by Phil Maxey
“What?” said Sam, still rubbing the rope, which was half way torn.
“I thought I heard something.”
“Don’t stop, keep going!”
Isaiah shuffled faster and was soon at the door. Thin shafts of light sliced the air through a boarded up window and Isaiah leaned up against it and looked through the small gaps to the outside world.
“Anything?” said Sam.
“No. We on some kind of air base. There’s a whole lot of planes and choppers out there.”
“Maybe we can fly out of here.”
“Chances of us making it to one of those planes I would say is low to none-existent.”
Sam’s hands flew apart and he groaned in pain. He set about untying his legs, but it was hard going with just one hand. “How the fuck do you ever get anything done with just one hand,” he said through his frustration.
“Shit, I think someone’s coming.” Isaiah started shuffling back to his spot on the floor. “You better get those ropes back around our wrists, or broken fingers will be the last of your problems.”
Sam pushed himself backwards to roughly where he was sitting before, and the door swung open. He plunged his hands between his thighs, and looked down.
The cool air rushed over them, but was short lived as a pungent body odor followed the disheveled looking man into the room. “If I hear anymore noise from in here, there’s going to be less of you alive. You got that?” The man waved his rifle in their direction.
“It wasn’t us, it was him,” said Isaiah looking in Bass’s direction.
The man walked over to Bass and kicked his boot. Bass groaned. “Well I’ll be, he’s still alive. Tough SOB your friend,” he spat on the ground next to him. “Not for long though by the amount of blood he leaked,” he smiled then left slamming the door behind him.
Sam immediately pulled at the ends of the ropes around his feet. Gritting his teeth as he did. One of the ropes loosened and fell to the side. Jostling his feet the other rope loosed and fell away.
“You got a plan?” whispered Isaiah.
“Nope, you?” he said examining his fingers and trying to decide if any were useful.
Isaiah shook his head.
“One thing I know. Next time that fucker comes back in here, I’m taking that gun.”
CHAPTER 5
Zach Sat on a branch, half way up a pine tree looking out across the rows of planes, helicopters and armored personnel carriers that littered the airfield. Even though he wished the military vehicles in front of him were junk like a lot he had seen on his travels, it was still an impressive scene. It was also enough to mount a serious attack on Camp Bravo, although luckily he couldn’t see any tanks. So there was that.
He had spent the last few hours scouting the perimeter looking for any weak points. There were a few times when he heard branches break around him. Without Abbey and Cal the world had returned to a place where the wrong kind of noise would be the last thing you would hear.
There was one part where the fence had been torn apart by what must have been an E.L.F attack, and nobody bothered to repair the damage. It was at the far end of the huge flat area where Geneva’s war machines were all parked up, and not far from where Zach was now.
His radio burst to life amongst the silent forest with Cal’s voice and he almost lost his grip on the tree’s trunk. Small clumps of ice and snow fell to the ground below.
“Where are you? Over.”
Zach clicked on his radio. “Up a tree looking at a whole lot of military hardware. Over.”
“You found a way in? Over.”
“Yup. Over.”
“How far are you from the gas station? Over.”
“It’s about five clicks, south east of it. There’s heavy tree cover which is good. Just follow the tree line around to the south, and I’ll meet you there. Over.”
Zach took one last look at the army base, and the trucks and people that were moving through its streets and slid down the trunk. Twenty minutes later walking back towards the north, he met Cal near an abandoned shed in the wood and they both trekked back to where Zach had been talking to him looking down upon the airfield.
Cal rested his snipers rifle on a low branch and looked through the scope. “I came through this base a number of times. It’s been a while but I have a rough idea of where things are,” he paused glancing back at Zach to his side. “There are a whole lot of places where they could keep people. Our chances of finding them without being seen are slim.”
Zach nodded in the direction of a tall slim building just off of the airfield. “I’m going to need you in that control tower. From there you should be able to see most of the camp and cover my ass if I am seen.”
“I can do that.”
“I was watching it for over an hour, nobody went in or out. I’m also going to need you to create a diversion, with the E.L.F’s.”
Cal sighed. He was hoping it wouldn’t come to that. “What you thinking?”
“We need whatever we can get to trash their toys on that airfield, that’s going to get their heads spinning. You up for that?”
Cal closed his eyes and tried to sense if there were any E.L.F’s near. There weren’t. “I’m not sensing anything nearby.”
“Well we got another few hours before sundown, let’s see if we can figure out where they are keeping people.”
They both got into comfortable positions with their rifles pointing towards the base, and settled in. As the hours rolled by, neither talked about what transpired the night before. That was the past.
As soon as the last vestiges of light had passed below the horizon, they packed everything up, put on their night vision goggles and moved to the tear in the chain linked fence.
Cal ducked slightly and stepped through the hole onto grass that was growing through gaps in the concrete of the airfield. “Doesn’t look like they are even bothering to scout this side of the base, there’s no search lights down here.”
“Probably conserving their power.”
