Chapter 5: Witness
Field Station Delta: A paranormal military thriller.
Welcome to Field Station Delta. This novella is a paranormal military thriller that I am releasing as a serial for my readers on Substack.
Van Cleef, Wyoming
Day 2, 09:22
Mary Bonds sighed as she flipped through the dog-eared pages of her favorite travel magazine. She lingered on a two-page spread of gorgeous riverfront. “Visit Historic Tampa” was blazoned across the gloss paper in flowing red script.
If only, she thought.
The growl of an engine startled Mary out of her reverie. She looked up just in time to see a Humvee roll to a stop just outside Heller’s General Store. She smiled as Miguel Valdes hopped out of the driver’s side. He spotted her through the store’s display window and waved, flashing a brilliant smile in return. Mary felt her face flush a little and quickly brushed aside a few stray locks of her chestnut brown hair.
Valdes was with another Airman who Mary didn’t recognize; a woman, tall and fit with medium-length red hair. The bell jangled on its chain as they entered.
“Morning, Ms. Bonds,” said Valdes.
Mary smirked. Ms. Bonds, huh? Well, somebody’s on their best behavior today. “Airman Valdes! What brings you to my little corner of Nowhere? Another ‘supply run’?”
“That’s it. Meaning no disrespect to the base quartermaster, but one feels the need for a break from Air Force chow and MREs every once and a while. Nothing like a home cooked meal for a change of pace.” He turned to his fellow Airman. “This is Senior Airman Metzger. She just made landfall at the Ranch yesterday, and I thought I’d show her around Van Cleef.”
“Such as it is,” Mary said, shaking Metzger’s hand. “Nice to meet you, Airman.”
Metzger nodded. “Ma’am.”
I see. She’s the reserved, all-business military-type. Very different from Miguel.
Mary came out from behind the counter and chatted with Valdes, playfully teasing him while he browsed the shelves for ingredients. Metzger took up position in a corner, crossed her arms, looking about the shop with a thoughtful, almost sad expression.
“What’s her deal?” Mary whispered as they moved back towards the front counter.
“Huh? Oh, Metzger. I think she’s just getting used to the change of scenery. Scuttlebutt on base says that she’s fresh off a combat tour in Afghanistan.” Valdes paused and sighed. “Makes sense. Part of you never really leaves that place.”
Mary rang up the items and had just turned to grab a shopping bag when the front door slammed open. The bell clanged, fierce and shrill.
Sam Brewster stormed in, wild-eyed, red-faced, and sweaty. His mechanic’s coveralls were rumpled, as if he’d slept in them. His meaty hands were clenched into fists.
“You!!” he roared, advancing aggressively toward Airman Valdes. “I don’t know what you Air Force lackeys are doing up there at the Ranch, but you gotta clear out, understand?! Ever since you came to Van Cleef, it’s gotten worse. What d’ya think we are? Lab rats you can experiment on? Well, I won’t have it! Get out! And don’t come back!”
Mary stood aghast. She had never seen Sam act this way before. He was shaking like a leaf as he raved and looked for all the world like a cornered animal desperate to lash out at its tormentors.
Valdes held his hands out, attempting to placate Sam, while glancing over at Metzger, who nodded, taking up a position behind the mechanic, for the moment unnoticed by him. Her hand moved to her thigh holster. Mary suppressed a gasp.
Sam was shouting again, something about “spook-lights,” when Fred Heller burst out of the back office. “What’s going on out here?” He looked at Brewster in surprise. “Sam, what’s the meaning of this?”
“It’s that Sheridan ranch, Fred,” said Sam, waving his arms wildly. “The Medicine Wheel! You know as well as I do that land is cursed. Cursed I say! These Air Force types are messing around with things that should’ve been left quiet. I seen the spook-lights more than once before. And it ain’t just me. You ask the Jansens—go on! They’ve seen them too. But now it’s different. Last night they came at me—the spook-lights, I mean, not the Jansens. They were buzzin all ‘round me like a swarm of giant fireflies.”
Fred stepped toward Sam, eyeing the flask at the other man’s belt. “Sam,” he said, speaking sternly, “have you been drinking?”
“No, I—Well, maybe a swig or two, just to calm my nerves. If you’d seen what I seen, you’d want a stiff drink too.”
“What did you see, Mr. Brewster?” asked Valdes, in a calm, measured tone. “We can’t help you if we don’t know what happened.”
“It’s them spook-lights, as I said. Orbs, some folks call ‘em.”
Mary saw a strange look flash across Metzger’s face. Surprise? Or maybe recognition? The two Airmen listened intently as Sam went on with his story.
“It was like this,” he said, speaking rapidly. “When that storm rolled in yesterday and we closed up early, I stayed behind in the garage for a bit. And no, I wasn’t drinkin—not yet anyway…” Sam paused, as if expecting someone to challenge him.
