by Annie Berdel
Hanny Beaver Airpark was just a blip on a map between Pittsburg, Pennsylvania and East Liverpool, Ohio but it housed one of the most intensive underground military operations on the east side of the Mississippi. It put Cheyenne Mountain to shame in sheer size as the base itself extended beneath Lake Erie. Masked by the salt pit operation on the north side, the base extended down under the lake at points by two thousand feet. A legitimate operation funded by the government, it houses one of the five largest salt excavation businesses in the county. Behind all the crystals resides a network of tunnels that would eventually bring you to Wheeling West Virginia. In between, the only way in or out was through Hanny Beaver Airport.
The area was named after what the Delaware Indians called Amockwisipu, or Beaver Stream. As tale would tell, a soldier was helping to construct Fort McIntosh back in the seventeen hundreds. Building a cabin south west of the Fort itself, the soldier met and fell in love with a young Indian girl that he affectionately called Hanny, meaning God has favored me.
Hanny became the code word for any trips near the area that needed to be more then discreet. It was a base of operation that was used by the United States military that few had knowledge of. It would become the base of the government, if crisis arises.
17
Jeremiah wanted answers. He had a family, friends and a community to help protect and he would be damned if he didn’t do everything within his power to make sure they were safe and had a chance at life. Packing a small backpack, his intention was walking over towards Memphis to see what he could find out. Basing his decision on destination as to where he witnessed the blast coming from, he figured it was a direct hit on the city, if not close enough to do heavy damage. But what was it and better yet, who caused it?
Making his way towards Wellwood, the largest town to his family farm, Jeremiah stopped occasionally just to look around. He was safe walking through Wellwood as it was so large that it had never been included in the census and that’s just how Jeremiah liked it. You didn’t just stop by on a Sunday drive out here. It was in your best interest to know someone mighty important before you headed into the territory Jeremiah had lived in all his life.
He was seventy five miles from Memphis on a good day but that was going straight down Interstate 40. Today was not a day he felt comfortable walking so exposed on a major interstate, so he detoured his plans a bit north. He figured he would skirt south of Brownsville and then head over towards Stanton. If he made good time he may be able to make it to his Uncle’s farm in the Mason area. What used to take half an hour in a car would now take a brisk ten hours to walk, and that’s with no issues along the way. By Jeremiah’s calculations, his Uncles’ farm would put him about forty miles outside of Memphis which is about as close as Jeremiah wanted to get, unless he had to.
Noah and Hannah Bontrager lived on an Amish dairy farm outside of Mason, Tennessee. They still held to the traditional ways of living, so when the explosion happened they didn’t notice much of a difference on the homestead other than the ramifications of the blast. Trees and outbuildings had taken the brunt of the explosion but no livestock was hurt and Noah could find no injuries to any of his family still living on the farm with him even though they had felt the downdraft afterwards.
“Jeremiah!” Noah shouted as he walked over to meet his nephew halfway down the dirt path they used as a driveway. The dogs had alerted him to an intruder but Noah was pleasantly surprised when he saw the stature of his sister’s son. Six feet seven, he was colossal compared to other men in the family. At the age of seventeen, the outsiders called him Mountain Man and treated him with the respect of someone who could easily impair their movements but the man had a heart of gold. He was the gentlest soul and so misunderstood that he had given up long ago trying to convince people otherwise. He stayed to himself and his family so it was a bit of a surprise to see him today.
Grabbing the large man’s hand, Noah placed his other hand on the back of the man’s elbow and shook with a mighty grip.
“Uncle” Jeremiah replied as the handshake turned into a bear hug,
“Oh, it’s so good to see you out and about on this fine day. What brings you?” Noah asked
“How are you and the family?” Jeramiah asked
“We are well. I am assuming you know about the explosion?”
“I would flatter you by saying that I missed you all, but yes. I came to seek answers.”
“Come to the house then. I know Hannah would love to see you and inquire of your family. We have much talking to do.” Noah replied guiding his nephew by the elbow towards the house.
Kneeling beside the debris, Jeremiah ran his hand over the smooth grey finish. Nine inches of black and white wires that had obviously been severed in half lay limp out of what was once an arm of a machine. More of the same wreckage was placed on a tarp in the utility shed of his Uncle’s farm. Jeremiah tried to picture the contraption in his head and all he could think of was a spider.
“There any more of this out there?” Jeremiah asked
“Not that we have discovered yet but it took us a bit to gather all of this together. It was scattered quite a distance.” Uncle Noah said as he lifted his chin and aimed it towards the mess of metal and plastic. “What are you thinking Jeremiah?” He could see the wheels in his nephews head spinning, knowing he was trying to put all the pieces together. He had seen the boy build just about anything, including his own farm house so it would come as no surprise if he had an idea of what all the parts created.
“Nah, nothing yet. I have some ideas but man, it’s hard to tell.” Jeremiah replied as he stood up and walked further around the pile. “Any of you see anything before this happened?”
