Them-2 - Chapter 25

Chapter Twenty Five – Near Greenbriar State Forest, Tuckahoe, West Virginia

Dennis Hardy and Floyd Graves staggered into camp pushing a wheelbarrow load of leaf springs from the junkyard. The springs were becoming difficult to find because they were almost an antique item. They also made excellent crossbow prods. When properly mounted, Theopolis could create a 150-pound pull with one spring. A metal quarrel fired by one of those powerful bows could penetrate almost anything.
“How many stocks do we have ready?” Theopolis asked Angel, who had taken charge of the group of people cutting and carving the stout stocks.
“Eighteen.”
Theopolis thought for a second. There should be at least twice that number. He glanced at Angel and cocked his head sideways.
“Jackie Hopper pulled eight of my people to help with another project,” Angel shrugged. “And Miles took two more to help him mix the poison.”
“We gotta work together, man.” Theopolis was slightly irritated. He knew that authority was frowned on in the commune but he also knew there were dangers heading their way very soon and they must be prepared to meet them. He stood and headed towards the part of the camp where Jackie Hopper and his family lived. Jackie was sitting on a large log with a dozen people who were busy with wire cords and metal balls.
“Watch this Theopolis!” Jackie yelled as soon as he spotted him approaching. Jackie stood, swung the cord and balls around his head and let fly. The cord and balls flew a good thirty paces, hit a fallen tree with limbs sticking up like animal ribs, and twisted and tied the limbs in a knot. Several of the smaller limbs snapped from the pressure.
“Impressive, man!” Theopolis clapped. “That one of them South American bolos?”
“A Bola,” Jackie answered. “They call them bolas. Bolos are soldiers who fail to qualify on the rifle range. These bolas are special. Each ball weighs about half a pound and the wire cords attached to them have a tensile strength of 5,000 pounds. Wrap one of these babies around someone or something and they are going nowhere fast.”
“Cool, man. Think one of them will stop a charging ant?”
Jackie headed over to retrieve the bola. “Only one way to find out. Even if it only stops them long enough to get a good shot at them with the crossbows, it might make a difference.”
“Providing we have the crossbows, man.” Theopolis raised an eyebrow.
Jackie was immediately aware of why Theopolis was there. “Yeah. I should have let you know before pulling those people from Angel. Sorry ‘bout that.”
“Those bola things are a good idea, man.” Theopolis smiled. “You going to teach everyone how to throw them when they’re ready?”
Jackie smiled at the praise. He occasionally rubbed the others members of the commune in the wrong way, but, they knew it was the military indoctrination that he couldn’t quite get rid of so they accepted his quirks with genuine candor. However, Jackie was also very useful to have around camp. Not only did he do his share of the community chores, he often went out of his way to help others who were ill or too exhausted. He did most of the automotive repair, was a decent electrician and he was a considerable asset to the community as a whole.
“Yeah. As soon as we help Angel with those crossbow stocks and help you mount the spring prods. I had some good ideas on those metal bolts also, a better way to get the poison into the animal faster. It’s sort of like a plunger impact system.”
“Miles working on the bolts?”
“He’s all tied up, man.” Jackie pulled at the bola wire to show how strong it was. “Grady took over the bolt manufacturing. Dennis brought him a ton of hollow metal tubing and he and Barb and Teddy are working on the bolts. They tried my idea and it works great. As soon as the bolt penetrates the target, a weighted plunger pushes the water through the hollow point and into the carcass. Course we’ll use the poison against the ants if they come this way.
Theopolis was satisfied. It appeared as if he was not completely needed to get things organized. Between the idea people, and the thinking people, and the doing people, things just got done anyway. He rejoined Angel and started working on the crossbow assemblies.
By mid afternoon they had a dozen crossbows finished, along with the bolts to practice with. Miles had finally settled on the poison he would use and several members with steady hands were helping him to fill bolts with the deadly fluid. The bolts were dabbed with red paint on the heads so they could be quickly identified, although they would not be mixed with the hunting or practice bolts but kept in separate quivers.
