Free Range Protocol- Tales of the Tschaaa Infestation

by Marshall Miller

  About ten days after contact with the Breeder, she saw them. Using the high powered scope on the rifle, she could see a dozen well-armed, uniformed and organized group coming up the local main street several blocks away. She grabbed one of the battery operated, short range walkie talkies Stan had gotten to work and sounded the alarm. After losing Pablo and the two newly arrived adults, they had come up with a defensive plan.

  Joseph and James had stayed in that day from fishing, so they grabbed their ex-military weapons and took up defensive positions on the street level. Stan had a pistol to cover the main entrance to the apartment building, the other occupants spread out in the building proper. If the approaching personnel were a threat, they were about to run into a hornets’ nest.

  When the armed formation reached the end of the block, Heidi used their special weapon. Stan had hooked up a kids karaoke machine so that some distant speakers at the end of the block were connected to the microphone. Heidi spoke on the machine, hoping it would sound like the voice of God above.

  “You can stop right there and state your business.”

  The people stopped, several dropping behind abandoned cars for cover, as the others tried to figure out where the voice came from.

  “Whoever your boss is, step on up and state your business so I can hear him or her.”

  Without hesitation, a stocky older looking man with red hair and a handlebar moustache moved forward. He had some large looking clip fed weapon that Heidi did not immediately recognize. He walked to within fifty yards of the apartment entrance when Heidi told him to stop. She could see through her rifle scope that he had what looked like Chief or Master Sergeant’s stripes on his urban camouflage fatigues. The man also had a good voice.

  “Chief Master Sergeant William Hamilton, former U.S. Air Force. To whom am I speaking?”

  “Petty Officer Heidi Faust, U.S. Coast Guard. Now, state your business.”

  The man shook his head. “Look—you people probably have me, at least, dead to rights. But since you did not shoot first and ask questions later, you may be the group we are looking for, are trying to find.”

  “Oh yeah? Who is we?” Heidi said over the sound system.

  “Look it, I don’t want to keep yelling at a disembodied voice. What say I lay down my weapon, your friends keep me covered, and you come down and talk to me face to face—I promise I don’t bite.”

  Heidi laughed, which sounded load over the microphone.

  “Yeah? If you do, I bite back. And some people think I have rabies.”

  She thought the Chief was laughing. “Oh Hell, Coastie. Come on down. See. I’m laying my weapon down.”

  Heidi watched as he laid that large weapon down. Then, she called over the sound system.

  “Okay. I’m coming down.”

  She made it down from the roof in record time and handed her rifle to Stan at the front entrance.

  “Stan, think you can hit something with this?”

  “Used to hunt in Utah. Think I can handle it.”

  “Good. Take that Chief out if they try to take me down.”

  Stan chuckled. “They won’t. You’re too tough.”

  Heidi smiled. “Just remember that.”

  Heidi had her hand on her pistol as she approached the Chief.

  “I’d salute you, Chief, but then I’d have to take my hand off my pistol.”

  He shrugged. She saw that he had a slab side 45 automatic in a shoulder holster, but he made no movement towards it.

  “Always pays to be careful, Petty Officer.”

  “You Kraken, Chief?”

  The older man sneered, then spit on the pavement and his blue eyes seemed to flash when they looked at her.

  “Do I look like I slaughter, eat people?”

  Heidi paused. “Well, I don’t see any of those God-awful tattoos they like to sport. So, who is with you?”

  “Director Adam Lloyd. Heard the name before?”

  “Is he the guy they talked about on the radio, who according to the rumor mill has some agreement with the Squids not to eat any more people around here?”

  “He’s the one. And you sound like the fishermen group who has an agreement with the Tschaaa to fish around here, without them sinking you.”

  Heidi smiled. “Guilty as charged. So I guess you have heard of us.”

  She paused for a moment, looking at the Chief.

  “The wheels in your head are turning,” the man said.

  “Yeah. They let me be in charge, because I think too much. The two Naval Airedale officers said they were tired of being in charge. So they let the bossy bitch do it.”

  Chief Hamilton began to laugh. It was a nice, natural laugh, not forced or fake. Heidi realized she could like this man. If he wasn’t trying to lie to her.

  “Alright, here’s the deal young lady. Key West is being set up as a sanctuary of sorts, soon to be the nerve center or capital of those former States and other areas under Tschaaa control. The Squid Lord who controls all of North America has set up a unique system. No more general harvesting. He has a three state compound now with a breeding stock of us humans. Sorry, they still eat some of our fellow humans. But not us. And not you if you join us.”

  Heidi was silent. They were still eating humans. But at the same time, some of them were trying to work with humans. Bizarre.

  “Why?”

  “Why what, Petty Officer?”

  “Why not eat all of us? Why work with some of us?”

  “The Director says His Lordship has decided we could eventually be a client, a helper species. It’s a special Protocol they are developing, about our relationship. Like dogs are man’s best friend.”

  Heidi’s laugh was like a bark.

  “Yeah. Like I eat dogs.”

  “The Chinese did. They’re still considered human.”

