by Maxey, Phil
Fiona turned the vehicle and they drove the short distance, until they pulled into the small parking area out the front of the red brick apartments.
“Looks like the top floors a restaurant,” said Fiona getting out.
Zach joined her and then walked to Bower who was marshaling Freeman and Harper to carry some of the crates.
Diaz also got out of the Humvee, closing the door slowly, visibly tired.
Bower looked at her. “Sensing anything in there?”
She looked sheepishly at the smashed large glass doors to the lobby, then shook her head.
Zach and Fiona approached the entrance with their rifles leading the way. Shadows hid in corners, but there was still enough ambient light to illuminate some of the vines and roots that had already made the walls and floor their home.
They stepped over the broken glass and into a lobby with chairs that rested on their sides. A counter sat against the far wall, alongside the entrance to the elevator and then to the side of that the door to the stairs.
Bower followed with Harper and Freeman carrying one of the crates, which they lowered to the floor.
Harper watched Zach walk to the stairwell. “Sir?” she said as Bower went to follow.
“Yes?”
Harper's eyes flashed to Zach and then back to Bower.
"What?"
“Why are we here? Why don’t we get the hell away from this place?”
“You saw Diaz, she needs to recharge and we still got plenty of hours before sundown.”
Harper reluctantly nodded.
“Bring the crate this way.” Bower then walked to the stairwell entrance. Zach and Fiona were already ascending.
“Let's keep going to the top. We'll check some of the other floors later.” said Zach.
Grunts came from Freeman and Harper a few floors below as they walked up the stairs with the heavy crate which had been changed by Bower to a mixture of guns, ammo and grenades.
Zach arrived at the topmost floor and opened the door to a plush looking lobby area. Large glass doors sat open revealing a large restaurant beyond, with a clear view of the city on three sides.
Perfect.
Fiona walked out of the stairwell passing him, as he ducked back inside. “Up here,” he shouted down to the others.
Soon everyone was upstairs marveling at the modern city which had returned to nature, but not the nature from the old world. This was a vision of plant life that looked like it was still finding its place. Everyone was thinking the same thoughts, that the scene looked like something from another planet, or at least what they thought another planet would look like.
Diaz slumped down on one of the more comfy looking seats.
Bower stood close by. “Get some sleep, I'll wake you in a few hours.” He then turned to Freeman, Hayes and Harper. “Each of you take turns to keep an eye on the stairwell and if anything comes close to the windows.” They all nodded.
Bower walked to Zach who was still standing near the large glass window, looking out with binoculars. “Looks like the E.L.F’s have really taken hold down there.”
“Yeah. Take a look,” said Zach handing the binoculars to him. Zach could hear Bowers gasping as he surveyed the city.
“Tell me we don’t need to go down there.”
“We don’t. But I want to know what those lights were, they were definitely in the Pittsburgh direction.”
“Yeah, but what if we don’t see anything in the sky within the next few hours?”
“Then we stay the night, and leave at first light.”
Bower lowered the binoculars, and looked at Zach. “With all greatest respect sir, we’re in the middle of an E.L.F safari park, and it’s only a matter of time before those things out there discover their dinner is in here.”
“Cole, we both saw those lights. As far as I know the only thing that can do that is manmade, which means there were man made aircraft flying in this area, which I’m pretty sure are not from the camp, so somebody else is flying in this area, and we need to know who. There might be another camp around here which we can help. Or they could help us.”
Bower sighed, then lifted the binoculars back to his eyes and looked back out to the maelstrom of activity just a few miles away in the valley.
A few floors down, Fiona walked out from the stairwell into a bland looking corridor. She was working her way down, seeing if any of the apartments had food or bottled water. Most of the doors were closed and she didn’t have the energy to kick anymore of them in.
She walked along the clean looking floor, trying each door. She got to the end and sighed. All locked.
She started back towards the stairwell when she thought she heard a nose. It was so low in volume that she almost ignored it, but there was definitely something. She waited for it to repeat but it didn’t. She then had an idea. Turning to the closest locked door she slammed her fists on it, then waited. First there was nothing, then it happened again, a tiny sound, almost like a hissing snake.
“Is there anyone in there?” She said towards the door. As she was looking down she noticed something about the floor tile in front of the door, it was a slightly different color to the ones around it.
“If there’s anyone in there, I can help you, I’ve got food and water.”
There was a shuffling from the other side of the door, making her step back. Her rifle remained on her shoulder, but her other hand swung around to the handgun pushed down the back of her pants.
“I’m not going to hurt you, who are you? Are you alone?”
“I’ve got a gun!” said a male voice.
Fiona stepped to the side slightly of the door. “Okay. You don’t need it though.”
“I saw you with those men, in military uniforms, you all got guns, well so have I!”
“We’re just passing through the area, and we thought we would stay here for a bit before moving on, do you need water?” She dropped her pack to the floor, pulled out her bottle and held it up in front of the spy-hole in the door.
