Oh S**t

Weeks went by with no new news. It was almost like everything was a dream. Dani and Mae had a nice garden on the hill, that Caleb completely avoided. The property was fortified and stored of food, water, and gas. The solar panels were up and charging batteries. Leaves were on the trees and Caleb was catching fish out of the creek. Mae was canning fruits that Caleb and Erika picked in the woods on their fishing trips. Lee turned one of the old chicken coops into a trading post. People stopped by every now and then to swap items.

Lee was happy to get a few tobacco plants in one of the deals, his pipe had run dry some time ago. Dwight and Caleb managed to get a beer making kit and also traded some smoked fish for moonshine.

Everything seemed to be going well, they thought that it may all be over. Late one night, someone knocked on the door.  It was a young woman, she looked like s**t, with three kids. They had obviously been through hell and back. Lee let them in and gave them something to eat and drink.

"So," Lee started. "Where ya all from?"

"Speedway." she answered.

"Did you walk all the way here?" Lee asked. Caleb looked at her feet. Of course she did he thought. Not much left of those shoes.

The lady just nodded.

"What's your name?" Caleb asked.

She looked up at Caleb, she looked so tired. "Jessica."

"Well Jessica, I'm Caleb, that's my father in law Lee." he said pointing to Lee. "That's his wife Mae, their son Dwight, my wife Dani, and our daughters Erika and Eriana."

She smiled faintly at each one as Caleb pointed at them. Then someone cleared their throat.

"Oh," Caleb said. "That's Stumpy."

Brian shot Caleb a look that would stop a charging bull. "Brian ma'am, the names Brian."

"Let's get you all in bed. You must be exhausted." Mae said as she stood up and signaled for them to follow her."

 

***

 

After a few days of hard work they built another small house on the property for the new arrivals. The oldest boy Jack was a big help, he was about the same age as Erika and they hit it off. Caleb wasn't to thrilled but he was a good kid and wasn't like the other kids his daughter like back in Indy. This kid busted his a*s every day and earned everyone's respect. Jessica helped in the garden and knew a few tricks on getting more seeds out of the crops, and she knew how to make jerky, which they had plenty of by the time winter came. It was a cold winter, and nothing very exciting happened except a brush with a few coyotes and meth heads.

When spring finally came everyone was busy again, growing food and hunting. Caleb still stayed far away from the hill and hadn't had anything strange happen in a long time, most began to doubt that they actually saw anything strange on the trip to the farm. Brian began to believe that there was a trick of the night that made it look like Caleb's eyes glow. Even Caleb began to doubt some of what happened, except that damn hill. Every time his family went up there the noise came back. Faint, unless three or four where up there, then it was almost deafening.

Caleb was fishing one morning when the birds and frogs went silent. The only noise was the wind in the trees. He reeled in his line and set the pole on the ground and scanned the woods around him, and began to creep towards the edge of the field that butted up against the woods. A slight rumble vibrated the air as Caleb made the field, and something forced him to the ground. As he looked up something passed over his head. It was a strange craft flying low. The craft was not anything man made. It flew past him and hovered over the house, a green light came from its nose and began scanning the house.

Caleb hoped up and began running to the house as fast as he could. He could see Brian coming out the side door, he didn't notice the ship over his head. But he did notice Caleb haling a*s in his direction. Brian took a step down off the deck and froze in his steps as the green light moved over him. Caleb scooped up a large rock without breaking his stride and hurled it at the ship and continued to run towards Brian. He slammed into Brian, knocking them both through the screen door and back into the house. At that same instant the rock hit the ship with a loud metallic clang. Everyone else was now in the kitchen looking at the two men on the floor and looking out the window at the ship as it tried to fly off, with sparks shooting out of where the light was.

"S**t," Lee said "What the hell just happened?"

"I think they found us." Caleb said.