“Halt,” a voice bellowed, “who goes there?”
“Who in the hell do you think it is?” Alan was the first to respond.
The voice was silent. The group kept walking toward headquarters and the voice called out again, “Commander, welcome back!” Marcus searched for the source of the voice. Whoever it was had been well hidden. Ben had done a great job of placing the guards for the attack. The group left the area where they thought the guard was setting up his post and they spotted headquarters. They had finally made it.
Ben walked out of the door to greet them. With a surprised look on his face, he asked, “What are you doing here? What happened to the convoy? You should have been there by now.” Marcus told him about the ambush and that they were the only survivors.
Ben listened to Marcus and replied, “Well, I’m glad that you are safe. But what do you need? We can’t spare anyone else and we are scattered throughout the city waiting for the attack.”
Alan told him, “We need to start another convoy. We still have stuff to deliver.”
Mac changed the topic, “Alan, you said we were getting out to avoid the attack. You never said anything about delivering anything. If there was anything to deliver then we shouldn’t have to go with you, unless…” Mac turned his head toward Maddie.
Quick to understand what was happening, she felt her cue, “Where are you delivering me to?”
Alan stuttered at how brash Maddie’s question was, “Now, now, now I’ll tell you that…”
Barron raised his hands to the sides of his head, grabbing his hair, “Supreme Command, Supreme Command, that’s where he was going to take you. They collect and compile all things that are from the Trolls there. That’s where the main research facility is conducted for defeating them.” Alan glared at Mac. He knew that Mac had told Barron and that wasn’t his secret to tell.
Alan spoke with a low tone in his voice, “Mac, you son of a...” Clearly displeased, he told Ben, “Get me an SUV and I will take Zeke, the soldier, and the girl. Mac and his boy are going to stay here and do their duties for you.”
Mac looked at Alan, “We’re not soldiers, we can’t fight.”
Alan poked two fingers into Mac’s chest, “Mac, for all I care you can clean toilets or deliver water. And as for the boy,” he turned to Barron pointing his two fingers at him, “and as for you… You have weaseled out of service long enough. You are capable and you’re assigned to help Mac. Mac is in the militia. So you can strap on a gun and stand a post and help the militia.” Barron just stood there. He knew that if he tried to run, he would be shot for desertion. Alan turned to Ben, “Employ these boys and get me my damn SUV so I can get out of here.”
Ben stood tall and said “Yes sir.”
Alan walked into headquarters with Zeke following. He turned to Zeke, “Bring the girl in here and keep her in the planning area. Make sure the SUV gets here and come and get me when it’s ready.” Alan walked into his office and leaned the orbitizer onto his bookshelf. He started to sit down and his door shut. Zeke escorted Maddie inside and waited for the SUV to arrive.
Marcus went to Ben, “You can’t make these guys fight, I’ve seen them. Plus, your perimeter doesn’t even defend the town.”
Ben put up his hand to indicate a pause, “Smith, I mean Marcus. I’m doing the best I can with the people I have and don’t worry, Mac and the boy are leaving right behind you.” Mac and Barron both heard Ben and moved closer to him. Ben told them, “I’ll have another car delivered here and this is what I need you two to do. You both go over there to the field and stay out of sight and out of mind.” Ben turned to Marcus, “You need to go with the Commander and make sure that he doesn’t do anything stupid.”
Mac and Barron headed for the field where Ben had directed them to go. The cornfield was covered with stalks ready for reaping. The abundance of leaves and stalks provided the perfect camouflage for them when they entered. They were instructed to wait until a second vehicle was prepared and a flash of the brake lights would be their cue. The sun was setting and with the darkness approaching, that would be the only signal that they would be able to act upon. They crouched in silence as they waited for the plan to come into action.
With the defenses all planned out, Ben fully focused his thoughts on the new convoy. The new SUV parked in front of headquarters and the driver began to quickly load the vehicle. A couple scavengers were still employed at headquarters and started to load bags of the leftover metal scraps into the back of the vehicle. The scavengers made three hauls using a wheelbarrow with a flattened tire due to the weight. They heaved the bags into the back. The bags were shoddily thrown in and the scraps scattered about. When the last bag was loaded, Zeke went to get Alan. They would soon be on their way.
