by Maxey, Phil
Quiet fell once again on the occupants inside and Hayes returned to his game of counting how many old style barns he could spot.
After an hour Zach clicked on his radio. “Keep a close eye on the surroundings, they might have people this far out. Over.”
Bower acknowledged and the convoy sped along the highway avoiding the occasional wreckage of a vehicle.
Ten minutes later they entered the western edge of the city, and Abbey watched a turn of the century farmhouse pass by on a top of a hill, which she remembered from before.
They pulled off from the highway and stopped at the start of a long straight road which headed into the heart of the city.
“A few miles further ahead is where we got ambushed. I suggest we man the guns, and move forward real slow. Over,” said Zach. He then climbed into the back, and stood up inside the turret. For a moment he absorbed the beautiful spring afternoon, and then reality crashed back down on him due to the complete lack of noise from wildlife.
“You don’t think we should come at them from a different direction? Over,” said Bower.
“We don’t want them to think we are here to attack them, but if they show any of the wrong kind of intentions towards us, we open up on them. Over.”
“I hear that, Over.”
Fiona pressed down on the gas pedal and drove forward keeping at a maximum of thirty miles per hour.
Gas stations and office buildings packed both sides of the road, most of which Zach recognized from his time here before. Up ahead he spotted the wreckage that stopped their progress a few days earlier. He went to click on his radio when he heard Abbey say something from below.
“Zach…”
He ducked back inside. “Yes?”
“I’m sensing E.L.F’s ahead of us.”
“They’re coming this way?”
“No… I don’t think so.”
“Let me know if they start too.”
He stood back upright. “Abbey’s sensing E.L.F’s ahead of us. Over.”
“Diaz is saying the same thing. Over.”
“We’ll need to move around the—”
Zach spotted something rising above the trees in the distance. He bent down slightly. “Someone pass me the binoculars.”
Abbey did and he stood back up and looked at what was moving into the sky to the east. Thick black smoke was bellowing upwards from somewhere in the city. He clicked on his radio. “I’m seeing smoke to the east, there could be a fire over there. Over.”
Fiona stopped the Humvee as she approached the barricade in the middle of the road.
Zach waited for the same kind of movement which he spotted days before, but this time there was only the sound of a light wind blowing around him. “Something’s wrong,” he said to himself, then ducked back inside. “Turn us around. We’ll find another way to the stadium.”
They were soon driving through an industrial area with graffiti covered buildings that were abandoned long before the Cascade. Zach looked to the southeast at the smoke that was even more obvious than before.
Dilapidated office buildings mingled with storage units as they drove closer to their destination.
Fiona slammed on the brakes as a creature some twenty feet high, walking on pole like legs with a spear shaped tail moved across a junction in front of them. They all watched it, as it watched them in return, but it continued on its path. Just as she was about to press down on the gas pedal once again, there was a screech from above, and a flying E.L.F looking like something from the prehistoric era swooped down close to the road and then back up heading away.
Zach ducked back inside and looked at Abbey.
“There’s a number of E.L.F’s all around, it’s hard for me to get a lock on where they are exactly, but I haven’t sensed any hostility towards us yet. They seem to just want to move away from here,” she said.
The source of the smoke now seemed obvious as a few miles ahead of them, plumes of black soot rose up from the large box shaped stadium building.
They drove forward soon arriving at another junction. More creatures lurked on both sides of the road, some seemingly injured.
“Keep driving,” said Zach to Fiona.
She did as asked, driving the same stretch of road Zach and Abbey were taken almost at the same time the day before.
“There’s people up ahead,” shouted Zach.
As the convoy approached the wretched looking individuals, most covered in black marks, some shouted out for help. Fiona stopped.
“What happened?” said Zach to a gaunt looking woman wrapped in rags, holding the hand of a small child who looked lost.
Harper on the main gun in the other Humvee looked around nervously, as more people got to their feet.
“There was a fire, we couldn’t stop it. Who are you? Where are you from?”
“We’re from the south,” said Zach then noticed amongst the movement around him, dead bodies.
The woman noticed what he was looking at. “The creatures killed many of us when they escaped the cages, luckily a few of the coaches remained with us, and made them leave.”
“Did Hemming’s survive?”
“We don’t know. Can you help us?”
Zach clicked on his radio, and looked around them. “We’re leave the vehicles here, and give these people what assistance we can. Myself and Bower’s squad will look inside the building. Over.” He then ducked back inside. Abbey and Fiona overheard what he said.
“I’m coming with you,” said Abbey, her voice quivering slightly.
“Me too,” said Fiona.
He leaned across and placed his hand on Abbey’s shoulder. “I’ll have Diaz with us if there are any creatures inside. I need both of you out here, making sure this situation doesn’t get out of hand. Fiona, radio back to the outpost, tell them we’re going to need troop carrying trucks up here to take these people back,” he then looked at Miles. “I’ll need you with me.”
Miles nodded and got out.
Fiona clicked on her radio, while Abbey shook her head and followed Miles outside, immediately going to help the closest person to her.
Bower and his squad apart from Hayes who was helping the injured, had already formed a group at the top of the downward ramp to the large smoke stained building.
