Chasing the Dark: The Demon Inside

by A. P. Texan

  In just a few minutes the sound of the tractor coming around the house shakes us from our thoughts, and we walk to go greet Calvin and Kerri.

  As we approach Kerri kills the engine to the tractor, her eyes already filled with tears. Calvin walking beside the tractor is openly crying; the tears streaming down his face.

  “Calvin, look at me, I need you to focus. We can morn for the lost, but right now we need to keep our composure. How many people were in the Smith household?” I say to my longtime friend.

  “Umm... six, Sam, Betty, their son David, his wife Janet, their daughter Beatrice, and Beatrice’s daughter Sally. Little Sally was only six, cute little things.” While he was talking Kerri climbed down from her spot in the cockpit of the tractor; openly weeping, wiping her eyes as the tears continued to roll. She started walking towards the pile of bodies. Hand out finger pointing like she was counting.

  “Calvin! Janet and Beatrice aren’t here. There is only four in this pile!” She exclaims

  With that news, we all turn and go where she is standing near the pile.

  “Shit, you might be right! Chase, Nick, you guy mind helping me out.” He says, as he reaches down to one of the neighbors on top of the pile.

  “Hold on Calvin, I know these were your friends and neighbors and I want to treat them with the upmost respect. But at the same time, I don’t want to move them anymore than necessary.” Nick says, walking to the tractor climbs up in the cab and fires the big machine back up.

  Nick carefully brings the tractor as close as he can and lowers the big scoop bucket down, so Calvin and I can gently place the bodies inside. We will make sure everyone is accounted for then move the bodies away from the house dig a grave and place them inside.

  “Bob, find a gate to the pastures and start looking for the livestock. According to Kerri, there should be at least a hundred head of beef.” I say into the radio.

  “There should also be six horses.” Kerri chimes in.

  “Bob, we are looking for six horses as well.” I relay.

  “Copy that, we are on it.”

  “Charles, I need you here with us please. Just prepare yourself this is a pretty gruesome scene.” I add.

  “Yes sir.” I hear him say.

  “What do you want him here for?” Calvin asks.

  “He is the closest thing we have to a reverend or chaplain. I want your friend’s burial to be as proper and respectful as possible.” I respond. “Kerri, would you mind going in the house and gathering up sheets or blankets for us to wrap them in, please.”

  After a few minutes work Charles, Nick Calvin and I manage to get the bodies loaded in the bucket of the tractor, as gently as we could. The bodies had at least a week of decomposition and the scavengers had feasted on poor Sam and David, the two people on top of the pile. We also confirmed there were only four here, the little girl and her grandmother Janet were not among the dead.

  “Guys, come look! Hurry!” Kerri yells from one of the upstairs windows of the house.

  All four of us turn and sprint to the house and up the stairs to the second floor, where we see Kerri standing holding a bedsheet in her hand the tears starting anew.

  “She is alive! Little Sally is alive!” She says almost screaming with her joy. As she is saying this, she is shaking a bedsheet in our direction. Even with her shaking it, I can see the sheet is stained with bright yellow urine.

  “Hold on, Kerri calm down, and speak a little slower please.” I say softly trying to calm her, as I reach for the sheet shaking in her hand.

  I as I grab the sheet to inspect it further, I realize the sheet is not only stained; it is still damp. “Holy crap you’re right, this can’t be more than an hour or two old or it would have been completely dry by now!”

  “Bob cease operation cattle search; we are now on operation search and rescue little girl. Her name is Sally, and she may be with her grandmother Janet. Spread out and start searching. Eddie, you and Elizabeth are now in charge of the search party, you guys have way more experience than anyone else out there. We are going to start at the house and move out from there.” I say into my radio, giving directions to the team.

  To the team inside the house with me, I say, “Kerri, you stay here look for anything you can find that may give us clues to where she is hiding. Also look for any comfort items you think a little girl would want. Charles give her your radio. The rest of us need to start searching. If I was a scared little girl, I would head for the closest tree line or building. The garage is attached, and we already cleared that, and I don’t see any barns or outbuildings from here, so I am thinking tree line.”

