what, Hexie, I' m going to go ahead and put this handcuff on one of your hands here and the other one to the steering wheel of this riding mower. Now, you can either sit down or stand up. You can even lay down on the floor. If you do anything to abuse your privileges, we will take privileges away, up and including. . . well, I'll let you use your own imagination. Do we understand each other?"
The prisoner nodded yes. He sat on the mower seat.
Elijah said, "Okay, I am going to remove the gag here so you can talk. In fact, I encourage it. If you scream, no one will hear you, except for me, and I don't want to hear it. So if you scream, I will put the gag back on plus take away a privilege. Got it?"
The Hexman nodded in the affirmative.
"Patrick, we're good here. Go ahead and get some rest. You are done for the day. Thank you. Good work."
Patrick went inside.
Elijah looked at the Hexman. "What's your name?"
"Why should I tell you?"
"Why wouldn't you? I don't really care what your name is. I can call you 'Garbage' if you want."
"John. . . "
"All right John, you got a last name?"
"Smith"
"That's very original, John. Tell me, what does the three hexes tattooed on your cheek mean?" The hex tattoos were interlocking on his face, like a bee hive.
John said, "You tell me. What do you think they mean."
"I think they identify you as part of a clan. I think the more hexes you have, the more prestige you have within the clan. Am I close, John?"
"Maybe."
"John, the only problem with this scenario is that you have 3 hexes on your face, an important Hexguy, but for some reason you are quite expendable. I hear you were only held in high esteem as the next meal. What's up with that?"
"Because I was quitting the Order. They won't let you quit."
"The 'Order'?" Elijah thought that sure was a high minded name for a bunch of cannibalistic murderers. We call you 'Hexmen', or just 'Hexpukes".
"We don't go by Hexmen."
"So, you were quitting the Clan, huh? Why didn't you leave?"
"Where can I go? I got the Hex tattoos, you know."
"Yes. That could be a problem. For you to find a new meal ticket. We never told you to go get hex tattoos or join the Hexmen. This ain't like before, when cops had to prove everything, or you get to walk. You think you can go call a lawyer now, and he can get you off for some figment of a reason? I couldn't give a crap less about your freedom of expression, or any other excuses for not being responsible. As far as I am concerned, you have to prove you are trustworthy, otherwise, I have no real need to do anything other than leave you here forever. Got it?"
"You think you are a cop?"
"Let's just say you and I have a 'special relationship'."
"What do you want from me?!"
"I want to know everything about your little social club."
"You would never understand it. Besides, how do I know you won't shoot me when you are done with me."
"You don't, but how do you know I won't shoot you in the next minute? In fact, I might. If I were you, I'd start explaining why I shouldn't."
"I got friends! They will come here and find me and kill all of you! They don't like it when we are gone."
"Why do they want you back so bad? They hungry? You weren't quitting the Order, that is a lie. This is getting nowhere, I'll be back in a few hours."
"Okay, If I tell you something, will you listen?"
"I'll listen, but I may not agree or believe you."
"I am not part of the Order. I was trying to get out."
"Lie again."
"I was not part of that Order. As far as I am concerned, Patrick and Rata saved me. I have nothing to lose now. You will kill me, they will kill me. Somebody is going to kill me."
"Sounds like we just went in a big circle with this discussion. Explain."
"At first we did eat humans, but we didn't kill them. They were already dead. We don't believe there is anything wrong with it. Then they started killing the dying, then the sick, then people who were not as useful."
"Like older people and children?"
"Yes. . . But all of us did not know this was going on!"
Elijah said, "Now ya'll go around openly killing people for food!"
"They do. Not me. I fought against it, then I was captured. That is why I became chosen for butchering. Not everyone agrees with the killing. That is why there are two main tribes."
"You mean there are more groups?"
"There are numerous tribes. Any marauder group not affiliated with the Order are attacked by the Order. Some tribes in the Order think it is okay to kill and butcher their own members and other don't. The tribe I was in declared war on another tribe who slowly killed off all of their own women and children. . .For food. I was captured so I was to be butchered."
"So, these groups are declining in population?"
"No. More people are getting accustomed to the idea of self-culling, and are joining."
Elijah said, "So you were just minding your own business, killing and eating people until someone captured you, harshing your mellow."
"You think you are better than us!?"
"I have better eating habits than you, so yes."
"We didn't have any food! People were dying!"
"And I really don't have a problem with that. The rest of us were out here working our butts off for a little bit of beans to eat. Remember that? Vegetables?"
"The quality of the non-essential personnel's life was horrible. They helped others go on."
You can't make this evil from Hell sound any better than what it really is, so don't even try. Let's talk about something else. Why the hex symbol?
"The Hexmen leader, Citizen One, was badly burned in a fire. When the building he was in collapsed, a resin hexplate walkway fell on him, leaving a permanent hex grid tattoo over the entire side of his face. A lot of people look up to Citizen One so they want to look like him."
"Where is this Citizen One?"
"Somewhere west of Shanesville. Maybe in Indiana."
"What would happen if he died?"
"I don't think very much. The tribes operate independently."
"What would it take to get rid of the Hex. . .The Order?"
"Put things back the way they were before the trouble. I know that is not going to happen, so we are here to stay."
"Yea, well things will never go back when there are those like you creating anarchy in the countryside."