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Sheriff Monroe drove around the town looking for John Henry; he had seen him get into his white pickup truck earlier with Mike Chambers. He knew they would be searching the rooftops and since school was in session, he took the chance they would not search there first. Fortunately, he didn’t have to search long: he spotted the truck pulling around the back of a local store. He pulled in behind the truck and shouted at the three men, “Hey, guys, wait for me.”
John Henry stopped and turned around. “Sheriff, what are you doing here? You are supposed to be taking charge of the explosion site. Aren’t you the one who convinced half the town it was a gas line explosion and not what the Mayor and I said?”
“Calm down, John, I have already taken care of that. The county will have a team here by 4 o’clock. Stanley Tate is in charge of the rescue crew and he and his men are digging over at the Johnson house. I thought I might tag along with you good old boys. You two seem to be where the action is always happening.”
John Henry laughed. “All right, but us good old boys are running this here show.”
The Sheriff put up his hands. “Don’t worry about me, fellas: I just want to get at the truth like everyone else. Lead the way, fellas.”
Mike Chambers took the ladder from the back of the truck and they climbed on top of the roof. Mike went first, followed by John Henry, Paul Tobias, and Sheriff Monroe. John Henry was the only man to see the image so he took the lead and walked the men all around the top of the roof – but they found nothing.
“I don’t see anything,” said Mike, “where is this image you and the Mayor saw?”
“I tell you, Mike, it was here, right here.” John Henry turned like a dog chasing its tail in stark confusion. How could it have vanished? It was clear as day the other night!
Sheriff Monroe was delighted at his confusion and secretly smiled over the man’s ignorance. He wanted to laugh in his face and tell them all to go home, but he knew this would just irritate them and intensify their search efforts. So like the rest, he searched and held his tongue.
Mike Chambers finished his second look at the roof and then looked out at the rubble of the Johnson house. “Maybe we ought to join the digging crew and follow the tunnel over at the Johnson place?”
“I tell you, Mike, that image was right here last night. It couldn’t have been covered up that quickly.” He rubbed his foot on the roof, but found no signs of fresh paint.
He had decided to give in when he had an idea. He climbed down and went into the store with the men. They made their way to the back storeroom without being seen by the two customers and the cashier inside.
“When we were in the basement of the Johnson house, there was a secret room along one of the walls that opened by way of a bookshelf. It was a mechanism of some sort in the bookshelf, kind of like a lever, you know like in the movies. If we look around in here we should be able to find it and then the tunnel.”
“It is worth a shot,” said Mike.
The others agreed and they looked around the room. “I don’t see any bookshelves,” said Paul Tobias.
“Maybe not,” said John Henry, “but there are shelves in here. Let’s start taking everything down and see what we can find.”
Sheriff Monroe went to a shelf in the center of the room and began taking cans of food off the shelves and setting them on the floor. Paul Tobias gave him a hand while Mike and John worked on a shelf by the door.
After an hour of futile searching and with the men ready to try something new, John had further inspiration. “Over there, on the back shelf. If anything is here it would have to be close to that wall; it is the only thing that makes sense.” He went to the wall and started knocking things off the shelf. The rest of the men joined him. In no time Mike picked up a can and they all heard a click, followed by an opening revealing itself beside them.
“There it is! I told you!” John Henry ran for the opening and pulled it wide. Inside was a long dark tunnel like the tunnel at the Johnson house. The tunnel was so long they couldn’t see the other end.
One by one the men entered the tunnel, Sheriff Monroe entering last. He had his firearm in its holster at his side and he was going to wait until the men were deep inside the tunnel – then he would kill them all. He had tried meeting after meeting to dissuade them but nothing had worked: this would be the final solution. Bringing up the rear of the cautious men, he unbuckled the strap across the top of his gun. He followed the unsuspecting men, ready to act on behalf of his Queen.
When they had gone about twenty feet into the tunnel, Mike stopped. “Wait, we need our guns. Let’s have someone stay down here by the door while the rest get guns. I plan to shoot whatever comes at me.”
Quickly, the Sheriff replaced his strap; the other men swung around and headed back out past the smiling redheaded lawman, Paul remaining behind.
The three men left the tunnel and the Sheriff stopped. “Hey, guys, I already have my gun; I will wait here for the two of you. Make sure you get a gun for Paul.”
The men agreed and left the storeroom.
Sheriff Monroe went to the wall and pressed a hidden panel. A cover slid down, revealing a keyboard panel. The Sheriff punched in numbers, hit Enter and a counter started. He raised the cover back up. He went into the tunnel. “Hey, Paul, did you see anything?”
“No, Sheriff, not a thing.”
“Look, I see something,” shouted the Sheriff with fear in his voice.
Paul turned around to look. The Sheriff moved in a blink of an eye to stand behind Paul. He struck him in the back of the head with his gun. With impressive speed, the Sheriff snatched him up and ran him to the other end of the tunnel. He opened a panel and threw the man inside and closed the door. He pressed another button that set off a silent alarm in the room before racing back to the end of the tunnel and out the door. He was standing at the door waiting in the same spot when Mike Chambers and John Henry came back with their weapons. Monroe pressed his hair down to complete his pose.
Mike carried a rifle, whereas John carried two. Both men had a handgun in their belt. “Ready, Sheriff?” Mike asked.
“I’m ready,” said the Sheriff.
They entered back into the tunnel, the Sheriff again bringing up the rear.
“Paul,” whispered Mike. He did not see him anywhere. “Paul. Where are you?”
“Paul,” shouted John Henry, thinking the man was up ahead and out of view. “What happened to him?” he said to the Sheriff behind him.
“How would I know? I was with the two of you.” The Sheriff looked as if he was worried and he too shouted, “Paul!”
A worried Mike Chambers looked ahead. “Come on, he must be at the end.” He lifted his rifle and took aim as he led the way down the tunnel.
“Damn fool,” said John Henry who held up his rifle and walked a few paces behind Mike.
The Sheriff took out his gun and smiled as he aimed it at the two men in front of him.
Mike was in the front. His foot hit a trip wire and he stopped. He backed up. An arrow shot out from one side of the tunnel – he ducked just in time. The men backed up and a bright light illuminated the other end of the tunnel. They turned around to run. John Henry fell into the Sheriff and they both went down. The men heard an explosion and then another and then another, all coming toward them from the other end of the tunnel. They thought it was a train. Then they saw what appeared to be a moving wall coming toward them: the exploding sounds were the bulbs overhead popping. The men got up and ran for their end of the tunnel; they barely managed to get out of the tunnel ahead of the moving wall. The wall hit the outer door and made a loud bang as it stopped.
The men, both frightened and curious, walked toward the wall and opened the half-smashed door. Before them was a wall of solid concrete. It filled the entire length of the tunnel. Now they would never have access to the door at the other end.
“Well, Sheriff, are you going to believe us now?”
“If I hadn’t seen
it with my own eyes I wouldn’t believe it. Come to think of it, I did see something out in the woods by one of those moss covered shacks. Maybe it is a tunnel to somewhere. You boys want to go with me and check it out?”
“Yeah, let’s go get the rest of the guys and load up,” John Henry said.
“No,” said the Sheriff. “Something is going on in this town and we three know what the deal is. If we stop and pick up people we are going to have to waste a lot of time trying to explain to them something they will never believe unless they see it for themselves. Let’s bring back our proof in the back of a truck like you did, Mike.”
The two men agreed with him and after touching the concrete wall to verify its existence, they left the store.
Chapter 27
Cavers: A Vampire Tale Page 38