Cal knelt, flicking his goggles up and looked through his scope which now had its night vision option turned on. “Not seeing any movement. Whatever they plan to do with all that hardware it’s not happening tonight.”
“How’s your E.L.F radar, anything?”
“There’s something way off to the west, no idea what though.”
“And Abbey? Any sense of where she is?”
Cal paused again. “She’s ahead of us, but can’t say where. Maybe when we are further in.”
Clouds had gathered above them and rain started to fall as they kept low and made their way across the runway in the direction of the control tower. Soon they were underneath the wing of a jet fighter.
Zach examined the underside of the plane. “Any idea how to disable one of these?” he whispered.
“Not without making a lot of noise.”
Zach peered out towards the tower. It was roughly a hundred yards away, and was dosed in darkness. “Still not seeing any movement near the tower, let’s go.”
The rain was now beginning to form small puddles and they both did their best to avoid causing any splashes. As they approached the four story high tower, they looked across at the heart of the base with its bright lights. Engines could be heard running, but still no sounds of people.
They both slammed up against the white stone wall of the tower, near the only way they could see to gain entrance.
Zach pushed on the door which didn’t budge. “Fuck,” he said under his breath. “Go around the other side, see if anyone’s within earshot.”
Cal ran off around the edge of the building and quickly returned. “Closest buildings are the barracks and aircraft hangers two hundred yards away, which are dark. There’s a parking lot behind the tower, which is empty.”
“Okay, here goes.” Zach stepped back a few feet, then slammed his boot into the door which immediately gave away and swung back hitting the wall. They both ran inside to a small stairwell and closed the door behind.
Inside was complete darkness but their goggles revealed a door to their right, and stairs going up.
Zach checked the door, but it was locked. They then slowly ascended up the steps. Not bothering with the doors on floors one and two, they quickly got to the third floor and opened the top most door. It came out onto a room twenty foot square, with large glass windows covered in drips of rain, looking in all directions across the base. They both flicked up their goggles and walked closer to the windows.
Zach looked towards the lights of the base. “Doesn’t look like anyone heard us. Right, let’s see what we can see.”
They both rested their rifles on the computer consoles and looked out at the sprawling streets and buildings, all of which were lower then they were.
There were a few concentrations of light. A street of what looked like residential houses, and a multistory building towards the center of the base. Everything else was dark.
“The large building to the west is the headquarters, or was. They are probably using it for something similar,” said Cal.
Zach shook his head. “That’s a lot of ground to cover. Any better idea of where Abbey is?”
Cal sat down on one of the padded swivel chairs and closed his eyes.
“Any direction you can give me is going to be a big help.”
By now he was used to what his new senses told him, and quickly allowed his mind to expand into the base around him. The quiet but distinct tone of Abbey’s presence emanated due west, right where the headquarters was. He opened his eyes. “I think she’s at the headquarters. Which means—”
“That Geneva probably knows her connection to me.”
“She’s going to be well guarded, how you going to…”
Zach put his hand up, stopping any further doubt on Cal’s part. “I’ll figure something out. I just need you bringing as many of our animal friends down on those planes and choppers outside when I ask you too. I’ll click my radio talk button three times, that means it’s time for you to do your thing. And if you can, I’d be obliged if you covered my ass as far as you can.”
Cal smiled. “Don’t worry I got this.” It was a lie, he had no idea if he could call the creatures to him, but right now it was obvious Zach needed the hope.
CHAPTER 6
While there was still daylight Sam had spent the time looking through the tiny gaps in the wooden boards on the windows, getting the layout of the buildings straight in his head. He and Isaiah were pretty sure they were on a military base, about two hundred and fifty miles from Atlanta, and from the direction the sun set they knew they had to be south. The bad news was the foul smelling man with the gun never returned. The good news was Bass was conscious and almost coherent.
“You know—” Bass swallowed and winced in pain at the same time. “You’re going to stand a better chance if you just leave me here.”
“Would you leave Isaiah. Okay let me rephrase that, would you leave me here?” said Sam at the opposite end of the room, carefully pulling up the last of a small section of floor planks.
Bass smiled.
“Exactly, so we ain’t leaving you here,” he looked in the direction of the door and Isaiah who was looking out to the lit buildings on the other side of the street. “Anything?”
“Few of their guys coming and going. Looks like some kind of mess hall over there. They come out happier than when they went in.”
Sam looked down at the dark pit below him and the smell of wet soil floated up. “Should have done this when there was light, then I would have known how deep these foundations are.”
Bass sat up a little. “Drop something into the…”
“On it.” Sam dropped his ropes into the shadows and just about picked up the sound of them hitting the ground with a soft thud almost instantly.
“I should go down there,” said Isaiah.
“I don’t think there’s room big guy. I’ll manage. Okay, I’m going to drop down, see what’s around us. If anyone comes through that door—”
“Yeah, yeah I know,” said Isaiah.
