by Jay Vielle
“Charlie One, explain ‘overrun.’ What do you mean?” the Colonel said.
“They mounted a coordinated attack, sir,” Charlie One said.
“They? They who?” the Colonel asked.
“The mutates, sir. They’ve mounted a coordinated attack. My partner got pulled out, and both Badger One and his partner were captured. I barely got out, sir.”
“Where are you?” the Colonel demanded.
“Headed toward the Washington Monument. I’m driving on the Mall grass. There are a bunch after me, but I’ve got some distance and they shouldn’t catch me now.”
“Where is the other Jeep? Where are Jake and Vinny and your partner?” the Colonel said frantically.
“My partner is dead, sir. They ripped him to shreds right in front of me. I’m so sorry. It was all I could do to get away, sir,” Charlie One said.
“And Jake and Vinny?” the Colonel asked.
“Their Jeep is in front of the Native American Indian Museum, but they were taken, sir. The mutates picked them up and carried them. They weren’t trying to attack them, sir. Just abduct them. I can see the group now, moving towards the Metro station on the Mall. I can see them. They’re alive, but struggling.”
“I’m on my way. Buckle up, folks,” the Colonel said. We literally squealed wheels and did a U-turn in front of the EPA building. The Colonel raced back towards the Mall at breakneck speed. We were bumping and bouncing all around.
“I’m sorry about this, folks, but time is of the essence,” the Colonel said. Tommy looked worried. His face was etched in lines and his breathing got loud and shallow.
“Hang tough, son. We’ll get ‘em,” the Colonel said to Tommy.
We bounced and drove and flew down 12th Street. We were not far from where the mutates were, but the trip seemed like forever nonetheless. We drove right onto the Mall towards the Metro station in front of the Smithsonian Castle. I could see the Jeep and Charlie One to our right and the group of mutates holding Jake and Vinny high in the air right in front of us. They were lifting them in an odd way that looked like you might lift up a hero, or the winner of a race, or a music artist. But Jake and Vinny were not pleased, and it was obvious. Their limbs were being held by some of the mutates and their bodies were being pressed skyward by others. Vinny’s face was one of shock and despair. The two groups were steadily making their way towards the Metro tunnel. I could tell by the determination on the Colonel’s fact that he aimed to prevent that. I turned and saw Charlie One start to follow us, and could hear his voice calling for backup.
And then I saw Laura.
She was standing on the Mall grass, pointing and directing the crowd of mutates that held her son and husband. When we pulled up, Tommy leapt out of the car and ran towards his dad and brother. A mutate turned to confront him and growled a low guttural noise. Then Laura shrieked, and every mutate stood still and looked at her. It was surreal. She was controlling every single one of them.
“Mom?” Tommy said. “Mom, can you hear me? Are you in there?”
My parents, the Colonel, none of us uttered a sound. I felt like I couldn’t breathe at all. Laura looked at Tommy for a moment. She nodded to him. He ran over to her and she reached out for his hand. She smelled him, like an animal would, then looked up with a face of confusion. Then she shrieked at the group, and they brought Jake and Vinny over.
“Mom?” Vinny said.
She walked over to him and smelled him as well.
“Laura?” Jake said.
She wheeled on Jake and her lips pressed together tightly into a sneer and she pointed a finger right at Jake’s face, and he went quiet.
The Colonel slowly started to slide out of the Humvie, and I began unbuckling my seat belt. Laura looked at both of us, held up a finger, and shook her head no. The Colonel froze. So did I. Her face was chilling. She turned to the mutates and made a noise, and they all carried Jake down into the tunnel.
“Laura,” he yelled as he disappeared down the steps. Then the mutates put Vinny down gently on his feet. Laura reached out her hand and took his. She then smiled and walked slowly towards the steps, holding her sons’ hands. She stopped for a moment at the top of the steps, looked back over her shoulder at our Jeep again, and once again shook her head no. Then all three of them disappeared into the metro tunnel.
