We all get to the shuttle pod, but I insist that I open the door first. I want to make sure the pod is safe before anyone else enters. I grab the handle, but the door doesn’t budge. I fumble around some more, but still no luck. I think it has something to do with that behemoth of a man standing near by. Just knowing he’s around makes this easy task fairly difficult. I get it unlatched, finally. The small metal service door slides open revealing a small narrow compartment about two and a half feet wide. It’s situated right up at the front of the shuttle, and runs the width of the pod. It looks and feels like a cage. This must be where they store the tools. I hold onto Amy as Charlie climbs in. Once he’s inside, I hand him back his daughter who kicks and screams the whole time. Then it’s Candy’s turn. Her husband grabs her by the arms and tries to pull her up. Abby, Val and myself get behind her and try to push her in. On any other normal day, this would be funny, but not today, no way, no how. After we manage to get her inside, Val jumps up, then Abby and then myself. I duck my head slightly through the opening and take my place next to everyone else. It’s a tight fit. I put my back up against the shuttle wall and look straight ahead. There, I see the fallen trees just a few feet in front of me, crammed together inside the pod. A steel mesh grate is the only thing separating us from getting crushed by the logs. The floor is blanketed with dried pine needless and chips of kindling. The scent is strong; it smells of burnt wood and pine. Above us is the sky. There is no ceiling to the pod. But dangling nearby, hanging from a crane, is a large flat rectangular piece of metal, large enough to cover the entire shuttle. That’s got to be the roof. I’m assuming when the shuttles are full of lumber, like this one is, they’ve got to cover them up to keep this government business a secret.
I look through the doorway of the service entrance and see Brodie chatting with Carlos, but Carlos doesn’t seem to be in a talkative mood. He’s busy remotely operating the crane that’s holding the metal piece above us. He stands on the loading dock, working at the control console, carefully moving it into place, right over our heads. He pulls a lever and it comes crashing down. The metal on metal sound is deafening. Then, the corners of the roof become white hot, sealing the lid shut. I hope to God Brodie knows what he’s doing.
“Good-bye Carlos, and thanks again,” Brodie says, holding out his hand, but Carlos leaves him hanging.
Brodie pulls his hand back and smiles sheepishly, playing it off like it didn’t bother him. He turns to head over to the shuttle, but just as Brodie hops up, he’s immediately jerked backwards. Carlos has him by his knapsack.
You promised you’d get me out of here,” the large man grunts.
Brodie smiles nervously as he dangles in mid air. “I know Carlos. I know. Please put me back down.”
“You said you’d help me.”
“You’ve got to give me more time. The security chip in your head is not like removing an L-Chip. It’s much deeper in the brain.”
“You said you had someone who could take it out.”
“I did have someone, but he didn’t make it. I’ll find someone else, I promise you that.”
“I think you’re taking advantage of me,” the man says, dropping Brodie down on the dock. “You promise me my freedom and like a fool I believed you. I keep giving you what you want, but you never give me what I want.”
“I will. I’m not going to let you down.”
“I should be a free man,” he groans. “A free man, but I’m not. I work here like a slave, night and day with no rest. I often fantasize about wandering off beyond those boundaries, testing to see if my security chip actually works. One little step across that line and my problems go away.”
“Don’t think like that, Carlos, I’ll get you out of here, I promise.”
“The war between the South American Empire and the U.S is over, correct?”
“Yeah, it is, it’s been over for a while.”
“And my side won, yes?”
“It did, Carlos. Your side won, the S.A.E. won.”
“And my country has complete control over the Gulf of Mexico, it that true?”
“All of what you say is correct.”
“Then why am I still here, Brodie?” he mutters, clenching his fists, his face contorted.
“America doesn’t keep its promises,” Brodie says resolutely. “But I do. I’ll get you out of here. You’ve got to believe me.”
“Did you see that Drone this morning?” Carlos says, catching Bordie off guard.
“Yeah, I saw it, what’d it tell you?”
The man grins, showing off his rotted teeth. “Just get inside the pod, my friend.”