  Charles hands his radio over to Kerri and the four of us head back downstairs, leaving her to start searching the house. Just outside the back door, I take a knee and look around at anything that might give me an idea of where to start looking. Unfortunately, because we have had no rain in the last couple weeks there isn’t much to go on. However, just ten feet from the door, I find a small twig laying in the grass, that has been broken in half but is still in a state of together. Like something stepped on it with just enough pressure to break it, but not enough to separate the two pieces.

  “This way guys” I say to my team.

  Another twenty feet and I find a small footprint, imprinted into the soft earth of a mole hill. “Bingo, now we have a direction of travel. She couldn’t have gotten too far, she is barefoot.” I say to my team. Into my radio I say “Cynthia, grab Savannah and head towards the house with your medical bag and the Kawasaki. I’ve got her tracks heading into the tree line and she will need you, if nothing else she is extremely dehydrated and I think having Savannah with you will garner some degree of trust, that four dudes with guns probably won’t. Oh, and grab our rifles please.”

  In three minutes flat, the Kawasaki comes racing our way, my oldest sister driving and my youngest daughter riding shotgun.

  “Okay, what do we have?” Cynthia asks as she pulls up in the Kawasaki.

  “The family was slaughtered. Everyone was killed in what looks like a firefight behind the house. However, it looks like one of the ladies and a small child may have escaped. We have reason to believe the little girl has gone this direction, sometime in the last couple hours.” I point to the footprint in the dirt. “In addition, as you can see, she is barefoot, so I doubt she went far once she got inside the tree line. We know she is extremely dehydrated as she peed the bed and it was bright yellow. Not dark yellow at this point, which is good, there is probably no kidney damage.”

  “Let’s do this, I will stay here with Savannah; you and the guys go in and see if you can locate her. When you do let me know and we will come in with the mule.” Cynthia suggests.

  “My plan exactly except, Savannah is coming with us. I want her with us because she will be more comforting to a little girl than we will, and I don’t want to scare her to badly. She has been traumatized enough already.” I counter.

  Cynthia just gives me a thumbs up and Savannah climbs out of the UTV; hands me my carbine, and we head into the tree line where I’m hoping it will be a little easier to track the girl.

  Inside the tree line, as I hoped she makes it much easier to track her movements. She wasn’t moving in a carefully planned out way, so the leaves are moved by scuffling feet, small twigs are broken by her hasty movements, small rocks have been kicked in haphazard directions, and pieces of what appears to be a lightweight night gown is stuck to briars. In just twenty minutes, we have moved a couple hundred yards into the trees, and we all stop and listen as we hear a sound simultaneously. A small but distinct whimper. It appears to be coming from a pile of rocks and fallen trees; no more than fifteen feet in front of us. I hold up my hand in the military hand gesture to stop, upper arm held out to your side at shoulder height, elbow bent ninety degrees up and the fist clenched. I signal to my daughter to come to where I am and whisper in her ear, for her to talk to the little girl.

  “Sally, is that you?” she asks in a sweet and innoce
nt voice. “Can I come over there to you, so we can talk. My name is Savannah and I’m really good friends with some people that knew your family. I’m here with him and my dad to help you. Do you know Calvin and Kerri from up the road?”

  I tap Savannah on the shoulder and using gestures, I tell her I’m going to back up some and use the radio to call Cynthia in. I then turn to the other guys and point to myself then using my fingers make the sign of someone walking then point back the direction we came and point to the radio. I then point to them then the ground, using the first two fingers of my right hand, I point to my eyes and then Savannah and little Sally.

  Using signals easy enough for anyone to understand. I just told the team I am moving back and using the radio. You guys stay here and watch the girls.

  I then carefully making as little sound as possible, moved back about twenty-five yards and keyed the radio.

  “All teams be advised we have found Sally. Savannah is talking to her trying to keep her from running or being further traumatized. Cynthia, if you move outside the tree line about a hundred yards then make a ninety degree turn into the trees; you will come to us about another hundred yards. So far, I haven’t seen her to assess injuries, she is hiding inside a pile of rocks and fallen trees.”