CHAPTER 26
Father Joe was sitting in the press box looking down at the slowly emptying football stadium. He was smiling. Person after person had come up to congratulate him on his speech, his new town, and his vision for the future. Now he was basking in the glow of that success. Only the select few who had physically helped him engineer the event remained, slowly cleaning up the concession stand, the stage, and the press box.
“Wow,” said John Segen. “Just wow. Amazing speech, Padre. Loved it. Love the idea. New Plymouth. The people went for it big-time.”
“Thank you, John. Things did go very well, I must say. This was a sound beginning.”
“What was that group of people talking to you about just now?” asked John. “Those folks with a little extra tan.”
“Nothing in particular. Just questions about their place in the new order,” he said.
“As in, they don’t have one?” John said. Father Joe just smiled silently back.
Just then a white van pulled up into a handicapped spot and slammed on its brakes. Father Joe sat up and looked across the field at the van, recognizing it as the one the church used for transporting parishioners. The door opened erratically, and Oleg stepped out. He stumbled a bit, caught himself on the door, then straightened up again. Pablo had been walking near there when he saw the van pull up, and went to help Oleg to his feet.
“John,” said Father Joe. “Go get me a bag of ice and a Coke, please,” he said rising and heading out of the press box and down the bleachers towards the van.
“Sure thing Padre. What’s going on?” asked John.
“I’m not sure yet. It’s Oleg, but something is wrong with him,” said Father Joe.
Pablo helped Oleg down to the concession stand. Several people were still there and had provided Oleg with a bag of ice for his head and a drink. He said at a picnic table and slumped over. When he did, the wound on his head showed and the crusted blood on his neck and back were displayed prominently.
“Oh my God,” Addie Segen said. “You’ve got blood all over you! What happened?”
“Just let him recover, Addie,” said Father Joe. “We can pepper him with questions once we’ve made sure he’s alright.”
“Of course, Father. I’m sorry. Here Oleg, take this wet rag for your head. It’s clean.”
Oleg sat there trying to get himself together. After a few sips of soda, he began to recover a bit. He breathed in deeply, wiped some of the crusted blood from his eyes with the wet rag provided by Addie, and looked over at Father Joe.
“We have a problem,” he said.
“Everyone, would you mind giving me and Oleg some privacy, please?” Father Joe asked. Everyone looked startled at the question, but all moved out of the way and John Segen convinced them to follow him to help break down the platform stage to let Father Joe speak to Oleg.
“What happened?” whispered Father Joe.
“I was taking the girls into the woods yesterday evening to,” he looked around, “Silence them. But the new guy, Mark, heard them screaming. He hit me in the head with a rock several times. I blacked out and woke up today. My head hurts badly and I can’t remember everything well. I drove here as fast as I could.”
“You have a concussion and possible brain damage if you were unconscious for that long. And we do indeed have a problem. Where are Mark and the girls now?” asked Father Joe.
“I don’t know. But we were in the woods behind the Grotto. He could have easily made it to the college,” said Oleg.
“Damn! This could endanger everything. How much did they know?” Father Joe asked.
“I don’t know. I remember thinking they had not put it t
ogether, but I’m not sure. It hurts to talk,” Oleg said.
“Let’s get you back to the church. You can rest. And suddenly we have to call reinforcements to take care of this. With Sergei dead, do you know who to call about this?” Father Joe asked.
“Da, yes. I need my phone. There is someone, above. He will not be happy,” said Oleg.
“Too late for that now,” said Father Joe. “The town is in my pocket after today. We can’t let that go to waste. We need to find those three and eliminate them quickly. Your superiors will need to send a team. We can house them here, at the high school. But it must be done delicately. This thing is almost locked in, and if they come in here guns blazing drawing attention to themselves it will all be shot to Hell.”
“Get me back to the church. I’ll rest a bit, then contact my superiors. It will be fine. How much damage can two frightened girls and a teacher be?” asked Oleg.
“I’m afraid to know the answer to that question,” Father Joe said.
*
“We’ve got to do something,” Morgan said to Mark. “We can’t let them get away with this.”
