Cascade Box Set [Books 1-8]

by Maxey, Phil

  Running, but keeping low and to the edge, they moved along a wide walkway lined with small shops. Each of them slid their night-scopes to the top of the heads. The light grew stronger and they could see there was not one but multiple sources sending smoke upwards. Cautiously they inched forward, using standalone pillars as shields, which they ran between. Eventually they could see the source of the light were two fires burning brightly and another which was just embers smoldering. Within each was the remains of a person tied to a stake. Painted on the concrete slabs in front, were large letters. “Devils will burn”.

  They all crouched together in a doorway.

  “Do you think that message is for us?” said Fiona.

  “Yeah, I think it is. We need to check out the underground area, right below us,” replied Zach.

  “We can be easily ambushed down there,” said Cal, looking around him.

  “We need to find the gang. Let’s move.”

  Keeping low they moved into a stairwell, and were soon on the underground level with the fires burning just thirty yards away. Pulling down their night-scopes to their eyes once again they moved into the darkness of the large shopping parade under the streets of Atlanta.

  *****

  Bass looked out into the formless night outside the third floor school room window. He heard a noise behind him, it was Dr. Chapman.

  “Hard to get used to knowing that they are out there,” said Bass.

  “The E.L.F’s or the Hell Fire gang?”

  “Well both, but mostly the creatures. A lot of the camp were behind throwing the Cascaders in a dark hole somewhere and forgetting about them, but now they’re the reason we are all safe.”

  “It’s like I say, everything…”

  Bass smiled. “Happens for a reason.”

  “We haven’t known each other for very long, and you already know all my phrases!” she said smiling in reply.

  “Yeah it sure does seem that way, but… sometimes it’s the wrong reasons.”

  “Heard anything back from Zach?”

  “Only that they have left the Humvee behind and are going into the city on foot. If the gang is there, we will know soon enough.”

  “Wouldn’t it be great, if they kill this Geneva madman, rescue your friend Brad and we can all go home?”

  Bass smirked. “When is the road ever straight. How’s things looking on the medical front?”

  “I get three beds setup, I heard that some of you have had medical training, I might be calling on that.” She looked down and back at him. “But hopefully not.”

  A loud roar rang out from the grounds around the school, and Abbey’s voice came from Bass’s radio. “Bass, the creature’s sense something, I think there’s people approaching us. Over.”

  “Kill the lights. Everyone to their…” before he could finish, the repeating thunder of helicopter blades echoed from the distance. And points of light bobbed and swayed a few miles off. “Everyone to their places. We don’t know if they know we are here, or if this is a routine patrol.”

  Dr. Chapman ran downstairs, while Bass positioned his rifle in a comfortable position to see the road which ran alongside the school. The creatures continued growling.

  “Abbey, can you and your friends do anything to keep those creatures quiet. Over.”

  “We can make them more passive, but then they won’t be much use in a fight. Over.”

  “Okay, leave them and we’re hope the gang just pass us by,” Abbey’s words were becoming harder to hear as the helicopter rose up from the nearby hills, its search light sweeping from house to house. The small points of light, were now cones which were in the backyards of the homes opposite the school.

  Multiple roars rang out a few hundred yards from the school, followed by screaming and gunfire. A number of the points of light retreated back into the trees. Neon red streaks of gunfire flew between the houses and the trees.

  “Bass, the feline E.L.F’s are attacking the gang, but one of them is already down, we’re trying to get them to retreat, but we can’t get through to them. Over.”

  Bass shook his head, and looked down the sight of his rifle, but it was too dark to make anything out in the battle that was happening outside.

  The helicopter appeared again, and rockets flew from its sides hitting the ground, sending sparks and fire upwards.

  “Bass, can’t we attack? The creatures are being killed! Over.”

  “Stay in your positions! And don’t fire unless fired upon. We have to hold this location, otherwise Zach, Cal and Fiona won’t have anywhere to fall back to! They still don’t know we’re here. Over.”

  Abbey could feel the pain of the creatures outside. Each bullet feeling like it was tearing into her own flesh. She turned to Wyatt and some of the other Cascaders next to her.

  “We need the Simivem's to attack as well. See if they can attack the helicopter.”

  Abbey grabbed Wyatt’s hand, who grabbed Evan’s and so on, and they focused their thoughts on the bird like creatures high above, and then on their enemies in the chaos unfolding outside. She then thought of Mo.

  She ran forward into the lobby area, and crept through the open glass door, feeling with her outstretched fingers as she went. The area around her felt cooler and Mo landed a few feet to the side of her, chirping.

  “Mo, you need to leave, fly far away from here!”

  The monkey-bird creature just hopped on the spot, flapping its wings and ducking its head. Even when she tried using her abilities to control him, he still stayed stuck to the spot next to her.

  She grabbed her chest as she felt another of the feline creatures fall to the ground dead, there was only one of them left alive and it was wounded. She closed her eyes, concentrating on the single creature alone out there in the woods, blood trickling from its hide, and forced it to flee.

  The flying creatures swooped repeatedly on the helicopter, some being caught in the blades, and immediately falling to the ground, while others smashed the windscreen. The helicopter wavered as the rotor blades slowed, and then fell sidewards into some high trees, bursting into flames, and setting the nearby forest ablaze.

