by Phil Maxey
“I think he expects us to salute or something,” said Fiona to Zach.
“Yes, sir,” said Zach, moving to the side of the Humvee. “I’ll drive the Humvee, Fiona you okay with the pickup?” Fiona nodded. “Cal you on the main gun. Jacob you’re with Fiona. Michael, Abbey you’re with us in the Humvee.”
“And me?” said Jacks.
“Cabin of the pickup or the Humvee. Your choice.”
Jacks climbed in the cabin of the pickup, behind Fiona and Jacob.
CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
Zach led them away from the Core facility and down barren dusty roads. The sound of the gun towers firing could be heard from all directions amongst the constant drone of the siren.
“Above!” shouted Fiona on the radio. In both vehicles they all looked up at a scene reminiscent from previous world wars as in the sky large dark winged forms soared high above. Streams of dashed lines converged, making some of them spiral downwards.
“Never seen that many get past the wall defenses before,” said Jacks.
“Where are they heading?” Fiona asked without expecting an answer.
“Focus on getting to the bridge at the south wall. Over,” said Zach.
After a few minutes they turned into a small town near Granite Falls, and a large shadow passed overhead, Zach stopped. “Cal, what do you see?”
“Something flew behind one of these buildings on the right, looked like the thing we saw in Baldo. If I see...” Before Cal could finish he suddenly started rising out of the Humvee.
“Above us!” shouted Zach, as Michael reached forward grabbing Cal’s boots. He started being pulled upwards as well, his grip sliding on the leather.
“I got you man!”
Fiona, Jacob and Jacks were already out of the pickup, and firing above Cal. A feathered creature with a wingspan of twenty-feet was trying to pull Cal from the Humvee, its talons gripping onto his backpack. Cal frantically tried grabbing above him and pulling his arms free from the backpack.
Zach jumped out of the Humvee and they all shot into the creature, which screeched and fell to the side of the road. Cal dropped back into the roof of the Humvee.
Other large shadows blanketed the road. Cal quickly ducked back into the Humvee.
“You okay man?” said Michael. Cal quickly checked his back and neck and found no sign of blood, he then pulled his backpack off. The top had two large tears.
“Yeah I think I’m fine.”
“Everyone back in the vehicles, we need to get across this bridge,” shouted Zach.
Zach drove them onto the main road to the bridge crossing and the south exit. The wall stretched east and west in front of them, as flying creatures crossed the sky above.
“Ops, we are nearing the south wall. Is it clear to cross? Over.”
A hurried voice responded, “Yes, south wall exit clear. Over.”
The road they were on was wide, with motels and buildings that were previous stores on both sides. Within a few minutes the wall reared up in front of them, and ahead stood a large steel gate with more Humvee’s and soldiers. The siren still wailed but their hearing had almost become adjusted to it.
As they neared the wall the grand steel gate was already opening revealing a short tunnel and a bridge on the other side. It was a good-sized bridge with multiple lanes and a view of the river that in other times you would have admired.
The vehicles drove through slowly but without stopping. As they cleared the second gate, Zach stopped the Humvee to survey the scene ahead. The gate behind them slowly closed while making a grinding metallic clanging sound.
“Across the bridge then it’s the first major road on the right, which takes us along the wall. Once we hit the south west corner of the camp we head north,” Jacks said to Fiona. “You might want to tell the captain.”
“We know which way we are going,” said Fiona.
In the Humvee, Zach leaned over his shoulder. “Cal, any sign of those flying E.L.F’s?”
Cal spun the gun around. “Nope, nothing I can see close to us, they seem to be concentrating on the camp.”
Zach moved forward across the bridge.
“Really not a fan of bridges anymore,” said Michael.
From this height it was hard to see any details below them, but they watched the river closely anyway. It wasn’t long before they were across the river and on the other side. As they moved away from the walls and the wailing of the air raid sirens softened, a silence fell upon the inhabitants of each vehicle.
Fiona’s thoughts were of her daughter. Driving away she could feel the pull of her child in the camp behind her, a feeling she had not felt for over a decade. A part of her wanted to stop and go back, but she felt that would be betraying her new family.
Cal intently watched the area around them as buildings and trees flashed by. His bad dreams had stopped over the past few days. He now woke wondering what the day would bring.
Michael’s thoughts were of his parents. After he was sentenced they disowned him and the shame was almost too much for him to bear, but then the world ended and his parents forgot about all that. When he saw them again he was shocked by how old they looked, and he wondered if they would still be there if he ever made it back to the camp.
Jacob thought about possibilities, the political situation in the camp. When he got back he would look into what this ‘council’ was and perhaps get to know who the players were.
Abbey thought about her parents as well, and whether there was any chance they would still be alive. She knew she shouldn’t think about them, that there was no real chance they were out there, but the nagging feeling that she should be looking kept creeping into her mind.
Zach thought about Ray. He thought about how Dee wouldn’t have ever got to see his father if it wasn’t for him. He was a grumpy old so and so but Ray stepped up when it mattered. He knew the others missed him too but their world had turned upside down so quickly that most of them felt that they were on borrowed time anyway. Still, as he clenched the steering wheel and looked out at the urban landscape around him, he couldn’t help but feel that Ray was owed a debt.
