Hortons Bend

of the fence either. “I hate this dick head” Curtis thought when he struggled through the fence wire tearing his shirt on one of the barbs. Price kept moving steadily into the darkness and seemed to maneuver his way but poor Curtis managed to find every rock and hole to stumble across. When he noticed that Price was almost out of sight he lost his patience altogether. “Will you slow the fuck down man?” he exclaimed in an excited whisper. Price must have heard him loud and clear because he was walking towards him as quickly. The lawyer walked straight up to his face and with a sneer told him “Hey Jack. I don’t know who you think you are but you better get with the program. Right now…ass face!” He then turned around and began his quick pace to find the idiot archaeologist/trespasser. Curtis shook his head and swore to god that he would pay this bastard back.
    Brody turned to look back several times after hearing car doors slam. He had spent all this time watching for lights at the farmhouse that the noise near the road startled him. If someone was behind him then he would have a hard time making his exit. A small group of trees surrounding a drainage ditch that emptied into the Oostanaula River was to his right. What to do? Brody stopped again when he heard a strange screech. “That’s no animal” he thought. It sounded like a woman’s screech but he couldn’t be sure. Brody looked toward the river and saw a mist creeping up. It was eerily like the last time he was on this floodplain but he noticed that the wind was getting up and moving the mist around in strange patterns. Given what he was seeing he almost dropped the package and turn back to find Jeanie but he didn’t. “Just keep going a little further. It’ll be close enough soon” he muttered to himself. Brody decided he wasn’t going all the way to the river. Just about half way would be more than good enough to satisfy. What he didn’t expect was the sudden drop that he experienced. Tumbling down into the small ravine that had been on his right hand side, Brody tripped ass over teacup until he came to rest at the bottom of the gulch.
    Ragland sat waiting in the car for a few minutes while the others walked away. Despite the desire to take a nap, he found himself anxious to stay near the road. He got out of the car and peered into the darkness to see if he could see either of his associates or the woman that Price had cursed about. Neither was visible so he continued to stand in the darkness. Ragland decided to call his wife even though Curtis had forbidden it earlier. His cell was somewhat comforting with its small glow but he frowned when he saw the lack of bars. The small phone’s glow began to fade in and out as it began to act erratic. “Great” he said to himself and snapped the little phone shut. Standing in the darkness he began to feel utterly useless. No telling when the others were going to would return and here he was stuck with his thumb up his butt watching for traffic that was never going to appear. Ragland started to get back into the car when his stakeout changed in an instant. He thought it was his imagination but after blinking he realized that he could see an obese woman crossing the fence into the field! She was huffing and puffing and muttering curse words but making pretty good time even as she was stumbling just a bit. Now what was he supposed to do? Price said come get him but he didn’t want to stalk some fat broad in the darkness. What if she had a phone? Hell she could call the police and Ragland didn’t believe for a second that either of those sonofabitches would back him up. He looked around to make sure no one else was coming and decided that he could at least follow her for a little bit. Following fat chicks in the dark! Ragland decided right then that this weekend should have included some type of hazard pay.
    Indeed it was a stumbling fat woman in t he field. Barbara Peabody was both furious and disoriented. Where had that traitorous fool gone off to? On one hand she had a mind to get back to her vehicle and call the police but for some inexplicable reason she wanted to tell Paul Brody off right here. He was not going to deny her the pleasure of it tonight. Rules were rules and she had made herself quite clear. It was Mrs. Peabody’s opinion that if there was no chain of command or pecking order in society then chaos would prevail. After all, she was the Executive Director and he was merely an