Children Of Fiends - Part 2 A Nation By Another Name: An Of Sudden Origin Novella by C. Chase Harwood Read Free Book Online Page B

scientists who pleaded with the government to try to capture and study them. Those scientists who struggled with this policy were deemed hostile to national security and banished to the mainland to research all that they wished. As such, the creatures remained an unknown quantity and fodder for nightmares.
    With a shelf life of only about a year without significant intervention, and with no way to produce or refine new sources, The Shore’s diesel stocks were more precious than nearly anything else. Much of what they had scrounged had been clogged with bacteria and algae or had broken down into sediments or simply evaporated or seeped into the ground through cracks in old tanks. The locomotive held five thousand gallons of fuel and the fuel car another five thousand; enough to potentially cross the country and return. With fuel being so precious to the island nation’s existence, it was with a significant amount of dismay that the gathered onlookers watched the train being loaded. What little fuel there was, was strictly for communal purposes.  
    Among the many curious observers at the Dover station stood Constable O’Connor. He watched Plimpton as he oversaw his baggage being loaded and casually strolled over to the councilman. Plimpton gave a start as the man stepped close. “Big things here, O’Connor,” he offered lamely. “Going to track the Northerners.”
    “So I hear, Councilman. I’m at a loss as to its purpose, but I see that you feel you need to go along.”
    “The purpose?” Plimpton asked, as though the policeman was daft. “The purpose is to ascertain the goings on of the people up north. They are playing in our neighborhood. As far as we know, they never have before.”
    “Your DNA came back positive.”
    Plimpton’s face went instantly white, yet he still had enough wits to guide O’Connor into a more private area of the platform. “I don’t see how that’s possible.”
    “You left copious amounts of semen inside the girl. Your DNA also matches samples taken from Marylou Denton who died in a similar manner last year.”
    Plimpton felt his shoulders slump and his normally rigid spine go loose. He stared past the constable with his mind running a mile a second until he noticed Colonel Quale looking at him with a broad self-satisfied grin. Quale knew. Plimpton felt his stomach acid boil.
    O’Connor, leaned in close so that Plimpton could feel his breath on his ear, his spittle on his neck, and continued, “I’m not going to arrest you.”  
    Plimpton, unaccustomed to having his private space so thoroughly invaded, scrunched his nose at the proximity of the man; onions with his eggs for breakfast perhaps. He attempted to back slightly away. O’Connor stayed with him, a boney but strong hand gripping his forearm, pulling him in tight. “You are indeed going on this so called mission of yours, you filthy piece of shit.” Plimpton’s ego quickly analyzed the deep affront and decided to let it go. He wasn’t going to jail. He attempted to stand tall and took a step back saying, “Yes I am and you very smartly assume that arresting me would result in bad tidings for yourself.”
    O’Connor shook his head with amusement and pulled the man back in tight. “You, out there, will save me the trouble. With you dead and gone, your devoted fellow citizens get to avoid a very destructive and divisive trial.”
    “Who says I’m going to die out there or when I get back here? You are but a public servant, Constable. I am -”
    O’Connor put a finger to the man’s lips. “Quiet you. You will not be returning to The Shore. If you do, you will die by hanging in public, as is our law, and you will thrash about and gag and turn blue as the roughest rope I can find strangles you. You will defecate all over yourself, and you will know you’re beloved people are watching as the filth runs down your legs. This I promise. Instead, you will get something you don’t deserve, but they do: a statue built