  When I get back to the guys, I can see Savannah has advanced to just outside the pile of debris. She is wide eyed and has her hand over her mouth in shock. Taking her hand away from her mouth, she looks at me and I can see tears in her eyes, and she begins to gesture for me to come and come quick. All four of us close the fifteen feet in just a few long strides and glance inside. There, holding her obviously deceased grandmother, is young Sally Smith. Her hair is filthy and full of sticks and leaves. Her once white nightgown is now brown with dirt and yellow from urine. Her face once covered in grime, is clean in streaks from her tears. Her grandmother obviously deceased is covered in blood and from where most of it is concentrated it would appear it was an abdominal wound, a horrible and painful way to die.

  I back away and key my radio again. “She doesn’t appear to be injured in anyway; just really dehydrated and traumatized. Someone go to the farmhouse and get Kerri, she should have some of the girl’s toys and such, we really need anything to distract her from her current situation. The guys and I are going to back away, Savannah seems to be getting through to her. Cynthia and Kerri, I need you guys up here pretty quick though.”

  “I’m fifty yards out, but the going is slow there is no trail here.” Cynthia responds.

  “Dad, I’m getting Kerri and headed your way” Stephanie also responds.

  When Cynthia arrives the four of us back away, far enough to let the ladies do their job. Not long after Cynthia arrives, my oldest daughter arrives on the Kubota with Kerri a duffle bag over her shoulder stuffed animals poking out of the open zipper. I signal to the guys and we make our way back out to the open pastures and fields. Where the rest of our team anxiously awaits the outcome of our latest adventure.

  1200 hours 15 March 2022

  The Smith Ranch

  While we are all waiting, we are trying to kill time with small talk and chit chat discussing things like we still need to find the cattle and get them loaded up; along with search the barns for any feed or other supplies. Not to mention, dig a mass grave and have a funeral for an entire family and now take care of a traumatized little girl on top of everything else. Suddenly all conversation stops, and we all turn our heads towards the rear of the property.

  “Do you hear that?” We all say almost simultaneous.

  Faintly we hear the unmistakable sound of an outboard motor at high RPM. The Pilgrimage Tributary is that direction, as Calvin told us it cuts through the back one-hundred acres of the property but who would be traveling that fast on the water, especially now. Suddenly just as quickly as we heard it, the RPMs slow and we can no longer hear it but then suddenly another comes into ear shot.

  “Shit they’re back! Everyone to the farmhouse now!” I yell at everyone around me. They all jump in the truck except, Nick and Charles. And I key my radio “No more time to play child psychologist; we got to go now. Grab her and head back to the farmhouse. Don’t come this way, go the long way through the woods.”

  “Chase, what’s going on?” Cynthia asks.

  “Now is not the time for twenty questions sis, we have visitors coming up from the river. Now grab Sally and go. Everyone get in the farm house and prepare to defend the Alamo. Charles, Nick, and I will try to slow them down.” I say into the radio.

  “Nick, this is your show; where do you want us?” I ask, the seasoned warrior in front of me.

  “I really wish we had long range rifles right now, but the AR’s will have to do as our .308s are in the side by sides.”

  “Here, trade me. My 1-4 power will be better for you than the Eotech.” I say to Nick, handing him my Carbine.

  We trade rifles and then I look at him waiting. “You two go through the trees as quick as you can and stay out of sight but be ready to engage. I’m going to set up here and start to engage as soon as I am confident in my shots. When I do, they are going to scramble for cover; which means head for the trees. That’s when you guys engage; but don’t let them over run you. Engage and fall back. Engage and fall back. Basic guerilla warfare tactics. Got it?”

  Charles and I both nod our heads as we take off into the trees. We are both jogging holding our rifles and dodging around trees. We cover about 200 yards, when we start hearing Nick’s rifle barking out death, one round at a time.

