Adelle looks further into the relationships of Manny Travis, the mayor and the Texas Militia group. Manny was a former football star, being scouted by the Cowboys before he blew his knee out. He moved back home and has owned a few businesses locally. He had been dating a girl, Concha Gonzalez, for several years but a year and a half ago she was found murdered in a ditch. He was the prime suspect but had an alibi, so he could not be charged and was set free.

Adelle finds records of Manny and the mayor being seen together at the local Timberland Country Club, but curiously those records dry up a couple of months before Manny’s girlfriend’s murder. There are no records of the Mayor having any contact with Concha, and he had no comments about her murder investigation, curiously.

Bo goes to visit “The Witch” who lives not too far from the edge of campus. She is a local curiosity who seems to know a lot about local history. Bo knows her because she sometimes comes in to do lectures sometimes for Bo’s history classes. She confirms that the mayor is part of the Texas National Militia and that they are all about seeing the South rise again. They are actually more militant than the KKK. There have been bloody skirmishes between members in the past which have been passed off as hunting accidents — this is how they get rid of people. She says that there are at least two people buried under the front pillars of the town hall, which were Militia murders.

Concerning Manny, he always seemed to be living in the past of his football days, with several failed businesses, but years later he was getting more successful locally. After his girlfriend’s death, he has not been as successful.

We get a call from the cops and are told to come in for questioning. We are brought into a lineup room where we see #4, Hank McCleary. We identify him as the driver in yesterday’s shooting, and are able to exit the room. We ask Deputy McCann about the second shooting, and he says the cops tracked the shooters to the west side of town and they would not go quietly. The shooter, Kerry McGovern, blew his own brains out instead of being captured. The cops found them there as this was a known hideout of theirs. They did not find the truck.

Jerry McGovern, Kerry’s identical twin brother, seems to be an upstanding citizen. He is the VP of Lending at the First Bank of Pinebox, does charity and is an avid hunter. He seems to have been the “good” brother who never got into trouble. He visits the local Pizza Barn, a place where we’ve always hung out.

We decide to head there, and sure enough Jerry shows up. Eli and Leafwalker go up to him, and Leafwalker tells Jerry that what he is doing with the kids charities is great. Eli says that he has paid for Jerry’s meal and he is sorry about what happened to his brother. Jerry says that his brother has caused trouble for him since the moment he was born. Eli and Leafwalker go back to our table, but Jerry glares in our direction after this.

A few minutes later, as Leafwalker is going out for a smoke, six rednecks are blocking the door and will not let him out. They encroach on all of us and a fight starts. Adelle knees one in the groin and Bo kicks another one in the leg. Eli throws a pizza at someone and yells “Food fight!” and chaos breaks out. Among the fighting we are able to take out the rednecks and make an escape.

Outside in the parking lot, Leafwalker goes after Jerry but he pulls away in his car. However he sees something glinting next to his car as he goes — it is an invitation written to Jerry to an event a week from today at the Southern Gentlemen’s Charitable Society, hosted by the Mayor, at the Timberland Country Club. There are doodles on the card, several of them swastikas and other symbols, and the words “Die already you old coot” next to the mayor’s name.

We go back to our dorm, luckily getting away without being followed.

Homer does a search on Jerry McGovern and finds pictures of Jerry with the mayor; he always seems to be a couple steps behind him and to the right, like he is guarding him, until the last few photos, where he is on opposite sides of the room as the mayor.

Adelle goes to Terry’s house to see what she can find. Clearly the cops have been here, but she does find a pamphlet for the Texas National Militia. She finds a loose board that the cops missed. There is a thick book in here that lists all of the Texas Militia members, with a code for the higher-ups but she is able to determine that it is the mayor, and his first lieutenant is Jerry McGovern. There is a note on here that references that Jerry is wanting to take over the role as the top dog. The Sheriff’s name is here too. Manny’s name was in the book, but has been crossed out.

She also finds another book that is a series of meeting minutes. There are symbols scribbled in the margins that are religious; Eli determines that they are using these symbols in their rituals.

The next morning Eli goes to see Manny and he says that he is no longer part of the group; it has gotten too crazy after his girlfriend was murdered. Jerry is trying to take over the group, but the Mayor has something up his sleeve — a book that supposedly has magical powers. The Mayor has used the book to speak with Robert E. Lee and witness the Battle of Antietam firsthand. The Mayor has kept him at bay so far.

A few weeks go by after the chicken incident, and things have quieted down. We are getting to the end of our junior year at school and it is now finals week.

We run across an article in the local paper about some cow mutilations that have happened nearby. A farmer in Golan County, Nathan Bowers, has discovered two of his blue ribbon cattle butchered in the middle of his two hundred acre ranch. The assailants didn’t take any of the meat, but staked pieces of the cows in a small circular area. There were no tracks leading into the field or out of it.

The local sheriff, Butch Anderson, investigated and thought it was a teenage prank. There have been many reports of cow mutilations in the county since the late 1970s, though most of them find the cows drained of blood and their bodies precisely cut as if by scalpel or laser.

Professor Glen Maclanahan of East Texas University said that this one is different because of the “savage butchery”. He has written a number of books on the subject of modern mythologies, and says that this is likely the work of a cult and not aliens.

We start to do some investigations but don’t learn much during finals week.

The next week we hear of another cow mutilation nearby, but this one was further south of us. We decide that it would be best to investigate ourselves. We drive together to the farm and meet the farmer, asking if we can hunt near here. He mentions the incident and Bo seems to track with him; he invites us inside to see what happened. We take a look around and Bo gets permission for us to visit his land “for hunting coyotes and wolves.”

We look for clues but it seems like the scene has been trampled by the cops. There is a circle of flattened grass like a helicopter was hovering over it, and there is a ring of blood with somewhat of a pattern but it has been mushed by footprints. Homer takes his helicopter up a hundred feet and takes a picture of the scene, and Bo does videos of the area.

A week later Blake hears from the local cops that they are concerned about these mutilations and they are under pressure to figure it out. The mayor has also taken some interest in this case. We research the mayor’s background; apparently he had an illegitimate child with another woman. He may also have ties with white supremecist groups. Once when he was drunk he was overheard saying that “northern occupiers” are preventing decent folk from getting what they deserve, and is hoping to return the south to its former glory.

In a few days they have a press conference. The sheriff is there and also the mayor, who looks a lot like Colonel Sanders. Manny Travis, one of the council members, local business owner and a former chicken fight attendee. The mayor starts out by saying that this is a grave matter and is being investigated. When pressed, he just says that there are a few deputies looking into it.

Suddenly an F-150 pickup drives up and a barrel emerges from the window. Bo sees it and yells “GUN!” and throws his slurpee at the truck. A shot is fired and the cameraman filming the press conference, Neil Franks, is shot in the head. Everyone hits the deck. The truck peels off and a cop car rolls out and pursues him.

Adelle hears Manny turn to the mayor as they are both laying on the ground, and he says “If I find out you were behind this, I’ll open up a can of whoop ass like you’ve never seen.” The mayor stands up and runs into the city hall building. The police pursue the truck but he gets away.

Manny yells about “white supremecists” and “they are trying to do me like they did my girlfriend.” Adelle gets this on tape with her smartphone.

In checking the video of the event, the face of the assassin and their accomplice can be seen. Manny seems okay but is going on about how white supremacists are after him. Afterward, when being interviewed he seems to have changed his story and says that he doesn’t even know what happened.

Blake finds a shell casing on the ground and tells the authorities about it.

While this is happening, Leafwalker is in the religious studies department and has found professor Glen McClanahan who spoke out about the attacks. He brushes Leafwalker off, unfortunately.

A few hours later, we have been released from questioning. Homer runs the plate and finds out that the truck is owned by Hank Cleary, and we see find his address.

The next day in the Pinebox Newspaper, it says that Kerry McGovern was the shooter, driving Hank Cleary’s truck. They reportedly both have ties to the Texas National Militia, a pseudo-military, racist organization.

Blake looks up Kerry McGovern’s records and he has a record for battery, disorderly conduct, and chicken fighting. He also looks up the Texas National Militia, and it seems that they feel that the Civil War has never truly ended and they are waiting for the south to rise again.

Blake, our friend the Law Enforcement major (Stacy) joins us, as he was asleep in the back of the truck on the way here.

It looks like the chickens were all devoured by something. Adelle notices that the chicken cages are also busted in. There are feathers everywhere and large scratches on the cages, and the big feed bags are torn apart. There is also a human footprint among all of the carnage.

In the truck Leaf finds some blood on the floor, and the keys are still in the ignition. There is a shotgun under the seat, which we give to Blake. We decide to take the big truck up the hill to the house, but the conditions are terrible. After a few turns we hit a patch of water and the truck slides sideways, but the people in the back of the truck manages to hang on.

As we approach the house we realize why the road is so winding; the road goes around the nearby stream. There is an old farmhouse and the back door has been smashed open. The kitchen is destroyed and any containers of food have been busted open and emptied. There are no feathers here, but a large claw mark that looks like an immense chicken claw, nine inches to a foot long.

There is a computer in the adjacent room and a gun cabinet with a 12-gauge shotgun and a 30-30 rifle. We take the guns and Eli starts looking through the computer files. Blake finds a bad performance review that references an experiment that went awry at Grendel Faust and how he is a bad scientist. Bo finds a stack of paychecks; it looks like in the last year his pay was cut almost in half.

We move to the bedroom and find it in disarray but probably just because he is a slob. There are pictures on the wall of chickens and some framed photos of Artie holding prize chickens and trophies, but not from any official event.

In the next room we find some scientific papers and Adelle takes some photos.

We check the kitchen again and see that the creature only came in here and was interested in the food and nothing else.

We head to just north and find a pump house, which is not interesting except that there is a large pipe going to a building just to our south.

We head there, and Homer thinks that he hears something but it goes away. It is hard to walk through the woods in the rain and dense foliage. The rain does start to let up as we approach. The front doors are open (not smashed) and there are cages strewn around outside here. They have similarly been broken open and the chickens inside eaten. We find some huge feathers here, and Homer in particular is scared stiff.

We head inside the building and there is a large cage in the center with lawn chairs all around; this must be the cock fighting ring. Further back in the next room we find lots of cages, successively larger towards the back. The biggest one is a few meters square. In the back there is a giant contraption that according to Homer is a huge incubator.

Next to the back cage we find a dog collar and a human jawbone. Bo finds what he thinks is an egg and it is a human eyeball. Homer finds Charlie’s wallet and inside he finds a folded up document referencing a Grendel Faust project to genetically engineer eggs. This must be his body, and he must have stolen these eggs from Grendel Faust.

Adelle takes photos of the carnage and all of the equipment, and we head out as quickly as we can.

On the road, suddenly we are surrounded by giant chickens from the front and behind. Blake takes a shot with his shotgun at the closest one and it explodes disgustingly into green goo which stinks to high heaven. Bo kills another one with a shotgun blast.

We continue fighting and Homer jumps out of the woods to attack a nearby chicken that is stunned with his leatherman, but he slips and accidentally stabs it on his way down and gets some of the goo on himself. Bo shoots him with a shotgun and it explodes, covering Homer even worse with goo.

Leaf throws a can of creamed corn at the last remaining chicken and it is stunned momentarily. Adelle stabs it with her replica sword (Sting), and kills it. We look around and we are surrounded by dead, stinking chickens, and it appears that they are decomposing as we watch. Adelle takes as many pictures as she can.

We head back to the truck but as we come into the clearing we see four huge chickens, bigger than the last group, on the bed of the truck and trying to get into the cab. Unwittingly Blake wanders into the clearing.

We take care of a couple of the chickens with more shotgun blasts but the last two come towards us. Homer sends his mini helicopter flying toward them to try and distract them. Leaf tosses some food and they are momentarily occupied. With a couple more well placed shotgun blasts we take care of the rest.

All of us head back to the Durango and we high tail it out of there. We see ahead of us on the road four more chickens. Leaf throws a food can at them and they start fighting over it. Blake runs them over and then backs over them again to make sure they are dead. Again, Adelle is filming everything.

Around the next bend we find the biggest cock we have ever seen. He is at least 8 1/2 or 9 feet tall and probably somewhere around 450 pounds. He stares down the car and is ready to charge. Blake slides it sideways and slams into the chicken, killing it instantly. However, he fails to notice that there is a washout just ahead. He manages to correct and jump over the washout, but Eli flies out of the bed of the truck and lands hard on the ground. Nothing is broken, thankfully, and he gets back in.

There are more chickens ahead and Leaf tries to kick one in the head as we pass, but he ends up falling out of the truck and hurts himself lying next to the chicken. Blake stops the truck and Bo takes him out with a shotgun blast.

As we are rounding the last corner (after 16 or so), two more giant chickens come at us from the sides and one sticks its head into the cab of the truck.

Leaf lassos one of the chickens around the neck with a rope and yanks it. The other one is shot by “Bullseye” Bo. We pull ahead and snap the first one’s neck and now he is dragging behind us.

We get out and Bullseye starts the car on fire. We jump in the Durango and get out of there.

The next day, after thorough cleaning of ourselves and the truck, we meet to determine what to do about the whole situation. We decide that the local authorities might give us some trouble. Adelle will write an a story and hold on to it, and Eli will ask around to people who may have been interested in the ring what else they may be in to the area, so we can keep tabs on the degenerates in the council.

On Monday the local paper says that both brothers were mauled and kills by bears. People driving by reported the incident, and they thought the bear was sick as there were strange decaying flesh everywhere.

We are a group of college students living in the city of Pinebox, TX. Bo (Paul) is a history and archaeology major; Leafwalker (Matt) is a College of Natural Resources student, a hippie former camp counselor; Eli (Cary) is a Religious Studies student, a sixty-some year old Jewish man; Homer (Jon) is a Science major with a background in electronics, robotics and lasers; Adelle (Brad) is a Journalism major, a young female who is also an aspiring horror writer.

We are all good friends, and are in a book club together. Adelle hears that there is an illegal cock fighting ring somewhere in the county, and we go to investigate. She finds that it is at a nearby farm, and the next match is perhaps two weeks away. Artie O’Connor and his brother Charlie own the chicken farm, after a series of accidents killed the previous owners. (His wife and her parents, from a family he recently married in to.)

We find more information about Artie; he has previously been busted for participating in cock fights but they could not prove that the birds were his. His mother-in-law was a well-known figure locally, she was killed in a fireworks accident. Artie was not charged as he had a good alibi.

Artie’s brother Charlie went to school for genetics and biology. Leafwalker finds a paper that he wrote years ago, on how to genetically modify plants, that was widely panned. He was working for Grendel Faust, a genetic and biological engineering company. After this, he fell off the map completely and hasn’t had any activity in years in the world of science.

The closest branch of Grendel Faust is the next county over, a breeding farm. Their mission statement is all about feeding the world. There are references to the company doing breeding with livestock as well. Charlie is listed as a lab assistant (a much lower role) in later papers. There is no reference to Artie O’Connor with the company.

Leafwalker talks with the university’s Dr. Krystal Manning, a specialist in microbiology and chemistry. She knows of a Grendel Faust project called Turkey Sandwich, where they was studying large birds to genetically engineer them. Adelle realizes that Dr. Manning has been driving to the local army base, Area 12, which has a very Area 51-like vibe, and she previously had worked for Homeland Security.

We decide to set a deer camera nearby to surveil the farm. A few vehicles come and go, and one of them is a really nice red sports car — this is Charlie’s car. We occasionally see a blue Ford F-350 with Artie driving it as well. Once he has a bunch of burlap sacks with chicken feed. On Saturday we notice that several really nice cars pull in. We see that one of the cars is owned by James Flowers, a local businessman. We also see Jimmy Vann, another businessman who is on the city council. They go in and come out a few hours later. There is no traffic on Sunday.

Adelle hears on Monday that a cock fight had happened over the weekend, but not the big one we’ve heard about.

James Flowers owns a body shop and is a member of the wolf hunters club, and is serving on the city council. Jimmy Vann owns rental properties nearby.

Bo does a Google Maps search of the farm area and sees the layout of the area.

We are pretty certain that the big fight is going to be this Saturday.

On Thursday evening we get together for dinner and decide what to do. We will go to the farm again on Friday and investigate to see if we can find the genetically modified chickens. We head out there on Friday and park the truck about a mile away and hike there. Homer brings bolt cutters, wire cutters and his R/C helicopters. We get to the big gate and go around through the nearby woods. We go in to the chicken coops but they seem like normal chickens. Leafwalker checks the feed and he recognizes it as the feed they use on campus, so it is not modified.

The chickens start making noise so we bail, and hide in the woods. We hear a truck approaching, and Artie jumps out with a shotgun looking around. We hear sirens approaching and the sheriff emerges with two deputies. They find all of us, and attempt to take us to jail for trespassing. One of the deputies feels sorry for us and tells us all to get out of here. We run out and at the gate, two pickup trucks pull up behind us with some angry locals yelling about the noise. We are able to make our escape.

At campus the next day we try and figure out what to do. Eli goes to a local establishment and gets an invite to the cock fight.

It is pouring this evening and the wind is gusting hard. We head back up to the farm in Bo’s Durango and see some cars driving in the other direction, quickly. One of them is a local businessman and council member, Manuel “The Man” Travis. We get to the gate and it is wide open. The blue truck is here and is left running, but the windows are smashed. The red sports car is here too. There are feathers everywhere, blood and bones, and the chicken coops were busted open from outside in.