“One of the neighbors over towards Taylor’s Chapel, heard he was talking of a blue light over the city. Not much else. We don’t see much odd out here so this stuck out right quick. You think it’s connected to what went on over in Memphis?” he asked
Bending over and picking up a small piece of what had been the outer skin of the object, Jeremiah turned it over in his hand, his mind being etched with each small detail. Engraved on the side was half of a five point star.
“You see this?” Jeremiah asked his Uncle, handing him the piece of debris.
“Nope, but I didn’t handle it any more than getting it in here. We were more concerned with outsiders coming in once we realized what was going on so our attention was on perimeter patrols and securing the homestead. What do you think this was?” he asked, handing the hard plastic back to his nephew.
Jeremiah lost in thought as he was digging through the rest of the clutter, all but ignored his uncle. Noah, recognizing the glazed over look, decided to head back up to the house and let Jeremiah have his space. He didn’t need a thousand questions by an old man who hadn’t ventured much into the outside world and Noah knew if anyone could figure out what happened, it was his nephew.
Six hours after the rest of the family had gone to bed, Jeremiah wandered back into his Uncle’s house. His head was aching from the amount of concentration he had given the inanimate object laying in the barn. Being as quiet as he could, he made his way into the living room where his Aunt Hannah had said she would make up a bed for him on the couch. He was surprised to find his Uncle still awake and waiting on him since the man had to be out in the milk house in a couple hours.
“Jeremiah, you figure anything out?” Noah asked obviously tired
“I have some theories.” Jeremiah responded
“Please, share and put this old man’s mind at ease.”
“I’m not sure how peaceful these answers may be and don’t forget, I’m just guessing here.” Jeremiah shot back
“Just amuse me. Knowing what it is, is sometimes more beneficial then knowing nothing, no matter how frightful something is.”
“Okay, I will give you that.” Jeramiah began “From what my mind was trying to tell me, that thing out there could be, and I say could be because without putting it all back together I just
don’t know, so could be some type of small drone. Kinda like those small planes that fly over your fields looking for illegal crops that you complain about. Anyone else know about this?”
“Yes, several people do.” Noah replied
“Really? You talked about this? I’m surprised at that. You usually don’t like to talk about your business.”
“I don’t but there have been other of these objects found in the area. Two that I know of. This one seems to be the farthest from the city.”
“Any descriptions on any of them? Same color?” Jeremiah asked
“Pretty much all sound ‘bout the same. Why?”
“Anything else match? What about that blue light that Hannah saw? Anyone else see it that has one of these?”
“One other did say they saw a light. Why? Where are you going with this?”
“How much of the area was burned around where these were found?” Jeremiah kept with the questions, his mind spinning faster and faster
“Whole area is burned up. Big hole where this thing came down. Why Jeremiah? We all thought it was because of the blast. Couple of the young men tried to get close to Memphis but stayed out as they said it was pretty much leveled. We waited for fall-out like we had been taught but quite honestly, we haven’t seen much of anything at all. It’s like everything was damaged but us unless you got caught in the fires or the quake mess. Us out here farther away are just dealing with the downed trees and such. Even the cattle are fine.” Noah explained
“Listen, I need to get headed back to home at first light but would you mind if I take a couple of these pieces back with me. I have some outsiders staying at the house who I would like to show these to?”
“They won’t be messing around here after, will they” his uncle asked concerned to have outsiders on his farm.
“Not without me but I may bring one or two down to check out some things. And I may have misspoke. I also need to tell you about Shelby before I explain who these people are. You may just want these outsiders on your farm.”
His uncle shot Jeremiah a sideways glance of puzzlement. Very few times over the years had Noah ever wanted an outsider on his land and he wasn’t so sure if that was now either. Giving his nephew the benefit of the doubt though, he at least needed to listen to his explanation and reasoning behind his statement. Noah glanced out the window behind his nephew as Jeremiah began to talk. The first rays of dawn were starting to break through the darkness.
Its going to be a long day, Noah thought to himself as he gave his nephew his full attention.
18
“Emma! Slow down!” Mike exclaimed from behind her. She had gone through an ordeal over the last couple of days and he was astounded at her energy. Last thing she needed was a setback from over-exertion. Besides, Mike had no idea these tunnels were even here! He wanted to check them out but it looked like that would come later as Emma was already quite a distance ahead of him.
Damn-it Emma! Mike muttered under his breath. Fishing in his pocket, he pulled out a flashlight and shown it ahead of himself before he tripped. Emma was now so far ahead of him that he couldn’t use the light from the lantern she had brought with them.
Shining the light up the wall, he quickly ran his hand across the semi-smooth passageway.
Who built these? And when? He didn’t remember Emma mentioning construction of any kind. Granted, it had been sometime between visits but he would have noticed the evidence from something this elaborate. Shining the light ahead, he saw a channel taking off to the right. Mentally making a map of the property, that channel had to run somewhere near the house since they entered from the ingress by the barn. Continuing on, Mike finally saw a faint change to the darkness in the tunnel. Wonder where this ends up?
As Mike got closer to the exit, he slowed his pace. Emma was nowhere to be found and he didn’t want to walk into a trap. Coming to the exit, Mike hunkered down to a crouch and slowly crept to the opening.
