by Phil Maxey
“Most, but not exactly… actually one is at your home location, near the lake.”
“What?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Abbey sat watching the large dog sized E.L.F with feathery wings as it gnawed on a plank of wood from what was left of Zach’s workshop. She worried that the rope she placed around its neck and then tied to a bolt on the concrete floor was too tight. It had been a strange morning.
Six hours earlier after only four hours sleep, she had woken with Zach. He had got to her part of the wall just as the E.L.F’s started to retreat across most of the perimeter of the camp, and didn’t wait to find out if she needed to go back to the detention center. Instead he sent the message out to the Cascaders to return to their homes. These people had just saved the camp, if that didn’t win them their freedom nothing would and anyway the council could just pick them back up again if they needed too.
He was told to check on the status of the dam, as electricity was down across most of the camp. He wanted to tell them to find someone else for the job, but Abbey convinced him she would be okay by herself. He said he would pick up some food on the way home. He also apologized for the state the house was in, but she was glad to have something to do and set about cleaning up after he had left.
After the clothes had been returned to the dresser or washed, and the dishes and plates had been cleaned, she made herself some coffee and sat on the single garden chair they possessed just outside the back of the house, facing the lake.
It wasn’t long before she realized she wasn’t alone.
Her neck had been tingling from when she woke, but she just shrugged it off as an after-effect from all the strain of the previous night. Sitting with her eyes closed though she became aware of movement behind some trees near the back of what used to be the workshop area. It was just the occasional creaking and crushing of grass, but those were noises she shouldn’t of been hearing. Since the Cascade the world had become quiet, and she knew there was hardly going to be a person lurking around on their property. The houses to the right and left of them, where still awaiting occupants.
Walking back into the kitchen, she picked up the shotgun they kept in a chest and walked outside, heading straight towards the trees. She hadn’t gotten within twenty feet of the trunks when the monkey looking creature with large wings fluttered out from behind some foliage, and half limped half flew across their yard. Whatever it was it was injured, a bullet wound was clearly visible in one of its arms.
Remembering she had a gun, she quickly raised it and was ready to fire when the creature slumped to the ground, breathing heavily. The tingling ran up and down her neck, and she realized this creature had been there from last night. She stepped slowly towards it as it looked up at her with eyes that looked like they were from a cartoon. You got to be friggin kidding me. It was the first time she had felt anything but fear and anxiety around an E.L.F. She just knew deep down this creature had no interest in attacking her, it just wanted to rest.
Then she had a crazy idea, what if she could capture it? Looking around, she spotted some rope lying under some wood. She stretched it out and tried holding the shotgun and the rope at the same time but realized it was too difficult, so she put the gun down. If this feathered thing tried lunging at her, she was pretty confident she could concentrate quickly enough to stop it from doing any damage anyway.
She tied the rope into a loop, and slowly crept forward. The creature looked around itself, licking it’s wound, and making passing glances at her as she got near it. When she was a few feet away, she leaned forward and very slowly placed the loop over the creature’s head. What the fuck am I doing.
Backing up slowly, she picked up the end of the rope and prepared herself for anything to happen. Concentrating she tried to focus her thoughts outwards to the creature, she then pulled gently on the rope. At first the creature resisted the tugging, but it gradually got to its feet. Its wings flapped and it started to rise up, but then fell back down onto the muddy yard.
Abbey looked around and spotted a bolt sticking up from the concrete base of the workshop. Slowly walking backwards, she got within range of the bolt, and quickly tied the rope to it. She then jumped up and down in excitement. “Ha!”
The creature looked at her with curiosity, then laid down on the concrete floor.
That had been three hours ago. Since then she had fed it, and put a bucket of water close to it, which it lapped at enthusiastically.
She was so absorbed in watching it, that she didn’t hear Zach pull up sliding to a skid in his pickup. As he jumped out of the vehicle, leaving the door open, she quickly got to her feet and greeted him.
“No, Zach, it’s okay I’ve got everything under control, put the gun away.”
Zach looked between the creature and Abbey at least a few times before he first spoke. “Wha… what are you doing? We need to kill it or you need to put the whammy on it and send it on its way!”
The creature got to its feet and was making growling noises in Zach’s direction.
“No, please put the gun away, it’s okay, it’s not going to harm anyone. Look, watch.” Abbey walked cautiously towards the creature.
“Abbey!” He said anxiously.
“It’s okay,” she calmly replied. When she was within a few feet she reached into a small bowl next to it, pulling out a chocolate cookie, and held it close to it. The creature sniffed, then grabbed the cookie out of her hand. Abbey looked scornfully at it. “What did I tell you about grabbing?”
Zach looked on, his hand still on his gun. “What the hell.”
“Mo’s injured,” she pointed to the creature’s arm.
“Mo?”
“Yeah it’s short for monkey, I know it has wings, but anyway I named it Mo.”
“I really don’t know about this Abbey.” Zach slowly started putting his gun away.
“Mo has a rope around his neck, and his well tied to this bolt on the ground, and if there’s any problem I’ll do just my mind thing and send it away, okay?”