A second vehicle, a huge car built in the 1970’s, pulled up behind the SUV while the scavengers were loading it with the rest of the bunker’s remnants. The old car stopped as the driver waited for instructions. Marcus pulled Ben to the side, “You know that if they attack, you won’t be able to defend this place, right?”
Ben was looking toward the ground as he listened. He slowly raised his head and looked Marcus straight in the eyes, “I knew this was a losing cause the moment the Commander decided to leave.” Ben sighed and then continued, “…but these people have no place to go, no evacuation plan, no other alternative. This is their only chance at survival and I need to do my part.”
Marcus saw that Ben was determined to see his responsibility through, “Well, I guess that this is ‘it,’ isn’t it?”
Ben shrugged his shoulders, “We’ll see what happens. We have nothing left to lose.”
The combination of blue projectiles started as soon as darkness set in, before the convoy had been fully loaded. In the direction of the cornfield, two figures began to run towards the vehicles. Marcus and Ben took cover behind two barrels sitting side-by-side. As they scanned the area in front of them, Zeke and Maddie exited headquarters and saw the flashes rapidly approaching. Zeke let go of Maddie’s arm to head for the SUV. Alan, his orbitizer in hand, walked out to see Zeke running toward the SUV and Maddie trying to sprint away from the Troll orbitizer fire and the SUV. “Oh, no you don’t little girl,” Alan grabbed her with his fat hand and prevented her movement. As much as she continued to run the other direction, she couldn’t escape Alan’s grasp and weight. She was pulled backwards toward the SUV.
Barron, younger and faster, had made it to headquarters before Mac. He was about to approach their vehicle when Marcus grabbed him by the shirt and yanked him behind the barrels. Marcus waved his hand as he tried to stop Mac, but Mac spotted him as he came from behind the barrels. He lifted up his arm to deflect the hand that approached him. Marcus watched as Mac barreled toward the old car. Mac shouted in a heavy breath, “This stops now…” He continued to run, not for the old car, but straight for Alan. His focus was so intent on freeing Maddie that he didn’t notice anything else around him.
Alan heard the wheezing and tumbling coming toward him. He looked up to see the sound coming in his direction. He spotted Mac. In the same field of view, a mass of blue orbs was flying, highlighting Mac’s body. Alan let go of Maddie’s arm to defend himself. Her arm sprung up from the release. But Mac wasn’t trying to tackle Alan. He collided with Maddie at the same time the blue orbs arrived. His back began to disintegrate as one of the blue orbs hit him. Maddie’s hand, suspended in the air from the tackle, was hit by another blue orb. She watched her hand disappear in the blue glow. Mac’s weight continued to throw her to the ground and she met with the earth. Her head connected with a shovel that was left on the ground and she went motionless.
The salvo was over. Alan got to his feet as quickly as he could. He looked down and made sure that none of the blue orbs had hit him. With no signs of injury, he bent over and grabbed the orbitizer with one hand. Then he shifted to grab Maddie with the other. She was bleeding from a wrist that was formerly attached to her hand. He quickly made it to the SUV and screamed
to the driver and Zeke, “Go, go, go!” Alan threw Maddie in the back among the rubble and she lay there motionless, surrounded by scraps.
Marcus saw the entire exchange and watched helplessly as the SUV drove away. His attention was diverted when Ben pulled him down. He pointed to a crawl space under the headquarters and Marcus saw Barron crawling toward the small opening.
“Get in there, it’s the only way,” Ben told him. Barron didn’t hesitate to crawl to safety. He was halfway through the opening as Marcus watched the SUV drive out of sight. He knew that Ben was right and this would be the only way to survive until tomorrow. He jumped to the ground and followed Barron into the small space. Ben stayed behind and frantically searched for anyone he could help but he could not compromise the few that were safe. Not a soul was anywhere near him. He had planned the defense as best as he was able and now had to rely on his men to do their part. In the meantime, he had Barron and Marcus to keep safe. He saw the Trolls and their blue orbitizer cores break through the cornfield.
