The Shadow Above The Flames

by Daniel Swenson

  The wind tussled the leaves of the nearby trees, breaking the silence. Jacobson was right; the scene before Rick reminded him of a horror movie.

  Jacobson tapped Rick on the shoulder shaking him from the memory.

  "Hey, we should probably check out that local market we passed and see if there is any canned food items that are still good in it. If so, we could use them to bolster our food supply."

  "Are you sure the food will be safe to eat after all this time? I mean, it’s been at least five years, if not more."

  "Most people don't know this, but commercially canned food items are prepared in a high-heat process that practically renders the food sterile. The average shelf life of canned goods is roughly two years. But as long as the cans are stored properly and are void of any dents, bulges, or damage, it should be safe. I think it would be best if we do a smell and sight test before eating anything."

  Rick wasn't sure if what Jacobson said was true, but what other choice did they have. So he followed him to the market. When they arrived, they found the door securely locked.

  "Good news!" Jacobson exclaimed. "More than likely, there haven’t been any animals inside."

  "That’s great," Rick replied. "So how do you plan to get in? Retrieve the key from one of these flower pots?"

  "Well, to tell you the truth, when I was a kid, I learned a few tricks that have come in handy during my years in the service."

  Jacobson smiled as he pulled out a small lock pick set from one of the side pockets of his pants.

  "Give me a second, and I should have this lock open."

  Rick shook his head. "So that’s how you and Wells got passed those doors on that mission two months ago in Prague! I couldn’t figure out how the two of you had got in before us."

  Jacobson chuckled.

  "What?" Rick asked.

  "McAvoy knew about my hidden skill and actually asked me to use it to get in and help clear the way for the two of you. After that mission, I taught him a thing or two."

  "Are you kidding me?"

  "Yeah, I hate to be the bearer of bad news . . . But, yeah, he knew. Honestly, the two of us had a good laugh over a couple of drinks at your expense that night."

  Jacobson twisted the lock picks and a distinct click sounded in the silence.

  "There we go!" Jacobson exclaimed.

  Rick fiddled with the door while Jacobson put away his lock picks. Rick carefully entered the market with his gun held at the ready. The store smelled of stale air with the hint of old rotten and moldy fruit and vegetables. As they surveyed the store, searching for food items, they found that rodents had already pilfered much of the bread. What they hadn't pilfered still remained in the un-chewed bread sacks, covered in mold.

  Rick propped the main door open with a metal basket from the market while Jacobson did the same with the rear door near the loading bay to allow air to circulate through the place. Then they searched among the various shelves for canned food that was still in good shape.

  Jacobson said, "Did you know that canned food over a hundred years old has been found in sunken ships on the ocean floor and was still microbiologically safe to eat?"

  Rick stopped searching through a shelf of canned beans and looked at Jacobson.

  "You've got to be pulling my leg," he retorted.

  Jacobson laughed. "I’m serious! I read it in a magazine a year or two back. It said that some crew had found canned items on a sunken vessel. When I read it, all I could think about was of the poor sap that was volunteered to eat the food in those cans."

  They laughed and continued their quest to find cans of food that might be okay to eat. After a few hours, they found a decent amount of canned goods that they could use.

  Rick commented to Jacobson as they placed the cans into a potato sack Jacobson had found. "You know, the real test is going to be when we open these things and see if the contents are still good or not."

  Jacobson grunted as he loaded another six cans of beans into the bag. They knew they couldn't bring all the food with them to the farmhouse just outside the village limits, so they decided to divide the cans into two piles: one smaller pile that they would load into the sack and take with them, and another larger pile that they would leave in the market. That way they could come back and restock from time to time.

  Rick left to use the store’s restroom. When he returned, he found Jacobson looking at a small picture in his hand. He wasn't sure how to let Jacobson know he had returned.

  "Who is that?" he asked.

  Startled, Jacobson fumbled about with the picture and then dropped it. Rick leaned down and picked it up. The picture was one of Jacobson with his arm wrapped around a beautiful raven-haired woman.

