Cascade Box Set [Books 1-8]

by Maxey, Phil

Other creatures, similar in form to the huge one but much smaller, emerged from the trees and ground.

  Zach looked out the back of the pickups rear window, driving in reverse as fast as he dared as hundreds of these smaller beetle like creatures surrounded the highway.

  “I don’t think we’re going to make it!” shouted Zach as the creatures swarmed towards them, bounding onto the concrete. Within a few seconds, their escape route back from where they came was closed off as the creatures completely encircled them. Zach brought the pickup to a stop once again.

  “Can you do anything?” He said to Abbey.

  “I… I dunno, I’ll try.”

  She got out and looked at the razor sharp looking pincers and legs which were part of twelve foot long armored bodies. High above Mo squawked and dived down landing on top of the pickups cabin, as their wolf E.L.F growled behind them.

  Abbey quickly turned towards him and Mo. “It’s okay! Be calm.” She then turned back to the creatures that were waving their antlers and bodies at her just a few yards away.

  She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on the creatures around her, but it was no good, as in Dallas there were too many to get a fix on. Their minds, what there were of them was constantly shifting, flitting in and out of her own.

  The ground shuddered once again as the huge two hundred foot high version the creatures around her, moved towards her.

  “Any time now would be good, Abbey!” shouted Zach in the pickup, his foot ready on the gas pedal, even if he didn't fancy their chances of plowing through the wall of E.LF's.

  She then had an idea. She quickly turned towards the leviathan approaching them, and this time kept her eyes open, but raised her arms towards it. The tingling increased in her neck, and she felt the huge presence in front of her. It was more intelligent than the hundreds of smaller creatures, and she felt it sensed she was similar to it in some way.

  It stopped moving forward, then raised its semi-truck sized antlers hundreds of feet up into the air, and then back down. The smaller beetle like creatures bowed slightly, then turned and scurried away.

  Zach watched with one hand on the wheel and another on his assault rifle, not wanting to move or make a noise as the ground shook and the large creature turned and moved back towards from where it came.

  Abbey carefully got back into the passenger’s seat. “Let’s go…”

  As the way ahead slowly cleared, they drove slowly forward.

  “The big one was the parent. The smaller ones are the children, it just reacted, it thought we were a threat,” said Abbey as she watched the huge E.L.F lumber back between small buildings and then slowly descend into what looked like a block sized hole in the ground.

  “Glad you convinced it otherwise.”

  She gave a relieved smile.

  Shortly after they were passing over the Arkansas river.

  “I think I need a drink,” said Zach, still on edge.

  Abbey smiled and pulled the bottle of water from her pack. “I know. If the whole world is like what we saw back there, who knows what else is out there,” she said passing him the open bottle.

  He took a quick swig, and handed it back. “I just hope us small humans can find a place in it.”

  Abbey put the bottle back in her bag. She wanted to tell him that humans could survive in their camps, but she wasn’t sure she really believed that anymore. She needed to know more and that was what she hoped she would discover in Boston.

  The landscape around them once again returned to miles of trees lining the road, the occasional small town and an airport or two.

  After around five hours of traveling on the highway that would take them to Memphis, the grayness above them grew more uniform and a light rain started to fall.

  Zach noticed the large fur covered beast in the back of the pickup was panting and licking the drops of moisture that were falling onto its snout. “I think our friend back there is thirsty.”

  Abbey looked back. “Yeah, we should stop and I’ll give him some water.”

  Zach slowed the pickup to a stop, and Abbey grabbed her bottle then got out. He then pulled the map across from her side and studied their route, noticing a river up ahead. “Hey, there’s a river just up ahead, maybe we can save our water and he can drink there?”

  Abbey looked around her and the damp and rich looking undergrowth mixed with foreboding brown trees. “Okay, but I need to make sure we’re alone near the river,” she said getting back in the pickup.

  After a short drive, they stopped on the highway. A small muddy track ran down into darkness as the rain increased.

  Zach turned the engine off. “You sensing anything?”

  Abbey shook her head. “Just some miles off, but nothing here. You wait here, I’ll take him down to the river.”

  She went to get out when Zach put his hand on her arm. “You’re sure there’s nothing here? We know they like water sources.”

  “I’m not sensing anything, and anyway I’ve got a eight foot high werewolf to protect me!” she smiled.

  “Take your M4 anyway.”

  “Okay.” She pulled her rifle from the backseat and placed it over her shoulder.

  “Screw-it, I’m coming with you.” He went to get out.

  “No, I’ll be fine. You need to be here, ready to go in case I come running back out of the woods! If any E.L.F’s appear I’ll handle it.”

  Zach sighed. “Okay.”

  She got out closing the door behind her, and beckoned Jai, as she had named the large wolf life creature down from the pickup. It loomed above her, but not as tall as it could have been as it was hunched over and panting.

  “Let’s go Jai, time to get you something to drink.” She looked down at the path that disappeared into the dark underground and further down towards the riverbank. She waved in front of her. “Go on, you can drink down there.”

  The large creature scurried forward and down the path of trigs and stones. Abbey followed as close as she could, trying not to slip. Soon the rushing waters of the river could be heard and the ground flattened out. Jai was already drinking from the flowing water from the bank.

