by Phil Maxey
A voice boomed out across the vine-covered road. “I always knew you would come back to me.”
It was a voice she recognized. She froze while the world around her seemed to slow down, as if she was drowning.
A millipede like creature the length of two semi-trucks, rose up from some nearby bushes and rubble and slid across the road towards them. Abbey could sense the creature’s intent, and immediately focused her mind on it, but it kept coming.
Jason ran forward. “I got this!”
“No!” Shouted Abbey, trying to catch up with him, but it was too late. In a blink of an eye the creatures pincers grabbed hold of the young man, and then tossed him like a doll through the air.
Mo Squawked and landed on the creatures back, grabbing at its many horns.
Bullets started slicing the air, when Abbey could feel a presence behind her. She turned to face the man she hated more than any other on this earth. Clovis.
He stood a hundred yards off, surrounded by his toys. At least ten six legged bear like creatures stood alongside him, salivating and growling in her direction.
“He wants me! Quick, just get inside the tunnels and try and get back to the bunker!” She shouted.
Taylor looked at Jason lying motionless some tens of yards from them.
Abbey noticed him looking. “You won’t make it, just go!”
Claire was already disappearing down the manhole, with Clayton behind her, while Taylor continued to fire at the creature Mo was tussling with.
“What about you?” He said as he climbed into the hole.
“Just go!”
Taylor ducked down and pulled the cover over his head, sealing it tight.
Abbey looked back at Clovis. He looked to his left and right and his beasts charged forward. Turning, she moved towards Mo while instructing him what she wanted him to do at the same time.
Letting go of the creature underneath him, he took to the air. Abbey raised her arms which he grabbed and soon they was rising high above the ground. She looked back as one of the bear creatures jumped into the air, but she was already out of its reach. Looking at Jason lying on the ground, she reached out with her mind but couldn’t sense anything. He was dead.
As she flew over the nearest two story building, the growls and roars of Clovis’s pets filled the warm air and the artificial spires of central Boston were visible just on the horizon. She indicated with her mind where she wanted to go and Mo started flying east.
CHAPTER 14
As the helicopter touched down from Pittsburgh on the newly created helipad at the outpost, Zach felt a weight lifted from him. Sitting opposite him was Fiona, who had been drifting in and out of sleep for most of the uneventful journey back and to their side was Wyatt, Hayes, Miles and Diaz. Three Cascaders was a bit of an overkill Zach thought, but he was glad to see them nonetheless.
He and Fiona hadn’t said anything of where they had been for the past few days, despite it being obvious that Diaz wanted to know. Instead they just said they would explain everything once they were back. Diaz chewed her nails for most of the way to Kentucky.
Zach looked through the helicopters windows. Bower, Michael and Brad were standing just beyond the area of downdraft. One of the pilots slid the door back, and he and Fiona climbed out and walked across to the others.
“So where the fuck did you two get too?” Said Bower.
Before Zach could reply, Michael moved forward and hugged him. “I thought you were a gonna for sure.”
Zach smiled, looking at those that had been waiting. “It’s good to be back here, before you ask, it’s a long story.”
Hayes ran to them keeping his head low.
“They’re healthy?” Said Bower to him.
“They appear to be fine.”
“Right then, let’s get inside and figure all this out.”
As they walked back, Zach leaned in to Brad. “Any word from Abbey?”
The older man shook his head.
Zach glanced at the new buildings that had sprung up since he was gone, then disappeared inside with the others. Soon they were all sitting around the large table in the basement which was covered with maps and water bottles.
“The generals going to want a real long chat with you, when you’re ready,” said Bower.
“Actually that’s a good idea.” Zach looked at one of the soldiers at the workstations manning communications. “Can you give us an open connection to the camp?”
The soldier nodded.
“It’s that serious eh?” Said Bower.
“You don’t know the half of it,” said Fiona, sipping some water.
The soldier uttered some words into his headset, then got out of his seat, dragging some cables with him which he then connected to a large microphone and placed it in the middle of the table. He then looked at the Captain. “They should be able to hear you and their response will come through the speakers on the wall.”
Bower leaned into the mike. “Whom am I talking to? Over.”
“It’s the General, Captain. Do you have them? Over.”
“We do. They are in the room with me. Over.”
“Glad to have you both back safe and sound. I’m sure you have a story to tell, but was there no way to get to Doctor Joshi? Over.”
Zach leaned forward. “Good to hear you too General. We wanted to find Raj…but it was not possible. Over.”
“Where were you Zach? Over.”
He took in a deep breath. “What we’re going to tell all of you, is going to sound crazy. Trust me, I know how crazy it sounds—”
“I think we’re used to crazy by now. Over,” said general Trow.
“Ha, yeah, so—”
Fiona sighed. “We were abducted by terraforming aliens called the Hulathen into cells, in space and two other aliens, who were not Hulathen helped us escape…umm Over.”
“Knew it was aliens,” said Michael under his breath standing against a wall.
