“How were you able to escape from them if they were that bad?”
“I hid in a panel in the floor of the shack we were hiding out in. When they killed my dad, he fell on top of where I was hiding, and I guess they couldn’t smell me under there. It was his blood all over me when I found you. I will never be able to close my eyes again without seeing that image.” Tori started to sob.
“I’m sorry for asking, but we just need to know everything we can about what’s coming. How many were there that you could see?”
“There was the lady in black and her partner, a man, kinda thin, dressed in military clothes. They had three monsters on chains with them. Those were scary looking as all get out. Hunched over and sniffing everything, yellow eyes and their teeth looking like something you’d see on a shark. They looked like they were people once, but not anymore. Their hair was falling out, and their skin was almost a grayish color. It looked like something out of a horror movie. As scary as they were, though, the woman in black was scarier. She was cold and evil. When one of the guys in our group approached her, she just grabbed him by the neck and snapped it like it was nothing. Then she threw his body to her demon pets, and they tore him to pieces. That woman was just evil. I think she was sent by the Devil to round the rest of us up that didn’t get taken in by God’s rapture.” Tori began fighting back even more tears.
“I don’t think we’re dealing with the rapture. When the night is over and we have beaten these people, maybe I can tell you and show you more. But for right now, the main concern is keeping my little brother safe, and getting ready to kick their ass, if and when they do happen to show. Can you keep them safe down here?” Renee asked in a stern voice.
“I’ll do what I can, but I really don’t think you stand a chance against them, especially if they have Satan on their side.”
“Well, we’ll see about that. We have a few secret weapons on our side, too, and if all goes according to plan, we just might make arrangements for them to meet old Beelzebub tonight.” Renee led Tori back to the house to get ready for the long night ahead.
As the girls reentered the house, they found David sitting at the dining room table with all four little kids surrounding him. He looked over at Renee with a quizzical look, for which she just answered with a thumbs up. He nodded and turned back to the little ones. “Alrighty, guys, Renee just gave me the thumbs up that Benjy’s underground fort is all ready for tonight’s slumber party. Tori is going to stay down there with you at first, and then Renee and I will join you later. I want you to go pack all your toys you’re taking down there and get ready to go.” David, smiling, started pushing the kids out of the room.
Once the kids were gone, David returned to set things straight. “I’m trusting you on very short notice with the lives of those kids. If anything happens to them because of you doing something stupid, you will pay for it—dearly. Now make sure you keep that door locked and don’t open it for any reason. If we need to get in, we have a key and will not knock. If there’s any reason you don’t understand what you’re supposed to do tonight down there, speak up now.”
“I get it,” Tori replied. “I just hope your plan is as good as you think it is. I promise, though, I will keep them safe for as long as I can.”
“Good. Now let’s get you situated. We have about thirty minutes till dark, and then we wait and see what happens.” David had just finished when he looked over and saw that Jacob had just returned.
“Daddy, you promise you’re gonna come spend the night with us later?” the little boy asked.
“I promise, big boy. I just have a bunch of chores to finish up out back before I can, and then I absolutely will join you.”
“Okay. Love you.” Jacob gave his dad a hug and kiss as the other kids returned with their bags packed.
“I’m going to walk you over to the bunker and make sure everything is ready,” David said as he led the group of bouncing excited kids out of the house and towards the shed.
Renee stayed behind for a minute to put together a bag of snacks before her and Tori also headed out. Renee called Storm to send her into the bunker with them, but the dog stayed put in the middle of the yard, intensely staring out into the distance.
Chapter 28
Hope was in the middle of cleaning a rifle when she heard a loud explosion from down the hall, near the shop where Hunter was working. She got up and ran out, leading the two guards stationed to watch her as she did.
Entering the shop, she found it empty, but the large garage door was rolled up, and there were voices outside. Just as she was about to poke her head out, she heard another explosion, this time much quieter than the first.
She found Hunter standing outside with a large device in his hand that looked like the water pipes inside a house, surrounded by three other kids, all looking in awe at his creation.
“What are you doing?” a voice rang out from behind. Jeremy bolted past and headed over to confront Hunter, followed by two of his constant bodyguards.
“Check this out,” Hunter said as he stuffed something in the end of the barrel, and then sprayed some carburetor cleaner into the open bottom before screwing the cap back in place. He then took a long-stemmed lighter and ignited it into the hole at the bottom, and with a loud thump, the cannon launched the item out of the end and over the trees, out of sight.
“Are you crazy?” Jeremy commanded. “Get back inside before we attract attention.”
Hunter reluctantly handed over his device to the outstretched hands of one of Jeremy’s bodyguards before he turned and headed back into the garage. After the door was shut and locked, Jeremy inspected the device before he turned to address Hunter and the others from the garage.
“I have no idea what the hell y’all were thinking,” Jeremy said. “But I would really like an explanation, and now.”
“It’s my doing,” Hunter said. “I was trying to create another weapon. We used these at a camp I was in to repel scavengers so we could save ammo. If you fill up the end with nails and broken glass, it’s more effective than a shotgun. I was just trying to calibrate it before I showed it to you. It’s kinda tricky, on the amount of fluid you put in it to be useful.”