“I agree, but what can we do? We’re just regular people,” Mark said.
“So are they,” said Maureen. “Half snakes, half people.”
“They have Russian murderers on their side,” said Al.
“That’s not all. Father Joe is an effective speaker. Superbly effective. He’s got that church behind him, and now probably the whole town as well. It’s not like we could just ride up there and point an accusative finger and everything just fixes itself,” said Mark. “We need…something.”
“What about that Colonel?” Al said. “He was pretty top brass. Very important. He’s got to know somebody who can handle this. I mean, if we’re right, it’s a Russian invasion plot, for Christ’s sake.”
“He’s in Washington,” said Maureen. “And we don’t know how to contact him.”
“El Tejón is in Washington too,” said Estela. “And he was going to find the Colonel himself. They all went. All of the Fishers and that Wendy lady who worked with the Colonel. They are in Washington now as we speak. Maybe.”
“I know how to get a hold of Jake,” said Maureen. “But his cell phone was sketchy. Sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t. Wait, did Eddie go with him?” asked Maureen.
“Yes,” said Morgan. “Eddie hasn’t left his side since I met him.”
“Eddie’s phone was working,” said Estela. “He got a message from his parents. They were alive and in Washington too. He went to try and find them.”
“And if his phone is working, maybe we can get a hold of him, and he can get a hold of Jake, and maybe Jake can get a hold of Wendy, and Wendy used to work with the Colonel,” said Maureen.
“Did you just hear yourself?” said Al. “How many maybes or ifs are you going to try and squeeze out of this?”
“Look, I’m just saying we know people who know people who know people. Do you have a better idea?” asked Maureen.
“We could just go up and confront him,” said Al. “What’s he going to do?”
“Um, murder us?” said Morgan. “You do remember that they tried to do that yesterday?”
“But Oleg is dead, you said,” Maureen said.
“Maybe,” said Mark. “I don’t know for sure.”
“The fact that they will go to those lengths to silence someone who might know something,” said Mark, “means that they’ll go even farther for someone who actually does know something. I think confronting him is a terrible idea.”
“Me too. But what can we do?” asked Morgan. “We have to do something.”
“You need to call Eduardo. Let him know what’s happening and see if he has found a way to contact someone important, like the Colonel. It’s a phone call. We lose nothing by trying,” Estela said.
“You’re right,” said Maureen. “We try to contact them, and then we should probably get out of here and go someplace else.”
“Why?” asked Jordan. “What’s wrong with our place?”
“The Grotto is too close. If Oleg survived, someone could easily figure out that you all came here to this campus. And even if he didn’t survive, it’s a short walk on a well-marked trail,” said Maureen.
“She’s right. Jordan, you and Roberto should be safe. No one saw me talking to you that I can think of. But we need to get away from you or we put you in danger too. These are bad people. Morgan, Estela, gather your things. Maureen, call Eddie,” Mark said.
“Okay. I’ll try. Cross your fingers. It’s a Hail Mary long shot, and it likely won’t work, but here goes,” Maureen said. She pressed the button to call Eddie Reyes. He picked up on the first ring.
“Hello?”
“Eddie? Eddie, is it you? It’s Maureen. Listen, we’re in some really, really big trouble up here. Is there any chance in Hell that you know how to find that Colonel Cannaveral guy?”
“Yes. He’s right next to me,” Eddie said.
“You’re fucking kidding me,” Maureen said. “He’s right next to him,” Maureen yelled to the room, and cheers erupted from the suite.
“Um, we can’t talk now, Maureen,” Eddie said.
“But it’s an emergency! Why can’t you talk?” Maureen asked.
“Because Laura Fisher is killing Jake.”
CHAPTER 27
My parents were sitting behind me. Tommy Fisher had jumped out of the moving vehicle and left the door swinging to go see his mother. I had jumped out to close it, then decided to jump in the front seat as I watched a scene out of a horror movie unfold in front of me.
“Eddie, what are those things?” my mother whispered.
“They are called mutates, mama. They are the result of a Russian weapon gone wrong. They are very dangerous,” I said.
