What do you think?
Rate this book
ASHFALL COUNTY Episode 2: The Tin Foil Hat Brigade
Ashfall County – Episode 2: “The Tin-Foil Hat Brigade”
Something growls out there in the corn, and whatever it is, it’s not just passing through. Ruthie Trammell thought she was just delivering mail, until the night the field breathed, her truck got clawed, and something whispered that she was next. Shaken and half-convinced she imagined it, she heads to the only safe place she a former Dollar General turned bunker, where Nell, radio operator, conspiracy hoarder, and coffee alchemist, keeps watch over the static. As they trade notes, Ruthie starts to see the pattern; the twisted drawings, the strange signals, and Caleb, the quiet boy on her route, who seems to understand the monster better than anyone should.
At dawn, Ruthie returns to the Peterson farm, and what she finds is worse than anything she could’ve imagined. The house is boarded shut from the outside, the corn watches in silence, and the yard is lined with dead birds like grim signposts. Inside, Caleb’s frantic drawings cover the walls, each one a dark hymn to the red-eyed thing in the fields. And Delmar, still alive, but no longer himself, clicks and mutters in a voice made of rust and static. It knows who Ruthie is; it calls her the Carrier; and it wants another gift.
She makes it out, barely, but Caleb’s blank face in the upstairs window tells her everything she didn’t want to believe. He isn’t trapped; he’s part of it. As Ruthie drives away, the land itself exhales like a creature satisfied, the ash settling, the fields quiet, for now. Then, through a burst of broken signal, Caleb’s real voice slips a warning not to bring it more. Whatever lives in Ashfall County isn’t just haunting the place; it’s growing roots, and Ruthie, whether she likes it or not, is already on its delivery route.
Something growls out there in the corn, and whatever it is, it’s not just passing through. Ruthie Trammell thought she was just delivering mail, until the night the field breathed, her truck got clawed, and something whispered that she was next. Shaken and half-convinced she imagined it, she heads to the only safe place she a former Dollar General turned bunker, where Nell, radio operator, conspiracy hoarder, and coffee alchemist, keeps watch over the static. As they trade notes, Ruthie starts to see the pattern; the twisted drawings, the strange signals, and Caleb, the quiet boy on her route, who seems to understand the monster better than anyone should.
At dawn, Ruthie returns to the Peterson farm, and what she finds is worse than anything she could’ve imagined. The house is boarded shut from the outside, the corn watches in silence, and the yard is lined with dead birds like grim signposts. Inside, Caleb’s frantic drawings cover the walls, each one a dark hymn to the red-eyed thing in the fields. And Delmar, still alive, but no longer himself, clicks and mutters in a voice made of rust and static. It knows who Ruthie is; it calls her the Carrier; and it wants another gift.
She makes it out, barely, but Caleb’s blank face in the upstairs window tells her everything she didn’t want to believe. He isn’t trapped; he’s part of it. As Ruthie drives away, the land itself exhales like a creature satisfied, the ash settling, the fields quiet, for now. Then, through a burst of broken signal, Caleb’s real voice slips a warning not to bring it more. Whatever lives in Ashfall County isn’t just haunting the place; it’s growing roots, and Ruthie, whether she likes it or not, is already on its delivery route.
45 pages, Paperback
Published July 1, 2025
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
No one has reviewed this book yet.