by Maxey, Phil
Someone tapped Zach’s arm. Turning around Abbey was standing with a cup of coffee in her hand offering it to him. He smiled and took it.
“We have drone footage sir of some of the centers,” said a soldier in front of them.
“Put it up on the main screen,” said Zach.
The large screen at the front of the hall changed to display an area of buildings and trees from high above and a large plume of black smoke covering some of them.
Just as Zach went to talk a soldier interrupted him. “Sir, we have a Tyler Harris on a ham radio band. He says he knows you?”
“Yes, put him through to me.”
“Sir. That you? Over.”
“Yes I’m here, what is it Tyler? Over.”
The sound of children screaming and a booming noise came from Tyler’s transmission. “There’s an E.L.F here, it’s trashing the house upstairs. We need help. Over.”
Zach looked at the nearby soldier, covering his mike. “There’s an E.L.F in the southern quadrant, I want a squad sent there now!” Letting go of the mike he continued. “The soldier you was just talking to, I’m putting you onto her now. Tell her your address. We will have someone with you as soon as they can. Are you all safe where you are?”
“Yes, sir, we are in the basement, but we don’t know if the thing will be able to find us. Over.”
“Sit tight Tyler, help is on the way. Over.” Zach then passed the conversation back to the previous soldier.
While he had been talking to Tyler he noticed Trow was looking more and more anxious with whoever she was engaged with on her comms. He walked closer to her. “What is it?”
“The north wall is completely breached, Bass said a number of large E.L.F’s tore it down, and now there’s a stream of creatures moving through the gap.”
“Why didn’t the wall guns there stop them?”
“The guns were burned out, and the smaller armaments couldn’t hold them back.”
“Whichever infantry company team is closest to the breach, send to that spot now.”
The general nodded and relayed the order.
For a moment Zach’s head started to spin, he leaned forward placing his hand on the desk in front of him. It’s all coming apart. It’s on me. The sound of gasps made him lift his head.
On the large screen was the sight of E.L.F’s of varying sizes walking zombie like through a half-mile tear in the camps northern defenses.
“This is from one of the feeds at the north wall…” said Trow while watching.
“Look at the size of them…” said a soldier while a few E.L.F’s the same height of the wall sauntered past the camera.
“They’re not even attacking each other!” said someone else.
Abbey’s touch on his arm shook Zach out of his trance. “Zach, we have to implement the plan, I need to go…”
“I don’t know, maybe we can—”
“Look at them! We need to fight fire with fire! Before it’s too late!”
Zach looked down, then turned and looked at the woman he loved. “Okay, do it.”
Abbey briefly kissed him, then ran off, leaving by the side door.
Zach looked at Trow. “We’re not going the same way as all the other camps.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
A bearded man who looked like he had escaped the camps rationing paced up and down inside the chaotic looking barn. “Why can’t we just kill them?” he said to the older man with a blue frayed cap.
“We got our orders, we blow the food place but we don’t kill anyone unless we have to.”
The sound of air raid sirens mingled with explosions outside.
“But why bring them here? This is my place!”
“Cos they saw things. And until Troy’s people take the camp we can’t have them running around.”
A skinny teen, leaning up against a dusty looking wooden post sniggered. “He ain’t gonna be running much, is he?”
“Look we keep them here,” the man in the cap pointed outside. “You hear that? It’s not going to be long now.”
They all traipsed outside securely locking the barn door behind them. As they were walking away they seemed to start arguing again.
After a few moments Sam shifted slightly on the floor. “Psss… Isaiah you alive.”
“Of course I’m alive.”
“I can’t tell, your eyes are closed,” Sam whispered.
The tall man’s eyes flicked opened. “Look, I’m alive.”
“Okay good. Did you hear what they said?”
Isaiah sighed. “Yup, the home team is losing.”
Sam wiggled his hands which were bound by a yellow rope. “We got to get these damn ropes off.”
Isaiah got to his feet then walked over to a small scythe that was hanging up, using his shoulder he knocked it off its hook and then kicked it across to Sam.
“That’ll work.” Sam then shuffled forward and positioned the rusty implement behind him then turning it on its side until his wrists were positioned either side of the blade.
The morning sun streamed through the gap in the barn door that Isaiah was trying to look through.
“See anything?” said Sam moving his hands back and forwards. In the distance a series of explosions drifted on the wind.
“Just a farm house. Trees, fences,” he stretched his neck. “I think I see some buildings behind the hills. Looks like factories, we could be in the north.”
The rope holding Sam’s hands broke apart. “Done it,” he then pulled himself to his feet, walked over to Isaiah and started doing the same to his ropes.
Soon Isaiah’s hands were free, instantly he rattled the door in front of him, which shook but did not give way.
They both looked around them. “Let’s try up there,” said Sam looking at the hayloft above them.
“Hold up, help me move some stuff,” said Isaiah.
Soon, there was barrels, and farming equipment up against the main door. “Should slow them down.”
Isaiah then climbed up the wooden ladder, and got out onto the hay covered wooden planks. “I ain’t seeing…” he shuffled forward.
