Author's Note:
This Chapter is kind of a supplementary background chapter. Everything mentioned in this chapter will be iterated in later chapters. The main story starts in Chapter 2: Unlucky.
In other words, you DON'T have to read this chapter.
SNOWY RIVER MAIL
Sunday, December 17th 2006
Every girl dreams of having the perfect sweet sixteenth; the presents, the party, the memories. But for one young girl in nearby Wilcania, her dream birthday became a nightmare when she witnessed a brutal attack on her mother.
Early on the morning of the 16th, Gabriella Butler awoke to the sounds of her mother, father and sister singing Happy Birthday. Not an hour later her mother, Freyja Butler, 37, was being airlifted to Sydney's Westmead Hospital with deep lacerations to her face and severe head trauma after being mauled by a large dog.
Freyja Butler is in critical condition and doctors say they will not know the extent of the damage until she awakes from her coma.
The small farming town of Wilcania has banded together in the wake of the horror attack to assist the family in a familiar display of rural hospitality and togetherness. And have organised a hunting party to find the dog that was responsible for the attack. The animal in question is yet to be located.
SNOWY RIVER MAIL
Thursday, December 21st 2006
The town of Wilcania is in mourning today with the unfortunate passing of Freyja Butler, 37.
Five days ago, on December 16th, Freyja Butler was viciously mauled by a stray Rottweiler while setting up for her daughter's sweet sixteenth. She was promptly flown to Westmead Hospital suffering from severe head trauma and major blood loss. Yesterday, after spending four days on life support, Butler succumbed to her injuries without having regained consciousness.
Butler was born Freyja Odegaard in Rauland, Norway, 230 kilometres west of Oslo, on June 21st, 1969. Her parents were farmers and they embraced her relationship with Australian born Ewan Butler when the couple declared their love for one another in front of the entire Odegaard family. The two were wedded in a small ceremony in Norway on August 2nd 1986 when Freyja was just seventeen. The young lovers moved to Butler's home town of Wilcania just three months later.
In November of 1986, when Freyja announced her first pregnancy, her Norwegian family sold their small farm and made the move to be closer to their daughter. Mrs Butler's younger brother, Niklas Odeegard, 35, came with his parents and met and married Georgette Butler, 38, Ewan's youngest sister. Unfortunately, this first pregnancy would end in horror after a road accident caused the spontaneous abortion of the couple's unborn child.
The shock loss of their first unborn child would not be the last grief to visit the family. In 1988 word was sent from Norway that the Odegaard's two oldest sons perished in an avalanche. Freyja Butler, having been told she'd never fall pregnant again, soon fell into a deep depression that lasted for more than two years. With the announcement of her second pregnancy things seemed to improve for the young immigrant, but after the birth of her first daughter she was overwhelmed by postnatal depression.
After years of work and dedication to her family, Mrs Butler was able to pull herself out of the rut that depression had put her in and pulled her family together in a move that many in the town called miraculous.
Freyja Butler has left behind two daughters, Gabriella, 16, and Jillian, 13; who must now also come to terms with the equally shocking loss of their father, Ewan Butler.
Local born, Ewan Butler's went missing Sunday evening and has not been seen since by any of his family or friends. Police have cordoned off a section of beach this morning after the discovery of human remains at the base of the cliff. It is believed that these are the remains of Ewan Butler who is rumoured to have been portraying suicidal behaviours in the hours before his disappearance and some claim that he sent 'Goodbye Letters' to his daughters.
Gabriella Butler has moved in with Lloyd Butler Jnr, 44, her uncle on her father's side, who is no stranger to grief after the loss of his wife almost one year ago to the date. Jillian Butler is residing with her grandparents, Lloyd Butler Snr and Ruth Butler.
The wishes and prayers of everyone at the Snowy River Mail go out to the entire Odegaard-Butler family at this hour, in particular to Ewan and Freyja's young daughters.
SUNDAY HERALD SUN
Sunday, December 31st 2006
Horror has struck the small town of Wilcania, again.
Wilcania, population 129, is a small farming town to the north of Orbost in Eastern Victoria. Over the last one hundred years it has been the home to a select group of families, who have built an almost entirely self contained community since the town's founding in 1881. The only service they require from neighbouring towns being government schools.
This typical rural Australian town has been plagued with more than its share of disasters over the last month.