“What did it tell you?” Brodie demands.
“It said nothing, now get in.”
“Carlos, I have your back. You can count on me.”
“Just get in,” the man grumbles, lifting Brodie off the ground by his shirt and shoving him inside the pod. “Never come back here, you got that. Never!” He grabs the handle to the door and starts to shut it, but he stops. He looks at me and then at Val. I look away, but I’m sure he knows who I am, or maybe he knew all along.
“What are you looking at?” Abby interjects.
“Nothing,” Carlos replies. “Nothing at all.”
“We’re counting on you, Carlos,” Abby says sweetly.
He doesn’t look at her, he just continues to slide the door shut, but Abby slips by me and kicks her foot out, stopping the door from closing all the way.
“Carlos,” she calls out to him once more. “Whatever the Drone offered you, you know you can’t trust it.”
“I know that, Abby. Lord knows I know that.” He walks away leaving the door wide open. He goes back to the console; presses a few buttons and the logging shuttle pod begins to move forward down the makeshift gravel road.
As we drive away, Abby holds the door open keeping an eye on Carlos. Why is she looking at him? I peer out the door to have a look. I see the man waving to us with a conniving expression on his face. He reaches inside his pocket, but whatever he’s looking for isn’t there. He checks the other pocket; it’s not there either. He then checks his shirt pockets with the same result. He panics.
Abby leans forward, hanging out of the shuttle even further than before. She sticks two fingers into her mouth and whistles. “Hey Carlos!” she cries out. “Is this what you’re looking for?” She holds up a remote beacon, like the ones that were left in the cave.
The large man looks horrified. The Drone must have given it to him when they were talking. And Abby must have pinched it from him when they hugged.
Carlos quickly presses a few buttons on the control console, stopping the shuttle abruptly. The logs come sliding forward, crashing into the steel grate. Then, the pod starts to roll in reverse. We’re heading back to the logging camp.
“Hey Brodie,” Abby says calmly. “You think you could override the system?”
“I’ll try.” Brodie says as he squeezes his way over to the metal panel on the wall. He pulls out his knife and pries it open. He flicks a switch or two and immediately we come to a stop. He then flicks another switch, and we start moving in the right direction, but very very slowly.
I look over to Carlos; he’s livid. He frantically pushes more buttons on the console, but nothing happens. He can’t stop us. He pounds his fist against the controls, crushing it under his power. He jumps down from the loading dock and starts to run after us.
“Uh Brodie,” Abby says. “Can you get this thing to go any faster?”
“I’m trying.”
For being such a large man, Carlos moves pretty quickly.
“I wouldn’t get too close there, Carlos,” Abby cries out. “You cross that barrier and pop.” She motions like her head is exploding, he doesn’t care; he continues to pursue us. She pulls out a pistol and points it at him. “I’m warning you, Carlos, you better stop or I’ll shoot.” He doesn’t slow down; in fact, he runs even harder.
He reaches for the ladder on the back of the pod. He grabs it and
pulls himself up. “Stop the shuttle!” he cries. “Stop it!”
Abby fires a warning shot, but he doesn’t budge. “Carlos!” she screams. “Get off!”
“Not until you give me back the remote beacon!”
“Get off, Carlos! Please Get off! I don’t want–”
Pop!
The security chip works perfectly. The man’s head is gone. Abby and I are covered in blood.
Candy sees us and screams. “Oh my God, oh my God! What happened? What just happened?”
Abby slides the service door shut. It’s now dark. “Oh Carlos,” Abby says to herself. “We would’ve gotten you out.”
Brodie switches on his flashlight, Candy continues to scream, but surprisingly, or not so surprisingly, little Amy is quite subdued.
“I hate Mommy, I hate Daddy,” the little girl hums.
