“What the hell are those?” Kyla pointed to smaller objects moving at the edge of the airstrip, a bit outside the ambiance provided by the powerful spotlights on the tarmac. They were on the near side of the pavement, walking in the tall, reedy grass.
Ted watched for a full minute, content to study the new threat before making a call about what to do. The problem was, he wasn’t sure what they were. At first glance, they looked like a couple of people walking in the grass while holding a mailbox high over their heads, post and all.
“They look like giraffes, don’t they?” Kyla finally asked.
“Yes!” he said excitedly, but also at a whisper. The giraffes loped through the grass with about a hundred yards between the two. As they kept watching, a third appeared another hundred yards behind. “Whatever they are, they’re walking in a loop around the runway.”
“Guards?” Emily asked.
“Sentries,” Meechum added. “And that’s not all. Look over there.” She led Ted’s eyes to a distant section of the airport, next to one of the giant hangars. There was a large space between the cargo planes and the next row of fighter jets, which allowed him to see the lighted area behind them. Four military tanks sat in a perfect line.
He sighed, still unsure what was going on. Were they the good guys or the bad guys? Ted wasn’t up to snuff on every tank in the world, but he figured the Marine ground-pounder would know. “Can you make out who those tanks belong to?”
She squinted as if trying hard to make the ID, but she gave up and glanced over at him. “I want to say they’re M1s, but they have some sort of mesh camo on their upper hulls. If they’re American, they’re configured in a new way.”
He chewed on his lip, working out what to do next. They couldn’t go forward, that was obvious, but they needed to get inside.
“Meechum, can you tell me which building we need for the computer coding we’re going to do?”
She studied the base for a few seconds. “Not from here, but I’m sure once we get in, I’ll recognize it.” She hesitated before going on. “If we get separated, or I don’t make it, the building is labeled as Maintenance and Parts.”
Kyla scooted closer to him. “Uncle Ted, do you think this is a good idea? Just the four of us against an army?”
What could he do? The President of the United States needed to disarm the nuclear arsenal. Who else had the ability to do it? He immediately thought of where he might send Kyla so she was out of danger, but unless he was willing to tie her to a chair, she would never allow him to get away with it. Her mom would probably rip his head off if she knew where he’d taken her, but there was no obvious place where she’d be safe. Therefore, logically, he figured the safest place was with him.
“Let’s retreat for tonight. We’ll study the base operations tomorrow, in the light, to see if patterns emerge. Some of us have to find a way inside.” He didn’t beat her over the head with the word ‘some,’ but he’d laid the groundwork for having her wait outside the base while he went in.
I can’t afford any losses.
The Stinky Place
Deogee was as happy as she’d been since leaving the Bad Place. She’d found her new friend Biscuit and together, they’d taken off after the scent trail left by the young female human who’d befriended her. Today, they’d been reunited.
“Biscuit! Stop running!” Deogee cried out for her friend as the black dog ran circles around the two-legged Tabby. Biscuit was overly excited, and she wanted her to settle so they could both cash in on the lovins from her new human friend.
She looked across the river to see the hot flames ravaging the tall rocks standing there, but she didn’t stare for long. Fire had burned her back at the Bad Place, and she wanted nothing to do with it ever again. However, she kept one ear on the crackling noise coming from across the river to ensure it wasn’t getting closer. If it did, she was going to warn her humans.
“This is hilarious!” Biscuit barked at her with relentless running. “I’m making myself sick to my stomach going in circles!”
Deogee loved having Biscuit around, but it was a lot like what she imagined if she had pups. The black lab was always playing, always getting into trouble. “Then stop running!”
Their conversations were never quiet. She knew humans didn’t like her loud voice, but she wanted to control Biscuit for them.
Deogee managed to nip at her flank, but she got away.
“Faster! Faster! Faster!” Biscuit insisted as her spiral loop got tighter around Tabby’s feet.
