by Phil Maxey
“They won’t like it,” said Fiona in a hushed but serious tone.
Zach’s expression was one of deep thought when Abbey walked up to them. “What’s going on?” Fiona looked away.
“I think we should head out again today,” said Zach.
Abbey’s eyes widened, but she resisted speaking at first. “I’m not sure the soldiers will go along with that.”
“Bass can order them, but if they don’t want to go, that’s up to them, there are no court martials out here and I won’t hold it against them. But there’s still two hours of daylight left and most of our journey will be through desert, as long as we keep moving we should be fine, and we’ll be able to make up for lost time. It’s a gamble, but maybe one worth taking.” He then leaned in further to Fiona. “To do this we need Rob on board.” Fiona nodded and Zach looked around to where he was. He spotted Tyler and then Rob lying on some blankets, and beckoned them over. Rob slowly got to his feet and ambled over to where Zach was. “I’m thinking of heading back out, to make up for lost time.”
Tyler looked enthused. “Yeah, why not.”
A tired looking Rob looked at Tyler’s response with concern then looked back at Zach angrily. He went to talk, but then stopped, the anger washing away from his face. He then took a deep breath. “The soldiers won’t go along with it.”
“Don’t worry about them, can you be ready to go in around thirty minutes? Find Jim or James and start loading the supplies they have for us.” Rob gave a resigned nod and he and Tyler left, as he did Bass appeared and approached looking inquisitive.
“Is something happening?”
“Fiona, take this map and find Raj, make sure we avoid any E.L.F. hotspots and find us some options to shelter during the night if we need too. And see if Jim has a better map of the route we’re taking.” Zach then turned to Bass. “We’re going to be heading back out in about thirty. I know some of the men won’t be happy with it. But we need to get back on the road.”
“They’ll be ready. Sir.” Bass went to turn and walk away when Zach talked again. “Bass, if some don’t want to come with us, don’t go hard on them, tell them they can stay here and we will pick them up on the way back.” Bass acknowledged and left.
Bass could see the soldiers in the distance, most were together, talking others were sleeping. He stopped amongst the tents and makeshift homes and pondered how best to convince them it was the right thing. They were his men and he felt sure most would do as ordered, but if things started to go the other way he wasn’t sure what would happen. Straightening his back, he walked up to them with purpose.
“We’re heading back out in thirty, get your shit together, people!”
A stunned silence blanketed the small space where they were trying to get some rest.
Private Jenkins stayed sitting with his back against the bare wall. “You’re joking right?”
Bass walked and stood in front of Jenkins’s boots. “Don’t test me Jenkins.” Some of the other soldiers started sitting up and putting things back in their backpacks. Private Jenkins got to his feet, and stood casually.
“I’m not going… Sir.”
Bass stepped in further to within inches of Jenkins’s face. “You’re going to get your shit back in your backpack, and you’re going to be back on that bus within twenty minutes. If I do not see you on that bus, you can stay here, be picked up on the way back and be dealt with when we are back to Camp Bravo, are we clear, private?”
“Loud and clear. Sir!” Jenkins final words being louder than they needed to be and draped in sarcasm.
Within thirty minutes the new supplies were packed on the bus and the group that were leaving was standing near the vehicles. Two soldiers decided to stay behind, Private Jenkins was not one of them.
“I have to say what you’re doing is a brave thing,” said Jim. “As long as there are men and people like your friends in this world, well, we will have a chance.”
Zach held out his hand and Jim shook it firmly.
“I gave Fiona an old road map, should cover most of your journey. If you’re looking for a place to hold up I’ve marked a few locations that will provide shelter.” Two men appeared from beneath a tent. “I noticed you were two men down, Joe and Alex have volunteered to go with you until you are across the mountains.”
Zach’s instinct was to refuse the offer and not let these men risk their lives, but he felt it would be an insult to Jim and the people in this station, so he just smiled and shook their hands.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The sun was heading towards the horizon when they pulled out of the station. Joe and Alex followed behind the bus in a pickup while Zach led from the front in the Humvee. Even though they had only been at the station for a few hours, Michael was feeling stronger, and insisted on being in the Humvee and Jacob took his place on the bus. The plan was to drive through the evening and make it to the next staging post by 9 pm. After driving for a few hours passing frosty fields and remnants of peoples homes, the sun had finally given up for the day and stars were sparkling above.
As Cal stood in the Humvee’s gun position, the brisk night air stung but he didn’t mind, it made him feel connected to the world. He hadn’t felt able to talk about it with the others but he had hardly any sleep since leaving Roswell. Each time the blanket of sleep descended on him he was immediately back on the sun baked road with the dark stranger. The stranger who he could not focus on, but who would speak to him. Each time he would wake with a pounding in his brain that would take some time to fade. At first he put it down to being injured, maybe he hit his head harder than he thought, or maybe the drugs the doctor gave him were screwing with his mind, but none of those things would explain why he dreamed the same dream each time. Maybe what happened to him in Afghanistan was happening to him again, maybe he was just broken.