A quiet descended across the room.
“Well say something then…” Said Fiona.
“How did you escape?” Said Bower.
“I got lucky. When they took us, they also took an E.L.F and me and it ended up in the same confined space. It managed to get some licks in before I put it down. One of its bits came in handy in breaking through the cell’s wall. I then helped the other alien to escape, and well, they told us what was going on and then helped us use one of the cells to get back to Pittsburgh.”
“What did they look like?” Said Diaz.
“Who?”
“Err…any of them?”
“The ones that helped us were tall, slim, humanoid but with strange facial features.”
“They talked English?” Said Brad.
“No, but at one point they found a way to communicate with us,” said Zach.
A crackling came from the speakers. “The Hulathen were what created the Cascade? Over.”
It was a bit of a leap from the scant information that Zach and Fiona had already given those around them, but Zach was used to the General thinking a few steps ahead of everyone else.
“That’s what the other aliens told us, yes. Over.”
Some around the room shook their heads.
“Did you say ‘terraforming aliens’ ?” Said Brad.
“I was about to ask the same. Over,” said the general through the speaker.
Some around the room looked confused.
Michael stepped forward, nearer the table. “Don’t you see? All of this shit. The world coming to an end, it’s just some aliens way of clearing the decks, so they can come and vacation on our beach!”
Some still looked unclear.
Michael pulled a frustrated expression.
“They are changing the planet, so it’s like their home,” said Diaz her eyes seemingly fixed on some far away thing.
“Does that mean we are now like them?” Said Wyatt.
Everyone started talking and asking questions at once.
More crackling
came from the speakers, and everyone quietened down. “There’s a lot we don’t know. But we now know a lot more than we did. I don’t know how you both got back to us, but well done. So now we know who and what caused the Cascade, and what they’re trying to do, the next question we need to ask is—”
“How we going to stop them and take our planet back?” Said Bower looking around the room.
* * * * *
After flying for about half an hour, the trees and fields below Abbey quickly changed to countless rows of what used to be homes and gardens but now were lumps of green foliage, intermixed with E.L.F’s of all sizes and forms going about their daily business. Growing up in Boston, she had an idea of what she was flying over, but without having spent well over a decade in the old city, she wouldn’t have even known that what was passing below her used to be inhabited by humans.
In the bright early afternoon sun she felt like she had been transported to the tropics, as creatures scurried about, sometimes briefly looking up at her and plants with vibrant flowers, their petals a few feet across fluttered in the light breeze.
The takeover by the newly crowned nature was more complete here than any other place she had previously seen. Even her dreams didn’t do it justice.
Clovis’s voice echoed around her mind, like one of the insects of the old world that you never seemed to be able to pin down. She closed her eyes to steady her thoughts. How did he know I was there? Was he tracking me?
The idea that he just randomly arrived at the same town in Massachusetts wasn’t getting any traction in her mind. Somehow he knew. For now though there were more important things to concentrate on. Like finding the large cathedral type building near the bay that she had seen so many times in her sleep.
The size of the structures covered in plant life grew in size as they continued. Looking a few further miles ahead, she could see the downtown area, with it’s skyscrapers and parks. She also caught glimpses of the river which she knew led out to the sea.
She focused on that area and Mo altered course. Her parents apartment flashed into her mind. It had been many years since she was last there, and looking at the amount of growth this far out from the central neighborhoods she doubted she could even gain access. Maybe she would try afterwards.
Hundreds of feet below them, dark oily black shapes slithered through the water. Some leaping out of the water and grabbing some poor E.L.F that had wondered too close to the shore, then quickly sinking back down into the depths.
She focused on the tall buildings ahead of them. One of them had to be what she dreamed about. The answers would be there, she was sure of it.
Suddenly she felt the air pressure change around her and Mo swung to one side just in time as a creature swooped past them. It had been flying high above them. Whatever it was, it had no ill intent towards her, but it refocused her mind on being alert to where she was.
The waters of the bay could now be clearly seen, even with Boston’s tallest buildings in front of them. One in particular stood out, with it’s curved edges and multiple spires. It had clearly been a relatively new construction, but designed to fit in with the cities heritage. Now though it looked like one huge tree, with multiple appendages belonging to plants that had somehow made it their home. She thought about landing near its ‘roots’ but the ground was completely hidden beneath trees and leaves, and even with her abilities she didn’t want to risk it. Instead she spotted the sun glinting off one of the few windows that was left visible to the outside world.
Mo increased his rate of wing strokes and they hovered near the twenty-fifth floor. Her feet found some branches and she reached out with one of her hands, which Mo had just let go off, allowing her to grab hold of some vines. She flat out refused to look down even knowing her E.L.F friend would grab her if she fell. Pushing the leaves from her face, Mo let go of her other hand and she grabbed the branches that were growing all around her.
The window was just a few feet away. Making sure she had a good grip, she inched forward then gave the glass a hefty kick with her boot. The impact made a loud thump but had no other effect.