On the 16th of this month, young mother of two, Freyja Butler, 37, was mauled by a large Rottweiler on the morning of her eldest daughters sixteenth birthday. She passed away in hospital just four days later because of the head wounds suffered from the aggressive mastiff. Her funeral was held in the town's church on the 22nd, the day after her passing.
The day after her attack, her husband, Ewan Butler, 41, disappeared. A funeral was held for Mr Butler on the 23rd after the positive identification of remains found along the coast.
'We estimate that a total of three litres of blood were found at the scene on Wednesday evening,' said State Coroner Andrew Fast, 'while no body parts were present there was a high degree of evidence pointing to scavenging from birds and wild dogs.'
The young couple left behind two teenage daughters, who have since been placed in the custody of their remaining family.
But this was not the end of the terror that would befall the township of Wilcania.
At around 4a.m. on Christmas Day the Orbost Police Department received a horrifying phone call from a terrified teenager, claiming that a group of men had come into town and started vandalising houses. The simple vandalism quickly escalated to an all out attack, perpetrated not by teenage vandals as police believed them to be but by numerous armed adults.
'In my twenty years as a police officer, I have never seen anything like it.' Police Sergeant Wallace stated at a very emotional press conference today, 'The whole town was in ruins. Buildings were not just vandalised but half destroyed. There were bodies littering the streets and hanging half out of doors and windows. It was like walking into a warzone.
'The Armed Forces have since been brought in to assist with the clean up but we hold no hope for finding anymore survivors.'
Of the town's original 129 occupants just six have been found alive, four of whom are below the age of seven years and have yet to utter a word to the authorities. Child trauma experts and advocates have been flown in to assist in the immediate care of the young children.
All four children and both teenagers have lost their entire families. One of the survivors is Randalph Odegaard-Butler, who over the last week witnessed the fatal mauling of his aunt and attended not just her funeral but his uncle's as well. It was noted that he held the hand of his young cousin, Jillian Butler, 13, and assisted her in leaving the church as she was too distraught to walk herself.
Jillian Butler's body was found amongst the piled remains of the rest of her extended family, which included the bodies of her two year old cousin and 64 year old grandmother. Cadaver dogs are scouring the township in search of bodies hidden by the rubble, as there are several people still missing including Stephen Hughes, 82; Mariah King, 61; Gabriella Butler, 16; and Violet Hughes, who at the time of the attack was just nine weeks old.
General Cosgrove announced today at a separate press conference that there would be no attempt made to rebuild the town as the damage was too severe and 'the ground has been tainted by an unspeakable evil'.
There has been a call from the neighbouring towns that the area should be declared Crown Land and the site left as a tribute to those that were lost in the horror night of December 24th.
The Army and the Government have denied suggestions that there was any political motivation to the attack. Stating that Wilcania was a simple farming town with no greater significance than high-quality wool production. This is of little consolation to the six survivors who lost their loved ones on a night when they should have been celebrating.
The six survivors, Randalph Odegaard-Butler, 19; Rhys Davidson, 15; Josh Lowell, 7; Mitchell Ryan, 6; Maria D'Onofrio, 6; and Xavion Azarola, 4; are currently in the care of the State but a family member of Davidson has stepped forward and is willing to take custody of the six unfortunate children.
A fund has been started for the children and people around the state are encouraged to donate.
'These children have been through more in the last week then most of us will have to endure in a life time,' Dr Anna White, PhD, explained today, 'And we at the Centre for Adolescent Mental Health are determined to help them through this nightmare. We hope that the state can open their hearts and donate to enable them to have the life that we would all hope our children would get if they were in these kids shoes.'
The Warrior Informant Daily Vlog #212
Tuesday, January 16th 2007
Comparative photos taken of the Wilcania town before and after the 'Wilcania Massacre' cycle across the screen. A deep male voice booms.
"The photos that you are seeing are not photoshopped. And they are not from a war torn country on the other side of the world. These photos were taken in Australia, in fact they are of a town in my home state of Victoria, a town that is locate a mere 200 kilometres from where I live.
"It is like something from a horror movie. The body count reached 118 and that is not including the three individuals that are still missing or the married couple that died under suspicious circumstances in the week prior to the Massacre.
"And the Government expects us to believe that it was orchestrated and committed by a faction of men that had a bad relationship with several of the town's prominent families. To this I have to question, 'how stupid do they think we are'?"
The face of a young girl showed on the screen, she was standing with her arm around a tall young man and beaming at the camera, "This is Gabriella Butler and her cousin, Randalph Odegaard-Butler. Randalph was found, concussed and delirious on Christmas morning, while Gabriella hasn't been seen since days before the attack."