“Central Op’s know’s it’s here.”
“How the hell do they know that?”
“As soon as they knew the Cascaders were going home, they put some drones in the air to keep an eye on all of you. They’re not going to let you keep it… and I’m not sure how comfortable I am with it either. This looks a lot like the creature I saw in the swimming pool in Roswell. If it is, then this must be a child, and it’s going to get a lot bigger.”
“I think I saw one in Atlanta as well. Just give it a day, or two and see how it is, if it causes any problems, I’ll send it back to where it came. I promise.”
Zach took a deep breath. “Okay, two days. I’ll contact Op’s and tell them a kill squad isn’t needed,” as he finished talking he couldn’t help but smile. Abbey giggled. The creature happily crunched down on the cookie.
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
Zach tapped impatiently on the arm of the chair in the living room, listening to the noises the strange creature outside was making. Being in charge of the camp’s defenses had some perks, one of which was you can set your own schedule, and right now he wanted to know if the E.L.F roped to the ground of his former workshop, was safe to be around. All he had seen of the creatures that the animals of the world became was their ability for destruction. They were the reason millions were dead. These were not cute and cuddly beings you could make your pet, these were killers intent on ending life, wherever they found it. He wasn’t a Cascader. He didn’t have a connection to these things that Abbey and Cal had. They were the enemy, and one was tied up just yards outside the back of his house. But the woman he cared for, wanted it there. She saw them differently now and he wasn’t sure how he felt about that.
A car pulled up outside.
Abbey came in from the kitchen with a cloth in her hand. “Are we expecting anyone?”
“I called someone, to have a look at what’s in the yard.”
Abbey walked to the curtains, trying to see who
was getting out of a gray sedan. “But what could anyone tell us about it?” her tone then quickly changed, and she whipped around to face Zach. “How could you invite him here!” she then raced towards the kitchen door.
Zach followed. “Raj, knows these things better than any of us, maybe even you and Cal.”
“He doesn’t! And have you forgot what he did to all of us?” she shouted as she moved outside. Zach knew ‘us’ didn’t refer to himself, Fiona, Michael and the rest of the squad, it referred to the Cascaders.
Raj stood twenty feet away from the creature with a backpack over his shoulder, looking in amazement at the E.L.F which was now standing and flapping its wings, looking back at him.
He slowly laid his backpack on the ground. “Really quite astonishing.”
Abbey ran past the creature and towards Raj, who immediately started backing up. “You have no business being here!” the creature started flapping its wings more vigorously and making growling noises.
“Zach asked me to come, I… I thought it was okay?”
“It’s okay, I just want you to look at what we have here, and tell me if you think it’s any kind of threat,” said Zach walking between Raj and Abbey and then turning towards the creature.
Abbey backed up towards the creature. “I won’t let you take it Raj. I’ve seen how you treat them and us remember.” Zach was glad she was still making the distinction.
Raj put his hands up. “Abbey, I’ve just come to look, that’s all. There will be no experiments. I’m here to help, Zach said it was injured?”
“It’s a he, not an it. And he has a name, Mo.”
Raj went to say something, when Zach intervened. “Yeah, it’s called Mo.”
“I see, okay well let me take a look,” Raj walked closer to the creature, which growled and hissed. “It looks like a Simivem. That’s what we are calling them, it virtually means monkey bird. This one looks to be young, but obviously we can’t really say much about their actual age as they didn’t exist over a year ago.”
“I think I saw an adult in Roswell, it was at least three times as big as this one,” said Zach.
“Yeah, we have had reports of them being a lot bigger. They seem quite solitary animals, and as intelligent as you would expect from something evolved from a primate,” he took a few steps closer.
Abbey looked at the Simivem. “It’s okay, don’t be afraid, he’s here to help,” the creature responded by lowering its wings.
“Looks like the bullet went straight through. As long as it doesn’t get infected I’m sure he will be fine. Although we don’t know how they react to bacteria maybe its immune system is more highly advanced, there’s still so much we don’t know.”
“From all the tests you have been doing I thought you knew a lot,” Abbey said sarcastically.
Raj smiled. “The world’s ecology has been completely reset. It will take far beyond my lifetime to learn what’s fully happened.” He then stood. “But maybe what you have done here, and your connection with this creature shows us what the future might hold.”
“You really think people will be having E.L.F’s as pets?” said Zach incredulously.
“I think life on this planet has a way of balancing out, regardless of what kind of life it is. Anyway, all looks fine here, and I don’t want to take anymore of your time up,” he said backing away.
Abbey sighed looking down, and shook her head slightly. “We have coffee if you would like some.”
“Yes, please that would be great, thanks.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The muddy water spurted in Isaiah’s face. “God damm it Sam, I said I wasn’t ready!”
“What?” came the faint voice from the basement. “Again?”
“No!” water burst from the broken faucet once more, drenching Isaiah, who swore, but continued to turn the wrench until the outpouring became just a trickle. “It’s stopped!”
“What?”
