Jun 6, 2023 2:28:30 GMT -5
Post by sundancer on Jun 6, 2023 2:28:30 GMT -5
"My CO...?"
The man with the stubble and the gut asked his question with a smile creeping onto his face. Then he let out a deep, belly laugh like he'd just been told a finely crafted joke that resonated deep within his funny bone. After a few moments, the laughter stopped, and he looked at Xanthe.
"Miss Wingard, I am the CO! I run the armory in Dunlap, down in Sequatchie county! Hell, if you came into the building with a camera, I'd probably give you a tour of the place! Would do wonders for our recruitment to have "Wonderful, Weird USA" or the folks behind it, show us off to the kids. My daughter loves yer videos, by the way, and I gotta admit, the piece you did on Johnsonville Village made me a bit of a fan."
He let out another laugh, this one more of a chuckle. Then the humor drained from his face, and his voice got low and mean.
"But ya didn't come to Dunlap, ya came to Stapleton. And I ain't here as a member of the National Guard, neither. See, I'm a member of a more... "exclusive" organization, a brotherhood of likeminded folks that are all concerned about certain freaks of nature and what they could do to us God-fearin' Americans. And if that means spreading a little strife, well that's just what we gotta do. I mean, the Israelites had ta clear out the holy land back in the day, right?"
One of the men standing behind Xanthe, Johnny, and Derek nodded his head.
"Preach it, brother."
The "CO" let go of his weapon, allowing the strap around his neck to hold it up, and reached for two pockets. He pulled out a lighter and a cigarillo, what looked like a smaller, thinner cigar, and lit it up. Once he had taken in a few puffs, the CO blew smoke right in Xanthe's face, before looking between her and Johnny. Derek was... oddly quiet for how much noise he'd been producing earlier. His eyes locked onto the CO's rifle...
"Now, Miss Wingard, you and your friend here seem like the right sort of folks. Not too "urban" if you catch my drift, and none of you are muties as far as I can tell. Just good, pure Americans. Ain't heard much from ya on them one way or the other, so I'm gonna assume you hold the correct view on what needs to be done to those animals... And none of ya saw anything too wild, so I'm gonna give you a lil' offer. You and your camera guy get back to your van, and drive straight out of Stapleton and out of Bledsoe County. You go find another haunted place to snap pictures and video of, and you forget alllll about the asylum. And if ya do that, then no strife will come to ya. Not on my watch."
He smiled and kept himself bent over, looking down on Xanthe.
"That sound like a good deal?"
Through all of this, Johnny was trying to piece things together. The CO was painfully obvious in revealing himself to be a member of "STRIFE", the anti-Oddity terrorist organization. This meant that every man, and woman, with a gun in the area was a member as well. Or, at least, was willing to work with STRIFE to some ends. The question was, why were they at the asylum? Bledsoe County was very sparsely populated, and seemed to have an Oddity population of zero... well, technically a population of "one" while Johnny was inside its borders, but he hadn't revealed his power to anyone. Which meant they couldn't know there was an Oddity in the county, especially since the CO didn't think Johnny was an Oddity... So why? Were they planning an attack somewhere else in Tennessee? A state-wide progrom against Oddities? There were some living in the state who could refrain from using their powers, and some in special holding facilities that couldn't turn their powers off... And a man that had an officer's position in the National Guard for the state could possibly have access to a list of known Oddities...
Xanthe Wingard
The man with the stubble and the gut asked his question with a smile creeping onto his face. Then he let out a deep, belly laugh like he'd just been told a finely crafted joke that resonated deep within his funny bone. After a few moments, the laughter stopped, and he looked at Xanthe.
"Miss Wingard, I am the CO! I run the armory in Dunlap, down in Sequatchie county! Hell, if you came into the building with a camera, I'd probably give you a tour of the place! Would do wonders for our recruitment to have "Wonderful, Weird USA" or the folks behind it, show us off to the kids. My daughter loves yer videos, by the way, and I gotta admit, the piece you did on Johnsonville Village made me a bit of a fan."
He let out another laugh, this one more of a chuckle. Then the humor drained from his face, and his voice got low and mean.
"But ya didn't come to Dunlap, ya came to Stapleton. And I ain't here as a member of the National Guard, neither. See, I'm a member of a more... "exclusive" organization, a brotherhood of likeminded folks that are all concerned about certain freaks of nature and what they could do to us God-fearin' Americans. And if that means spreading a little strife, well that's just what we gotta do. I mean, the Israelites had ta clear out the holy land back in the day, right?"
One of the men standing behind Xanthe, Johnny, and Derek nodded his head.
"Preach it, brother."
The "CO" let go of his weapon, allowing the strap around his neck to hold it up, and reached for two pockets. He pulled out a lighter and a cigarillo, what looked like a smaller, thinner cigar, and lit it up. Once he had taken in a few puffs, the CO blew smoke right in Xanthe's face, before looking between her and Johnny. Derek was... oddly quiet for how much noise he'd been producing earlier. His eyes locked onto the CO's rifle...
"Now, Miss Wingard, you and your friend here seem like the right sort of folks. Not too "urban" if you catch my drift, and none of you are muties as far as I can tell. Just good, pure Americans. Ain't heard much from ya on them one way or the other, so I'm gonna assume you hold the correct view on what needs to be done to those animals... And none of ya saw anything too wild, so I'm gonna give you a lil' offer. You and your camera guy get back to your van, and drive straight out of Stapleton and out of Bledsoe County. You go find another haunted place to snap pictures and video of, and you forget alllll about the asylum. And if ya do that, then no strife will come to ya. Not on my watch."
He smiled and kept himself bent over, looking down on Xanthe.
"That sound like a good deal?"
Through all of this, Johnny was trying to piece things together. The CO was painfully obvious in revealing himself to be a member of "STRIFE", the anti-Oddity terrorist organization. This meant that every man, and woman, with a gun in the area was a member as well. Or, at least, was willing to work with STRIFE to some ends. The question was, why were they at the asylum? Bledsoe County was very sparsely populated, and seemed to have an Oddity population of zero... well, technically a population of "one" while Johnny was inside its borders, but he hadn't revealed his power to anyone. Which meant they couldn't know there was an Oddity in the county, especially since the CO didn't think Johnny was an Oddity... So why? Were they planning an attack somewhere else in Tennessee? A state-wide progrom against Oddities? There were some living in the state who could refrain from using their powers, and some in special holding facilities that couldn't turn their powers off... And a man that had an officer's position in the National Guard for the state could possibly have access to a list of known Oddities...
Xanthe Wingard