“What’s up there?” said Sam watching from below.
“There’s no door or anything, but there’s a whole lot of sun coming through these boards, throw me up that scythe.”
Sam tossed the iron and wooden handled blade up onto the boards, which Isaiah then started using to pry apart from rotten wood. Soon the sun was beaming down onto the loose hay and warming Isaiah’s arms. “Get your butt up here.”
Sam climbed up, pulling himself up the slats until he got to the top. The top part of Isaiah’s body was beyond what Sam could see. Isaiah then ducked back inside. “We gonna be needing some rope to climb down, you see any down there?”
“I just climbed up!”
Isaiah went to say something else when he stopped. “Hold on, I’m hearing some weird shit up here. I’m going to check it out.”
The rest of Isaiah scrambled upwards and out onto the roof. For a moment he rested allowing the sun to warm him. He then rotated around, so he was facing up the slope of the roof and towards the noises that was bothering him. Slowly he pushed himself up the planks until his head poked out over the top.
For a moment he watched, frozen. The scene in front of him was a convoy. Not of machine, but of monsters. E.L.F’s some standing five story’s high walked across the landscape a few miles away towards the south.
Sam appeared through the hole. “I found some rope!” he then turned around to see Isaiah still watching. “What you see?”
Isaiah turned around on his back. “It might be time to start thinking about moving on.”
“What? Let me see.” Sam threw the rope out onto the roof, then climbed out, and up to where his friend was laying and looked for himself. “Fuck. That’s a lot of E.L.F’s.”
Isaiah shook his head. “Even if the camps forces stop them, they are going to do a lot of damage.”
Booms rang out in the distance.
Sam looked to the lower parts of the roof. “I need to find a place to tie this,” he then momentarily stopped. “I need to get back to Mary.”
The sound of men’s voices came from the house.
“They’re coming back!” whispered Isaiah ducking down.
Sam started scrambling to the back of the roof. It was still a long way down to the muddy ground. A foot below him a black iron ring was attached to the barn. Straining he leaned down and reached down grabbing it and flicking it upwards. He then fed the rope he had through it, pulling it up, and then tied it into a knot. He looked back at Isaiah who was looking towards the house. “Come on!”
“I think some of them are leaving.” Isaiah peered out from his lofty position. The sound of a car engine revved then a small cloud of dust sprung upwards. “Yeah, two just left.”
“We still gotta climb down!” Sam grabbed hold of the rope, letting go of the roof and slowly lowered himself to the ground. He then looked up at Isaiah wrapping the rope around his legs, and using that to lower himself down. “You okay?”
“Yah I got this, just keep watch on that guy.”
Sam ran to the side of the barn and looked towards the house. The rear door of the pleasant looking farmhouse clattered and the bearded man closed it behind himself with purpose.
Isaiah landed on the ground behind Sam.
“He’s got a shotgun and he’s coming towards the barn.”
The man opened the gun and looked at the shells before closing it and continued towards the barn door, where he set about pulling back the locks. He just managed to unlock the lowest when a rock hit the back of his head sending him to the ground in a heap.
Sam quickly picked up the gun, then handed it to Isaiah. “I just hope they got a car here somewhere.”
Roars together with the sound of battle echoed across the hills.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
Abbey stood in the cavernous interior of the twin-engine helicopter, and waved the men and women past her. “Hurry it up people, we are against the clock here.”
“I really don’t know about this,” said an elderly woman to the man behind her.
He just frowned and pointed to one of the bucket like seats ahead of them.
“Everyone find a seat as quickly as possible then strap yourselves in.”
It wasn’t long before the last of the forty-eight passengers was running up the ramp and sitting down in one of the few seats left.
One of the flight crew talked into his headset and the sound of the engines above their head increased so loudly that nobody could hear themselves talk, regardless of the distance between them.
Abbey walked closer to the man with the headset. “We need the back to stay open!” she shouted. He gave the thumbs up and slowly the helicopter started to rise upwards.
Through the opening at the rear the helicopter Abbey watched as two Apaches lifted upwards at the same time.
Ten feet became a hundred within a short time and she looked at the various columns of smoke scattered across the horizon as they passed over the southern wall.
The crewmember leaned closer to her. “The pilot wants to know if there’s any particular direction you want us to go in?” he shouted.
“Hold on!”
Abbey moved along the aisle then stopped roughly halfway along the seats. The occupants looked at her. “You all know why you are here. We have a job to do. I want you to close your eyes and reach out with your minds to find the closest E.L.F you can find.”
One by one the Cascaders closed their eyes and some chose to hold the hands with the person next to them.
“Umm, to our right, on the ground. Sorry I don’t know what direction that is,” said a man with thick wavy hair and glasses.
Abbey smiled. “That’s great,” she headed back to the crew and pointed. He smiled and nodded while talking into his headset. She walked back to the Cascaders.
“There’s a few ahead of us,” said an elderly man pointing forward.
“And a whole bunch flying to our left,” said a young girl.
“Okay, that’s good. Now I need you to connect with the creatures you sense. I know this is new for some of you, but just trust your instincts. When you feel you have made a connection, make the creatures move towards the camp. Picture it in your minds, see the walls and the buildings. The camp is their friend, it’s a place they can be safe and need to protect. And something else really important. Picture this helicopter in your minds, picture yourself in this helicopter, way up in the sky flying. Make sure the creatures know we are friends, that we need to be protected too.”
“I can feel them,” said a middle-aged woman wearing denim pants.
“That’s great. Remember, it’s important you get the E.L.F’s you sense to move towards the camp,” she moved back to the crewman. “Go in wide circles a few miles around the walls, and keep expanding that circle.”
The crewman nodded. After he finished relaying his orders Abbey indicated that she needed to use his headset. He handed it to her.
“Pilot, put me through to the Core.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
A few seconds of static passed. “Abbey is that you? Over.”
“I’m here, it’s going fine. We are finding as many as we can. Over.”
“Good, the enemies E.L.F’s have reached some of the small towns within the walls, we are holding them back the best we can, but it’s taking all we got just—”
The helicopter lunged to the right, causing everyone to grab hold of their seat while Abbey fell across the floor hitting her wrist painfully on the metal beams opposite.
The crewman ran across to her. “You okay?” he shouted.
She gave him a grimacing smile in response. “I’m fine.”
“You need to hold on!”
She nodded, taking hold of one of the straps that was hanging down. “What happened?”
The crewman held his headset listening to the pilot. “Some flying E.L.F’s came at us, but others came out of nowhere and took them out.”
Abbey smiled, then looked back at the people doing their best to protect their home.
*****
Fiona’s pickup bumped along the dirt track flinging rocks and dirt onto the grass verge. It wasn’t the best of road surfaces but she had come to know that it was she shortest route to the southeast quadrant from the downtown area.
As she looked across the beige fields a large shadow moved across it like the sun was being blocked momentarily by a cloud. While trying to keep the steering wheel aligned to the track she watched the shadow move away and breathed a sigh of relief.
Her pickup skidded onto a wide four-lane road and she looked up at the sky around her. There were no E.L.F’s to stain a perfectly blue sky.
She had heard over the comms of what was happening to the north. It was only a matter of time before the creatures reached the rest of the camp.
She clicked on her radio. “Stephanie? Sarah? Jack? Any of you out there? Over.”
The Heaths didn’t have a radio when Fiona first met them but she wasn’t going to let her daughter be beyond reach, so she got Stephanie one for Christmas. Since then Fiona had kept in touch with her daughter when she was in the camp almost daily. Since returning from the last mission it was the only thing which had kept her going.
“Fiona?” Stephanie’s voice came from Fiona’s radio.
“Yes, I’m here! Are you safe? Over.”
“We have seen some E.L.F’s flying overhead, but none have landed near here yet. They are saying on the radio and TV that—”
A muffled male voice came from behind Stephanie’s. “Fiona, where are you? Are you coming here?” said Jack Heath.
“I’m almost there, five minutes out. I’m taking you all back to the core. Be ready to leave. Over.”
“Leave? Are things that bad? Over.”
Fiona turned onto the main road into Granite Falls. “Yes. Be ready to leave.”
“Okay. Over.” Before the tran
smission finished Jack could be heard yelling orders to those around him.
Fiona’s radio sprang to life again, this time with her second in commands voice mixed with the sound of screaming and shouting. “Fiona, things are getting pretty bad in the capital. There’s looting from fifth all the way up to twenty third, and there’s E.L.F’s managing to get past the gun towers and make it into civilian areas. Over.”
“E.L.F’s have broken through the north wall, and are making their way south. The army is trying to hold them back, but it’s a losing battle. If you got family anywhere near there you should get them somewhere else. Over.”
There was a pause, then Mike responded. “Okay. Where are you? Over.”
“In Granite Falls, picking some people up. I’ll be back up there within the hour. Over.”
Fiona pulled into the tree-lined road where her daughter lived. Up ahead she could see the Heaths and those under their care running back and forth between the house and two vehicles, a truck and a sedan. She pulled up in front of them, then jumped out and ran past the children ferrying supplies.
Walking through the open front door, and down the hall, Sarah was stuffing cans and packets into a large holdall.
“We need to go. Where’s Stephanie?” said Fiona.
“She’s in her room packing. Will we be safe at the Core?”
Before Fiona could reply screaming came from out front. She spun around and ran towards the front door as kids ran in the opposite direction. Jack appeared from the living room with a handgun. Fiona ran past him and out onto the lawn. At first she couldn’t see what caused the children’s reaction, but then she spotted it creeping over the roof of the home opposite.
A flashback made her freeze. She had seen this thing before. She had even killed one in the cell in New Mexico. But the thing enveloping the roof a hundred yards away was much bigger.
Long black silky smooth legs or arms, she wasn’t sure, straddled the pleasant looking brick house across the street.
Its front door started to open. “No…” was all Fiona could manage to say before a middle-aged man came out bewildered and looked upwards. Instantly one of the creature’s limbs grabbed the man lifting him off the ground and up into the air towards what was now a dark pit surrounded by blackened teeth in the center of the creature’s body.