Cascade Collection

by Phil Maxey

  “Does he remember doing this?”

  “He’s still sleeping.”

  “If he doesn’t remember, don’t say anything to him.”

  Fiona sighed. “Okay.”

  From across the room Jacob lay on his blanket, using his backpack to prop up his head. In his hand was a small notebook that he had found in a drawer in the fort. Opening the second page, he noted down a few thoughts and then closed it.

  Zach and Fiona walked back to where most people were now awake, including Abbey.

  “What was going on with Fiona?”

  Zach stood at the bottom of their small gathering of clothes, which Fiona was still mostly underneath. “I’ll tell you later.”

  Bending down he reached into his backpack and pulled out the original map that Trow had given him a week before. Sitting down next to Abbey he unfolded it, and tried to ascertain where they were. On it were marked the last remaining vestiges of survivors that Camp Bravo were aware of.

  “We’re here, roughly eighty miles southeast of Mt. Hood,” said Zach tracing their approach from the fort. Abbey leaned over his shoulder.

  “The closest outpost to where we are, is this one.”

  “Helier?”

  “Which is roughly… six or seven hours’ drive from here.”

  “Lot to do in one day.”

  “It is, but if we leave soon we can do it before dark.”

  Abbey sensed tension in his voice, but decided not to push the matter further.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  It didn’t take long for the group to be packed up and back on the vehicles, despite everyone’s lack of sleep. Zach had told everyone their destination. Most seemed pleased that the next stop would be a real outpost, and not just a large building of convenience.

  They were soon driving through rolling hills of white and brown, covered in snow covered evergreens.

  “I suspect we’re lucky it’s winter,” said Jacob sitting next to Cal in the back of the Humvee. “Me, I love the winter, but our creature friends don’t seem happy with this climate.”

  Cal ignored Jacobs’s comments, instead looking straight ahead.

  Jacob persisted. “How you feeling?”

  Abbey who wasn’t paying much attention, raised her head slightly when she heard this from Jacob, this was the first time she had heard him ask of the welfare of any of them. She was also curious what Cal’s response would be.

  Cal looked slightly to his right, without looking directly at Jacob. “I’m better now.”

  “Good… good. It’s been a hard road for all of us,” Jacob said with a smile.

  Jacob went to say something else when Fiona interrupted, talking in the direction of Zach. “Might be a good idea to see if we can grab some more food supplies if we get the chance, I know it’s Christmas, but Mary’s kids are off their heads with all the candy they are eating.”

  Abbey giggled.

  “If we see an opportunity to resupply we will take it, but we have a long way to go through a lot of forested land, and I want to be at the outpost before dark,” said Zach.

  Just as Zach finished, a small puff of snow burst upwards from an area of trees about a mile off to the east.

  Zach clicked on his radio. “Some kind of disturbance to our east, keep watch on it, also let’s increase our speed a little see if we can leave it behind. Over.”

  The convoy moved quicker through the gently curved road and whatever caused the explosion of ice and leaves quickly receded into their rear view.

  Occasionally they would see wooden structures that were once homes, but now were heaps of planks and splinters, together with tangled pipes, their sharp edges blunted by the winter downfall. As they progressed the Oregon hills became rockier and moved closer to the edge of the road. The snow in places became a few feet thick, and they had to slow their pace to ensure none of the vehicles slid.

  After an hour of heading south, the road turned east.

  Zach looked at the map and frowned, he then clicked on his radio. “Everyone stay alert, this road runs alongside a river for a good long way.” Those in the other vehicles acknowledged his request.

  Soon the river was visible on their right, but luckily seemed fairly frozen over. The road though was a scene of destruction with small boulders and branches lying haphazardly, and partially covered over by snow. They all slowed to navigate these newfound obstacles.

  Michael sat near the back of the bus. For the previous hour he had watched Hanna and her child play a game, but wasn’t sure what it was. He also needed this amount of time to build up the courage to say anything to Megan’s mother.