  Heidi stood quiet. Joan was about to give birth. A couple of other women in the group were pregnant. They would, if the Chief was correct, be able to give birth in a protected area. Maybe they had a hospital up and running. That Breeder the other day. She could have killed, eaten them all. Plus the robocop had waved at them.

  Something was changing.

  She looked hard at Chief Hamilton. “I need to discuss this with the group, our family. But I will say one thing. Try and pull something on us, try some Kraken bullshit, you’ll wake up with your balls in your mouth.”

  The Chief had a wry smile when he replied. “Coastie, I have a strange feeling that was just a promise, not an empty threat. I could use someone like you in our Security Forces. The Squids may work with the Krakens, that Church, but we keep them at arm’s length. And yes, I have killed a few.”

  “The Squids don’t care?”

  He snorted. “Humans killing humans? As long as they get the leftover meat, and it’s not veal, they don’t care. But humans eating humans? Cannibalism is like a blasphemy with them. A species eating their own kind is an aberration to them.”

  “But they eat us, an intelligent species. Great, Chief.”

  The Chief sighed. “The universe isn’t fair. It is what it is. Right now, the Tschaaa are the top, apex predator. They make the rules. If we were on top, and we ate them, they would understand.”

  “You’re kidding, right?”

  The Chief gave her a hard, steely-eyed look.

  “I’ve never been so goddamned serious in my life. They have a rigid social order. Follow their basic rules, you survive. Violate them…you’re meat.”

  Heidi could tell he was serious, dead serious.

  “So no more Kraken’s butchering us at random?”

  “Not if we or the Squids find out, no. The official word just went out not too long ago to a certain Most Reverend Kray. Rein in your people, or become number one on the menu. After the dark meat in Cattle Country, that is.”

  “So that exists. People bred for, and kept as meat.”

  “The big trade off, Petty Officer Faust. Some die, so others, and the human species, can live.”

&n
bsp; Heidi was quiet. If the Chief had just come a few weeks earlier, Pablo would still be alive. Now, there was a chance that future children in her group would live.

  “Alright. Wait here, please. I need to discuss this with the group.”

  The Chief smiled. “Take your time. We’re not going anywhere.”

  “If the answer is no?”

  “Hasta la vista, Coastie. But you deal with feral humans and Krakens on your own.”

  “Okay. Be back in a while.”

  The apartment building dwellers had a meeting down at the main entrance so they could keep an eye on Chief and company. Stan cut to the heart of the issue.

  “My wife is about to give birth. If they can provide secure medical facilities, insure my child isn’t going into someone’s meat locker, you have my vote to go with them. Things out here are not getting better.”

  Everyone murmured ascent. They were willing to take a chance. Suddenly, all eyes were on Heidi. She could tell what they wanted to know.

  “Yes, I think the Chief is telling the truth. Otherwise, they could have snuck in, started picking us off.”

  She paused of a moment. “I know, if Pablo were still here, we would’ve already left with them.”

  Everyone was packed, ready to move within two hours. The Chief had put the call out for some large deuce and a half’s and other large trucks to move people and property. Heidi stood next to him, as they began loading the vehicles.

  “So, Heidi Faust. Are you considering my job offer?”

  She shrugged. “Yeah, sure. That way I’ll know if anyone tries anything against my family.”

  The Chief turned and faced her. “This is your family, isn’t it?”

  “Yes Chief. Same as if we grew up together. And you?”

  “My family is the Director and any one in his inner circle. We go back a long time, the Director and I.”

  “Will I meet him?”

  “Later. He used to come out on these little forays, but now has to spend a lot of time coordinating with His Lordship.”

  “Squid royalty, huh?”

  The Chief laughed. “Yeah. Crazy asshole has us calling him Lord Neptune, from our mythology. He is quite the student of human culture and history.”

  Heidi motioned with her chin. “And that robocop cyborg the next street down. He with you also? Or is he just checking all the activity?”

  “That is Andrew. Created from a man born of Earth woman, and assigned to help and protect the Director. Plus, he was the one who found you.”

  “What? Wait a minute. He’s the one who waved at me?”

  “The very same. He remembers everything he sees and hears. You can meet him later.”

  “Yeah. Much later, Chief. When I see a robocop, I get that run and hide feeling.”

  “Suit yourself. Now, you have anything you need to take care of right? We’ll be leaving soon.”

  “Yeah. I’ll be back.”

  Heidi walked down towards the water until she could see the Open Fisherman boat. They were planning on coming back with a boat trailer, once everyone else was secured in Key West.

  “See you soon, ol’ girl. Pablo, watch over her until we get back.”

  Heidi looked out towards Miami Bay, her home for the last year and a half.

  “And whoever you were, my female Squid friend. I hope I see you someday. I think you and I might just have something in common that the males of our species will never understand.”

  Heidi stood at attention and saluted the ocean.

  “Love you, guys, all my shipmates who didn’t make it. I love you too, Pablo. I always will.”

  She turned and walked back towards the apartment building. Time to go with her family to their new home, never to move again. At least, that was her hope.

  Hope can keep one alive. Especially when it is strong.