Isaiah stood up in the small kitchen area at the back of their modest bar come cafe. Everyone who came from the Portland camp was asked how they think they might best contribute to the society they were now entering and they both answered that they felt a place where people could drink and relax would be beneficial for the camp’s inhabitants. So they were given a small place in the newly forming downtown area, on the agreement that they paid a rent back to the council plus a percentage of profits. They then did their best to convince some locals to donate drinks and supplies and within a few weeks, they had a steady stream of customers. During the day it was a cafe, and when the sun went down it became a bar. On the second floor was a small apartment, which they both slept in, until Sam moved in with Mary Tanner a few weeks earlier.
The sound of steps came from the basement stairs, and Sam emerged, his hands covered in rust and grease. “We’re going to need someone who knows what they’re doing down there at some point.” He then started laughing when he saw Isaiah.
“Yeah, you can laugh, but next time you’re up here and I’m down there.”
The sound of a car pulling up came from the small parking lot they had outside.
“That might be Tyler bringing the new glassware over.”
The door opened and closed and Sam went to meet the young man, who was also now living under the same roof as many other young people at Mary’s residence.
“Zach!” he walked over to Zach and gave him a hug. “Haven’t seen you in… how long’s it been? I heard you saved all our asses with using the Cascaders? Oh… how is Abbey?”
Zach laughed. “I should have made an appearance earlier.” He looked around at the counter, bottles, tables and chairs. “This place has certainly changed since I last saw it.”
Isaiah came in from the kitchen with a towel around his neck. His hand reached out and gave Zach a brief embrace. “Hey good to see you man.”
“Take a seat, what you having? We got coffee on the go, or you want something stronger?”
Zach smiled and sat. “Coffee would be fine. I think it’s been about a month since I was here. The place looks good, you getting a lot of people coming in? It’s a bit hard to find, what with all the building going on.”
Isaiah sat nearby. “I keep telling Sam we gotta advertise, get some posters up or something.”
Sam brought the coffee over, placing it on the table. “All we got to do is just keep serving fine coffee and late night booze and we’ll be raking it in,” he then went back behind the counter, and started cleaning some mugs.
“Thanks. You just out of the shower or something?” said Zach looking at Isaiah.
“Plumbing issues, this place was here before the Cascade, the pipes have to be at least sixty years old.”
Zach nodded. “Abbey’s good. It has been a crazy few weeks, but the nonsense with people detained is over, for now at least. But I’m here to make an offer to both of you.”
“You want to invest in a bar?” said Sam.
“Not exactly.”
Isaiah’s eyes widened. “No way man, we’re not going back in.”
“Just hear me out, it won’t have to be like that.”
“We got this place, things are good, why the hell would we want back into the military?” said Sam.
“I’ve been put in charge of the camp’s defenses.”
Isaiah looked impressed. “Congratulations.”
“And we got a major manpower problem. The council resisted implementing a draft because they didn’t want to cause problems with people, not while the camp was getting on its feet.”
“Makes sense,” said Isaiah.
Zach was about to reply, when an eighties pickup looking a bit rundown pulled up outside, and a young man got out.
“That’ll be Tyler,” said Sam.
“Rob’s brother?”
“Yeah, he’s staying with us up at Mary’s place. And he helps out here.”
Tyler walked in carrying a box, and stopped when he saw Zach. They hadn’t talked much since getting back from Roswell.
/> Zach smiled. “Hey Tyler.”
He put the box down. “Ah, alright Zach, how’s it going?”
“It’s going better than it was a few days ago. Sam tells me you been helping out here, that’s good.”
“Oh just keeping busy, anyway I better be getting back,” he turned to Sam. “Mary said don’t forget the vegetables for tonight’s dinner.” Sam nodded, and Tyler left.
A silence fell upon all of them, until Isaiah broke it. “Was a damn shame how things went with Rob.”
“Yeah,” said Zach while sighing. “But he seems to be doing okay?”
“He got close to one of the girls staying with Mary, her and the others have helped him get through day by day, but he lost his whole family…” said Sam.
“So what’s this offer?” said Isaiah, trying to lift them out of their gloomy thoughts.
“I want you and Sam to be the face of a new recruitment drive.”
Sam looked confused. “You seriously want Isaiah to be your face?” Isaiah threw him a dirty look.
“Both of you, yeah. And don’t take this the wrong way, but if people see that both of you are willing to step up, then that’s some incentive for others to play their part.”
Isaiah looked unsure. “Yeah, I’m not sure, we got a good thing going here.”
“It’s not back into the military. I’m setting up a new civilian based defense force, managed by the military, but not part of the military. That’s what I want you to be the front for.”
Isaiah rubbed his chin. “What kinda work will it be?”
“You’re be in charge of the units in your zone. And apart from that we’ll be putting you on posters and on TV,” Zach smiled.
“Can we talk about the bar?” said Sam.
“We can work something out with that, but it’s a paid position, you’ll make enough to hire someone to work here.”
Sam looked at Isaiah, who looked back at Zach. “How much exactly you paying?”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR