by Maxey, Phil
More screams, this time from directly in front of the apartments. This thing was easier to spot for it landed directly in the middle of a group of people knocking them to the ground. Gunfire slammed into it, but not before one its pinchers plucked a man from the sidewalk and waved him around as if he was a doll. Its eyes, which were on stalks, flicked left and right and it retreated back between the single story home taking its prize with it.
Bass looked at the shocked men around him. “This is it. You know what to do. We help cover those below, and we stay alive up here so command has eyes on the hotzone.”
A number of “Yes Sir’s” rang out around him.
Six miles to the southeast Grant slammed on his breaks just as he turned into a blockade of vehicles.
“Where the fuck have all these people come from,” said Carrie sitting to his left.
“The other zones.” He pushed down on the gas but only moved a few feet before a man, woman and child with suitcases ran out in front of him. He waved them across then pulled forward again.
“So I guess the walls are not keeping the E.L.F’s out then…”
“It just takes one crack and they can get through.”
They were both thinking the same thing.
“You got any plans?… If…” said Carrie.
He moved the pickup forward a few more yards.
“If the walls completely fail?”
“Yeah.”
“Head east. There was never that much E.L.F activity from the drier regions. Might visit a friend of mine.”
“Fancy some company?”
He looked across to her and smiled. She did the same, then looked back out front. Her expression changed to one of horror.
He looked in the same direction just in time to see a huge winged creature, its wings covering the entire four lanes, scoop up a group of screaming people in its claws and take them to the sky. As others scattered in all directions, including people jumping out of their cars, the wind from its beating wings hit the car making it shake.
“What the hell…” said Carrie.
While people streamed past his pickup, Grant held his radio to his mouth, driving up onto the sidewalk and into a parking lot. “Ben, you there? Over.”
The pickup bumped over a curb, bouncing back down past where the group were collected by the flying creature and accelerated forward, weaving left and right past trucks and cars. In his rear mirror Ethan and Jay were just about keeping up behind.
“I’m here dad. Are you coming home?”
“I am. I’ll be right there. Few minutes. Over.”
“Okay.”
“Did… you see the size of that thing? It was as big as a semi and its trailer…” the words came from Carrie as if she had entered a dream.
Grant skidded around a corner, entering the street where his apartment was.
“Yeah, it was big.” He hadn’t really taken in the dimensions of the flying creature that grabbed the people like they were sheep. He didn’t care. He just wanted to get back to his son.
He slammed on the breaks, almost hitting a parked car and pushed the door open, then stopped looking back at Carrie. “Stay here. I’m getting Ben then Rose, then we’re leaving.”
Carrie nodded, while Ethan appeared alongside the door.
“Are you and Jay ready to leave the camp?” he said.
Ethan nodded and together they ran across the sidewalk and into a narrow alley, moving through the first block of apartments, and quickly coming out to the forecourt which the rest of the buildings looked down upon.
He went to keep going when Ethan’s hand grabbed the back of his jacket checking his progress.
“What?” said Grant.
Ethan was looking up into the night sky. Grant followed his gaze then inhaled. One of the things that pulled the people into the sky, sat on the roof of his building. In the dark, only clawed feet, each one the size of his pickup and a glimpse of feathered wings could be seen, but its body took up a large part of the thirty foot square roof.
Small pieces of masonry fell, smashing on the ground and making them both jump to their right against the wall. They quickly moved along it, reaching the entrance and went inside.
They both surged up the stairs. “Ben, I’m in the north stairwell. Make sure you got the go-bag then leave the apartment. I’ll meet you at the stairs. Over.”
“Okay…”
By time Grant and Ethan had ascended to another floor the door at the top of the stairs opened and closed.
“Dad?” shouted Ben down to them.
“I’m here, run down.”
They all met on the third floor, Grant briefly hugging his son.
“We’re going to go out the south entrance and keep close to the building. Okay?” said Grant. Ben nodded. “Do not look up. No matter what you hear. You keep looking at me. Right?”
Ben nodded again.
Grant held up his radio switching channels. “Carrie? Jay? You both there? Over.”
They all started walking down the stairs.
A crashing noise came from somewhere above. Ben went to look up, but then stopped.
“We’re here, and we see the thing on the roof. Over.”
“Keep the headlights off and back the hell up out of there. Go to the street over to the south. We’re meet you there. Over.”
“Lights already off. Yup, heard you loud and clear. See you in the south street. Over,” said Carrie.
Grant looked to those with him. “There’s a path which leads between the complex and the building next door. It’s well covered from above.”
Ethan nodded.
They arrived on the ground floor just as a low rumble moved through the building. More chunks of heavy brick fell to the ground just outside the way they came in.
Ben shuddered but Grant put his hand on his shoulder, leading him in the other direction. They arrived at a single glass-fronted door and Ethan went first, opening it, peering up, then ran out to where a fence resided just a few yards away. He looked back and nodded.
“Remember what I said about not looking up?” Grant said to Ben, who nodded in reply. “We’re going to go outside, and run about ten yards to where there’s a gap in the fence.”
“I know the one.”