  She looked around her. Would be a nice spot if the sun were out.

  A small rippling noise made her turn around, back towards the river. Jai was gone. “Jai?”

  She ran forward and looked along the river, he was nowhere to be seen. “Jai!” she shouted. Just as she went to pull the rifle from her shoulder, the water in front of her exploded making her fall back. A large tentacle appeared wrapped around Jai’s torso. The wolf creature snarled and tore away at it, slicing away as the creature under the water pulled Abbey’s pet from one side of the river to the next.

  Abbey immediately closed her eyes trying to detect the other creature, but she could only sense Jai and Mo high above them. She went to get to her feet, when the clatter of automatic fire pierced the air around her, and a volley of bullets disappeared beneath the froth and surging waters, immediately the leathery hide of the water creature loosened its grip on Jai and he clambered back onto the bank, still growling and snarling.

  Zach pulled Abbey to her feet. “Is he injured?” he said towards Jai whose own arm was wrapped around its midriff.

  Abbey moved closer to the wolf creature. “Let me see,” she said as much with her mind as her mouth. Jai’s clawed hand moved away slowly revealing round dark red marks. “I can’t see any broken skin. He could be injured on the inside, but there’s no way of knowing.”

  “We can’t stay here, I don’t know what I did to that thing, it might be back.”

  Abbey focused her mind on Jai in front of her, and then on the pickup some yards up the slope. The wolf creature slowly got to its feet, then scampered up the slippery mud slope back to the pickup.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  It was mid-afternoon when they were crossing the Mississippi river on the west side of Memphis. The spires of the huge bridge towered above them, and even though there were large parts of the road missing, t
here was enough flat concrete left for Zach to drive the pickup across.

  In the distance amongst the gray mist of the low clouds, they didn’t need Abbey to sense any E.L.F’s as they could see them with their own eyes. What was once downtown with high buildings was a collection of ruins. Huge creatures on four legs, looking like crocodiles lumbered across the landscape.

  “I sure do hope either they keep their distance or you can control them, hopefully both,” said Zach keeping a watchful eye on the prehistoric looking scene.

  Soon they were heading north and then around the city, keeping a constant few miles between themselves and any of the scary looking things that were roaming loose. Progress was slower than they both liked because of the amount of vehicles they had to weave around, but as the watery sun started to head towards the horizon, they were clear of the city and only a few hours or so away from their destination.

  The hills and forests of Tennessee flashed by and soon they were moving through the built up area of Nashville. Zach looked across to Abbey to see if she sensed anything, but on seeing her sleeping decided to leave her be. He hoped Mo circling high above would be an early warning system if anything were too close to them.

  In the gloom, crushed and broken homes could be seen near and far around the highway, and anything that was once vertical was now lying across the damp ground. As they pushed on, he would occasionally see movement out of the corner of his eye, but ignored it.

  By the time they were driving up a country lane towards the Kentucky outpost, there was only intense black for the pickups main beams to penetrate, and Abbey was awake and alert.

  “It should just be up ahead by the coordinates we were given,” said Abbey.

  The road dipped and swayed through undergrowth that was once manicured lawns, until it climbed upwards. Their headlights glanced off headstones of a lost graveyard, covered in vines and weeds, until finally bouncing off a fifteen-foot high metal fence.

  After driving alongside it for a few moments, Zach stopped the pickup near a large white painted gate. “I’ll see if I can open it,” he jumped out and walked across and pushed on one of the sides of the metal plating, it moved back a few inches then sprung back. He looked back at Abbey sitting in the pickup. “It’s chained?”

  Abbey got out and walked up to him. “I thought this outpost was ransacked by the gang?”

  “That’s what we presumed when we lost contact with it.”

  “Maybe there are some of them still inside?”

  Zach nodded. “Could be. I need to find a way—”

  The sound of a vehicle on the opposite side of the gate, some way off echoed around them.

  “Kill the lights!” said Abbey.

  Zach quickly ran to the driver’s side, and turned the lights off, but left the engine running. “Get in, I’ll drive us a bit further down!”

  Abbey jumped in, and he drove for a few seconds, then turned the engine off and let the car drift silently up against the grass verge.

  “Get in this seat. If all hell breaks loose, I’ll get back here as soon as I can.”

  Abbey nodded, and Zach jumped out and ran back along the fence to where the gate was and waited.

  The sound of a car door opening was accompanied by the sound of footsteps across a gravel drive, and then right up against the fence. The sound then continued as if someone was walking up metal steps.

  Zach could hear grunting just a few yards above his head but couldn’t see anything in the complete darkness. Then came splashing through puddles, and the sound of rattling chains.

  They seem alone.

  A dragging sound of metal against gravel told Zach that the gate was being opened, and that was confirmed by a flashlight beam sweeping across the road and trees opposite him. He raised the butt of his rifle. He didn’t want to have to kill this person unless he had too.

  A shadowy form appeared behind their flashlight and they moved forward out onto the drive, Zach quickly ran forward and raised his rifle, then stopped as the glow of the person’s flashlight illuminated their face.

