by Phil Maxey
“And coming back?” said Fiona.
“We’ll figure something out when we’re in Portland. Everyone get their kit ready and grab something to eat, we move out in twenty.”
The soldiers briefly looked at each other, then filled back into the other workshop area.
“Rob, take Jacks, Gregg’s, Cal and Fiona and make sure your bus and the Humvee are ready to go, if you find any more fuel out there, fill them both up. Raj a word.” The rest of the remaining people got up and left to start on their own tasks, and Zach sat closer to Raj. “Yesterday, the creatures seemed more interested in attacking our vehicles than us, it was the same the day before, what’s the deal with that? In the desert you said it was the patterns on the side of the RV’s, but what was it here?”
“I think it was the heat, the cars and coaches were putting out a lot more infrared than we were, unless one of us was close to them, then we were attacked. These creatures react to changes in their environment, whether it be particular patterns or heat. I believe you have seen these E.L.F’s before?”
“Yeah, I think so, back in the prison in New Mexico, but nowhere near as many as yesterday.”
“That’s the largest grouping of them I’ve heard of, they seem to be procreating at an alarming rate. Once we get back within radio range it would be good to contact Bravo and pass on what we have seen.” Zach nodded and Raj got up and left the room. Zach looked at the closed door to the front office and then opened it. Abbey was awake and reading a spare parts auto manual, she put it down when he entered.
“Another good speech, maybe you should run for office one day.” Zach wasn’t sure if she was joking.
“I’ll just settle on a nice home, a car I can work on and a garden I can drink a beer in.”
“There seems to be something missing from that picture,” said Abbey who then quickly regretted saying it. “I’m sorry I didn’t mean… so we’re back on the road, soon?”
“Yes, I’ve found a route out of the city and back to the north highway, with only two vehicles maybe we can move faster, make up some lost time.”
“How’s Michael?”
“Last I looked, sleeping like a baby.”
After a short time, they had moved their supplies into the bus, and were ready to leave. Bass, Dr. Tanner, Raj, Jacks, Michael and the other soldiers were on the bus, together with Rob and Tyler. Jacob, Fiona and Cal were in the back of the Humvee with Cal on the main gun. Abbey and Zach were in the front.
Zach looked out at the overcast day and wondered what the day would bring, he then fired up the Humvee. The planned route out of the city took them down side roads, until eventually they joined highway twenty-five. They made quick progress and were soon driving past snow-covered fields when Brads voice burst from Zach’s radio.
“This is Brad checking in from Roswell, you out there Zach? Over.”
Zach quickly clicked on the radio. “We’re here Brad, good to hear you, we were attacked yesterday, lost all but two vehicles, and fifteen people, including a lot of our fighting force. Over.”
There was a silence before Brad replied. “I’m sorry to hear that Zach, where are you now?”
“North of Albuquerque, we’re making good progress but we lost a day in getting to Portland. Over.”
The radio went quiet again.
“Okay, Zach. Is there anything I can do from this end?”
“Get a message to Portland telling them about the delay, and…I need to pass on to you the names of the deceased so you can inform Camp Bravo. Over.”
“No problem. How are your supplies looking? Over.”
“We got enough, we’ll find more if we have to. Over.”
Zach and Bass then gave Brad the information about the dead soldiers and their location.
Tyler had not left Rob’s side since yesterday. They did not talk about what happened to Earl, they did not need too, it kept playing on a constant loop in their minds. Tyler could feel all the people in the bus behind him and hated it. He would hear a noise and have to stop himself from turning around expecting to see Earl sitting there grinning. Eventually he gave up and walked to the back of the bus, sitting behind Dr. Tanner and Raj who were discussing something to do with molecules.
Rob looked at the road ahead of them. He could feel his mind wanting to escape his skull and had to shake his head to refocus on his driving. It was not the time or the place to think about what had happened the day before.
Cal and Fiona took turns on manning the Humvee’s gun as red and blue mountains moved closer and further away from them. At one small town they passed through a fast food sign hang loosely from its pole and Fiona remarked how she never thought she would miss a hamburger. After a while having driven through mountains of snow covered forests the landscape around them flattened out again and returned to desert. Zach clicked on the radio.
“This is Captain Felton, from Camp Bravo. Anyone out there? Over.”
Abbey stirred in her sleep next to him.
Cal leaned forward between the seats. “How far are we from the first staging post?”
“Not far, maybe forty minutes, we should be within their radio range.”
The road they were on descended and soon they were driving over a small bridge and into the city of Rockwall. Zach had been continuously trying to reach their contact on the radio but there was no reply.
“Rob, let’s keep driving on this road, and head towards those multistory buildings a few klicks ahead of us. Over.”
After a few moments they were alongside a sandy colored building. Zach pulled in to the main entrance of San Moore’s hospital.
“So now what?” said Fiona.
“No idea, our contact isn’t making contact, and this looks as good a place as any to hold up. Line of sight must be pretty good on the roof up there, maybe we can see signs of life in the city. Cal you feeling up to taking a look in here with me?” Cal nodded and they both left the Humvee and walked up the slope to the hospitals emergency entrance. An ambulance sat with its front wheel up the curb and rear doors open. Blood streaks painted the inside.