“Good, and move into the alleyway, then walk quickly, not run, walk, all the way to the end, where Carrie and Jay will be waiting to pick us up. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Grant looked at Ethan, and they moved out into the cool night air. Grant could feel the presence of the ship sized thing just a hundred feet above, and did his best to push it from his mind, instead concentrating on moving forward.
They ran as planned across the grass verge and into the dark of the alley, instantly stopping when Ethan’s flashlight lit up something in their path.
It wasn’t big, maybe the size of a large dog, but it was also without legs or arms. Just eyes, many of them, akin to a spider and they were all looking straight at them.
Grant dragged Ben to him, while holding his Glock out in front. Ethan did the same with his M4. He went to fire.
“Wait!’ whispered Grant. He briefly looked down. “Ben, get behind me and stay near Ethan.”
His son did as asked.
Grant took a step towards the creature then another. As he reached the end of the third, just a few yards away from the thing, he threw his arms out. The eyes of the creature grew large and it turned, scrambling up and over the wall with tiny limbs and was gone.
Grant sighed, then beckoned Ben and Ethan to him. They walked quickly along the dark passageway. On emerging from the end they spotted the two pickups nearby and Grant broke his own rule and looked over his shoulder, up to the top of the apartment blocks. He almost fell back on seeing the leviathan that sat nonchalantly on top of where he was sleeping just an hour before. Its size made the structures around it look doll-like. At first glance it looked like a bird, with feathers the size of good sized trees, but there was no head and beak, only a mass o
f trunks with smaller appendages on the end of them that were lost in the shadows. It looked like something that belonged in the ocean depths…
He shook his head breaking the spell the thing had put him under and pulled Ben with him towards the first pickup that had rolled silently forward. They jumped in, while Ethan joined Jay’s vehicle behind and both pickups’ pulled away.
He tried not to look in the wing mirrors to what they were leaving behind, instead he held his radio to his mouth. “Rose? Are you there. Over.”
Carrie led the vehicles into a dark narrow road, where they stopped.
“Grant! I’m here. Are you okay? Over.”
“I’m okay. I’m with Ben and some others. You can’t go back to the apartment. There are… things everywhere. I’m coming to the medical center and picking you up, and—”
“I can’t leave…”
A scream came from somewhere beyond the single-story buildings around them. In the distance explosions echoed in the night.
“What? The camp’s falling. It’s over. I’m driving to you—”
“Grant. I’m sorry but I can’t leave these people. If I leave some of them might die. Over.”
He looked at Carrie then down, feeling a numbness crawling over him. He wanted to head the few miles south and drag her from her job. But he also knew he couldn’t do that.
“I’m sorry Grant. I have to go. I hope you and Ben...”
“Rose?” He looked at the radio but its screen was black.
Carrie took it from him. “Dang it. Sorry, it needs charging again.” She turned it over in her hands then looked back at him. “What do you want me to do?”
He nodded to the road ahead. “Take us east. To the wall.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Girl… Sofie… Whatever your name is, wake up!”
Sofia awoke with a judder. Vince wasn’t in his made up bed, but Connie was standing a yard to the right and dividing her attention between Sofia and looking through a gap in the drapes.
“What… what is it?” For a moment she wondered if Connie could have shot Vince without her waking. She was so tired it might have been possible.
“You should take a look outside.”
Sofia sheepishly turned around, moving away slightly from the wooden board that was only half fixed to the door frame, and pulled a small amount of the curtain to the side. At first all she saw was dark shapes in the gloom. The sun was threatening to appear over the eastern mountains and the sky had taken on a navy blue glow, allowing just the hint of visibility. She couldn’t understand what she was looking at, as her tired mind tried to recall the details of the area outside the rear of the property.
“You… umm you have a lot of boulders out there.”
“Nope. That yard was as smooth as cow shit. I had anything larger than a few inches removed. I kept falling over them.”
Sofia scrunched her face in confusion looking up at the old woman, then back outside. One of the ‘boulders’ was not where it should be. In-fact it was about a foot further to the right. “What… it…”
“Yup, the rocks are moving. But they ain’t rocks. They’re those new things.”
Sofia absorbed just how many she was looking at. These ’things’ where in the hundreds. Ranging from a foot to about three times that size. And those were just the ones she could see. She spun around. “Where’s Vince?”
“Don’t get your hair in a twist. He’s in the living room, keeping an eye out front. Oh and his leg ain’t broke, just badly sprained. Did some years as a nurse in Vietnam. Some shit you don’t forget.”
“Are they out front as well?”
“Yup, we’re surrounded.”
Sofia returned to looking out back. “But they haven’t tried to get in here?”
Connie took in a breath. “Not yet. I think they might be attracted to heat or sound or something, which is why they are around us. If we keep real quiet, hopefully they will go on their way.”
“It moved!” Sofia talked as quietly as she could, but seeing a foot long rock lift slightly from the ground, just enough for insect like legs to poke out and carry it a few inches towards the house was pushing her to shout. “What if one tries to get inside? What if they all do?”
“Then we jump in the truck and leave.”
