by Phil Maxey
He clicked on the radio. “Sergeant, there’s big trouble heading our way, coming down the road on the opposite side of the…” The ground rumbled again sending him careering into a waste bin. “Square, we just need to nudge three cars out of the way on the left lane and the rest of the way is clear. Over.”
“We’re on it. Over,” said Bass. The convoy moved down and joined the first Humvee. Bass jumped out, and ran and jumped into the first bus in the convoy. He then drove it passed Zach’s Humvee and started pushing the first car.
“No time to do this slow, Bass, back the bus up and smash through those cars!” The sound of metal and masonry being destroyed grew louder. Zach jumped into the Humvee and backed it up so to be clear of the cars, just as he did the bus careered into the first car, a blue pickup sending it smashing into the car in front, which then moved the car in front of that. The bus kept on going, resisting the urgent braking Bass was doing, and bumped up the curb, finally come to rest in front of a bench.
“You okay Bass?”
“We’re fine, Sir.”
“We’ll lead the way out, Jacks, you might want to get one of those AT4’s ready. But nobody shoot at the creatures unless they make obvious moves towards us. Over.”
A solider ran to the supply truck, grabbed the shoulder-mounted launcher and got back in the middle Humvee. The sound the creatures were making was now deafening, and the ground tremors were making it hard for the vehicles to steer straight.
“Make sure you’re strapped in,” said Zach to those around him, and then hit the accelerator, sending everyone back in their seats. The Humvee screeched around the junction’s corner, closely followed by the other vehicles. Bass put the bus into reverse, then pushed on the accelerator, but the bus just moved a few inches and returned to its former position.
“Why aren’t we moving?” said the private standing next to him. Bas threw open the door, jumped out and immediately lay on the ground to see underneath the bus. A small chain fence was caught on the buses axel. Bass reached in as far as he could, but could not reach it. Just as he did, the sound akin to a muffled explosion split the air and masonry rained down on him and the bus. One of the creatures was leaning on the side of the historic building, a huge chunk missing from the corner. The Sergeant looked up at the creature, its head level with the second story of the building.
“Private we need to go now!” Scrambling to his feet, he and the soldier started running as fast as their legs could carry them away from the bus. The convoy was now almost entirely clear of the square, apart from Fiona and Cal in the final Humvee, who slammed on the breaks, when they saw the two soldiers running towards them.
The huge creature hammered down on the building, causing another huge movement in the ground beneath them and slid over the top of the bus, its roof instantly crumpling inwards. Bass and the private jumped into the back of the Humvee and Fiona sped off, leaving the scene of devastation behind them.
“Boy that was close,” said Bass. He and the private sat catching their breath, they looked at each other and started to laugh.
“Too soon to be…” Before Fiona could finish her sentence one of the creatures charged out of an alleyway, catching the back of the Humvee and flipping it instantly. It slid on its roof smashing through the front of a glass-fronted shop coming to a rest at the back of the store. Outside a rocket streaked past exploding on the side of the creature, causing it to squeal and try to reverse its movement. Its myriad of legs dragging its huge body away from the road back into the alleyway.
Fiona opened her eyes trying to make sense of her upside down world. At first she wasn’t sure what had happened, but then looked over to Cal, who was hanging from his seatbelt seemingly unconscious and she realized they had been hit, but her view was fuzzy. She stretched out her hands and touched the roof and then grappled to unfasten her seatbelt. There was a throbbing on the left side of her face which she tried to reach for, but it hurt to move. Gunfire echoed around the streets outside, and boots followed by voices could be heard. Her radio crackled which suddenly brought the surroundings into sharp focus.
“Cal, you okay?” She grappled for her seatbelt again, this time unclamping it with one hand, and using the other hand and her feet to stop her from falling down into the roof. “Cal!” In her mind she was shouting, but in reality it was barely above normal volume. Blood dripped down from his head. She looked in the back, Sergeant Bass was up against the side of the door unconscious. The private was not to be seen.