  BUSINESS AS USUAL

  Blonde and blue-jeaned Sharon Wagner looked through the battered binoculars at the open for business gentleman’s/strip club. It was the only business they had found operating since they had fled the Interstate 10 rest area about fifty miles east a week ago. The sign read “Toys in the Attic,” with the obligatory outline of a busty feminine figure. It was on the far west side of Jacksonville, Florida.

  “What do you see?” asked Susanne Shaw, Sharon’s best friend from childhood and beach volleyball partner. The tall and athletic brunette, also decked out in blue jeans and blouse, brushed her hair back from her face, as she finished speaking. She and Sharon had hoofed it some three miles after overheating the RV they had been using for transportation. A couple of bullet holes in the vehicle’s radiator had finally done it in. Now, survivors of one apparent space alien attack, plus a couple of conflicts involving fellow humans, they were short of food, water, and patience.

  “Looks like a typical strip or topless club. How in the hell they stay open, with all the crap flying around, people getting killed and taken, I don’t know.”

  “Well, they must have a generator, and a working water supply,” said Sharon. She handed the binoculars to Susanne, who resembled her enough that they were often mistaken for sisters. Then again, their near six feet tall, athletic and tanned frames reflected the fact they had been on a beach volleyball tour for a beer company when the rocks came down and everything began to fall apart.

  Susanne looked through the binoculars. “There are some guys standing out smoking by the front entrance. I think I see a large man in the shadow of the entrance. Must be the bouncer.”

  “Makes sense, Susanne. They must have a pretty tough staff to keep this place in one piece. Unless they are considered a pillar of the community.”

  Susanne set the binoculars they had gotten from a now dead young soldier after the last bit of violence they had experienced. In the past week, most people they came into contact with had the habit of dying.

  “So, we just walk up, try and get in?”

  “Well, I don’t see another way. We’re low on food and water, so we don’t have a lot of time to wait and see what else happens. And you say all those aircraft flying over aren’t ours, so driving on the road anymore seems to be asking to be a target. Even if we had a vehicle.”

  “Like I said before, that background material I received from the Air Force Academy had a ton of nice color photos of all the U.S. aircraft. And I have a good memory for shapes and designs.”

  Sharon sniffed. “Yeah, I forgot. You were thinking of taking off to the Air Force Academy, leaving me with no volleyball partner.”

  Susanne’s face flushed. “Damnit, how many times do I have to say this? I was not getting ready to just take off. I was just getting info on colleges and universities, like you were.”

  “If they had offered you a scholarship, you would have gone.”

  Susanne exploded. “After all we have been through, that is one of the most bitchy, nasty things you could say!” Tears of rage began to stream down her face. “I am not going to keep defending myself. If you are going to keep this up, you can just go fuck off.”

  Susanne was so angry, she was beginning to shake. Sharon realized when Susanne had said “Fuck off,” she had pushed the wrong button one too many times. Sharon was the one with the aggressive potty mouth, not Susanne.

  “Okay. I’m sorry. I’m just on edge…”

  “You’re on edge? What about me? We see old man Brassy at the used car dealership get shot and killed. Done in by those biker assholes that seemed to be helping the aliens—‘Squids’ the soldiers called them. Then Private Jones dies in front of us. You think I have a lot of experience with people getting shot, dying and things chasing us? Do you?”

  Sharon reached out and grabbed Susanne’s hand as a tear ran down the blonde’s face.

  “Please. I just fucked up. I didn’t mean to upset you so. Please, forgive me. I can’t…” She began to cry.

  It had been an extreme week. The two women were lucky to be alive. And now they were lashing out at each other.

  Susanne took a deep breath,
let it out. She pulled Sharon’s head towards her so they were forehead to forehead.

  “Okay, Sharon. We need each other. Me blowing up is not doing either of us any good. You are my best friend. I can’t stand to lose you. Especially not now.” She kissed Sharon on her forehead. Sharon nodded her head, put a hand on Susanne’s shoulder and looked into Susanne’s eyes.

  “Sorry. I just feel insecure sometimes. I know I act like the bad-ass most of the time. But without you being a rock to me, I’d be dead by now.”

  “You, dead? I will not allow that.”

  Sharon smiled through damp eyes. “Like I said. You’re my rock. Remember that.” She gave her volleyball partner a quick peck on the lips, then turned and reached into her pack.

  “Here. I still have some of my orange juice…”

  “That’s your share. I already had mine.”

  “And I want you to have this. Please don’t argue.” Sharon handed the half full bottle to Susanne. The brunette took it, unscrewed the top and took a swig. Then she pushed it back at the blonde.

  “Here, your turn.”

  “You’re stubborn, you know that?”

  “I know. That is why I stay with you, and you with me. We’re both stubborn mules.”

  The two young women laughed, their conflict forgotten. They turned their attention back to Toys in the Attic.

  “Well, Susanne, I guess sitting here won’t solve anything. You still have that revolver we got from Brassy?”

  “Yeah, with just the one round left. You still have your five shot?”

  “Yep. Keep the gun handy out of sight, along with your carving knife. I’ll do the same with the snubby and the butcher knife.”

  The two looked at the strip club. Then they both stood up and began to walk towards it.