  “Chase, this isn’t good. I count at least twenty-five, maybe more. Looks like all Jihadis wearing basically the same garb as the other one”, I hear Nick’s disembodied voice through my radio earpiece.

  Instead of responding I just key my radio twice to let him know that I copied. Moving to the edge of the tree line I find a large live oak to take cover behind, take a knee and wait for a target to show up. Charles moves another twenty yards down and does the same.

  We are only waiting a few seconds, when targets start appearing and then we begin to fire. As soon as a target appears in my Eotech reticle, I pull the trigger and another Jihadi falls. I actually start to smile at this. Not even thinking about it I grabbed my Infidel t- shirt and put it on under my plaid this morning. The back says, “I am the Infidel Allah warned you about.” It’s a twisted bit of irony, but it does make me smile. I drop four of the bad guys, when I decide it is time to move.

  I yell at Charles, “Fall back bounding.”

  I wait for the movement of his head as acknowledgment; then jump up, yell “moving” and sprint back twenty-five yards.

  “Set” I yell, dropping down and take up another firing position.

  He immediately jumps and sprints back to where he is online with me.

  “Set” he yells.

  “Loading” is my reply. I pull a fresh magazine from my chest rig and swap it with the partially used one from the rifle. The partial one goes in my left cargo pocket on my pants.

  “Moving” I yell, as I take off falling back another twenty-five yards.

  We continue to move in this fashion, until we get back up to where Nick started engaging. However, instead of stopping, we continue running past him and as I pass him trailing behind Charles, I tap him on the shoulder letting him know we are good, and he has now joined our bounding. The three of us continue moving in this set, move, set, move fashion; until we come insight of the farmhouse and as we do, the windows on the upper floor begin to unleash fire down on the enemy. It would appear that Eddie and Calvin decided to put the big bore .308 rifles to good use and as soon as we were clear, began to unleash hell on the bad guys. The other windows of the house each had a hunting rifle or AR pocking out of it; all you could hear was the boom of the .308 combined with the crack of the AR, even the occasional snap of Savannah’s little .22lr Mossberg.

  Under the cover of this blistering barrage of fire the three of us run through the back door of the house and each set up at either the do
or or a window on the bottom floor, continuing to unleash little lead nuggets of death. Sending these bastards to their seventy-two virgins as quickly as we can. Soon the firing dies down and eventually stops.

  “Ammo check!” I yell to everyone.

  Each in turn yells back their ammo count; most of us are at half capacity or running low.

  “Let’s get out of here!” I again yell out to everyone. Within minutes we are all loaded up in the vehicles and racing back towards the farm as fast as the tractor will go.

  We make the trip back to the farm, but nobody has time to decompress. Cynthia, Elizabeth, Kerri, and Savannah immediately rush little Sally into the aid station, to start checking her over and get some food and fluids in her. Cynthia’s girls team up with mine to get her some warm water and soap as well as try to find something she can wear.

  Eddie, Roger, Charles, Robert, Nick, and I head straight to the armory to resupply our ammo and get geared up for anymore battles we may face. I choose to load up all my mags for the Springfield and put them in a separate bag I can carry. Then fill all my AR magazines and place them in my chest rig. I also make sure my go bag is stocked with extra .45 and 5.56mm ammo just in case. Nick decides to go with the big guns not only does he load up on .308 for his AR-10; but he trades his AR-15 for an M4 and also grabs one of the 240s and 3000 rounds of ammo for it.

  “Dad, question. Should we go head back and pick-up Janet and bring her back here with the rest of her family?” He asked seriously.

  “Chase, before you answer, let me say yes. We should, we still have enough daylight to do this and we want to get in and out, before they send more people to find out what happened to their buddies. Also, I want to go to the water and check their boats over. Any intel we can get will be a bonus.” Nick interjects.

  “Well, I was going to say no but Nick makes a compelling argument. Nick, Charles and I will go back. Robert, Roger and Eddie will stay here and watch the farm. I have a feeling we stirred a hornet’s nest, and we might be having more visitors.” I respond.