  “Err, hi.”

  Hanna who was sitting across the aisle near the window, looked up with a perplexed expression.

  “What game you playing?” said Michael.

  “Eye-spy, but mostly the answer is snow, or rock, or trees,” she and Megan giggled.

  “Ha, yeah, not much to look at around here.”

  “It is very pretty though, reminds me of where I used to live when I was younger. At least we have snow for Christmas.” Her voice trailed off and her tone was sad.

  Michael wanted to say something hopeful, but the reminder of what time of year it was made her sadness infectious. He sat back in his seat, and looked out of the bus’s steamed up windows.

  After driving for twenty minutes, they came around a bend. On the opposite side of the frozen river were a small herd of E.L.F’s. Looking like small elephants, but with brownish hides, slimmer legs and multiple trunk like appendages, they immediately raised their heads up from the drinking they were doing.

  Zach clicked on the radio. “Take it slow, hopefully we won’t spook them too much. Over.” The convoy did as Zach suggested, moving slowly past the creatures that watched them studiously. One of them stepped forward tentatively and instantly its front hoofs shattered the ice in front of it, causing it to jump back. Some of the others raised their multiple trunks and let out a deep droning sound, causing the others to do the same. Soon they passed out of sight as the convoy moved around another bend, but after driving a short distance more creatures, this time ones with wings could be seen perched on the distant hills.

  The children noticed them before anyone else, and pointed excitedly. Mary told them not to point and then tried to distract them by asking them what was their favorite Christmas presents of the past years. Irene asked Mary quietly what the children were fussing about.

  “Large winged creatures a few miles off, perched high on some mountains,” whispered Mary.

  The creatures fluttered their large wings, and shrieked causing snow to fall from the peaks they were perched on. One of them took off, its heavy wings beating slowly. As it struggled to gain much height, the others near to it did the same, and together they swooped down low in the convoy’s direction.

  “Yup, I see them,” said Zach to Abbey’s pointing. “Cal, change places with Jacob, so you can get that rifle of yours out of the rear window. Fiona you got the left covered?”

  “Yes, all clear on this side,” just as she finished talking, five large shadows drifted across the road. The inhabitants of the vehicles, craned their necks to see above them, but it was hard to get a fix on where the flying creatures were.

  “Rob, can you see where they are? Over.”

  “They just seem to be circling overhead. Over.”

  “Just keep going everyone. Over.”

  Soon as with the E.L.F’s near the frozen river, these other creatures were left behind.

  After trying to search the skies around her, Abbey sat back in her seat. “The creatures out here, far from the large cities, seem less aggressive.”

  “It’s probably because they have not seen many humans, or even large metallic moving objects, they probably don’t know what to make of us, so they leave us alone,” replied Jacob.

  Zach glanced at the rocky cliffs that were now around them. “Let’s hope that continues.”

  Soon the ice covered rocks and hills dre
w back from the road and they entered a small town.

  Zach studied the infrequent homes and other barn like structures that lined up on both sides of the road. “This might be an opportunity to get some of those supplies you mentioned, Fiona.”

  A number of buildings all close together, came up in front of them on their right. Zach slowed, then stopped. A diner resided next to a larger double fronted convenience store. To the side of the store, a red pickup sat under a few feet of snow.

  “Bass, keep a few of your men covering the vehicles, let me know if there’s any nearby movement. Over.” Zach then turned to those in the Humvee. “Cal, Fiona, check out the diner, see if they have anything we can take. Jacob, Abbey, we will check out the store.”

  The bus doors slid open and Bass and a few soldiers climbed down, then ran best they could in the foot high snow, to both sides, looking down their gun’s sights. Snow gently fluttered down around them. Cal, and Fiona trekked towards the diner, while Zach, Abbey and Jacob approached the store. As they did, white frosted lumps a few feet high stood out in front of it.

  Zach carefully swept away snow from the frozen mound, revealing a motorbike. Abbey did the same to a similar heap a few feet away and got the same result. Jacob, tried looking through the misty front glass but it was so iced up it was hard to make anything out inside. Zach leaned on the door, and pushed. With a cracking noise the door swung inwards and they were all struck by the pungent smell of rotting meat.

  A few yards to the stores right, Cal looked through the patterns of ice that smothered the diner’s window. Part of the left corner, was missing, and a heap of snow had turned to ice on the inside empty shelf. Fiona looked through the diner’s door. The inside consisted of a few tables and chairs, some of which were lying on their sides. Small bottles of ketchup and mustard were lined up neatly on a counter to the left, together with what looked like pastries, but were now dull green fur covered lumps, matching the color of the tiles on the walls.

  After some pushing, the door swung open, and Fiona’s gun led the way inside. On the walls, pictures of traditional looking cowboy’s riding furious beasts hung alongside certificates in gold frames.

  “I’ll check behind the counter, then we both check out back,” Fiona emphasized the word ‘both’. Cal started to look more himself, but he hadn’t remembered his nighttime rendering, and she didn’t want to take any chances.

  The shelves inside the store were mostly full still. Abbey walked over to a row containing bags of chips. “Not sure we should take these, but I sure do miss them.”

  Zach moved along the aisle to a red wood chipped door at the rear that was closed. The smell of rotten meat was even stronger here, and Zach put the sleeve of his jacket over his mouth briefly. Stepping back he clicked on his radio. “Rob, we could do with some help in here, there’s a lot of food we can grab. Over,” Rob agreed to the request.

  The door creaked as he pushed on it and a rush of cold air forced its way out. Opening it wider, he raised his gun and looked into a storage room bathed in cold blue light. A door at the opposite end was open, and wooden paneling hid behind a few rows of rust covered metal-shelving units, which icicles hung from.

  Zach looked across the room, trying to see where the source of the smell was coming from. He walked forward. Two large chest freezers sat to the left, both with their glossy tops lying open. Zach crept forward, and peered over the top into the first freezer, putrid, blue-grey clumps of organic material looked back at him. A month or so ago it would have been full of maggot’s but now the months old meat had become something else, partially preserved by the cold, but not enough to stop nature reclaiming it. He moved to the second freezer and looked in, what he saw made him raise his gun, but he quickly dropped it back to his side. A small dog partially frozen looked back at him, it’s dark watery eyes seemingly pleading for something that Zach could not give. It was then he realized he was standing on a dirt-covered piece of paper. Bending down he picked it up.

  “Benny, you have been my friend for twelve years, and I will not let you change like the rest. Soon I will be with you. Elroy.”

  Zach swallowed, his throat tightening, and his eyes began to moisten.

  Apart from extra bottles of ketchup and napkins, not much of use resided behind the diner’s counter, and Fiona and Cal were soon searching in the room that customers were not allowed entrance too, a small kitchen.

  “Check in the cupboards,” said Fiona walking to the end and looking through a rectangular piece of glass, which resided in a slim white external door. Outside the snow was falling more heavily, adding to the molded shapes, which lay in what was once an employee parking area.

  Cal was partially submerged in a small cupboard near the ground. “Got some cans of prunes and sweet corn.”

  “Good, pack them up, then let’s get out of here, maybe Zach’s having better luck.”

  Rob wrapped his arms around a large wooden box filled with cans and jars from the store’s shelves, and walked back out into the white.

  “It’s coming down pretty bad out there, we should probably get going, we don’t want the vehicles to get stuck,” said Jacob who now had two backpacks instead of his original one.

  “I’ll see where Zach is,” said Abbey, walking up to the red door that Zach previously walked through. As she went to press on it, it opened and Zach emerged.

  “Got enough supplies?” said Zach.

  “Yeah, Rob’s taken a lot back to his bus, but there’s still a box to take, anything out the back? It sure does smell funky.”

  “Just rotten meat. Good, we should be going.”

  Zach picked up a second box, this one filled with bottled water, and they all walked back out into the snow. As soon as they were outside, they blinked a few times as the icy flakes dropped on their eyes and started to move towards the bus. It was then they noticed Bass and a soldier walking towards three huddled figures that were walking towards the vehicles from across the street.

  Bass raised his gun as he stomped forward in the foot deep fresh snow. “Stop, don’t come any further!”

  “Are you the military, can you help us?” the first of the figures, a heavily clothed man, staggered forward, one hand helping him keep his balance, the other around a woman, who in turn had her arms around an equally well wrapped up young girl.

  Bass put his gun over his shoulder, and went to walk forward, when there was a shriek, and a dark form swept by just a few inches in front of him, knocking him backwards. Dazed, he quickly regained his feet and looked back at the people, there was now one less. The man was gone. In his place, the woman and child were screaming, and droplets of crimson trailed off across the snow.

  Looking upwards, a large flying creature similar to the ones that were perched on the snow covered peaks near the river was ascending fast, the struggling man not seeming to slow the E.L.F down. The soldier behind Bass started firing, and Bass raised his gun, looking down its sights to do the same, but the creature was already merging with the low clouds. He looked back at the woman and child and ran forward.

  “We can’t do anything for him, come with me.”

  The woman’s grief made her heavy to pull, so Bass concentrated on the little girl, and picked her up in one swoop. “I will take your little girl, but we have to get back to the bus, there might be more.”

  As if fated, another shriek echoed around them, and the soldier behind started shooting upwards, others joined in the firing from near the bus. The woman, as if woken from a dream, leaped forward and ran with Bass back to the bus, both running inside. Bass returned the child to the woman, and ran back outside. There were now so many shrieks that they overlapped making it hard to know how many creatures were above their heads.

  A particularly loud shriek rang out and a large fluttering creature fell to the ground close to the bus almost disappearing into the snow, its legs scrambled to get a foothold, but more bullets slammed into it rendering it motionless.

  Zach waved to those still firi
ng, to return to their vehicles. “We’re leaving!” he shouted but his words lost most of their strength in the orchestra of sound around him.

  With all back inside the vehicles, the engines roared and the two buses and Humvee pulled off, their wheels sliding against the snow. As the convoy sped off, the creatures surrounded the one that had been killed and preceded to tear into it.

  After passing through a few towns, the sparse few trees grew in number, until they were once again surrounded by pillars of bark and pine. The new woman’s name was Faith, and her daughter’s name was Gracie, although that was the only information they could gleam from them. They sat towards the back of the bus with the kids on and shivered even though they were wrapped in a blanket.

  In the Humvee, Fiona looked over the map. “If we keep up a good pace, we should only be in this forest for thirty minutes.”

  The wipers worked back and forth, pushing the increasingly heavy snowflakes from their view as they charged forward. In the last vehicle of the convoy, Rob, concentrated on the bus in front of him, making sure there was enough distance between them, that he could stop in the snow without crashing into it.

  Tyler leaned forward. “They’re getting too far ahead of us.”

  “I know what I’m doing, haven’t you got anything else to do.”

  Tyler looked at the floor, then turned and headed to a seat further back. The back half of the bus was almost entirely full of boxes and plastic containers. He preferred the other bus. Before it’s role as a people carrier in the apocalypse, it had sat in their family’s junkyard, mostly forgotten, but not to Tyler and his slightly older sister. To them it was a spaceship, and the mashed up cars around them enemy robots to be fought against. He had now lost two siblings. The magnitude of that was something that had to be suppressed until he was older and mature enough to think about it. As he sat on the checkered hessian seat, he observed his brother, his only brother and wondered what must be going through his mind. He had never seen him like how he was after Earl had died. In those dark few hours of grief Tyler had become the older brother. In some ways he felt like he now still was. He was more accepting of this new world, but Rob was tied to a past that only existed in their minds.