Connie moved back into the hallway, lifting her radio to her mouth. Sofia could hear a muffled conversation. She watched the things outside and almost felt as they were watching her back. Connie reappeared and waved Sofia to move towards her.
“Just talked to Jim Watson up on the hill. He said it’s clear around his ranch. Which means they came in from the wall to our east. Must have climbed over it or something.”
“Yeah…” Sofia knew they hadn’t. She pushed the image of an open tunnel gate from her mind. “Is the truck ready to go, fueled and everything?”
“Yup. Also he said that the main part of the camp is in a bad way. Lots of monsters are in the zones, killing people. It’s all going to hell.”
Sofia thought about Bass. He would be in that chaos, fighting to keep people alive. He would be glad she was out of it, but she needed to get him a message.
A clump sound came from behind the curtain, followed by a high pitch scratching sound.
“It’s at the window,” whispered Sofia.
They both stood looking back at the patio door. Sofia remembered the wooden board was only half connected to the frame and went to move towards it, but only managed one step before the board pushed inwards, wood splintering and it fell heavily to the floor.
Connie unholstered her pistol and aimed it towards the side of the curtain which was now gently flapping in the early morning breeze.
There was a brief scuffling noise, dirt being disturbed, then one of the things fell onto the tile inside the room and sat still. They both jumped then froze. It was roughly a foot and a half in size, and if Sofia hadn’t seen it move she would have thought a rock had tumbled through the gap somehow.
“What—”
It scurried a few inches towards them and Connie fired. The blast rang in Sofia’s ears, making her turn away. Another blast rang out. She looked back just in time to see the thing scrambling towards them, and instinctively fell backwards into the kitchen area. Another blast and then a scream as the thing clamped onto Connie’s leg. Without fully thinking on her actions she grabbed a nearby kitchen knife, ran forward and plunged it into the underside of the thing, making it squeal. Its insect legs flailed scratching her hand and wrist, but she pushed the knife in deeper twisting as she went, then with both hands threw the knife and thing across the room, where it hit up against the wall knocking a picture to the ground, which landed on top of it.
Connie leaned back against the island in the middle of the kitchen, grimacing, they both looked down at the red stain spreading across the lower leg of her pants when the glass of the remaining patio door shattered, and another rock creature, this one larger, landed amongst the broken panes inside the room.
“We’re leaving!” shouted Connie, but the larger creature immediately surged forward. Grabbing a kitchen stool Sofia just managed to point the legs in the creature’s direction as it tried to leap forwards, revealing crab like pinchers and eyes which were deep within antenna which twitched in their direction.
Another thud came from the patio door area, then another. Connie was already in the hallway opening another of the doors there. “Come on!” she shouted back to Sofia who was having to use all her strength to keep the thing pushed back. With one final effort she shoved the creature away and turned and ran into the hallway and into a room she hadn’t seen before, a large double garage. Vince and Connie were already inside, and Connie slammed the door close, pushing a number of locks across to secure it. Tapping and scratches came from the tiles in the hallway outside.
“We’re drive through them!” said Connie nodding towards the large pickup, then looked towards the back wall of shelves. A large metal box was already open revealing Sofia’s rifle and k
nife. “Get your things, and get in and hand me the shotgun and ammo boxes. There should be two in there for the shotgun and one for the pistol. Your have to drive, my ankles hurting too much.”
Sofia took her own weapons and passed the rest to Connie who in turn gave her the pickup’s keys. Loud thumps were now coming from all round them, and a number of dimples where appearing on the metal sheet of the garage door.
They jumped in the pickup and Sofia slid the key in the ignition and fired up the engine. Connie sat to her right.
“Come on, let’s go!” said Vince in the seat behind as the incessant knocking increased in velocity.
The older women looked at Sofia and held up a small plastic box. Sofia nodded and Connie clicked a button.
The door started to slowly rise and air was filled with a noise that sounded like they were in the middle of a hailstorm. With heavy objects slamming against the walls, doors and roof.
“They’re coming inside!” shouted Vince.
The door slowly slid upwards, stopping and starting as the creatures jumped into. The electric motor whirred and hummed then stopped.
“Damn thing!” shouted Connie, pointing and clicking at the door that was only half open.
One of the creatures leaped onto the hood, its needle legs like nails on a chalkboard as it clambered towards the windscreen. It rose up revealing its moist underside and pinchers when Sofia hit the gas pedal, taking them back a yard and throwing the thing forward, off the front grill.
Another of the creatures jumped up at the side door window, causing it to crack a little.
“Just push under the door!” shouted Vince.
“It’s too low! We’ll get—”
Connie’s door sprung open and she jumped out wincing, but took two steps forward and slammed her hand up, under the door, which then proceeded to continue its journey up and over the roof of the pickup.
“Get in!” shouted Sofia.
Connie stepped back and jumped back in the seat and went to slam her door closed when a creature appeared in the gap. She pulled it closed on it, making it squeal and fall back and Sofia pushed down on the gas. The pickup flew out of the garage smashing into creature after creature, some they bumped over, others they crushed, while others, some that were even bigger she swerved around.