  Jacobson sighed. "That's Rebekah. She's my girl back home. I've been thinking about asking her to marry me. But I don’t think I'm going to get the chance to ask her now. The worst part is that she thinks I'm in California for a work conference. I'd give anything to hear her voice right now."

  Rick wasn't sure what he could say or do to comfort Jacobson. So he simply handed the picture back to him.

  "She's beautiful," was all Rick could say.

  "I know," he replied. "I still don't know how some schlep like me ended up with a girl like that. But I count my lucky stars every day that I did. I wish I could call her and let her know how much I love her, and say goodbye, you know."

  "Don't think like that. I know things look grim, but we need to stay positive. We can't afford to lose our heads right now. Maybe I'm just crazy, but what if the data core at the drilling site has some sort of beacon on it, and we could trigger it somehow?"

  A can dropped to the ground from Jacobson’s hands. He gawked at Rick, as if Rick had smacked him across the face.

  "What did you just say?" Jacobson asked.

  "You mean about the data core possibly having a beacon on it?" Rick said.

  Jacobson jumped to his feet, knocking over the pile of cans in his excitement. "I could kiss you right now! I am such an idiot! Why didn't I think of that? Of course the data core is going to have an emergency beacon on it."

  Jacobson dashed over to his pack and retrieved his tablet. "If we can remove the device safely and find a power source, I can probably rig it to send an emergency signal. I bet you two million dollars that those Union Forest folks will come running after their data core, and then we'll have our one-way ticket home!"

  Jacobson danced around the room merrily before packing up his tablet and placing the remaining canned items in the sack with Rick's help.

  "Let's go find this farmhouse of yours, and then we can figure out how to avoid that oversized reptile. Because if I remember the reports correctly, the drilling equipment is at ground zero, which is where everyone believes the Beast lives."

  Jacobson slung the bulky sack over his shoulder and signaled for Rick to lead him to the farmhouse. As he exited the store, he checked the sky for signs of dark and foreboding clouds. When he found none, he smiled, and then both men headed northwest down Glenshane Road towards the farmhouse.

  When they arrived at the small farmhouse, they found that it wasn't much of a sight to see. The trees on the property were either suffering from the same scourge as most of the other trees across the island or were old, dead, and dried out. Most of the original structure still stood and was made of stone, which, fortunately, had kept most of the plants and vermin out.

  The wood door hadn't been used in years; the weather had warped it so it wouldn't budge. They decided to leave their burlap sacks by the door and search for another entrance instead of breaking the door down. All of the windows on the main level were made of thick and sturdy glass and were either locked or swollen shut.

  Jacobson, on the other hand, located a set of doors that led down into the home’s storm cellar. The cellar’s doors were covered by a mountain of vines and dead leaves; Jacobson wouldn’t have found the cellar doors if he hadn’t stubbed his toe on one of the doors after tripping over the vines. He called Rick over
to help him clear away the vines. Both men were sweating by the time they finally cleared away all the debris. Unfortunately, after all their hard work, they found an old, rusted padlock on the doors.

  Jacobson attempted to use his lock picks, but the gears inside had been fused together by the rust. He pointed towards an old work shed over by the barn on the property. "Go see if there are any tools in that old work shed which we could use to get this lock off."

  Rick nodded and ran over to the shed. When he arrived, he found that the door had partially rotted away, which had allowed the weather in. He pried the remaining section of the door open and found many of the tools inside rusted from exposure to the weather. He searched for anything they could use and found a pair of rusted bolt cutters along with a crowbar, a hammer, and a hacksaw that was in somewhat good condition. He picked up the tools and headed back to Jacobson.

  Jacobson was excited to see that Rick had found some tools. “Great! I’d like to keep the doors intact.” He inspected each tool and decided to try the rusted bolt cutters first. They started to bite into the lock until one of the cutter’s handles snapped off.

  When the tool broke, Jacobson’s knuckles smashed together. He cursed and tossed it aside. After nursing his smashed knuckles for a few moments, he reached for the hacksaw. The hacksaw was slow and unwieldy because there wasn't much space around the lock to get full use of the saw.

  Rick picked up the crowbar and hammer. "At this rate it's going to take forever to cut through that lock. How about we pry it open?"

  Jacobson set down the hacksaw and grabbed the hammer from Rick's hand. Rick set the crowbar in place so Jacobson could strike it with the hammer. Jacobson struck the crowbar. Bang! The metal of the latch began to bend. Jacobson swung the hammer again. Bang! The metal stretched and twisted even further.

  Rick reset the crowbar so that it sat further beneath the latch. Jacobson swung and struck once again. Bang! The latch popped free of the door. Jacobson pulled one of the doors open. Immediately, a myriad of smells came up from the cellar below. They could smell everything from the musty old air to rotted fruits and vegetables. Jacobson took out a flashlight and walked down into the cellar to make sure everything checked out. He returned a few minutes later giving the all clear.

  "There is an unlocked door into the house from the cellar. We should be okay to use the house until we can figure out what our next move is."

  The leaves crunched under Henry's foot as he leaned against the rail of The Sleeping Princess. His stomach churched with the morning’s breakfast, threatening to make a re-appearance. He wiped away the salty crust that clung to the railing and watched as Lenny and a few of Cod's men unloaded the all-terrain vehicle Henry had acquired from one of his old contacts in Brest. He was amazed that he was able to get his hands on that piece of equipment. The all-terrain vehicle was a new toy that recently had been put out by the military. It had an advanced crew protection system and a light-duty profile. Plus, it came equipped with an intelligent suspension system that allowed its passengers to safely traverse both rugged terrain and urban areas.

  Henry checked his watch again. Time was slipping away like grains of sand sliding through an hourglass, and he had no way to stop it. The trip to Dundalk had taken a day and a half due to the storm.

  Every minute lost is one more minute towards doom for Rick, he thought.

  Henry heard the all too familiar clink clunk of Cod's footsteps.

  "Still brooding over how much time we've lost due to that storm, are ye?" Cod asked.

  "That and the fact that my stomach is still deciding whether it wants to reject your cook's so called pancakes and eggs."

  Cod laughed and cleaned out his pipe. "You know, sometimes the fates work against us. This crazy world of ours is hard to explain. If you had told me ten years ago that the Celtic Sea would become the most dangerous waters on the planet, I would have laughed myself silly. But here we are docked in the ghost port that was once Dundalk. I know it’s nowhere close to where you want to be, but it’s as close as I dare come. I hope you understand."

  Henry sighed. "I do."

  He looked out at the city devoid of people. "I know the journey here is dangerous, but I want to thank you for bringing us this far. It’s farther than anyone else would’ve taken us."

  Henry pulled out a card from his wallet and handed it to Cod. "If there is anything you ever need, call me. I am in your debt."

  "Are you sure?" Cod asked.

  "I am."

  A crate fell from the top of the all-terrain vehicle and crashed to the ground. Henry spun around to find Lenny cursing and barking out orders to the workers as if he were a general directing his troops. Henry was amazed at the changes that had come over Lenny in the last few days. During their flight from Fort Hamilton to Brest, Lenny had verified that everything they’d requested had been accounted for and more.

  The equipment exceeded what they had asked for by the Union Forest Intelligence Department, it was as if they were attempting to buy their good will. Many of the items were military grade equipment and not something you could just pick up off the street. Lenny had been in second heaven as he fiddled with all the high-tech gadgets during that first flight. It reminded Henry of how he and Rick used to be on Christmas morning. Loading the all-terrain vehicle had a similar feel.

  "Your friend certainly seems to be enjoying himself," Cod remarked. "He has my men jumping at the bit."

  "Lenny's harmless. He's just . . . well, he's . . . I don't have an answer for you."

