by Phil Maxey
The silence continued.
“So I just wanted to say that,” continued Cal.
Michael awkwardly smiled at his friend to his left.
Zach looked in the rear mirror. “It’s good you’re feeling better, but we need to take things one step at a time.”
Abbey looked to her left slightly in Cal’s direction. “Do you remember anything about what you said to me at the ski lodge?” she immediately regretted asking the question.
“It’s all pretty hazy. I remember being in the hotel room with Fiona. I remember looking at the ceiling and then it’s just a blur of sounds and images that don’t make much sense until I woke up in the kitchen in the lodge.”
Abbey feigned a smile, then returned looking out towards the highway ahead of them. In that moment she wanted to be outside, somewhere she didn’t have to confront the connections that were being constructed in her mind.
After driving for miles through desert, they drove through a large town with wide avenues, and single story buildings offering refuge for truckers. Leaving the town the road dipped and rose over hills until they entered a heavily forested area and the highway started to steeply ascend.
Rob’s eye’s flickered to his right. Tyler was writing in a small notebook.
“I was thinking,” said Rob. Tyler looked up at him. “When we get to the camp, I want to try and get some work fixing up peoples cars, and then if that goes well, setup our own auto repair shop. We haven’t really had a chance to put our boots down in that camp yet, but some folks must want their vehicles repaired.”
Tyler smiled. “Yeah, I think that would be a great idea. I’ll help too.”
“Ha, when have you ever been interested in fixing cars?”
Tyler’s expression changed to one of frustration. “I helped, fix up nana’s old car!”
Rob smiled. “That you did,” he sighed, and then continued. “I know you want to help, but your future is not with your head in an engine, it’s your head in a book. We all knew you were the brains in the family, and you gotta make something of it, become a doctor, or a scientist, like that Indian guy you were talking to.”
“I guess. But I have to pay my way, I’ll get a job doing something.”
Rob reached out with his right hand and scrunched up Tyler’s hair. “Oh yeah you will.”
They both laughed.
As the convoy pushed through the snow, and the incline got steeper the buses struggled to keep up with the Humvee.
“We better slow it a bit, the buses are falling behind,” said Fiona looking out the rear window.
“I don’t want to slow too much, incase we lose traction,” replied Zach.
“Couldn’t we pull over when we see a rest stop, and let them catch up?” said Michael.
“If we stop in this amount of snow, we might get stuck. Even though there’s reasonable light, I don’t want us to be stuck in these mountains.”
Zach clicked on his radio. “Rob, Bass. You both know the route, if you lose sight of us, we will pull over and wait for you at a point where there’s less snow. Over.”
Snow laden tops of tree’s on their right, and white grey slopes that ran down to the road on their left, flew by as they all did their best to keep their vehicles traction and not to slide. After a few miles the highway leveled out, and started to descend, but it quickly became more of a winding dirt track, which took all of the drivers concentration to stay on.
“Maybe Albuquerque was a better choice,” said Michael as the Humvees back wheels slid dangerously close to a sheer drop down to the valley below.
“At least we know there’s not going to be anyone coming the other way,” said Abbey, and they all laughed.
As the road straightened out Zach looked up at the rear mirror and saw Gregg’s in the first bus come around the bend they themselves just navigated, he then looked away and looked back to see Rob’s bus do the same. Just as he was about to look away again, a large hippopotamus looking E.L.F slid down a rock face to Rob’s left, slamming into the side of the bus, sending it in the direction of the fall off.
Zach could see Rob struggling with the steering wheel while intermittently waving behind him, but Zach couldn’t see why. The buses wheels skirted the boulder strewn cliff edge, and then it was gone. The sound of branches breaking echoed around them. The other bus and Humvee were now stopped, and everyone sat frozen.
“Look out!” shouted Abbey, even though no one in the other bus would hear her as more creatures slid down the rock face, hitting the back of the other bus, which was shunted forward, slamming it into a rock face.
Zach blinked a few times, then clicked on his radio. “Bass, hold everyone inside, let these things pass!”
The herd of E.LF’s ran past the bus, and the Humvee, buffeting both and causing a plume of dust, rocks and ice to fill the air like they were in the middle of a tornado. After a minute, the creatures continued their stamped down the road into the valley. Everyone in the Humvee sat silent, until Zach clicked on his radio. “Bass, what can you see around you? Over.”
Bass’s voice responded from Zach’s radio, together with the sound of fear in the background. “I think we’re okay, no injuries, the front might be a bit banged up. But…Rob…”
“I’m coming to you, stay around your vehicle. Over,” Zach then turned to those around him. “Cal, you’re with me, everyone else, watch our surroundings, if anything moves, let me know,” he and Cal then got out into the settling dust and snow, and ran back to the other bus. As they did, no one talked inside the cab of the Humvee, except for Abbey silently voicing the words “Oh God.”
Bass was already outside the bus, when Cal and Zach got to it. Ignoring the crumpled front bumper they looked into the white cloud of dust and snow that was slowly settling where the other bus left the road.
“What is that?” said Bass, as they all strained to see a dark form lying on the ground.
Running forward, they ran past the tire marks and the loose rocks on the edge of the road and up to Tyler who was sitting up feeling his head. Blood trickled down his face and mixed with his tears.
“He told me to jump out the back…” said Tyler crying. “He…he...left me…they all left me,” he tucked his head between his knees and his body started shaking.
“We need to get him back to the bus. Cal keep watch around us,” said Zach as he and Bass, leaned down and picked Tyler up. Cal unslung his rifle and scoured the surrounding trees and hills. They walked Tyler back to the bus and put him down on a seat towards the back. Zach then asked Mary if she could get some bandages on Tyler’s head wound, and he ran back to where Rob’s bus dropped into the valley below. Zach looked down, but nothing could be seen of the bus, only a two hundred foot drop into rocks and trees. He took his rifle off his back and looked down onto the valley floor with the scope. There were some broken tree tops but not much else. It was obvious that nobody could have survived that fall. He ran back to the bus, where Bass and Gregg’s were examining the front.
“How’s it looking?” said Zach.
Gregg’s knelt down and slid her hand over the cold metal “Just looks like a bent bumper. I don’t think it’s going to effect us.”
“We need to keep moving, try and keep as far from the edge as you can. And keep an eye on the forests.”
Bass and Gregg’s nodded, and retuned to the bus. Zach ran back to the Humvee, which was still silent when he got in the drivers seat. He then turned the ignition and pulled off.
CHAPTER 29
Soon the road transitioned back into a tarmacked highway, and the going was easier. Not much was said during the next few hours as they wound their way through the mountains and finally the valley’s. Even the children sat in silence with only the occasional whisper, for when they needed a bathroom break. It wasn’t until they were on a multilane highway heading south, that Fiona spoke up.
“We’re at the halfway point, another three hours and we should be close to Roswell.”
“I can’t he
lp but think we should have gone through Albuquerque,” said Abbey.
“Rob lost his brother there, that’s the last place he wanted to revisit,” responded Fiona.
“Poor Tyler,” said Abbey her voice strained.
“The best thing we can do for Rob is to get Tyler to Roswell, and then Bravo,” said Zach.
On the bus, Tyler’s sobs had grown quiet, and in unison people started talking again in a hushed tone. Addison looked through her backpack and pulled out a few candy bars. Choosing one, she slowly got out her seat and walked up the aisle to where Tyler was sitting against the window and held the candy out to him. He looked at her with red eyes, and smiled, taking the candy. She smiled in return and walked back to her seat. Mary watched this play out from a few seats in front of Tyler, and tears filled her eyes. She grabbed Irene’s hand who was sitting next to her. Irene could hear Mary swallowing and didn’t need to know why her friend needed to grasp her hand.
