Peter told Johann everything he saw and where he thinks that truck is heading, he reminds Johann that he doesn’t exactly know, and that he just has a hunch, but he thinks they went to Sardis Lake. Johann wrote it down, and soon said “We need a map” he said before getting up.
“Woah, detective! Where are you going?”
“I’m going to the station,” Johann said, who was hobbling around slightly. “Man, you’re more drunk than a skunk. Here, stay at my place, I can drive you there”
Johann soon sighed, and agreed to come with Peter, and they both got into his car and began driving back to Peter’s ranch.
The next night, Peter and Johann were driving down to Sardis Lake to see if Peter’s hunch was correct. They wanted to use the cover of night, because they had no idea what they were getting into. Johann drove while Peter shined a flashlight around, trying to catch anything suspicious out in the woods.
Soon, they pulled up to a ranch that was abandoned years ago. What brought them here was the presence of a truck that matched the description of what Peter gave when he saw the vehicle that supposedly stole Sawyer, a gray 1947 suburban carryall. They pulled up next to it and soon Peter said “Alright detective, what do we do?”
“You stay here, if i’m not back in 30 minutes, come look for me” Johann said
“Why should I stay here? Don’t you think you’ll need some backup?”
“If I know anything about this klan, its best if a black man like you doesn’t show up on their turf” Johann said before stepping out the truck with a flashlight and revolver. He shut his car door and walked into the property, his flashlight out and revolver loaded and aiming, ready to take the life of anyone who dared try and shoot him.
He soon entered the ranch house, and he tried turning on the light but the power was out, however he heard the faint sound of a generator somewhere in the house. He slowly walked forward, quickly looking behind each corner to make sure no one was hiding. He tried finding the source of the sound he was hearing, but he was coming up short.
“Hey! Is anybody here?! This is the Logtown PD!” Johann shouted, but no one came out. He soon heard footsteps, and quickly swiveled around, looking around his perimeter to figure out the source of the footsteps were nowhere to be found. Soon, he looked down and he noticed in one section of the house, there was a faint glow through the gaps in the boards that made up the floor.
Johann quickly went outside and soon located a cellar door that was heavily rusted, and locked with a rusty padlock. Johann used the butt of his gun to break the lock, and he opened the creaky cellar doors into some downstairs level that looked recently refurbished, he saw the yellow glow of a lightbulb down in there.
He then drew his gun and slowly walked downstairs, while saying “This is Logtown Police! Come out with your hands up!”
He soon made it down, and the room was full of boxes, and in the back of the room, there appeared to be chains. He soon walked over and saw the chains where in a puddle of a tired residue that Johann recognized to be blood, it even smelled like something dead. He soon put his gun away, and put on some gloves as he picked up the chains and examined them. They didn’t look old, but were covered in blood. Someone was tortured down here, he could tell.
Suddenly, he feels the muzzle of a rifle touch his back, and he soon heard gruff but muffled voice say “Stay still”
Johann remained silent, and the man soon butted him with the rifle and soon said “Now, stand with your hands out” Johann did as he wished, but didn’t put out his hands. The man behind him soon ordered him to put his hands over his head, threatening to shoot him.
Johann quickly turned around and swung the chains he had in his hands against the man’s head, who was wearing a Klu Klux Klan outfit! The man groaned in pain and staggered backwards, and Johann quickly grabbed him and shoved him against the wall. The man tried shooting him, but Johann held the gun against the man to prevent him from shooting him. The man’s rifle turned out to be an AK-47, which was quite a deadly weapon created by the Commies in ‘47.
Both grunted in effort as they pushed against each other, but then the man kicked Johann back and quickly took aim to fire at him, but Johann quickly swung the chain into the AK, and knocked it out of the man’s head.
The man then rushed into Johann and knocked him to the ground in a chokehold, Johann wrestled him and soon de-masked his assailant, who was a middle aged man with a short beard, and he had a mullet. Johann soon punched him in the face, and grabbed the man by the shoulders and slammed his forehead straight into his face, which knocked the man to the ground.
Johann then tackled the man and tried to get him into handcuffs, but his assailant quickly elbowed him in the face, which knocked off his hat and caused some blood to dribble from his nose.
The man then grabbed him and tackled him up against a pillar in the basement, and soon he slammed Johann’s head into the pillar, momentarily stunning him with a groan of pain coming from Johann.
