by Phil Maxey
Cal looked at the snow capped mountains as the others talked of where they were meant to end up, at the end of another desperate attempt to escape their fates. Their voices all blurred and he found himself thinking of the young man he had killed. Jason and he had briefly scuffled in the dark. Cal had no intention of hurting him like he did, but Jason slipped on the ice and hit his head. He should have gone back, but at the time the drumming inside his skull blocked all rational thought. It had to stop, he had to escape. And since then he had done things and appeared in places without any memory of how he got there. He also suspected that Fiona knew more about his disconnected behavior than was letting on, but for now, just knowing that she cared, helped. He also felt different. Changed in some fashion. But just as with the shadowy figure in his dreams, he wasn’t able to articulate exactly what the change was. It was like he had entered an alternative reality, where only he was aware of how things used to be.
They made good progress, passing forgotten towns lost in a sea of ice and dust. Dark forms danced in the distance, on top of white tipped peaks, but as the sun moved across the sky no E.L.F’s got close enough to be a concern. After almost four hours they moved into a spread out town, with a main street encompassed by gas stations and casinos.
“We passed through here on our way up,” said Fiona.
Abbey looked around her, trying to get a fix on any of the single story ice encrusted buildings. “I don’t remember any of it, all these towns look the same to me.”
“We’re not staying here for the night?” enquired Jacob.
Zach looked in his mirror at Jacob. “We got another two hours of daylight left, we can make it to another town before then.”
Abbey wasn’t sure if that was the right course of action, but sitting in front of Fiona, Cal and Jacob was not the time to question any of Zach’s decisions. She was also aware of his urgency to get to Roswell, before Tinley.
After passing the third gas station, Zach clicked on his radio. “Rob, how we looking for fuel? Over.”
“Our supplies should be good for another four, five hundred miles. We will need to refuel at least one of the buses soon though. Over.”
Zach paused then continued. “We will stop at the next gas station we come too, see if it’s got any fuel around, and refuel with what we already have. Over.”
Rob agreed. After continuing for another mile, they took a turning that took them south, which soon led to a large gas station. Zach pulled the convoy onto the forecourt.
“If anyone wants to stretch their leg’s this is the time to do it. We will check out the fuel situation, then be back on the road in ten. Over,” he then turned to Fiona behind him. “Let’s see if there’s any canisters of fuel inside the store, if not, maybe we can siphon some from these vehicles. Everyone else, keep your eyes open.”
As he finished talking the bus doors flew open, and Mary appeared with a few children. Bass, and two solders followed. They all then moved off, with the soldiers entering the gas station store, and Mary and the kids close behind.
Zach and Fiona entered the store, passing one solder stationed at the front and another near the back. The mingled sound of young and old voices came from the restroom.
Mary then emerged, looking back from where she came. “Addison, make sure they wipe their hands with paper towels,” she smiled at Zach, who was busy looking for any fuel canisters. “Any luck?”
“No fuel, we will see if any of the vehicles outside has anything to siphon off.”
She smiled in response and looked around the modern looking aisles, and light colored walls. Outside the sun was making good work of melting what snow had fallen the day before. Most of the selves were empty, but a few packets of nuts were left towards the back of a shelf, which she grabbed, before returning to the restroom.
An awkward silence filled the air in the Humvee. Both it’s occupants, Cal and Jacob wished the other would leave to give them a moment of privacy. After a few minutes the tension was more than it was worth keeping warm and Cal decided to get out. He stood, and looked around. Mounds of white mush lay like miniature artic islands and the air had a clarity that made you want to breath it in. Nothing of any substance laid between where they were and the mountains of varying heights in the distance, but Cal felt his attention drawn in a particular direction, towards a small restaurant behind the gas station, a few hundred yards away. He strained his eyes but nothing stood out to explain why the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. The dark windows of the building weren’t giving up their secrets from this distance, so he ran forward a few more yards, and took his rifle off his shoulder. Holding the scope to his eye, he looked again. Movement. He walked forward and knelt down. Is there something in there?
There was something moving in the shadows inside the building, but the distance and the sun glinting off the glass made it impossible to know what the cause was. Looking back at the Humvee, Jacob seemed to be absorbed in a notebook, and the others on the buses were talking and otherwise engaged. He looked at the food stop, and started walking towards it.
Soon he was running across a sparsely filled parking lot, trying to keep his balance on the crunchy ice below his feet. A white sedan sat neatly parked fifty yards from the front entrance of the restaurant. He ran to the back, and peered out towards the glass front. Shadows shifted form, but he was still too far to see details. A person?
He stood and quickly ran to the front, and knelt down below one of the large advertising filled windows. Beyond the sound of the light breeze on his face, objects being slid around came from within. Lifting himself up slowly he squinted into the gloom of rows of red padded seats and a clean looking floor. An E.L.F, one that he had not seen before loitered between curved cornered tables with menus printed on them and overturned trays. This creature was smaller than the things they had previously encountered, but still over six-feet tall. It was humanoid in that it had two arms and two legs, but added to that was a tail, and a large spike ribbed wing like appendage that run up it’s back. Its face was monkey like, with large eyes, and it’s skin was a dark leather with area’s which looked like plate’s, similar to a lizard.
Watching did not satisfy Cal, so he ran along the wall, bending over as much as he could, until he got to the glass door. The creature was towards the back of the restaurant, near the kitchen area, so he would have time to enter, shoot and if he missed or if something went wrong, he could quickly leave.
His mind returned to the others near the vehicles, and he tried to count the minutes that had already passed, but he wasn’t sure, either way he knew he had to do this quickly.
Pressing on the cold glass of the door, he pushed it open, and walked inside, keeping low as possible and his gun trained towards the back. The sound of pots and glass being broken was now clear amongst a kind of snorting noise the creature was making.
One clear shot, come on. Cal looked down his scope. The creature was now in the kitchen area, with only the large open window used for serving giving any view of the E.L.F inside. Cal calmed his breathing, and waited. He was doing his job, and it felt good. Part of the creature came into view, it’s shoulder. Come on, more to the right. Yes, keep going…
Cal increased the pressure on the trigger, when a second creature rose up from a nearby booth just two tables away. Instantly, it tossed the table to one side and charged at Cal, it’s eyes wide, and rows of shark like teeth snapping.
Too close. Cal went to turn his rifles barrel towards it, but it was too late, the creature was an arms length away.
Mary and the children, returned to the bus, with Bass and the soldiers behind them.
Zach watched Fiona use her piece of piping to siphon gas from the nearby car as he did the same, and then they both walked to Rob who had finished refueling both buses. He gladly took the now full canisters and packed them away in the buses storage departments. Zach and Fiona then returned to the Humvee. They both went to get inside, when they realized Cal wasn’t there. They both looked
around.
“Where is he?” said Zach, who then ducked down inside the Humvee to address Jacob, who’s head was still stuck inside in notebook. “Where’s Cal?”
“No idea, he got out and walked in that direction about fifteen minutes ago,” Jacob pointed to a dark red brick building a few hundred yards away.
Fiona went to walk away. “I got this.”
Zach walked with her. “I think I should come as well.”
A chill wind blew across the large parking area, which only contained a few vehicles. Their walking became a jog. They looked best they could into the shadowy world within the restaurant but couldn’t get a grasp on who or what was inside. As they grew nearer, they both unslung their rifles. Within twenty yards, they could tell one of the shadows was definitely human shaped.
“Is that him?” said Zach, leaning forward to try to get a better look.
“I think he’s coming out.”
Cal emerged from the glass door, and walked towards them. His rifle was over his shoulder.
“Any trouble?” Zach shouted.
Cal walked past both of them. “No. Let’s get going.”
CHAPTER 25
After an hour and a half of driving across barren snowy desert in eastern Utah, Zach slowed the convoy. The reason was obvious, to their south a large number of dark shapes were moving across a frozen lake. A concoction of large lumbering beasts mingled with smaller creatures that skittered and hopped across the expanse of flat ice.
“Fuck. E.L.F central,” said Michael in the Humvee. Cal had decided to sit in the second bus.
Zach clicked on the radio. “Everyone increase their speed. Over.”
Large plumes of powdery snow formed misty clouds as different forms of creature dived in and out of the cracked ice.
Zach looked at the Humvee’s speedometer, it was showing seventy miles per hour, the buses started to fall behind. “Fiona, how far does this lake stretch?”
She looked at the map, and then her eyes flickered as she calculated how far they had to go according to the speed they were moving. “Few minutes and we should be leaving it behind.”
Michael looked out the Humvee’s window. “Zach, the buses, we’re losing them,” he then looked out to the right to see the mass of exotic creatures were still more interested in the water than the three vehicles trying to creep past. “They don’t seem to be coming after us.”
Zach slowed slightly to allow the buses to catch up, he then clicked on the radio. “Bass, how’s it looking back there? Over.”
“They don’t’ seem to be paying us much attention. Over.”
In the Humvee, they all suddenly noticed a blue-green walrus type creature, except with spidery legs ahead of them, moving in the direction of the highway. “Rob, Gregg’s, there’s something moving in the direction of the highway up ahead of us, we need to get past that point before it gets to it, otherwise it could block us. Get as much speed as you can out of the old buses. Over.”
Rob and Greggs acknowledged and Zach increased his speed back to around seventy. The Humvee hopped and skipped as it hit rocks and ice, Zach being fully away that if they started sliding he could lose control and there would be nothing he could do to get it back.
The creature continued it’s relentless trek toward the light grey path, which cut through the desert as the convoy sped towards it.
Abbey, held onto the door. “We’re not going to make it, it’s going to get there ahead of us. If we hit it…”
Even at this speed, it was obvious the creature would make it before them. Zach started to decrease speed, knowing that hitting the breaks wouldn’t stop them from hitting it anyway, but he had to try.
“Wait, it’s stopping,” said Michael.