“I think it’s been roughly an hour, I’ll check in with Ops,” said Zach, picking up the mike.
“Ops, this is Recon-1. Come in. Over.”
“Recon-1, what’s your status? Over.”
“We are about to move west of the west wall. What’s it like over here? Over.”
“West wall still being attacked, but we have cleared all E.L.F’s from inside the camp. Over.”
Fiona then interjected. “Ops, did any of the creatures hurt anyone? Over.”
“Light injuries to a few people in the western quadrants, but that’s all. Over.”
Zach carried on. “Okay, we will let you know if we see anyone over here, otherwise we will check in again one hour from now. Out.”
As they drove away from the camp, they could see a few streams of tracer fire, fly out from the turrets towards unknown targets, the air-raid sirens had also stopped. The roads shrunk in size and the ground became more uneven as they drove from east to west, until eventually coming back out to a highway, which headed north. After another hour and another check in with Ops, they moved through a small deserted town and to a junction, which led north and west. Zach stopped the Humvee.
“Why we stopping?” said Jacks.
“No, idea,” said Fiona.
Zach took his hands off the wheel and sighed. Michael and Abbey looked at each. Abbey was about to say something when Zach started to talk.
“We’re going back to Crow Lake.”
“Okay…” said Abbey.
“Ops might not be too happy about that,” said Michael.
“Screw-em. We got unfinished back there.”
Abbey wanted to ask what unfinished business but she felt the same without really knowing why.
“Fiona, change of plans, we’re going back to Crow Lake. Over,” said Zach. He waited wondering what the reply would be.
&nb
sp; Back in the pickup they heard the message.
“What the fuck is he talking about, that’s not our orders,” said Jacks.
Ignoring Jacks’ protestations Fiona replied. “Good idea. Are we telling Ops. Over.”
“We still have another hour before checking in again, we will be almost there by then. Over,” said Zach.
Fiona leaned over her shoulder. “Look, when we get back to the camp you are welcome to file a complaint, but Crow Lake is where we are going. That okay?”
Jacks sat back in his seat. “Sure, let’s go to Crow Lake.”
After thirty minutes of driving they approached the small town of Crow Lake from the south and slowed their movement.
“I think the river’s to our north, keep a watch out for those frog like things,” Zach shouted to Cal. The windows of all the vehicles were down in the afternoon sun, and a chill wind blew as they all pointed their guns in the directions of the trees around them.
The last time they had seen this scenery it was all a blur below them. As they drove closer to the point where they had to fight their way out, their stomachs tightened.
“Any movement? Over,” said Zach.
“None that we can see. But that was the same as last time, until…” Fiona’s voice trailed off.
“I know. The warehouse is just up ahead. Over,” said Zach.
Zach drove at a good pace over a small bridge and along a tree lined road. In the distance piles of dark shapeless bodies lay across the roads and sidewalks. The truck and pickup stood out amongst a ring of charred wood.
As the Humvee pulled on to the forecourt near the burned wood, Abbey breathed in hard. They stopped.
“Anything, Cal?” said Zach. Cal replied in the negative and Zach, Abbey and Michael got out. Zach waved to the others in the pickup to stay where they were.
He stepped over charcoal black planks of wood and looked towards the truck. He didn’t know what to expect to see. Maybe Ray would still be there, maybe not. Ray’s body was not there, but the jacket he was wearing was, covered in blood. Zach bent down and picked it up. Abbey walked up slowly and stood near Zach. He looked through the pockets, which were empty apart from a small notebook and pen.
“Here,” said Zach, handing them to Abbey. “Cal, keep a close eye on those trees. Everyone else, move the supplies from the old pickup into the other pickup. We are taking the semi-truck with us.”
After twenty minutes all the supplies had been moved across and they were leaving Crow Lake by the north. As they moved onto a northeast highway, Abbey took the bloodstained notebook out of her pocket and opened it. At first it was just random thoughts and some surprisingly good sketches of some of the creatures they had come across, but then the entries started to talk about Jacob more and more.
“2nd Day of freedom.
Came across a cop called Jacob, strangest feeling I’ve met him before, but couldn’t be.”
Finally, she got to the last entry.
“When I was in ‘Nam, there were rumors of a young guy working for higher ups who would be used to take out enemy officers. They called him the ‘Architect’, the story goes that he grew up in the projects during the fifties and sixties, joined the army in the early days of the draft and was at the top of every class he was in, something of a prodigy, IQ off the charts. The army knew he was special so they took him into some kind of black ops team specializing in assassination, the weird thing is, or so the story goes was that he never actually killed anyone directly, he somehow managed to get them to kill themselves unknowingly. Nobody knew his real identity but one day I saw this guy coming out of the HQ tent, and my buddy whispered to me, ‘That’s the ‘Architect’. I just laughed, I mean, this kid coming out the tent looked more like science nerd than a military genius. I wasn’t sure at first, memories a bit flaky these days, but that kid? Add on forty or so years and that Jacob guy looks a lot like him.”