The sound of constant shooting outside was mixed with boots scrambling over glass.
“Fiona! Can you here me?” Zach bent down to see into the Humvee’s cabin. “Don’t move, we’re going to get all of you out.” He held out his arms and helped Fiona slide out of the broken side window. “This is Dr. Tanner, she’s a medic.” He then unfastened Cal’s seatbelt and pulled him out, and then Sergeant Bass.
The medic looked around the shop. “Fiona can walk, but the other two, we need something to carry them on.”
Zach spotted a high-sided shelving unit, breaking it apart into two pieces of wood, roughly big enough to hold someone on. They then pulled the sergeant and Cal onto each piece of wood, and tied both on with some electrical wiring. Zach then got on the radio and a few seconds later two soldiers appeared. The sound of bullets had died down by now, but the ground still occasional shook, making them walk slowly with the weight of their two comrades. They took Bass and Cal to a bus, placing them down in the aisle. Fiona sat on one of the nearby seats.
“I’ll be back.” Zach said to Fiona, then ran back to his Humvee. “Let’s move out, I want to be over this bridge and far from the reservoir as soon as we can.” The soldiers got back into the vehicles and the whole convoy moved off, crossing the bridge at a quick pace.
Zach picked up his radio, his emotions were raging inside. “Ops, we were just attacked, we lost one soldier, and maybe more, where was the warning? I thought we had drone coverage. Over?” A few seconds of static passed.
“There were no E.L.F’s spotted at your location. Over.” Zach went to angrily respond but instead just dropped the radio and concentrated on the road.
After about twenty minutes they were passed the reservoir and approaching another small town. Zach told everyone to slow their pace.
“Captain, we need to stop, I can’t assess Sergeant Bass and Corporal Rodriguez on this bus. Over,” said Dr. Tanner.
Zach swore under his breath.
Abbey was looking closely at the map. “There’s a prison coming up in this small town.” Zach nodded in agreement.
“There’s going to be a prison coming up on our left, we’re going to stop there and assess everything. Over.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
The entrance to the prison was open, and the convoy occupants got into the main building without too much trouble. Dr. Morgan Tanner methodically worked on Cal and the Sergeant who were lying on glossy tables in the food hall. Sergeant Bass was sitting up, while Cal was conscious but laying down still. Some of the soldiers sat on the chairs and tables, others kept watch outside. Zach and Fiona sat watching Dr. Tanner do her work.
“They’re both fine,” said Fiona, sporting a bandage on the side of her head. “We need to think what our next step is going to be.”
Zach continued watching. “This is my fault, I thought if we pushed through… we should have just gone a different way.”
“And then maybe we would have been even more trapped. We had no idea what was ahead of us, that’s on Op’s.” Dr. Tanner turned around and walked over to Zach.
“Neither of them have suffered major injuries from what I can tell, but without a head scan it’s hard to tell anymore than that. The Sergeant has an articular fracture in one of his fingers, which I have made a splint for. Corporal Rodriguez has lacerations on his head. They both need to be observed for a few hours then...”
Cal overheard the medic. “To hell with that, I’m fine.” He then went to sit up, but gave up and lay
back down. “Give me a few minutes.”
“Both of you have a mild concussion, you don’t want to push it,” said Dr. Tanner returning to them.
“How far are we from Roswell?” said Zach to Fiona.
“I would say another five hours. If we left right now, we should still make it before nightfall.”
“Twelve.”
“What?”
“For everyday we lose, they lose twelve more people. But yet we’re down one Humvee and one bus already…and one young man. And we’re only just over one hour out from the camp.” Zach stood up and looked at the soldiers. “We move out in ten, be ready.” He turned back to Fiona. “Are you okay to drive?”
She smiled. “I can drive.”
Zach then walked over to Bass and Cal. “If we had more time I would rest up here for the night, but as…”
“We need to get going. Sir,” said Bass.
Cal made a second attempt to sit up, this time succeeding. “I’m good, let’s go.”
“Bass, what was the young man’s name?”
“Private Chris Hader, Sir.”
Zach sighed, knowing the individual’s name made it worse. “I’ll let Op’s know.”
The convoy left the prison and continued heading northwest. The terrain flattened out into miles after miles of crisp muddy fields. After almost an hour of driving they started approaching the town of San Jade.
“Listen up, this is the biggest town we have been through so far, keep a good pace and if you see anything report it. Over.” After a few minutes a sign flashed passed Abbey on the right of the road. “Victors RV’s, the best RV seller in Texas!” The information shouted at her from the back of her mind.
“How many people can you get an in RV?”
Zach paused. “Depends on the RV, but maybe twelve at a push, why?”
“We need to turn around, we passed an RV seller back there. It’s not a bus, but it’s something.”
Zach looked at Abbey, then put the radio to his lips. “We’re stopping. Bass, I need five soldiers to head back to the RV seller we just passed, with me.”
Zach turned the Humvee around, and joined up with one of the buses and they drove the short distance to the RV dealership and parked up.
“Michael, be ready.” He nodded.
Zach and Abbey joined the three men and two women, and climbed over the chain mail fence into the front lot of the dealership. RVs of all sizes sat in rows, most faced the road, but a few were turned over on their sides, with tears in their sides. The soldiers lingered looking at the damage. “Don’t worry about that, there’s no creatures here now,” said Zach noticing their staring. “Abbey find the most suitable, I’m going to find the keys. You two with me,” he then ran towards the single story wooden office with the two soldiers.
Abbey walked over the damp dusty path behind the RV’s. Two caught her eyes immediately, which were much bigger than the rest of the RV’s around her.
“Let’s check out the two big ones down there,” she said to the nearest soldier.
Zach and the soldiers approached the small office building cautiously, with their guns raised. Raising his hand he gestured for one of the soldiers to go around the back, while he motioned to the other to stand to the side of the paint chipped glass-fronted door. The boards creaked as he walked up to the entrance and looked through the glass to the office inside. It was empty. Scattered over an orange rug were water sodden brochures, and parts of a broken vase lay near the offices counter. Walking inside, they could see an opening leading to a small hallway, with two doors, one each side and another door leading to the outside at the end. The other soldier was already standing on the other side, Zach waved him in.
Zach opened the left door and was immediately hit by a gust of wind. Where the building’s side window should have been was now a large hole, with splintered planks of wood on both sides. The furniture and carpet in the small office was brown because of damp, and what used to be a desk was now a heap of broken parts. He looked around but couldn’t see anything that indicated it might contain keys. He then tried the other office but it was locked. Standing back he kicked near the handle hard and the door flew open revealing a small room with metal cabinets on all four walls. Each one had a long slender draw with paper with numbers written on.
“These are probably the keys,” Zach said to the soldiers. “Get these open, then bring all the keys to Abbey out front. I’m going to look around some more.” Zach walked out the back entrance. “Abbey, how’s it looking? Over?”
“Two vehicles, what I think are converted buses, each could hold twenty people easily, and there’s at least another three smaller truck based RV’s, could maybe hold fifteen people each, but we might have to pull some of the furniture out of them. Over.”
Zach looked at the time on his radio, then at the sky above him. “Bass, how’s it looking out there? Over.” The Sergeant informed him that everything looked clear. Zach looked out over the lot, rows of trailers, some covered in leaves sat neatly in the early afternoon cloudy sky. In the distance a large sign announced. “Propane here! Only $39!”
“Propane would be useful,” said Jacob.
“Holy…you made me jump,” said Zach.
“I apologize, I guess sneaking up on people comes naturally to me,” Jacob said with a smile. “Would have been here sooner but it’s taking me this long to get over the fence,” Zach smiled. “Shall we check out that propane store over there?” Zach nodded.
The soldiers broke open the cabinets, put the keys in a bag and took them to Abbey, who then was able to start up each of the RV’s they had chosen.
“Got the RV’s started, but one is low on gas, we’re going to have to siphon some from something else around here. Over,” said Abbey sitting in the driver’s seat of one of the smaller brown and cream striped RV’s.
“Good, we have found a propane store, might be useful to take some cylinders along with us. We’ll fill up a few of the RV’s with them. Over.”
Cal and Fiona sat inside a light yellow coach, which sat towards the back of the convoy. “Even though these are probably the most comfortable seats I’ve sat in for… well since we left New Mexico, I want to be back in a Humvee,” she said.
“I hear that,” said Cal, a few seats further forward than Fiona. “Being in here, feels like we’re going on vacation. Feel’s wrong.”
Fiona got up and walked to where Cal was sitting and sat in the seat across from him. “How’s the head?”
Cal smiled. “Still on my shoulders,” Fiona looked down, her mind seemingly elsewhere. “It’s not on you, what happened back there.” Cal looked across the aisle at her. She returned the look, her mouth forming a smile which her eyes betrayed. Cal reached across and put his hand on her arm. “Not on you.” He then turned and looked forward when something caught his attention. Leaning further forward he squinted his eyes.
“What is it?” said Fiona.
“I think we need to probably go soon.” Cal then picked up his radio. “This is Cal, there’s something heading our way, in the sky, from the north. Over.”
“We see them. Over,” replied Bass who was standing outside the middle Humvee. “Captain, there’s a number of large flying creatures coming our way. I would say they are seven or eight klicks out.”
“We see them too, we’re almost done, we will start driving the RV’s over to you now. I want the Humvee’s guns all trained on them, but don’t fire unless they attack. Over.” Bass acknowledged the order. A smaller convoy of RV’s started leaving the dealerships lot.
Raj overheard the radio chatter on Rob’s radio and sprang forward. “No, no, they mustn’t move, tell them to stop their vehicles!” Rob looked a bit nonplussed by the request. Raj grabbed his radio. “This is Dr. Joshi, if they see moving objects it will draw their attention, just stop everything, stop your vehicles, and everyone get inside!”
Zach heard Raj and ordered everyone to stop where they were. Everyone who was outside quickly dived inside a vehicle
. The flying creatures were now flying lower and were only a few hundred yards away from the front of the convoy.
“Stay away from the windows,” Raj half whispered into the radio. Rob got out of the driver’s seat and they all ducked down in the central aisle. “Try not to move, or make a sound.”
Large dark shadows started blocking out the sun and moving across the convoy. As they did a kind of clicking noise could be heard coming from the sky above. Fascinating Raj thought. A larger than the rest shadow loomed ahead of the bus Raj was on and the creature landed with a thump on the roof. Raj and the rest looked upwards to the ceiling of the bus and indentations formed where the creature stood. Tyler’s eyes were wide, Raj could see his chest rising and falling as he was trying to control his breathing. Rob placed his large calloused hand on Tyler’s shoulder and he turned and smiled, taking a breath. The indentations then moved towards the back of the bus as the creature’s claws scratched over the painted surface a few feet above their heads. There was then an increase in intensity in clicking sounds and the indentations disappeared with the shadow moving off to join the rest of the creatures in the distance. Everyone let out a breath. Raj quickly got up, rummaging through his backpack until he found his notebook, which he then furiously started writing in.
“Oh.” Raj passed the radio back to Rob.
“What were they?” said Tyler to Raj still sitting in the aisle.
“Hmm oh, there are many flying creatures, these we think were evolved from fruit bats, and we’re calling them Man Bats,” said Raj, busily scribbling his thoughts.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The twenty-vehicle convoy passed quickly out of the town of San Jade, passing another reservoir without incident. The sun was now halfway to the horizon as the landscape became featureless again with only the occasional small hill to break up the view.
