Thanatos

Chapter Five

At the Kent Farm…

While his wife and soon his son had gone off into town, Jonathan remained home to continue working on the numerous projects that never seemed to end. Clark had offered to stay with him to help, but his father thought it best that he go do what he knew his son had to do. It wasn't long after Clark had left that Jonathan was working on their broken down tractor, the one piece of equipment around the farm that was always breaking down as it was most needed, when a knock on their barn door behind his workspace interrupted his progress as he turned to find Sheriff Adams standing there.

"Good day, Mr. Kent," the sheriff said as she walked over to stand before him. "I see your tractor is on the fritz again. That's a real shame."

"Nancy," he stated calmly as he reached out to shake her hand. "I take it that you're not exactly here for a social call. What can I do for you today?"

She grinned as she answered, "You're really not one to beat around the bush, are you? No, as you probably suspect, I'm here to get your feel for your guest you reported the accident for. Why exactly did you do so, and not do it himself?"

Jonathan replied, "I believe I explained that to you last night, sheriff. Tom, whoever he is, pretended to make a call to you and after I overheard part of what I realized was his one-sided conversation, I knew that it was important that I make the report myself, seeing as I'm the one who picked him up immediately after his accident."

"You suspected something was off with him from the start, didn't you?" Nancy asked as she looked at him with surprise.

"That's right," he responded as he turned to put down the tools in his hands, then turned back to the sheriff. "Now, exactly what did you find out there at the accident site that brings you here? I answered all of your questions already and Tom is no longer here."

Nancy started to walk out as Jonathan followed after her while she answered, "As I said, Mr. Kent, I wanted to get a feel for what you thought about this stranger. You're a hard worker and honest man and if you think that there's something not right about him, well… let's just say that I've learned to trust your gut."

Not knowing really what to say to that, he simply replied, "Thank you, I think. Did you find anything out there?"

"I'm afraid I'm not really at liberty to say, but I can tell you that your instinct about him is turning out to be correct," she responded as she opened her car door and got in. "Do you happen to know where Tom might have gone?"

"He mentioned something about going to see Lex Luthor about a job and it's possible that that's where he may have gone, but I seriously doubt it's for asking for a job," Jonathan answered coolly. "Let me know if there's anything more you need."

Nancy smiled and simply nodded, then drove off as Jonathan stared after her for a minute until he finally walked back into the barn in order to get back to work, but stopped again after a few minutes when he felt someone watching him once again from the entryway of their barn and when he turned around, he saw a woman he had never seen before standing there, staring at him strangely as if she was trying to read his mind. Immediately, Jonathan knew something was very wrong.

He slowly moved toward her with caution as he called out, "Ma'am, can I help you?"

She didn't move hardly at all except for a tilt to her head as she continued staring at the man before her, then finally replied calmly, "You must be the man who picked up my husband last night after he crashed our car. I was hoping you could help me find him."

"I'm afraid I don't know," he responded honestly. "If you would like, I can take you down to the police station where you can speak with someone who can help you. I just need to make a call to my son to see if he can't drive back here with my truck, so that I can…"

"I would like to see Tom," she interrupted, as if she wasn't understanding what he was saying, though the strange look in her eyes seemed to disappear and began to look at him yearningly while she slowly moved closer to him. "You helped him. Did you feel sympathy for him? Did he tell you that he tried to kill me?"

Jonathan slowly backed away from her as he recognized the signs and knew she must have been infected by kryptonite during the accident or even afterward when Tom had buried her, which explained how she was still alive, and he also knew that he was in trouble, but he still wanted to help her, if only to try to keep her from hurting anyone, including himself, so he tried to sympathize with her by saying, "Please, let me help you. If you would like to see your husband, I can take you to him."

It was then that the woman threw her arms out, hands outward, as Jonathan was suddenly tossed through the air, causing him to crash against one of the posts in the middle of the barn, then down to ground, but before he could regain his breath, she was upon him as she lifted him like he weighed nothing at all as she spoke again saying coldly, "I don't need you to take me to him. I'll learn everything I need from you when I use my newfound gift. It's a pity you have to die. You are quite handsome."