by Maxey, Phil
Zach pointed his own flashlight at the shutter he had just closed, then looked at Michael and Bower standing nearby. “We need to get something against this shutter it won’t take much for it to be lifted back up.”
They nodded, and soon were dragging some heavy shelving units which had been holding tools over to the shutter. Just as they pushed it up against its metal slats, the ground shook slightly and the snapping and breaking of large trees rang out all around them.
Zach looked at Wyatt. “Do you know what they are?”
“I… they are large, heavy. That’s all I can pick up sorry.”
Zach put his hand on Wyatt’s shoulder as he walked past him to the office. He pulled some of the chairs across underneath the windows and stood and looked out. He immediately ducked back down. “These walls won’t stop them from getting in here, if they want to.”
“I want to see,” said Diaz pulling her own chair over.
Zach walked back to the garages. “They are just outside, everyone keep quiet.”
Diaz reappeared from the office looking shaken.
“What do they look like?” whispered Hayes.
Diaz sat down on the greasy floor. “Lots of claws.”
“Can’t you and Wyatt control them?”
“Some E.L.F’s don’t respond and I don’t want to test that on whatever they are outside.”
During the following few minutes, the sound of snorting and the occasional primal roar echoed around the forecourt just beyond the flimsy looking metal shutter. After half an hour Wyatt said they have moved on, but there were still lots of creatures around them and they should get back on the road as soon as they can.
Zach took the advice, and soon their convoy was heading into the center of the nearby city along a multilane road. Restaurants and shopping malls, with high neon signs went past them, which Zach noticed Fiona looked away from. He wanted to say something to make her feel better, but each time something came to mind he couldn’t get the words out because words were not going to bring Cal back. Instead the miles melted away in silence, and by time the sun was not too far off the horizon they were all ready to stop for the night.
A thick wall of brown trees came and went from both sides of the road they were on as Zach looked for somewhere to stop.
He went to say something to Fiona then realized her head was tilted to one side and her breathing was slow and steady.
He gently reached across and picked up the map from her lap, and spread it out in front of him. A town was ahead of them, and beyond that a large lake. He definitely didn’t want to be moving around the latter in the dark.
Soon gas stations and homes were passing them by, and the amount of concrete increased together with the buildings approaching the side of the road. He stopped at a junction, surrounded by shops and office buildings. Ahead on top of a small hill was a building that sat above those around it. The words ‘Stonebrook county court house’ stood out across the front of the proud building.
Zach nodded to himself then clicked on the radio. “Pull up close to the entrance of the courthouse, looks like the tallest building around her, should give us good visibility.”
Bower agreed, and the three vehicles drove across the street and stopped close to the stone steps, which ascended up to the large impressive white and smoke stained pillars.
Fiona looked up, and wiped her eyes. “Where are we?”
“East Texas. This place looked a good place to stop for the night,” said Zach with one foot already on the ground outside the driver’s door.
Fiona stretched. “I’ll be right in.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
The vehicle Abbey was in stopped. This journey had been a lot more comfortable than the previous one due to the padded seat she had been sitting on, but she was blindfolded again and had no idea where she was.
“It’s time,” said the gruff female voice. She recognized it as the woman who had pulled her to the top of the office building some hours earlier.
The car door next to her opened and a hand pulled her out of the vehicle. The cool night air instantly made the hairs on her arms stand up. She then heard the footsteps go back to the car.
“Wait! I can’t see! Take my blindfold off!”
“Not my problem,” shouted the woman.
“You can’t just leave me here! There are creatures out here!”
“You’re a freak, just do your thing.”
Abbey then heard the car door shut and its engine start.
She whirled around trying to use what senses she could to understand where she was. She was outside, she was sure. And for now at least she couldn’t sense any E.L.F’s.
A sound of wheels moving came from close to her, and then she heard the car drive away.
She instantly put her hands up to her blindfold and gripped it best she could with her fingertips and pulled it down.
She was standing in the middle of a small road, with dark rectangular looking shapes beyond what looked like a park. Much closer was a large solid looking building. Its walls were bathed in a ghostly pale blue light from the moon above her. Where the hell is this?
She spun around trying to get some idea of where she had been dropped, but it was too dark to see any details she recognized. She started walking towards the large building and stopped just a few yards in front of its glass doors.
Much of the wording above the door had been destroyed, but “rary” was just visible in the gloom. Library?
She pressed on the smooth cool surface of the door and it slowly swung back. A small amount of light tinged the tiles near her, but behind that was a rich darkness without any indication of what might lie there.
She walked forward slowly with her fingers outstretched and bumped into what felt like a counter of some kind. Feeling her way around it, she came to a door, which she opened. She then walked inside, closed the door behind her and slid down to the floor. Anything could have been a few feet from her, but that would have to wait until tomorrow. Right now she just wanted to sleep. She let her head fall back against the hard surface behind her and closed her eyes.
The sound of a vehicle’s engine woke her. Instantly she saw the reflection of lights on the wall in front of her, and took the opportunity to get to her feet and look through the small opening in the wall, that she saw when the room was illuminated. Outside beyond the glass doors, a large rectangular vehicle with bright headlights was slowly driving in an arc. It then stopped, and she could just about make out its rear doors opening and two men get out, which looked like were wearing combat fatigues. They also had rifles and flashlights, which were now probing the area around them.
Shit.
She ducked down as one of them along with his light beam looked in her direction. She then heard the voices. Muffled, but they were shouting something.
In the gloom she saw a desk ahead of her and crawled forward and under it.
As the glass entrance door she had earlier came through opened, she tried to make herself as small as possible.
“Abbey Reisner?” shouted a man. “Abbey? Are you in here!”
What?
She could hear the man sigh in frustration from where she was, and slowly the idea that these men were not here to hurt her formed in her mind. She scrambled out from under the desk.
“Yes! I’m here!” she shouted in the lobby’s direction.
A light beam lit the room around her, shining through the opening in the wall. Standing in the light, she held her hand up to her eyes trying to see the man beyond it.
“I’ve found her. Over,” said the man, who lowered his light and ran to the door, opening it.
Abbey ran towards the man and collapsed in his arms. Emotion came swift and she found herself weeping.
“Are you hurt?” said the man while shining his flashlight up and down her.
“No… I don’t think so. You’re from the camp? Is Zach with you? I mean—”
“Major Felton is currently out on a mission, ma’am. We�
�re here to take you back to Camp Bravo.” As he was talking, he led her out into the lobby and then back outside into the ice cold night air.
Another man ran up to her. “My names, Captain Briggs, ma’am we’re going to take you back, please follow me.”
She did as requested, and was soon in the back of the Humvee. As the soldiers got in with her and the car pulled away from wherever she was, her eyes grew heavy and once again she was asleep.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Corporal Bell’s voice woke Zach, who had found a sofa in a judges chambers to sleep on. “She’s back, sir! Abbey Reisner!”
Zach blinked. “What?”
“Your partner sir, Abbey Reisner?”
Nothing the corporal was saying was making sense, and Zach felt like he was still dreaming. “What do you mean she’s back?”
“The Hell Fire gang released her, she’s back at Camp Bravo. She’s on the radio in the tank now, sir.”
Zach sat up so fast he half fell off the plush red leather piece of furniture and quickly put his boots on. He then followed the Corporal down the grand stairs, onto the granite hard floor of the building’s lobby and out into the night air. Running down the steps he was soon climbing inside the well-lit interior of the tank. A young solder was holding a mike, which he handed to Zach.
“Abbey?”
“Zach! I’m here—” there was the sound of sobbing.
“Are you hurt? Did you escape?”
“I’m okay, are you okay? Over.”
Zach felt a rush of emotion together with relief. All of which begun to be crushed by the weight of the news of what happened to Cal.
“I’m okay.” He wasn’t sure how to tell her what happened. “But I have some bad news—”
“I know about Cal, Zach, they told me. Poor Fiona. Over.” The sounds of more sobbing filled the small space in the back of the tank.
“I’m on my way back. We should be back at the camp within the next twelve hours. Over.”
“Geneva’s no longer in charge of the Hell Fire game. Over.”
“What? Who’s leading them now? Over.”
“A man called Troy. He gave me a proposal to put to the council here in the camp. They want to divide up the country into their and our halves. Over.”
Zach’s expression changed to one of disbelief. “What? That’s insane. Over.”
“It’s that or war Zach. The council is considering it. Over.”
Zach realized he needed to get back to the camp as soon as possible. He looked at his watch, it was just past 4 pm. He then looked at the Corporal standing just outside. “Wake everyone, I want to be back on the road within the hour,” he then clicked on the mike button again. “We’re leaving this place soon, should be with you by early morning. Try to dissuade them from making any decisions until I’m back. Over.”
“I’ll try…”
“Is Holland or Garland there? Over.”
“Only the less senior offices are here, everyone else is sleeping. Over.”
“Okay, I’ll be there soon. Over.”
Zach went to put the mike down, when Abbey’s voice continued. “I love you Zach.”
He clicked his transmission button on. “I love you too. I’ll be there soon. Over.”
Zach climbed out into the night air and took in a deep breath. Tears started to well up inside his eyes, and he kneeled suddenly feeling the impact of the last few days and weeks. He heard a noise to his right.
Fiona was standing on the bottom of the stone steps. “You okay?”
Zach stood and smiled. “Abbey’s back at the camp. They released her.”
Fiona smiled. “That’s good Zach.”
Zach sighed. “It’s unexpected. She… already knew about Cal, they told her.”
Fiona nodded and looked away slightly.
“How’d you sleep?”
“I didn’t.”
“Try and get some sleep on the road. I want to leave within the hour.”
She nodded again, turned and walked back up the steps.