The sound of heavy things being shifted was followed by an unlocking sound. The door then opened slowly a few inches and a bearded man’s face, together with the barrel of a handgun poked into the gap.
Fiona slammed her boot into the door sending it flying open and the man falling backwards dropping his gun. She then whipped her own handgun out and aimed it at the man as he was scrambling to grab hold of his own.
“Leave it!” said Fiona.
He froze, with one hand holding the right side of his face. “I don’t want any trouble, take what you want, but please leave me with some water and food.”
Fiona frowned, lowering her gun. “I told you, I’m not here to take anything. I’m from a camp down south, we’re just doing a recon mission up here for survivors. Are you alone?”
“Umm—”
Before he could finish a door could be heard opening, and then footsteps approaching. Fiona lifted her gun back up.
“No, please it’s my family. They’re no threat to you.”
“Slide the gun to me.”
The man did as asked, as a woman with two children, a boy of around ten and a girl a little older appeared from a corridor.
Fiona picked the gun up, switched the safety on and pushed it into her jacket pocket. “You’ll get this back if I trust you not to shoot me.”
The man nodded.
“What are your names?”
Before he could answer there was noise in the corridor outside, and then someone running towards them.
The man got to his feet and stepped back standing in front of his wife and children.
Hayes appeared in the doorway. “Err, hello.”
Fiona looked back at the man and his family. “Names?”
“I’m Rory, this is Ada my wife and Emilia and Reed.”
Hayes walked forward, slinging his rifle over his shoulder. Then leaned down in front of the little girl who he noticed had a laceration on her cheek. He looked up at Rory. “Do you mind if I
take a look? I’m a medic.”
“Sure.”
Hayes smiled at the girl. “I’m just going to have a quick look at your wound, okay?”
She nodded, and he gently examined the dark brown and yellow slice on her cheek.
“One of the things outside almost got her, it’s been like that ever since.”
Hayes put his pack on the floor and pulled out a bottle of water, which he dowsed a small cloth with and carefully wiped the girl’s face.
“How long ago did she get injured?” said Hayes.
The man looked briefly at his wife. “Few weeks back.”
Hayes pulled out a small bottle from his bag, and then emptied from it a few pills. “These are four antibiotics, give her one a day. I’ve also got some antiseptic cream which you can use.”
Rory took the pills, “Thank you.”
Hayes stood back up. “I can examine the rest of you, if you have any problems?”
“No, we’re good.”
Fiona was unnerved by the fact that the wife had not said anything. “Ada, how long have you been in this apartment?”
She went to talk, but Rory spoke first. “We’ve been here since the beginning, this is our home. How far is your camp?”
“It’s in Texas, so quite a way. We are on our way to Boston, you know anything about what happened up there?”
“We just know about the nuke they dropped on the Chicago camp, we saw the flash, and heard the explosion even from here. Got no idea about Boston.”
“What you make of what’s happened in the middle of your city?” said Hayes.
“What about it? I thought that was normal, just part of the Cascade? The plants changed, like the animals did.”
Hayes and Fiona looked at each other.
“That’s not how it is elsewhere, at least not down south,” said Hayes.
“Maybe that’s where we should be, Rory?” said Ada quietly.
Rory looked down angrily, then back up with a smile on his face. “We could do with some water if you have some.”
“Sure, I’ll see what we can spare upstairs, but for now, you can have mine,” said Fiona, handing her bottle to the little boy who grinned when taking it.
“Ha, don’t drink that all at once Reed!” said Rory, he then looked back at Fiona. “Can I have my gun back now?”
A silence descended between them all.
“I think it’s best for your safety that I hang onto it, but you’ll get it back when we leave.”
“Oh, sure, I understand.”
“Okay then, we’ll leave you to it, we’re on the top floor if you want to talk more,” said Hayes.
He and Fiona then left. When they arrived back at the former restaurant, before they passed through the large open doors to join the others, Hayes touched Fiona’s arm.
“What is it?” she said.
“The cut on the girl’s face, wasn’t more than a few days old.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Abbey’s nose twitched. She could smell burning meat.
“What? Where—”
Her eyes flicked opened and she tried moving, but her hands were bound, as were her feet.
She was inside a large warehouse. The roof was at least two hundred feet above her, and all around was a mass of branches, and rubbish all intertwined with the huge shelving units which lined up in rows.
The smell of cooked meat once again drafted past her, it came with the sounds of excited grunts.
She suddenly remembered how she got into this mess, and the moment she jumped in front Mo. She closed her eyes to sense him. A few seconds passed and she did, and he was scared.
She looked at her wrists. Old pieces of clothing were wrapped haphazardly around them. She gently raised her hands to her cheek. It stung as she touched it.