The road was pretty smooth but each time the Humvee went over even the slightest bump Michael would wince. He had felt more pain since the operation than before, even with Dr. Tanner’s meds. But still, he was glad to be alive. He was on the Humvee’s main gun when the creatures attacked in Albuquerque and fired a good few rounds into the mass that has swelled up from under the ground like they had struck oil. But the bullets had no effect other than to make him a target. They swept past him and at first he thought he had come off unscathed but then his side started to burn and he saw a stain starting to grow on his shirt. By that point Jacob and Abbey had already started running for the office, but Abbey realized he wasn’t with them and headed back. Something he will always owe her for.
As the night closed in around the convoy, Jacob sat and watched the young soldiers around him and felt sorry for them. Not because he was concerned they would not live to see Portland but because the world had ended and they still felt a loyalty to a government that no longer existed. By time the conflict in Vietnam was coming to a close he did not care who won. He had seen atrocities on both sides some of which he was part of. That’s not how he started the war. The recruiter visited him in college and told him how impressed they were with his scores, and that a young man like him could go far in the military and serve his country well. He thought that would mean saving lives, and at first they did ask him to “minimize losses” but soon they started to ask him how best to maximize the enemy’s casualties. And he was good at it, so good that soon it changed from quantity to quality, from how best to wipe out a platoon of the Vietcong to how best they could assassinate one of their leaders. As the young soldiers laughed and joked, some more than others he wondered if this new world had a place for the “Architect.”
After about three and a half hours they approached the Utah border, Joe and Alex said their farewells, turned round and went back. They told them about the dam up ahead and that it was the only way across the Colorado River for many miles. They said to cross it quickly as there had been reports of large bird like creatures in the area. As they approached the bridge above the dam the river sparkled to the north, but that was the
only point of reference in the void that was left and right of them.
“How’s it looking up there, Cal?” said Zach.
Cal swung the gun around, then ducked back into the cabin so he could be heard. “No sign of any trouble.”
Moving on to the bridge they had to slow to avoid a few cars that had been left.
“Strange place to leave your car,” remarked Abbey.
Most of the wire fencing that ran along the edge of the bridges road had been torn from its moorings and at this height both vehicles were buffeted by strong winds.
Cal strained to see the road ahead of the convoy, but his eyes couldn’t quite make sense of the scene. Down to his left and right was only an intense black and building up ahead of them was the same. He leaned forward when suddenly he realized what he was looking at.
“Stop!” shouted Cal, his words being lost amongst the winds that flowed across the bridge.
“Did Cal just say something?” said Zach. They both half turned around to see what was happening with Cal.
Cal ducked back in. “Stop! The bridge has gone!”
Zach turned and saw the burgeoning hole yards from them and slammed on the breaks. The Humvee’s wheels locked and slid over the dry frosty surface until stopping a foot away from the gaping hole that was once road.
“Man that was close,” said Zach, just as he realized the bus behind, and that the Humvee would block their view of the road. “Rob! Stop, the bridge is out!” said Zach grabbing and clicking on the radio in one motion. The bus’s headlights grew in their rear window while it’s breaks screeched.
“Not stoppi…” Crackled over Zach’s radio.
“Out! everyone out!” Zach’s words seemed to hang in the air, as they flung the Humvee’s door’s open and dived out onto the road. The bus slid into the back of the Humvee shunting it forward. Cal scrambled upwards, climbing out and on top of the Humvee as it started to tip forwards and then made a desperate dive off the back. The Humvee’s tilt became extreme and it fell being swallowed up by the darkness as Cal landed with a clump on the buses hood. He lay there for a moment breathing heavily, trying not to think about how close a call that was. He then pulled himself up and climbed off the side onto the road.
Zach stood up and ran around the back of the bus to check on Fiona and Abbey who were getting to their feet. Walking back around, Rob and Dr. Tanner stepped off the bus.
“Is everyone okay?” shouted Dr. Tanner struggling to be heard against the gale.
“I think so, check Michael and Cal,” said Zach.
Tanner checked Michael’s stitches, which were bleeding but not broken. Cal waved her away when she came near.
“What now?” shouted Rob towards Zach.
“Everyone back on the bus,” replied Zach, as they all awkwardly climbed back on the bus and closed the door. Abbey, Cal, Fiona and Michael found seats but Zach stayed at the door, near Rob who had climbed back into the driver’s position.
Zach rubbed his hand over his face to try and help his mind make a decision.
“About a 100 yards before we got on the bridge there was a turn off, I think it might have gone down to the dam,” said Cal.
Zach nodded, which Rob saw and started reversing the bus. Scraping along the sides of a few vehicles they successfully reversed all the way until they were back on the road and were able to turn around and locate the turn off. Passing a small gatehouse, the slim road descended carving through solid rock until they drove onto the dam. At this distance the river was even more illuminated by the stars above but most on the bus were too distracted to notice. Slowly driving across the dam they eventually got to the upwards slope on the opposite side which took them back to a main road.
Rob stopped the bus. “Now where.”
“Turn left here it should join us back up to the road on the other side of the bridge,” said Zach, who was now sitting in the door well.
After driving for another hour Rob slowed down as a small road signed appeared in the headlights. “Ragno 5 miles”.
“We could hold up in one of these small towns for the night,” said Rob to Zach.
“We keep driving,” said Zach. As they continued his mind returned to the short time spent at the camp and the night before they left. That evening and night afterwards stood out like an oasis amongst all the death. At the time, leaving the camp, heading back out into the unknown felt like the right thing to do, as did accepting Trow’s idea to bring the people from Portland across the country, but looking back now, sitting on the step of the school bus it all seemed crazy. He could see the road passing by through the bus’s doors and his eyes felt heavy.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
“Zach. Wake up, we’re almost there.”
Zach’s eyes opened slowly. Blinking a few times he stood up and looked out the front window of the bus. It was still not possible to see much of the area they were driving through but he had the impression there were more buildings and trees close to the road than before.
“I’ll try them on the radio,” said Zach. “This is Captain Felton from Camp Bravo, we are…” Zach looked at Rob, who looked unsure.
“Thirty minutes?” said Rob quietly.
“Thirty minutes from your town. Over.” There were a few more moments of static before an answer came.
“This is the southern Utah station, good to hear you Captain, I will be waiting at the highway turn off at exit twenty-seven. Over.” Zach acknowledged, although a part of him wanted to return to sleep. He looked to his left and almost the entire bus behind him were sleeping, apart from Raj who was writing.
Rob and Zach counted the exit signs down until they came up to exit twenty-seven. About a hundred yards further on parked up was a 4x4 pickup with a broad looking man with short-cropped blonde hair standing next to it. Rob stopped the bus and Zach jumped out. After a brief introduction, they followed the man for another fifteen minutes on a side road until they came to a fire station. To the side was a large parking lot with a grimy looking fire truck parked up. Rob parked the bus next to it. As soon as the bus stopped people started to open their eyes from their sleep. A small light bobbed up and down and moved to the bus door, which Zach opened.
“We should get inside as quickly as we can.” The blonde-haired man said. Zach acknowledged and walked the length of the bus persuading people to get their things and leave the bus. After a short time they had all left the bus and were standing in a candlelit high ceilinged room inside the fire station. The space was packed with boxes and crates, neatly piled on top of each other.
“It’s good to see everyone, we heard about what happened in Albuquerque so we weren’t sure if the mission was still on. My names Brett Orton, and I used to be the station chief at this station, when things went to shit, this seemed as good as place as any to try and survive so I brought my family here.”
“You’re just here with your family?” said Fiona.
“Sure am ma’am. My wife and child are upstairs sleeping, but you’ll meet them in the morn. Down the corridor behind me is a large dorm room where you can get some sleep, and over there on the long table there’s some food. It’s not the healthiest kind but it’s something.”
“We appreciate it,” said Zach, everyone started moving towards the food.
“This might sound a dumb thing to ask but do you have any hot water?” said Abbey.
Brett smiled. “Not dumb at all, hot water kinda reminds me of how life used to be, we have a solar water heater, I think there’s probably some hot water left in the tank, if you want a quick shower, I’ll show you the way.” Brett then led her down the corridor, up some stairs and to a small bathroom which had a bath and shower. “There are towels in the cupboard there,” Abbey looked excited. “Yeah it’s the small things that make the difference, eh.” He said while closing the door. He then returned to the others in the vehicle maintenance bay.
“Okay, I’ll leave you to it, if you need anything, just knock on my bedroom door upstairs. We will talk in th
e morning.” Brett went to walk away when Zach stopped him.
“Has there been any E.L.F in this area?”
“Not for a few days. The main ones we get around here are the large flying creatures, I don’t know what they’re called, we see them circling high above, luckily they don’t seem to know we’re here.” Brett then left by the small corridor.
“I know you’re tired, but any chance of working out what our supplies are looking like?” Zach said to Abbey who was sitting on a crate eating some chips.
“No problem,” said Fiona, getting to her feet.
“How’s everyone looking?” said Zach to Dr. Tanner who was sipping some water out of a plastic cup.
“All things considered, surprisingly good, it doesn’t look like Michael’s internal wounds have reopened. But he’s not the one I’m worried about…” Zach looked at her questioningly. “There’s something wrong with Cal.”
“He looks okay?”
“Not his wounds, they’re healing. It’s how he’s behaving, he seems distracted easily, I don’t think he’s getting much sleep.”
“None of us are getting much sleep, doctor.”
“It’s more than just lack of sleep…” She looked unsure about how to frame the next sentence. “I looked at all of your records before we left Bravo. Most of you were put away for good reason.”
“We’re not the same people we were when we were put away.”
“I hope so for all of our sakes, the general took a big risk putting you in charge.”
Zach looked at her directly. “You’re worried that me or some of my friends are going to go crazy, that this whole situation is going to be too much pressure?” Tanner returned Zach’s question with a questioning look of her own. “Just try and make sure we’re physically okay, leave the head stuff alone.” Zach then grabbed a bag of chips and followed Fiona outside.