Around five in the afternoon, they took a break. Theopolis and Angel strolled over to their neighbors to help themselves from a kettle of vegetable soup slowly simmering over an open fire. The atmosphere was relaxed and the soup tasted wonderful. To supplement the soup, a large pan of cornbread had been baked in the smoldering ashes.
Theopolis stuffed his mouth with the sweet cornbread. “This is good, man. You gotta teach me how to cook this stuff.”
“Angel’s recipe,” Buttercup smiled. Buttercup was in her mid twenties and a little on the plump side. She was better than a pharmacist was when it came to finding and using wild plants for medicine and cooking. Her only vices, if they could be considered vices, was overuse of marijuana and her religious fervor. She was a Wiccan and often tried her best to convert the community, sometime verging on the annoying.
Religion, like work, like sex, like sharing, like authority, was left entirely up to each member’s dictates, so long as it did not harm any member of the community. Both Angel and Theopolis leaned more towards neo-paganism than the orthodox religions they were raised with. They considered the cycles of nature as their holy days, the earth as their temple and the plants and animals their partners and teachers. They respected life and cherished the free will of all sentient beings and the sacredness of all creation. They were not Satanists or evil or anti-Christian. They strongly believed that everyone had the right to choose their belief and not be considered an outcast because of the choice they made.
Before they finished their meal, Jackie Hopper walked briskly over to where they sat on a handy log. “People coming this way,” he stated, nodding to his left. “Jeremy was out hunting down near the road. He spotted seven or eight men and women heading in this direction. Two of the men had rifles and one was carrying an assault rifle.”
“No cars or trucks?”
“All on foot.”
“Get George and Floyd and we’ll check them out,” Theopolis stated. He stood and handed his bowl to Angel. “Binoculars still in the tent?”
“Under the red blanket,” Angel replied. “Doesn’t make sense them walking up the road. Floyd and Dennis drove down that road earlier this morning and there was no sign of people.”
“Truck or car might have broken down,” Theopolis shrugged. “They have guns, man. I don’t like guns.”
“Take one of the crossbows.” Angel raised her head and smiled. “Just in case. You can always say you have it as protection from the ants.”
Theopolis, George and Floyd waited in the thick brush about fifty feet off the brown gravel road. The kid had been accurate in his reporting. Coming towards them around a bend about sixty yards away was a small group of people, three men, three women and two boys in their early teens. Two men had hunting rifles and the third carried an AK47. They were alert to their surroundings and the man in the lead was a good fifteen yards ahead of the group like a point man. The man in the back of the group occasionally turned to see if they were being followed.
“They seem to have military training,” Jackie whispered. “They’re not traveling in a mob like the average civilian group would normally do.”
Theopolis agreed. He reached up and took his red bandana from his hair then stooped over and picked up a long dead branch. After snapping off the smaller branches, he tied the bandana to the end and raised it in the air and waved it back and forth.
The alert man on point stopped and raised his rifle to his shoulder.
“We’re peaceful!” Theopolis yelled.
“Come out where we can see you!”
They advanced into the opening and walked towards the gravel road. The man in the rear of the group was still looking in the other direction in the event it was an ambush. They’ve definitely had some military training, most likely infantry, Hopper thought.
Theopolis identified himself and his three companions. “We live about a mile on the other side of that small ridge.” He pointed in the direction they had advanced from. “There’s about a hundred or so of us.”
The tall black stranger evidently saw no signs of deceit in the three men. “Name’s Gunny Sergeant Marvin Gilbert,” he stated. “My wife and two sons are with me. I’m active duty Marine Corps. Was home on liberty in Fairlea for several weeks when the shit hit the fan.”
Theopolis shook hands. The Marine had a powerful handshake and he looked him square in the eye without flinching.
“Guy in the rear is Mike Murphy,” Gilbert continued. “He’s a fireman down in Lewisburg. Others are his family and kin.  You heard about the big ants?”
Theopolis shook his head.
“Well, they’re real. Both Lewisburg and Fairlea are under attack. We managed to get out before they swarmed over us. Damn truck ran out of gas a few miles back down the road.”
“You’re welcome to join us,” Jackie stated. “We’re real peace loving folks.”
“What about the ants?”
“What about them?” Theopolis asked.
“You have some way to protect yourselves against them?”
“We’re working on it,” Floyd smiled. “We have a large hideout cavern with a circular fire pit at the entrance to keep them at bay in case they come before we’re ready. Don’t care how big they are, no animal likes fire.”
“There’ll probably be more coming this way if they managed to escape the ants,” the man named Murphy stated. “Got some friends in the department who said they’d head this way if ever there was an emergency.”
“They’re welcome,” Theopolis smiled. “Way I see it, it’s us against…Them!”
Back at the campsite, introductions were made all around. The people were curious about the newcomers, however, they wanted to hear about the ants first.
“Started off slow down in Fairlea,” Gilbert stated. “Woman called the police department complaining that a big ant took her pet dog. When the police responded, their squad car was attacked. They managed to call the dispatcher and have reinforcements sent to them but by the time reinforcements got to their position, there were several more ants on the squad car tearing it to pieces with their jaws. They managed to kill one of the ants, but fled when the others turned on them. Next thing you know, ants were everywhere. I loaded my family into the car and headed for Lewisburg. That’s where I ran into Murphy.”
“Practically the same thing happened in Lewisburg,” Murphy stated. “Everything started real fast. I was off duty when the dispatcher called and said that giant ants were in one of the supermarkets causing a general panic. I was going to go to work but I spotted ants in our neighborhood before I even left the driveway. I called my brother, grabbed my wife, and we met at a gas station on the way out of town. By the time we got to the gas station, ants were everywhere. One attacked my brother’s car, I blew it away with my hunting rifle, and we all fled inside the gas station. About that time Sergeant Gilbert showed up with his family. We joined forces and took a panel truck that was parked nearby and fled town as fast as we could. Didn’t know the truck was almost out of gas at the time.”
“Anyone else get away from town?” Floyd asked.
“We weren’t exactly taking a head count,” Gunny Gilbert smiled. “I’m sure there were others with sense enough to unass the area. Person spots a piss ant the size of a horse crawling down the road, you don’t stop to give it directions.”
“Reckon the ants are everywhere by now,” Hopper mused. “Didn’t the authorities say anything to you about the ants?”
“We all heard it on the news about the Army at Bowling Green and the Capitol being attacked,” Murphy replied. “Most everyone thought we were safe. Chief of Police spread the word to stay indoors and keep a weapon handy and report any sightings. He said the town had enough hunters to take on the ants if they made it to our town.”
“Friggin paratroopers can’t kill the bastards and these redneck cops think a few hunters can do it!” Gunny Gilbert spat. “They got more balls than sense.”
By this time it was starting to get dark in camp.
“Don’t recommend you go into the bush until Jackie can show you where the booby traps are.” Theopolis pointed at the woods surrounding them. “They’re not dangerous but they’re early alert devices that will warn us if any of the ants are getting close. Jackie thought of them. They make a big bang and stink like hell.”
“Heard on the news that the ants sleep at night like chickens,” Floyd chuckled. “Shouldn’t be much trouble before morning but we don’t take any chances.”
“I’ll show you where the hideout cavern is then you can bunk with anyone you choose,” Theopolis stood. “We have plenty of food and don’t mind sharing anything we have.”
“One last thing,” Murphy looked perplexed. “There was a holy roller in town yesterday, said that God told him how to work with the ants. Fruitcake said he had God’s promise that anyone who joined his congregation will be saved from the reaping that is coming. Lot’s of people were listening to him and I think quite a few of them joined him.”
“We tolerate everyone’s beliefs,” Angel smiled. “So long as they do not advocate or practice evil.”
“This was one slimy dude,” Murphy returned. “Didn’t look like he would tolerate anything that didn’t benefit him.”
“We have enough to concern us that we need not worry about some religious fanatic,” Floyd stated, scratching his graying hair and spitting into the hot coals of the fire.