They all watched the creature, a few yards from the white-grey highway, stop and examine the ice below its cumbersome mass. Zach increased the speed again and all three vehicles sped past. They all let out a sigh of relief.
An hour later the sun was low, and the light even less. The convoy entered a dusty town of cattle markets and wide tree lined roads.
“We’ll find somewhere in this town, for the night. Over,” said Zach on his radio.
After driving around, a large mock Victorian building caught Abbey’s eye, and they drove up to its covered front doors, passing over a muddy snow covered lawn. A rusting plaque on a brick column near its entrance announced that it was a former school.
The habitants of the Humvee got out and walked up to a large piece of metal sheeting that was partially covering up the old paint worn doors. “Reckon this placed was unused even before the Cascade,” said Zach sliding his hands over the ice-cold metallic surface.
Michael looked up at the boarded up windows. “If there’s any E.L.F’s in here they would probably be scared off by the ghosts.”
Bass and four soldiers jumped off the bus and joined them near the entrance.
“Might be a good idea to skirt the perimeter of the building, see what’s around,” said Zach to Bass, who ordered two soldiers to do just that.
Jack’s jumped down from the second bus and approached Zach. “I’ll join them.”
Bass and Zach approached the rust chipped metal sheet, and grabbed the edges carefully. They then pulled and it came away with a screeching sound, and then a pop as the old screws that were keeping it in place failed.
Behind were two impressive weathered worn doors from another century, with solid looking dark iron handles. Zach took hold of one and pushed forward. The door opened with a creaking sound and dust fell from its top.
Outside the sun was now on the verge of being obsolete, and the hall they all cautiously walked into, was full of shadows and a slight smell of damp. Multiple flashlights started up, and beams explored the scarred walls and tiled floor around them. They were standing in a large hallway, with a wide staircase directly in front of them that wound it’s way up to a second floor. To their left and right open doors revealed large rooms that were used as classrooms.
“I’ll check upstairs,” said Fiona.
Cal walked with her. “I’ll help.”
Zach, Abbey and Michael walked into the right classroom. A few chairs sat up against pale yellow walls, and some rotten wooden desks sat in the middle of the room. Two white wooden shelving units stood against the far wall with a few faded books with dark patches on them.
Zach looked at the boarded up windows. “Well it’s not much, but it looks secure. Let’s get everyone inside.”
Soon everyone was divided up into the two front rooms, and blankets and soft clothing was put down to create makeshift beds. The upstairs had more empty rooms but Zach wanted everyone on the ground floor, close by. They lit candles but kept them against the far walls away from the windows incase any light escaped, highlighting their location. The desks were covered by a large sheet, which became a rudimentary location to cook, with a small gas stove. After an hour, hot food was being served. This warmed the members of the group, but not enough for anyone to remove any of the multiple layers of clothing they had on, and a number of the children were buried under piles of blankets and woolen winter hats.
Michael watched Hanna huddled with Megan from across the room, both were sipping on a cup of hot soup. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small plastic cat, with a metal chain dangling from it. He rolled it over in his fingers, remembering his own cat from when he was a child. Buzz was his name, from a cartoon character he loved. Standing he walked the short distance, and stood in front of Hanna.
Michael held out the orange feline figurine. “I know its a few days late but I thought Megan might like this as a Christmas present.”
Megan’s eyes immediately lit up, and her hand reached for it.
“I think it’s a car air freshener or something.”
Hanna took it and held it to her nose. “Riecht nach Apfel,” she smiled and gave it to Megan who also sniffed it.
“What do you say to the nice man?”
Megan looked confused.
“In English.”
Megan looked up at Michael “Thank you.”
Michael smiled. “You’re welcome,” he then went to turn and walk away.
“You can sit here if you want. We are closer to the candles so I think warmer.”
Michael smiled again but this time not only on the outside.
Zach and Abbey sat in one of the corners, of the high ceilinged rooms. A thick blanket covering their legs, on top of which laid a number of maps that Zach had accumulated.
“I wonder how the others are doing?” said Abbey between bites of a candy bar.
“The other convoy?”
“Yes.”
Zach sighed. “They have Raj, so that’s something on their side. But if they have kept taking loses like they had been, then there won’t be many making it back to Bravo. The council is going to see it as Trow’s failure.”
She held his hand.
“They are probably a day ahead, but if we leave at first light tomorrow, we can make it to Jims place around sundown, and then if we do the same again the following day we should make it to Roswell before them,” he gave a hopeful smile. “That’s the plan anyway.”
“We’ll make it.”
In the other room, Cal sat with Fiona. This was the colder of the two rooms as it had less people, despite Rob’s best efforts to light as many candles as he could find.
“Try not to burn this place down, Rob,” Fiona half joked. Bass chuckled, then coughed under a blanket in the corner.
Jack’s sat alone in the same room as Fiona and the rest, but some distance from everyone. He was looking forward to getting to Roswell and then back home to Bravo, this mission had been harder than he had imagined.
As the temperature dropped outside, heavy snow started to land on the old school, masking its heat signature from glowing eyes in the dark.
CHAPTER 26
