Chapter 3

The sun dipped below the mountains, casting long, bleeding shadows across the wasteland.

Cletus marched toward the cabin. Four heavy-set men with wooden baseball bats flanked him. Orville limped behind them, hiding in the back.

Alton sat on a broken rocking chair on the porch. He held a massive hunting knife, slowly whittling a thick tree branch. The metal blade scraped against the wood with a rhythmic, chilling sound.

Cletus snapped his fingers. The four goons spread out, trying to physically surround the porch.

Alton didn't look up. "The guy on the left is standing on the trigger plate of a bear trap."

The goon on the left shrieked and leaped backward, landing in the mud. The other three scrambled away in panic. Cletus's display of power instantly shattered.

Cletus's face turned red. He stomped up the porch steps and slammed a thick stack of legal documents onto a wooden barrel.

He lit a cigar, blowing smoke toward Alton. "Sign the waiver for your old house, Combs. I'll get you a job cleaning the town sewers. It's more than you deserve."

Orville peeked from behind a goon, his eyes glued to the hunting knife in Alton's hand.

Alton stopped whittling. He picked up the papers. The silence on the porch stretched for several agonizing minutes as his eyes meticulously tracked over the dense legal jargon, his mind methodically dissecting the traps hidden within the ink.

Cletus laughed. "Don't pretend you can read that, high-school dropout."

Finally, Alton's hand moved in a blur. He slammed the hunting knife down. The blade pierced straight through the documents, pinning them to the barrel.

The tip of the knife rested exactly on a hidden sub-clause on page four.

"Joint debt liability," Alton said. His voice was flat, devoid of any emotion. "If I sign this, I inherit the back taxes on your other properties."

Cletus's cigar fell out of his mouth. A flash of pure, indignant rage crossed his face before morphing into deep suspicion. He snatched the document back, his fat fingers trembling as he squinted at the tiny print to verify it himself. He stared at Alton, completely unnerved by the man's razor-sharp legal comprehension.

Alton pulled the knife out. "I have a counter-offer. I will permanently sign over the deed to my family's estate."

Orville gasped in relief. He almost cried.

"In exchange," Alton continued, his eyes locking onto Cletus, "I want the permanent deed to this cabin. And the five hundred acres of abandoned shale land on the west side."

Cletus blinked. He stared at Alton as if the man had lost his mind. The shale land was toxic. Nothing grew there. It was a massive negative asset on the town's ledger, bleeding money in environmental fines.

Cletus narrowed his eyes, searching Alton's deadpan face for a trick.

Alton let his shoulders slump slightly. He let out a ragged breath. "I just want a place where no one will bother me. I want to die in peace."

The display of defeat fed Cletus's massive ego. He grinned. He believed the prison system had truly broken Alton's spirit.

"Call the lawyer," Cletus barked at Orville. "Change the contract right now before he changes his mind."

Ten minutes later, the revised contract sat on the barrel. Alton didn't have a pen. He brought his thumb to his mouth and bit down hard. Blood welled up from his skin.

He pressed his bloody thumbprint onto the signature line. The deal was done.

Cletus snatched the papers, laughing hysterically. "You just traded a gold mine for a pile of dog shit, Combs!"

Orville flipped Alton the bird as he climbed into the truck. The convoy sped away, kicking up dirt into the night.

Alton stood alone on the porch. He looked at the blood on his thumb.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a heavy, encrypted Nokia satellite phone. He dialed a secure number.

"Land secured," Alton said, his vocabulary shifting instantly into precise military cadence. "Ready for phase two exploration."

A distorted voice with a crisp Washington D.C. accent replied through the static. "Understood. Offshore funds are being wired to the shell accounts now."

Alton hung up. He looked toward the west.

Beneath that worthless, toxic dirt lay one of the largest undiscovered rare-earth mineral veins in the country. It was worth billions.

A cold wind swept across the porch. Alton slid the hunting knife back into its sheath. He had just won the first war, and they didn't even know the battle had started.