The man quickly went to grab his gun, and took a moment to make sure it was loaded, however Johann quickly grabbed him from behind and wrapped his shoulder around the man’s neck. The man shouted as he pulled the trigger, causing the rifle to automatically fire at 10 rounds a second. The loud bursts of noise caused by the gunfire alerted Peter to the situation, and soon he grabbed a crowbar he found in the back of Johann’s truck and soon went out the car to go help him.
Soon, the man ran out of bullets in his clip, and soon broke free from Johann as they both tripped over a piece of trash on the floor. The man held down Johann on the ground with his knee, and soon grabbed his chain and wrapped it around Johann’s neck and began squeezing it tightly.
Johann gasped and choked as he struggled to get out of his predicament, he tried punching and kicking the man but he wasn’t letting go. Soon, Peter saved Johann by rushing in and slamming the crowbar up against the man’s head, which immediately knocked him out.
Johann got the chain off him, and began coughing uncontrollably as he held his neck. “Man, you okay?” Peter asked, and Johann looked up at him and gave him a thumbs up while continuing to cough. They soon got the man in cuffs, and carried him back to Johann’s car.
“Man, thanks, Pete. I thought I was a total goner there” Johann asked again, and Peter soon said “No problem, man. Hopefully this guy has some answers to what’s going on here”
“Hopefully” Johann soon said as they began driving back to Logtown.
When they got back to the station, they put the man in a holding cell for questioning that would occur tomorrow. Johann wasn’t injured too greatly in his scuffle with the man, so going to a hospital wasn’t required, all he needed was a few hours with an ice pack.
Johann was gonna go stay at a motel for the night, considering his house is pretty much ruined. However, Peter offered for him to crash at his place for the night. Something Johann didn’t like the idea of, staying at a black man’s house, but he’d though it’d be better than spending $60 to sleep for one night.
Johann drove over to Peter’s house, and sat down on the porch with an ice pack over his head. He looked up at the clear night sky with the Moon in the sky, it was in its waxing crescent phase, and shined like a beacon in the sky . . .
. . . Johann soon had a flashback to 3 years ago, when Sawyer was just a little 11 years old. They went camping out in the woods, and were sitting by a fire by a creek. The night was young, and looked similar to how the sky looked in real life,
“Having fun, buddy?” Johann said,
Sawyer soon said “You camp out in these woods, daddy? It’s scary out here!”
“Eh, the woods aren’t that scary once you get used to them” Johann said, he soon said “They are actually pretty peaceful, nice place to clear your mind”
Sawyer nodded, and looked up at the night sky and the trees. He then looked at Johann and soon said, “Dad, are you gonna get us a new mom?”
Johann placed his hand on Sawyer’s hand, and soon said “No son, I don’t want another. You’re mom was the only woman for me”
Sawyer soon said “I miss her”
“I miss her too” Johann said, before he pulled in Sawyer for a small hug, “You know, I always promised you’re mom I’d protect you, no matter what, and that’s what i’m gonna do”
Sawyer soon snuggled with Johann, and both of them soon looked up at the sky . . .
. . . Sawyer said “Johann?” in Peter’s voice, Johann looked at him confused, before he snapped back to reality to hear Peter calling him.
He looked back to see Peter standing behind him, with a hand on his shoulder “You okay, man?”
Johann nodded, and soon Peter sat down next to him and said “You handled yourself pretty well out there, huh?”
Johann nodded and soon said “Guess I still have some of that soldier in me”
“Heh, yeah” Peter said.
Johann soon looked at Peter and said “Tell me about yourself, Pete”
Peter looked at Johann, and he soon said “Well, there’s not alot to talk about me. I’m just a humble farmer who got himself into this mess”
“Really? Come on man, you got my life story out of me, I think it’s your turn to share your story”
Peter shrugged in agreement, and he soon said “Well, I was born in 1896, in Nashville, Arkansas. I spend most of my life there, and spend my days as a detective like you, Johann” Peter said, this surprised Johann for he had no idea he was talking to a former detective. “But that was a long time ago… I quit being a detective and moved here in Logtown to live out the rest of my life in retirement”
“What made you wanna retire?”
“Well, it was a mix of me getting old, as well as my wife. She got sick with leukemia, and we couldn’t pay for her treatment. The doctors gave her 4 months, but she fought for almost 3 years, just to watch our daughter graduate”
“How long ago was this?”
“About 7 years ago”
Johann nodded in empathy, he knew what it’s like to lose your wife over something you have no control over, he soon said “How old is your girl?”
“She’s 25”
“25?! Wow”
“I know, they grow up so fast” Peter said, and he soon said “How old is Sawyer?”