Mary thought about all the kids under her care, and wondered how she would cope once she got to the camp. She had no money and nothing to sell, all she had was legal expertise and she doubted that lawyers would be in demand in the chaos of the camp. In her mind she briefly saw herself as the literary character Fagin, looking after a young team of thief’s who would survive on their wits and skills to deprive the residents of the camp of their possessions. A smile started to push it’s way onto her face, at this vision of absurdity, then fell away as she remembered the young man at the back of the bus. I have to find a way. Maybe we can stay at Morgan’s. Maybe Tyler would stay with us? Maybe he could be persuaded to join their troupe, perhaps that is why Addison offered him her food.
Zach clicked on his radio. “Bass, we’re about to head into Santa Fe, be alert to threats. Over.”
Bass acknowledged and as they moved into the city, a wall of snow-covered vehicles met them in the opposite lane.
Abbey wondered to herself where all the cars and trucks, drivers went. What had caused them to leave their cars? and then she saw a clue to the answer. As they approached a junction, the cars on the other side of the road sat crushed and flat to the ground at regular intervals. It was as if a giant had strolled along that piece of road, instantly snuffing out the inhabitant’s lives. Elsewhere, vehicles lay on their roofs and sides, scattered by an unknown wind, in all directions.
“What the fuck happened here?” said Fiona, amazed at this new scene of horror.
“I’m not sure we really want to know,” said Michael.
Zach slowed to squeeze passed an upturned rust red pickup, and scrapped along the side of it, causing icicles to drop to the ground and shatter. The bus followed quickly behind, scraping and then pushing the pickup to the right.
“Gregg’s, pickup speed if you can, I don’t want us to be in this city for much longer,” She responded to Zach’s request, and the small convoy sped along the wide highway, passed sandy frost covered stores and homes, until the buildings pulled back from the roads and the desert like plains of New Mexico appeared once again.
Zach clicked on his radio. “It’s now a straight run to Roswell, maybe two hours. Over.” Bass, acknowledged and Zach looked over to Abbey, who was smiling. He knew her well enough by now to know it was a fake smile, perhaps as much for the others in the Humvee as for him.
“I’m going to try Brad, we might be in range now,” and with that, he clicked on the radio again. “Brad, you out there? Over.”
No response was forthcoming, but just as Zach put the radio down, Brad’s voice came through.
“Hey, Zach, good to hear from you, what’s your status? Over.”
“We are about two hours from you. We just lost one of our people, in the mountains near Los Alamos, as well as most of our supplies. Over.”
“Sorry to hear that Zach. I can give you what you need to make it back to the camp. Over.”
“That’s appreciated, Brad. I’m also going to need to have a talk with you, as soon as we get in. Over.”
“Understood. Over.”
“What’s the status, of the other convoy? Over.”
“They arrived in Roswell, last night. Over.”
The knowledge of the other convoy already being in Roswell, hit Zach like a punch to the stomach. And he suddenly realized Tinley could be standing behind Brad as they talked. “Are they with you now? Over.”
“Nope. I got one message, informing me they were staying in the southwest part of the city, and that’s all I’ve heard. Over.”
Zach couldn’t be sure, but Brad sounded like he wasn’t being coerced. “Okay, we’ll see you in two hours…Brad, if any of their soldiers make an appearance at your place, let me know. Over.”
“Will do. Over.”
Fiona thought Zach referring to the other convoys soldiers as ‘their’ soldiers sounded a bit weird, but then continued looking at the distant hills float by.
After all the twists and bends they experienced in the first part of the day, the flat unending directness of the highway they were now on, allowed most in the convoy to contemplate what living in the camp would be light, and to reflect on where they had come from.
Mary and Irene discussed, getting a place together, and possibly taking in more kids that needed helping. Sam and Isaiah talked about maybe opening a bar, presuming whoever was in charge of the camp allowed alcohol. Bass, thought about all that had fallen under his command, and facing their families and superior officers. He was sure he would be relieved of his command the moment they drove through the camp’s gates. Jacob watched the bleakness of the landscape they were driving through and felt unease. Nobody knew who he really was, but those back at the camp did, and would they finally tell the rest of his fellow travelers? Tyler didn’t think anything, his eyes just being used to convey images of his surroundings to his brain.
In the Humvee, Fiona thought of her daughter. Now there was the real possibility of being back at Bravo she allowed herself to think about her once again, and perhaps the idea of building some kind of life with her. She would resign her commission once back at the camp, her days of finding survivors were over. Cal, felt warm and content. Since what happened back at the truck stop, his confusion over the choices he had made since leaving New Mexico the first time had stopped, and now he knew what he had to do. Michael, thought about his parents, and how they would feel about a granddaughter.
In the front of the Humvee, Abbey sat pensive, trying to control her breathing. Roswell marked the end of a journey for Zach, and she wasn’t sure he was up for that. She couldn’t stand losing him.
Zach watched the frosted painted white lines in front of him disappear below him, and he knew he was ready.
CHAPTER 30
Raj sat in plain wooden chair. His face stung from the lesions that were drawn across his face by Tinley’s men. He stopped calling them ‘soldiers’ a few days into their trek back to the Bravo, due to how they treated the people they were meant to be helping. Whatever was wrong with Tinley had infected his subordinates that he surrounded himself with. They saw him as their savior, and would die for him if it meant they were part of his larger plan. Raj had learned of the ‘larger plan’ a day ago, when he overheard a conversation between two of Tinley’s henchmen.
They were hold up in what used to be a distribution center just outside Tucson. This was after they had pretty much moved through every major town or city from when they left the desert in Nevada, and had taken so many casualties that Raj had to close him mind off to it. Mostly it was due to the E.L.F’s picking the vehicles off one at a time, like how lions used to target the weakest of their prey, but other times it was due to illness. Tinley thought he had jettisoned all of his weak by offloading them to Zach, but he was wrong. Those were just the people that admitted to being ill, far more hid their conditions, rightfully thinking they would be left behind. This slowed the convoy down only as long as it took Tinley and his people to come up with a plan to conveniently leave these unfortunates in vulnerable places. Raj eventually came to
the realization, that they were even being used as sacrifices to divert attention from Tinley’s own people.
He needed to act, but what could he do, against a band of thugs pretending to be soldiers? He just needed to get to Roswell, where he would tell Zach and Brad, and hopefully they would have a plan. But then he learned of the scheme to supplant Trow, and for Tinley to step in. The idea of that seemed crazy to him at first. Tinley had been responsible for the deaths of thousands of people, by the very least, incompetence. But then that night when he was actually allowed some time alone from his guard, and he was stumbling around on the roof of the building they were keeping him in, he heard voices below of two soldiers that were on patrol.
“That bitch won’t be in charge for long, then our contacts in the council will put the boss in charge.”
That’s what they called him, ‘Boss’, not sir, or Colonel or even Tinley, but ‘Boss.’ Like he was the head of a criminal organization. For that’s what they now were, and he realized he was their prisoner. This was the point that he realized, waiting until Roswell was not an option. He had to get to his hosts powerful mobile radio system and contact Trow, or if that wasn’t possible Zach. Even if it meant dying while doing it. They had to know what was coming their way.
He looked down the side the building, and luckily found a fire escape that took him to the ground. The building he just climbed down from was a smaller one, off from the large warehouse where most of the convoy where staying. The vehicles were parked all around, six or seven deep across a huge parking lot. The darkness around him completely blocked any view of what he was looking for, but as he crept between the buses and coaches, he spotted some military vehicles entering a loading bay of the warehouse.
Running, while trying to keep low, he made it to a door, a hundred yards from the loading bay entrance, and went inside. He listened into the darkness of the stairwell, but the only thing he could clearly hear was his own heartbeat. What am I doing? I need to go back. But he knew this might be his only chance to warn people, as they were only a day out from Roswell.