With a heavy sigh, he crawled through the space and grabbed the small door to secure it in place. He slinked on the ground as he crawled to a solid part of the foundation and gathered with the other two. Ben whispered to Barron and Marcus, “We’ll wait out the attack until morning. They’ll be gone by then.” They lay in silence as the guns sounded in the distance, returning the Trolls’ blasts. The counterfire continued and lessened as the night progressed. They listened until a single gun fired back. One more pop of the gun. Then, nothing, no more gunfire. Knowing that they had been defeated, the three men lay in the dirt until morning broke.
With the sun rising, Marcus emerged from the crawl space. All of his sweat had entered his wounds and his back was burning in pain. He reached into his pocket and put a painkiller in his mouth. He chomped on it and swallowed. Waiting for the medicine to kick in, he looked around to find bodies on the ground, lifeless and immobile.
Barron was close to follow and immediately looked for Mac. Barron spotted him and ran to his cold, stiff mass. Barron dropped to his knees and pulled Mac’s arm with a hope that he would respond. He dropped his head and forced Mac’s hand to his face, “I’m sorry Mac.” His voice was shaken and sad, “I’m sorry that this happened.” It was another loss for Barron in this new world. He felt a wave of purpose fill him, “Don’t worry Mac, I won’t forget. I won’t forget what you told me.”
Barron was tapped on his shoulder. He turned around with his reddened face to see Marcus’ hand extended. He reached for the hand and Marcus pulled him up. Marcus told him, “Maddie is out there, it’s time to go.” Ben had already started the old car and revved the engine. Marcus entered the front and Barron the backseat of the car.
“They’re going to London, Kentucky,” Ben said, shifting the car into drive. “I already informed Supreme Command of what Alan was doing and they want all survivors to go there. I guess we’re the only ones.” With nowhere else to go, the car began to move with Ben driving. Exhausted from the night and seizing the opportunity, Barron and Marcus fell asleep.
PART TWO:
RECOMBINATION
DAY 278
THE AWAKENING
WESTBOUND I-64
Rho felt the absence of body. The human shuddered as the loss of her hand caused her pain. Her mind was trying to find the connection, reaching out to find the lost piece of her body but never receiving a response.
“Do you need that, human?” Rho asked.
“Yes, it is part of me. I need it,” she answered.
“Then I will make you whole. We will be whole.”
Alan, Zeke, and the driver of the SUV were focused on the path in front of them. They were more concerned with the potential of what could happen as opposed to the events that were unfolding behind them. The SUV ran too close to the edge of the highway and started to hum as the tire ran over the rumble strip. The driver was quick to readjust course.
“Pay attention to the road!” Alan yelled. Their heads jerked forward again to scan for Trolls.
With the jerk of the course correction, Maddie’s eyes snapped open. She was discombobulated and looked left, right, up and down, and then she felt a burning tickle on her left wrist. She slowly looked at her arm as she heard Alan’s voice talking to the others in the background.
Her eyes widened as she saw a gray band form around her wrist. A stream of blood was flowing out and a gray liquid was entering back in. She moved her wrist away from the two flows and it felt as if her wound would burst into flames. Knowing that Alan was in front of her, she resisted the urge to give in to the pain. Wincing, she placed her wrist back into the bloody mix and her pain changed back into a tickle. The blood and gray liquid separated after the disturbance and then another band formed outward from her wrist. A new skin materialized before her eyes. She watched as the gray growth continued. The back of her hand started to reform followed by her knuckles. The blood stopped flowing out but the gray liquid continued to be sucked into her severed limb as it grew. Five bands started to materialize as gray fingers began to grow. Her new gray nails capped over the edges of her fingers and the burning tickle went away. She looked down at the metal scraps still lying under her newly formed hand and saw no signs of liquid on them. She gently lifted her hand to her face so as not to make a sound.
The gray hand opened and closed. She turned it to see the palm hadn’t changed in shape, only in color. She felt no difference in the feel of her hand, the only difference was the color. She slid her hand to her side and listened as Alan continued to talk. He spoke to Zeke, “I don’t care what happens to her, they’ll take her whether she’s dead or alive. All I care about right now is getting as far away from here as possible.” Maddie knew that if she was found alive they would probably kill her. She had to get out of this situation and she had to act as soon as possible using the element of surprise.
She turned toward the front of the car as she readied her body. She curled up and adjusted her knees, keeping her body below the angle of the rearview mirror. She quietly dug into the scraps to ensure her footing was secure. Her thighs began to fill with the urge to jump and when she couldn’t contain the feeling any longer, she lunged toward the driver.
While she was still airborne, she wrapped her arm around his neck and used her right hand to push his head forward. The driver felt the impact and extended his left arm outward. His reaction caused the steering wheel to jerk to the right and the SUV careened off of the road. Alan and Zeke reached for Maddie as the vehicle began to overturn. Their efforts were in vain as inertia and gravity worked to pull them away. The passenger side of the SUV impacted the ground and the vehicle began to roll. One turn, two turns, the SUV was gathering dents as all four of its passengers spun around on the inside. The front end hit the ground and the SUV started to spin on another axis. The tires hit the ground and after the receding bounces stopped, the SUV settled in the opposite direction it was originally going.
As the chaos from the crash subsided, Maddie began to stir. The metal scraps in the back had scattered throughout the vehicle. Maddie lifted herself up and moved the scraps out of her way. She looked around the interior. The driver had been halfway ejected out of the broken windshield even as his hand held on to the steering wheel. His body hung limply over the side, his upper half sandwiched against the ground during the several rolls of the vehicle. She zoomed over to Zeke only to see his seatbelt still strapped on but his head hanging lifelessly. During the roll, the orbitizer had left Alan’s side and was wedged between Zeke and the ground, breaking his neck and ending his life. She looked next to her and Alan’s arm was wedged in between the front seat and the side door. He was struggling to break free but the door had pushed in too far and he was pinned. He saw that Maddie was mobile and begged her, “Please, help me.” She leaned over the seat, grabbed the orbitizer and returned to the back seat facing Alan. The expression on Maddie’s face needed no words. There was no chance that Alan was going to get help. “You were going to let me die,” sh
e said as she shoved open the jammed door.
She exited the SUV as Alan, with his limited range, started to flail his legs trying to kick her. Maddie had her back to Alan as he screamed, “There is no way that you are leaving me here.” Alan spotted a handgun next to him and picked it up. Maddie turned around to speak but spotted that she was the target of his aim. She quickly raised the orbitizer, the core glowed and she shot. The orb entered Alan’s chest before he could pull the trigger and he couldn’t take a breath. His eyes gazed at Maddie and then he slumped over.
Maddie looked around the SUV and decided that she was going to continue west. There was no reason to go back to Charlottesville so she headed toward the mountains. After an hour of walking, she saw an exit sign. She squinted to focus on the letters. “Blue Ridge Parkway,” she said as if somebody was there to hear her. “That’s the exit for Summerwhite, I know where I’m going.”
She took the first steps on her new quest to find Catelyn, Damien and Bryce. Her orbitizer was cradled in her right arm as she began to analyze her gray hand.
DAY 278
REJOINED
WESTBOUND I-64
Headquarters was gone, the Avalon Militia was destroyed, and Charlottesville was a city destined to be in ruins. Ben could not help but feel responsible for another failed encounter with the Trolls. “I have to figure out a way to get those things,” he mumbled as Marcus and Barron slept in the car. He could not dwell on his failures too much as his main goal was to catch up to Alan and get Maddie away from him. He had been driving for two hours and the need for sleep started to take over his mind. Every time he started to doze, he would jerk his head back up. He realized he was about to succumb to his fatigue. He caught himself dozing again and when he jerked, Alan’s SUV was within sight.
Genetic Drift Page 9
