The man stood on a dirt service road that ran the perimeter of the vast wheat field. Though not yet full, even in the dead of night he could see furious movement throughout the field – the rustling of many stalks of wheat, the quick patter of feet, and the slow methodical plodding of tamping down stalks.“Quite an operation, isn’t it?” The voice from behind him made the man jump. He turned to see an older man – clearly a farmer. “Sorry, didn’t mean to startle you…”
“It’s… it’s okay.”
“Name’s Deke,” the older man said, offering his hand.
“Eliot,” he said, shaking it.
“Haven’t seen you around here before, Eliot,” Deke said, staring out over the field.
“I, uh… I just got here. I, well, I…”
“You died. Come on, you can say it. We’ve all been there,” Deke said with a grin.
“I died,” Eliot managed with effort.
“Atta boy,” Deke said slapping him hard on the back. “So I betch’er wondering what’s goin’ on out here?”
“Yeah, I was trying to figure it out…”
“Where you from, Eliot?”
“Had a soy bean farm up in Illinois….” He drifted off thinking about it.
“That how you died?”
Eliot nodded slowly. “Yep… tractor accident.”
“Goddamn, that’s a shame. But Oklahoma is pretty far afield from Illinois…”
“Well,” Eliot started, “I couldn’t bear to sit around and watch my family mourn me and go on without me. Watching them without being able to do anything to help… that felt like hell.”
Deke coughed out a wry laugh, “Don’t I know it. Don’t I know it.” He took off his hat, scratched the short gray hairs around the perimeter of his head. “So you decided to take a walk and see what the rest of the country grew,” he said putting the hat back on his head.
“Something like that, yeah.”
“Eliot, what if I told you it’s possible to go a lot farther than you can imagine?”
Eliot raised an eyebrow. “I don’t follow.”
Deke nodded slowly. “Well, we’re part of a group…”
“We?”
Deke gestured out to the jostling in the field, “the collective we. Some of us have traveled pretty darn far since passing on.”
“Like Australia?”
“Like Alpha Centauri.”
“The star?”
“Mmm hmm,” Deke said. “And farther. Once you realize you’re not tethered to one place and you’re not bound by physics… sky’s no longer the limit,” his gaze tracked up to the moon above.
“Huh,” Eliot said, trying to take it in. “Find anything?”
“Oh yeah. That’s why we’re here in this field.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Eliot, in the vernacular of our lamentable president, there are some serious bad hombres out there. But unlike the aliens that Cheeto in the White House complains about, these aliens really do mean us harm.”
“Really?”
“Sure as shit. So we learned their language, their lore, what makes ‘em afraid. Like, blood-chilling, hair-on-the-back-of-your-neck (if they had hair) scared.”
“There’s things that scare aliens?”
“Words. Symbols, really…”
“And you guys are… drawing them?”
“Press calls ‘em ‘crop circles.’” He shrugged, “they can call ‘em whatever the hell they want. When the scout ships break atmosphere, spot an ancient warning symbol, they high tail it for the next habitable star system.”
Eliot was silent for a long time. “I’ve got a question, Deke.”
“Yeah?”
“What do you care? You’re dead… you’re all dead. Aliens can’t hurt you. Who cares?”
Deke chuckled a low bass rumble. “You’re new dead.”
“So?”
“You’re gonna learn that there are things even the dead fear. The Grays? They don’t discriminate between the living and the dead. In fact, they’re obsessed with figuring out what makes a ghost a ghost… and harnessing that for themselves. It ain’t pretty.” Deke shivered and fell into silence. Finally, he added, “You’ll see. In time.”
“This is a lot to take in.”
“Damn right it is.”
“What about everything else that’s rumor?”
“Such as?”
“Bigfoot?”
“Real.”
“Loch Ness Monster?”
“Eh,” Deke held out a hand and tilted it back and forth. “It’s complicated.”
“Chupacabra?”
“Heh. Real. There’s a story there…”
“Elvis?”
“Didn’t you ever hear ‘Jailhouse Rock?’”
“Of course, but is he still alive?”
“Oh, hell no. He’s been dead.”
“Vampires? Werewolves?”
“Fake as shit.”
“Okay,” Eliot nodded. “This is a lot, but… it makes me feel better. I feel like maybe there’s a purpose for me.”
“We can always use more hands,” Deke said. “Lemme introduce you. We’ll put you right to work. We’ve got to finish this one by dawn and we’re a little behind.”
“What’s it say?”
“Fuck you, you fucking fuckers,” he saw the look on Eliot’s face. “Well, that’s a loose translation…”