  Cod laughed.

  "You know, I just can't figure you out. Sometimes I see a glimmer in those eyes of yours that has me wanting to run for the hills and hide. Then at other times, all I see is sadness, fear, and confusion. What in the world has left you with such a deep scar?

  "I can't say," Henry said under his breath.

  "Come again?" Cod asked.

  "How much longer till we can depart?" Henry asked as he turned from the railing.

  "How about we go and check on that friend of yours. Hopefully, he hasn't scared off too many of my deck hands. You know, he tried to contact that General Carmine friend of his earlier this morning."

  "No, I wasn't aware of that."

  "He mumbled something about needing to check in, or something like that. He's not some sort of felon is he?" Cod asked while raising one of his bushy eyebrows.

  "No, he isn't. Well, not that I know of. It's a weird arrangement, which I'm still struggling to understand."

  Henry shook his head to clear away the doubt that clouded his mind.

  "So where is Dundalk in relation to the rest of Ireland?" he asked.

  "We’re on the eastern coast of Ireland. So you’re going to have to drive north to reach your brother. Honestly, I'm not sure how you’re going to find that brother of yours in this nightmare-ridden land."

  "Neither am I. But I have to try, and I'm sure Lenny has some sort of gadget that will help us in our search."

  "Speaking of Lenny, it appears that he has that fancy vehicle of yours all loaded up with your equipment and supplies."

  Henry turned back around and was astonished to find that Lenny and Cod's deckhands had indeed gotten the vehicle loaded up.

  He shook his head in disbelief. How can this be the same Lenny I grew up with? That Lenny always shied away from responsibilities.

  Cod caught Henry by the arm before he headed down the stairs that led to the main deck and handed him an old, weathered compass.

  "I want you to have this."

  Henry tentatively took the compass, looking down at it in surprise.

  "I can't take this!" he exclaimed. "Didn't this belong to your father?"

  "Aye. It did, and I planned to pass it on to my son. But life didn’t bless me with one. And something tells me my father would be more than happy with me if I passed it onto you."

  "I don't know what to say."

  "Find that brother of yours, and promise that we'll meet again. Then we can buy a round of
drinks, and you can tell me a tale that I’m sure will rival any fish story I've ever heard. Oh, and be sure to bring that brother of yours."

  "Thank you, Cod, for all you've done."

  He extended his hand, which Cod grasped firmly. After the two shook hands, Cod handed him a beat-up satellite phone.

  "Me and my boys will be waiting for your call. I won't be staying here on the island, but we’ll be a short hop across the Irish Sea, enjoying what's left of Liverpool. As soon as you need us, just give us a call. It's already programmed in, just hit pound four seven, and it’ll connect you to another phone I have on the boat. We’ll wait two weeks, and if we haven't heard from you by then, we’ll assume you crazy-assed Americans ended up getting yourself eaten by that nasty Beast."

  Henry thanked Cod again for all he had done for them, in risking his boat and his men. Though the voyage across the Celtic Sea hadn’t gone as planned, Henry was now in Ireland and closer to Rick than he had been in days. Cod excused himself and headed down the stairs to go oversee his men.

  Henry turned to peer out over the port of Dundalk one last time. He imagined what the city must have looked like before the disaster in Ardmore. In his mind, he could see people milling about the docks—working, joking, fishing, and living life without fear of the unknown.

  It wasn't long before the image in his mind changed, and he saw flames raging throughout the city, devouring everything in its path. He imagined citizens running away in fear as a vast beast swooped down from the sky, killing everything in its sight. He pictured boats and ferries desperately fleeing the devastation, hoping to find safety out on the open waters.

  Every agonizing second that Henry thought about this, his pulse raced and beads of sweat rolled down his temples. It felt like he was there in the city walking among the citizens unable to help, while the Beast ravaged the city around him. Several times, he cried out a warning to the unsuspecting individuals, only to have the horrific outcomes of the vision unfold before him.