CHAPTER 44
Brodie gets the logging shuttle pod to travel at a normal speed. The whole thing rocks and shakes and bounces along. It’s muggy in here and there’s no circulation; it’s terribly uncomfortable. But even under these harsh conditions, we all begin to feel sleepy. An hour passes and the flashlight that Brodie positioned upward, has tipped over and now rolls around in the cage, causing the light to whip back and forth. It’s kind of annoying, but no one’s going to do anything about it. It’s too hot to care. We hit a bump on the road and the logs leap forward, smashing up against the steel grate again. I don’t think this shuttle has much in terms of hover capabilities; the tires seem to be touching the ground the whole time.
Brodie explained earlier before everyone started to fall asleep, that these logging shuttle pods always go to the same place; they never veer off their course. The coordinates are set and there’s nothing we can do to change it. We can stop it, but we can’t steer it. He told us we’re heading toward a secret sawmill somewhere in Nevada run by the government. It’s located near a military checkpoint for soldiers traveling to the Utah front. That’s where, according to Brodie, he can usually bribe someone into taking us across the border into Utah. Candy scoffed at the plan almost immediately. She asked Brodie what could he possibly bribe a soldier with that would make someone want to help us? Brodie didn’t answer her right away. He first glanced over at Abby for a second, but she wasn’t looking at him. “All sorts of things,” he mumbled, I could tell he didn’t want to talk about it, so he said nothing more.
Something wakes me up. I look around, but everyone’s out cold. I see Candy and Charlie with their backs leaned up against one another. Val’s asleep and Abby has her head resting on Brodie’s shoulder. I try to look over at Amy to see what she’s doing. I strain my neck. Luckily, the flashlight ends up pointing in her general direction. I can see her pretty well now. She’s wide-awake. She’s playing. She’s playing with something, but with what? I reach for the flashlight and shine it on the thing she’s holding. What is that? Oh my God! How the hell did she get that? There, in her hands, is the remote beacon … and it’s turned on. She must have taken it from Abby when we all fell asleep.
“Uh, Amy?” I say, clearing my throat. She doesn’t look up. “Amy,” I say a little louder, startling the others. “Amy!” I call out again, but still she doesn’t respond. “Amy!” I scream.
This time, I wake everyone up, and I get the little girl’s attention too. She looks at me first, and then to the others. She smiles with a devilish grin. “They’re coming.”
“Amy, what’d you do?” Candy cries out in horror.
“I’m going home, mommy, away from you.”
Thump!
Something’s on the roof. We’ve stopped. Then, on the opposite side of the shuttle, the metal roof begins to tear open like an orange peel.
“They’ve come for me!” Amy shouts as she gets to her feet. “I’m over here!”
Metal tentacles reach down, lifting the logs out of the pod. They’re tossed aside like twigs. Not one tree is left. A Drone’s glowing eye descends downward and scans the empty shuttle. It’s red laser light falls upon us behind the steel grate. Abby scrambles to open the service door, but when she does, there’s another Drone waiting outside. She quickly slides the door shut. “We’re trapped!” she yells.
The first Drone that ripped the ceiling apart drops down, landing onto the floor of the pod. Its tentacles grab hold of the steel grate and pull it clean away. Now there’s nothing between us, and the Drone; we’re completely at its mercy. I pick up my rifle and switch the setting to ‘missile launch.’ A small projectile clicks into place.
“Don’t fire, you’re too close!” Brodie yells. “The explosion will kill us all!”
So I switch it over to the incinerator function and let the Drone have it. The heat is immense; it forces the Drone to back off. It now hovers above us like a vulture. I switch the settings back over to ‘missile launch’ and fire away. It’s a direct hit. The Drone is down.
“Nice shot!” Abby shouts.
But little Amy begins to wail. “You’ve killed it, you’ve killed it!” She dives between Abby’s legs and opens the service door. “We’re in here! We’re in here!” she cries out, waving her arms.
Suddenly, the other Drone pokes its roving eye inside the shuttle. Amy grasps onto it, hugging it tight. “Please save me, save me!”
