by Maxey, Phil
Travis’s expression changed to one of confusion.
Corey sat foreword. “You do realize what it looks like don’t you?”
“I know what it looks like young man,” said Travis dismissively. “But for there to be a black hole of that size, let alone three of them, let alone this close to the planet, the gravitational tidal forces alone would have already torn us apart.”
“But what do we really know about black holes? It’s all theory.”
Travis shook his head. “Maybe they are black satellites, stealth technology. From what Zach told me, some of his people are military, perhaps this guy too, Cal I think his name is. Maybe he was aware of these devices in space and for some reason pointed our telescope at them.”
“Why would he do that? What’s the point?”
Travis stood upright. “Who knows, he was not very lucid when we got to him. Anyway, there’s not much we can do with this information.”
“Are you going to mention anything to them?”
“To Zach?”
“Yes.’
“I don’t see what good that will do. Don’t delete it though, it might make for an interesting project,” Travis, then left the security room, closing the door behind him. Jacob was looking at some of the fossils that were on the racks.
“Oh, hello, I don’t believe we have met?”
Jacob smiled, and held out his hand. “Names, Jacob.”
“You have an interest in fossils?”
“I’ve always thought we need to know what went before to know what lies ahead.”
“Indeed, what you were looking at, that’s Dinosaur Dendrolithus Hadrosaur.”
“The Duckbill dinosaur.”
“Ah, you know your dinosaurs.”
“Had an interest when I was younger,” Jacob continued browsing the shelves. “These E.L.F’s, how do we know they are just creatures from our past returning? Maybe it’s cyclical.”
“There might be some truth to that, but the creatures that I’ve seen and I’ve heard about, they are more like extensions of what we already had. Mutations that would have naturally, well I say naturally, but who knows what ‘natural’ really means anymore? But would have usually taken millions of years to evolve. Instead they took a few months and in some cases it seems less than even that.”
Jacob looked at the makeshift sleeping area. “You have made quite a home for yourself down here.”
“Thank you. We do what we can. If you don’t mind me asking, what did you do before the Cascade?”
“I was a sheriff, of a small town in New Mexico.”
“Long way from here.”
Jacob smiled. “It sure is.”
Travis went to speak again, when Megan ran in front of him, stopping abruptly.
“Hello, little one.”
Megan looked up at the eagle like features that framed Travis’s face, and then ran back from where she came.
Travis and Jacob both laughed.
Zach quickly pulled gallon plastic bottles of water from the shelf and piled them into one of the two shopping carts he had tied together. Michael was a few yards further along, doing the same.
“How’s your side?”
Michael winced a little as a heavy water container landed in his cart. “Painful sometimes, but I’m not dead, so there’s that.”
“We were lucky Morgan was with us when she was.”
“I hear that.”
Zach started to talk then stopped, grappling with how to frame his next thought.
Michael stopped working and looked at him. “You want to ask me about Cal?”
“Yes.”
“I know about as much as you do, probably less,” he continued placing the water in the cart. “We haven’t been doing much in the way of talking since the base.”
“So you’re saying something changed, then?”
Michael stopped again. “Maybe, I don’t know. Who knows how any of this shit affects our brains? I mean, he killed that young guy, it wasn’t self-defense, he just killed him. He has to be pretty scrambled about that. You should talk to Fiona, she’s with him all the time now,” Zach noticed a slight tinge of resentment in his words.
“I think this is about as much as we’re going to be able to take back,” Zach, heaved the two carts sideways then pushed them forward. Michael threw one last bottle into his cart and joined him. The clear plastic bottles, threatened to spill over the sides as they both moved along the aisle.
When Zach, Fiona and Michael entered the food store they were taken aback by the sheer chaos that was strewn across the floors in front of them. The building was full of most of its former content’s, except instead of being where they should be, neatly arranged on shelves, they were across the smooth surface at their feet. Smashed bottles, blown packets of all varieties of chips, cookies mashed into dust and hundreds of cans, all lying in a cacophony of opportunity. Michael commentated that it might even be possible for an E.L.F to be lying in wait under all this ‘goodness’ and they wouldn’t know. The others weren’t sure if he was joking or not.
Caroline picked up small bottles of pills and white packets with hardly visible bumps, examining them before either putting them back or dropping them in the cart. “So how long have you all been together?”
Fiona watched into the darkness of the back of the store, her gun in both hands. “For a while.”
“You were in the army together?”
“Something like that.”
One of the bottles, Caroline opened, dropped one of the tablets in her hand, then quickly popped it into her mouth before twisting it shut, and continuing her search. “So it’s your job to bring back survivors to the camp near Austin?”
“Yup.”
Caroline stopped and looked at Fiona. “You’re not much of a conversationalist are you?”
“No offence, but I’m here to make sure you don’t become monster food, not become best buds,” Caroline turned and continued searching. Fiona sighed, her words came out angrier than she meant. Making female friends was never something she found easy. “We find people and bring them back to Camp Bravo, but we’re not part of the main convoy with most from the Portland camp, that’s been headed up by someone else.”
“They are taking heavy losses from what Travis told me.”
