Cascade Box Set [Books 1-8]

by Maxey, Phil

  By the time Abbey laid the last steel beam across the pile of rusting machine parts, bricks and planks of wood near the door, she was so tired she couldn’t think straight. She took one last look at the job that had taken her the past few hours, smiled and then receded into a corner with a pipe in her hand for company. The next thing she knew someone was banging at the door which was thoroughly barricaded shut.

  “Open the damn door!” the gruff voice from yesterday was followed by an impact on the door, which barely made the pile Abbey had erected move an inch.

  She scampered to her feet, blinking, then leaned back down and grabbed the pipe.

  The door was slammed once more, again the pile of heavy items from the world before, didn’t budge. Abbey almost wanted to laugh, and then released she needed to be thinking of another way out before they came back with something that would blast the barricade out of the way. She ran to the window, and stopped her mouth agape.

  “Where…”

  Glinting in the morning sun were broken glass windows stretching high into the clear morning sky, the kind you only find on buildings in a large city. It was a place she partially knew from a trip she took as a child, the city of Atlanta.

  But how? From her calculations they could have only been three or so hours from the camp, which would have taken them to perhaps the eastern edge of Texas, but this wasn’t Texas, it was Georgia. She was sure she had only been unconscious for a few hours, but maybe it had been more? She shook her head in discussion with herself. Flown here? It still made no sense how Tinley had been so well prepared considering he lost all of his fighting force when he was captured in Roswell.

  She then realized the attack on the door behind the barricade had grown quiet, which worried her more than discovering where she was. She looked closer to the window, but they were not made to open more than a few inches, she would have to smash them, but then what? Peering downwards, there was nothing but a sheer drop to the sidewalk below, and she couldn’t see any pipes to cling onto outside. Climbing down wasn’t an option from here. She went to run back to the office she first woke up in, when the sound of boots, along with something that was being dragged drifted through what gaps there were in the door, followed by a voice she hated.

  “Abbey, Abbey, I was eating my breakfast, when Emmet breaks my time alone, all sweating and agitated, saying that you have put a barricade up behind this door. But I told him, that can’t be true, because if it were. If I were to try to open this door now, and I found I couldn’t, then that would mean I would have to kill this beautiful Hispanic woman, I have bound and gagged just behind me. Anyway, I’m going to go and finish my breakfast, and then I’m going to come back and open this door. I’ll be back real soon.”

  Abbey swallowed best she could with what little moisture she had left in her throat. If I remove the things from the door, he’s going to be able to get to me, him and the others. The thought made her shudder and feel sick. But that poor woman, he will kill her, it will be my fault! She dropped the pipe and started frantically pulling away the only wall between her and the serial killer.

  *****

  Zach emerged from the back of the smart single story residence. The sun had been up for an hour and most of the convoy personnel were sleeping. He wanted intel from the two men they captured, and he wasn’t resting until he had it.

  He opened the screen door that led to the garden, and picked up some ice that was covering what was left of the former residents lawn, and rubbed it over his hands. Blood and other organic matter ran with the melting ice to the ground, and Zach took a deep breath. He had learned that Abbey was taken by air west to Atlanta.

  It was all planned, I was a fool for thinking we had him. He was in a prison again, one that Tinley had carefully crafted for him. He could feel panic deep down in his mind wanting to rise up and overwhelm him, but he knew if it did, he would never see her again. A noise made him turn around. It was Fiona with a blanket over her and a mug of something which was quickly evaporating in the morning air.

  “Thought you might want some coffee.”

  Zach forced a smile and took the mug. Its heat stung some of the flayed flesh on his knuckles.

  Fiona looked at his hands. “Did you get what you needed? Do we know where they took her?”

  “Atlanta,” Fiona went to say something but Zach continued. “But they don’t know if it was by plane of chopper.”

  “Fuck.”

  They both sat on some leaf covered garden chairs. “What’s the plan?”

  Zach sipped on his coffee, then looked at her. “Did Cal say anything about what happened last night?”

  “No, when we made it back to this place, he was pretty tired… why?”

  Zach wasn’t sure how to continue. Explaining would mean perhaps two secrets would be out in the open, but he needed to tell someone. “When we approached the drone, Cal felt the presence of an E.L.F behind us somewhere…”

  “Okay. He can do that. Why’s that surprising?”

  Zach glanced at her, then looked away. “The E.L.F turned out to be one of the gang members we killed.”

  Fiona’s expression changed to one of confusion. “What? He can track—” She hated the expression ‘Cascaders’. “— Others affected by the Cascade?”

  “It seems like he can.”

  She looked away from Zach to the ice covered lawn. “I see, he never told me.”

  “I don’t think he knew until last night.”

  Fiona just nodded, she was beginning to get a grasp on the changes the man she loved had gone through, but it seemed the Cascade wasn’t done with him.

  “There’s something else. This ability that Cal now has, it might be useful to us,” Fiona looked at Zach, unsure of what he could mean. “Abbey’s like Cal.”

  “Like Cal how?” just as she finished her words, her face changed to one of realization. “Oh. She never said anything to us.”

  “She doesn’t know.”

  “What?” Fiona’s words came out with more force than she intended. “I mean, how does she not know? Did it just happen?”

  Zach looked down guiltily. “Trow told me in Roswell, but I didn’t have the strength to tell her, I just… I couldn’t deal with anything else coming between us. So I waited for the right time to tell her. That time was going to be yesterday, but we know what happened.”

  Fiona took a deep breath. “And you think Cal can sense her somehow? But she’s a long way away Zach.”

  “Maybe, I don’t know how any of this works, maybe when we get closer to Atlanta he will feel something, like he did last night, it might give us an advantage. But can you keep this between you, me and Cal? And.. Raj.”

  “He knows?”

  “He knew about Abbey, but I don’t think he knew about Cal’s new ability. Anyway maybe he can help Cal use it, refine it somehow.”

  Fiona fought the tinge of anger she felt welling inside her. “I don’t know if I trust Raj. I’m not sure how he see’s those that have been changed.”

  “Right now, he knows more about what’s happening to the people we care about than we do.”

  Fiona sighed and nodded in agreement.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Zach sat in the Humvee passenger’s seat exhausted. He had snatched an hours sleep while the others were waking, but the only effect it had was to make him feel even more detached from the world around him. The plan was to get some sleep on the road.

  He clicked on the radio. “Bass we are ready. Over.”

  “Good thing the other Humvee just needed a change of tire,” said Fiona in the driver’s seat, looking down at a page showing a map of eastern Texas.

  “Good thing we had Greggs here to patch it up,” said Zach. In his mind flashes of Rob struggling with the wheel of the yellow bus entered and then were immediately pushed away. “Having second thoughts about the route?”

  Fiona continued looking down. “No, just getting it clear in my head. Two days and we should be in Atlanta. The good news is it�
��s a pretty straight run, although we might have to detour around Jackson and Birmingham depending upon the E.L.F levels in those areas,” she looked to her left at the remains of the drone they salvaged from the branches of trees the night before. “Guess it needed to be done.”

  “Destroying the drone?” replied Zach.

  “Yeah.”

  “Once it was obvious its flying days were over, it needed to be turned into junk. Couldn’t let anyone else get their hands on it, and we don’t have the room to take it with us.”

  “Would have been real useful.”

  The tank’s engine at the front roared and the tracks began to turn, propelling the solid looking vehicle forward with a jolt.

  Fiona nodded to the vehicle in front of her. “Least we have that, more than what we had, to and back from Portland.” She turned to Zach, who gave a sleepy smile in return.

  The convoy moved over the lawn in front of the house, and rejoined the road. Within a few minutes they were back on the highway they had originally entered the town of Catacomb on. The blue patches of sky above them were being replaced with gray clouds and icy rain begun to fall.

  Fiona looked over to Zach to say something, but his helmet was tilted back, and he was asleep.

  “Looks like he’s having better luck sleeping in that helmet than I do,” said Raj.

  “You get used to it,” replied Fiona.

  Raj cleared his throat, before looking at Cal who was sitting next to him. “So you sensed the other Cascade affected individual, last night?”

  Cal shifted uneasily. “I think so.”

  “First time that’s happened?”

  “Yes,” Cal continued, answering while looking out the side window.

  “I understand what’s happened to you must be… traumatic, but you’re not alone, there are others, and maybe now you could help us find them.”

  “So you can separate them out?” said Fiona to Raj, trying not to make the question sound like an accusation.

  “If you’re referring to the postponed vote, that’s above my pay-grade. I’m just a scientist, and Cal has unique abilities that could help us all survive,” Raj emphasized ‘all’.

  “I hope the council feel the same when they take that vote.”

  “If it counts for anything, I feel the same. Zach told me he told you both about Abbey?”

  “We learned about her this morning,” replied Cal looking more at Raj.

  “He feels that you might be able to help find her, how do you feel about that?”

  “I’ll do what I can, but I don’t know if I’ll be of any use, I only felt what I did when I was a few hundred yards away from that guy.”

  “If you’re willing to work with me, I think I might be able to help you with that.”

  Cal nodded, and Fiona took a deep breath.

  *****

  Zach woke with a start. All around him the heavens were pounding on the armored shell he was inside of. “Where are we?”

  “Pulling off the highway west of Shreveport, it’s completely blocked up ahead,” said Fiona, who had the radio in her hand. “How’s it looking ahead? Over.”

  Bass replied it was clear. Sheets of rain fell above them, making it hard to hear anything else. The convoy pulled into a smaller road, surrounded by electrical facilities that were now just chaotic tangles of steel wires and beams. What little green there was, was becoming harder to see through the torrents the clouds were throwing at them.

  “How long was I asleep?” Zach shouted.

  “Two hours.” Fiona shouted back and then anticipated his next question. “We saw some creatures under the highway some miles back, but no trouble.”

  Zach corrected the angle of his helmet, and sat up. “Raj, will a storm like this effect the E.L.F’s?”

  “We honestly have no idea. I guess we will find out.”

  “It sure as shit makes it harder for us to see them if they are out there,” said Fiona. She then paused as if not being sure as to what next to say. “Cal, can you sense anything?”

  “Yes, but it’s distant. I don’t think we are in any imminent danger.”

  Raj flicked open a small ring binder notebook and wrote something. He leaned in closer to Cal to be heard. “Can you tell what direction the E.L.F’s are?”

  Cal closed his eyes and tried to get an idea of where the creatures could be, but all he could hear was the rain. “No, I can’t tell.”

  The convoy moved on cutting through puddles which covered the road. Cal started to feel a tingling sensation somewhere in his head, or was it his mind? He wasn’t sure, but he knew to trust that it meant E.L.F’s were close.

  “I think they are getting closer… not sure from what direction.” He turned and looked out of the back of the Humvee but not to see with his eyes. No, not there.

  Zach tightened the strap on his helmet. “Which direction?”

  “I think coming at us from up ahead.”

  The vehicles approached the junction at the end of the long road they had just traveled down.

  Zach looked out through the rain best he could. To his left, he could make out a large brick building, with a sign outside, tilted, that said this was a church. To their right, a large container looking building, with large lettering on the side. “Conway's better food outlet.” Both had parking lots out front.

  He clicked on his radio. “Bass, we need to take shelter, Cal says there’s E.L.F’s approaching from the east, up ahead. The church on our left looks the safer bet. It’s got a good field of view out front. Park up as close to the main building as you can get, and we will follow you inside. Over.”

  They were soon parked and opening the vehicles’ doors, shielding their faces to the battering from the elements. Bass had already ran up to the first main door of the church, and with one kick, broke it open. He ran in, followed by some soldiers. Everyone else but a small team of four who stayed in the tank, flowed through the open door.

  Only when inside did Zach notice that what windows the church did have, where boarded up, although one of the boards was broken, allowing the rain to create a puddle on the floor close-by.

  “Make sure we’re all here,” said Zach to Bass, who nodded and then made everyone sound off.

  Cal moved to where the wind and rain were gaining entry to the building. He stood on a pew which had been pulled close to the wall and looked out into the storm. Every few seconds, the wind forced the rain horizontal, and he could see a few hundred yards further, almost to the tree line. The tingling was intensifying. The droplets of rain being forced into shards struck his face, making his vision momentarily blurry but it didn’t matter. You’re there, I can feel you. He then felt someone close behind him.

  “Are they out there?” said Fiona stepping up onto the pew and sweeping her hair back from her eyes.

  “Get closer, you will see them soon.”

  Fiona stood against the back of Cal and peered around his shoulder into the grayness. When the next gust picked up, they saw the distant trees shudder, and then part as if pushed over by the storm. But this wasn’t caused by the nature of old, these were story high brown beasts, partly covered in fur but mostly a rough matt looking leathery hide.

  “Look at their…” Fiona wasn’t sure how to complete her thought, “limbs?”

  Instead of being four or two legged, these creatures had six thick trunk like tentacles, which their torso sat on top of. Their heads were small, with eyes that couldn’t be seen.

  “Can you see them?” Raj spoke up from behind, standing beside the pew.

  “Sure can, not sure I want to though,” replied Fiona.

  “Do you mind if I take a look?”

  Fiona backed off. “Knock yourself out. We better hope they don’t find out we’re in here, I’m not sure the tank will be any use.”

  Raj quickly jumped up and watched next to Cal, squinting in the rain. “Do you think they can sense you? Will that draw them to us?”

  Cal glanced at Raj and frowned. “I hope not.” />
  Raj got his notebook out and started scribbling, trying to not let the rain smudge his sketch.

  The rain thundered down on the church’s roof, while the broken boards where Cal and Raj stood clattered with the wind. Cal leaned forward trying to glimpse the creatures better. “They’re coming this way.”

  While Cal had been watching the creatures, Zach had been directing everyone to take up defensive positions, and the tanks turret was trained towards the oncoming threat. It was also backed up to the door, so if the occupants needed to, they could quickly escape into the building behind them.

  The ground rumbled slightly, but it wasn’t due to the storm. Cal and Raj ducked down away from the broken window.

  Bass whispered into his radio. “Don’t open fire unless they attack. Over.”

  Zach ran over to Cal, crouching down next to him. “Did you see how many there were?”

  “I just saw the one, but I sense more.”

  Suddenly there was a snorting, similar to the sound of an elephant, and what looked like a stunted trunk but with two dark eyes embedded in it, pushed up against the flimsy board above their heads. A rush of warm pungent air flowed over them, as the boards at the window creaked. Zach wasn’t the only one who gripped his rifle tighter.

  Nothing stirred inside the church, with the only sound being the rain above, and whatever was pushing and probing outside the window.

  Cal kept his breathing calm and regular. There were times, many times that having a connection with the E.L.F’s was a good thing, but this was not one of them.

  The sound of rain and nothing else returned to the space between the broken wooden boards, along with a light rumbling.

  “I think it’s moving off,” said Cal.

  Everyone still held their breath for a few moments more, until Cal stood back on the pew. “They have gone. I can still sense them, but they are moving away.”

  Fiona stood, taking a deep breath. “Sounds like it’s stopped raining as well.”

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN