by Phil Maxey
“Yes, it’s quite odd,” said Raj. “Either there’s none out there, or…”
“They’re out there, I’ve seen them as we were driving,” said Rob from the other side of the bus, straining to turn some wheel nuts with the wrench.
“Why didn’t you say anything?” said Zach.
“I just saw eyes, and each time they disappeared so there was no reason to tell anyone.”
“Still doesn’t make sense why it’s so quiet, if they are out there,” said Abbey.
“It’s so dark out here, even with my eyes adjusted I still can’t see more than twenty feet,” said Michael lifting his pocket flashlight upwards slightly.
A window opened on the upper deck and three soldiers climbed out, spreading out around it, and then kneeling looking through their night scopes. Bass came back out and with a hushed voice, asked the soldiers if they could see anything, they all answered in the negative.
Abbey walked into the lodge. Growing up in Boston, her family had one similar to this, which they visited every summer, the difference being this was a bed and breakfast. She swept her light over the deep red patterned rugs, wooden furniture and stone fireplace and memories that had long been forgotten came flooding back. Happy memories, before the bullies at school started to make her doubt her place in the world.
The temperature was a few degrees higher in the space she stood in, but her breath still formed in front of her as she walked up to the light wooden counter. A small metal bell sat on top, with a sign “Ring and wait,” next to it. On the right was a small rack of pamphlets advertising the local tourist attractions. She picked one up with a happy looking family in hiking equipment on the front. Looking at it made her happy and sad at the same time, she went to drop it, but the other pamphlets were so neatly arranged that it felt wrong to disturb the display, so she put it back where she found it, carefully.
Zach appeared standing in the doorway. “Everything alright?”
Abbey went to talk, but had to swallow before doing so. “Yes,” she then turned and smiled.
“Good, Rob should be done in another twenty minutes,” as Zach said that Rob swore and the sound of a wrench falling to the ground, echoed out. “I better go check.” Abbey nodded.
Jacob sat on the bus and watched all the hive of activity around him, through misted up windows. He wondered just how many eyes must be watching them right now, watching the humans dance in the abyss that was always a stronghold for the wild. He wasn’t particularly interested in saving the people in Portland, their fate was beyond him or Zach or anyone else, but he needed to see what was out here. How much had the world really changed? Was there any chance for people outside the camps? Or was the camp the last bastion of civilization left? He was quickly coming to the conclusion that the camps were the only game in town.
“All done,” said Rob out of breath. “I’ll leave you to put the tools away.” The jack and wrench lay on the ground next to Jenkins.
Abbey, Michael and Raj were back on the bus. Abbey had been trying to contact the Portland camp, still without any luck.
“We’re done here. Over.” Radioed Zach to Bass and the troops quickly returned to the bus.
“I filled her up with some more gas as well,” said Rob.
Zach put his hand on Rob’s shoulder. “Let’s go.”
Abbey watched as the light of the convoy moved away from the lodge, returning it to its forgotten state.
The trees and shear rock faces seemed even closer to the road as they progressed, like a dark tunnel they had no choice but to follow. Occasionally their headlights would sweep past a shape that did not fit its surroundings and the heart of anybody who was paying attention would miss a beat, but the miles to the edge of the national park continued to decrease.
After some more miles Bass crouched in the aisle of the bus. “I know it doesn’t look like it, but we are now officially outside the national forest,” Everyone on the bus either punched the air, or physically sunk bank in their seats with relief. “That’s the good news, the bad news is we are about ten klicks away from a large lake. The road runs alongside it.”
“Is there no way to avoid it?” said Dr. Tanner.
Bass went to reply when Abbey’s radio started crackling. She quickly raised it and clicked it on. “Hello? We are the Austin group. Over.”
More crackling followed, then a voice. “This is Portland, we are under a sustained attacked, we can’t guarantee your safety at the south entrance, please stand by for further directions. Over.”
“Stand by? Where the hell does he think we should ‘stand by,’” said Rob.
Zach clicked on his radio. “This is Captain Felton from the Bravo group, we are an hour out, approaching from the south. We are currently near…” Zach looked at Bass. “What’s the name of the lake?” Bass gave him the answer, and Zach continued on the radio “Near Skyland Lake. Please advise on how to approach camp. Over.”
The crackling dissipated into silence. Zach tried again, but there was no response.
“The road we are on runs alongside the large lake and there’s no way of knowing what’s going to be there or the condition of the road,” said Bass.
“No other roads that take us away from it?” said Zach.
“There are some halfway along the lake but they take us back into the hills again, before heading off in a different direction.”
“How long is the stretch by the lake?”
“Not long, maybe four miles.”
Zach clicked on the radio. “Fiona, we’re about to go through a tricky patch of road, it runs alongside a lake for about four miles, be ready for anything, especially from the lake’s direction. Over.”
The landscape fell away on the convoy’s right side, but the trees were still too thick to see beyond.
“The rivers on our right, that runs into the lake,” said Bass.
Most eyes in the bus tried to see out the right side, but nothing could be seen.
“Look at the metal barrier,” said Rob peering out the front. What used to be a safety barrier to stop cars from skidding off down into the river was now either gone, or tangled between trees. Rob slowed to make sure that didn’t happen to them.
After a short distance the road widened again, and the misty white of the frozen lake started to appear between dark spikey shapes of pine-trees. In the distance the bus’s headlights reflected off something large. At first Rob thought the road would take a turn at that point and the lights were just hitting up against the rock face or tree slope, but his eyes followed the white of the snow line they were on and it disappeared straight into this new part of the landscape. Rob slowed and stopped the bus.
“We have a problem.”
“What is it?” said Zach moving to the front.
Rob pointed. “That.”
Zach, Bass and the others near the front, leaned forward trying to ascertain what the large black shape was.
“Landslide.” said Zach, pulling open the map, and turning on his flashlight. A wave of anxiety went around the bus.
“Wait… what?” said Bass, straining his eyes best he could. He then grabbed his rifle, turning on the night scope and looking at the black mass through the windscreen. “I can’t see. Can you open the doors.” Rob pulled the lever and the bus doors flew open, sending a shock of cold air into the bus. Bass leaned out, with one foot on the snow, and looked again. In the scope the landslide looked a lighter green than its surroundings and more importantly was moving, slowly up and down. Bass dropped the gun to his side, and backed up almost slipping in the snow. “I don’t think that’s a landslide. It’s giving off some heat and it’s moving, like it’s… breathing.”
Raj shot forward to the front of the bus. “An E.L.F that size? I need to see.” Bass handed him the rifle. Raj looked for himself then handed the gun back. “It’s incredible, must be at least two stories high.”
“What is it?” said Zach, joining them near the door.
“There were reports from this area
of huge marine animals, similar to a walrus, they laid waste of a number of towns.”
“Like the centipede E.L.F’s?” said Zach.
“No, these seem to be evolved from mammals. They are warm blooded.”
“That’s great, so we have to find a different route,” said Fiona, walking down from the truck.
“Can’t we kill it?” said Jacks.
“Do you not see how big it is?” Responded Michael.
“You never heard the saying, the bigger they are…”
“Yeah, I have, I repeat, do you not see how big it is?”
“We don’t have to try to kill it, we just need it to move,” said Zach rubbing his chin. “Maybe a few flash bangs, will wake it up and send it back into the lake. Do we have them in the truck?” Looking at Bass.
“We do, whole crate of them.”
“I’m going to run up to it, throw the grenades, if it starts to move in the direction of the lake, we let it do its thing, if it doesn’t we open up with the rocket launcher. If it gets to within a hundred yards of us, we turn around as quickly as we can and get the hell out of here.”
“Sir, Zach, you can just about see out of your right eye and in this darkness…” said Bass. “I’ll do it.” Zach begrudgingly nodded.
Bass returned after a few moments with two flash bang grenades, and the rocket launcher, which he passed to Jacks. He then ordered some soldiers to create a defensive line some yards in front of the bus.
“Okay, here goes.” He walked forward into the darkness, holding the rifle up to his face so to have at least some idea of where the road ended and the drop off to the river started. Soon the cold started to bite into his face and he had to keep wiggling his fingers to feel anything in them. About half way to the creature, he looked back at the light from the bus and everyone watching him, it was then that he heard the sound. It was hardly audible but the dark mass in front of him was producing a low rumbling. He raised the scope to his eye again and kneeled down to steady his view better. The scope gave him a clearer view that the mound in front of him was not part of the surrounding landscape but no details behind that. He lowered the gun to try to see more, but that was futile, so he decided to walk forward with the scope to his eye and hope he wouldn’t walk into anything else. At about two hundred yards from the bus and under fifty yards from the creature he looked back once again. At this distance he couldn’t make out who was who outside of the bus and even the soldiers he had ordered to take up the defensive position were silhouettes against the glow of the headlights behind them. Looking forward once again, the sound of the creature could not be ignored. Whatever it was seemed to be sleeping or hibernating, or whatever it was that caused it to lie across the highway. He was now close enough to it that it seemed more like an organic building, or a special effect you might see at a film theme park. For a moment he had a feeling that he was too part of a film that what was in front of him was not real. He also knew that if it moved in his direction he wouldn’t stand much chance to get out of its way, but the idea of going back to the woods, into that cauldron of broken trees seemed infinitely worse than taking a chance on what was in front of him.
At about thirty yards he stopped. He reckoned that his arm was good enough to throw both the grenades from this distance and have them land on or near the creature. He threw his gun over his back, and looked down at his feet which he could just about make out in the gloom. Steadying himself he pulled the pin from the first grenade, reached back and threw it high and fast, he then quickly repeated the same for the second. Just as it was leaving his hand the first flash bang landed about five yards from the creature and went off, shattering the silence. Even at this distance the bang was loud enough to make Bass’s ears ring. The creature snorted, and immediately reared up, growing even higher against the night sky. Bass momentarily frozen by the sheer size in front of him then turned and ran, his feet slipping outwards as he tried to get as much grip as possible. He had no idea what was happening behind him but the ground shook as the creature slammed back down to earth, knocking him temporarily off balance. He kept running, not daring to look back. His ears were still ringing but he could hear the muffled shouts ahead of him urging him onwards towards the light. At about twenty yards from the soldiers he could see their faces not looking at him, but instead looking over his shoulder, faces frozen with fear and confusion. He ran up to them, grabbing the first soldier and half dragged him from his kneeling position to his feet. It was at this point that Bass turned around.
Even looking into the intense dark of the night around him, Bass could see what had the soldiers so frozen with fear, for what they all thought was a large creature laying across the road was in fact something that just ended on the road. The rest of it ran all the way down to the lake to join an even larger black void that was now causing a rushing and cracking sound.
Bass and the soldiers got back to the bus.
“What the hell is it?” said Bass out of breath.
Raj looked again through a night scope. “It’s enormous, we could only see what was out of the water before, because it was warmer.”
The sound of huge waves, and ice cracking bellowed out around them and as they strained their eyes into the darkness, a huge dark form started to grow from the lake.
“We need to go! We’ll find another way!” shouted Abbey.
Zach walked a few steps in front of the bus, and looked through his night scope. “It’s gone from the road.” He then turned to the right, towards the lake, his expression changing. “Everyone back on the bus, we’re going down this road now!” Before Zach finished his words Rob had already started the engine back up. Zach was the last one on and the doors closed behind him. “As fast as you can go Rob.” Rob revved and the bus moved off, slowly building speed.
“Can you see the size of that thing?” shouted Fiona on Zach’s radio.
“I know, just keep going,” replied Zach.
Something flew across the path of the bus causing Rob to swerve slightly and everyone in the bus to be flung to one side.
“We’re good, I got this,” shouted Rob. More blurs flew across the windscreen, including water which hit the side of the bus like it was caught in a violent storm. Soon the bus was moving at speed and the lake started to move further and further away from the road.
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Seems like we are moving through a town,” Zach said looking out the front. “Or what was one.”
The light from the convoy lit up destroyed buildings, fallen power lines and the crumpled shells of vehicles, all intermixed together like forgotten children’s toys.
“We can either stay on this road, and that will take us north, or we can turn off onto the 228 and that takes us south for a time but then it will join the main northern highway which takes up directly north to the camp,” said Bass, huddled over the map with Zach and Raj.
Abbey leaned over Zach’s shoulder. “This road takes us close to the river.”
“It does, but we’re be at the camp in a lot less time.”
“If we don’t come across any more of those lake things,” said Michael leaning over as well.
“Will the main highway be clear though?” said Zach still looking down at the map.
Rob slowed the bus. “We’re coming up to the turn off, so I’m going to need an answer.”
Zach clicked on the radio. “This is Captain Felton, is the main highway heading north clear of traffic? Over.”
A moment of crackling, then a voice replied. “If you mean the I-5, then it’s mostly clear. The south and eastern walls of the camp are still under attack. Over.”
“You hear that Rob?”
“Yup,” said Rob, turning off the main road they were on.
As they progressed, piles of snow covered rubble and gray fields with splintered trees passed by.
Fiona wiped away tears that were rolling down her face, hoping that Cal wouldn’t notice.
After the third sniff, and wipe, Cal looked at her. “
Are you crying? What’s wrong?”
She started talking then stopped, then started again. “How can we win against those things? We’re all fucked, everyone.” She slammed her hands down on the large wheel.
“Hey,” Cal put his hand on her shoulder. “We don’t know what that was, maybe it’s like a whale, something that will live in the sea and not be aggressive.”
“They are all aggressive! How do you think we got in this situation? All these things want to do is kill.”
“Are you alive?”
Fiona glanced quickly across at Cal with an angry bemused look. “What do you mean? Yes, and so what?”
“Because that’s what matters, if you’re alive then there’s a chance to make sense of all of the shit that’s out here.”
“Yes, but…”
“Yes, but we have traveled across the country, and survived…”
“Not all of us.”
“We survived, and we’re going to rescue who we can in the camp and bring them back.” Cal paused. “Maybe what comes out of this mess eventually will be something better than before.”
Fiona took a deep breath. Her tears had stopped.
Rob did a slow right turn, and moved onto the northern highway. “Straight run to the camp from here on.”
“How long?” said Zach to Bass.
“Thirty minutes if it’s a clear run.”
“What are the chances of that,” said Michael.
“We should soon start to see the camp,” said Bass.
Dr. Tanner sighed. “We made it.”
The northbound lane was covered in dark clear patches where the snow had been displaced allowing the frosty road to show through and snow covered heaps of tangled metal like Christmas confectionary started to show up on the southbound lane.
“People trying to get out of Portland,” said Raj to Dr. Tanner looking out of the left side.
“What’s that noise?” she replied. They both listened, trying to make out a distant sound over the bus’s engine.