As he followed Madison’s trail, he was relieved to see only her prints. He walked for another ten minutes until he reached a slight fork in the path. Zack stared at the path and frowned. Madison had veered right instead of left, which he had specifically told her to be careful not to do. The fork was barely distinguishable and easy to miss if you weren’t paying attention. He guessed Madison had missed it. The two paths ran almost parallel to one another, but the one Madison chose would have taken her northeast and deeper into the forest, rather than north back to the bunker.
Zack rubbed his forehead. He was unfamiliar with this path, having only traveled it once before and never to the end. Time was an issue as well. In less than three hours it would be dark, probably less than that here in the forest and the deeper in the less light would remain. He had prepared for the worst and standing there thinking it over wasn’t getting him any closer to finding Madison. The time factor and more than running out of daylight, not wanting to disappoint Austin drove him onward at a fast pace.
The trail was tight, but easy to follow and Zack made good time. He rounded a bend just in time to see Madison standing statuesque in the middle of the path. She was facing his direction, but looking up towards the tree tops. He was about to call out to her when she spotted him. She slowly brought her finger up in a signal to be quiet and then pointed upward.
At first he didn’t see anything except the tops of the pines gently swaying back and forth. He looked back to Madison, who again pointed upward, more insistently, while her eyes silently pleaded with him to see. He squinted towards the sky, focusing his attention on anything that moved in the tree tops and again saw nothing out of the ordinary. He was about to give up and walk the remaining twenty yards to Madison, when a loud rustling noise overhead stopped him short.
This time when he looked up, about a quarter of the way from the tree top, hanging upside down like a giant bat, Zack did see. And what he saw was something out of a sci-fi movie, not real life. Not here on the outskirts of Pueblo, Colorado. No sir. Pueblo had wolves, black bears and even the occasional moose, but not giant winged creatures that hung from trees fifty feet in the air. Zack stared, transfixed by the sight of the alien being. Movement to the left of the creature caught his attention. His eyes grew wider.
All around, hanging from the trees, were hundreds of the alien creatures. Now that he saw one, he saw them all. When he looked back at Madison, his eyes were the only thing to move. She mimed that she would walk to him. With one more glance at the creatures, he nodded for her to come to him.
Madison approached Zack at a turtle’s pace, pausing after each step, checking overhead for detection. Zack also kept his eyes glued on the creatures and not until Madison reached him did he look at her. They stared into each other’s eyes, afraid to speak a word or even a whisper. They held hands and began walking down the path away from the canopy of death.
A slight breeze blew over them, rustling the pines. The hair on the back of Madison’s neck stood on end, but not from the wind. She gripped Zack’s hand, squeezing hard and stopped walking. He looked over at her, but she was looking up into the trees. A large branch gave way, the cracking noise echoed through the forest, as did the crash of each bough it collided with on its way down through the pines. With a soft thud, the branch landed on the ground and silence resumed for a mere second. But the branch had been supporting one of the creatures and having suddenly lost its perch the creature awoke and took to flight. The sound and commotion of giant nine foot wings flapping about the tops of the trees, very quickly disturbed the others. Soon they all took to flight and loud angry chatter filled the air.
From their view below, it appeared to Madison and Zack the creatures were upset over their sleep being disrupted. It was only a matter of time before one noticed them and Madison wasn’t about to have her chest ripped open. They needed to take cover, but as she took in their surroundings she saw nothing sufficient to protect them from the aliens.
Think Madison. Think. The forest didn’t offer a dairy freezer to hide in or a metal door or… Of course, she thought. She eased her back pack around to the front of her body and fished inside for the blizzard blanket Zack had packed for her, just in case. This wasn’t the just in case he had had in mind, but his foresight might save them. She nudged him with the folded blanket and nodded her head towards a spot off the path.