Zach approached them. “Looks like most of the fires inside have died down, but unless any of you were a former fireman, we go slow and don’t push our luck.”
“Why we even bothering looking inside this hellhole?” said Diaz.
“We’re looking for survivors, there were around a thousand people living in here. Look around you, I see maybe forty out here.”
Diaz shrugged her shoulders.
Zach turned to Miles. “Miles was a prisoner in this place until yesterday. We’ll take his lead on where to look.”
“Well, if we go in at the bottom down there—” he pointed. “— That will take us to the market area, that’s as good a place as any to search.”
“Okay you all heard the man, this is a recon mission, looking for any injured. There also might be E.L.F’s still inside, so Diaz, dial that creature radar of yours up to the max. Let’s move out!” said Bower leading the group down the blackened concrete slope.
As they walked across the parking lot, howls, roars and other noises not quite recognizable played out in the distance. Bower looked at Diaz.
“Meh, they’re too far to be a problem.”
“We got maybe four hours of daylight left, I want to be long gone from this place before it gets even near sunset,” said Bower.
They approached a large gaping hole, with darkness beyond. Even from the distance of a few yards the smell of smoke and burned plastic permeated the air around them.
The metal gate that Abbey and Zach first drove through when they were taken to the building laid mangled and smoldering just inside.
Bower took his pack from his back and pulled out a few cloths. “Time to wrap what you got around your nose and mouths.” He handed two
to others around him, while wrapping the last one around his face. The others reached into their own packs and did the same with whatever material they could find.
They slowly walked forward into the gloom, each one turning on their flashlights and letting their rifles lead the way.
The bustling market that Zach had seen the night before was now smoking heaps of wood, metal and plastics.
“If there’s people here, we’re not going to find them under all—” Diaz coughed. “—That.”
“Keep moving,” said Bower.
As they moved deeper into the bowels of the building, the air grew warm, and a pungent smell seemed to be emanating from the walls.
“Take us to the living area,” said Zach to Miles, who nodded in reply.
They approached an opening that had a burned black door hanging from it, and into a corridor with dark streaks across it. On the floor burned picture frames cracked as they walked over them.
As they got to the end, Freeman tried opening the door but it was stuck. “Something on the other side!” He and Harper then both pushed, and the door gave way with a scraping noise. The stench of burned flesh made all of them put their hands to their mouths even with them already covered.
Freeman pushed his way inside the stairwell. Bodies lay across most of the stairs, some were burned but most weren’t.
The others filed in behind him.
“Smoke must have got them,” said Bower.
“We need to go up two floors!” said a sweating Miles.
They quickly climbed up the stairs trying not to touch the dead and were soon at a door, with a blackened sign above it.
Harper pushed the door open, and then jumped back inside. “There’s an E.L.F in there!” she whispered.
Bower looked at Diaz.
“The smoke and smell it’s messing with my senses!”
“Can you sense it now?”
“Yeah yeah, hold on.” She closed her eyes. “Okay, I feel it. It’s lost, or waiting, like it’s looking for something, no, some one.”
For a moment Zach thought about Abbey’s pet wolf creature, but then quickly remembered that she sensed him dying. Whatever it was, it wasn’t Jai.
“Can you deal with it?”
“I dunno. I’ll try.” She pushed forward past the rest, and then opened the door and looked down the hallway. A four-legged creature, which looked like a lion but with the armor you would have found on an armadillo, stood looking lethargic. Its head slowly turned towards her.
She closed her eyes, then let her breathing steady. She then felt outwards with her mind until she felt it connect with the creature. She then opened them. “Okay, I think it’s safe to pass.”
“You think?” said Bower. “I’m going to need more of an assurance than that, if you don’t want me to blow it away with my—”
Diaz huffed and walked into the corridor.
“—Private! Get your ass back…”
She was already too far away and too close to the creature for them to protect her if she was wrong. Bower swore under his breath and followed her out, looking down the sight of his rifle towards the creature.
Diaz reached out her hand towards it. The creature sniffed towards her, then sat down.
“He’s—”
Zach saw Diaz spin around and fall before he heard the sound of the bullets flying towards them.
Bower, Harper and Freeman who were already in the corridor dived to the ground and returned fire along the corridor, not knowing what they were shooting at, while Zach and Miles ducked back into the stairwell. Bullets pieced the wood of the door above their heads, sending splinters through the air.
The creature stood back up and roared in both directions, as bullets ricocheted off its back.
Zach held the door open a few inches so he could at least see Bower and the others on the ground nearby. They kept firing. “Can you see who’s shooting!” he said, closing the door momentarily each time bullets flew in his direction.
“There’s a few of them up ahead. One rifle, and a few handguns by the sound of it. We nailed one of them.” Bower then looked at Freeman and Harper lying next to him. “Cover me, I’m going to try to get to Diaz, she’s still alive!”
A volley of fire streamed towards the end of the corridor, while Bower scrambled to his feet. Zach took the opportunity to move out into the corridor and kneeled against the wall.
As Bower approached Diaz, he slowed as the large creature swung its head around, and started to growl. He crouched down and reached out for Diaz’s shoulder, which he then gently shook. “You still with us Diaz.”
