by Maxey, Phil
Zach had carefully searched two floors of the former army aviation headquarters without finding a single soul. It looked like whatever Cal had done at the airfield worked.
As he walked up the staircase to the top floor of the building, a feeling of dread started to creep over him and his energy started to seep away. He stopped and took a deep breath. I’m going to find her.
As drops of sweat fell from his face, a noise came from the corridors behind the door just ahead of him. On the wall next to it, a list of important sounding departments were painted. She has to be here.
Stepping onto the topmost landing, he stood close to the door and listened. More noises came through the solid looking door, but he couldn’t make out what they were.
He put his hand on the handle and opened it in one movement. Instantly voices of multiple people hit him.
The corridor spread out in both directions, and contained doors on both sides and at one end. A group of five men who had been talking, about twenty yards to Zach’s left, stopped and looked at him.
“I was told that I needed to deliver these rifles to someone on this floor?” shouted Zach towards the men. Four out of the five continued talking, while the fifth, the tallest who was also sporting a ponytail walked towards Zach with an inquisitive expression.
“On whose order?” said the tall man.
“Terry,” said Zach randomly selecting a name.
The tall man scrunched his face up. “Who the fuck is Terry?” he then pulled his rifle off of his shoulder.
Zach was done with talking. Screw this.
He pulled one of the rifles off his shoulder and fired hitting the tall man in his arm, making him fall backwards. The other four men scattered into doorways and started firing back.
Zach did the same bursting through a closed door and landing on the floor just inside the doorway. As he looked up, he realized two other men were sitting at a table with cards in their hands. Zach quickly raised his rifle and let loose a volley of shots hitting both of them across their chests. Both fell onto the floor knocking their chairs over. He then scrambled back to the doorway, and fired in the direction he knew the men were.
As bullets splintered the doorframe next to him, a noise came from behind in the room and he swung his rifle around to fire. Two women he recognized emerged from a door.
“Zach?” said Corporal Gregg’s. Behind her was Doctor Chapman. Both of their faces showed bruises and lacerations, but apart from that they seemed in good health.
“Grab a gun!” shouted Zach as more bullets caused him to duck back into the room. It was then he noticed over the women’s shoulders the bright flashes and explosions way off in the distance through the windows.
Both women ran forward and pulled the rifles and handguns from the two dead men on the floor.
“Where’s Abbey?” said Zach.
Greggs kneeled opposite Zach, on the other side of the doorframe. “We haven’t seen her since this morning, but we heard men saying Geneva has left with the prisoner.”
“And where is he?”
“They just said he’s left for the other base.”
She’s not here. The thought that Abbey wasn’t even on the base, hit him like he had been shot and for a moment he was disconnected from the sounds and fury around him.
“Zach? Zach!”
“Yeah, I’m fine. I’m going to get you out. Is there anyone else here with you?”
“They had some men from Atlanta on the base, but I don’t know where they are.”
“Sam, Isaiah and Bass are with Cal, they should be safe—” Bullets slammed into the wall above his head. They’re getting closer. “Is there another way out of this room?”
“Yeah, the room we were kept in, there’s a door that leads back into the corridor further down.”
“Take that route, and get to the—” A bullet scrapped past Zach’s face, slicing the skin on his face, he lurched back as blood sprayed out covering Greggs and the nearby wall.
Chapman ran forward and grabbed his head examining his wound. “He’s okay.”
Zach pushed her hand off. “I’m fine, get to the stairs, I’ll be right behind you.”
Greggs stood but didn’t move.
“Go!”
She frowned, then both women ran back to the room they came from.
Zach fired back by sticking the rifle outside for a few seconds, not knowing what he was shooting at, other than the general direction. The return fire had stopped and he heard whispers. He went to fire again, when the rifle just clicked, out of ammo.
He threw it to the floor, then pulled himself away from the door and slammed it closed. He then ran to a filing cabinet and dragged it, dropping it on its side in front of the door and bullets smashed through the door just missing him.
He pulled the other rifle from over his shoulder, turned and ran.
*****
Cal Looked through his night vision goggles from his position inside an abandoned hardware store on the main street running up to the headquarters. The alley out back had been the one that he saw Zach and the others meet up. He was alone in the shadows of the empty shelves, and tired. Whatever he did to bring the E.L.F’s to the base had drained him.
It took some convincing, but he managed to argue that it was better Sam and Bass took the opportunity they had to get back to the hole in the fence at the airfield, and make their way to the gas station. It made no sense risking them getting caught again, he preferred working alone anyway.
The tingling in his neck had gone, and so had the sound of battle just a few hundred yards away and the whirring siren.
Flickers of regret for sending those creatures to their deaths breezed through his mind. He sighed, then looked again through the large glass window into the street.
While he had been in there, groups of men had run past, each packing M4 rifles. The Hell Fire gang were not short of armaments.
He raised his radio and clicked it three times. He could have talked into it, but without knowing Zach’s situation he didn’t want Zach’s radio to suddenly come to life with his voice. No response came back.
It was a miracle they had not been discovered, but that luck wasn’t going to last.