She sighed then felt around the back of her pants and pulled her pistol out. Pointing it at the window and slightly down, she pulled the trigger.
The glass shattered sending a thunderous noise through the air which was met with squawks and roars, from far below.
She kicked away the shards that were left and jumped inside.
CHAPTER 15
Brad leaned on a fence in one of the large fields that surrounded the property, drinking from one of the bottles of the sharp tasting beverages that the previous owners had left behind. The sun was on its downward trajectory and the light breeze of earlier had become a chilling wind. A noise of squelching mud made him turn around, Zach was walking towards him.
“Don’t tell me…the aliens have explained that it was all a big misunderstanding,” said Brad.
Zach smiled then looked around at the trees and bushes on the edge of the field, and the hills beyond. “This would have been a good place to live, before…”
He offered Zach the bottle. Zach shook his head.
“Never took you as the ranching type?”
“When I was a kid I used to read my fathers comics. It was all cowboys and Indians, and how to handle a head of cattle.” He smiled. “It was a different time, but even seeing those mountains and plains in black and white print, gave me ideas about having my own place one day.”
“Well you still can! Your cattle might have five legs and two heads, but hey it can happen!”
They both laughed.
“Not sure if Abbey would want to be a rancher though,” said Zach.
“I think she likes it just as much as you, it’s just…she had other things on her mind during her stay.”
Zach’s expression hardened. “I thought she would talk to me—” He shook his head. “—Just tell me what was going on with her.”
Brad put his hand on Zach’s shoulder. “Sometimes the closer you are to someone the harder it is to share. We’ll get her back, I’m sure of it.”
Zach nodded.
For a moment both men stood silent with their thoughts.
“So what do you make of all of this other world stuff?” Said Zach.
“I was hoping you would tell me! You went on a pretty wild ride. I know…or knew a good many people who would have given up an important body organ to have been where you were and saw what you did.”
Zach smiled. “A prison’s a prison, being in space makes no difference, and once I got out the cell…”
“It must have been tough…”
“Which part?”
“Being confined again.”
Zach walked closer to the fence, looking off into the distance. “It was what it was.”
Brad could tell his experience of being locked up again was something Zach didn’t want to dwell on. “But you haven’t come all the way out here to humor my former role as a ufologist. From what you have told me, for some reason these beings decided to make this planet their home. They didn’t come down here and try and negotiate or offer anything in return, they just decided to end us and start again, to remake the planet, in ‘their’ image…” He looked rueful.
“What?”
“These aliens, the Hulathen as you call them. Looks like they see themselves as gods and us as a nuisance to be got rid of.”
An idea was forming in Zach’s mind. “So we make ourselves a pain in their ass.”
“Obviously the level of technology they can wield is way beyond what we had, let alone what we have now. So guerrilla warfare is our only hope. I’m sure Trow and Bower are already thinking along these lines. But we need to know more about them. Just having a name and the fact that they have restarted evolution doesn’t give us much to go on.”
“Maybe we could get ourselves one of their ships, or whatever those things are the took us.”
“Any piece of their tech would be something. What about the aliens
that helped you, do you think they would help us?”
Zach shook his head. “I guess, who knows. We don’t have any idea how to contact them, where to look or anything.”
“We’re on the start of a—” Brad looked past Zach’s shoulder to a soldier that was running towards them from the main house. They both started walking towards him.
An out of breath young man stopped just a few yards ahead of them.
“What now?”
The soldier caught his breath and looked at Zach. “Sir, there’s a message from another camp.”
“Other? You mean the camp in Texas?”
“No, sir. We have a message from the Boston camp. They say Abbey Reisner was recently with them, but she’s now gone—” Both Zach and Brad’s heart rates jumped. “And that they are under siege by someone called Clovis.”
Both of the older men looked at each other, then started running back to the house.
CHAPTER 16
Abbey sat in a worn but still comfortable sofa in the lobby of the Grand Imperial hotel. The light from the sun was dwindling, and even though it was spring the air was getting noticeably colder, so she stood and looked around for firewood.
Mo, who had squeezed through another opening somewhere else in the building, sat on a pipe that stuck out of the broken floor to the second floor above. In his mouth was some kind of small E.L.F. It was the first time she had seen him eat another creature, but after being out of contact with him for so long, she knew she needed to accept that he was going to find his own food sources. Still, the idea him killing something troubled her.
She picked up a few pieces of wood with splintered ends and walked back to the sofa and threw them on the ground, then pushed them closer together. A tear started to roll down the side of her face, but she ignored it and instead looked for more fuel for the fire.
After entering the building on the upper floors, she had slowly made her way down, lower and lower, searching the rooms but always moving towards what she hoped would be a resolution. When she finally got to the lobby, she stepped out into a huge area full of reeds and plants and some E.L.F’s which she sent on their way, but there was nothing else. No cocoons with her relatives inside and no strange demonic looking creature to answer all her questions.
