Read Online Harlan County Horrors by Anthology - Free Book Online

boy had
done well with his life.
    Jeremiah, paused, caught his breath and rattled the straw
curtain that served as the door during the spring season. He wanted
to kneel over, put his hands on his knees and gasp, but it wouldn’t
do for them to see him like that.
    Jake’s wife came to the door. She pushed the curtain back and
invited the preacher inside.
    “ Howdy, Jeanette. How’s the family?” The mundane was a great
stress reliever in times of crisis.
    “ Oh, you know how they are. Momma’s down in her back, does
nothing but sits in that old rocker of hers and cusses at the flies
and wasps. She just ain’t been the same since Daddy
died.”
    Jeremiah nodded, sadly. “I reckon not, Jeanette. Not many of
us are when we lose someone close.”
    “ Jake is down at the creek gathering water,” she said, getting
to the crux of the visit and away from the depressing
talk.
    Jeremiah liked the young woman. Strong at heart, not one to
dwell on past sadness. “I need to see him, it’s kind of urgent.
Think you can give him a holler?”
    Jeanette smiled. “Of course, just a second.” She disappeared
behind the curtain and went outside. A few seconds later her deep
voice rolled out across the hillside.
    “ Thanks,” he said, as Jeanette came back inside. She poured
him a cup of ginseng tea and took a seat at the table with him.
Jeremiah played with the cross he wore on a leather strap tied
around his neck, a nervous habit he had picked up during his many
trips…and prayers…while managing the boat upriver during the harsh
winter seasons.
    As
he finished the last of the tea, a strapping young man appeared
with two aluminum pails filled with water. “Care for a drink,
Granddad?”
    “ No thanks. I need to ask a favor.”
    “ What’s that?”
    “ I
need you and Jeanette to ride downriver with me.”
    Jeanette let out a noise that sounded like a bark. Jake set
the buckets down and frowned.
    “ Only Larson and Cullen are allowed downriver. You know the
rules. You used to be a captain.”
    “ Of course I know the rules,” Jeremiah said. He slapped his
hand against the table in frustration. “A Shadow came into the
church this morning and they took him.”
    Jeanette gasped. “One came into the church? I thought nobody
knew we existed.”
    “ I
guess they do now. It said it wanted to worship with
me.”
    “ You think Larson and Cullen are going to hurt the Grey?” Jake
asked.
    “John, its name is John , and I think they plan on killing it.”
    “ We can’t go downriver. If they’re going to kill…John, they’ll
do it before we even reach the mouth.”
    “Maybe not,” the preacher said, “but we have to warn the
unive rsity. John
says he is an anthropologist from Lexington. Don’t you see? When
John doesn’t return, the university will send someone else down to
investigate his disappearance. Are we going to let Larson and
Cullen kill that person, or that alien, too? Whatever the case,
more Shadows will come—they’ll make us leave Harlan. They won’t
understand we’re not all like Larson and Cullen.”
    Jake stood up. He placed his hands on Jeremiah’s shoulders.
“Grandfather, how old are you? Eighty-seven? That’s a long time to
live, and I know you’ve seen a lot, done a lot more than I ever
will. But sometimes there’s nothing to be done.”
    “ Jake…” the old man whispered.
    “ And maybe Larson and Cullen know some things you don’t?”
Jeanette added, breaking her silence.
    Jeremiah stood up, his knees popping, sending the pain of the
arthritis shooting through his body. He hugged his grandson. “I
know you mean well. May God be with you.” He nodded to Jeanette and
walked out through the straw curtain into the bright
daylight.

    The
preacher slowly worked his way back down the hillside to his
church. What he saw almost made his heart fall through the pit of
his stomach.
    Tied to a freshly built crucifix that had been planted right
in front of Harlan Baptist Church was John the