BABE IN THE WOODS: Nine

Thursday, October 31, 2013: Sherman Park, NY, USA Herman Ruth stood perfectly still, partially hidden behind a large oak tree three hundred yards into Leitas Pond Park, directly across from Detective Eric Pearson’s house. It was the first time he’d observed the house, but it was the first time he had company doing it. His eyes sparkled, as if lit from within, as they moved back and forth between Pearson’s house and the other zombie watching it from the edge of the tree line. When the last light in the house had turned off ten minutes ago, he’d locked his…

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BABE IN THE WOODS: Eight

Thursday, October 31, 2013: Sherman Park, NY, USA Eric Pearson gave the hot water knob another turn, wanting more than anything at that moment to scald away the invisible layer of fear coating his entire body. He winced sharply, but didn’t back away from the steaming spray showering down on him. He’d been standing there for the past 20 minutes and was planning to keep standing there until the hot water had completely run out. The Department of Homeland Water Conservation could fine him double for the violation, for all he cared. It was another twenty minutes before the water…

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BABE IN THE WOODS: Seven

Thursday, October 31, 2013: West Point, NY, USA “Trick or treat, Vargas! Time to move!” Damon shifted under his green flannel bedsheet, slightly damp from a night of fitful sleep, as he teetered on the edge of consciousness, desperately trying to ignore the insistent knocking at his door. Pulling the lumpy pillow over his head in a vain attempt to drown out Captain James T. Merck’s gravelly voice, he wished for another hour of sleep – “Come on, Vargas! Open it up!” – but his wish wasn’t granted. “Alright, alright! Chill! I’m up! Hold on a minute.” Damon rubbed the…

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BABE IN THE WOODS: Interlude (two)

2007-2009; United States of America The United States’ second Civil War finally broke out in 2007, after three years of boiling following the controversial 2004 Presidential election. Strangled by a two-party political system that over the years had, for all intents and purposes, merged into one, unable to convincingly differentiate themselves on the major issues like the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, nuclear proliferation, health care or corporate control of the media, political campaigns had come to depend on so-called cultural and moral issues to rally their supporters. Gay marriage, abortion, reality television and pop singer Janet Jackson’s left breast…

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BABE IN THE WOODS: Six

Wednesday, October 30, 2013: Mt. Pleasant, NY, USA Eric Pearson took three lunging steps backwards, his stomach still clenched tight, threatening more dry heaves if he didn’t find some fresh air in the next 30 seconds. Clear of the puddle of blood, gore and half-digested sliders, he turned and stepped back out of the door he’d entered through, gasping for air to clear his nostrils and lungs. There was a foul stench in the air that reminded him of his time in Iraq, bringing back flashes of memories he’d spent years trying to bury. PFC David Johnson’s torso, separated from…

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BABE IN THE WOODS: Five

Thursday, October 31, 2013: Bronx, NY, USA Liberty Sou was what the kids in her neighborhood referred to as “the crazy cat lady.” And, oddly enough, they were actually right. An up and coming folk singer at the turn of the century, she’d become politically active during the pivotal Presidential election of 2004 and had quickly worked her way on to the Department of Homeland Security’s Domestic Terrorism watch list. She spoke out against the President, harshly, at each of her concerts, not an unusual thing in those days, but it was a random quote in a Rolling Stone interview…

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BABE IN THE WOODS: Four

Thursday, October 31, 2013: Mt. Pleasant, NY, USA The Mayor of Mt. Pleasant, NY, Jacob Harrison, could trace his family’s lineage back to the original Wampanoag tribes of Massachusetts Bay, all the way to within one generation of Chief Metacom and the vicious slaughter of his people by the immigrant Puritans. Looking around at the gathering of various levels of law enforcement – local, state and federal – that had invaded his sleepy little town, their pale white faces reflecting the morning sun, he felt a fleeting wave of revulsion at his place in the world. As if he’d somehow…

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