Well I’ll be damned, he whispered
He knew the back of the residence well. He had spent quite a bit of time here sneaking in and out of the house undetected. Memories came flooding back as Mikes eyes slowly traced over the scene before him. Last time he was here, he was just a smart ass, disrespectful, horny kid.
Chuckling, he realized not much had changed.
Walking out of the tunnel, Mike caught sight of his sister as she disappeared into the house. Damnit. What the hell was so important that she took off like a bat out of hell?
Looking around, Mike didn’t see any vehicle in the drive. Wonder who lives here now? He thought. Whoever it was, Emma knew them well to just walk into the house without knocking.
Coming to door, Mike reached his hand up to enter a little more cordial then Emma had. Knocking, Mike waited. No answer and no sound from within. Mike reached down and grabbing the door handle, gave it a turn.
Well, it’s not locked, he thought.
Scouting the area, he decided to follow after his sister
Opening the door slowly, Mike paused when the door creaked.
Damn-it, he wanted the element of surprise if he needed it
Once more, he pushed the door until there was enough space for him to squeeze in
Inside he found himself in a long hallway. Quietly he crept along the wall, noticing rooms off of each side of the corridor. Peering inside each room as he passed by, he slowly made his way to the end of the hallway. Turning the knob on the last door, he gradually opened it far enough to slip inside.
He heard their voices coming from around the corner, Emma laughing, talking to what he could make out as another female. Perplexed, Mike entered the room and stopped dead in his tracks. The look on his face must have been quite comical as Emma turned to look at him. “Mike! What took you so long?” She sang out with a grin on her face.
Standing in the middle of the room was his sister, a glow emanated from her of pure happiness. With his paws on her shoulders, Mike cocked his head as he recognized the furry white beast with his tongue licking Emma’s cheek.
How the hell? Mike thought.
19
He felt the faint tickle on his face. Trying to open his eyes, he could barely make out the distant haze of light from the morning sun. Something was biting his cheek. Automatically trying to raise his arm to swat whatever it was, he realized his appendage was stuck under his own body. His shoulder briefly flinched as the muscle tried to dislodge it. Crying out in pain, he heard his own mumbled attempt at sound. His lips swollen still, he tried to lick their dryness to no avail. His tongue just as parched.
Her image flashed before him.
God, just let me die.
He didn’t want to see her. Smell her. Hear her. Feel her.
His cheek hurt. He could feel the pain radiating down the side of his face to his ear. Squeezing his eye shut, he tried to scare off whatever was biting him. Over and over he tried to pucker his cheek to disengage the now searing pain that the insect was causing. A tear teased out the corner of his eye. All hope fled his spirit as his thoughts focused on the throbbing on the face. He couldn’t move. Every piece of his flesh was afire with a throbbing ache. Concentrating, he discovered he could move his foot back and forth, but the pain in his lower back made him stop.
Again, she manifested in his mind.
Kill me! Just take me now! Why the fuck do you need to torture me first? He screamed out to no one. Or to God. Or to anyone who cared. But there wasn’t a soul, just the demons teasing his mind.
He felt the cold on his nose as the snowflake landed and quickly melted. The trace amount of water quickly ran down the side of his nostril and taunted his swollen parched lips.
Turning his head slightly, he drifted out of conciseness as the earth beneath him stirred. Organisms crawled over and into the clothing of the man, finding warmth from the coming cold against the man’s skin.
From dirt we are formed and to dust we will return. Some will meet their fate in a peaceful setting surrounded by family and frien
ds. Other will not be so lucky.
20
Kneeling down onto one knee, Mike braced himself for the impact. The big white dog launched at him with the force of a thousand tanks almost knocking him onto his back.
“Dixon!” Emma yelled to deaf ears
“Dixon!” Mike exclaimed as he caught the dog around the neck
Looking at Emma with a quizzical look on his face, he moved Dixon back to scratch the one place he knew that made the canine moan. His ears.
Arrrrr, the noise that escaped Dixon’s throat gave Mike a chuckle. “Easy boy, there’s more where that came from”
“I thought” Mike stammered “How did? What is going on?
“So did I” Emma replied. “In the kitchen. I know” she began as tears started to fill her eyes
Jane, Doctor Scott’s assistant looked from Mike to Emma and then back to Mike again, completely lost in the whole minimalistic conversation exchanging between the two. Turning back to Emma, she finished to the instructions she conveying to Emma before Mike interrupted.
“The knife barely missed doing any major damage. Any closer and it would have definitely have hit a lung. He will have a nice bald spot for a while but he should fully recover with a nice scar to show off to the ladies” Jane said with a grin “Btw, he’s a bit of a brute. Try and keep him down and quiet for a while if you can.”
“Jane, this is my brother Mike. Mike, Scott’s assistant Jane” Emma explained. The two gave a quick nod to each other as Emma continued looking at her sibling. “I’ll explain on the way home, but right now we need to help Jane with a couple things and then get home before everyone starts waking up. Dearest Little Brother of mine, I do have one more favor.”
“Which is what?”
“Dixon still needs rest after being patched up and shouldn’t even be up and around for a day. We need to get him home but, he shouldn’t be walking that far.”