“Let’s just find the stairs and get to the roof,” said Zach as he and Cal climbed through the broken glass doors and into main lobby. Piles of clothes and black plastic bags languished amongst chairs and tables. A large paper sign hung from a single nail above the check-in counter. Zach walked over to it and held it up. “Register here for evacuation.” A smaller sign with specs of blood on it above two plastic looking doors mentioned the roof.
“This way,” said Zach and they both moved into the stairwell, the sound of their boots echoing around the walls. Zach held up his hand and they both listened for any response above them but none came. Moving swiftly they climbed the five stories until they came to the last set of double doors. As they opened them the smell of death mixed with winter buffeted their faces. They walked slowly out onto the roof, being careful to avoid the corpses which lay on the ground, slowly decaying into something unrecognizable.
“I’m going to try over there near that wall, see if I can get a reply on the radio, have a look out over the city, see if you can see any obvious signs of them.” Zach walked to a wall close by. Cal stood frozen, he tried to look away from the remains of people around him but he couldn’t stop imagining their final days up on this roof, waiting for a rescue that never came. His mind then switched to Portland and the people there and he felt dizzy. What if this is what is waiting for us in Portland, more death? What if…Zach shouted in his direction and held up a hand as if to ask what he was doing. Cal started walking towards the far wall.
“This is Captain Felton from Camp Bravo, come in Over.” Zach held the radio above his head sliding the aerial up and down.
“This is Ranger station one, we hear you loud and clear Captain Felton, we have been waiting for you, what is your location? Over.”
“Hi! Yes, we’re at the big hospital in town. Over.”
“Keep heading west and you’ll see a water tower, we’re me
et you there. Over.” Zach waved Cal over and they both descended the stairs as quickly as they came up.
“Bass, we made contact, we are going to meet them at a water tower west of here. Over”
“Good to hear. Sir.” The sound of the relieved inhabitants of the bus could be heard behind his response. The journey to the water tower was just a matter of minutes. Two pickups one with police markings on the side were waiting at the bottom of the tower. As they pulled up in front, a stocky built man in his fifties with graying black hair got out of the first pickup. Zach got out and walked towards him.
“I’m Jim Nez,” said Jim, holding out his hand which Zach took. “We expected you yesterday, you had problems?”
“Yeah, we lost people in Albuquerque and most of our vehicles. I’m Zach, this is Sergeant Bass. We were told that you would have some supplies for us and we could have shelter here for the night?”
“We have both of those things,” Jim said with a smile. “This is my son James.” A slimmer younger version of Jim stepped forward and shook Zach and Bass’s hand. “Okay, let’s get ya’ll back to the station and get you some food!” Jim and James got back into their vehicles. After a short drive up onto the hills outside of the city, they came to a junction. Turning onto a dusty road, passed a large steel tower covered in satellite dishes and other antennae they drove a few hundred yards and stopped. Off to the side a large box shaped building stood, with an entrance for vehicles and a small door to its right. Further along were a series of boarded up windows. Tangled pieces of rusted machinery ran along the outside of the building acting as a barricade, with a gate near the road. A man with a wooly hat and scarf on opened the gate, and the vehicles drove past and then into the main building through the large shutter.
The inside of the building was like a mini village, with tents and sectioned off areas. One woman was drying some washing, while another under a small covering was stirring food in big pots. High above them, lanterns swayed hanging from the ceiling which added to the light provided by candles. They all got out of their vehicles.
“How many people are living here?” said Zach.
“Including my family, thirty-seven, it’s a bit of a squeeze but we manage,” said Jim smiling. “This is my wife Jen, she takes care of feeding everyone.” A woman in her late forties wiped her hands on a towel and stepped forward shaking hands with Zach and a few others.
“I’ve made some pots of stew, hope you all like it!” said Jen. Everyone smiled.
“Your people can leave their bags here, over there we have arranged some tables and chairs for you all to eat on. When you want to rest we have made up beds next to the tables,” said Jim.
Everyone but Zach, took their bags off their shoulders or from the vehicles and dropped them to the floor, then headed off to the waiting chairs and tables.
“I noticed a radio tower at the junction, is that how you’re communicating?” said Zach.
“Sure is, it used to belong to the company that was housed in this building, we, well my son has managed to keep it up and running. He’s always been into gadgets.” James smiled awkwardly.
“I’ll need to let Camp Bravo know we have arrived.”
“My son can get on that for you right now,” said Jim. James disappeared off into a small walled room at the back of the vehicle area. “Shall we eat?” Zach and Jim sat down at a large wooden table made up of roughly cut planks. In the middle were two large steaming pots of stew. Zach and Jim took some of the stew and started eating.
“How long have you had this place?” said Zach.
“My family and I had a place up on the hills few miles from here, when the first attack came we held out as long as we could, but a lot around here were killed. Me and some of my neighbors new about this building and thought it would be a good place to make a stand, so we all relocated to here. Eventually it just made sense to stay here, so we rounded up who we could and now we have been getting by day by day for about six months.”
“I noticed the markings on your pickup, you were a cop?”
“I was the sheriff around here.” Jacob paused as he was taking a spoonful of stew then continued.
“Jacob was a sheriff in southern New Mexico, weren’t you Jacob?” said Abbey.
Jacob smiled. “Sure was.”
“Which town? I did some of my training in southern New Mexico.”
“Baldo.”
“Ah right, don’t know the town. How long were you on the job?”
“Twenty years.”
“You must have started pretty late!”
“Well twenty years in Baldo, I was stationed elsewhere before then.”
“I see, well good to have a fellow cop here,” Jim paused unsure how to approach the next subject. “So you’re going to bring the people from Portland across the country to the camp near Austin?” The low murmurs of conversation that were taking place up and down the table stopped, and Zach could feel an unwelcome pressure on how he answered.
“We are.”
“Eighteen hundred people?”
“Yes.”
“And you have already lost all but two of your vehicles and half your men?”
Zach could feel frustration building inside him. “Yes.”
“That’s some task.” Silence hung in the air along with the fumes from the stew. Jim then continued. “We will do what we can to help.”
Zach smiled. “That’s appreciated.” Small pockets of conversation started up again.
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
The inside of the building was surprisingly warm. Most of the group were laying on the bedding, talking or reading books from the small library the inhabitants had created. Zach was standing with James in the radio room, surrounded by wires, tools and ham radio equipment that stretched from floor to ceiling.
“You remind me of a guy in Roswell,” said Zach looking around the compact room.
“Brad? We all know Brad,” said James while plugging some cables into a receiver box and turning dials. “I was a fan of his show before it all happened. It took some doing but I managed to convince my father just in time of what was going down. A lot of people are alive because of Brad.”
Zach smiled and nodded. “Did you reach Camp Bravo?”
“I did, they sounded pretty relieved you made it here. I can get them now if you want?”
Zach nodded and James turned more dials. “This is Ranger Station one, calling Camp Bravo. Over.”
“This is Camp Bravo. Over.”
“I have Captain Felton here…” James turned to Zach. “Is there anyone in particular you want to talk to?” Zach said General Trow. “He wants to talk to the General. Over.” After a few moments the General’s voice came from the speaker.
“Zach! Good to hear you made it there. Over.”
“Thanks General. It’s not been easy. Over.”
“We heard about what happened yesterday, we have passed on the messages to the soldiers’ families. How are you… holding up? Over.”
Zach looked at James. “Could you give us a minute?”
“Sure.” James got up and left closing the door behind him.
“We’re just holding on. I’m not sure if we can make it all the way to Portland and if we do I’m not sure how much use we will be once we get there. How are things in Portland? Over.”
“There’s been a lull in the attacks, we don’t know why, but they have only lost one person since you left. Over.”
“Let’s hope that continues. I think it’s going to be best they get the vehicles together themselves, rather than us bringing them across the country. Also coming back to Austin it will probably be better if we split into a number of groups, taking different routes, is that something you can plan out at your end? Over.”
“We can do that. For now you and your people get some rest. Over.”
“Will do. Over and out.” Zach lingered on those last words, and then put the mike down on a cluttered wooden worktop. The only light in this small room came from one
lantern sitting on top of a filing cabinet, and it gave the whole scene a world war two operations room feel. He sat back in the chair, his thoughts racing through the events of the past few days and pushing to the back of his mind any regrets.
Abbey noticed Jen was cleaning the dishes and offered to help.
“Sorry for the extra work.”
“Oh it’s no bother, even with all of us in here it’s good to see new faces, especially after… we lost so many.”
“If you don’t mind me asking, why don’t you join everyone else in the Austin camp?”
“We prefer to run our own affairs, being out here suits us fine.”
“But what if you have to face a big attack?”
“From what I’ve heard the bigger the target you make yourselves the greater the chance of being attacked!” Jen took some boiling water from a stove and poured it into a large basin where the dishes resided.
“Yet but you can’t hide in this place forever, you still need food and water to survive.”
“There’s still plenty of bottled water left in the city, and when that runs out we have rivers close by, food wise… come with me.” Fiona followed Jen passed tents and plastic shacks to the end of the building where another door resided. Jen unlocked the door and walked into a corridor with a series of offices running off.
“We’re going to turn this whole space into an indoor growing area. The windows are currently boarded up but we’re going to make those boards shutters that we can open and close to let the sun in and maybe create some skylights in the roof. We are going to have irrigation running across the ceiling here,” Jen pointed along the ceiling where some plastic tubing had already been attached. “We also have enough food stored up to last at least five years.”
“Tearing that floor up won’t be easy.”
“Unlike the space behind us, this is all just boards and then earth. We should be able to grow more than enough for everyone in here.”
“What if more people arrive?”
Jen smiled. “We can’t take everyone in. But we are happy to give shelter for those traveling though,” Some small children ran up to Jen and tugged on her embroidered dress. “Looks like I’m needed!” Jen locked the door, and disappeared under a tent, while Abbey spotted Zach talking to Fiona in the far corner near the Humvee.