“And Laura Fisher is one of them?” she asked.
“Apparently,” I said. “Colonel, what do we do? She was very clear in letting us know she didn’t want us down there, and she was controlling all of them.”
“Echo One called for backup. We have to wait for it to arrive,” the Colonel said. “We don’t dare go down there unarmed without plenty of numbers and firepower, and we can’t just run in shooting. It’s a hostage situation now, and that changes our response completely. We may even need a different unit altogether. CBYRNE doesn’t act like a S.W.A.T. unit.”
“My God. What do you think is happening down there?” I asked.
“I have no idea. But she didn’t seem too happy to see Jake, did she?” the Colonel said.
Just then Echo One rode up in his Jeep. His face was etched in stress. He had just seen his partner ripped to shreds in front of his face, and had narrowly escaped the same fate himself.
“Backup’s on the way, sir,” the young man said.
“They’ve taken Badger and his sons hostage,” said the Colonel.
“Jesus,” said Echo One. “They didn’t kill them?”
“Not yet at least. And the mother was controlling them, and she won’t want any harm to come to her babies, if my instincts are right,” said the Colonel. “Son, you don’t look so good. I want you to report back to the medical wing of the Pentagon, and I need you to take Eddie and his parents with you. Call the brigade, find out who they’re sending, and update them on the situation. Target Prime has taken Badger One and two other civilians hostage and is down in the Smithsonian Metro station.”
“Yes sir,” the man said. “Roger Wilco, sir. Folks, you can hop in the back.”
“I’m staying,” I said.
“Eddie, you’re not trained for any of this, and we just found your parents,” the Colonel said.
“And I will talk to them when this is over. I’m staying. I can’t abandon Jake now. Not after all we’ve gone through to get here. Mom, Dad, I’ll see you very soon. Wait for me at the Pentagon. I’ll be alright. I won’t do anything stupid,” I said. My mom kissed me, my dad hugged me, and they got in the Jeep and rode off towards the safest place in the country right no
w.
And I stayed unarmed with the Colonel in front of a pack of angry mutates.
“So what do we do?” I asked. “We can’t just leave them.”
“I have a pistol and you have nothing. There were twenty or more of them in there that Laura can turn on us with the snap of a finger. What, short of waiting and regrouping, do you think we’re going to do?”
“I don’t know. But I’m going down there now,” I said.
“What happened to not doing anything stupid?” the Colonel asked.
“I didn’t promise,” I answered back. I hopped out of the Humvie.
“Leave it running in case we need to get out of here. I’m fast, and you have a pistol. That’s something,” I said.
“Something. But not much,” said the Colonel.
We tip-toed towards the staircase that led down to the Metro stop. It was already empty. As we descended slowly, I could hear noises farther down.
“Eddie, I can’t tell you how much I disagree with this,” the Colonel said. “We are not prepared, we don’t have a plan, we don’t have proper resources, and we don’t know when backup is coming. I had to turn my walkie volume all the way down so these things are less likely to hear us coming. This is a disaster waiting to happen.”
“Sometimes you gotta say ‘what the fuck,’ Colonel,” I said.
“I like Tom Cruise as much as the next guy, but that was a movie,” the Colonel whispered.
“Shhh,” I said. We could hear noises not far ahead. The group of mutates had not gone far into the station. The Colonel was right in his count—there were fifteen to twenty of them. As I neared the bottom of the stairs I could see them, and the Colonel and I ducked down behind a couple of large trash barrels.
Laura was there with her sons. They were looking at their mom, their faces a mix of fear, relief, and anxiety of the unknown. The other mutates stood there slightly stooped, grunting noises. Some were clothed, some partially clothed, some naked. Laura was the only one standing erect. Her clothes were unwrinkled and clean, and she was mostly silent. There was a very slight cooing noise coming from her as she held her sons’ hands. Jake was still being held up over the heads of about four or five of the mutates. He craned his neck to see his wife and sons, but the more he wriggled, the tighter they held him. Then the boys surprised me.