The End.
BOOK TWO
CHAPTER ONE
“Can you hear it?” said Michael.
“No,” said Cal.
They both sat low against the plaster scarred wall. Michael kept stretching upwards to look through what was left of the windows of the single story residence.
After their detour to Crow Lake, it took them a further two uneventful hours before their convoy arrived in the small town of Brownstone. As agreed they had kept in contact with Ops, that had informed them that they were getting intermittent messages from someone in the town. But they could never hold the signal long enough to ascertain where exactly it was coming from. The latest message was a plea of help as another E.L.F had moved into the area. They got to the town as the sun was setting, and because they now had three vehicles they split up into three teams, searching the north, south and eastern parts of the city. The Michael, Cal and Fiona team were exploring the east of the city. They had parked the pickup in a quiet street and Fiona had gone her own way on the bicycle she had rescued a week before. While Cal and Michael where investigating some houses, they spotted the E.L.F they had been warned about and quickly ducked into the nearest house breaking a side window to gain entry.
“No sign of it out there,” said Cal looking through the scope onto the suburban road.
Michael was quickly flicking through the E.L.F guide they had been given back at Camp Bravo, his expression changing from one of excitement to disappointment. “It kind of looks like this.” Michael said pointing the small ring-bounded book towards Cal.
“A Calgorian? Looks like a cheetah but much bigger,” said Cal glancing towards the book and then back down the scope “What’s the easy way to kill it.”
Michael flipped the page and looked on the back under a section entitled “TERMINATION”.
“It just says high powered weapons.”
“Yeah, that’s real helpful,” said Cal.
Michael Flipped back to the previous page. “They think it used to be a species of one of the big cats, probably a Cheetah, it attacks with its claws mostly, very fast moving, sensitive to bright lights. So maybe if we stay here until night.” He laughed. “It says if you see one, tick the box.”
“I’d prefer to locate the locals before it gets dark, we don’t know what shape they are in,” said Cal picking up the radio. “Fiona, you out there? Over.” A few seconds of static passed than Fiona’s voice came through clear.
“I’m here, about a mile from where we parked, no sign of anybody. Over.”
“We are laying low in a house, we spotted the E.L.F they warned us about, Michael says it’s something called a Calgorian. Over.”
“Right, well haven’t seen it yet. I’ll cover a few more miles than head back your way. Over.”
Cal then checked in with Zach and Jacob who were in the truck and Humvee respectively, but nobody had seen any sign of the source of the signals that Ops talked about.
The exterior walls of the homes in the street took on a pinkish hue as the day began to end.
“Check if there’s any food in here. I’ll keep watch for our friend,” said Cal.
Michael sniggered. “Hey, this creature, if you shorten its name you get Cal.”
“I’m aware,” said Cal trying not to smile.
Michael wondered out of the room and into a small kitchen. Most of the cupboards were open and empty, apart from two tins of apricots, which he grabbed and put in his backpack. Pictures of a young family fought for space on the refrigerator door, along with magnets which haphazardly spelled out the name “Amie is 7”. Michael could feel emotion wanting to creep into his mind, but he walked away and looked into the backyard before it could. Pulling the handle down he slowly opened the door. A rush of winter air slid through the widening gap as Michael walked down a small step and stood on the concrete slabs listening and scouring the yard for any sign of something that shouldn’t be there. There were no wrong creatures, just kid’s toys turned upside down covered in leaves and grime. Since his incarcerated life had come to an end he learned that the world’s life, anima
l life specially had come to an end, at least in the form that he remembered it. As he stood in the fading light he couldn’t help but imagine what this same scene must have looked like one year before. Perhaps the kids were playing in the yard and their mother was cooking them dinner, perhaps she called them to come in and they protested that they wanted to play some more. He closed his eyes not to better imagine but to try to block those same thoughts. That world had gone forever, now they had to survive in the ruins of the aftermath. He hated death, hated what he had done to those officers. The ones that had made his life hell got away with it and other people paid for their crimes.
Closing and locking the door to the yard he walked back into the front room, where Cal had not moved from his kneeled sniper’s position. “Hope you like Apricots.”
“Nope.”
“You’ll like them when I’m done with them.”
“Good to know. I say we get Fiona back here, then use the pickup to explore more to the east, the other Cal hasn’t made a reappearance.”
“Hey you made joke.”
“Won’t be a joke if there’s a bunch of those…” Cal was interrupted by the distant clatter of automatic fire. Standing he turned on the radio. “Fiona, you there? Come in over.” Only static responded. “Fiona, you there. Over.” Cal looked at Michael who stood waiting for the radio to come to life with Fiona’s voice. They both waited for what felt like minutes but only a few seconds had passed.
“Hard to say where the shots came from,” said Cal taking one last look out of the window and then opening the front door, “we need to head back to the pickup, keep trying her on yours while I try Zach,” he said changing frequencies. “Zach, was those shots where you are? Over.”