Jeremy paused for a second while he inspected the device in his hands. “Well, I see your point. Just from now on, run it by me before you build anything like this again. Hell, I thought we were under attack.”
“No problem, boss. Just trying to earn our keep. It’s been a long time since we’ve felt safe, and I wanted to help keep it that way.” Hunter turned to get back to work on the truck in the garage.
“How about the truck?” Jeremy asked. “You any closer to getting it running?”
“Nope,” Hunter answered, “but give me time. I should be able to do it.”
“Keep me posted,” Jeremy said as he turned and eyed the crowd that had responded to the commotion. “Everybody get back to your duties. It’s all good here.”
Hope looked over at Hunter and got motioned to come over to him. She braced for retaliation from the earlier prank and cautiously approached.
Hunter leaned over to her, careful to not be seen or heard. “Do it. Tomorrow at noon.” Then he started back to work on the truck.
Hope nodded and left to go back to the armory, but on the way, she first stopped by Jeremy’s office. She found him and his bodyguards talking while looking over the map on his desk. They jumped, startled as she entered. And she noticed two of them move over to the side to block her view of the box that was sitting in a chair. It looked like the same box that had been left the night before, but she couldn’t be completely sure.
Jeremy looked at her, a little irritated by her presence. “What do you want?”
“I’m almost done with all the other guns, and wanted to let you know I’m ready now for yours.”
“I’ll bring it down later … or in the morning. Can you shut the door all the way on your way out, please?” Jeremy glared over at his two companions.
Hope
complied and left the office. But, instead of heading straight over to the armory, she first swung by the cafeteria. She found Trip, elbow-deep, stirring what looked like a large pot of rice. She gave him a strong glare. “Hey, what do we have planned for lunch tomorrow—at noon?”
“Don’t know, but I’m sure I can come up with something,” Trip answered, getting her message.
“Okay, just wondering. See ya this afternoon,” she said before finally heading back to the armory.
Trip walked back to the rear of the kitchen, where Sherri, the lunch lady, was being watched over by two of the other kids. He excused himself as he walked through and into the food storage pantry, as if he were looking for something. After a minute of shuffling about in the pantry, he called out to Sherri to come help him find something. As she came in, he checked to make sure the guards hadn’t followed. He leaned in close and whispered something in her ear. She leaned back, and at first gave him a confused look, until she saw the seriousness on his face. She nodded and turned to leave, acting as if she had found whatever it was he’d been looking for while on her way out. Trip headed back to his station and started his planning for the next day as he finished prepping the food for that night’s dinner.
The rest of the morning, the team worked at their duties without giving anything away while they all made subtle preparations for their escape. Hope figured she would catch up to Morgan later, when they were all together in the room, since at the moment she was unreachable, at least without drawing any suspicion.
As their shifts ended, the quartet retired to their room and secretly planned for what would be an interesting day.
Chapter 29
It had been dark for almost two hours, and David was starting to get antsy. He was sitting in the Devastator, fidgeting with a new control panel he’d recently installed on the dashboard. He finally reached over and picked up the walkie-talkie next to him and pressed the button to call out. “Renee, you picking anything up yet on the monitors?”
Renee was sitting inside the house in front of a bank of monitors, each corresponding to a camera situated around the camp. She took one last look at all the screens before she answered back to David. “Nope, still nothing moving out there.”
“Okay. Keep your eyes peeled. How about your dog? Is she still just sitting out there staring off into the woods?”
“Yep, I’ve tried to get her to come in a couple of times, but she won’t budge. That has me a little worried.” Renee eyed the monitor with Storm on it.
“Well, that dog has either finally snapped, or she knows something’s out there, so keep an eye on her. She will probably be our first indicator that something’s coming.” Just as David had finished talking, he heard the dog start to bark. “What’s going on?”
Renee scanned the monitor and found Storm standing at attention, barking into the night. She was about to reply to David when another sound came from out in the woods. A loud screeching howl, answering Storm’s bark, and then the dog went silent.
Then the ear-piercing screech came again.
Neither David nor Renee had ever heard anything like it in their lives. The second one carried on for almost a minute, and Renee scanned the area on the monitor the howl was coming from, but nothing was there. She then looked back at the screen where Storm should be and found her missing. As she started to look over all the screens for any sign of the dog, she found the displays blinking out, going to static, one by one.
She grabbed the walkie-talkie, which had been chiming in with David’s voice almost nonstop since the howling began. “Company’s coming. I don’t know from where, but it looks like they’ve found our cameras and are taking them out. Storm’s missing, also.”
“Check the motion sensors,” David replied. “They should tell you something.”
Renee looked over and on a smaller screen, saw six red dots moving in from all directions. “We have six targets approaching the mines, but I can’t tell which one is Storm.”
“Doesn’t matter,” David replied. “Activate them now.”
“I can’t. Not with Storm out there,” Renee said, even though she knew what she was supposed to do.
