Chapter 32
The next day, Ayanna and Patrick took a position between the half klick walk between the Fort and Burkett's Market.
"There he is. See him coming out of the Fort?" Ayanna said.
"Where?"
"He's the guy with the dark blue coat on."
"You mean, black coat?"
"Whatever. He's pr'y gonna come over to the Store and buy some stuff, then go north."
"All right," Patrick said. "I'll go do some shopping in the store and see what he is doing."
"Okay," Ayanna said, "I'm going to go back to the House. Be careful, Patrick."
"I will, thanks."
Rata started walking before daybreak and got to Shanesville in late morning. He was walking up to inhabitants on the street, "Do you know, who Bob Timmons is?"
"No," said a young woman.
"I give up, who is he?" said a young guy.
"Sounds familiar. Is he related to Ned Timmons?", an older man said.
"No one in Shanesville goes by that name, never has been anyone by that name here," another older man said.
A couple of other people just walked by Rata without speaking, as if he couldn't be trusted. He waved a gang sign with his hands at one of them in frustration.
An older woman said, "Oh sure, I know Bob. His brother Ned is married to my cousin Dorothy. They have a son who was Township Trustee. They never wanted to clean our road when it snowed, but their son made sure the snow plow came down our road and cleaned it. Five years ago, maybe six; yea, six years ago; well, five or six, I don't really remember, the snow was just awful. At least around here it was. Where did you say you were from?"
"Um. . .Crawfordton. . ."
"Oh, do you like it over there? They sure have a lot of problems and I think if they would. . ."
"I'm just trying to find out about Bob Timmons."
"Well. . . I was just getting to that. You know out on Reed Road. . ."
"Where's that?"
"You go out from the State Route four miles north, but I wouldn't. Everyone out there has been killed off or left. Aren't those Hexmen just the worst. . ."
"Is Bob Dead?"
"Well yes, I thought everyone knew that. He was stubborn you know. Everyone told old Bob to get out of there. Even his wife, she's my cousin. . ."
"Yea, I know."
"Oh, I didn't know you were friends. Even my cousin left because she was so scared, but Bob was one of those pig-headed people. He stayed out there and the Hexmen got him. So awful. I hear Bob was a really good guy."
"Yea, he was the best. He was with the Volunteer Fire Department for over ten years," Rata said.
"Oh! Then you know my nephew, George Deere? He goes by Buck."
"Yea, but it is too painful for me to talk about Buck. I'm so sad, I must. . .leave. . . now." Rata put his elbow over his face in dramatic fashion and abruptly turned away and headed back to Crawfordton.
Patrick followed Jim Oliver who did indeed go north. It was a long walk. All of the landmarks were familiar. He had been down this road when they captured John Smith, or whatever his name was.
It was becoming increasingly obvious that Oliver was some kind of contact for the Hexmen. Patrick Kelly had to decide how far was he willing to go to prove that Oliver was a turncoat. Each step forward was another step closer to danger. Patrick hoped he would never have to go through all that pursuit again. He did not want to get too close to Oliver. What if Oliver had seen him and was leading him into a trap? Patrick Kelly always managed to keep a couple of trees or some other obstruction to the line of sight back to him, to avoid detection. At least he thought.
Oliver left the road and started walking back to a woodlot. Kelly decided to stay put and see what was next.
The next day Ayanna heard at school that the entire town of Crawfordton was planning to go to Delburg for a big celebration. There was going to be a circus, a flea market and beer drinking. When Ayanna got home, Phil told her the same thing.
Ayanna told Phil, "I heard the Celebration got cancelled because of a flu epidemic."
"No, that can't be right," Phil said. "That's not what I heard, and I talked to a lot of people. You may want to recheck your facts."
Elijah was out north of town with Captain Durand and the OC troops who were building fortifications. The troops were highly disappointed when they found out the Delburg celebration was cancelled. They were told instead that the construction work would continue for at least two more days.
Patrick Kelly watched Jim Oliver come out of the woods. He was coming back up the road. Patrick decided to hide in some brush that ran along beside a fence row. He waited for Oliver to pass, then to get down the road. Oliver was found to be walking miles to a woodlot to do something for a few minutes only to return the same way. That would not be enough to convict in the old days, but it was very damning now.
Rata got back and reported to Elijah that it was almost for sure that Oliver got the watch from a Hexman. Elijah told him to go back to the Farm before someone put him to work on the fortifications.
Oliver's Lieutenant was told by Durand to alert him once Oliver came back to town. The Lieutenant told the Captain as requested.
Elijah spoke to Patrick, who told him what Oliver was up to. The men in the OC Company were surprised to see Elijah slap Oliver in handcuffs.
Elijah took Oliver to the Farm. There was no chess game involved. Oliver was re-handcuffed to the riding mower with both hands. Elijah requested around the clock armed surveillance of the prisoner. As a gesture to Rata, they got together and moved the couch out to the shed so Rata could lay down on his watch.
Ayanna was exempt from watching Oliver, because If an invasion happened, the prisoner was to be shot and whoever was guarding him was to get Bella and evacuate to the Fort.
The next day Phil found out the Delburg celebration had been cancelled because of a flu outbreak. All he could do was to wonder if Ayanna was also psychic.
Elijah and Captain Durand went to the House to report to Jayden that they expected a Hexmen attack and that they were ready for them. The Crawfordton Guard was to be on high alert to protect the town from all sides.
The next day a large tribe of Hexmen showed up from the north lusting for wanton total destruction of Crawfordton. They advanced with all certainty that they could not be stopped, believing Crawfordton defense to be skeletal.
When the Hexmen approached a small outpost on the north they observed a single guard running extremely fast in the opposite direction when he saw the Hexmen coming. The Hexmen maintained their methodical advance. It was obvious to the Hexmen that there was no reason to think there would be any resistance. There was no need to go to the fort. They went straight for the center of town to pillage.
When the Hexmen got to very close range to the north outpost, a medium machinegun crew who were hiding there opened fire on them. Then upon hearing the staccato sound of the machinegun, the Hexmen were further surprised as troops popped up out of their covered spider holes. All the troops were killing Hexmen who were easy prey standing out in the open. The spider holes were arranged to create deadly interlocking fire. There was nowhere for the Hexmen to go.
In the shed, Rata heard the shooting. He got up off of the couch and pointed his pistol at Jim Oliver's head. "Hear that? It's time for me to give you wings."
"No! This isn't right!" Oliver said. "I've got relatives there. Stop. No. You can't do it! I have a right to a trial! Please! No!"
"Say 'hi' to your Hexpals when you get to Hell," Rata put a shot into Oliver's forehead and then he went to the farmhouse to get Bella.
The Hexmen were still getting massacred. Some tried to get away and others tried to charge. Most stayed down and hastily returned fire. Then a command was shouted and they tried to retreat en masse. The Hexmen's joint effort was futile and costly. When some did get pulled back, Guardsmen of Lt. Murphy's Platoon-D was there pouring on additional fire.
The Hexmen raiding party was completely destroyed. Over seventy Hexmen were killed. Three Confederation Troops were lost, and several were injured. No Guardsmen were hurt.