“He’s 14”
“Ah, I remember when my daughter was 14. Everything was “can I go without daddy, please?” Peter said, who thought 14 is around the age where children start to disobey their parents.
Johann shared this belief, for he said Sawyer is kinda the same. Johann then looked up at the sky and said “Man, I hope he’s okay”
Peter placed his hand on Johann’s shoulder and said “Hey, we’re going to find him. He’s a strong boy, right?”
“Strongest boy ever” Johann said with a chuckle
Johann soon got up and said with a yawn “Well, I’m gonna go get some shut eye. See you in the morning” Johann then went inside and plopped down on the couch, and soon fell asleep. While he was asleep, he was having a memory of him during World War 2. He was on the beach where D-day took place, he was looking from behind a barrier at all the German soldiers bearing down on them.
Johann soon heard orders from his commander, and he soon raised his gun and began firing at some of the soldiers. He saw some soldiers get shot down by himself, and he saw some soldiers shoot at him. Johann soon ducked behind the barrier and he soon pulled out a grenade and threw it over the barrier and it landed next to a German barrier, where it blew up and Johann saw the guts and entrails of some unfortunate German soldiers caught in the blast fly into the air.
Johann soon moved forward, keeping his head low and gun ready. Johann’s nightmare ended with an explosion and he woke up on the couch to the sound of a rooster crowing outside. He sighed and soon got up, and went outside to smoke a joint.
Johann soon heard his radio go off, and when he answered it he got word that the man they captured was interrogated by some field agents and they managed to make him crack, apparently their camp is located somewhere nearby Sardis Lake, and they needed an experienced veteran like Johann to come and take a look at the map and figure out what to do.
Johann soon began making his way back to the station, and went to his office to try and plan out the attack. He was thinking about going down the route where they first went, however he thought that route is where they will be expecting them to go, so he crossed it off and decided to go down the route down the opposite side of the lake.
He soon took it to the field operatives, that included SWAT officers who where called in, since they are dealing with a terrorist organization.
“We know they are in these areas, around Sardis Lake” Johann said, pointing on the map, circling areas around the lake. “Now. we cannot go in guns a-blazing, for that might get many of us killed, or one of the hostages killed”
“So how do we go about this?”
“We have to make this a stealth mission, we go in, scope out the area and secure it, if possible. We surround the perimeter of the hostage zone, and close in, and gun down all the terrorists. Wait for the sergeant’s signal to engage, we need to conserve our ammunition, and use stealth, any gunfire will alert them to our presence and the mission could go sideways” Johann said, and many of the units nodded at the plan, as it sounded good.
One unit soon asked “When do we go?”
“Midnight, under the cover of the dark” Johann said
“Alright, get some rest soldiers, we got a task ahead of us!” said the sergeant and the units began walking out of the room, leaving him and Johann. He soon looked at Johann and said “Feels like World War 2 all over again, huh?”
“Yeah, only this time I’m not fighting for my country, I’m fighting for my son” Johann said before he walked out, and soon saw Peter outside.
“How did it go?”
Johann said nothing as he got to his car and started it up, however he soon looked at Peter and said “Listen, I want you to go home and stay there. I won’t want you out there, it’s gonna get really dangerous out here”
Peter saluted to Johann and said “Way ahead of ya, detective! Good luck, and God be with you”
“God be with you too” Johann said as he rolled up his window and soon began driving off.
Soon enough, nightfall came and Johann, as well as several police and SWAT officers were driving to Sardis Lake. The tales that a violent tribe owns this lake shook everyone in the area, and now it seems like that myth might be even more true than they realize. They moved slowly, trying to avoid making noise to stay silent.
Everyone was tense, for this was a lot like war out in Europe during the 40’s. Just a bunch of armed men going to battle, all with death certificates awaiting them at a stand that could fall at any minute. They stopped about a kilometer from the sight, deciding they would walk the rest of the way to avoid the KKK catching wind of their arrival before the gun battle even started.
Johann came out of his car with an EM-2, a British assault rifle Johann managed to get his hands on from the armory. His secondary rifle was a Smith & Wesson that he often carries as a standard issue detective handgun. The other officers walked in, and they had similar rifles, but some had shotguns and snipers.
Johann moved with a squad of soldiers into the forest, using flashlights they attached to their weapons to see around the forest. The woods were eerily quiet, the crickets were silent, but the wind was blowing through the trees, and an owl occasionally hooted, which added to the atmosphere that loomed over the soldiers like heatwaves.
Each soldier’s breaths were labored and heavy, due to the cold and the fact that they were on edge. At any given moment, they could face a squad of armed KKK members and any one of them could be shot down in the gunfight.
However, they began walking around the lake and formed a perimeter around a majority of the lake. They soon began moving forward, and soon Johann reached a clearing and on a hill, stood a KKK soldier, carrying an M16. He and the rest of his squad aimed at the man, and soon a soldier shouted on a megaphone “You on the hill! Drop your weapon and place your hands on top of your head!”
The soldier soon aimed his gun up in the air, and soon they heard several gunshots off in the distance. Suddenly, several KKK soldiers came over the crest of the kills and began firing at the squad!
“Fall back! Fall back!” an officer said as they backed into the bushes and began firing back! Suddenly, they began hearing gunfire from behind them! “Ambush! Ambush!” Johann shouted.
Johann focused his fire on the terrorists coming from the woods, he managed to shoot down one of them, however there where many of them. Johann hid in the bushes, and continued firing at the terrorists. It seems like the KKK had anticipated their arrival, and prepared for them just in case they did.
Johann soon ran out of ammo, and he soon began reloading his rifle and when it was loaded, he resumed his fire on the terrorists coming at them from the dark. Soon, he heard one of his squad men get shot down, and soon he heard someone shout.
“There’s too many of them! Fall back! Fall back!”
“No!” Shouted Johann as he continued firing at the terrorists, soon shooting down another man. He wasn’t giving up, he won’t give up until he brings his kid back home. However, try as he might, he and his squad were severely outnumbered and more and more of his squad were getting killed one by one.
Soon, Johann was stuck with one more soldier and they remained hidden behind 2 trees and waiting for the gunfire to stop. It soon did, and Johann and his fellow surviving soldier took to the bushes and began sneaking away to find more cover, however Johann was quickly grabbed by someone and before he could pull out his knife to fight back, he felt something get injected into his neck and he began to feel tired.
He then collapsed onto the ground, and looked up as his vision blurred. 2 KKK soldiers stood over him, and one of them kneeled down to him and said through his mask “You ignorant, black loving fool. You defy the south like this? Well, come with us, we will cure you” he said as Johann slowly blacked out…
Johann awoke hours later in some sort of barn, he was on his knees with ropes wrapped around his wrists, and those ropes were tied to the wooden beams of the barn. Johann looked around and saw he was completely shirtless, and saw some blood on the hay that he was kneeling on. Soon, he looked up and saw 3 KKK men standing before him, one of them was carrying a long whip.
“You’re awake” the man carrying the whip said
“Where is my son?!” Johann shouted as he began pulling against his bindings, however 2 soldiers came over and punched and kicked him back onto his knees. He soon looked up and the man carrying the whip soon whipped the air and soon said “You’re not asking questions here, we are”
Johann grimaced, and soon the man said “Now, I’m certain you know who we are, and I know who you are, Johann Williams. You’re boy, Sawyer Williams talks about you plenty. We heard that you detest the virus of your state”
“What virus” Johann said, before the man went behind Johann and whipped him on the back, creating a gash on his back. Johann yelped in gain, and groaned loudly before the man handed the whip to another and he went in front of Johann and kneeled down before him, saying “Like I said, you don’t ask us the questions”
Johann breathed loudly, in pain and anger. The man soon said “What we mean by virus are the black things that roam throughout our country like they own the place! You detest them, do you?”
“I did, but not anymore!”
“Oh I believe you still do, after all, it was a black man who killed your wife, right?”
Johann growled at the man, and he soon said “Don’t talk about Marg!”
“Why? It’s true, isn’t it? Look, if I’m gonna be honest, I am truly sorry for your loss. However, if they hadn’t killed her, you wouldn’t be racist. So… i’m glad they killed her” the man said.
Johann snapped and he lunged at the man, rushing into him and knocking him down and roaring with anger as he was held back by the other soldiers and soon forced back down onto his knees.
The man laughed and soon said “You’re strong, perhaps the Klan could use that strength…”
“What say you, Johann, will you join us or-”
“Fuck that! I will never join your Klan!”
The man paused for a moment, before looking up and nodding and soon Johann was whipped in the back again. Johann grunted loudly in pain, and he was soon whipped relentlessly over and over again.
When they finished, Johann’s back was red with bruises, and cuts that were bleeding rapidly. He was asked if he would join now, and Johann just spat on the ground. They soon began whipping Johann again, ruthlessly and relentlessly beating him with the long leather stips, Johann groaning loudly in pain with each strike.
When they were finished, Johann was breathing heavily in pain and his whole body was quivering with sharp shooting pain. Blood was dripping from his back, and he began to feel weak. The man who was ordering these beatings soon kneeled down before him, and said “We can make it stop, we can make the pain go away, only if you give up your life to join us”
Johann looked up at him, panting heavily before he said with a growl “Go to hell..!”
The man nodded, and soon the men behind him began whipping him again, Johann grunted quietly in pain before he finally passed out. The man raised up his fist and they stopped whipping Johann, and he ordered for him to be released from his bindings and when he was, he collapsed onto the ground unconscious.
The man placed his fingers on Johann’s neck, and he could feel a pulse. “He lives” he said
“What do we do with him, sir?”
“He is strong, our Klan can most certainly use that strength. He will join us. Go cage him up with the blackies, have them have his way with him and maybe he will reconsider”
After that, Johann’s body was taken to a cage with several black men. He was tossed in, and the gate door shut. Johann wrined and groaned in pain as he got onto his knees, and he soon heard a familiar voice “Detective?”
He looked and was surprised to see Roscoe standing over him, “Roscoe?”
“Yes, my dear friend, it is I, Papa Ros! Hehe, I am a prisoner now too” Roscoe said, and he soon said “How has the case been?”
Johann groaned loudly as he managed to move his body to the wall of the cage and he leaned against the iron bars. He soon looked up at Roscoe, and said “How did you get here, old timer?”
“They heard about my arrest, and once I was released, they snuck up behind me and took me”
“Well, at least I won’t die alone” Johann said as he laid down on the ground, still sore from the beating he took prior to being thrown in here. He soon said “Where are we?”
“We’re in Broken Bow, or atleast im pretty sure, who knows? Hahahahaha!” Roscoe said, laughing as he said this.
Johann soon said “Where is Sawyer?”
“Sawyer?”
“My son!”
“Oh yeah! I think I saw a white boy being dragged in one of those caves before, I think they are trying to convince him to be a member of the klan”
Johann sighed and soon put his hands to his face, and soon Roscoe could hear muffled crying coming from the detective.
Roscoe soon said “Come on, detective, don’t despair, there’s still hope!”
“Hope?” Johann said as he pulled his hands away from his face, and he sniffled. He soon said “You don’t understand. God wants me dead, I know it”
Roscoe scoffed and said “Come on now, detective! You can’t give up, you’re a hero!”
“Hero? Ha, i’m no hero, old timer. I never was, I was just a broken man who came back from losing his wife to thugs, and a war where I had to kill a couple dozen Germans, saw a couple hundred thousand die by a couple thousand soldiers. I came back… and I just… despised people of color like you. I just held so much anger in my heart, and I just took it out on people like you. I’m no hero, i’m a villain”
Roscoe was silent for a moment, and soon he said “Well, how did you get here?”
“Got ambushed, thought we had their base, but it ended up being a trap. One of them knocked me out, and before I knew it, I ended up in this… place”
“As far as I know, we’re in some kind of KKK camp, where they do many of their rituals and well… executions”
Suddenly, the gate was opened and 2 guards came in and grabbed Johann and Roscoe, and they dragged them out of the cage and out into a field where there were gallows standing in the middle of the field. Johann was forced to the ground, and Roscoe was dragged all the way to the gallows and placed on the stool with a noose around his neck, along with several other black people.
Johann knew exactly where this was going, and soon a preacher in a KKK costume walked over and began preaching “My our lord, by the devil, we are to rid the south of this disease once and for all, we will regain the south’s lost pride and return it to the way it was 200 years ago! We, the Klu Klux Klan, will purge these lands of you black demons and bring peace to the south!”
The preacher soon looked to Johann, and he soon said “Watch, son, watch us cleanse our great southern home” Soon, the trap doors underneath the men began opening one by one, from left to right. As Roscoe saw his death was approaching, he looked at Johann and soon said “Johann! Remember, its never too late to be a hero! Don’t be a villain! Be a hero-” before he could finish, the door under him opened and Roscoe fell, the noose around his neck tightened in a split second and the weight of his body tugged against the rose, breaking his neck and strangling himself to death at the same time, causing his swift and untimely demise.
Johann closed his eyes and looked down as he was forced to watch the spectacle. It was horrifying but compared to his experiences in the war, it wasn’t the worst thing he had ever seen.
“Don’t despair, brother, you will understand again soon enough. Now take him away!” the preacher said, and Johann was soon dragged back to his cage. Where he just sat there, all balled up like a baby with his head in his knees, disturbed and feeling a sense of hopelessness to his situation…
What was he to do now?
