truck and directed the tractor manned by his two workers, Jack Binder and Walt Kessler.
“Put the trailer up in the barn for night, guys. We’ve done enough for one day. We ’ll unload tomorrow.”
Having said that, he disappeared in the house. He didn’t have any more time for farm work today. He wanted to clean up in a hurry before taking a drive over to New Bismarck. There he planned to meet his friends at Betty Sue’s Restaurant. Many of the farmers joined them for this get-together, because it gave them an opportunity to hear the latest gossip from the surrounding villages. Lynn did not want to come along today, at least she was not ready yet. As the evening drew closer, she would come to join him in New Bismarck and drive in straight from her friend’s house. He had just taken his shower when he happened to look out of the bathroom window on the first floor. What he saw really baffled him.
Max, the dog was trembling, standing in the yard with his neck hair standing up straight surveying the adjacent meadow. What he was watching was elusive to Jerry’s eyes. He saw Walt Kessler approaching from the barn carrying his gun. He always kept it in the truck of his car, in the hope to shoot some wild game. As far as Jerry knew, Walt had not been able to get any game on his hunts to date. The canine was still standing in the same spot, pointing at the meadow. In a soldier like manner Walt snuck up from the back. Once he was positioned in parallel to Max, he stood still, lifted the rifle and aimed. Now Jerry saw Walt’s target. A mere sixty feet away he spotted a rabbit that sat in the grass calmly and motionless, staring in the direction of the hunter.
“What a stupid animal,” Jerry thought, “ it doesn’t even try to run.”
However, that’s when something really peculiar happened. Walt peered across his rifle with great determination and tried to aim with absolute precision. Max, the dog, looked up at him briefly and then once again focused on the rabbit. Suddenly the bunny fell over as if it had been overcome by a stroke. A blink of an eye later, Walt pulled the trigger. He hit his target bull’s eye and the impact of the bullet slung it several feet across the meadow. For an instant, Walt stood completely still. He finally lowered his weapon and walked off in the direction of the barn. As he turned, one of his legs happened to touch Max, who flinched in shock and furiously bared his teeth. He watched Walt walk of and snarled in a voice so loud that Jerry could hear him up in the bathroom.
“Well, that’s strange,” Jerry mumbled, “I’ve never seen a rabbit fall out when confronted with a rifle. The boys will think I’m telling a fib - if I tell’em.”
He also could not figure out why Walt had decided not to pick up his hunting loot and why he had just walked off.
Walt had no clue why he did that either. Walt actually wasn’t sure he knew anything anymore. In fact, the real Walt had ceased to exist. At the very moment that Walt had aimed the tip of his gun at the rabbit, something had leapt at him and forced his spirit aside with great violence. For Walt, the world was drowned in darkness and he could no longer feel anything but an incredible fear. The thing that had attacked him - invisibly attacked him - immediately possessed his entire body. He observed as its former host, the rabbit, fell over. Almost simultaneously he bent his index finger and a bullet was catapulted across the meadow and killed the animal. All of this happened in a fraction of a second. The creature that Walt had suddenly become did not know what to do with the dead animal. So it simply followed the same trail its victim had taken just a short time earlier. The dog had immediately sensed the migration and when the thing touched the canine accidentally, Max was ready to jump out of his skin in a complete panic. The thing simply ignored the dog and began to walk. The thing used the few minutes it took to make its way to the barn to expunge all memories from Walt’s mind. Next, the thing silently exterminated Walt with a simple thought command. By the time it arrived at the barn, the thing saw Walt’s car. Jack Binder came out of the barn at the same time.
“Well, Walt, did you waste another shot?”
All he had heard while changing clothes in the barn was the cracking of the bullet. The thing simple nodded using Walt’s head, passed Jack without saying a word and got into his old Honda pickup truck. He dropped the weapon carelessly on the passenger seat. Next, he turned the key in the ignition, revved up the engine and drove past the flabbergasted Jack across the yard leaving the farm behind.
“Damn you, Walt,” Jack called after the truck, “You promised to give me a ride home.”
CHAPTER 6
Doctor Ness sat at his desk and studied Hank’s medical records. He had been the Bergson family’s physician for many years and Hanky had been his patient since he was twelve. Hanky came into the practice about six to eight times a year. Usually, all Doctor Ness had to do was dress a few minor wounds Hanky sustained because of carelessness and also because his mind was too weak to warn him if he was risking an injury. Hanky liked the doctor, although he always had a slightly queasy feeling when he saw the doctor in his clean white coat. However, doctor Ness always managed to overcome Hanky’s fear and treated him rather kindly.
The doctor just shook his head in disbelief and closed the file. In all the years he had treated Hanky, the young man had never been hysterical. On occasion he had whined a little because he was afraid and once he’d shed some big tears, but that was all.
He got up from his seat to check on Hanky once again. The sedative should have put him into a deep slumber and its effects were supposed to linger for a quite a while. Nonetheless, given Hanky’s strange behavior, doctor Ness wanted to make absolutely certain that his patient was doing well. As he exited his office and stepped into the hallway, he overheard a thumping noise right away. Ness hurried down the hallway and arrived in the treatment room seconds later. This was the place where Hanky was supposed to be - asleep. He flung the door open and saw the absurd chaos instantly.
Held in place by only a single leather strap, Hanky was lying on the very edge of the gurney and halfway on the ground. His eyes were wide open and his legs were peddling like those of a mad man. Intelligible babbling sounds came from his distorted mouth and saliva kept dripping from his chin.
The doctor yelled for the nurse and threw his own body over Hanky’s to calm him down and tie him down on the bed again. He knew that he could not give a patient who was in a raving made state another sedative. The doctor’s additional weight and Hanky’s ongoing pedaling finally caused the last leather strap to come open and the two men dropped from the bed to the floor. The doctor was the first to go down and Hanky dropped on top of him. The air was forced from the doctor’s lungs as if they were old bellows. For an instant, all Ness could see was blackness. Hanky rolled off of him, slowly got up and stormed out of the room. As doctor Ness tried to get up, the nurse stepped into the treatment room and looked at her boss, who was still sitting on the floor in shock and wonderment.
Today, Ben Johansson and his wife Julie left for their little weekly trip to New Bismarck later than they normally did. Obviously, Ben had been compelled to first tell his wife about the morning’s events. He’d told the story in so much detail and Julie had constantly interrupted him with her own questions that they almost had forgotten what time it was. It was not until Julie accidentally checked the kitchen clock that she realized in horror that it was almost two in the afternoon. She rushed her husband around, telling him to freshen up a bit. While he was doing that, Julie dressed up for a day on the town, as she liked to call it when she wore a nice dress and her shiny black high-heeled pumps.
A few minutes past two, the two walked across the yard and climbed into their red Ford F250 pickup truck. Ben had loved this ride ever since he’d first seen it in a TV commercial. It had taken well over a quarter of a year and numerous conversations with Julie until she was convinced that this car was the perfect small farm truck. Finally, Julie gave up her resistance and just a few days later, Ben brought home his new pride and joy. Ever since that day, Ben’s chest seemed to be filled with pride as he drove the pickup. Despite the fact that they were in a hurry, Ben let the truck roll down the dirt road slowly. Julie stared at her husband who could sense her annoyance, but at least she kept her mouth shut. Every night before they went into town, Ben would wash his truck. That’s why he was so careful riding along the dirt road until he made it to the paved