Author: thehippiefromhell
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STATE OF DISASTER
DEDICATION For Mikey and Beth, Janie and Maggie. This is a work of fiction. No person, living or dead, is portrayed herein. Municipal, State and Federal agencies are used as grounding entities and do not reflect upon the performance and decorum or honor of said agencies. Further, Maryland is a great place, my home, and…
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STATE OF DISASTER 1
Chapter One The Spirits of Springwood “The old man” Monday 29 October Vincent Anta was feeling apprehensive, something he had never handled well, but so many things were happening that he considered putting off the job at Springwood Hospital. That had never happened before; once he said he would help a client, he did the…
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STATE OF DISASTER 2
Chapter Two “The Man in the Red Fiat” 12:00 29 October Danny Warren had only seconds to get away, and he knew the cost of failure. As soon as the bell rang, he jumped up from his desk, leaving his backpack behind, his jacket and gloves still on him all through the sixth period class…
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STATE OF DISASTER 3
Three “Meant for Better Things.” 31 October Wednesday Howard County Police Headquarters It was accumulating fast. Crews were already busy shoveling the parking lot and spreading extra Ice Melt, while inside, the detective’s squad room was full of grumbling. They were being told that all non-essential personnel were being sent home, but the more junior…
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STATE OF DISASTER 4
Four “Meant for Better Things 31 October 13:05 Shock Trauma Unit Zelda, Sandy and Robin had already been turned away when they tried to visit Vince. The doctor had told them, “He won’t even know you’re here,” and told them to get home and stay safe, and use the phone for updates. It was something…
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STATE OF DISASTER 5
“The White Hurricane” Jessup 16:56 After leaving the hospital, he had driven the straining Fiat all the way to ElkRidge on US Route One, the best and fastest way since I-95 was backed up. This way he had traffic too, and a lot of stopping for red lights, but, once out of the city, he…
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STATE OF DISASTER 6
“Lady Patterson” Patterson Plantation, Abandoned Wednesday 31 October 20:50 The party was a success. Everyone was having fun, and though the hole in a corner of the room made way for cold air, Tommy Oppenheimer had, as usual, thought and scouted ahead. He had an outdoor portable generator going, a stack of fuel cans to…
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STATE OF DISASTER 7: Götterdämmerung!
Seven “Götterdämmerung!” Thursday, November 1 Elkridge The snow was still falling, but it no longer mattered. After five feet, nobody could measure it anymore. Besides, what was the point? The wind alone had driven thirty foot drifts, some against municipal and medical buildings. Hundreds had died of exposure in their own homes, more had succumbed…
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STATE OF DISASTER 8: A Town With A Past
Eight “A Town with a Past” Thursday 1 November “What’s in the box, Sheriff?” Lauffner was a good man, but he’d sure fucked up Nick Hall’s life. The prick had never bothered to tell him about the box, or, at least, what was in it. Because if Nick Hall had known any of this shit,…
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STATE OF DISASTER 9
Nine “The Lost Hunter” “Hurricane Diablo” had already killed an unknown number of people and animals. He had blown out to sea, but now he was going to return. He kept his name because he was never subtropical; the warm Atlantic had recharged him and decided it didn’t like him very much, and hurled him…
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STATE OF DISASTER 10
Ten The Man in the White Tuxedo Chesapeake Bay 15 November Thursday Communications were still down. Some of the power grid had been restored, but essentially remained offline. The weather had cleared, and warm, sunny days helped ice melt, but that only revealed the horrors of the dead who had been buried by the White…
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STATE OF DISASTER 11
Eleven “The Legend of Creepy College” Near Ellicott City 28 November Wednesday Wednesday Full Moon David Shiffle was driving his boss’s best tow truck, grinding gears and spinning wheels on fresh snow and ice as he negotiated an untreated back road. That day a storm had dropped five inches of the cursed shit that no…
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STATE OF DISASTER 13
“Death from Above” Columbia 04:30 Joe knew they were killing him, but he couldn’t know anything else but burning pain. His Desert Eagle lay somewhere nearby, forgotten and covered quickly by snow. The spirits of evil were so powerful now, feeding off his terror and his anger that he was dying right after falling in…
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STATE OF DISASTER 14
Fourteen “The Stairway to Everywhere” Belvedere Mansion 19 December Wednesday 09:10 Suited up, the team headed into the mansion after a prayer circle. Robin had the worst feeling about but Sandy, sitting beside her, had the task of monitoring everyone’s vitals and she had even more misgivings. The precaution of giving the suits location transponders,…