Photos of the Butler family start to flash on the screen, "Gabriella's mother was supposedly attacked by a dog on Gabriella's birthday and died several days later in hospital. Her father then went missing and although his body wasn't found there were copious amounts of his blood found at the base of some cliffs.
"One of the survivors, Rhys Davidson, has been reported as saying that Gabriella was acting suspiciously in the days before the attack on her mother and Randalph has refused to say anything since the incident.
"I'm not a sheep. I can read between the lines and the story that I get is far from the picture painted by the authorities. There are just too many coincidences to occur in such close proximity of one another. There is definitely something that the Government doesn't want to tell us.
"For years there have been rumours of highly secretive experiments occurring in the town of Wilcania. And it's tradition for people born there to die there far outweighs the average for most country towns. Even more curiously is the simple fact that people do not simply move into Wilcania. Not a single person has immigrated into the town without first marrying into one of the town's families.
"It is clear that the Government is up to something and I am sure that I know what it is. They are selectively breeding the perfect soldier in the town of Wilcania. And if you think that I'm crazy for thinking it then that is exactly why it isn't crazy.
"The life expectancy of the residents of Wilcania, prior to the Massacre, was ten years higher than the rest of the state. And the teenagers have long been known around the area to be the tallest and fittest, so much so that they are no longer allowed to compete in the regional football league. This is not only due to their unmatchable physical prowess but also to the immense strength they show and the markedly reduced self control.
"Every town within 200 kilometres of Wilcania has its horror story of one of their young men getting into an altercation with a Wilcanian youth and coming out second best. Stories of single punches that have fractured skulls and hard shoves that have dislocated joints are common. And I also know of one man who suffered a shattered patella and broken femur and hip when he was kicked by Ewan Butler, the man who is believed to have committed suicide just under a month ago.
"The survivors of the Massacre, two of which fall into the category of the Wilcanian Super Soldier, were reported as being adopted by a relative of Rhys Davidson, one of the Super Soldiers. This is unlikely as there are no records of Mr Davidson having any relatives that survived the Massacre. The article in the Herald Sun stated that he had no living relatives and yet went on to claim a relative was taking custody of Mr Davidson and the five other survivors.
"Which is it SHS? He can't be the sole surviving member of her family and living with a relative. I instantly smelt something fishy.
"Adding to the suspicious events is the disappearance of Gabriella Butler. There is no evidence that Miss Butler died during the attack and Mr Davidson himself seems to be pointing the finger at the sixteen year old. The Government has made no attempts to explain away her disappearance and I believe this is the most telling thing of all.
"Gabriella Orabelle Butler, known as Gob to her close friends and family, seems to be the key to all of this.
"Miss Butler is the first female to show symptoms of being a Super Soldier. She was a chubby child but at eleven years of age she lost a lot of weight and started to grow like a weed. At just sixteen years of age, Miss Butler was six foot tall and weighed almost ninety kilograms, the extra weight coming from muscle rather than fat. She was suspended three days before her sixteenth birthday for fighting, when she punched and knocked out a fellow Wilcanian Super Soldier. A feat that no other man has ever managed.
"In the last few months Miss Butler seemed to show that she'd inherited her father's anger. Ewan Butler was notorious for losing his cool and attacking grown men and inanimate objects, and seeing as they were both exceptionally tall and muscular, they were highly dangerous individuals.
"I believe that what we saw was the result of Miss Butler's anger and what we are now being told is the Government's feeble attempt to cover up their dangerous manipulation of the human genome.
"We have a right to know the truth about what happened in Wilcania and you can bet that the decision to not allow cleanup crews into the town was more to protect their secrets then to preserve the memory of the townspeople.
"This is not the end, believe you me, this is not the end. Not unless we speak up, we make our voices heard so that we never again have to witness the horror that we saw in the last weeks of 2006."
Author's Note:
Simply put, what do you think?
Okay, so I've decided to rewrite Two Halves because I tried to reread it recently and I really didn't like what I was reading. I think I should have taken more time and care with writing it because I, personally, like the story line and the character of Gabriella, so I'm going to rewind and try again.
If you've read Two Halves then there probably isn't any reason to read this one because the storyline will be the same, and the changes will be mainly in how it is written.
I will be continuing Clouded by Instinct and will do the occasional update of my two other stories.
So, what do you think?