Charlie grabs Amy by her collar and pries her off the metal monster. As soon as she’s in the clear, I switch my rifle back to the incinerator function and let it burn. I lay a stream of fire right onto the Drone. But one of its tentacles shoots forward, jabbing me in the chest. I go flying backwards; losing my rifle. It ends up at Charlie’s feet, but he’s holding onto Amy, he can’t pick it up. Brodie and Abby take matters into their own hands. They pull out their pistols and start firing away at the Drone. The rain of bullets slows the cylinder down but not enough to stop it completely. Two gun barrels slide out of the Drone and return fire. We all hit the floor as bullets go whizzing past our heads. Charlie dives for cover, inadvertently releasing Amy from his grip. The little girl gets up and runs to the Drone with her arms out stretched. It’s like she’s trying to protect it from harm.
“Don’t hurt it, don’t hurt it!” she cries out. “It’s going to take me home.”
But the Drone doesn’t stop firing. It either doesn’t see her or doesn’t care. She’s riddled with bullets.
“Noooooo!” Candy screams out. “My Amy!”
Val rushes over and bravely scoops up the little girl lying on the floor. Charlie, filled with rage, reaches down for my rifle; he clicks the setting to ‘missile launch.’
“No!” I cry out. “You’re too close!” He doesn’t heed my warning and fires away.
CHAPTER 45
I wake up somewhere outside, lying in the dirt. It’s cold. How’d I end up here? I try to get up, but my head spins and I fall back down. I try again and stumble again, but this time I’m able to remain on my feet. I look around trying to figure out where the hell I am. The surrounding terrain is a dull dusty brown. There are no trees to speak of, just tangled up shrubs that cover the flat desolate landscape. There’s the highway we must have been traveling on. It’s long and straight, running from horizon to horizon. No one is on it, except for what’s left of the logging shuttle pod, and the Drones we shot down.
There’s a ringing in my ears.
“Why God? Why!” someone yells out, cutting through the high pitch sound going on in my head. I turn and see Charlie shouting up at the sky, shaking his fist in the air. He’s bleeding from his stomach. He must have taken some shrapnel when everything blew up after he fired the missile at the Drone. “You took my daughter!” he shouts. “You took her!” He then falls to his knees and begins to sob. “Why God? Why?” he moans. “Why?”
Sitting near him is his wife. She holds the lifeless body of their child in her arms. “Get up Amy, get up!” she yells, shaking the little girl violently. “I said get up!” the woman is in shock. I think we all are.
“Hey Evan!” someone call out. “Evan, are you okay?” I slowly tur
n in the direction of the voice. It’s coming from Brodie. He stands there covered in dirt. “Can you hear me?” he asks.
“Yeah, a little bit, how long was I out?”
“I don’t know,” he answers. “I just woke up, myself.”
“Where’s Val?”
He shakes his head. “I don’t know.”
“Val!” I call out in a panic. “Val!”
“I’m here,” she answers. I look and see her being helped up by Abby. I run to her, hug her. “I’m fine Evan,” Val chuckles as she wraps her arms around me; it’s the best feeling.
As Val and I embrace, I notice Abby walking by. She looks resolute and determined. She comes up to Brodie and stares him down. “I made the call by the way,” she says, holding up an old clunky electronic device that I have no idea what it’s for. “I called him Brodie,” she adds. “I called him.”
“I see you still have the walkie talkie he gave you.”
“It’s for emergencies.” She puts the clunky thing back into her knapsack.
“I bet it is,” he answers harshly.
“Do you think I call him all the time?”
“Well, what do you want me to do, Abby? Jump up for joy that you called Colonel Krog?”
“If you have a better idea… I’m all ears.”
“The safe house isn’t that far off,” Brodie mentions. “If we leave now, we could get there before dark.”
“Shut up Brodie, there’s no way we’re going to the safe house. Look at the shape we’re in. Youth Patrol knows our location, they’ll be sending out another Drone soon enough. This is our only way out; we don’t have a choice. Krog’s troops are coming.”
And as if on cue, a military aircraft appears on the horizon. It’s heading our way. I look around for someplace to hide. “Val!” I yell. “Run!”
“It’s not necessary!” Brodie intervenes. “That’s who Abby called.”
“She called the army?” I ask.
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