Within thirty minutes Zach, Fiona, Bower and Michael were standing in the lobby of the courthouse, while soldiers moved past them, getting back in the vehicles.
Once they were alone Zach started talking. “The Hell Fire gang have given the camp an ultimatum, agree to the country being divided up in two, or war.”
There was a moment of silence as those standing around absorbed what was just said.
“Maybe… it’s not such a bad idea,” said Michael not wanting to look at anyone while speaking.
“Are you kidding me?” said Bower. “We give them half of the country, all they gonna do is get more powerful, and then come back and ask for the other half!”
“What areas do they want?” said Fiona to Zach.
“I don’t know yet. Abbey was given a map showing their plan.”
“What do you think?” said Bower.
“They have a lot of tanks, and air power. They can kill a lot of people with that kind of hardware.”
“Yeah but are we really going to trust them? That Geneva is—”
“Geneva’s out, some guy called Troy has taken over.”
Bower looked pensive as he was mulling things over.
Zach continued. “I should meet him, get a sense of if he’s someone we can deal with. Let’s get back on the road. We should be back at the camp just after sunup.”
Once back in the pickup Fiona informed Zach that the next one hundred miles contains lakes and forests and is probably a haven for E.L.F’s. He informed Wyatt and Diaz to stay alert.
As the convoy headed south towards the first of the large lakes they were to encounter, Fiona looked out at the still dark gray sky and open expanses peppered with tree like forms around her, and felt nothing. Not fear of what was hiding in the shadows or relief of finally almost being home. Her logical mind whispered the acronym PTSD to her amongst the flashbacks she kept having of two days earlier, but none of it mattered. She was a soldier, and her job was to do as she was ordered.
With Wyatt and Diaz’s help they maneuvered around the threats they intermittently came across and by 6 pm even their smaller radios were within range of the camp.
Zach’s radio cackled and Amanda Holland’s voice came through clear. “Major Felton are you there? Corporal Bell tells me you should be able to hear this? Over.”
Zach clicked on his radio. “Hearing you well councilor. We are about two hours out. Over.”
“Good. Please let me pass on my condolences to you regarding losing one of your team. Over.”
Zach waited for a response from Fiona to his right, but none came.
“Thank you Amanda,” said Zach. “I understand you are considering the plan from the Hell Fire gang? Over.”
“Not anymore, the council has come to a decision. Over.”
An unsettled feeling grew in the pit of Zach’s stomach. “Yes? Over.”
“We have decided to take their offer. This new man, Troy seems to be a reasonable person. There will have to be some negotiation over the fine detail of the border in certain area’s, but the camp and everyone inside will be safe, and we will have plenty of space to expand to other areas. Over.”
“I would have liked a chance to look over the map they proposed. Over.”
“That is not your concern Major. The council will be meeting with a delegation from the Hell Fire gang at noon today. Over.”
“Meeting where? Over.”
“A small town about a hundred miles north-east of the camp. The officers here have informed me that it’s a place we can deploy our troops easily if we need too. Over.”
Zach noticed Fiona look at him, but continued. “All the council will be going? Over.”
“That is the terms this Troy man has asked for. He said he needs to hear it from the lips of all on the council, that he wouldn’t trust just one of us to talk for the rest. Over.”
“You don’t think that’s a risk? Over.”
There was a moment of radio s
tatic before she continued. “It is a risk Zach, but we feel to avoid what might come next it’s something we have to do. Over.”
“Then I need to be with your delegation when you go to the town. Over.”
“I presumed you would want time away from all of this, at least for a few hours. Over.”
Zach sighed and nodded his head. “I should be there councilor. Over.”
“Very well then Major. Over.”
Static returned to Zach’s radio.
“This is a mistake,” said Fiona looking out of the side window.
“Yup,” said Zach.
“I might not be a military strategist, but having all of the council in one place? Outside the walls? Seems not such a good thing,” said Michael behind them.
Bowers voice came from Zach’s radio. “Zach, my squad will come with you as well. Over.”
Zach smiled. “That suggestion is appreciated Captain. Over,” he put the mike down and looked at the tinge of light blue that was increasing to the east. He had a feeling it was going to be a long day.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
As Zach pulled into the parking lot of the Core the sun was up, but the overcast day wasn’t that brighter.
Abbey emerged from the lobby entrance and half walked half ran across the damp concrete to the convoy. Zach contained his shock of how she looked and instead was grinning from ear to ear when he got out and Abbey embraced him.
She pulled back. “I hope you don’t mind the bandages and things.”
“You look beautiful.”
She noticed Fiona getting out of the Humvee, and went to move towards her but stopped when Fiona walked away towards the lobby entrance.
Michael walked up to her and gave her a warm embrace. “You kicked their asses right?”
She smiled. “No, but it’s on my to-do list.”
Wyatt walked up to her awkwardly and just as she went to hug him there was a squawk from above together with an updraft and Mo landed with a light thud a few yards from them.