  “Brad!?”

  Zach immediately lowered his rifle.

  “Zach?”

  Zach grabbed Brad Crenshaw by the shoulder. “We thought you were dead!”

  “I should have been. Why are you here? Are you alone?” As he talked, his flashlight’s beam bobbed around.

  A noise came from behind making them both look in that direction.

  Brad’s flashlight lit Abbey’s face. “Abbey!” His delight of seeing her was quickly turned into a frozen look of fright as Jai appeared from the shadows just behind her. “Sweet Heavens! There’s an E.L.F!” he went to grab for something holstered on his hip.

  “No, that’s Jai, he’s with us,” said Zach as Abbey ran up and hugged Brad who was still shocked by the furry beast lurking behind her. “Maybe we should get behind that fence?” continued Zach.

  “Err, yeah. Does he come too?” said Brad looking up at the towering creature.

  “If that’s okay? I don’t want him out here alone,” said Abbey.

  “Umm, sure.” He turned and pulled the gate a little more further back.

  “We got a pickup, just a few yards down the road, I’ll get it.” Zach turned and ran into the darkness, switching on his own flashlight.

  Brad pulled the second gate open and Abbey and Jai moved inside.

  “We thought you were dead! Your home was burning!”

  “I guess there’s a lot to talk about.”

  Not long after Zach and Brad had brought their vehicles closer to the main house, and the gate was secured, they were sitting in a large candle lit kitchen, while Brad warmed up some stew on a stove. A brief accounting of what had happened over the past month passed between each of them while they were parking the cars, but all were hungry for more details.

  “Run it past me again, how did you end up here?” said Zach sipping on some hot coffee.

  Brad shook his head. “You don’t know how happy I am to hear those pieces of crap are ancient history!”

  Zach looked at Abbey. “We all are.”

  Brad did the same, she looked a few years older from when he had last seen her, he also noticed she walked with a slight limp and was trying not to use her left hand. “It’s good to see you alive and well young lady.”

  Abbey smiled at someone seeing her as young, she had been feeling anything but, for longer than she could remember.

  “Well I learned too late that the Hell Fire gang were destroying outposts. Although after Jim’s Nez’s outpost was taken I should have known. Should have prepared better.” He shook his head again. “Anyway, they had been watching me for a few days, and waited just for the right time. I took out a few of them, but there were just too many.”

  He brought over two bowls and laid them down on the counter. Zach and Abbey both noticed the index finger on his left hand was half as long as it should have been.

  “Ah, don’t mind that. They took it thinking I would tell them the locations of the other outposts, they were wrong!”

  “They liked hurting people,” said Abbey.

  “That they did. So they took me. Kept me alive thinking I would break at some point. Brought me back to Atlanta. They weren’t real clever when it came to keeping me locked up, and an opportunity arose and I grabbed it. I hid in the city, and after a few hours of looking they gave up.”

  Abbey sniffed to herself in recognition. “I did the same when I escaped, in a parking-garage!”

  “Mine was a basement of some office building.”

  “Why didn’t you come back to the camp?” said Zach, eating the stew.

  “I had overheard them saying how they were moving vehicles and people in that direction, and what with the E.L.F’s as well, I thought I’d head north. So I hot-wired a car, and did just that. I had meant to circle back around to the south, but after a few hundred miles, I thought why not keep going to this outpost and warn those here. Unfortunately I was too late.” He turned and leaned u
p against another of the counters. “Thirty six men, women and children were here, in this house. You might have seen the boarded up windows. I’ve been fixing it best I could. I was planning on getting the radio masts back up and running as well. But yeah, I found them all dead. By the looks of things had been that way for some time. But it sounds like I missed all the fun being way out here?”

  Zach smiled. “Maybe it was better you did.”

  CHAPTER SIX

  Zach sat up in a sweat and breathing heavily. He looked to his side, Abbeys shape beneath the thick blanket was just visible. Just a few moments before he was lost in a world full of explosions, screams and fury. He had been running for his life, from a creature which filled the sky above him, and just as one of its gargantuan hoofs came down upon his head, he woke.

  Nights filled with terror were par for the course and weren’t getting any less frequent, even with the gang defeated. He had found catching a few moments of sleep throughout the day managed to get him through, but he always felt drained.

  Putting on his pants and boots he crept over the impressive carpet and out onto the landing. Even though he had seen Brad blow out all of the candles before they all headed off for the night, a glow came from somewhere below.

  He walked down the grand staircase of the Greek revival style home and onto one of the large rugs which covered the hardwood floors. The light was coming from beneath a door under the stairs.

  He opened it slowly and looked down a small flight of steps. A candle burned on a holder attached to the wall. Walking down he arrived at the door at the bottom and pushed it open.

  “Who’s that?” shouted Brad from somewhere within the maze of high shelves ahead of Zach.

  “This is a little bigger than your last basement!” Zach walked forward and examined a tray of cans that looked like they contained a kind of meat. They sat about five feet from the ground on one of six shelves, making up just one section of rows and rows of other supplies. Food, water, bedding, books, everything needed to survive seemed to be within easy reach.

  “I’m over here!”