He shook his head, and clicked on the talk button on his radio. “Zach?”
Still no response. If Zach had been caught, there was no way he was going to be able to get him out. Not unless he called more creatures down on them and he wasn’t sure he had the juice left in him to do it.
He went to turn around, when a noise came from his radio. He clicked on the talk button. “Zach? You there? Over.”
“I’m here. I’m with Isaiah, Gregg’s and Chapman… but no Abbey. She’s been taken with Geneva to another base. Over.”
Another base?
“Where are you? Over.”
“Making our way back to the tower. Over.”
“No! We had to leave that location, too much going on there. I’m in a hardware store. The alleyway you met the others is at the back of it, are you near there? Over.”
The sound of voices came from his left, down the street. They seemed to be coming his way.
“Yeah, we’re close.”
“I’ll meet you there. Over.”
Cal ran through the shop and out the back. He was soon in the intense darkness of the alley. He could hear the voices of a large body of people out the front of the shop, together with vehicles. Running west over the pools of muddy water, he got to the end of the alleyway, and looked out across the other streets. He then spotted Zach crouching down at the side of a smashed pickup truck.
Looking both ways along the street, he ran forward as quickly as his tired legs would carry him and dived behind the truck next to Zach.
Zach grabbed and shook his shoulder. “Let’s get out of here.”
Cal hesitated. “Abbey?”
Zach turned away. “We need to go.”
They all ran forward, keeping low using the scattered vehicles as cover, until they were
back in amongst the trees that surrounded the airfield.
Thirty minutes later as the rain grew heavier, they traipsed back to the gas station. The destruction at the airfield meant they had not seen or heard any vehicles on the roads around the base, but they all knew it was only a matter of time before they did.
Zach walked up to the Humvee in the garage, and pulled the tarp off of it. “Someone grab the fuel cans from the back and fill her up. It’s going to be a tight fit getting us all in.”
Sam and Isaiah duly obliged and started pouring the fuel.
He hadn’t had much chance to talk to any of them since the escape but as the rain fell heavy on the metal roof above their heads, he was glad to see them standing in front of him.
The rain had washed away most of the blood on his cheek, but it still seeped blood as he got into the driver’s seat. The others got in behind him, with Cal getting on the turret and Greggs sitting in the passenger’s seat.
Nobody spoke as he pulled out onto the rain soaked highway.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
As the Humvee moved along the Georgian country roads, its headlights swept across wintry trees and the occasional abandoned farm building.
Hardly a word had passed between anyone in the vehicle, which suited Zach. His thoughts were on Abbey, and what she must be going through. Despite a voice at the back of his mind saying what transpired at the base was a win, he couldn’t help but feel a sickness in his stomach.
He glanced over to Greggs who was asleep as it seemed everyone else was, apart from Cal who was still standing at the turret.
They had been on the road for an hour. No one had followed them, and they had luckily not come across any E.L.F’s.
He slowed the Humvee stopping it in the middle of the road and turned on his little flashlight to look at the map on his lap. The route seemed fairly simple, just keep heading west and north west.
Cal ducked back inside. “We all good?” he said rubbing his hands together.
“Yeah, just checking our route. You sense anything?”
“Nothing,” Cal then stood back up.
He heard someone move behind him, and a hand landed on his shoulder. “How’s the face?” said Chapman.
He had forgotten the three-inch laceration on his cheek was even there. He felt it gently with his fingers then pulled back when it stung. “My head’s still where it needs to be.” He forced a smile back in her direction.
“It’s going to need butterfly stitches when we get back to the pharmacy. But you got any alcohol in this thing?”
“Behind you where Sam is, in one of those bags. Might be some there.”
Chapman reached back, feeling in the gloom for hard bottle shaped objects. Eventually she found something and reached into the bag and pulled it out. Holding it up to the light revealed a bottle of Whiskey. “This will do. Here, pour some on the cut.”
Zach did so and winced as he cheek burned in response. He thought about taking a swig, but he needed to be sharp, or at least as much as he could on four hours sleep. He handed the bottle back to Chapman. “How’s everyone else?”
“I’m gonna need a new hand, at some point,” said Isaiah, apparently not asleep.
“You should go, full on hook,” replied Sam lying best he could in the storage space at the back.
Zach and Chapman smiled.
“I’ll take a sip of that stuff,” said Sam to Chapman next to him. She handed the bottle to him.
“How you holding up, Bass?”
The sergeant was sitting in the back left, his head resting on a small blanket. “Leg’s throbbing like a son of a bitch, how far we got to go?”
“Four hours yet I’m afraid,” said Zach.
“I should really take a look at it,” said Chapman.
“And what you going to do to fix it?” said Bass, his words coming out with more force than he meant. “I’m sorry Doc, I’d rather we just pushed on.”
“No need to apologize. Sam, give the man the drink.”
Sam did and Bass took two hefty gulps as Zach turned off his flashlight and pulled off.
Over the next few hours the dark forms of trees and single-story houses flew past. Occasionally Cal would tell Zach to slow down or stop, as he sensed something passing their route up ahead, but nothing was deemed a direct threat.