Looking back at the rags around her wrists she realized they weren’t very secure and set about pulling her hands around to loosen them. Her wrist was mostly healed but pain still shot up her arm as she tugged on it. It wasn’t long though before one of her hands slid out of the binding. She quickly pulled off the rest and then pulled her ankles free.
Getting to her feet, she looked around trying to make sense of the junkyard of furniture and other machinery spread out around her. The smell bothered her, but she needed to escape. She also needed to find Mo, who was still scared, wherever he was. She briefly closed her eyes and concentrated on her surroundings. She got a strong feeling that he was about twenty yards from her.
She crept forward, keeping low against pieces of broken furniture, moving through a maze of rubbish from a world that no longer existed.
Grunts and the incessant smell came from an area not far from her. Creeping forward she glimpsed through a mess of wires and metal to see a large clearing, full of the creatures she saw before. They were standing and sitting around a fire, which was burning in a tin barrel. If the cascade hadn’t happened, she would have thought she was watching the living space of some homeless people, gathering together for food and heat, but she was the only human inside the cavernous space she was sure of that.
Whatever these E.L.F’s were, they were far in advance of any others she had seen intelligent wise. They were using the inventions of humankind in a way that was useful. Nothing she had seen was random, their actions had purpose.
Mo felt close to her but she still couldn’t see him. She looked at a small passage between the broken pieces of furniture and appliances and crouched to fit inside it. Shuffling forward as quietly as possible on her knees, she moved closer to the clearing, then stopped to look through any available gaps.
She gasped. Mo was in a cage. Worse still she could see the source of the smell. Some kind of large beast had been carved into sections and was lying on a rack that sat over the flames coming from the barrels.
Are they planning to eat Mo? Are they planning to eat me?
She had to suppress the frustration she felt for not being more careful back at the lumberyard, or trying to escape when she had the chance. She thought these creatures were different, that they could be communicated with. That was now looking like a fatal mistake.
She counted at least eighteen of the creatures broken up into small huddles. The main creature she saw in front of the office building wearing trinkets and other shiny metal was also there.
If he or she was their leader she needed to convince it that she was no threat, and better still she’s not to be eaten, or Mo.
She focused on the ape like creature, that had its back to her. Then she closed her eyes, and allowed her mind to expand from the confines of her skull. She imagined being inside the head of the creature, and tried to fill its brain with her own thoughts and feelings.
Even though she couldn’t see, the E.L.F she was concentrating on started to rub the back of its neck, and then turned around as if it thought someone was watching it. It then clutched its head with both of its clawed hands.
The others around it started screeching and moved towards it, but before they could get too near, it lowered its hands and stood. It then grunted at those around it.
Abbey opened her eyes. All the creatures were looking at her.
She moved back, but instantly came up against obstructions behind her.
Mo starting hissing and hitting the cage. The creatures briefly looked at him, and then back to her.
The main creature grunted something, and two of the others nodded and swayed their heads and moved to Mo’s cage. He moved back as they approached.
Each of them held a long sharpened metal pole, but one pulled on some latches and pulled the cage door open.
Mo looked unsure of what to do.
The creatures grunted and waved for him to come out, which he did, squeezing his wings through the too small doorway. They then lowered their spears, and waved him towards Abbey.
She looked on as all this played out, not knowing if she should try and run or just hope that they hadn’t actually seen her. She chose neither.
She pushed furth
er forward through the mess around her, and emerged into the clearing, just a few yards from the nearest creature.
The creature in charge waved for Mo to move forward, which the winged creature did.
“This way, Mo, over to me,” said Abbey waving her pet towards her.
Mo’s wings spread half way, then receded back again as he hesitantly hopped towards her, eventually ended up just to her side.
Some of the creatures in front of them both, then walked backwards, forming an obvious space in front of them all.
The ornately decked out of them grunted in Abbey’s direction, and then raised his clawed hand towards what seemed like a route to freedom.
“You want me to leave? Okay I can do that.”
She took one step forward and stopped. She suddenly realized it felt wrong just leaving. Feeling in her pants pocket she probed for something which she put there a long time ago and had mostly forgotten about, until now.
Found it.
Slowly she pulled out the small metal computer keyring which Zach had given her many months earlier, and held it out in front of her towards the creatures leader.
“For you.”
Some of those around grunted.
He took a few steps forward, and cautiously reached forward taking it from her. He studied it, grunted then hung it with the others that hung around his broad neck. The others grunted as well, stamping their feet and waving their arms.
Abbey then walked past him smiling with Mo behind her. It wasn’t long before she was outside. The sun was almost completely behind a nearby heavily forested hill. She looked at Mo. “Where the hell are we?”
Have to get back to the lumberyard and get my stuff.
“You up for some flying?”
He stretched his wings and flapped them a few times, lifting off the ground a little.
“Good, let’s go.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
“Even if you’re right, what the hell are we meant to do with him? Or his wife or kids? Take them with us to Boston? We don’t even know if we’ll make it out of this city!” Harper voiced what some of the others thought.
