Fesko

By Gene Summy

Fesko is a teenager that was caught up in the war in Ukraine. A hand grenade went off near his face resulting in his facial disfigurement. A Ukrainian couple living in Driftwood, Texas adopts Fesko and plans on getting him plastic surgery to fix his face and help him to create a new life in America. Then they adopt two more children from Ukraine, both of whom bring unexpected dangers.
Bruce Deweiner is a permanent resident of an insane asylum in Austin, Texas. His affliction is his desire to kill. He escapes the asylum and attempts to escape to Mexico. Heston Hand and his team of trackers are hired to find Bruce, they end up finding much more. Vampires have entered Texas from Ukraine, and Heston must enter a battle he cannot win. This is volume 5 of the Driftwood after Dark series, with many returning characters.
Ages 16+, Strong language, violence, bloody gore.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Gene Summy
• Release date: Feb 8, 2023
• ISBN: 9798215071397

Gene Summy

Gene lives in Driftwood, Texas and is married to Peggy. They have 6 kids and 2 dogs.

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© Gene Summy 2022

Gene Summy

Driftwood, TX

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Driftwood After Dark Volume 5

Fesko

Smashwords version’’

The story started on 11/5/22

Finished 2/7/23

Thanks to my wife and kids for being nice to me, even though I make stuff up.

This story was not based on anyone I know.

Some of the names are people I know. Most of the names I made up.

A few of the names reflect my juvenile sense of humor.

Responding to Joe Biden’s question about Vampires.

April 12, 2022

If you strip down folklore and just come up with a standard set of facts– Vampires very well could be real.

-Jonathan Weiss, White House Historian

From The Journal of New England Psychology

December 12, 2021

Real or not, it is a fact that Vampires have had an immense impact on America. The most vulnerable are those that do not believe in them. I am wearing garlic around my neck now.

-Army Chief of Psychology Eduardo McCann, 2020

Walter Reed Hospital

Lt. General (Ret.)

US Army

From The Cubicle of English Bob Brooke

December 12, 2022

"Ukraine has more Vampires per capita than any other region on earth. You couldn’t pay me enough to step foot in Ukraine."

-English Bob Brooke

L’Oreal Feminine Products, UK

Lubricants and Lotions

Division 3-Proctological Lube Division

Fesko

1- The Orcs

This story is totally true….

My uneventful life changed in an instant. We heard rumors that Russians were coming to kill us all, but we didn't believe them. Our culture, the Ukrainian culture, has always told stories that were loosely attached to the truth. Our parents told us stories about Vampires, alien invasions and ghosts in the woods since we were old enough to walk. The dinner table was a constant, nightly adventure of ghosts, Vampires and neighbors that were actually space aliens. So the ‘Russians are coming to kill us’ routine didn't have a significant impact on me until that is, the artillery shells began to explode.

In my 14 years of life I have never believed but a thread of my Dad’s stories. My 11 year old brother Alek, on the other hand, believed everything out of my Dad’s mouth. After Dad told a story about the neighbors actually being space aliens, my brother didn't go outside for a week. Alek wasn't the sharpest knife in the drawer. When the stories about the Russians invading us started, Alek believed it from the beginning. When Dad spoke of it at the dinner table nightly, Alex vomited his meal every night. I laughed each time he had to change his shirt– what a dork, I thought. Dad chuckled too. Alek was the only one in our family who believed the Russians were actually coming, until we heard the first explosions.

On February 28, 2022 we all became believers. It was a brutally cold day. We stayed inside on days that were cold enough to freeze your ear lobes off. This was one of those days.

The earth shook moments before we heard the explosions. Over and over again, loud explosions rattled our home, making the cups in our kitchen cabinets fall out and break. Mom and Dad told us to hide under the kitchen table when the explosions seemed to get closer. Then it all went quiet for about a day. Dad tried to soothe us into believing it was over. When Alek finally opened his eyes, he asked me what to do. Why was he asking me? I didn't know anything. I was his big brother, he just assumed I knew what to do.

Then on March 2nd, the explosions started again. This time we could hear automatic weapons firing between the explosions. That's when it got terrifying. All of us huddled in the kitchen packed tightly together and listened to men outside yelling and screaming orders between automatic weapons firing. Then we heard smaller explosions that I assumed were hand grenades. We speak Ukrainian, as does everyone in our town. The loud men outside were yelling in Ukrainian, letting us know our military was doing their best to protect us.

