by Maxey, Phil
“Cal, what are you doing?”
Her words seemed to pass through him as he continued his work, slapping the wall with the black ooze and smearing, left and right. For a moment she was mesmerized by his passion for this mad artistic expression, but with a shake of the head, she snapped out of it, and slung her gun over her shoulder, walking forward, and put her hand on his arm. He continued his endeavor for a few seconds then stopped, looking at the wall, emotionless.
Fiona went to say something, but had a feeling that it would be useless, and that the best thing she could do was just to return him to his bed. Keeping her hand on his arm, she placed the other hand on his shoulder and rotated him around to face her then walked him back to his place on the ground. Without questioning, he lowered and covered himself with his jacket, his eyes closing instantly.
She sat on her own blanket with her back against the wall, and shone her flashlight’s beam on his face. He seemed peacefully asleep.
*****
Slithers of light like orange neon planes of glass carved up the space in the warehouse. Zach blinked a few times and felt behind him for Abbey, who was still sleeping. Carefully extracting himself, he got to his feet and immediately regretted standing so quick as a pain shot through his lower back. He winced then stretched, dulling the pain somewhat. Looking around he could see Mary was already awake with a number of children huddled around her. From where he was he couldn’t tell if they were shivering or laughing, but they seemed happy whichever it was.
Fiona was also awake a few beds from him. She was sitting up sipping something from a small plastic cup. She seemed lost in her own thoughts, so he walked up to her.
Before he had a chance to talk, she put her cup down, like she had decided something. “Follow me.”
Trying not to make her movements too purposeful she got to her feet, smartened up her one blanket, then walked past Zach in the direction of the unused part of the building. He followed her, as they walked past metal shelving units, until coming around the edge of one, there was a large plaster covered wall, covered in an explosion of black streaks and circles.
“Hmm,” was the only response Zach had. He walked up to it closer. “Strange, it’s still wet. We must have an artist in our midst,” he said the last part with a smile on his face, but it quickly went when he looked at Fiona, whose face was one of stress and emotion.
“Cal did this, I found him during the night in some kind of daze. He was just manically throwing the oil onto the wall and smearing it around. He seemed to know what he was doing, but I can’t make any sense of it.”
Just as Zach was about to respond, there was a commotion from back where people were sleeping. A female voice shouting in a foreign language. Fiona and Zach went to turn around, when they realized a young girl of around six was standing behind them smiling. Zach kneeled down to her, but she looked straight past him at the dark chaos on the wall.
“What’s your name?” said Zach.
She kept looking at the wall, giggling and pointing, saying the word “Zuhause.”
The sound of the woman’s voice grew louder and she ran up to the young girl, turning her around and admonishing her in German. Megan’s face quickly changed to one of sadness, and Hanna hugged her in response.
Hanna looked up at Zach. “I’m sorry she bothered you,” and then went to walk away.
“I’m Zach, this is Fiona, you are?”
Hanna stopped. “I am Hanna, this is Megan.”
Zach waved and smiled. “Nice to meet you Megan,” Megan waved back.
Hanna gave a troubled smile in return and went to walk away, when her expression changed to one of confusion. “You did that?” she pointed at the mess of black oil on the wall.
“No, why?”
She picked up Megan into her arms and walked closer to the painting. “Its just, it looks…” she turned her head to the side, then took a step back. “It looks like the Stella Spire.”
Zach and Fiona looked at each other and then at Hanna.
“It’s a region of interstellar gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula. Anyway whoever painted this must be an astronomer,” turning she walked away.
Zach and Fiona looked back at the dark astronomical stain on the wall.
“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 t
he 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 drew 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.”