  Gunfire traced upwards from the ground into the dark shadows above, as a thunderous sound of heavy vehicles came from the end of the street.

  “Mo, inside now!” she half screamed half whispered. The bird like E.L.F pulled its wings in, and slid through the open glass door and then fluttered around the high ceilinged lobby.

  Abbey ran inside, and pulled the glass door shut. She then ran into the breakroom, with Mo closely behind her. Most of the Cascaders and Michael were inside.

  “I’m sorry everyone, I had to bring him in with us, he wouldn’t have survived out there.”

  “Yeah it’s cool,” said Michael, trying not to look anxious.

  Bass, on the floors above watched a long column of vehicles, all brightly lit with their headlights, each carried at least six smaller points of light, which he assumed were people with flashlights. They were all heading towards the school.

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  All around them was garbage. Bottles, cans, cardboard boxes, and everything else a community would discard, laid on the floor of the large underground shopping area.

  At first Zach thought perhaps this was how it had been from the start of the Cascade, but some of the bottles still had liquid in them, he held one up. “Lots of people were here recently.”

  As they swept their scopes around, they moved from one steel pillar to the next, looking into the abandoned shops which were being used as accommodation, passing underneath an intricate network of pipes and tubes.

  Eventually they moved to the end of the space, there was no sign of Geneva or any of his gang.

  Fiona looked back from where they came, which was still well lit by the fires. “They were here. Maybe they knew we were coming.”

  “Or they just cleared out after Abbey escaped,” said Cal.

  Zach absorbed what both of them had just said and went t
o reply when he stopped, frozen in realization. He clicked on his radio. “Bass, come in. Over,” there was no answer, only static.

  “We’re too far in, there’s no signal,” said Fiona trying to control her response.

  Zach started running towards the fires. “We need to get back!”

  As they got close to the lit area, they flipped up their scopes, and tried to ignore the suffocating smell of burned wood and flesh.

  Zach tried the radio again. “Bass, you there. Over,” again no response.

  “We should be getting a signal out here,” said Fiona solemnly.

  They ran up the stairs to the ground floor. “No, stopping until we get back to the Humvee,” said Zach.

  Within fifteen minutes they were almost back at the Humvee, but slowing.

  Running best he could Zach ran up to the vehicle and pulled its driver’s door open. “No…”

  The inside dashboard was stripped back, revealing wires which were ripped and snapped.

  “Fuck.” He ran around to the front, and pulled the already open hood up. The engine was a mess with parts either smashed or missing. He dropped the hood, and looked into the intense black around him. Fiona and Cal stood close by.

  “We have to keep moving…” said Fiona, as she noticed Cal and Zach looking at a glow in the sky a few few miles south. Zach tried contacting anyone at Tango again with the radio but with no success.

  They set out once again, keeping as close as possible to the houses, and heading towards the glow. Soon their energy was leaving them, and their run became a stagger. Jogging up a hill, they could see flames tearing high into the sky, from the windows of the school. In the street out front, feline E.L.F’s lay dead, together with bodies of men and women. Zach ran to each, checking for any recognizable faces, but there were none. “These are all gang members, the E.L.F’s did their job.”

  They quickly crossed the parking lot moving over the bodies of Simivem’s. Each time Zach saw a feathered wing, he breathed a little quicker, but none were Abbey’s pet. Soon they were at the large glass lobby area, which was now hundreds of shattered pieces laying on a blood stained floor. They then spotted the other bodies, all clumped up against the base of the blood splattered bullet ridden wall.

  “Oh God…” said Fiona, running up to the bodies of the Cascaders. Evan, Sara, Gerik and the rest where laying dead. Zach and Cal joined her and checked on their pulses, but none were found. They then noticed in the half shadows the blood on the wall behind the bodies was a message. “Devils will be shot.”

  “Abbey and Wyatt are not here. We need to search, there might be survivors,” said Zach feeling numb. “Use the night-scopes.”

  “They also might still be here,” said Cal, swinging his gun around and flipping his scope back onto his eyes.

  Zach knew the sensible thing was to carefully search the area round him, but he had a feeling in his gut that Geneva’s people had gone.

  They ran to the breakroom. There was only half a splintered door, left hanging on its hinges. Inside most of the furniture was upturned or broken. There was also more blood, but no bodies.

  “We need to split up, stay in radio contact, every 60 seconds click the talk button, and meet back here in twenty.”

  Each one of them took a different corridor.

  As Zach approached the stairs to the first floor, smoke and heat drifted downwards. He could hear the building creaking around him as he ascended upwards into a gray smog. He emerged into a clean looking corridor with students’ artwork along the walls, and tried to stop his lungs from rejecting the air around him, but failed. He coughed and immediately looked for a reaction from any of the rooms close by. There wasn’t any. Quickly moving from room to room, and not finding anyone he went back to the stairs, but now the space above him was so thick with smoke, it was impossible to see further than a few feet. He shouted into the heat but only the sound of burning came back.