All at once, Deogee halted. A new odor was on the air, even more odd than the smelly place below them. Tabby kept using the word warehouse, whatever that meant. A few seconds later, a whirring sound caught her attention.
Must warn her!
Deogee ran by and nudged one of Tabby’s two, long paws. “We have to leave!”
Her human waved at her. “Not now, girl.” Instead of running for safety, Tabby continued talking with complicated words Deogee didn’t understand.
Deogee worked through how to warn her pack. She gathered all her anxiety and fear into a ball and let it out as a long growl.
Biscuit finally stopped when she heard the call to order. The lab got into fight-or-flight mode, dropping her tail, bending her ears, and paying attention. Deogee was pleased. The humans came to attention, too.
Tabby’s scent changed immediately. She oozed worry as the unnatural noise came closer. It was the same sound made by that white floating box that showed up when she got burned.
The humans got the message; they ran for the door back into the stinky warehouse. However, before she could follow like she wanted, Biscuit resumed running in circles. This time, it wasn’t for fun.
“Come!” the human Tabby cried out. A deep instinct told her to respond to the female pack leader, but she was responsible for her friend Biscuit.
Deogee barked repeatedly, hoping Tabby would understand. “I can’t come yet!”
Biscuit ran in more circles, as if she was broken. “It’s too much! The smells. The orange across the water. Something’s coming!”
“Deogee, come!” Tabby shrieked from inside the doorway.
“I want to,” she barked back.
Biscuit’s claws tapped on the hard roof as she ran all around with the crazies. Deogee was torn. She’d been given a direct order. Save her friend or follow the alpha? After fruitlessly yelling at the lab, she turned to the door, but Tabby was gone.
They always disappear.
Her focus went back to Biscuit, and for several long minutes, she chased the other dog, knowing it was the only way to stop her. It wasn’t as easy as running on grass, and it took much longer than it should have. The smaller dog was able to cut corners sharper than she could, and in the end, she only managed to stop the insane pup because she ran out of gas.
They both panted with relief.
“Are you better?” she asked Biscuit.
“Where did the female go?” the black lab asked, apparently oblivious to the last few minutes. “And what’s making those sounds downstairs?”
It was difficult to understand the world of humans. They lived in strange houses with many things that weren’t a bowl of food or a warm bed. They also went from place to place in little houses with black wheels. Those were made from material she couldn’t chew through, and they carried horrible smells.
Below, at that very moment, one of their strange objects was making the same sound as those ugly machines. Even from so far away, she smelled the scents from all three of the humans. They were in fear for their lives.
“Come on, we have to help them!” she ordered.
Biscuit didn’t complain. She followed.
Deogee went down the stairs and jumped into a battle blur to help. The rattle of a noisy black tube destroyed the lower part of the steps, nearly hurting Biscuit. The humans had noisy sticks, too. They caused such intense roars over and over. Still, Deogee bit into an enemy’s metal leg. The big, disgusting animal threatened her
alpha.
Biscuit offered moral support as she barked behind her. “Kill it! Get it! Tear it in half!”
Deogee wished she could yell for her friend to grab onto the second monster, instead of Biscuit running around being her usual chatterbox self. However, she couldn’t let go of the first beast to get the words out. One of her teeth cracked under the weight of holding on, but she wasn’t giving up. Not while Tabby was afraid of the two monsters.
She thought she was doing good until a wall collapsed, and a new sound turned on. It was immediately painful, as if Biscuit was barking right in her ear.
A new human machine approached. It had strange, elongated feet that dragged it close to Tabby. It was huge, maybe ten Deogees in height. It was unlike anything she’d ever imagined in her puppy dreams.
The new sound from the odd machine kept ramping up, but she still hung on to the smaller metal animal with her teeth.
Must protect the Tabby.
Deogee hadn’t realized the noise could get louder, but soon it became painful. Her eyes vibrated in their sockets and she greatly wanted to put her paws over her ears. Still, she refused to let go and run.
Her human alpha exploded with the smell of fear, like she was about to be left alone at home for the day. Tabby was next to the giant machine, waving her upper paws and yelling at it, “Wait!”
In a flash, the painful sound got in her head, and everything went black, like Deogee had her eyes closed.
Tabby? Where are you?
East St. Louis, IL, three minutes earlier
Tabby and her two friends were up against the wall with two machine guns pointed at them. One of the white floating drones hovered above the two horse-robots, and there was nowhere left to go. It seemed like her time on Earth was reaching an end.
All I need is a blindfold and a cigarette.
The drones were so confident of their supremacy they didn’t even ask her and the two teens to drop their weapons. She hung onto her shotgun, tentatively pointing it at one of the horses, figuring maybe she could damage one before it shot her dead.
A flash of darkness caught her eye, and it went toward the horse-drone closest to her. The machine stumbled sideways as if someone had climbed on. A second shape came down the stairs after the first, which seemed to catch the attention of the remaining drone. Tabby did the math and figured out the happy-go-lucky Biscuit had followed the much more serious Deogee, now chomping repeatedly at the first drone.
“Leave them alone!” Tabby shouted as she lunged at the robot. The instant she touched it, her ears nearly burst with all the explosions generated by the chain gun on the back of the horse’s framework. The steps where Biscuit had been running were ripped apart by the bullets, though she couldn’t see if the dog caught some of the shots, too.
The floating drone acted like the brain for all the others. “Warning: To avoid additional pain, please cease resistance.”
“You want us to make our deaths easier on ourselves?” Tabby shouted, sure the programmed voice had no sense of humor, even the dark kind.
“No thanks!” Peter shrieked, before letting loose with his shotgun.
Tabby joined in, knowing there was nothing to lose. She’d been holding her shotgun at the ready, so she separated from the robot and trained the barrel on what should have been the face of the mechanical creature. Her ears had been dulled by the intense concussions of the heavy machine gun, so the shotgun blast sounded tame by comparison.
The shot ricocheted off the heavy shield-like mantlet protecting the head in a thunderous light show of sparks.
She fired again, but her aim was ruined when the horse snapped a leg sideways, pushing her onto the filthy tiled floor. That gave the machine time to reorient on its companion and aim its gun toward Deogee as if it had no care for hitting its partner robot.
“No!” she screamed into the din.
The machine gun barrel on the first robot started spinning, but then it stopped before any bullets came out. Deogee continued to maul the second robot, though Tabby figured her efforts were hopeless if her shotgun couldn’t even dent it.
The floating drone came down a few feet, hovering over the madness. “Warning: Breach imminent. Please step away from outer wall.”
Tabby jumped toward Audrey and Peter, who were both still up against the wall. Peter held his shotgun without shooting, and Tabby stopped her firing, too. They couldn’t shoot while Deogee was tied up with the machines. Biscuit was in there, too. The black lab ran in circles around one of the enemy shapes, barking constantly.
The wall next to them caved in, filling the immediate area with an explosion of dust and debris, followed by giant spotlights. A tracked vehicle came through the breach and haze. It was as big as a tank and seemed to have no trouble getting through the brick wall and rolling onto the warehouse floor.
At first, she huddled with Audrey and Peter, simply to stay clear of the machine and the junk falling from the wall. However, when she regained her presence of mind, she stood in front of the kids, though fighting a tank could only end one way.
When the smoke cleared enough to see movement, and the last few bricks fell from the wall, the white drone floated back into view with a new message. “Please stand by for localized reboot.”
“Screw that,” she said under her breath.
Deogee hadn’t let up a bit on the backside of the robot horse. She kept her grip on wires and hoses that seemed to come out of its rear leg. The dog snarled and shook itself back and forth as if the haunch was a chew-toy.
The second horse stood there looking at the first, its gun trained on Deogee as she moved. Tabby figured it would open fire the moment it was clear of its partner, which made her hesitate to interfere. If she called the dog off and made her come over, the second machine would shoot her. If she let her continue, the best case was she somehow managed to disable the robot and then get shot by the other one.
The tank’s wheels squeaked in the treads, like metal on metal, but she didn’t look back until a hum started up. She glanced back, aware that the deep resonance of the hum was so low as to barely be heard. It was, however, shaking her teeth with bass.
“What the—” She turned around to process what the tank had become. Unlike every other tank she’d ever seen, this one had no gun on the top. Instead of a turret, the metal superstructure had spread out, a bit like a radar dish. It was curved, about ten feet tall and twenty wide, and it crackled with electrical energy. It pointed toward the two metal horse-bots, which created the illusion the net was going to be used to retrieve them.
Deogee hadn’t let go of the backside of the robot, and even though Biscuit wasn’t chomping at metal, she barked excitedly next to the wolf, as if telling her what to do. Tabby took a step in the tank’s direction, afraid it was going to hurt the pups. “Wait!”
The hum rose to such a level that she had to put her hands over her ears, though it barely helped. She happened to be looking at the wolf-dog as it relentlessly tore at its target. As the hum became unbearable, Deogee disappeared. Biscuit seemed to run behind an invisible curtain as she went away, too.
The robots were still there. They recovered from their assault and both shifted orientations, so they faced her and the kids. One of the tracks on the tank went backward, scraping the floor with a squeal, which changed the facing of the metal mesh of the radar dish. None of that mattered, however, as she figured out the dogs were gone.
“You killed my dog,” she said dryly. Then, realizing it had really happened, she lost it. “You killed my dog!” She oriented her gun on the drone, which shifted up to avoid what was coming. Tabby fired but missed. “I’m going to kill whoever is behind that drone!”
The tank’s hum began again, as if it needed a short time to build to critical mass.
She fired repeatedly, vaguely aware the mechanical horses had come to attention nearby with chain guns trained on the three of them left in the warehouse. She’d never been more frightened in her life, but she’d never been as su
re of the need to fight back.
The flying drone made it behind a metal pillar as Tabby and Peter both unleashed shots at it. The intense gunshots no longer mattered. The painful hum almost drowned out both shotguns, and it made it easier to crank out all the rounds she had left in the magazine.
In the back of her awareness, she knew there was no hope. If the machine guns didn’t cut her down, the hum was going to make her disappear like the dogs. An enemy with such incredible weapons couldn’t be stopped.
Out of ammo, she held the shotgun out in front of her as a blocker. The barrel was too hot to hold, so she kept her hand on the front stock. Peter was out of ammo, too. He held his shotgun like a baseball bat.
“Come on, you bastards!” she shouted. Her legs wobbled in her stretch pants, but she made herself hold position. Audrey covered her ears. Peter stepped in front of her. A few moments later, the intense auditory assault rose to such a level, it could have been coming from inside her brain.
Whatever it was that zapped out and got Deogee and Biscuit, it was coming for her next.
Love you forever, Mom and Dad.
CHAPTER 21
Minot, ND
After getting a first look at their target, Ted insisted they retreat to somewhere safe, so they could talk about what to do next. They got back in the car and drove a few miles down the road to a small abandoned food store. Once inside, they made a layout of the base using canned goods. While eating their favorite foods, they talked about possible entry points that would put them closest to where Meechum thought they’d find the correct building.
After an hour of talk, and with a full belly, Ted’s eyelids suddenly weighed fifty pounds each, despite the important business they were conducting below the bright halogen lamps. Emily noticed his condition after one or two head bobs. “Ted, we both could use some sleep. Why don’t we get a few hours of shut-eye?”
He waved her off. “I slept in the car. You ladies can hit the hay. I want to stay up to keep watch.”
The three women looked at each other in a way he didn’t like. Emily turned back to him. “No one gets good sleep in a car. These two got some decent zees in the plane; they’ll keep watch for us.” She motioned to Kyla and the Marine.
Minus America Box Set | Books 1-5 Page 59