Around the town of Tearville, they stopped and Greggs took over the driving duties. Zach wanted to keep on driving, but after running the Humvee onto a grass verge a few times, he thought better for everyone’s safety that he got some rest.
As soon as he closed his eyes, he felt a nudge and he woke realizing the past hour had gone by.
“Got Fiona on the radio,” said Greggs handing him her radio.
“Good to hear you, Fiona. How’s things there? Over,” said Zach.
“All good here. No Abbey? Over.”
“Geneva moved her somewhere else with him, another base… but no idea where. Over.”
“We’ll find her Zach. Over.”
“Yup.”
“Got someone here you might want to hear from. Over.”
There was an exchange of some words at Fiona’s end, and a male’s voice came through the speaker.
“Michael!?” said Zach.
“It’s me, Zach, I got back here a few hours ago.”
Cal had ducked back inside and was listening. “Hey buddy!”
Zach smiled. “Cal say’s hi. How you make it back?”
“Long story. How far you out? Over.”
Zach looked at Greggs.
“Thirty minutes,” she said.
“Thirty minutes. Over.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Greggs pulled the Humvee into the parking lot of the pharmacy. The sight of the tank comforted everyone almost as much as seeing Fiona and Michael standing outside. Both were lit by the external lights of the armored vehicle next to them.
The Humvee pulled up close to the tank and everyone started getting out. As Cal emerged, Fiona ran forward and embraced him, holding him tight to her.
“Last one remember?” she whispered to him. He nodded in reply.
A few soldiers ran forward and helped Bass get out. He seemed to be shivering.
Chapman ran to him, and put her hand on his forehead. “You’re burning up, we need to get you inside.”
“Yeah—I’m—not feeling.”
“Stop talking,” she looked at the two soldiers who then took him under each shoulder and helped him inside. Chapman followed them.
Zach approached Fiona and Michael. “How’s Wyatt?”
Fiona looked away momentarily. “Coping best he can. He’s been keeping us alert to any E.L.F’s that passed by.”
Cal approached Michael, who had a smile on his face together with a bandage over his head. They embraced with their forearms. “We couldn’t see you at the School, we thought they took you,” said Cal.
“They almost did. Bass sent me to secure the perimeter…” He shook his head. “They came at us with numbers, we couldn’t hold them back. I tried getting back to help the others, but Bass told me to get the hell out. I thought he was a gonna for sure.” He looked down. “Can’t believe we couldn’t get the fuck, in Atlanta.” He looked back up. “And now, he’s gone to another base? Just how many they using?”
“That’s what we need to find out,” said Zach.
“Let’s get inside,” said Fiona. As Zach passed, she leaned into him. “If you’re up to it, Core operations wants an update,” she then indicated to the tank.
Zach nodded, and got into the back of the tank, while the others walked into the large pharmacy.
“Put me through to the Camp, son,” said Zach to the lone soldier on radio duty.
A few moments of static later Garlands voice came through the speaker. “Glad to hear you’re back Major. What intel have you gathered? Over.”
Zach explained the events of the past night and what they had seen at the base.
There was a short pause on the other end. “Get
some rest Major, I’ll get back to you at zero six hundred hours. Over.”
“Will do. Over,” Zach handed the mike back to the private. There had been no mention of a mission to find Abbey from the Brigadier General and the thought of her out there alone once more was a weight he had no resistance too.
“Wake me, if there are anymore comms from the camp,” he said to the soldier next to him and slowly climbed down from the tank and walked into the large building behind it.
As he did doctor Chapman walked up to him. “Bass has a temperature of a hundred and five. I found some antibiotics here and given him some. We also got some cold packs on him. We should be able to lower his temperature, but his leg is my concern. We need to get him back to the camp so it can be operated on.”
He was going to ask her how much time do they have, but he didn’t need too from her expression. “What’s the soonest he can travel?”
She looked thoughtful. “Maybe an hour for his temperature to come down.”
“In an hour we’ll be back on the road, get ready.”
She went to move away, when he realized she had just got out of being held by the gang at the base, and lightly touched her arm. “Are you okay?”
For a moment her lower lip quivered. “Oh, you know me, I’ll be fine! Nothing a good nights rest when we get back can’t fix!” She then moved away.
Corporal Bell walked up to Zach. “Perimeter secure Major.”
“Good work Corporal. Get your people ready to move out in an hour.”
The soldier saluted and walked away. Zach wanted to tell the young man not to salute but was too tired to do so.
He walked up to one of the aisles, grabbed a packet of peanuts and started eating them. He then sunk down to the ground and sat on the rough carpet, with his back up against the shelves.
His breathing grew heavy, as his mind fought to stay awake, trying to make plans as to how to find the woman he loved, but eventually he slumped further back and fell asleep.
*****
The communication from core operations at the camp came sooner than planned.
A tired looking Zach returned from the back of the tank and approached Fiona at the back of the pharmacy. “They’re sending out a helicopter. We need to drive west for about four hours, then they will meet us, and take Bass and any other injured back to the camp.”