“As I was saying,” he went on. “When I got to my truck it wasn’t yet eleven o’clock in the morning, but it was already dark and thundering like the devil. But the goddamn machine wouldn’t start! I was just about to grab my jumper cables when I saw ‘em. The spook-lights—four glowing blue globes, floating about six feet in the air, between my truck and the garage. I could hear this humming sound, like power lines, and the hair on the back of my neck and my arms was all stood on end.”
Mary felt a shiver run down her back. She stole a glance at Valdes, but his attention was fully on Sam.
“I tried the ignition again—no luck. Then the orbs spread out and began to circle my truck! I was terrified, and I couldn’t move if I wanted to, like I’d been turned into a statue. The orbs began to revolve faster, and they crackled and flashed—maybe it was some kind of pattern…?”
A faraway look came into Sam’s eyes, as if he was trying to remember something important. He groped for the flask on his hip, but at a sharp look from Fred, he stopped himself.
“Anyway,” Sam continued, “after a bit—it only seemed like a few seconds, but it might’ve been longer—the flashing stopped and the balls o’ light began to whizz up and under and around my truck! One of them flew straight through the passenger door and through me and out the other side again, like there wasn’t nothin’ in its way. I felt this tingling through my whole body… and then maybe I blacked out? I’m not sure.”
Sam paused and that strange expression crossed his face again. At least he didn’t reach for his flask this time. The others waited patiently for him to go on.
“Next thing I know, the truck is idling in my own driveway with the engine still warm and the headlights on. The storm had passed but it was still dark out. When I look at my watch, it says it’s just after eight o’clock! Same story on my dashboard clock too—nine whole hours had passed that I can’t remember! Then I had a drink and went to bed. Had some spooky dreams full of black shadows that muttered and whispered…” Sam’s voice trailed off and his shoulders sagged.
Valdes and locked eyes with Metzger. He raised his eyebrows and shrugged, as if to say, Just another day at the office, amiright? Metzger frowned but kept her thoughts to herself. She still looked tense but, to Mary’s relief, her hand drifted away from her sidearm.
Fred took Sam by the arm and led him over to one of the bar stools. “You look worn out,” he said. “I’m certain the whole thing was just a bad dream. You were so exhausted; you must’ve fallen asleep at the wheel and had a nightmare.”
“I’m telling you I was wide awake when I saw them orbs,” argued Sam. The mechanic searched Fred’s face and then scanned the room. He scowled. “You don’t believe me—none of you?”
“I believe that you’re very tired, Sam. Lack of sleep can do funny things to people.”
“That’s bullshit, Fred, and you know it. You’ve heard the stories about Medicine Wheel Ranch, same as I have.”
“Yes, and people were telling those stories long before the Air Force came here.”
“But you know it’s never been like this! Strange things always happened on that land, for sure. Tom Sheridan knew what was good for him and cleared out. But ever since the government moved in, more people round here have started seeing things. And ain’t you noticed how the weather’s changed—the freak storms and them strange flashes on the horizon at night?”
“Well, sure, Sam. But that’s—”
“You ask them!” Sam spat, glaring at Valdes and Metzger. “It’s the Air Force, I tell ya! They’ve known about spook-lights for years. Ever since World War Two, when the ‘foo fighters’ would buzz their planes over Germany. And now these toy soldiers come and set up shop on that haunted Sheridan land so they can study the orbs—learn to control ‘em! There ain’t nothing in this world that the Pentagon won’t try to turn into a weapon.”
Fred put a kind hand on the mechanic’s shoulder. “Sam, I want you to go home and sober up. You’ll feel better tomorrow after you get some rest.”
Sam gaped at Fred and then looked pleadingly at the other faces around him. No one spoke. He shook his head in disgust. “None of ya’ll believe me then? Well, shit…” He stalked out of the shop and slammed the door behind him. The bell fell off its chain and clattered on the floor.
Fred sighed and shook his head. “I apologize for that, Airmen,” he said. “Sam Brewster is an honest man, but he’s high strung. I don’t doubt that he sincerely believes every word of that story you just heard. And why shouldn’t he? His father, old Buck Brewster, was close friends with the Sheridans back in the day. I’m sure they filled Sam’s head with all those ghost stories about the Medicine Wheel.”
“It’s alright Mr. Heller,” said Valdes. “Honestly, I think he just needed someone to listen.”
Mary didn’t know what to think. She thought back to what Scott Jansen had said about Pentagon black budgets and The X-Files. Yesterday, she’d dismissed it all as boyish fantasy. But maybe there was something to it after all?
There was a low rumble in the distance. On the horizon another angry wall of dark clouds was brooding over the hills near Medicine Wheel Ranch.
Sam was right about the weather, at least, Mary thought.
It wouldn’t hurt to get out of town for just a couple days and let it all blow over. But she didn’t have a car, so that was off the table. She sighed wistfully. I wonder if Tampa is nice this time of year…
Great chapter! I liked seeing a glimpse of what happened during that storm, and how the townspeople feel about the military presence.