Cascade Box Set [Books 1-8]

by Maxey, Phil

  Jacob walked up to a cell, which contained a tan colored large insect, covered in bony looking spikes, which flew from one wall to the next.

  “We think these were locusts before, they were one of the first reported cases of E.L.F’s and were probably some of the first to evolve. They attack in a swarm.”

  “What’s the point of the spikes?”

  “They contain a toxin which momentarily paralyses their targets, which they then as a group devour. They were among some of the most successful early predators, which is why there were not wiped out by the more advanced E.L.F’s that came along afterwards.”

  “Have you seen any spider human looking creatures?” said Abbey.

  “We have had reports of arachnids evolving into a more humanoid form, perhaps that is what you refer too, but we have not been able to capture any as they tend to prefer living underground,” Joshi paused as if aggrieved “The council will not sign off on any missions to retrieve creatures. All of these have attacked the walls. Anyway we don’t have long so I need to brief you on some things we have learned.” Joshi walked to the far door and repeated the hand scan.

  The door opened into a large lab area, the brightness of which almost being a strain on their eyes. An abundance of lab worktops, vials, screens and scientific equipment stretched many yards in all directions, with people in white coats intently working. On some of the worktops were dead specimens of E.L.F’s and along the far wall were more cells with clear fronts containing live E.L.F’s. None of which the group had seen before.

  Joshi led them past rows of worktops to a section which contained chairs, a table, and some computer screens. He held up a small ringed booklet. “Each page in this contains a description of each E.L.F. that we know of as well as any weaknesses we have discovered. The pages are color coded according to the categories we feel they fall into, so amphibious, flying etc. Each of your packs contains one. Take care of it. It might well save your life. A lot of the creatures fare better at night, so try to travel in the daytime.” Putting the booklet down, he picked up a small black plastic tube. “They also have exceptional hearing and smell, but this can also be a weakness for them, because it means they are also very sensitive to high frequency sounds, and pungent smells. So your packs also contain a high frequency sound generator, and a few spray bottles of something you really don’t want to spray on yourselves unless you have too.”

  “So why did it happen?” said Fiona to Raj.

  “Why did what happen?” said Raj as someone in a white coat came up to him whispered something in his ear then walked away.

  “This! Everything!”

  “Oh you mean the Cascade?”

  Fiona nodded.

  “There are a number of different theories…but our current best guess is it was due to unnatural environmental factors.”

  Abbey went to respond but Fiona spoke first. “He means pollution.”

  “Not necessarily, but perhaps yes.” He was about to continue when a soldier walked up to the group and an alarm started sounding.

  “The camp is being attacked. Dr. Joshi you are needed in the operations room. The rest of you, dispatch is in thirty minutes, you all need to follow me upstairs and change into your new gear.”

  “Okay, I hope to see you all again, perhaps you could capture some specimens at some point,” said Joshi as the group were led away and back up to the briefing room.

  Jacks was still there, but this time his backpack was on.

  “Let’s get acquainted with our supplies and what we are going into, Fiona you got the planning covered?” She nodded and picked up a printout of the route. Jacks walked forward.

  “It’s okay I got the route covered,” said Jacks to Fiona.

  “I’m going to go over it anyway,” replied Fiona.

  After a short amount of time they had changed into their military uniforms, had looked over the maps of the town of Brownstone and were waiting outside the facility. The air-raid siren was sounding across all four quadrants of the camp and military personal were running everywhere. Major McCain stood close to Humvee and a pickup truck both painted in yellow and black.

  “What's the deal with the paint jobs?” shouted Michael.

  “Our enemies are animals not humans. Animals generally know to avoid those colors, it’s clever thinking,” said Abbey.

  McCain waved them all to form a group. “Listen up, we’re currently experiencing a fierce attack on two sides of the camp wall, first time that’s happened. You lot are going to creep out the southern side across the bridge. So far it looks quiet down there. I’ll be expecting you to make it to Brownstone by nightfall. Report in every hour. You got that people?”

  “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 l
anes 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.

  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.