She groaned in response, and her head moved from side to side.
Bullets skimmed past his head, while another bounced off the creature.
“Diaz! Looks like you took one in your right shoulder. You with us enough to send this creature towards those shooting at us.”
Diaz’s eyes flickered open. She looked up at the creature looming over her. She then winced in pain and closed her eyes. The creature shook its head slightly, then turned towards those twenty or so feet away.
Bower kneeled closer to Diaz. “Hey soldier, how you holding up?”
She sat up, and pushed herself back against the wall. “Oh… this is nothing,” she said grimacing. They both looked along the corridor as the creature roared in the same direction. Those that were firing stopped, but held their ground.
Bower took the opportunity to try to communicate. “We’re here to help you!” He shouted.
“We don’t need your help boy, just be on your way!”
Zach recognized Hemming’s voice. He crawled forward, keeping as close to the wall as possible. “Hemming’s? It’s Zach Felton.”
Two shots rang out, just missing Zach’s head.
“This is all your fault! You and that woman! I’m going to kill—”
A shot rang out before Hemming’s could finish. Zach looked behind him to those lying on the floor. Freeman raised his head from his scope and nodded.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Zach stood in Hemming’s makeshift zoo and looked at metal bars twisted and bent into impossible angles. Amongst them were the ashes and bones of creatures. He still had his scarf wrapped around his nose and mouth, he had too. The smell from the still smoldering E.L.F’s were making him dizzy as it was, and he had only been exploring the area for a few minutes.
Diaz stood with him, holding her shoulder. “I’m not sensing anything alive down here. Looks like a few got out, but most died in the fire.” She sighed. “Usually I wouldn’t give a shit about E.L.F’s, but there’s something about this situation that is very wrong.”
Zach nodded. “Let’s get back to the others.”
After the short walk back to the maintenance bay they then walked outside, and stopped on the forecourt. A steady stream of men, women and children walked slowly up the slope to the road and grass area, joining the hundreds that were already there.
“Gonna take a while to get this amount of people back to the outpost.”
“Yup.”
“If we hadn’t gone inside, that madman and his goons would have killed them all.” She looked down. “I had my doubts about going inside. I was wrong.”
Zach looked at her and smiled. “Nothing wrong with being careful.”
They walked across and joined the throngs leaving the still smoking building. Zach spotted Abbey talking to a middle-aged man with blond hair, and walked over to them.
“This is Morri, he…”
Morri stepped forward holding his hand out. “Boyd Morrison, but my friends call me Morri.”
Zach shook his hand. “How do you know Abbey?”
“Well I was kind of a coach for the creature coaches. I err, gave her that jacket!” He pointed to the leather jacket she was wearing.
Abbey noticed Zach wasn’t sure how to react. “Morri helped me survive inside the arena.”
“I see.”
“I was well pleased when I saw the lass survived! That was so
me escape you and Miles pulled off. Shame about your creature, he seemed to be one of the good ones… So you’re from a camp down south?”
Zach went to reply when Bower called for him nearby. “Good meeting you.” Zach said then turned and walked over to Bower.
“It’s the last remaining of the major camps,” said Abbey.
“I heard about them, some got nuked last I heard as they were overrun.”
“It’s not been easy, but we managed to survive, everyone here is welcome to go there.”
Morri smiled. “Sounds like my kinda place.”
Over the following few hours while the sun disappeared beneath the horizon, trucks came and went from the arena until everyone was at Brad’s outpost. Makeshift tents had been erected in the grounds of the large house for the people that couldn’t be housed inside, and campfires burned.
Zach stood with Hayes in the kitchen.
“I’ve given what oxygen we had to as many as I could to help with the smoke inhalation problems, and we’re treating the burns best we can. Some of these people will be better suited back at the camp,” said Hayes.
“I’ve arranged a convoy to return to the camp tomorrow with those that are okay to travel.”
Fiona appeared with a map in her hand. “Hold that thought. There’s a county airport just a few miles from here.”
Zach smiled. “Get in contact with the camp, see if they have any transport planes free, and if they do, tell them to bring a medical team.”
Fiona disappeared back into the noise and busy people that now inhabited the former home, Hayes followed her.
Brad appeared in the hallway, with a pile of papers in his hand.
“Have you seen Abbey?” Zach shouted.
“I think I saw her outside, with her bird thing,” he said not looking up from what he was studying.
Zach walked out into the night air and listened. Hundreds of people milled around. Small groups were huddled around fires, while others seemed to be helping with construction that was still progressing under flaming torches. He then heard squawks above him. He looked up, and his heart leaped into his mouth. Abbey was perched with legs dangling over one of the roof arches sixty feet up.
He went to shout, but then realized that would cause everyone to look up as well, so instead he walked quickly into the house and ascended the stairs two steps at a time. Stepping over people on the landing, he opened the door to the attic and ran up the narrow staircase, coming out into a dark and dusty space that was only a few yards wide. He immediately felt the draft coming through the window at the far end. He moved to it quickly and looked out. Abbey was about fifteen feet away across the roof.