Sam lowered himself onto his elbows, his feet touched the soil and he bent down into the darkness. The gap between the ground and the planks above him was not even two feet, but as soon as he was level with the ground, he could see points of light all around him. Scratching forward towards the closest ignoring the cobwebs that stuck to his hair, he was soon up against some wooden boards that were the only thing between him and the base outside. He pressed his ear up against the gap and listened. The sound of muffled laughing and shouting came from his right, but it seemed far off.
He pulled back slightly and felt along the board with his good hand, until he felt a gap. Anchoring himself best he could, he pushed and the board fell outwards onto the wet grass. Cool fresh air wafted past him and he froze waiting for a reaction outside, but there wasn’t any. Opposite him were foundations of another building. He had come out into an alleyway between them. Pushing his head out a foot from the building, he looked up and down the alleyway. To the right, he could see the bright lights of the mess hall, and where the voices were coming from. To his left, was just darkness. That would be the direction they would go. Ducking back inside, he grabbed the board from the grass and pulled it in with him. He then scrambled back to the missing floorboards and awkwardly stood up, his torso poking out of the hole.
He took a deep breath.
“You get out?” said Isaiah somewhere in the gloom.
“Yeah, sounds like a bunch of them outside across the road. But seems pretty quiet behind this building. That’s where we’re going. You ready to get the fuck out of this place?” his last comments were in Bass’s direction even if he couldn’t see much of anything in the darkness.
“Sure am,” replied Bass.
CHAPTER 7
Zach ducked behind a large abandoned truck. Two men, one a lot taller than the other walked along the sidewalk on the other side of the street. Their conversation was muffled but they seemed pleased with themselves.
He wanted to kill every last one that he saw, but then that would be signing his own life away and Abbey’s.
The two men walked around a distant corner to his left, and he looked along the street. Warehouses and small stores lay at intervals each covered in darkness. At the end was the three story high headquarters, which was where most light was coming from. It had the look of a university building, with a large entrance and parking area out front.
He crouched and looked through his rifles scope. There were multiple vehicles parked haphazardly out front, and shadows moving behind the windows.
A crunch came from behind him.
“Who the fuck are you?”
Zach swung his rifle around and pointed it at a middle-aged man in work overhauls.
Different options flew through Zach’s mind, until he settled on one. He raised his rifle higher. “Man, you scared the shit outta me. I’m on my way to the headquarters, what you up to?” As he finished talking, Zach wondered if Cal could still see him from the tower and if whether a bullet was about to plough through the mans head who was standing in front of him.
The man scrunched his nose, not being sure of what to make of this encounter. Zach slung his rifle over his back and turned slightly towards the lights at the end of the street. “You don’t want to be walking around these streets when the suns down, there’s no knowing what kind of E.L.F’s might come from the skies…” he pointed upwards.
The man frowned and walked parallel with Zach. “I ain’t scared of no flying freaks. That’s what I got this for!” the man patted the handgun hoisted on his hip.
Zach looked at the large looking revolver. “Yeah, I figure that will bring down anything short of a flying elephant!”
The man laughed and they both walked along the sidewalk.
Zach knew the longer he stayed with this man, the greater someone else would spot him and would know he wasn’t one of them. “That business in Atlanta sure was tough, you got any idea how the prisoners ar
e doing?”
“How the fuck should I know, I’m just trying to keep the water running in this place.”
“I hope we’re not given them too much of what we got!”
“Above my pay grade, that’s up to the boss to decide.”
They were now only a hundred yards from the main building. Zach could see the guards standing outside of it, chatting to each other. Just up ahead the sidewalk fell into shadow, he had to get information out of this guy before they reached that point.
“I think I might go and visit the women, have me some fun, even if it’s just to look at them! Whereabouts are they?” said Zach. It was more forward than it should have been, but he was running out of sidewalk.
The man glanced across at Zach.
He felt his eyes examining him. “Hell, the women we got here ain’t worth shit! I need some fresh ones!” Zach laughed best he could. Fifteen feet until the shadows. His eyes flicked towards the guards, he could now see their faces clearly.
The man smiled. “You ain’t never going to see those girls they got in the basement, they just for the higher-ups fun. And I wouldn’t even try if I were you!”
“Yeah, your probably right.” Zach let the man walk slightly ahead of him. As they both walked into the shadow of a high building, he grabbed the man from behind, instantly covering his windpipe and mouth. The man struggled for a few seconds before he lost consciousness, and Zach lowered him to the ground then pulled him into a recess of a store and out of sight.
Crouching he peered across the parking lot and to the two men standing, smoking and busily chatting.
He looked at the wall near the ground of the headquarters. There were a ring of small windows and ventilation that went around the outside of the building. Following the outside wall with his eyes, he could see what looked like a stairwell on the far right.
Just ahead of him was a junction. But it was lit enough from the large building that if anyone was watching, they would clearly see him move across it. He looked around him. There was no sign of any alleyways to use to circle around, so it was onwards or go way back to where he came.