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STATE OF DISASTER 15
Chapter Fifteen “TERRA INIMICA!” Date Unknown Time Unknown Location Unknown Hippie fell to his knees. It was so hot that he looked around for the door, but where it should have been, there was only a foot path leading straight from the jungle edge, where he was, into a vast desert with craggy sandstone formations…
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STATE OF DISASTER 16
“The Missing Man” MHI Headquarters Vincent Anta’s Home 18 December 17:13 No one wanted to be alone. Shock was setting in and everyone did a lot of staring without much blinking. Few words were said. Zelda knew how to break the spell: lots of hot coffee and her homemade bread, still hot from the oven,…
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STATE OF DISASTER 17
“El Stupido Bandito” Anne Arundel Hills Mall Saturday December 22 11:16 With Hippie back to his “normal” self, never far from Shannon, who he kissed constantly, everyone was in a better mood. Several malls had opened, and Joe and Angie were doing some Christmas shopping. Presently, Joe was at a counter eating a bacon, egg…
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STATE OF DISASTER 18
“Worms for Christmas” 24 December The whole gang was out shopping. They traveled together, but in separate cars. None of them wanted to be alone or in smaller groups. It was Hippie who suggested it, but they were mixing business with pleasure. At the Anne Arundel Hills Mall, Joe found the antiques shop. He took…
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STATE OF DISASTER 19
“Reckoning” 25 December Tuesday Christmas Day Ellicott City For the Warren family, there were wrapped gifts under a fragrant pine tree and their traditional breakfast of pancakes, sausages and eggs. But it was hollow, not at all happy like those Danny remembered. He was carefree when he was growing up. Now. He was troubled, broken…
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STATE OF DISASTER 20
Twenty “The Return of Hacksaw Eddy and Ugly Stan the Fire Man” New Year’s Eve 05:45 Hippie awoke from terrible nightmares and Shannon was holding him. She couldn’t see or get any impression of these dreams, and all she knew was that he was being tormented. The night before, he was talking to them all,…
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STATE OF DISASTER 21
Twenty-One “Plagued” Date Unknown Time unknown Location unknown The first thing he noticed—the thing that smacked him in the face—was the stench: dirty people, dead people, human waste of every sort, smoke and dust, and all of it poisonous. There was no telling the dead from the dying, the smell was the same. He dropped…
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STATE OF DISASTER 22
Twenty-two “The Fall of the House of Belvedere” 7 January Monday There was still no word from either Shannon or her mother, and their voicemails were full. Hippie could occasionally sense Shannon, but she quickly hid herself, and she was good at it. At least she’s okay, he would tell himself. But he was definitely…
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STATE OF DISASTER 23
Twenty-three “Garden Party” Condemned Town, Abandoned 5 January Friday It was hard to get Hippie to settle down and accept the fact that he shouldn’t go alone, that he needed assistance—backup, as Robin put it. So finally, he gave in and it became a full investigation by MHI. Sandy was the only reluctant member. She…
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STATE OF DISASTER 24
Twenty-four “The First Lady” Hippie went home under the exaggerated need to check on things because of a deep freeze. He really did check his furnace, and made sure no pipes had frozen, taking a further precaution to let faucets run at a trickle in case the gas supply was interrupted, but mainly because he…
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STATE OF DISASTER 25
Twenty-five “Bazodee” Wednesday 9 January 07:56 Ocean City There were seven of them, giving each of six a set of heavy oars, while the stern was alive with the cries of one who had done this before. He steered the boat with an aft oar, and the breakers were even worse than the heavy sea.…
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STATE OF DISASTER 26
— Twenty-six “Odeal” USS Maryland Leyte Gulf 29 November, 1944 — Strafing Zekes and Oscars weren’t the problem, terrible though they were, but it was up to the Kamikazes to first terrorize, then kill men on whatever ship they dove towards or took a run at. Their cockpits packed with explosives, their pilots resolved and…
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STATE OF DISASTER 27
— Twenty-seven “Isolation” 12 January Saturday University of Maryland Hospital, Isolation Unit Baltimore City Police Detective Joaquin Denton had one hell of a mystery on his hands and he didn’t want it. By rights it should have been in Charles County, but since the patient was here, next to death, the ball was in his…
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STATE OF DISASTER 28
— Twenty-Eight “Haunted Exeter” 13 January Sunday South Severna Park — Located on a plateau above the Severn River, Exeter Academy had once been the premier college preparatory school in the entire county. The founder and headmaster had seen to that; he had the building raised to his specifications to mirror a similar one in…