Cascade (Book 3): Mutant

by Phil Maxey

  MUTANT

  CASCADE BOOK 3

  by

  Phil Maxey

  This book is dedicated to my grandmother, Hilda Michie.

  Copyright © 2016 by Philip Maxey

  All rights reserved. This book or any portion thereof may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written permission of the publisher except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  First Printing, 2016.

  http://digiterium.com/

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Table of Contents

  Mutant

  About the Author

  Acknowledgements

  CHAPTER 1

  Mary watched the dust fall from the rafters. Most of the population of the Portland camp was hiding underground, and she felt like they were all in the basement with her. A young child coughed, trying to breathe in the thick pungent air. This was the second night she had been down here, doing her best act as parent to children and nurse to others. Colonel Tinley had ordered everyone he deemed not useful into the makeshift shelters of the town, which was located at the southeastern corner of the camp.

  Irene felt along the wall and sat on the stained sofa pillow next to Mary. It would usually be Mary’s instinct to help guide a blind person if she saw them walking in an unsure manner, but she knew better to try that with Irene.

  “Chloe’s cough is playing up again. I’ve told her to keep a cloth over her mouth when she’s down here, but she never listens.”

  The young girl looked up when hearing her name, and Irene pointed to her mouth. She then obliged by pulling a small cloth out of her pocket and placing it over her mouth and nose.

  Mary looked around the space that her, Irene and about ten others were inside of. It mirrored the size of the single story home above it, being roughly thirty-feet square and was once used by someone who was quite the DIY enthusiast. Tools lined walls and worktops, and four wooden pillars stood at fifteen-foot intervals. Sleeping beds, pillows and blankets smothered the floor for most of the young to lie on. They had also found some tinsel to put up to give the kids at least a sense of Christmas. She then looked at Irene. She had told Mary that she was in her thirties but she always seemed so much older.

  “I know you’re looking at me.”

  Mary giggled. “How do you do that?”

  “You just get a knack for it, usually when those around you go dead quiet, they are looking at you. I can also hear your heartbeat.”

  “Now I know you’re joking!”

  Irene smiled.

  The music of destruction had lulled for an hour and most of the children were asleep or about to be, when it started up again. A knock came on the old wooden door above their heads, which then opened.

  “Ma’am, you have to move, this area has been compromised,” with the young soldiers words came the sound of war. The clatter of automatic fire combined with roars and screams interspersed with small explosions.

  Mary leapt to her feet, and started walking from child to child. “Come on, everyone up, we need to move again.”

  A blond girl around the age of seven looked up at her and started crying. Mary knelt down. “Jess, no need to be so worried, hold on to your doll, it will protect you from the mean animals.” The girl squeezed the doll tight to her chest and got to her feet.

  “When will Santa come?”

  Mary wasn’t sure how to reply. “Soon,” she then approached a young teenage girl, with long blonde hair tied in a ponytail, and leaned in so to be able to speak quietly. “Addison, keep an eye on Jess, we can’t afford her to run off again.”

  Addison nodded. Mary then made sure every child was holding hands with the one behind them, and led them to the bottom of the stairs.

  “When you’re outside everyone stay together, and hold onto the closest person next to you.”

  Irene flicked her wrist and a small baton transformed into a sturdy walking stick, which was held to her hand by a small loop.

  Mary clambered up the stairs, her backpack bouncing on her back and came out into a dark hallway. In the gloom two soldiers stood, their anxious faces lit with flashlights.

  “Ma’am, please we need to move quickly, E.L.F’s will be here soon.”

  Mary beckoned the first of the children up the stairs, then turned back to the first soldier. “Where are you taking us?”

  “We’re moving everyone to the factory.”

  The hallway quickly filled up and Irene was the last to appear. One of the soldiers went to help her but quickly retreated when her stick waved him away.

  The sound of sniffling, and subdued crying, mixed with the distant sound of war, when the smaller of the two soldiers radio burst to life. “Private, what’s your status on the kids? Over.”

  “Got them, we are just about…”

  The soldier’s words were interrupted by a loud crash from behind the house. Everyone including the kids froze. The soldier with the radio motioned to the other to check out the disturbance, and then turned to Mary.

  “Follow me, quickly, everyone climb into the back of the truck, outside,” he then moved swiftly out of the front door, his rifle darting left and right, and beckoned everyone towards him. Tiny steps clattered over the wooden floors, and out onto the front yard, following Mary and Irene. They then ran over the frosted drive to the back of a large white, former moving truck. Mary lifted the first kid up into it when automatic fire broke out behind the house filling the night air with noise.

  “Quickly, now! Get them in the truck!” shouted the soldier near the entrance, who then ran back inside. More gunfire echoed around the abandoned homes, and then a scream. Mary glanced at the house and then frantically picked the other children up, pushing them into the truck as quickly as she could.

  “Irene, climb in. I’ll be right with you.”

  “I think I’ll wait here with you.”