Overhead the creatures continued to fly around the tops of the trees. Every few minutes, two or more would clash and a brief fight would ensue. Their surly disposition created enough of a diversion for Madison and Zack to move off the path unnoticed, where they quickly crouched down next to a fallen tree. Madison unfolded the blanket silver side out and drew it over them tucking all the edges underneath.
“Aluminum. The blanket’s made with aluminum. They can’t see through it.” Madison whispered in Zack’s ear. He nodded in response, hoping like hell she knew what she was talking about.
Huddled underneath the blanket, Zack and Madison listened to the ongoing ruckus above. Every so often a branch would break and fall to the ground. One of those branches came dangerously close to landing on them, but took a lucky bounce off the tree instead. The blanket would be no match for a thirty pound tree limb, and fearing their luck would run out, they shimmied as far under the tree as possible.
Minutes later, two of the creatures landed on the path not far from their hiding spot. The ground shook from the force. The creatures fought and from what they could hear, it was a physical and violent battle. Several more creatures swooped down. One landed on the fallen tree they hid under, rocking the tree forward with its weight. Madison clung to Zack and closed her eyes. It was Lucky’s Grocery all over again, except Austin wasn’t there to protect her, but Zack was and even if he had no way of fighting off the Sundogs she was grateful not to die alone.
There was a horrible screech, loud enough to leave a ringing in their ears and then it was as if the aliens were all talking at once. It was at this very moment that Colin tried to reach Zack on the walkie talkie hooked to his side. Madison froze at the sound of Colin’s voice, which her senses, in their heightened state, perceived as coming out over a loud speaker. Zack reached down and clicked off the radio. The creature on top of their tree jumped down, shaking the ground with its impact. Zack held his breath, waiting for the blanket to be ripped away, but the loud chatter continued.
Over the din, one voice dominated the others and silenced the maddening noise. This voice spoke with authority, delivering what sounded like orders. When the voice stopped, they heard murmuring from the others. The voice, even louder, spoke again and the murmurs ceased. There was a massive rustling noise, which they could only assume was caused by the creature’s wings. And then, like a giant flock of birds, they could be heard flying up through the trees. More branches fell to the ground, some close to their spot and after what felt like an eternity, silence returned to the forest.
Several minutes went by before Zack and Madison dared to come out from under the blanket. Zack folded down a corner and surveyed the area, giving the all clear once he was certain they were alone. They crawled out from under the tree shaken, but alive. Zack wrapped the blanket around Madison, who was shivering uncontrollably. He looked up into the tree tops and then walked a few steps out onto the path.
“Shit.” Zack muttered.
“What?”
“Take a look at this.”
Madison joined Zack in the middle of the path. Her eyes grew wide. “Shit is right.”
On the path, not more than fifteen feet from where they stood, lay one of the alien creatures and by the angle of its head it appeared to have a broken neck.
“Looks like we got ourselves a specimen.” Zack said and walked over to the alien.
25 THE DISCIPLES
In an eight by ten room with stark white walls, Austin sat contemplating when he was going to leave. Having spent the past two weeks learning the routine of the disciples and as much as he could about the Section’s layo
ut, Austin was anxious to get topside. Based on his observations security was minimal, with the only functioning cameras being those located in the hallway outside the elevator. And, as far as he was able to ascertain, the elevator remained the only way in and out.
The Disciples day to day activities didn’t vary. Breakfast was at seven and consisted of plain oatmeal and coffee or tea. An hour of prayer in the temple room followed each meal. There was three hours of classroom in the morning taught by a different disciple each day. The teachings were based on a hybrid version of the bible. Austin guessed Roth’s hand was heavily involved in the re-writes. In the afternoon they were supposed to spend time meditating, and the where didn’t matter as long as they did so alone.
This was Austin’s most productive time of the day as it gave him the opportunity to investigate the Section. He searched in vain for Eve, by now certain she was somewhere in the Section. If she was being kept a prisoner, he was sure he didn’t have access to that area of the section and couldn’t risk asking about something he most likely shouldn’t know existed. Yet she persisted, appearing to him on a regular basis and at times seeming impatient. He found himself arguing with her, pleading with her to help him find her. To which she answered with her usual silence. It was maddening.
