by Jake Bible
“My turn,” Lowell says, taking the axe from Bolton, letting the man turn away from the rotten entrails and give in to the heaving that threatens to knock him to his knees.
The thought of falling into the blood and guts around him is all that keeps Bolton up on his feet.
“Clear enough,” Lu says as she reaches past Lowell and starts pulling at bodies with her hands. “Up and over.”
The wall behind them explodes outward and the flying monster’s head whips around the alleyway, taking a second to search for them before zeroing on their location with those cold, black eyes.
“You first,” Lowell says and gives Lu a shove. She doesn’t argue and clambers up over the pile of corpses. “You too.”
Bolton shakes his head and points at the pile, but Lowell just frowns.
“Dude, get going,” Lowell says. “Don’t leave the marshal all alone out on that street.”
The monster darts its head forward, but its shoulders are still held back by the building. It roars at Lowell as Bolton makes his escape.
“Fuck you,” Lowell says and throws the axe as hard as he can at the beast. But the blade just bounces off the monster’s thick skin and ricochets right at Lowell. He dives out of the way, but realizes too late that he dove the wrong way and is now closer to the monster. The thing opens its mouth wide and comes for Lowell so fast that the man doesn’t even have a second to think, he just acts.
His hand falls on something and Lowell instinctively grabs it and throws it at the attacking monster. Turns out to be a woman’s lower leg and Lowell watches in amazement as the monster’s jaws clamp shut the second the hunk of meat hits its wide, blue tongue.
“No yo yo tongue in you, huh?” Lowell mutters as he watches the monster chew and swallow quickly. “Oh, shit.”
Lowell turns and grabs up every stray limb he can, pushes up to his feet, and starts chucking the body parts at the monster. The creature wants to get at Lowell, but it can’t help itself and snatches the arms and legs, feet and hands, out of the air as they come flying at its maw.
His feet moving slowly backwards, Lowell keeps his eyes glued on the monster, making sure he keeps a steady stream of bloody bits and gory pieces headed right at the thing. He doesn’t stop throwing until his ass hits what’s left of the pile.
“There you are,” Bolton says, grabbing Lowell’s shoulder and pulling him up and over the pile and out onto the street. “Stop playing with thing and let’s go!’
Lowell is about to snap at Bolton, but sees the smirk on his face and just nods. Then the pile of corpses bursts around them as the monster follows Lowell from the alleyway, its bulk tearing chunks of stone from the corners of the two buildings it squeezes out from.
“Fuck off!” Lowell yells and throws the last limb he holds.
He watches as the arm flies end over end and wants to kick himself as he sees what’s gripped in the dead hand: a pistol. And it looks like a good sized one.
“Fucking Desert Eagle,” Bolton says. “That may have been useful.”
“Too late now,” Lowell says as he and the sergeant turn to run, but stop as they realize that all the commotion has made them the number one attraction in Coeur d’Alene.
“We can’t outrun them,” Lu says, her hand out towards Bolton. The man takes it and she looks over at him. “This is it.”
Lowell steps up and takes Lu’s other hand as the flying monsters all rear up on their six legs and tower over the three humans. Lu looks down at her and Lowell’s hands, grimaces and then nods. He nods back and they face their death head on, eyes open, heads tilted towards the beasts that have taken everything from them.
There’s a shriek from behind them and Lowell finally closes his eyes, waiting for the chomp that will swallow him whole. Then the shriek turns into a howl which turns into a gurgle and a thick, wet cough.
Lowell opens his eyes and sees that the street of monsters has turned their attention to their fellow beast. He risks a look over his shoulder and can’t help but smile as he sees what’s happening.
“Bolton,” Lowell says. “Check it out, dude.”
Bolton tears his eyes from the monsters in front of them and looks back at the one halfway out of the alley. Grey foamy gunk leaks from the holes above the monster’s lip and then from between its misshapen teeth. Bolton knows that foam, and he tugs on Lu’s hand.
