by Maxey, Phil
It moved towards her and she backed up against a cold pillar, her fingers reaching for something to use against this creature. Closer and closer it came until it was just a few feet from her. Then it spoke. “Home Arclight.”
Abbey woke into darkness and immediately pushed her hands out in front of her to stop the creature from coming any closer, but she then realized there was no strange being there, only shelves of packets and bottles of pills.
The candles they had lit some hours earlier had gone cold, and there was only intense black around her. She reached for her backpack and pulled out the water and gulped some down. The dreams were getting worse. A feeling of panic started to creep over her mind. Is the same thing that happened to Cal, happening to me? No, that was when he was transitioning, I’m already past that stage. This is something else. But what? What or where was this strange city? Who was this being that mentioned her hacker name again? And a reference to home? Boston?
She slowly got to her feet and walked to the counter, carefully climbing over it. She could see mild light coming from the front entrance, so walked to it, trying not to walk into any of the shelving units or tread on anything that would go pop. The sun was coming up on what looked like a half decent morning. The ground was covered in frost in the parking lot, but it was not raining or snowing. A noise from behind her made her turn around.
Fiona smiled. “I thought I was the only one that got up at this hour.”
“I had a bad dream,” although she wasn’t sure if it was ‘bad’ now she was awake to think about it.
“Yeah there’s a lot of that going around. But not really surprising that people can’t sleep properly after the world was ended by monsters.”
“That’s not how I see them anymore.”
“If you’re not a Cascader they still want to kill you.”
Abbey smiled. “You have to remember, that the world is just as new to them as it is to us, maybe more so. Entire species were born just a year ago into our world, and they did what they needed to, to survive.”
“Yeah by killing millions. You make it sound that the things out there are victims of circumstance.”
“In a way they are. I’m not saying humans shouldn’t be wary of E.L.F’s they of course should, but they are the new animal life of this planet, and we need to deal with that fact.”
Fiona wondered if Cal felt the same. “Well, I’m going to get some coffee, do you want some?”
“Sure, thanks.” Fiona left and Abbey sighed. She didn’t blame humans for not understanding how the world had changed. She didn’t herself, but she was beginning too. She squeezed through the gap, between the entrance and tank, and stood outside. The skies were clear above, but a breeze brushed against her face, making her wish she should have brought more than one blanket with her.
Above she sensed something. Mo was hovering hundreds of feet up, circling. She then noticed the other creatures laying amongst nearby trees. Still here.
Bass tapped Zach’s arm, making him wake up. He was holding a steaming cup of coffee.
Zach uneasily sat up. “Well, this is how I like to wake up,” he said smiling.
Bass sat down next to him. “With the kind of day we got ahead, every little bit helps.”
“I hear that,” said Zach trying to sip on the hot coffee. “Get any sleep?”
“Some.”
“Any news from Ops?”
“No.”
After a short while, everyone was gathered around inside the large shop area, with the aisles around them.
Zach stepped forward. “I’m going to go through the plan one last time, so we know exactly what each of us has to do. Two groups of Cascaders. Headed up by by Abbey and Michael. They will be taking control of each group of the E.L.F’s outside…”
Wyatt interjected. “What if more E.L.F’s come long?”
“Good question. Whichever group is closest to the new creatures, they are going to have to deal with it.”
Wyatt smiled, proud he asked something useful.
“The tank, four soldiers and one of the trucks will be staying here. This is our link to the camp, and our final fall back position if things go south. This location is called Echo.”
“The tanks a bit exposed just out front, we should find a location with more cover,” said Bass.
“Agreed. Everyone who I did not mention as part of the Cascader groups, will be part of two more groups. A defensive group, to protect our position on the outskirts of the city which we are calling Tango, and an offensive group whose mission it will be to find Geneva and take him out. The defensive group will be Sam, Isaiah, Bass, Dr. Chapman, Greggs, and private Groves and Bailey. The offensive group will be myself, Cal and Fiona. Everyone clear so far?” everyone agreed or nodded. “The Cascaders are going to be used to create distractions. Once we find out where they have their main base of operations, we will use the E.L.F’s to attack it, this will hopefully draw their people towards the E.L.F’s and it might force Geneva out from whatever hole he’s hiding in. We will get as close into their base as possible to be able to take him out, when he appears. As soon as he’s down, we get the hell out of there, and return first to Tango, and then back here to Echo, then back to the camp. If you’re in trouble, that’s also the order you escape too. First try to get to the base on the outskirts, and then here. You all have your own weapons, and supplies.”
Sara spoke up. “If things don’t go well, in Atlanta, it’s still five hours from there to here? That’s days by foot.”
“There will be a truck, and two Humvees at Tango, but if they’re not available, well, you just have to survive best you can to get back here,” a murmur ran around the Cascaders. “I know that’s not what you want to hear. I know in the past you have not been soldiers. But today, you are. Today, if things go to plan, we will give everyone back at Camp Bravo a chance to live a better life. Everyone check the time, it’s zero eight hundred hours now. We should be at the outskirts of Atlanta around noon. We then wait for five hours until it’s dark, then we attack.”
“Let’s do this!” said Evan and everyone shouted “Yeah!” in response, then slowly filtered away to get their belongings and get themselves ready.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
“I kinda wish the weather was worse,” said Fiona glancing at the sky, while driving the front Humvee. “You can see our feathered friends as clear as day up there.”
“It will be nighttime when we attack, apart from that, if they see them during the day, they will just think they’re the usual E.L.F’s that hang around the city,” said Zach sitting in the passenger’s seat.
“Let’s hope.”
Cal stood in the turret position just behind them and smiled. The last time he was in this position, the world was moving at a pace he couldn’t keep up with, and he was changing even though he didn’t know it at the time. The ice cold air blowing past him couldn’t get through his winter hat, goggles and scarf around his face and he felt a sense of belonging to something larger than himself. Not just because he was a Cascader, but because of what they were all attempting to do, help save the camp.
Soon they were passing through a national forest and the wintry trees on both sides of the highway did justice to the name.
Wyatt looked at Evan sitting next to him in the truck, the middle-aged man kept crossing and uncrossing his arms. “Are you scared?” asked Wyatt.
Evan looked at him and frowned. “Nah, we get in, we tell these creatures to go attack, and then we leave, what’s to be scared of?”
Wyatt gave a meek smile then looked out the back of the truck over the top of the second Humvee at the large feline like creatures that were bounding after them in the distance.
As the convoy passed over the bridge where they had previously met the Hell fire gang, Abbey shuddered and closed her eyes. Flashes of the night came back to her. We so nearly died. She swallowed and opened them and looked at the ice covered river and beautiful landscape that surrounded it. She wasn’t afraid anymore
of the strange nature around her, only some of those people that lived amongst it. She thought again of her dream. Could she be dreaming of Boston? Surely it couldn’t be that overgrown by now? It’s only been a year since the Cascade.
“Are you okay dear?” said Dr. Chapman observing Abbey from the backseat. They were both sitting in the second Humvee, while Bass drove.
Abbey smiled. “I’m fine, just going over that bridge, brings back memories.”
“There almost wasn’t a bridge. We had plans to blow it, luckily we didn’t otherwise we would of not been able to fish you off the ice.” said Bass.
“Everything happens for a reason!” said Chapman.
Abbey looked at the forest sweeping by and hoped that was true.
When they were about two hours from Atlanta, they approached a multi-lane junction, with highways crossing left and right above them. The road they were on which passed underneath, appeared dark.
“Is it just me or does that look wrong under the highway up ahead,” said Fiona. “How’s it look Cal?” she shouted.
Cal felt the back of his neck. “Something’s there,” he shouted. He could just about make out layers of what looked like gray streaks which crossed the road as it went under the overpass. There were so many of them that no light from the other side was getting through. The convoy stopped.
Zach clicked on his radio. “Abbey when you left the city did you come past this? Over.”
“I came up from the south, didn’t pass through here. But there’s an E.L.F ahead of us, I’m getting out to see. Over.”
Zach swore to himself. “Wait Abbey, I’ll come with you. Over.”
Zach got out as Abbey was walking past, and had to run a little to catch up with her. “Abbey, wait up.”
“You should probably hang back Zach, I don’t think we have encountered whatever this is before.”
Zach looked into what seemed to be fine netting blanketing the way forward. “It looks like a spi…” before he could finish, a white piece of what looked like twine stretched out from the others wrapping around Abbey and pulled her forward through the air into the darkness.
“Abbey!” Zach shouted, raising his gun but not knowing what to shoot at.
Abbey passed through multiple layers until she was inside a large open space, full of tiny points of light, that pulsed and moved along strands. She felt like she was inside the mind of a machine, with electrons flying around the network. Concentrating, she allowed herself to relax and her mind to move outwards, soon the strand that was holding her loosened, and she was lowered softly to the ground. Like dark clouds clearing in a storm, the thick blanket of material slid to the sides, until light from the other side of the highway became more and more visible. Shortly afterwards whatever E.L.F this was, was holding back to the sides of the pillars which held up the highways above.
Zach ran up to her. “What is a spider? I don’t see anything,” he said looking around him.
Abbey smiled. “No spiders. It was something else, almost plant like, but alive like an animal. We can safely pass now.”
Zach clicked on the radio and the convoy drove up. They both returned to their vehicles and passed through, as soon as they did, the threads flew across the road and the view to the highway they had just driven up from was gone. The other E.L.F’s avoided the area, climbing and jumping the highway walls to keep up.
Soon they were approaching a large body of water. All the Cascaders felt the presence of a lot of E.L.F’s ahead of them.
Zach clicked on his radio. “We can’t do anything with water based E.L.F’s, so just make sure they don’t attack us. Over.”
The Cascaders acknowledged and soon everyone in the truck, Cal and Abbey had their eyes closed, focusing on trying to communicate with whatever was in the water around them.
As the vehicles passed over the slim bridge, a multitude of creatures on the shore and between the cracked ice were silently watching them.
“Well this isn’t creepy at all,” said Fiona trying to keep her eyes on the road but being distracted by the scene just a short distance below. When they were beyond the bridge, the Cascaders opened their eyes and everyone else let out a sigh of relief.
When they were close to the city Zach clicked on his radio. “Atlanta is just up ahead. We’re getting off the highway, to avoid being spotted from any patrols. We’ll try to find a good location for Tango as close to central as we can, but be prepared for contact with the enemy at any moment. Abbey if you recognize anything, let me know. Over.”
Soon they were passing down pleasant tree lined roads with single story homes that were set back some distance. To the right of the convoy an entrance flashed past of a school.
“Bass, let’s check this school out, pull into it in the next entrance. Over,” said Zach.
The large red-brown brick school building, looked deserted as they drove up to the impressive glass entrance.
Zach looked around. “Let’s just sit here for a moment, see what happens, Over.”
A light wind blew in the early afternoon sun. The feline E.L.F’s sat in the front yards of a nearby homes, while the Simivem's circled overhead, but apart from that there were no other noises.
“Okay, it looks clear. Me, Cal, and Fiona will look inside. Michael, I’ll need you in this Humvee on the big gun. Everyone else hang back out here until we give you the all clear. Over.”
The three of them got out, and approached the forty foot high glass panels and doors. One of which was already pulled open. The lobby they walked into was clean, with only a few text books scattered across the floor. The space opened up into a large hallway, with signs pointing to different parts of the school. A door in the hallway, had “Teachers breakroom” above it. Zach pushed the door open. There was one chair lying on its side on the floor and some shelves with books had fallen over, but the rest of the room was untouched. A row of windows, looked into a central plaza in the middle of the school.
Zach went and started closing the blinds. “This will do. Fiona, get everyone into this room, me and Cal will check out the other rooms.”
They slowly went through the glossy floored corridors trying the handles to doors of the many rooms. Eventually they came to the gym. The door was already open, and the large open space inside was filled with bedding and empty plastic bags and bottles. Printed pieces of paper lay scattered across the floor and empty tables were pushed against the outer walls. They both walked in and stood in silence.
“Must have been used as some kind of refuge for people,” said Cal.
“Yeah.” Zach couldn’t help but imagine the games that must have been played on the court, and the crowds that cheered.
By time they got back to the break room, everyone was inside, and people were finding places to rest.
Michael was going through cupboards against the far wall. “Ah ha,” he said opening the last one and pulling out a bag of coffee. Somebody else had set up a small stove, and was boiling water with a pan of beans ready to be heated next.
Zach approached Fiona. “Set up a two person patrol to keep an eye on things around the school. Shift change every hour and try and move the vehicles out of sight. We’re also going to need the defensive positions set up in and around the school, coordinate with Bass,” Fiona nodded. Then Zach checked in with Echo on the radio. Everything was fine back at the pharmacy.
Dr. Chapman approached Zach. “I’ll need some of my supplies in here. I want to be ready to patch people up if things don’t go well.” Zach nodded, and got two of the soldiers to bring in what she needed.
He then turned to the rest in the break-room. “Everyone get some rest, and get ready. In three hours the attack team is going to move out. We will search the downtown part of the city, and find targets for the Cascaders to send the E.L.F’s to attack, and hopefully find the location of Geneva. Nobody leaves this location, unless we say so. Everyone understand?”
Everyone agreed.
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
The Humve
e drove down a pockmarked road in the darkness, its beams catching glimpses of factories and buildings that were long forgotten before the Cascade even started.
“Doesn’t look like there’s any sign of people living around here,” said Fiona straining to see if any of the dilapidated homes were still lived in.
“Hopefully all of Geneva’s people are living in downtown,” said Zach, as they turned into another road with homes on both sides.
“After this road, it opens out, and we’ll be a lot more exposed,” said Fiona.
“Agreed, let’s leave the Humvee here, and we’ll go the rest of the way on foot.”
Parking the Humvee in a drive behind some bushes and trees, they had a last look at the map of the area.
“The parking garage Abbey stayed in is about a mile north from here. Night-scopes on… Everyone ready?” Fiona and Cal nodded. Letting the others at Tango know they were proceeding on foot, they quickly made their way across yards and lawns, until they were in the park area Fiona mentioned.
In the distance, just visible as dark monoliths against the last remaining light of the day, stood the buildings of the downtown area.
Moving as fast as they could along the sidewalks and across parking lots with smashed and broken cars, they came to an area of multiple highways crossing from the east to west.
“Beyond the highway, we are close to the downtown area. Safety’s off and stay close together.”
They soon moved beyond the highways, past apartments, parking lots and then they were alongside office buildings. Zach waved for all of them to crouch together.
“Anyone see anything?” he whispered.
“Nothing, looks completely dead around here. We need to go further in,” said Fiona.
The further north they ran, the more impressive the buildings grew that towered into the night sky around them. Eventually a flickering light was visible to their west.
Fiona pointed. “I see it,” responded Zach.
