by Maxey, Phil
Zach laughed. “I should have made an appearance earlier.” He looked around at the counter, bottles, tables and chairs. “This place has certainly changed since I last saw it.”
Isaiah came in from the kitchen with a towel around his neck. His hand reached out and gave Zach a brief embrace. “Hey good to see you man.”
“Take a seat, what you having? We got coffee on the go, or you want something stronger?”
Zach smiled and sat. “Coffee would be fine. I think it’s been about a month since I was here. The place looks good, you getting a lot of people coming in? It’s a bit hard to find, what with all the building going on.”
Isaiah sat nearby. “I keep telling Sam we gotta advertise, get some posters up or something.”
Sam brought the coffee over, placing it on the table. “All we got to do is just keep serving fine coffee and late night booze and we’ll be raking it in,” he then went back behind the counter, and started cleaning some mugs.
“Thanks. You just out of the shower or something?” said Zach looking at Isaiah.
“Plumbing issues, this place was here before the Cascade, the pipes have to be at least sixty years old.”
Zach nodded. “Abbey’s good. It has been a crazy few weeks, but the nonsense with people detained is over, for now at least. But I’m here to make an offer to both of you.”
“You want to invest in a bar?” said Sam.
“Not exactly.”
Isaiah’s eyes widened. “No way man, we’re not going back in.”
“Just hear me out, it won’t have to be like that.”
“We got this place, things are good, why the hell would we want back into the military?” said Sam.
“I’ve been put in charge of the camp’s defenses.”
Isaiah looked impressed. “Congratulations.”
“And we got a major manpower problem. The council resisted implementing a draft because they didn’t want to cause problems with people, not while the camp was getting on its feet.”
“Makes sense,” said Isaiah.
Zach was about to reply, when an eighties pickup looking a bit rundown pulled up outside, and a young man got out.
“That’ll be Tyler,” said Sam.
“Rob’s brother?”
“Yeah, he’s staying with us up at Mary’s place. And he helps out here.”
Tyler walked in carrying a box, and stopped when he saw Zach. They hadn’t talked much since getting back from Roswell.
Zach smiled. “Hey Tyler.”
He put the box down. “Ah, alright Zach, how’s it going?”
“It’s going better than it was a few days ago. Sam tells me you been helping out here, that’s good.”
“Oh just keeping busy, anyway I better be getting back,” he turned to Sam. “Mary said don’t forget the vegetables for tonight’s dinner.” Sam nodded, and Tyler left.
A silence fell upon all of them, until Isaiah broke it. “Was a damn shame how things went with Rob.”
“Yeah,” said Zach while sighing. “But he seems to be doing okay?”
“He got close to one of the girls staying with Mary, her and the others have helped him get through day by day, but he lost his whole family…” said Sam.
“So what’s this offer?” said Isaiah, trying to lift them out of their gloomy thoughts.
“I want you and Sam to be the face of a new recruitment drive.”
Sam looked confused. “You seriously want Isaiah to be your face?” Isaiah threw him a dirty look.
“Both of you, yeah. And don’t take this the wrong way, but if people see that both of you are willing to step up, then that’s some incentive for others to play their part.”
Isaiah looked unsure. “Yeah, I’m not sure, we got a good thing going here.”
“It’s not back into the military. I’m setting up a new civilian based defense force, managed by the military, but not part of the military. That’s what I want you to be the front for.”
Isaiah rubbed his chin. “What kinda work will it be?”
“You’re be in charge of the units in your zone. And apart from that we’ll be putting you on posters and on TV,” Zach smiled.
“Can we talk about the bar?” said Sam.
“We can work something out with that, but it’s a paid position, you’ll make enough to hire someone to work here.”
Sam looked at Isaiah, who looked back at Zach. “How much exactly you paying?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Abbey stood in the kitchen watching small flickers of snow drift slowly to the ground outside the back of the house. The sun was just about to make an appearance, but was shielded behind a wall of gray. She looked to the right, and Mo was inside the small wooden shack that Zach had built for him, out of the remains of the workshop. She pulled the twin blankets she had on her shoulders tighter around her to try and push the cold further away, but her nose and ears were still slightly numb.
Two weeks had passed since the ‘Battle of the Cascaders’ as the press named it, giving far too much credit to herself and the others Abbey thought, but she was thankful that the publics view of them had radically changed, and they were now seen as defenders of the camp and not things out to destroy it.
Also the Cascaders were the least of the councils problems, as the food stores kept getting broken into and set ablaze, and the dam still wasn’t anywhere near fully operational so electricity was being strictly rationed. Trees were slowly disappearing from inside the camp as more and more of them were being used as firewood.
Zach came down the stairs and into the kitchen. “Sure is a cold one this morning.”
“There’s coffee on the top.”
“How’s Mo this morning, he was making some noises last night, is the shack still in one piece?”
Abbey smiled, still there, take a look.
Zach looked. “I presume they can handle the cold…”
“I think I saw an adult on the roof of the parking garage in Atlanta, and it had built a pretty big nesting area, so maybe we need to put in there some branches or something.”
“I’ll do that before I go into the Core. How you sleep?”
“Same as usual, not so good.”
“Leg?”
“Yeah,” she lied. The dreams of the vine covered cities had returned.
Zach took a sip on his coffee, when his radio lit up. “Major Felton, we have a situation with one of the outposts. We need you in as soon as you can. Over.”
“I thought outside the camp wasn’t your thing?” said Abbey.
He put his hand up, and clicked on his radio. “Which outpost? Over.”
“Roswell. Over.”
The already chilled air inside the kitchen dropped a further few Fahrenheit.
“Brad?” said Abbey, knowing that Zach didn’t have any answers.
“I’ll be right in. Over.”
“I’m coming with you.”
Zach looked at Mo.
“I’ll throw some blankets and some branches in and around the shack,” said Abbey.
Soon they were on the powder white road, heading towards the Core, both trying not to say what they were thinking. But talking about anything else seemed worthless.
“Brad wouldn’t have been caught by any E.L.F’s he’s too crafty for that,” said Abbey.
“We live in an unpredictable world, but yeah I don’t think anything like that would have happened,” Zach wanted to be more encouraging, but he thought to do so might make it worse if they learned any bad news once they arrived at their destination.
Zach pulled into the parking lot, and they both ran into the main lobby, and were soon in central operations walking up to Brigadier General Garland. She had been demoted because of knowing about Abbey’s rescue mission, but held onto her job. She looked ashen faced when they ran up to her.
“What’s the situation with Roswell, Sir?” said Zach.
“We don’t know. There was a scheduled call between us and Brad last night, and he never repl
ied. We have been trying again at regular intervals throughout the night, and I’m afraid there’s been no response. We have no other way of knowing if he’s okay or not.”
“Is Fiona back yet with Rescue Squad one? If so I’ll go with her out to Roswell and check things out,” said Zach.
“Major, you have an important role here at the camp, you can’t just drop everything and go on missions outside anymore.”
Zach went to protest but Abbey stepped closer to him. “Zach, you need to stay here, I’ll go out there with Fiona and the squad.”
“Yeah, but…”
“Zach… I’ll be fine and if he’s injured or something, we will bring him back.”
Zach paused for a moment in thought. “In that case there’s some people I want with you.”
*****
Elizabeth Trow sat in the Humvee with the door open looking up at west gate number two. Even though it had only been a few weeks, she had quickly gotten used to wearing civvies, and being back in uniform, even if it was in an advisory role was jarring. She turned her attention back to Fiona who was standing impatiently outside with Cal, Michael, Isaiah, Sam and Bass.
“Okay, I’m sure Abbey will be here soon, but listen up. We treat this like any other mission…” Abbey’s pickup appeared in the distance, Zach was driving. “Here she is.”
A frosty sun made little headway through the gloom of the clouds, and the light snow from the day before continued to fall. Most in the squad were well equipped with winter clothes.
Abbey got out carrying her backpack and gun. Zach walked up and hugged her, they then joined the others.
Sam thought he saw something over their shoulders, but smiled and looked back at Fiona.
“What is it?” she asked.
“Ah, nothing, I thought I saw a flying monkey.”
Isaiah burst out laughing. “Man, you lost your shit already and we’re not even on the road yet…” just as he finished strange noises came from the back of the pickup, and large feathered wings sprung out.
“What the fuck, it’s an E.L.F!” shouted Sam who with Isaiah went to raise his gun.
“No! It’s Mo, he’s with me!” shouted Abbey.
Isaiah looked incredulous. “What?”
“She’s got a flying monkey,” interjected Sam.
The others were quietly laughing.
Isaiah, looked at Fiona. “You knew about this? The council are cool with people keeping them as pets?”
“I knew about it, but haven’t seen it with my own eyes until now,” she looked at Cal who had already begun walking over to the back of the pickup. As he neared, the creature’s wings flapped a few times, and then Cal reached out while the creature did the same. Everyone quietly watched as Cal and the creature briefly touched hands.
“I think he likes you Cal,” shouted Abbey.
“I convinced the council that it was a learning opportunity, which it is,” said Zach.
“Right…” said Sam.
Abbey put her hand on Sam’s shoulder. Just keep your distance from him and everything will be fine. He’s gotten used to Zach, but I’m not sure how he would be around others.
“Oh, I got no problem keeping my distance. Although it is kinda cool you have a flying monkey.”
“How’s he going to travel with us?” said Fiona.
“We have been letting him off his rope more frequently over the past few weeks. He’s not flown off yet. He usually sits on the roof, and then at night returns to the shack Zach built him. I’m hoping he just flies above us as we travel, but yeah there’s always a chance he will go.”
Fiona looked around the group. “Okay, like I was saying, we treat this as any other rescue mission. If we run across E.L.F’s, Abbey and Cal will take point, and hopefully we won’t have to engage. We still haven’t heard anything from Roswell, so we have to expect anything. Could be E.L.F caused, could be human. We got a six hour ride ahead of us, meaning we should get there before nightfall. Let’s saddle up.”
Fiona and Cal got into the front of the first Humvee, with Michael getting in the back with Trow. Bass, Sam and Isaiah got into the second Humvee. Zach and Abbey hugged once more.
“I’ll be checking in every hour for as long as I can reach you,” said Zach.
Abbey smiled and briefly kissed him. “I know.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
As they left the west gate, the small convoy had to negotiate around mounds of carcasses which despite being frozen, still caused them all to close their windows due to the stench. Both Abbey and Cal felt the same sadness seeing the slaughter around them, and both felt a sense of guilt for it.
Soon they were on highway seventy-one heading northwest. Abbey soon lost sight of Mo who took to the skies as soon as they left the camp, but just as she was beginning to fear that her new friend had gone back to wherever he had come from, she would see him spiraling high above.
“So with the er… E.L.F following us, are you able to still sense other creatures nearby?” Bass said over his shoulder to Abbey while driving.
“Yeah, each species sound different to me. I know the tune from Mo, so that now I hardly notice it. Don’t worry if anything else makes an appearance I’ll know.”
“So, what does he eat…?”
Abbey giggled. “He’s not going to eat you Sam.”
“Yeah but maybe he wants too? All the creatures we have seen, seem to be happy to live off humans.”
“He seems to be fond of chocolate cookies, I’m sure he could eat the camp out of it’s dwindling supply.”
“Yeah, he’s going to have to fight me for the remaining cookies,” said Isaiah.
In the other vehicle Fiona looked out onto the largely flat landscape, while driving. She looked in the rear mirror at the retired General. “So General, did you get much chance to get out of the camp before?”
“Please call me Elizabeth. Not since the early days, been too busy.”
Fiona nodded. “You see some places that are completely devastated, mainly large towns and cities, and then you find other places look like they haven’t been touched… like the world never changed.”
“And all the time you have to watch for the crazy creatures… but now we got Cal and Abbey, so at least we won’t be taken by surprise anymore,” said Michael.
Trow smiled. “I’m not bothered about being out there. It will be good for me to see beyond the walls, who knows when I’ll get another chance.”
“You knew Brad from years back?” said Fiona.
“I was friends with him and his wife. After she passed away we kept in touch. He was the reason I was prepared for what happened. His prompting pushed me to push the high command to start building the walls near Austin.”
“Yeah, how did those walls go up?” said Cal.
“Many, many people lost their lives building those walls and defending those who were doing the building. The walls you see there now, were not the first ones to go up. They are probably the fourth iteration of what we first built.”
“Maybe one day someone will make a film, and you will be the hero!” said Michael.
“Ha, I hope not! Although, now I have time on my hands I should really start writing down what happened. Ant will find that interesting when he’s older.”
“How is he?” said Cal.
“Everything considered, he’s doing okay. Thank you for helping look after him.”
“It was more Abbey than I, but we all pulled together in there.”
Soon they were passing through a medium size town, and driving past a long chain linked fence. Trow was paying the area behind it particular attention.
“See anything?” said Fiona.
“This was an airforce base that we brought some supplies in from. We were attacked numerous times on those airfields.”
“Do you want to check it out?”
“No need, nothing but memories there now.”
Fiona then noticed Cal had his hand to his temple. “You sense something?”
&n
bsp; “Up ahead… three E.L.F’s heading… south.”
“Ha, next he’ll be telling us what types they are!” said Michael half joking.
The forgotten motels and car dealerships were soon behind them and they were back out onto open road once more.
An hour later they were passing “Scottsfield Hospital” and Abbeys mind returned to when they were there two months previously and the soldier Martinez who later died.
“Feels like years ago we were last here,” said Abbey looking at the large pale building.
“We’re at the halfway point,” said Bass. “Anyone need to take a break?”
“Not unless we need to refuel.”
“Nah, we’re good.”
Dusty frosted plains and small deserted towns flew past until after roughly six hours the sun started to set and they were approaching the outskirts of Roswell.
Bass clicked on his radio. “This is Sergeant Bass from Camp Bravo, for Brad Crenshaw in Roswell. Come in. Over.”
As they drove onto Main Street, the office building they lived in previously loomed high on the horizon a few miles off.
Bass tried again, but still with no response.
“Look!” said Abbey, pointing into the sky. Smoke and embers were floating up into the low clouds. A feeling of numbness and panic started to invade her thoughts as the trail of rising smoke became more and more aligned with where Brad’s home should be. She could also feel them. E.L.F’s in the city around her, but seemingly keeping their distance.
As they pulled into the long road which ran up to their destination, orange and red flickers could be seen leaping upwards.
“Guns, and everything else at the ready, everyone. Over,” said Bass as they approached the once impressive three story building which was engulfed in flame and smoke.
The boards on the windows were now empty holes which allowed a view into a fiery hell.
The convoy stopped, and Abbey jumped out, “Brad!” she ran forward onto the lawn, but pulled back as the heat was too intense to get any closer.
The rest got out as well. Bass and Michael joined Abbey at the front of the lawn.
“Around the side,” shouted Bass as the three of them ran to the right of the building. The stairs were uncovered and the secure steel door was open. Smoke drifted upwards from the gloom beyond. “Abbey stay here, keep trying him on the radio. Me and Michael are going to go into the basement and see if we can see anything.”