  Cal ran to the west, running down corridors, and briefly checking inside each room. They were empty. He then ran into the gym. It was also empty of people, but as he walked into the center of it, his neck started to tingle. There’s an E.L.F here.

  Fiona moved swiftly from room to room, without finding anyone or thing. Eventually she arrived at a junction and was about to go down another corridor when a plain silver door which was slightly ajar caught her eye. Above it was a sign, but in the dark it was hard to read. Opening the door, she moved into the dark and almost tripped as her foot dropped onto a step. Slowly she made her way down the stairs, feeling out with both hands to the walls. Until she was under the school. Large metal pipes flowed in different directions attached to cold walls, as she slowly moved forward, her night-scope only giving her the merest idea of what was around her.

  Reaching out she touched something soft. It moved, and she yelped, jumping backwards into a pipe hitting her back.

  “It’s me! Wyatt! Don’t shoot!”

  “Wyatt? Is that you? I can hardly see you, what did I touch?”

  A flare of light sprang into the darkness as Wyatt lit a match, causing Fiona to fling her scope upwards and rub her eyes.

  “I’m with Mo. I had to make him go into a kind of sleep to get him down here. Have they gone? I guess they must have if you’re here, is everyone else upstairs?”

  Fiona ran forward and hugged him to her.

  “What… what is it?” said Wyatt.

  “We have to go. Can you bring Mo with you?”

  “Er, yeah he should just follow me.”

  As they both emerged from the door at the top of the stairs, Cal and Zach were waiting.

  Zach grabbed the young man by the shoulders. “Are you hurt?”

  “No, I’m fine, where are the others? Abbey told me to come down here with Mo then there was lots of gunfire, I thought it would never stop.”

  Zach, Cal and Fiona looked at each other.

  “Evan, Sara… all the Cascaders are dead Wyatt, Abbey saved you.”

  “Is she?” Wyatt’s voice was desperate.

  “We haven’t found her,” said Zach. She has to be alive. He then turned to Cal. “Can you sense any other Cascaders?”

  Cal closed his eyes, and concentrated. “Only Wyatt and Mo, no one else.”

  “Zach, we need to go,” said Fiona.

  “Did you check the vehicles?” said Zach.

  “No, I thought you did?”

  They then all started running back to the gym, but this time they ran through it emerging into a private parking area near the sports ground. The truck and turreted Humvee were still there.

  They all couldn’t believe the vehicles were still there, but none were going to say they had been lucky.

  *****

  Abbey looked out at the vine covered walls of the Bay, but this time it was not with eyes that were afraid but instead, she looked at the beauty of the sun setting over the ocean, and the new creatures that were enjoying its warmth. Looking back towards what was once the city of Boston, she made her way through the trees, and exotic fauna back to the stone entrance of the building she had previously visited.

  Pushing the vines from her face, she moved into the cavernous inside and as before watched the creatures skitter away into dark recesses. This time she knew what happened next. The blue scaly skinned figure with huge wings and fiery red eyes descended from the domed roof high above and landed in front of her. Its head flicking to one side as it examined her. This time though she walked towards it.

  “What are you? What is this place?”

  The creature’s head moved from side to side as it walked slowly towards her. “Arclight home.”

  “Yeah I get it, you want me to come home to Boston, but why?”

  The creature did not reply, instead it pointed to the right, between two stone arches. Abbey could not see too clearly as the sun was only allowed into this place as shafts from high above, but as she walked towards the arches, she saw what looked like cocoons, with forms inside them. She looked back and the large blu
e creature had gone, so she returned her attention to the cocoons, each one six foot high, and looking like it was made of a crystal like material. Stepping closer, she put her hand on the smooth surface, and climbed up to look inside. Is that a face? What? It can’t be… mom?

  Abbey woke up and immediately grabbed her head that was throbbing, her temple also felt sticky. She tried looking at her fingers, but there was hardly any light where she was and all she could tell was there was some kind of black substance on them. She pulled her feet to one side and the sound of chains clanging together came before she couldn’t pull them anymore. The room she was in bumped up and down and her head throbbed once more.

  Looking around her she could just about make out dark forms laying or huddled. “Hello…? Where am I?” the words crawled from her mouth, in rhythm with the pulses of pain through her head.

  One of the huddles in front of her shifted. It looked like the remains of a man, with rags hanging from bones, and a beard which flopped at the bottom of a smooth bald head.

  “Hello? Can you tell me where I am,” the room jumped up and down once again, and she realized she was in the back of a large truck. Feeling the ground around her and touching pieces of straw she realized it was livestock truck.

  The body in front of her crawled closer, its movement labored and its limbs scratching at the floor to propel itself. When it was a few feet away she began to get scared. Its bony hands grabbed at her bare feet, and she started to struggle. “Get off me!” but its hands kept pulling itself closer to her, until its face was inches away from hers.

  “Abbey?”

  Her head spun with the sound of the thing’s voice. A voice she knew all too well. “Ray?”

  The End.

  BOOK FIVE

  CHAPTER ONE

  Bubbles and blood ascended from Abbeys half open mouth. It was the eighth time she had been dunked into the ice-cold water, or so she thought. Her head felt like a stone block balancing on the end of her shoulders.