“Time to move out of the way,” Bolton says and pulls Lu to the side with him.
Lowell, on the other side of Lu, follows, but makes sure his movements are slow and deliberate, not wanting to take away from the choking and gagging monster that has all the other beasts’ attention.
They get a couple yards away when the monster let’s out the loudest shriek yet and then freezes, its head and neck stretched taut. Then that head and neck explode from the rest of the body as the grey foam bursts out of the monster’s neck hole, solidifying as it spurts into the air. The foam comes down onto the street and tumbles to the feet of the other monsters and Lowell is surprised to see the giant beasts actually take a step back from the gunk.
“This way,” Bolton says and leads them down a street away from the monsters. “We need to get the fuck out of here and find a place where I can study the map.”
“I like the getting the fuck out of here part,” Lowell says. “I have no idea what help the map will be, but I don’t give a shit. Lead on, Captain America.”
“Knock it off with the nicknames,” Lu snaps.
“Got it,” Lowell nods. “No nicknames.”
Behind them, all of the winged monsters howl and shriek so loud that the three escapees can almost feel the air thicken with the sounds. They don’t look back as they sprint down the street, dodging the destruction around them, their goal to get as far away from Coeur d’Alene as possible before even thinking of stopping.
Eleven
“What is this place?” Dr. Probst asks as Gil lights a candle and leads the group down a long concrete tunnel towards a set of double doors set into a granite wall.
“We think it was some abandoned military storage facility,” Gil says. “Moss and I found it a few years back and started loading it up with supplies, ready in case the Muslims invaded us again.”
“Seriously?” Kyle asks. “You really thought that Muslims would invade the US?”
“What do you mean by again?” Dr. Probst says. “Please don’t tell me you count 911 as an invasion.”
“I ain’t ruling anything out,” Gil says. “But you should be thankful Moss and I did what we did. Otherwise, you’d still be out there with those things.”
Dust falls around them as they still feel the ground tremor from the monsters that raced past the mountainside.
“Why’d they take off like that?” Kyle asks, turning to look at Dr. Probst.
“I don’t know,” Dr. Probst replies. “I missed the lecture on giant fucking monsters when I was getting my PhD.”
“They have that?” Tiff asks, looking at the doctor.
“No,” Dr. Probst replies, not bothering to hide her contempt.
“Don’t need to be a snooty bitch,” Tiff frowns.
“In we go,” Gil says as he holds open one of the double doors and ushers the rest inside. “Tiff, go see who’s here and let them know what happened.”
Tiff picks up a candle from a basket set on a stool by the door, lights it off of Gil’s, then hurries off into the darkness of the huge space before them.
“There’s more to it than this,” Gil says, seeing the look on Dr. Probst’s face. “Right, kid? Tell her.”
“Yeah, there’s more than this,” Kyle says. “There’s a place they’ll tie you up and interrogate you for hours.”
“We had to be sure you weren’t dangerous,” Gil says. “And I’d say your pop was.”
“He wasn’t my pop,” Kyle says, his voice exhausted.
“Whatever he was, he was dangerous as all hell,” Gil says. “I’m hoping you didn’t fall from the same tree.”
“Wha
tever,” Kyle says.
“Is there a restroom?” Dr. Probst asks. “I kinda need to, well, uh, use the facilities.”
“You need to clean the shit outta your pants, right?” Gil smiles. “Gonna be doing some of that too.” Dr. Probst gives him an embarrassed smile and he nods towards the side of the space. “Follow me.”
They walk to a set of doors and Gil pushes them open, showing a small hallway with several doors along the opposite wall.
There’s another stool with candles on it across from them and Gil lights one. Then he hands it to Dr. Probst.
“Fourth door down,” he says, pointing to the right. “Want me to take that pack?”
“No, no, I’ll take it with me,” she smiles. “I think it may have a change of clothes inside. They may be wet, but they won’t be...soiled.”
“Right, yeah,” Gil replies. “Oh, and try not to use too much toilet paper. That’s the one thing Moss and I didn’t get enough of. At least for all the people that ended up here.” He sighs and rubs his face. “Guess there’s a lot less now. God rest their souls.”
“Sorry about everyone,” Dr. Probst says. “I lost several colleagues when the EMP knocked our jet out of the air.”
“Your government jet.” Gil nods towards the door. “Hurry up, so we can get down to business.”
“Down to business?” Dr. Probst asks.
“Yeah, so you can tell us what the government is doing,” Gil says. He glances over at Kyle. “I may not be the Fed’s biggest fan, but I wouldn’t mind some of those fighter jets that my tax dollars paid for to come and blast the creatures right off the face of this here Earth, thank you very much.”
Dr. Probst doesn’t reply, just nods back at him and pushes the bathroom door open. She steps into the darkness and lets the door close. Then she turns and presses her ear up against and listens. She can hear Gil and Kyle talking, but their voices are very faint. She steps away from the door and studies the small bathroom. Two stalls and a sink is all there is, but Dr. Probst doesn’t care. She’s not here to shit, but to get some privacy so she can do what she has to.
“This better work,” she says as she steps into the last stall and pulls Coletti’s CLD from her pocket.
She takes off her pack and riffles through it, her hands blindly searching for the sat phone. Once she finds it, she almost clutches it to her chest like a lost child, desperate to make sure it’s real and not some fantasy her mind has made to help her cope.
After a few deep breaths,s she listens hard, doesn’t hear anything from outside the bathroom, presses the CLD to the sat phone, and waits.
***
“Mr. President?” a tech says. “Incoming call, sir.”
“Lieutenant Coletti?” President Nance asks.
“No, sir, it’s a Dr. Probst,” the tech replies.
Everyone at the table frowns and all eyes turn to the president.
“Dr. Probst?” President Nance answers. “Where is Lieutenant Coletti? Why isn’t he calling?”
“Coletti is dead,” Dr. Probst replies. The tension in the room doubles at the words. “But that’s not the problem, sir.”
“That damn well is a problem,” Admiral Quigley barks. “Coletti was a good man and a hero to this nation. You will do well to speak about him with more respect, Doctor!”
“I knowexactly how much of a hero Coletti was!” Dr. Probst snaps. “The man saved my life and the lives of others. He took on a madman so we could get away.”
“A madman?” President Nance asks. “What the hell is going on there?”
“Never mind,” Dr. Probst sighs. “What I meant by Coletti’s death not being the problem isn’t because it’s not tragic, because it is. It’s because the missiles didn’t work, Mr. President. The flying ones grabbed them and dropped them into the hole.”
“We know, Doctor,” President Nance replies. “We were able to retrieve camera feeds from some of those missiles.”
Dr. Probst can tell that the president is holding back important information. You don’t get to the level she has in her profession without learning how to read men’s voices. She’d need a hundred hands and feet to count how many times she’s been shut out of vital research findings by that misogynistic tone.
“Sir? What did you see?” Dr. Probst asks. “Did you witness the missiles detonate? Because we didn’t see any signs that they blew, sir.”
“No, Doctor, they did not detonate,” President Nance replies. “But that is all I can say on the subject. Where are you now?”
“Safe,” Dr. Probst says. “Or as safe as I can be. I found some other survivors and they took me back with them to their bunker.”
“Bunker?” President Nance says, looking at General Azoul. “Is it a military bunker?” He flicks his finger across his throat and the tech mutes the connect. “What bunkers do we have in that area, General?”
“Outside Missoula?” General Azoul asks. “Probably quite a few. I’ll have a list pulled up so we can narrow down her location.”
“Good,” President Nance says. He gives a thumbs up and the transmission is taken off mute. “Dr. Probst? You still there?”
“Where am I going to go? Yeah, I’m still here,” she responds. “Sir, with all due respect, you need to tell me what you saw in that hole. Any information you have could give me insight into what we are dealing with.”
“Dr. Probst, I highly doubt you will be able to help us with what we saw,” President Nance says. “Unless you are a, what do you call it?”
“Cryptozoologist,” Joan says, her eyes rolling with contempt for the word. “And we have one on the way.”
There are few sneers and smirks at the table, but no one voices their misgivings. President Nance glares at them and everyone returns to their former stoic looks.
“Is there anything else you can tell us, Doctor?” President Nance asks.
“Probably nothing you can help me with, sir,” she responds. “Unless you happen to be a cryptozoologist.”
The president clenches his fists at the slight, but keeps his temper in check.
“That’s cute, Doctor,” President Nance grumbles. “If that is all then we have pressing business to get back to.”
“Is anyone going to come get me?” Dr. Probst asks. “Because that would be really great if they could.”
“As much as we’d like to, Doctor,” President Nance says. “We cannot get anyone to you in less than a day. And even then, since you aren’t exactly sure where you are, we can’t afford to send troops on a wild goose chase.”
“Well, you should figure out how,” Dr. Probst says. “Especially since I’ve actually seen the hole first hand as Coletti and I parachuted over it. I have some valuable information into its geological formation and composition.”
“If you have information, then you are duty bound to share it with us, Doctor,” President Nance states. “This is not the time for bargaining!”
“Not the time for you, maybe,” Dr. Probst says. “But it’s the perfect time for me.”
“Doctor, I’m warning you-”
“Oh, cram it up your ass, Mr. President,” Dr. Probst snaps. “I want the fuck out of here and if you want the information I have, you are going to need to figure out how to get me out of here!”
President Nance is silent for a few seconds, before saying, “Hold on, Doctor.”
He motions again for the call to be muted and the tech gives him a nod when it is.
“Tell me you have an idea where she’s at, General?” President Nance says.
“I do, sir,” General Azoul replies. “There’s an old special munitions storage bunker that matches the coordinates her sat phone is giving off.”
“We can send in a team to get her,” Admiral Quigley says. “But it’s still going to be…”
He looks at an aide that stands a few feet back from where he’s seated.
“Twelve hours, sir,” the aide says.
“Twelve hours,” Admiral Quigley says. “But these are not men I want
to risk losing, sir. She better be worth it.”
“Yes, she better,” President Nance agrees, nodding to the com tech. “Dr. Probst? The soonest we can have someone there is twelve hours.”
“Jesus,” Dr. Probst sighs. “Fine. Do whatever it takes. Can you find me from this sat phone?”
“We can, Doctor,” President Nance says. “I hope the information you have is worth risking men’s lives for you.”
“I think so,” Dr. Probst says. “And to show I’m not the most selfish person in the world, I’ll tell you what else I know.”
“What’s that, Doctor?”
“That the big ones are on the move,” she replies. “Six of them took off this way and trampled Missoula on a mad dash away from that hole. Could be related to whatever you think you saw or not, but those things wanted as far away from that place as possible. They could have given two craps about us little humans. They just wanted to be gone.”
Everyone seated at the long table look up at the many monitors that surround them. They find the monitor that’s replaying the missile video feeds on a loop and stare at the undulating mass that lies at the bottom of the huge hole.
“Yes, I believe they do want away from the hole, Doctor,” President Nance replies. “Will it be a problem getting away from where you are? Can you slip out in twelve hours without the others seeing?”
“Wait...what?” Dr. Probst asks. “You’re going to leave these people here?”
“Do you want to be rescued or not, Doctor?” President Nance asks. “Because I am sending a team to extract you, not everyone you are with. Is that understood?” There is silence for couple of seconds. “Dr. Probst? Are you still there?”
“Yes, Mr. President,” Dr. Probst says. “And yes, I think I can get away.”
“Good,” President Nance replies. “In twelve hours, you’ll want to slip away from the others and make sure that sat phone is with you. It’s how the team will know you’re the one to extract. Understood?”
“Understood, sir,” Dr. Probst replies.
“Good,” President Nance says. “I look forward to seeing you in person, Doctor, and hearing what you have to say.”