  They both looked back at the house, which was enveloped in darkness. Mary reached into her backpack and pulled out a good-sized flashlight, she then switched it on and pointed it towards the house. No movement or sound came from the building, which looked at her with cold innocence. Mary moved forward onto the path, and shone the light into the hallway, it was empty. She looked back at the truck, sitting motionless and at Irene, whose head was twitching left and right listening to the night. Where are they? She thought looking into the hallway again, she then sighed. I need the keys.

  She ran to the back of the truck, and leaned into the storage space. Addison had already turned on her own flashlight.

  “Addison, we need to pull this shutter down, to keep you all safe, we will be leaving very soon.” The young girl nodded, and Mary jumped up grabbing the latch then pulled the shutter down, closing it as quietly as she could. “Irene, I need you to get in the passengers seat, I’m going to get the keys.”

  Irene went to say something but Mary had already turned and headed back to the house. Shining the light into the hallway again she entered and listened best she could. Still only silence came back to her. Her legs felt heavy as she wandered further down the hallway, passing the basement entrance and into the kitchen.

  Cake mixture for a partially made Christmas cake sat on the worktop. It was Christmas eve, and only a few hours earlier Mary, Irene and some of the children were standing in the kitchen getting sugar and dried fruit everywhere, when the sirens broke out and everyone had to be quickly shuffled into the basement.

  A cool breeze crossed Mary’s face as she stood amongst the shadows of the kitchen and sunroom. Beyond their large windows was only a rich darkness. The door to the back yard was open and swaying slightly. Keeping her flashlight pointing downwards, she
moved into the sunroom and then up to the open door to the yard. It was then she heard the noise. A slow drooling sound, like something was drinking from a straw. She went to call out into the black in the yard in the hope that a human voice would come back, but as she stepped across the threshold into the night, the smell of death hit her. She also trod on something and stumbled backwards against the doorframe. Immediately she pushed the flashlight in the direction of her obstruction and saw the torn body of one of the soldiers. The noise that she still hadn’t got used too, paused and then continued. It seemed to be coming from the back of the yard, but she wasn’t about to point the light in that direction to see what was causing it, unless she had too.

  She looked down at the soldier. His blood soaked radio was still with him. Kneeling, she grabbed the radio, and then quickly searched his clothes. A set of keys came from his top pocket. Lucky.

  Standing, she turned and carefully retraced her steps back into the kitchen. Once she was in the hall, she ran back to the truck. The driver’s door was already open.

  She jumped up into the seat and slid the keys into the ignition.

  Irene looked straight ahead. “I take it the soldiers are not joining us.”

  Mary fired up the trucks engine, and pulled the door closed, she then pulled off, driving down the darkened road.

  CHAPTER 2

  The sound of far off explosions woke Zach. His eyes flickered open into darkness. The left one quicker than the right, but at least the right was now opening. He reached over the side of the flimsy metal frame of the bed, and pulled his backpack up. Pulling out his radio, he clicked it on to see what the time was. 7 am. An hour before sunrise. He looked out into the dark around him, but couldn’t make much out and returned to staring at the underside of Abbey’s bunk above him. It’s him. The tiny voice which he had managed to suppress on seeing Tinley was getting louder. He had to face the reality of the situation. The man that he suspected of killing his family was in charge of this camp, and will be in charge of where he gets sent next. With all the crazy things that he had learned over the past few weeks, that struck him as the craziest. Fate. They had fought hard to make it across the country for these people, and now what chance did he have to help them? Did Tinley know that Zach knew who he was? This was something Zach wasn’t sure of. Either way, he needed to watch his back and those he cared for. He also needed to get a message to Trow, but that might be out of his hands.

  He wasn’t going back to sleep, so he sat up, put his boots on and picked up his radio. He then used the neon orange glow from it to light a path between the beds to the door, and then outside into the hallway which was lit by one dim dust covered light.

  He heard voices he recognized and walked to the lobby where he found Fiona and Cal, sitting on two plain chairs.

  “I hope you both got at least some sleep,” he said, placing a small plastic cup up to the water dispenser and turning the tap.

  “Some,” said Fiona. Cal continued looking at the smooth paneling on the floor.

  Zach gave him a disconcerted look then sat down next to Fiona. Flashes and orange streams broke the blackness of the horizon outside the lobby entrance.

  “What’s your take on the guy in charge?” said Fiona.

  Zach took a sip on his water. “Bass said he held the camp together.”

  “Did he say anything about what the breakout plan is?”

  “Only that, he’s in charge of it.”

  Cal lifted his head a bit. “I thought Trow put you in charge?”

  “That’s what she told me, guess Tinley has other ideas. I got a briefing at zero eight hundred hours.”

  “Want us along?”

  Zach was going to reply when a truck pulled up outside the lobby with a judder. A woman in her late twenties with medium length brown hair, jumped out, running around the back, then lifted the shutter up. She then started to help children onto the ground. Zach, Cal and Fiona stood up, left the lobby and walked to the back of the truck.

  “We could do with a hand here,” said Mary.

  Zach, Cal and Fiona stepped forward and started helping.

  “I’m Zach, this is Fiona and Cal.”

  “Mary, and this is Irene.”

  Irene appeared sticking close to the side of the truck, and held out her hand. Fiona shook it and went to smile then stopped.

  As the group grew, Fiona took them into the lobby, until they were all inside with the five adults.

  “Help yourselves to some water, but don’t take too much, share a cup if possible,” said Mary to the children, then turned to Zach. “Are you new here? I’ve not seen any of you before.”

  “I’m Captain Felton from Bravo, we are here to help with the evacuation.”

  Mary’s expression changed, and she looked down the hallway towards where everyone was sleeping. “Is Morgan here?” Zach looked unsure. “Sorry, I mean Dr. Tanner?”

  “Yes, I think she’s sleeping in the hall.”

  Mary went to move in that direction, but stopped. “There were two soldiers sent out to help us get here, but unfortunately they didn’t make it. Do you know where we should go? The guard at the gate said just check in at the lobby.”

  They all stood looking around them, but the only sounds were from outside.

  Zach looked over the kids in front of him, and then to Mary. “There’s plenty of room in the main hall.”

  “You heard the man, everyone through the doors and into the hall, and keep quiet! People are sleeping.”

  They all filed back into the hall, with the children staying close to the wall. Mary went from bed to bed, shining her light off to the side so as to not wake the sleeper, but at the same time give her enough light to recognize her sister. Eventually, she found the right bed, and gave Dr. Tanner a slight nudge, than a warm embrace. The fuss making the people in the nearby beds wake up, grumble something then turn over.

  After a short chat, Morgan put on a second top, picked up her backpack and followed Mary back to the waiting children. She introduced everyone to her sister as she gave each person a quick medical checkup. She then took everyone over to an area with empty beds which most of the kids and their guardians gratefully fell into.

  Abbey had woken up by now and walked over to Zach. “New arrivals?”

  “That’s Mary, Dr. Tanners, umm Morgan’s sister. She’s been helping to look after some kids.”

  “How you sleep?”

  “Got some, you?”

  “Same.”

  “I need to go, I’ve got a briefing in about thirty minutes, and I have no idea where to go. I think their plan is to start the evac today, so keep our group together,” as he finished his words, he addressed Cal, Fiona as well as Abbey.

  She gave him a hug. He then went and collected some things and left the hall.

  Walking back out into the lobby, the sun was just starting to rise, making the sky beyond the entrance doors a navy blue. The flashes and orange streaks had stopped. A woman, different to the night before was sitting at the counter, busily writing.

  Zach looked towards her, while doing up his jacket. “Hi, Any idea where the briefing is with Colonel Tinley?” The colonel’s name tasted bitter as he said it.

  She looked up. “It’s in headquarters, at our state capital building and it started at 7 am, thirty-five minutes ago, are you one of the new arrivals from the Austin camp?”

  “What? I was told to get to a briefing at zero eight hundred hours.”

  “If you’re from Austin then you are to remain here, until called for.”

  Zach looked to the area outside, there were no guards but he couldn’t shake the feeling that he was a prisoner once again. He walked closer to the counter. “Did you know a bunch of kids came in not so long ago? they might need some help.”

  “I was informed, there’s food and shelter in the hall.”

  Zach could feel frustration building in him and was just about to make his responses angrier when a Humvee pulled up outside. An army officer in his t
hirties got out, accompanied by a soldier and they walked into the lobby. The officer then walked up to the counter.

  “We’re here to talk to a Captain Felton.”

  “That would be me.”

  “Ah good, Captain. My names Captain Holston,” he then turned to the woman behind the counter. “Is there a room we can talk in private?”

  She responded by opening a door to a small office, with a desk and a few chairs. Captain Holston and Zach sat down, Holston sitting behind the desk.

  “First, Colonel Tinley wants to congratulate you on achieving your mission with getting Dr. Joshi from Austin to here.”

  Zach looked confused. “The mission was to get my group here, to help with the evacuation. Dr. Joshi wasn’t asked here, he came because he thought he could help.”

  “Regardless of the circumstances, the Colonel feels Dr. Joshi will be a great asset with the evacuation.”

  As Holston was talking, Zach started to realize that he had not seen Raj since they arrived in the hall, Holston continued. “The Colonel understands that you were under the misguided impression that you were to command the evacuation? We never received any such order from General Trow.” The last part he said with a smirk.

  “Well, all it will take is a quick communication to Bravo to sort that out.”

  “Unfortunately communication to the Austin camp is down, and anyway there’s no time. The evacuation will take place today. Very soon in fact,” Zach went to say something, but Holston continued. “And you are to command the evacuation of the people here. They are mostly women and children, and some other less fortunate people.”

  “Less fortunate?”

  “The injured, some people with pre-existing conditions.”

  “Okay, and how many soldiers do I get to help with that?”

  “Unfortunately we can’t spare any. I understand you arrived with about ten soldiers? That should be more than enough, with someone as experienced as you Captain.”