Hammerston Heroes: Part Three

We shoot off into the distance, when I realize that Dale left his truck and we will most likely now have felony charges. I wonder if this is covered by duress. We burst through the tree-line, and we’re now off of O’Reilly’s property. Dale slows his pace a bit, and I pull up alongside of him.

“So, how far off are we?”

“Well, I reckon on these things, and with staying off the road, probably about a quarter of an hour.”

We make the rest of the ride in silence, or at least as much silence as dirt bikes offer. We reach the edge of a cornfield and Dale stops his bike. I pull up next to him. “Is this it?”

“Just about, we’ll need to walk the rest though, it’s not far.” He pointed through the cornfield. “You think you could use your magic to cut through that cornfield quietly?”

“I guess so, I’ve not tried.” I concentrate for a moment, and the corn parts, leaving soft soil behind, without making too much racket. “I’d say so.”

We begin to walk through a narrow aisle. As we head forward, the corn behind us closes, and the corn ahead opens. We crouch down some, to avoid being seen from the distance.

After a while of walking in silence, I turn around to Dale. “How far off do you think we are?”

“I can’t say for sure, can you see over the corn?” He whispers.

I stand to my full height and peak over the corn. About a hundred feet away, there is a large complex of tents in a clearing of trampled corn. A few flood lights illuminate everything. A few men in suits are patrolling the edges of the site, and I see a few men in sanitary gowns popping in and out of view. I duck back down.

“Yeah, we’re about a hundred feet off. They’ve got a bunch of armed guards. What’s the plan?” I reach my hand around my back and rest it on my pistol.

Dale stands there, silent for a moment. “I didn’t honestly think we’d get this far… I’ve mostly been pissed about my truck for the past-”

From the tent, a man begins to scream out in agony. “Help me! Somebody!” More men in gowns rush towards a larger tent, but the guards on the perimeter remain still.

“Dale, they’ve got somebody in there!” I can’t believe Dale was actually right. There is an actual ‘middle of a cornfield’ conspiracy.

“Well, what do you think? Go in guns blazing?”

“We can’t just go killing…” I need an idea, now. It’s not like I could just jump them. Wait, I have magic now. “I’ll use the corn to take them down.”

“You’re gonna take out armed guards with corn?” He laughs, but then sees my face. “Well, do you think we should talk to them first? I mean, I’m not really looking to add murder to my list of felonies.”

“Talking won’t do anything, you and I both know that.” I sigh and shake my head. I’m surprised Dale was the one to suggest talking it out. “Whatever they’re doing in there, it ain’t legal or right. If it is, then why are they doing it out here past dark, and why’d they try to kill us?”

“Alright, work your magic.” He takes his rifle off his back, and gets ready to go.

We get a little bit closer, until we’re about 15 feet short of the clearing. I take a deep breath and concentrate. I separate the corn in front of me, just enough to give me line of sight. The corn on the ground wraps itself around the guard and pins him to the ground, gagged. He struggles, but can’t get free. I take down the other two surrounding guards in the same fashion.

Dale and I step out into the clearing to take a closer look. I pause and admire my handywork. “See, Dale, no need for shooting.”

As I say that, a guard that I must have missed opens fire on us. I hit the ground, and put up a barrier of corn. He only has a pistol, so as long as I keep moving, he can’t exactly pepper the entire thing.

Dale peaks over, and with one shot, takes down the guard. “No shooting my ass.” He pauses as the realization hits him. “Ah shit, I think I just killed a man.”

“It’s alright Dale… Well at least as long as we’re right about this.” I peak over

the barrier, and see no other guards in the area, but I can hear a commotion from inside of the bigger tent. Most of the tents are open air, but the bigger tent has walls too. The screaming keeps going from the inside. I’m not sure what they’re doing, but it’s far worse than anything I’ve done to them.

The guard’s radios start to go off. “Security, please check in, we heard gunfire… Security?”

Dale and I make eye contact for a moment. “Well I guess we’d better hurry.” He says, taking off for the tent. I follow close behind.

We pause outside the flap of the tent, before bursting in. Inside the tent, a team of panicked men in surgical gowns stand around a table. Strapped to the table is a screaming man, but there are black tendrils coming from his back. The tendrils are pulled taut and secured to the ground around him.