In fact, the entire Section’s existence was maddening to Austin, who saw what they were doing as pointless and a complete waste of time. When they should have been trying to destroy the Sundogs, they were praying to them. Praying for what, he couldn’t figure out and no one had felt compelled to share. Austin knew there was something going on behind the scenes, but he wasn’t privy to that information and could only assume it was related to the elusive Program he heard whispered about. He wondered if the Program was somehow tied to Eve or maybe she was the Program.
Along with having to spend most every waking moment in the company of the Disciples, Austin attended private meetings with Roth each evening, during which the General shared his philosophy on the current state of the world. This turned out to be a complete waste of time as well, since throughout his meanderings the General never explained in any detail his relationship with the Sundogs. Rather he seemed content to spend hours discussing his thoughts on developing, populating and living in a utopian society. If Austin posed a question, Roth either pretended not to hear or dismissed it as unimportant.
All the psycho babble about a new world order, Austin handled with ease, but when Roth insisted on talking about Roxanne and his son, it took every ounce of his will power not to act out his desire to kill the man. He held his composure, repeating to himself that Roth was more useful to him alive and the time would come to settle the score.
Besides these reasons, something was off in Roth’s account of his relationship with the Sundogs. There were slight discrepancies in his story which prevented Austin from pulling the trigger on snapping the general’s neck. His instincts kept nagging him to look deeper, to open that folder, study the pictures inside, but he couldn’t make himself do it. He glanced at the small night stand where the folder lay, tormenting him by its mere existence. Even if the photos turned out not to be Roxi, or were fakes as he suspected they might be, he couldn’t risk being wrong.
A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts.
“Come in.” Austin stood up.
The door opened and Brother Isaiah’s red haired, freckle face popped in. He stared at Austin with an alarmed look. “Brother Austin, why aren’t you wearing your robe?”
“I took a nap and I did not wish to wrinkle it.”
The boy relaxed, seeming to accept this simple lie as valid. “The Father wishes to see you at seven o’clock this evening.”
“Thank you brother Isaiah. I will see the Father at seven.” Austin folded his hands in front of his chest and bowed his head. Isaiah returned with the same gesture and then left the room.
“Like Guyana.” Austin mumbled low to himself while straightening his uniform. His hand went to rubbing his head and he frowned. His hair was longer than he liked it, but as a disciple he wasn’t allowed to shave his head. He couldn’t wait to get away from this place, but he knew they were watching him, judging his actions and reactions. Roth in particular kept an eye on him, and even here in his room he knew he was being observed.
***
At seven sharp Austin, now dressed in a brown robe, knocked on the open door to Roth’s office. Roth welcomed him with his usual glazed stare and a smile that never quite achieved its purpose. Austin walked to the center of room and bowed to Roth.
“Good evening father.” Austin did not look up.
“Good evening my young disciple. Please sit. Sit.” Roth instructed. “We have much to discuss tonight.” He waited for Austin to take his seat. “I have received communication from my Disciples. A communication that was of a very disturbing nature and requires that we take action immediately.”
“Is it the Sundogs?”
“Six days ago a subject was lost by three Disciples. They had stopped at a ranch house to rest and she somehow managed to escape into the woods on an ATV. They pursued her into the forest, but her tracks went cold. Since then, I’ve sent two teams back to the woods with no luck in locating her.”
“The subject’s a woman?”
“The girl is still alive and I want you to find her. Tomorrow morning you and Disciple Morgan will return to the woods outside Pueblo and resume the search. She is out there and I want you to bring her back here.”
“Why do you think she’s still alive?”