“Girl, I need you to do it now,” David said, with desperation in his voice. “If we can stop them before they get into the camp, we’ll be better off. Do the right thing. Think about your brother.”
Renee closed her eyes as she reached over to hit the switch, arming the proximity mines at the outer perimeter of the camp. “C’mon, girl, get out of there,” she said as she heard the click of the switch as it activated.
Almost immediately, two explosions went off in the distance, the shockwaves rattling the windows in the house. She looked at the motion detection screen and saw they were down to five moving targets. She noticed that all five of them were moving in a direct path towards the house, all of them spaced out evenly. She relayed the information to David and hoped that one of the blips on the screen was her dog.
“It’s time; you know what to do on your end. I will hold them off from here. Be safe and aim straight,” David said as he put down the radio and moved into position to the rear of the Devastator.
As Renee got up from the table, she took one last look at the screen and finally caught a glimpse of something on one of the monitors. It was a woman walking up to the camera and staring into it with a devilish grin. Her mouth moved, but there was no sound. Renee couldn’t read lips, but it didn’t look friendly. Then the woman yanked the camera out of the tree, and the screen went to static. Renee knew where that camera was at in the woods, and she at least had an idea of which direction they were coming from.
Renee headed to her battle station, a sandbagged placement on the roof of the house with a machine gun mounted for a complete one-hundred-and-eighty-degree field of fire to defend the entire front of the camp.
As she jumped into position, she put on a pair of night vision goggles just before two more explosions went off in the deep woods, directly in front of the camp. A few seconds later, she heard a different howl come from the woods. This time, the sound was that of a wounded creature. It carried on for several seconds until it abruptly stopped, creating an eerie silence throughout the woodline.
The silence carried on for a lifetime, until a lone voice rang out from the darkness. “Humans, you do not have enough tricks to keep us out all night. You have killed one of my pets, and for that I will make you pay. Surrender now, and I will kill you fast and painlessly. If one more of your bombs go off, I will make you suffer for days.”
Renee was thinking up a response, and was just about to give one, when she heard a sound from the rear of the house, where David was keeping watch from the Devastator. As she turned to see what the sound was, she found David standing in the open doorway of his war machine with a grenade launcher in his hand. He aimed it over the house and fired a grenade into the woods, but not before yelling, “C’mon, bitch, come get some.”
Renee followed the path of the grenade and watched it hit high on a pine tree and explode. Then it was silent again. She scanned the area leading up to the deep river channels surrounding the camp, and found no movement. She was, however, starting to hear something. It sounded like a bulldozer plowing through the trees from four different directions. As the sounds got closer, more of the mines went off, but the sounds of the approaching invaders just got louder the closer they came. She finally spotted the first one in the clearing on the other side of the main bridge. She gripped the handle of the machine gun and got ready to squeeze the trigger, when suddenly the figure jumped into the air and cleared the twenty-foot ravine with ease. She got a closer look and found that it was the man Tori had described as the thin man in military gear, and not one of the creatures.
The thin man stopped and turned around to wave to someone still in the woods, when, unexpectedly, he was hit with gunfire from atop the house behind him. Several bullets struck him almost at once—and he was sent tumbling into the ravine he had just cleared with his jump—and he complete
ly disappeared from sight.
Eva looked on from the cover of the trees and shook her head. “Isac, you fool,” she said as she looked over at one of her pets and gave it a command to go around to the backside of the camp.
The creature grunted a sound of acknowledgement before it took off running towards the right side of the camp’s defenses. As it crashed through the tree line, it started to take fire from the rooftop, but managed to stay just ahead of the incoming rounds until it got to a point that the gun couldn’t follow anymore in that direction. Clear of the bullets’ danger, it started to move in closer to the rear side of the house, all the while keeping an eye on its target on the roof.
Eva started to think she had found the targets she had spent the last few days searching for, which got her a little over-eager to get to them and exact her revenge. She stepped out to get a look at the rooftop guard, but as soon as she did, a hail of bullets sped towards her, giving her a most unwelcomed greeting. Managing to dodge most of the incoming rounds, she rolled back into the cover of the trees. She looked down and found two of the shots had managed to hit her, lodging themselves inside her upper thigh. Irritated by the rude greeting, she used her finger to dig both of the bullets out and toss them to the side. “You will pay for that, human,” she screamed at the unseen assailant.
Renee grinned a little bit at her marksmanship, happy she’d decided to not let David be the only one able to trash talk later that night. She was readying herself to yell out something clever at Eva’s threat when she was viscously hit from behind and almost thrown off the roof of the house. As she slid right to the edge of the rooftop, stopping just short of going over, she looked back to see one of the creatures Tori had described standing in the middle of her former hiding spot, bearing its teeth and growling at her. If she hadn’t been wearing a flak jacket that David insisted on her wearing, she would probably be in a lot worse shape than she was. She reached down and grabbed the holstered gun on her leg and quickly leveled it up at her assailant.
Humanity's Hope (Book 2): Juggernaut Page 14