Within an hour the men stopped yelling. We heard automatic weapons firing and hand grenades exploding, and then it became silent.

Dad said maybe the battle was over. He walked into the living room to look out the front window. The glass was broken but the curtains still hung in place. We watched from the kitchen as Dad slowly walked up to the window. Just as he got to where he could poke his head through an opening in the broken glass, an explosion blasted just in front of the window. My Dad caught the explosion in his face and it blew him off his feet all the way back to the kitchen. The house shook violently and nothing was left in place. Dust and debris filled the air and slowly settled to the floor. Dad landed in front of us with the curtains partially covering his face. When we opened our eyes after the shock of the explosion settled down, we saw Dad lying in front of us. I was the first to move and lifted the curtains off his face. He must have been killed instantly. He had been hit by shrapnel in his face, neck and chest. He was not breathing and only barely recognizable. Alek screamed and Mom cried as she fell to her knees. Then I heard men yelling again. This time they were yelling in Russian. I knew that wasn't good. Most of us understood Russian, but we refused to speak it because we hated Russians. We called them Orcs.

Hide under the table! I yelled to Mom and Alek. They refused to move.

C’mon! I yelled, and I pulled Alek by his arm to join me under the table.

I got Alek under the table and could see Mom was still kneeling next to Dad, crying with her hands reaching for him.

Then a Russian soldier blasted through our front door and yelled in Russian that she had to go with him. Come with me, woman! He yelled with a sick smile on his face. He was enjoying himself.

Alek and I hid under the table and watched as Mom raised her middle finger to the soldier. She screamed that he was the devil and she would sooner see him in hell before she would go anywhere with him.

I will never forget the look on his face. It was a mixture of joy and respect that she would stand up to him like that. He simply raised his AK 47 and squeezed the trigger. A three-second burst of automatic fire made my Mom fly backward and land face-up on the floor. She was bleeding from the many bullets in her chest and stomach. When the smoke cleared, Alek screamed and ran to Mom’s side. That’s when I saw the hand grenade bounce across the floor. The grenade stopped closer to Alek than me, then it exploded.

That's all I remember of that day. The day that changed my idyllic, sweet, boring life forever.

2- Kalyna and Olek

Olek Shevchenko moved to America and made a fortune writing security software for Google and Apple. At the age of 34 years he could comfortably retire with his beautiful wife Kalyna. Olek made his money in California but knew he couldn't stay there. He barely understood Americans and their politics, but he understood common sense. California was out of control and he couldn't remain there. So they moved to Texas like millions of other Californians that were tired of the politics, taxes and traffic.

Upon referral by his realtor, they landed in Driftwood Texas, specifically in the La Ventana neighborhood. They bought a 1.8 million dollar home for cash that would have been 10 million dollars in California. Retirement was staring him in the face, and he wasn't sure he liked it. He was too young to retire, but he felt blessed that he could if he desired.

His Ukrainian parents would be proud of him. He came to America four years ago. He had been working for a software company in Kyiv, Ukraine, and in his off time he was a white-hat hacker. He hacked into Google, Apple and the DoD just for fun. He wanted them to know he could do it. Olek was blessed with the ability to speak computer code, any code. What confused others made perfect sense to Olek. It always had made sense to him; he could see what the code was doing. That is what made him special, he saw the code where others read the code.

It didn't take Olek long to find out that no matter how good you are at something, someone else is always better. When he thought he was safe by covering his tracks, he was being carefully monitored by the DoD and Google computer scientists. They were better than he was, but they recognized his talent. The Google and DoD scientists had earned their stripes through computer science schools at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, Harvard, MIT and Cal Tech. Olek barely graduated high school. How could he be this good? They wondered after they researched his background. They concluded that he was born with the ability to quickly understand complex code. He looked at code and saw exactly what it was developing. He was in the .0000001 percent of humans born with this ability. So, the DoD sent a team to Ukraine to Suggest that he go back to the USA with them for a career with the DoD. Olek didn't resist. He loved Ukraine, yet understood America was ground zero for computer science. When they said he would be placed with Google in Silicon Valley, he packed his bags.

Olek and Kalyna enjoyed their time in Silicon Valley, especially their weekend drives over the Santa Cruz Mountains into Santa Cruz to eat breakfast and walk on the beach. They especially enjoyed the rich smell of coffee at their favorite Scotts Valley Coffee shop off of Mt. Hermon Road in Scotts Valley. The only thing they couldn't grasp was the politics of the area. Why would anyone support defunding police and allowing criminals to stay out of jail? How could saying ‘White Lives Matter’ be racist? Olek and Kalyna didn't understand and soon found themselves ostracized and unable to make friends. As soon as Olek made a deposit from a patent he sold that placed his savings in excess of 50 million dollars, they decided to retire and move away. Their realtor told them about Driftwood, Texas, and they were sold. Driftwood was a small town with under five thousand people nestled in the hills and forests of central Texas. As soon as Olek and Kalyna heard ‘Hills and Forests’ they were on their way. They were from an area of Ukraine near the Plistse Forest just south of Lviv which was full of hills and forests.

Olek and Kalyna were fulfilled in every way except their ability to have children. They wanted a family desperately but could not conceive a baby. The doctors told them they needed to consider adoption if they needed to have a family.

Kalyna scoured adoption agencies and was disheartened by the wait times and choices of children available. Then when the War in Ukraine developed, she got the idea to scour the orphanages in Ukraine and Poland. She knew orphaned children were going to Poland and her heart broke for them. Like most prospective parents, she had hoped to adopt a baby. When she looked at the pictures of the older kids who had lost their parents, her heart broke for them, and she soon was happy to consider adopting an older child. She worked with An Open Door Adoption Agency in Poland and found that hundreds of Ukrainian children were available for adoption. Being Ukrainian gave them an advantage, as did being wealthy and living in the United States.

When she opened the photo of the teenage boy with a deformed face, she was captivated. Normally, she would have scrolled by a child that looked like he did. But then she read his story. He was injured by a blast from a hand grenade after his entire family was killed by the Russian soldiers. She found tears streaming down her face and walked into the bedroom to find Olek.

I found my new baby, She said to him.

3- Arkem and Arkady

Arkem and Arkady emerged out of the dark forest, dressed in white button-down shirts and blue sports jackets over their corduroy trousers. The evening had departed an hour earlier and the night was settling in. The temperature was dropping, however since it was May in Ukraine the brutal cold was behind them. Lights in the mountain cabin were on, indicating tourists were visiting the rustic chalet known as The Mountain Cabin on Plisce Meadow. They walked toward the cabin and heard the sounds of two men and two women speaking happily and enjoying dinner. Arkem and Arkady stood in front of the cabin for a moment and looked at each other, then both boys smiled and turned their attention back to the cabin.

The front door opened, and the two women emerged laughing and talking, each holding a paper cup of wine. One of the women looked out toward the meadow and spotted Arkem and Arkady.

Oh my God Ludmilla, look at that!

The two women hurried down the stairs and into the front yard, worried about the two young boys.

Oh, sweet boys, what are you doing out here in the cold night? Where are your parents? Ludmilla said, holding the shoulders of Arkady. She touched his cheeks checking for a temperature, and found he was ice cold, Oh my God, we have to get them inside, he is as cold as an ice cube.

Boys, who are you? Where are your parents?

The two women put their arms around each of the boys and guided them to the cabin.

As they passed through the door into the cabin's warmth, the two men looked at their wives with their new friends in tow.

Who do we have here? Danylo asked.

They haven't told us their names yet, Emiliya said.

Danylo walked over and knelt in front of the two boys.

Boys, who are you? Where are your families?

The Russians killed them. Arkady lied. He knew he would get sympathy with this response.

Oh my God! Ludmilla exclaimed, I thought the Russians were only up by Kyiv and the Donbas. Danylo, you said we would be safe here! Ludmilla looked at her husband with terror across her face.

I thought we would be. There were no reports of Russians in the deep forests around here.

I agree, this area was supposed to be safer than Lviv, Andriy said.

What are we going to do? Ludmilla asked in a panicked tone.

We spend the night, then tomorrow we go home. We will take these boys to an orphanage.

The four young adults stood in silence for a moment absorbing their new reality. Then Ludmilla realized they hadn’t offered their new young friends any food.

What are your names? Danylo asked.

I am Arkady, my brother is Arkem. Arkady smiled.

Would you boys like to eat? We have plenty.

Yes, thank you, Arkem said politely.

Oh, so they eat, Good! Danylo said playfully, trying to lighten the mood.

Arkem and Arkady smiled politely as they were led to the old wooden dinner table in the middle of the rustic kitchen. Bowls of borscht were quickly placed in front of the boys followed by plates of Prizhky, buns stuffed with ground beef and rice.

The boys ate happily and smiled at their benefactors gratefully. Soon the plates were empty and the boys were full.

Thank you, both boys said in unison.

You are very welcome. Come with me let's get you in bed and ready for sleep. Tomorrow will be a big day, Ludmilla said exhibiting her motherly instincts. She took them up the stairs of the small cabin and showed them their small room.

You two make yourselves as comfortable as possible. I will wake you in the morning and we will eat a big breakfast then get on the road for Lviv. Everything will be just fine. Don't worry about anything. Ludmilla said and gave them her biggest smile.

The boys each lay on top of their small beds and smiled back at her.

Don't you want to get under the covers? It may get cold tonight.

No, thank you. Both boys said. They were happiest in the darkness and cold.

Ludmilla smiled back at them and then kissed Arkem on his forehead.

You are cold! She exclaimed. Don't you want to warm up?

No, thank you.

She kissed Arkady on his forehead. Sweet boy, you are even colder than your brother!

Arkady smiled and shrugged his shoulders like he didn't mind the cold.

Ludmilla stared at both boys for a moment, registering that something was strange about them. Then she turned around and turned off the light and shut their door.

Ludmilla went downstairs where the rest of her party had just finished cleaning the kitchen.

How are the boys? Andriy asked.

I supposed they are as good as could be expected. Better than I would be if I lost my parents, She decided not to bring up the coldness of their bodies, and their desire not to warm up under the blankets on the bed.

Speaking of that, Danylo began, does anyone else get the creeps about those two? I mean they just show up way out here, miles from anywhere with a story about their parents being killed by the Russians. Something doesn't add up.

Well, anyone would act strange after losing their parents. Ludmilla defended the boys, despite the fact she felt a bit creeped out by them also.

I resent cutting our vacation short because of them. We should drive them out to the nearest police station, then return and finish our four-day vacation, Andriy said.

I agree, Danylo said.

Fine with me, Emiliya didn't want to return home yet.

What about Russians? If they find us they will kill us! Ludmilla thought this was so obvious she didn't need to say it.

My love, there are no Russians within 100 miles of here. Those boys are lying to us. Danylo said.

Why would they lie?

Who knows? I don't know. Let's just drop them off at a police station and be done with them. In fact, I’ll take them myself and you can remain here and enjoy your time. I’ll be gone 4 or 5 hours maximum.

Danylo if you do that for us, I will cook you the finest meal of Mlyntsi you have ever eaten in your life. Emiliya said with a big grin.

Oh, Mlyntsi, that's my favorite meal. You have a deal.

Wow, I just scored a great meal without doing anything, Andriy said with a grin.

Oh, you will do something for me. Emiliya said as she hugged him.

Let's get some rest, it's getting late. Andriy said, grinning and hugging his wife.

Wow, Andriy, I don’t believe you are thinking about rest. I can read your mind like a book, Ludmilla said smiling.

You can’t read my mind.

Oh yeah, how do you know?

If you could read my mind you’d punch me in the face more often.

Ha Ha Ha!, that's so true! Danylo laughed.

Ok boys, up to bed. Ludmilla said and began turning off the lights in the kitchen.

Good night everyone! Andriy said hugging his wife and guiding her upstairs.

Arkem and Arkady listened to their new friend's banter from the darkness of their bedroom.

How long must we wait? Arkem asked his brother.

Not long, Arkady responded.

Both boys floated down from the ceiling in preparation for what was next.

4- The Austin State Hospital

In 1968 the Austin State Hospital, formerly known as the Texas State Lunatic Asylum, housed 3313 patients. These were patients that were criminally insane and could not be detained anywhere else safely. The Texas State Lunatic Asylum was opened in 1861, and Sam Houston appointed the first Superintendent, Dr. Beriah Graham. Since then, the mission of the Asylum has been to detain ‘Lunatics’ away from the rest of polite society. Until the budget cuts of 1990, they did a wonderful job of protecting society from the dangerous men and women inside the asylum walls. Once the budget cuts happened, the population of patients fell 85% to 518. The last patients in the Austin State Hospital could easily be described as the most dangerous patients in Texas. After 1990 the population fell only by the death of patients by natural causes or murder between the patients. Any new patient admitted to the hospital had to be approved by the Governor of the state of Texas. In 2022 the number of patients in the Austin State Hospital was 286.