“They have a lot of protection, I’m sure they will make it back to Bravo,” Fiona surprised herself by how well she lied.
The sound of carts, creating a path through plastic wrappers and broken shards came from the front of the store. Zach’s voice came from Fiona’s radio. “You done? Over.”
Fiona looked at Caroline who heard the question. “Tell him, almost… I just need to find a few more things.”
“Few more minu…” Fiona stopped. A sound like a distant train suddenly filled the small space of the pharmacy they were in. “Zach, you here that? Over.”
“Yes, we have to go now. Over.”
Fiona ran forward and grabbed the handles of Carolines cart. “We need to go, they are coming.”
Michael stood looking anxious, his brow furrowed from the icy rain hitting his face. “Man, I don’t know to watch the ground or the sky.”
“Just help me get all of this in the back,” Zach pushed the carts best he could, not being able to stop them from giving another slight dent to Caroline’s pickup.
Fiona and Caroline appeared running from within the gloom with a packed cart. It bumped over the curb, causing a few packets of pills to fall and scatter across the concrete. Grabbing them up, they then started scooping up the contents and throwing it in the back of the vehicle.
The low drumming sound was less pronounced outside, but it was still there, lingering in the recesses around them.
Finishing up, Zach closed the tailgate, and jumped back in the pickup to join the others eagerly wanting to leave.
“Anyone see anything?” said Zach putting his seatbelt on.
“No, I can’t hear anything either,” said Fiona.
As Caroli
ne drove away, the glass in the buildings around them, which was vibrating to a silent battle cry, stilled.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
A young child, with short dark hair sat watching Sam. “So you’re like a robot or something?”
“That’s exactly what I am, do you want to see my robotic leg?”
Isaiah rolled his eyes, sitting next to him on the bus.
Sam pulled his pants leg up, revealing a steel and carbon fiber prosthetic.
“Whoa, that’s so cool. Can you like run really fast?”
Isaiah sniggered. “Shit, he can’t even hop fast.”
Sam gave him a disparaging look, then returned to his enthusiastic audience. “If I’m chased by a six legged bear, sure.”
The young boy laughed.
Irene and Mary, both sat in silence, Sam’s conversation with the kid clearly audible from their place on the bus.
Irene leaned towards Mary. “He seems a good guy, why don’t you talk to him. I know you like him.”
“Ssshhh” said Mary slightly embarrassed.
“What are you waiting for! For the world to end again?”
“I know, I know, I just… I have responsibilities, anything could happen. Maybe once we get to the camp. Anyway, if you like him so much, why don’t you talk to him?”
Irene leaned back in her seat. “Maybe I will.”
They had been on the road for an hour. Esther had been in tears leaving Travis and Corey, but the supplies Zach and the others brought back had given those leaving hope that the two remaining would survive okay. Zach asked Travis for some time with their long range radio, so he could talk to General Trow and told her they should be back in Roswell in a day or two, roughly the same time the large Convoy should pass through there as well. They had decided to avoid going through or even near Salt Lake City, and instead headed due south, taking them close to the route they took on their way to Portland.
Frosted clumps of yellow-beige grass surrounded by white crisp snow stretched to the horizon on both sides of them, as the small convoy sped along.
“I can’t believe I’m going to say this but, it’s good to be back in the desert,” said Abbey admiring the barren ice blue landscape around them.
Zach smiled. “Yeah yeah, let’s see how you feel by time we get to Brad’s.”
Fiona’s head was down, looking at one of their maps. “In another hour, we will pass within eighty miles of the Prison outpost, if we needed to make a stop.”
“That’s too far out of our way, and I want to get a good amount of miles done today.”
“What is our destination by nightfall?” said Jacob in Zach’s direction.
“Whatever the closest town is to us around 4 p.m. When we are closer to that point we will narrow it down.” Zach glanced in the mirror at Cal sitting passively between Fiona and Jacob. He wasn’t completely at ease with him being back there with an assault rifle close at hand, but he also didn’t like the idea of him being on any of the buses and out of reach. Zach hadn’t had time to decipher what had been going on with him, that was Fiona’s job.
Cal looked at the snow capped mountains as the others talked of where they were meant to end up, at the end of another desperate attempt to escape their fates. Their voices all blurred and he found himself thinking of the young man he had killed. Jason and he had briefly scuffled in the dark. Cal had no intention of hurting him like he did, but Jason slipped on the ice and hit his head. He should have gone back, but at the time the drumming inside his skull blocked all rational thought. It had to stop, he had to escape. And since then he had done things and appeared in places without any memory of how he got there. He also suspected that Fiona knew more about his disconnected behavior than was letting on, but for now, just knowing that she cared, helped. He also felt different. Changed in some fashion. But just as with the shadowy figure in his dreams, he wasn’t able to articulate exactly what the change was. It was like he had entered an alternative reality, where only he was aware of how things used to be.
They made good progress, passing forgotten towns lost in a sea of ice and dust. Dark forms danced in the distance, on top of white tipped peaks, but as the sun moved across the sky no E.L.F’s got close enough to be a concern. After almost four hours they moved into a spread out town, with a main street encompassed by gas stations and casinos.
“We passed through here on our way up,” said Fiona.
Abbey looked around her, trying to get a fix on any of the single story ice encrusted buildings. “I don’t remember any of it, all these towns look the same to me.”
“We’re not staying here for the night?” enquired Jacob.
Zach looked in his mirror at Jacob. “We got another two hours of daylight left, we can make it to another town before then.”
Abbey wasn’t sure if that was the right course of action, but sitting in front of Fiona, Cal and Jacob was not the time to question any of Zach’s decisions. She was also aware of his urgency to get to Roswell, before Tinley.
After passing the third gas station, Zach clicked on his radio. “Rob, how we looking for fuel? Over.”
“Our supplies should be good for another four, five hundred miles. We will need to refuel at least one of the buses soon though. Over.”
Zach paused then continued. “We will stop at the next gas station we come too, see if it’s got any fuel around, and refuel with what we already have. Over.”
Rob agreed. After continuing for another mile, they took a turning that took them south, which soon led to a large gas station. Zach pulled the convoy onto the forecourt.
“If anyone wants to stretch their legs this is the time to do it. We will check out the fuel situation, then be back on the road in ten. Over,” he then turned to Fiona behind him. “Let’s see if there are any canisters of fuel inside the store, if not, maybe we can siphon some from these vehicles. Everyone else, keep your eyes open.”
As he finished talking the bus doors flew open, and Mary appeared with a few children. Bass, and two solders followed. They all then moved off, with the soldiers entering the gas station store, and Mary and the kids close behind.
Zach and Fiona entered the store, passing one solder stationed at the front and another near the back. The mingled sound of young and old voices came from the restroom.
Mary then emerged, looking back from where she came. “Addison, make sure they wipe their hands with paper towels.” She smiled at Zach, who was busy looking for any fuel canisters. “Any luck?”
“No fuel, we will see if any of the vehicles outside has anything to siphon off.”
She smiled in response and looked around the modern looking aisles, and light colored walls. Outside the sun was making good work of melting what snow had fallen the day before. Most of the shelves were empty, but a few packets of nuts were left towards the back of a shelf, which she grabbed, before returning to the restroom.
An awkward silence filled the air in the Humvee. Both it’s occupants, Cal and Jacob wished the other would leave to give them a moment of privacy. After a few minutes the tension was more than it was worth keeping warm and Cal decided to get out. He stood, and looked around. Mounds of white mush lay like miniature artic islands and the air had a clarity that made you want to breath it in. Nothing of any substance laid between where they were and the mountains of varying heights in the distance, but Cal felt his attention drawn in a particular direction, towards a small restaurant behind the gas station, a few hundred yards away. He strained his eyes but nothing stood out to explain why the hairs on the back of his neck were standing up. The dark windows of the building weren’t giving up their secrets from this distance, so he ran forward a few more yards, and took his rifle off his shoulder. Holding the scope to his eye, he looked again. Movement. He walked forward and kneeled down. Is there something in there?
There was something moving in the shadows inside the building, but the distance and the sun glinting off the glass made it impossible to know what the cause was. Looking back at the Hum
vee, Jacob seemed to be absorbed in a notebook, and the others on the buses were talking and otherwise engaged. He looked at the food stop, and started walking towards it.
Soon he was running across a sparsely filled parking lot, trying to keep his balance on the crunchy ice below his feet. A white sedan sat neatly parked fifty yards from the front entrance of the restaurant. He ran to the back, and peered out towards the glass front. Shadows shifted form, but he was still too far to see details. A person?
He stood and quickly ran to the front, and kneeled down below one of the large advertising filled windows. Beyond the sound of the light breeze on his face, objects being slid around came from within. Lifting himself up slowly he squinted into the gloom of rows of red padded seats and a clean looking floor. An E.L.F, one that he had not seen before loitered between curved cornered tables with menus printed on them and overturned trays. This creature was smaller than the things they had previously encountered, but still over six-feet tall. It was humanoid in that it had two arms and two legs, but added to that was a tail, and a large spike ribbed wing like appendage that run up it’s back. Its face was monkey like, with large eyes, and its skin was a dark leather with areas which looked like plate’s, similar to a lizard.
Watching did not satisfy Cal, so he ran along the wall, bending over as much as he could, until he got to the glass door. The creature was towards the back of the restaurant, near the kitchen area, so he would have time to enter, shoot and if he missed or if something went wrong, he could quickly leave.
His mind returned to the others near the vehicles, and he tried to count the minutes that had already passed, but he wasn’t sure, either way he knew he had to do this quickly.
Pressing on the cold glass of the door, he pushed it open, and walked inside, keeping low as possible and his gun trained towards the back. The sound of pots and glass being broken was now clear amongst a kind of snorting noise the creature was making.
One clear shot, come on. Cal looked down his scope. The creature was now in the kitchen area, with only the large open window used for serving giving any view of the E.L.F inside. Cal calmed his breathing, and waited. He was doing his job, and it felt good. Part of the creature came into view, it’s shoulder. Come on, more to the right. Yes, keep going…