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JOHNNY REB IN 'SHADOW' Part 4
Character by Tim Frady Story by Wayne Clayton
It didn't take Johnny long to settle down in his new room. It was a simple affair, made up of an old cast iron bedstead and a thin saggy horse hair mattress, but after the bunks he'd been use to in the army it seem close to heaven as he lay back trying to block out the sound of the storm fast approaching from the south. Even now the first rain drops were starting to slap against the warped glass in the small framed window.
As to what dangers the on coming storm brought with it Johnny could only guess. His meeting with the old man in the street had left him feeling uneasy. When he came back to Shadow he had hoped deep down no-one would recognise him, and yet Moses had known his true name. A name which he had thought he had left buried there in Shadow long since.
With his thoughts wandering Johnny pulled out the old mans gift. The little wooden figure which Moses's mother had once made for him when they were children and which still bore a lock of his hair. Little did he know then how that 'doll' once made as a token of friendship would mark his fate on that stormy night so long long ago.
Prehaps it was the memory of those dark days which had brought Johnny back to Shadow. Truth be told no matter how hard he tried to escape those memories he couldn't. Each and every day he looked in the mirror and saw his still youthful reflection he couldn't help but to be reminded. For a hundred and six years he had walked the earth, and of those he had only known twenty-two of them in which he had been free of the curse of immortality. And it was a curse, a curse which would never leave him and one which he knew he deserved for what he did.
Outside a roll of thick thunder shook Johnny out of his train of thought. He rose and looked out into the night. And in the distance the dark forest stood like a black wall made of shadows against the thin layer of vivid blue on which floated the menacing clouds of the storm itself. Out there in the woods lay the remains of the life he once knew.
Through all the horrors he had seen in the War just gone, nothing could compare to those which lay in that forest. The one place on earth which could send the ice cold spectre of fear down the spine of the bulletproof strongman known as JOHNNY REB.
Across town Sheriff Saul sat in his office alone. Tonight the cells were empty,just as they had been for the past months. All the hot heads and wandering bums had found themselves in uniform and with a gun in their hand. But Saul was all too aware that soon they would be returning. The stranger in town was just the first of those boys to return home. Just what trouble they'd bring back with them was anybodies guess. He knew war could bring out the best and the worst of a man.
As for this new stranger in town he seemed different somehow. He carried himself taller than most, like he was 'untouchable'. Those kind of men were dangerous, they either started trouble or trouble found them sooner or later. To make matters worse he carried the name Rebbeck. Just what relation he was to the Shadow Rebbecks he didn't know yet, but he was damn sure going to find out.
He had been busy all afternoon and into the evening ringing his contacts in Knoxville and Athens to try and get some background on the guy, but so far he had drawn a blank. Worse still he had been told by his old army buddy in the draft station in Knoxville that regarding this 'Rebbeck', " It would be easier for him to give Saul Hilters new home address then to give him any information on his stranger ", In fact " It would be better all round to just forget you'd even heard the name at all" If that didn't spell trouble Saul didn't know what did.
Back in his room Johnny got ready to face the night, turning his collar up high on his old army oil skin trench coat before stepping out into the rain. Moses's cabin was on the edge of town along with the rest of his kind. It almost felt like he was a boy again sneaking out to hear those forbidden stories told by old Uncle Remus. Alot of things had changed in Shadow but then again there were somethings which never seemed to change and he didn't know if they ever would.
He silently strode out into the night. His way lit by the dim bulbs of Main St. and then once he had left them behind the night closed in around him. On the back streets the only lights were those coming from the houses themselves, but thanks to Johnny Reb's cursed eyes he could see well enough into the shadows to find his way. Even though the storm had turned up a notch and had driven the good folk of Shadow indoors Johnny still felt as if someone or rather something was watching him. And he was sure it wasn't his old friend Kilaratuu.
A flash of lightening ripped across the sky, closely followed by a peel of thunder. As the sound echoed though the mountains Johnny for a moment thought he heard the sound of iron clad hooves clatter upon the hard compacted road surface. He cocked his head but all was silent save for the pounding rain.
Up head Moses's cabin came into view. A mixture of wood, metal and time had formed this shack into a home. On the narrow trail up to the porch Johnny spotted in the middle of the path three wooden stumps poking out of the muddy earth barely an inch from the ground. He recognised these at once from his youth. Then the mountain folk called them 'Witch Pegs', they were said to ward off evil. From the colour of the wood Johnny could tell these pegs were freshly cut and only recently driven down into the mud. Just as in his youth he made sure to step around the pegs so not to bring bad luck down upon him, even if it was 84 years too late, he didn't want to tempt fate.
Once under the eves of the small porch he shook his rain coat and gently rapped his knuckle against the flyscreen door. And moments later the inner door opened and there framed in the warm firelight from within was the figure of a young woman.
Johnny gasped.
"Sarah??"
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