The Texas Department of Mental Health and Mental Retardation approved a building renovation program that would improve conditions at the Austin State Hospital by organizing committees of regional stakeholders and working to focus operational budgets to secure the highest and most personal levels of care. Construction on the facility was ongoing and the fully renovated hospital was expected to reopen in June 2023.

Bruce Deweiner was admitted to the Austin State Hospital in 2021. He was convicted of the murder of 12 Boy Scouts and their counselors during a camping trip at the Lost Pines Boy Scout Reservation in Bastrop, Texas. Due to the manner in which he killed everyone, he was convicted by reason of insanity. Governor Greg Abbott approved his admission into the Austin State Hospital on the condition that he would never be released – further and very unusually, Governor Abbott stipulated that if Bruce Deweiner ever escaped he would be executed by firing squad immediately upon capture. This was the only time in Texas history that the Governor exercised this executive power that the Texas Constitution gave him. As expected, the liberal press and various other organizations screamed that it was unfair and unjust not to mention cruel and unusual punishment. And honestly, they were right. And Governor Abbott knew they were right. So, he unsealed the details of the Boy Scout murders to demonstrate to everyone why he placed the unusual order to have Bruce Deweiner executed if he ever escaped. After reading the details of the murders at the Lost Pines Boy Scout Reservation, the objections to the execution order were silenced. Everyone, including the attorneys at the ACLU and the Texas Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty nodded their heads in agreement with Governor Abbott. Bruce Deweiner was evil and sick with a desire to torture and kill innocent citizens including children. The details are so grotesque that they do not deserve to be memorialized in any way. Suffice it to say that many of the children watched in horror as their friends and counselors were dispatched horribly, then were killed themselves in similar ways. These facts are known because Bruce Deweiner videotaped the entire ordeal with a GoPro camera strapped to his head.

Bruce sat in his eight-by-ten-foot white enclosure and stared at the walls. He wasn't allowed to have calendars or art of any kind. He lost those privileges when he attacked an orderly for bringing him cold food. In fact, Dr. Berg who controlled his section of the hospital removed all his privileges until Bruce showed signs of progress toward Effective Socialization. To hell with the bastard, Bruce thought. I can stare at the walls forever. Eventually, I’ll figure out how to kill him and then escape. Bruce focused all his hatred on Dr. Berg. He fantasized about how he would kill the rat bastard.

A small two-foot by two-foot window was six feet off the floor in Bruce's cell, allowing a small amount of natural light in his living space. Bruce could stand on his bed and see out the window. That's when he saw the large trucks delivering building materials to the hospital campus. Every day Bruce would stand on his bed and watch as the trucks delivered their materials, and the population of construction workers doubled then tripled.

Bruce hated Dr. Berg for the situation he found himself in. It was all Dr. Berg’s fault that he was in the cramped cell, standing on his bunk to get a glimpse of the outdoors. He had to get out. He committed to himself that he would escape the hospital– after he killed Dr. Berg.

When construction began for the hospital renovation, Bruce saw an opportunity to escape the horrible situation he found himself in. The construction workers all looked the same with their blue jeans, tool bags, orange safety work vests and hard hats. All he needed to do was get a tool bag, strap it around his waist, put a hard hat and safety vest on, and blend in. After that, he would figure it out as he went. Blending in was essential.

But how would he get out of his cell? Bruce processed that question for an hour and came up with his only option: Medical emergency. He remembered that as a child he could manipulate his mother by holding his breath. She would panic and call the doctor after he turned blue from holding his breath for minutes at a time. It always resulted in getting what he wanted from her, so he continued the scam until he was a teenager. Would it work again? He’d find out.

Bruce lay on the floor with his feet on the cell door. He took a deep breath and held his breath. When he felt his lungs were about to burst, he began kicking wildly on the door. Soon a guard looked through the small window on the door and opened the food tray.

What are you doing Bruce?

I can't breath! Bruce gasped holding his throat.

Don't fuck with me, Bruce! The guard knew Bruce was capable of a melodramatic ruse.

In an Academy Award winning performance, Bruce slapped the floor in a panic and knew his face was turning blue.

The guard opened the door.