“Disciple Morgan will come for you in the morning. He’s an early riser, such as yourself, so be ready at zero five hundred.” Roth stood up, signaling their meeting was over. He walked around the desk, stood in front of Austin and placed his hands on his shoulders. “The prisoner must be found and brought back to the Section. She is vital to the Program.”
Not knowing what to make of this and never having any luck getting the general to tell him more about the Program, Austin only bowed his head in acceptance of his task. When he looked up again Roth was still staring at him and, for the briefest of moments, Austin saw past the eyes of the crazy man. If Austin had to swear to it, he would say behind that glassy gaze the general was very alert and was nervous or agitated or both. These were not emotions Roth had exhibited in the past two weeks, at least not in front of Austin.
Roth dropped his hands from Austin’s shoulders and returned to sit behind his desk. He picked up a pen and began to write in his journal. Several minutes went by before Roth dismissed Austin and did so without pausing or looking up from his task. Austin hesitated for a moment, watching Roth, who was deeply engrossed in his writing, and wondered what in the hell the general was writing about.
***
Back in his room, Austin finished packing for the trip. Roth hadn’t mentioned and Austin wasn’t going to ask, but he hoped to get his weapons back, especially his knife. During one of their afternoon meditation sessions, he had happened upon a senior Disciple entering a room located on the west side of the Section. Catching a glimpse inside, he saw it was being used for weapons storage and that his back pack was hanging on the wall. He didn’t want to leave without his knife, but the combination lock was going to be a problem if he had to break in.
With his packing complete, there was nothing left to do except wait, so he sat on the bed and closed his eyes. Austin hadn’t slept for more than a two hour stretch since arriving. At night the Section felt more like a tomb, with an air that suffocated him so much so that he longed for the blistering cold of an open field or even the confines of a dairy freezer.
Again he wondered what it was that Roth had promised his disciples to keep them down here. He knew the Program was the key, but still had no idea what it entailed. No one discussed it, but each day Roth read out a name and that disciple was always extremely happy to be chosen. The others would congratulate him, some appeared more envious than the others, but they never alluded to what it was the disciple had been chosen for and it was ne
ver mentioned afterwards.
Setting his uneasy feelings about the Program aside, Austin attempted to force his body and mind to relax by using methods he learned in survival school. He had used these methods in much worse situations and had better success, but down here, underneath miles of earth and granite, rest continued to elude him. Taking in another deep breath, he held it until his lungs screamed for release. As the air left his body, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He was no longer alone.
He opened his eyes and across from him stood Eve. Again, as in Roth’s office, she ventured close enough that he could have touched her. But she wasn’t there in flesh and blood. He could see through her the wall and door. She beckoned for him to follow. He stood up obeying, thinking she was going to lead him to her.
Outside his room voices drew his attention from Eve. The voices grew louder and then stopped in front of his door. Eve vanished like a dream when you awake. There was a knock and the door opened before he could answer. Brother Isaiah stood in the doorway. His usual friendly expression replaced by a frown. Behind him stood another of the brothers, one Austin had seen around, but wasn’t familiar with. They both appeared anxious.
“Father wants everyone in the gathering room right away.” Isaiah announced.
Austin maintained a calm expression. “Did he say why?”
“The Father’s commands are to be followed not questioned.” The unfamiliar brother replied evenly, his tone letting Austin know he didn’t approve.
“Please Brother Austin we must not keep the father waiting.” Brother Isaiah urged.
Austin walked toward them.
“Your robe, Brother Austin.” Brother Isaiah pointed to Austin’s robe that was lying over his chair. Austin nodded and quickly slipped it on.
In the gathering room the disciples and brothers milled about in silence. Austin found a space in the back where he could observe everyone. It was the first time he had been together with all of the followers at once. He did a head count. There were forty five brothers, including himself and nine disciples. He counted a second time and came up with the same number. Three disciples were missing. It was possible the missing men were above ground, but before he could give this more thought Roth entered the room. The disciples folded their hands and bowed their heads.
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