by Maxey, Phil
A few vehicles sat motionless in the frost covered parking lot at the back of the centre, but there were no people or anything else to give Zach hope. Behind him, the kitchen door stirred, and he quickly turned the shotgun in that direction. A young soldier put his hands up, and Zach lowered the gun. The general then appeared from the kitchen and walked into the corridor, while talking on her radio.
“I don’t care, close all the external exits and tunnels. Over,” she then turned to face Zach with an expression that told him something he didn’t want to know. “Zach, there’s something I need to tell you.”
When the General told him Tinley had escaped from the courthouse, he quickly put the pieces together. He knew Tinley had Abbey. He fell to his knees holding her backpack and shook with a combination of emotions, until they all washed away leaving only numbness.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Zach paced back and forth. “I need to leave! Each moment I’m in here, he can be another mile away and the harder it will be for me to track him!”
General Trow walked up to him blocking his path. “Captain! Think! That’s probably exactly what he took Abbey for, for you to go after him!”
Zach looked at Trow, his face full of pleading. “But she can’t be left with him!” he then backed against the wall of the meeting room they were in at the Core, and slowly slid down, tears rolling down his cheeks. “You don’t know what he’s capable of, I can’t lose her.”
Trow walked up to him, and kneeled down. “Zach, while you’re alive, she’s alive. He will use her to lure you to him. If I let you just blindly go beyond the walls who knows what you will be walking into, and then we will lose Abbey and you. This needs to be planned. Planned quickly, but planned nonetheless,” she put her hand on his shoulder. “I will put whatever resources it needs into getting her back Zach, you have my word.”
Zach took a deep breath. “I need my team, and some others.”
“You will have them.”
He got to his feet and sat heavily in one of the chairs, which faced a monitor at the front of the room.
“I’m going to bring some others in here to help with how we are going to get her back, you ready?”
Just as she finished her request, Fiona came urgently into the room, walking up to both of them, with a large map in her hand.
She placed it down on the table in front of them. “It looks like they left by one of the service tunnels in the east wall.”
“All the exits through the walls, even the service tunnels have security gates, and are monitored, there’s no way he could have done any of this unless…”
“He had help from people within the camp,” said Zach his eyes fixed on the thin red and blue lines of the map.
“I’ve already got people interrogating the guards at the courthouse, but nothing so far,” Trows words crept out covered in guilt.
Fiona looked at her. “There’s over ten million people inside these walls, we can’t expect everyone to be law abiding citizens.”
“Was anyone hurt there?” said Zach breaking from his own pain.
“Tinley shot the judge, and they took Daisy Castillo with them.”
“Fuck, so they have two hostages,” replied Fiona.
“That we know of.”
“How did he get the gun?” Zach’s expression was one of increasing confusion.
“Took it from the court foreman, who was knocked unconscious by another man that was there. He and a woman were working with Tinley.”
Zach looked off into the distance for a moment. “So they used the computer centre as a distraction to pull people away from the courthouse.”
“That’s what it looks like.”
“The people that helped him at the courthouse, do we know who they are?”
“No, but someone in the chamber managed to secretly get some photos with a phone,”
“At least those old phones are good for something,” interrupted Fiona.
“We have extensive records of everyone that arrives at the camp, and these two don’t show up anywhere. They must have sneaked in somehow.”
“They weren’t part of the convoy that came from Portland? Not military?”
“No.”
Zach shook his head. “There’s something off about all of this,” a gray, formless mass of an idea was taking shape in Zach’s mind, but he couldn’t quite grasp it, even though he could feel it. “I need to see the photos from the courthouse.”
Trow went to respond when the door opened again, and a soldier entered. “General Trow, councilor Sawyer is asking for you in central op’s.”
Trow sighed. “I need to take care of some things, Sergeant Bass and General Garland will be in here to help plan things soon. I’ll get you those photos.”
As soon as the General left, Fiona hugged Zach who was still sitting. He winced a little. “Oh, sorry, the shoulder still hurts?”
“A little.”
“We’ll get her back Zach, and this time, how about we finish that S.O.B off once and for all?”
“That’s the plan.”
Again the door opened, Bass and Garland both came in.
Garland moved closer to Zach. “We’ll get her back Zach, you have my word.”
Zach took a quick glance at her as a thank you, then focused on the map. “Let’s get to work.”
*****
Nathan Miller played with the frayed part of his worn denim jacket trying to ignore the hunger pains in his stomach. He was used to going without eating for long stretches, but by his counts this was nearing twenty hours without a bite and he needed his grub. Didn’t matter what it was, some roots, some seeds, a three years out of date can of prunes, he wasn’t fussy. Dreams of roast beef drifted through his mind, and he swallowed, closing his eyes to picture the feast more clearly. He never heard his cell door open nor the swish through the air of Zach’s fist slamming into the side of his head, knocking his momentarily unconscious.
Zach lifted him up, and against the damp wall of hewn rock. “Wake up Nathan, time for me and you to talk some more.”
Nathan eyes fluttered open. “Wha… why did you hit me?”
Still holding him with one hand, Zach pulled his Glock handgun from its holster and held it near his head. “Nathan! Do you see I’m holding a gun?”
“Yes, yes! Don’t shoot!”
“Don’t worry Nathan I’m not going to shoot you in your head.” Nathan calmed slightly. Zach then moved the gun lower and placed it against Nathan’s thigh. “I’m going to shoot you in your leg, Nathan.”
The middle-aged man tried to struggle free, but Zach’s grip was vice like.
Nathan looked beyond Zach to the still open cell door. “Help!, he’s going to kill me!”
“You might die from this wound Nathan, you might not. Shall we find out?”
“No, no… Okay! I’ll tell you what I know!”
Zach pulled him off the wall like a rag doll and slung him onto the bench. “Start talking.”
Nathan breathed quickly and heavily. “I don’t know much okay?” Zach started to raise the gun towards his leg again. “But! There was talk that something was going down in this camp, something big.”
Zach lurched towards him. “What talk? Who told you this?”
“Some Hell Fire members that I came across some days ago.”
Zach stood stunned as the unclaimed thoughts of the previous day fell into a coherent idea. Tinley and the Hell Fire gang working together?
“Tha… That’s all I know!”
Zach stepped back and fell silent, lost in his thoughts. They must have had people in the camp already, maybe some are still here?
Nathan stood up slowly, keeping his back close to the wall, and half slid, half walked against it in the doors direction. “I helped, so I’m going to leave now, okay? Yeah I helped you good.”
“You’re not leaving yet Nathan.”
Nathan sighed and sat back down on the bench. “Can I get some food then?”
Zach ignored the
request and left slamming the door behind him.
CHAPTER EIGHT
The sound of an eighties rock band seeped into Abbey’s mind. In front of her a man with long black hair in tight black leather pants, danced while on a dark stage, around him strange creatures played instruments. Abbey smiled and laughed at the strange scene in front of her. She was sitting alone in a huge stadium, when she looked up she could see three eclipses in the sky. Dark circular shapes that looked like they had been cut from the night above her. The singing man continued to cry out, screaming more than singing. “Wake up bitch, wake up bitch!”
Sound and sensation flooded Abbey’s ears and nose, but not her eyes as she could only see a blue hessian cloth in front of them.
“Finally, she’s awake, I really thought Clovis had hit her just a bit too hard,” the mans southern accent was close but her head was spinning and she couldn’t tell if she was even upright, let alone the direction he was from her.
Abbey opened her mouth, with the intention of requesting some water, but instead, only rasping sounds emitted from her throat. She tried swallowing but it made no difference.
“I think she’s trying to say something,” the man’s voice was louder as he finished talking, and she was sure he was only a few feet away. “Hey, did Shane give her any water?” the man paused as if someone was talking to him, but Abbey couldn’t hear any other person. “Well, she ain’t gonna live for long, without any water is she?”
Abbey heard some shuffling and then shortly afterwards, the feeling of something plastic pressed against her dry lips. The cool liquid started to pour out and she gratefully gulped it down.
“Whe…” she cleared her throat, and tried again. “Where am I? Why did you take me?”
“Shhh… don’t talk, it will only go worse for you if you do, here have some more,” the stuttered voice of a young man, was followed with more water from the bottle.
“But…”
Again the young man shooed her. “They will be back soon. I don’t want to get in trouble.”
“You’re already in trouble!”
Abbey’s words came out more angrily than she meant, and footsteps moved away from her, followed by a cool blast of air hitting her face.
Fuck. She felt that whoever the young man was, she was getting through to him. Maybe he felt sorry for her, hell maybe he even was attracted to her, who knew, who cared, it was something she would use to her advantage if she got another chance.
Now her mind wasn’t preoccupied with the dryness in her mouth, her other senses started to form an impression of where she was. Damp wood? Metal? Dust? She sniffed at the air around her, trying to form a mental image of where she might be. Warehouse?
Her hands were tied behind her back, but now she was alone she started to pull and twist her hands against the plastic straps that held them. While at the DOD she had been given some basic training in what to do in precisely this situation, and she knew getting out of these straps might mean a dislocated thumb, but if it kept her alive it would be worth it.
As she was struggling, her mind drifted to Zach, and she felt tears well up in her eyes, so much so that she had to stop trying to escape to calm down. The emotion wasn’t because she felt bad for her own situation, but because of what Zach must be going through. That was not acceptable. She pushed the world outside the room she was in away and concentrated on the tiny bit of slack she started to feel in the strap. Moving and rotating her hands left and right, the strap started to loosen just as the cool air from before washed over her again, and she froze.
The sound of heavy boots came towards her, then stopped.
“Who’s there?” she exclaimed to the space in front of her. A kind of grunt responded, then the boots moved closer still.
*****
Zach sat in the passenger’s seat of the Humvee looking at drone footage. The last vestiges of daylight, were gone and a gloom permeated the air around them. Ethan and his team back at the Core spent hours flying over east of the camp, and Zach sat just a few hundred yards away from the west gate watching what they had found. He zoomed in on video of a convoy of vehicles moving east, then the clip stopped.
“Shame they couldn’t get anymore,” said Cal sitting in the back.
“The drone was at the end of its fuel, they had to ditch it out there,” Zach nodded towards the wall in front of them, “It’s something though, it looks like they kept on going east, so that’s were we head.”
“Bit convenient, that the drone just happened to catch the convoy?” said Michael in the driver’s seat.
“They wanted to be seen,” said Zach, as his radio crackled then came to life with Fiona’s voice.
“Few minutes out, brought some friends. Over.”
Zach caught Michael glancing in the rear mirror at Cal sitting behind. Since they had returned from the Portland mission, not many words had passed between them.
A silence descended upon the interior of the Humvee, Michael was the first to break. “Seems like the E.L.F’s have decided to stay away from attacking the camp.”
“Maybe they felt sorry for us, decided to leave us alone,” said Cal.
In the rear mirror, vehicle headlights appeared in the distance.
“More than a few friends, by the looks of it,” said Cal stepping out of the Humvee.
Soon a Humvee with top mounted gun, an army truck and a light tank which doubled as an armored personnel carrier approached.
Fiona got out of the Humvee, while Bass jumped down from the top of the light tank.
Bass saluted as he neared Zach, who was now standing with Cal and Michael. “Complements of the General. We also have a small platoon of fine soldiers. Six in the light tank, and fourteen in the truck, along with weapons and ammo.”
“Enough to fight a small a war,” chimed in Fiona.
Bass smiled, while rubbing his hands together to shake off the evening cold. “If that’s what it takes.”
Zach smiled back at Bass, but inside he had to fight the emotion of the gift the General had given him. The camp had lots of military resources, but well, this was a tank he was looking at.
The rear door of the Humvee opened, and a familiar face appeared lit by the vehicle’s interior lights.
“I see you have brought less luggage than before doctor,” said Zach as Raj approached him.
Raj smiled. “Actually I have just as much, but it’s already packed in the truck,” his smile than receded. “I’m sorry about what happened to Abbey, I will do all I can to help get her back.”
“I’m surprised the council were okay with you going on this trip?”
Raj smiled. “Well they don’t really know I’m here.”
Zach held out his hand, which Raj gladly shook. “Thank you,” he then turned to Bass and Fiona. “Are we all ready to move out?”
“Sure are,” said Fiona.
Zach walked a few steps forward looking at the light tank. “Maybe this should be up front.”
Bass nodded, and returned to his spot at the top of the tank, ducking down to say something to the people inside. The vehicle then rumbled forward passing everyone else, and stopped some yards in front of the first Humvee.
Fiona walked closer to Zach. “There’s been some light E.L.F activity ten miles east of the wall, but nothing major.”
“Good…”
Fiona looked at the quickly approaching night. “I wish we were doing this in the daylight… but I know we can’t wait.”
“If we leave now, maybe we slip out without too many people noticing, even with the tank. Let’s do a quick comms check then move out.”
Fiona nodded, and messages quickly passed between the radios the group had.
Zach then returned to the first Humvee, and clicked on his radio. “This is Rescue squad one, we are ready to move through the east gate. Over.”
A large rumbling started to shake the vehicles as the large steel gates, slowly begun moving sidewards.
CHAPTER NINE
Not a
gain. This time Abbey was sitting further back in the stadium, and around her were E.L.F’s. Not ones she had seen before, these were more human sized, but they were just as strange. Some had tentacles for arms, others had multiple heads. She froze in her seat, frightened any of them would soon notice her, but instead they seemed to be enjoying the show the angry rock star she had seen before was putting on for all of them. He was screaming his lyrics as before, and jumping with his mike, and all around the creatures waved and made noises which seemed to be of happiness and enthusiasm. Then it stopped. The man on the stage had gone, and all the strange beings around her were looking at her, thousands of them. Their faces were emotionless, just staring. Abbey wanted to scream, but she realized she had no mouth, or nose, or ears. She looked down and saw that her arms were tentacles, as were her legs, which writhed against the plastic smoothness of the floor. Wake up Abbey. Wake up!
Abbey awoke into even greater darkness than before. Earlier in the day, when she had woken from the first dream, there was light around her, which flooded all the gaps her blindfold afforded her. She had been sure it was daylight and not artificial. But now, there was only intense black, and she was lost in the center. The smells were the same though, rust, mixed with the sodden moist damp smell of wood or cardboard, she wasn’t sure which, but she was sure it was a warehouse, and she was still in it.
She was glad of the water she drunk before, but she was also aware that she was dangerously dehydrated, and if she didn’t get more inside her, whatever fate awaited her from those that took her would be the least of her problems.
Suddenly she remembered her hands and how one of them was almost loose. Her skin felt rough and sore against the plastic straps as she pulled and twisted her hands. Just a bit more. One hand broke loose and pain shot up her arm dissipating into her shoulder. She stifled the sound she wanted to make in response and immediately brought her hand around and pushed the blindfold up to her forehead. At first, even with her eyes already adjusted all she could see was a wall of black around her, but then she noticed a faint glow ahead.
