Skies Over
Kansas
The Story Will Be Told
While the Highway Killer stalks and kills at night, the killer has a double life during the day. Who is he? Do you know him? Is he a friend, the guy at the general store, or maybe a family member? The reality is, he could be anyone. You never know what people do in private.
Check back regularly for more information about what happens under the skies of Kansas.
Storms
The amount of storms in the region have been more frequent and more severe in the last several years. Some of the younger folks in town calling it global warming, yet the older folk believe it to be something much different. They remember the days of drought, the days of floods, and the panic and desperation that came with it. Preachers have been calling it the End of Days, waiting for the Rapture for decades.
Desperation brings something out in a person. Some rise to heroic deeds and some sink to ugly lows. Evil lows. Taking a man's life over food and water is nothing new. Fighting for their family, their land, their own lives. Then there are the type of fellow that will kill for no reason, for sport, for reasons unknown. This is different kind of storm, a raging storm. Sometimes a man brings a certain type of storm that changes a person. Changes a community. Changes history.
Make no mistake about it. This storm is just the beginning.
Washed Away
This was the first time the town of Smolder Falls became completely separated from the outside world. The Bode Bridge was washed away by the rising waters from the Kinsey River. On the other side of town trees, power lines, and flash floods washed away the road into and out of town. Smolder Falls was an island.
Homes were washed off their foundations and roofs peeled off of buildings like a giant can opener was used on them. Destruction like this was unprecedented. People didn't just lose their homes, they lost their heritage, their legacy. A home was usually built by the hands of their parent's parents. Valuables were antiques, hand crafted clocks that now time will forget. They lost their memories that hung the walls. Many people lost their lives and even more have disappeared. This town lost its soul.
With the Highway Killer still at large maybe this was an attempt of a cleansing from a higher power. The word of God had fallen on deaf ears. The hand of God, grabbed this town and shook it violently. One can only hope that the killer was washed away and that this town can start a new chapter to a better way of life. One can only hope that all of this wasn't for nothing.
Strangers
One by one strangers board the bus while others stumble out. Weary of the long trip, they seek comfort on a bench or nearby diner. The air is hot and dry.... Each one with their head on a swivel, uncomfortable with the heat, with the long ride, with fear of being noticed. Hundreds of miles away, more or less, from their worries, and the ghost of their pasts still sit with them. The trouble of starting a new life, isn't beginning it, it's leaving it behind. Surely no one from this small town would know who they were or what they were, its a ridiculous notion. However it is a heavy notion to bare. Some will stay and some will move on or at least consider moving on.
The thing about being suspicious of others, you look suspicious yourself. The plan, get acclimated to the area, the weather, have a bite to eat, and take a deep breath. The diner is a good place to start. This weather here is unlike anything you felt before. Heavy. Just like everything else in your life. As you look around at the strangers entering the diner from the bus depot, you begin to wonder what everyone else is hiding. Everyone here looks lout of place, like they don't belong here. Just like you do.
Odd Jobs
"Well, like a song he roamed from town to town, looking for work. Some way to earn a meager living. He was simple and quiet, didn't take to conversations easily. He had an easy smile but with a fire in his eyes. I don't believe he had room or board anywhere, I think he was happy to sleep under the stars. From the time he spent here, he did have a change of clothes and he was clean about it. Must have washed up in the nearby river. He was a clean fella.
I heard from Frank Townson, next county over, that he worked in the sawmill for him. That he was a good worker and never caused any problems. That was good to hear seeing I hired him on as a butcher. He was good with skinning and gutting, that didn't seem to bother him much. Handled a sharp blade well, never an accident. Mitchell Townson heard he worked up at the, Circle Bar T Ranch as a ranch hand. Hard worker and never made trouble with no one.
Just the way he was, a happy drifter. Seem to work odd jobs for a while and then just move on to somewhere else. Never heard from him again. For the life of me I can't remember the name he gave. Strange, that was about the time them people started disappearing. Coincidence I guess. He didn't strike me as mean natured. He carried a bible with him everywhere he went. Spent most of his break time with his nose inside it. Odd fellow, but hard worker. I wished I had 3 of him 'round here helping out." -Jim Henderson
Lights in the Sky
"Lots of strange things happened the weeks leading up to the storm. When I think about back then, it makes so much sense to me. So many parts in motion, really was the perfect storm. Military been trucking in equipment for days. We all knew they had missile silos across this here country and with the threat them Russians are, we were happy to see our military being prepared. We saw them building things out there just outside of "The Falls" but nothing that looked like silos, more like hospitals and such.
The tall electrical towers they built, we assumed it was for secret communications, looked nothing like any tower I've ever seen. Just after, we began seeing strange weather patterns, lights in the sky. We all thought it was some sort of electro magnetic something or other messing with the atmosphere. We paid no mind to it, they were our military boys and we supported them regardless. We should have known better. Them lightening bolts weren't nothing normal." -Norman Guntry
The Sick and The Dead
"It got real bad 'round here. People getting taken and found murdered by them killers. The police even called in the FBI to help 'em catch those bastards. I don't know why they just didn't ask the army round the way to help. Seemed them boys could catch 'em real good but that's not the way to happened. Regular people began getting sick, real sick. Almost everyone went to see the old Doc. People round here got scared when the deaths began. Someone said it was them killers poisoning the water, a way to get at all of us. Well that was a lot of hooey if you ask me. Some of the dead, twitched and shook long after they were dead. I think Doc took them about back and burned, because one morning, everyone of them were gone. I bet he was worried about a contagion spreading. I say it was the good Lord above handing out his wrath down on this town when the storm hit. But what came after, that could have not been the work of the Lord."
- Buzz Whitney
Truth and Documents
The storm wreck havoc on everything and everyone. Completely destroy the military installation from what we can see from our tower. Those storm winds blew a lot of military papers everywhere and some landed here. This was no ordinary storm. Documents that have the answers to all that happened here is laying around in a field I bet. I have reason to believe that the "highway killers" was just a lie, an exercise of military readiness. Find the documents, you find the truth. -Anonymous