Mindy exchanged the explosive arrow in her bow for a simple barbed razor tip and Richard struggled to load a crossbow.
Rummaging through the supplies, Father Donaher pulled on a cloth cap and asked what our next move was.
"Let's take the road,” George offered, gesturing with his head. “It appears to lead straight into the heart of the island. As good a place to start our hunt for the owners as any."
I agreed. Mindy was given point duty again and we started pushing our heavily laden carts down the old road, the rubber wheels bumping along with a kind of natural rhythm. There was little to see and nothing to hear, but a faint whispery wind. It was an unnatural silence. No birds, no insects, no people, no nothing. Made my skin crawl and I wondered if we were the only people alive on the island.
"Very probably,” Jessica said in that unnerving manner of hers.
"What?” Richard asked, joining the conversation in the middle.
The telepath gave a shiver. “This island is deserted. Can't you feel the years pressing down on us? The countless ages, the oppressing silence of undisturbed, eons old death?"
"No,” the mage replied.
"And what about Big Bird?” I asked.
"The jabberwocky? Oh, there are lots of animals here,” Jess recanted. “Just no people."
A minute passed in silence.
"Yet,” she added in a small voice. An explanation of that cryptic remark was not forthcoming.
Approaching, Father Donaher tapped his hip flask of Tullamore Dew whiskey, 90 proof, $35 a bottle and worth every penny. “Sounds if you need a dose of neural inhibitor."
Wanly, Jessica smiled. “Later. At dinner, perhaps."
Two kilometers, down the road, Mindy returned. The martial artist was dusty from head to toe, frowning and her sword was drawn. That told me she didn't have good news.
"Found a body,” Mindy reported bluntly.
"Old?"
"Brand new. Satan Department."
That brought the group to a halt and weapons clicked in swift orchestration.
"How did he die?” Donaher asked, checking the clip in his pistol.
"Unknown,” the woman said. “Got to see this one for yourself."
"They got inside,” George said, through clenched teeth, a hand going for the stock of the Masterson Cannon.
Grimly, I pulled my own handgun. “Some of them, at least. Okay, get hard people. Leave the stuff, pattern four, double time."
Without comment, the team scattered and following Mindy's directions, we converged on the body from different directions.
Naked, he was laying spread-eagled in plain sight in the middle of a small clearing. At first I thought the man was simply fantastically obese. But upon closer inspection, no amount of overeating could do this to a human. The body was horribly distended, the skin stretched to the burst point. Face, hands, belly, everything swollen to the absolute limit of tissue endurance.
With my magnifying glass, I started at the feet and worked my way to the head, closely studying every inch, but touching nothing. It was weird beyond words. Every orifice was sealed shut with a sort of clear secretion. On his neck were two tiny puncture marks about an inch apart, closed with tabs of scarred flesh. Finished, I gave a brief summary.
George whistled. “Vampires?"
"Who put blood in?” I said, stressing the last word. “No, this is something perverse and terribly new."
As Rich and Donaher performed a few tests on the corpse, Mindy went through his backpack, and found the usual assortment of weapons and supplies. The only oddity was a set of four batteries in the shape of an ammunition clip for a pistol. Obviously, the Machlokta d’ Sitna agents must have some sort of energy weapon. A laser most likely, or microwave beamer. We had the room, so I confiscated them.
Glancing at my mission watch, I frowned. Great, in roughly 20 hours the cloud will reach the East Coast and start killing people and now it was a race with Satan Department. The crazed bastards probably wanted to cut a deal with these island guys.
"Maybe they already have,” Jessica whispered.
A chilling thought. “Time's wasting. Let's move."
"Wait a minute,” George said, lifting a fat curved object into view. “I want to leave our friends a present."
Mindy smiled. “How thoughtful of you! Here, let me help with the fuse."
Pulling on gloves, we shifted the bloated corpse and George slid an anti-personnel Claymore mine underneath.
"There,” he said, stepping back and wiping his hands with a cloth. “When whoever returns for lunch, they will soon embark on a fast journey to the moon in many small pieces."
"The cloud is in the way,” Richard reminded.
George grinned. “That will only slow ‘em down."
Mindy and I took double point this time and we kept in constant radio communication. Nothing of interest was found, until a few miles later when the road ended at a small pavilion. We approached with caution and checked for traps, but it was clean.
The supporting pillars of blue marble still stood, but the tiled roof was gone, only shattered fragments laying on the ground spoke of its presence. A flecked marble pedestal centered the pavilion and on it were numerous small structures made on colored glass in exquisite detail.
"Eureka! A model of the island!” Jessica cried happily.
"Photographs,” I ordered. Cameras clicked and George started sketching on a pocket note pad.
"Apparently it is laid out in concentric circles,” Father Donaher said, crouching low to peer in owlishly from the side. “Here is the cliff and the forest. This appears to be a garden, and lastly, the city proper."
"A walled city,” George muttered, indicating a ringed miniature with a pencil. “How odd. Why a defensive wall with no offensive turrets?"
But there were defenses and I searched for the home of Big Bird, the jabberwocky. The tall mountain was located outside the town, on the far side of the island. Fine.
"What could this be,” Richard asked, fingering a small area off to the side. “Storage facilities? Homes?"
"A cemetery,” Jessica decided.
"Now why would they consider a cemetery important enough to place on the map?"
"Reverence for the dead?"
"These guys?” I snorted. “No way."
A finger pointed. “Look here, in the center of town is a sort of arena, or coliseum,” Father Donaher noted. “Observe those columns and archways! Definite Roman influence."
"Unless, ancient Rome was influenced by these people."
Richard scowled at me. “Geez, Ed, just how old do you think this place is?"
"Pre-historic."
"Dinosaurs built it?” Donaher asked sounding amused.
Mindy gave him a smack on the arm. “Don't be a dope. He means it was built before recorded history. And I agree with him and Jess. This place is seriously old."
"Why?"
"Because with the abilities so casually displayed here, these people could have, would have, ruled the world. Yet we never heard of them. Thus, they must have risen and fallen so far in the past that no records or legends still exist."
"That's prejudicial,” Richard said, fighting a yawn. “This may be the equivalent of a nuclear missile silo for a peaceful nation and we have only encountered the automatic defenses."
While this was very interesting, the light was beginning to fade and yawns were becoming prevalent. Consulting my watch, it was seven at night. Twilight.
"This conversation can be continued later,” I decided. “How about we establish a base of operations before it gets impossible to see."
They agreed wholeheartedly. As I said earlier, a smart group. We pitched camp a few meters off the road in a small clearing surrounded by coupes of trees. While Mindy and Jess erected the tents, I prepared the food, Donaher dug a fire pit and George rigged an outer alarm of jingle string. It was simple twine lined with tiny silver bells, all painted a dull black. It was damn near impossible to see in the dark, but the s
mall bells were remarkably loud.
Busy with a hand axe, Richard chopped thorny bushes into small pieces then sprinkled them about our site. After making totally sure that everybody was within the circle, he cast a growth spell and the thorns sprouted into a towering wall of thickets completely encircling our camp. Not only did this give a modicum of protection, but also helped hide the fact we were here. Trespassers are seldom welcome anywhere. George finished it off by draping camouflage netting over the camp, hiding us from any aerial view.
The island was pitch black by the time we ate dinner, with no stars in the sky to brighten the stygian darkness. As a precaution, we used a smokeless cooker to heat the vacuum-packed stew in the MRE packs and turned our lanterns to their lowest settings. No sense advertising what the thicket masked.
We ate dinner, washed and established sentries. But before retiring, Father Donaher held a brief mass for the dead and blessed the campsite. Afterwards, the team held our ritual toast to fallen friends and went to sleep. We spread out so that the group could not be captured in one shot. But also paired up, so we could cover each other in case of attack. Rich with Mindy, Mike with George, Jess with me. The sleeping bags had been destroyed in our journey through the cloud, but there were plenty of blankets. Unfortunately, we did not share.
During the night, I was awakened several times by something very heavy walking past our camp, the ground shuddering at every step. But either the thorn fence deterred intrusion, or else it had had pressing business elsewhere, for the colossus never tried for an entry. Eventually, it moved off into the night and did not return.
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CHAPTER TEN
Dawn came as swift as the night. After utilizing the stand of trees decreed the lavatory, I started to brew coffee when Richard stumbled from his tent, yawning and stretching in the dim light.
For a scant moment he stood before the fire, his shadow dancing on the side of a canvas tent. Knowing that our lives depended on fast action, I moved as never before. Drawing my automatic pistol, I pumped fifteen rounds into the chest of Richard Anderson, tracking the body as it fell to the ground. In spite of that, he tried to rise, so I slapped in a fresh clip and let him have another fifteen.
With a jerk, the pistol was gone from my hands, both arms locked behind my back and a stinging pain formed along the front of my neck. I felt a drop of moisture flow into my shirt, somehow I knew it wasn't sweat.
"Talk fast or die,” Mindy said softly in my ear.
"Check the body,” I croaked, afraid to use my neck muscles. Never having experienced her sword from this position before, I now could truly appreciate its surgical sharpness.
By this time, the rest of the team was sprinting towards us, some fully clothed, one in his underclothes, but all carrying weapons. Donaher and Jess paused for a moment at the body, but Richard was plainly dead, so they continued on to me.
Maintaining a firm grip on his boxer shorts, George leveled his mammoth assault cannon at my belly. “What happened?” he demanded coldly.
"Ed killed Richard,” Mindy said succinctly, her grip on my throat tightening with anger. “Don't know why yet."
"Isn't Richard,” I managed to squeak.
"Explain fast,” Father Donaher growled.
Gamely, I pointed. The still form laying beside the cook fire was beginning to blur. Ripples of light played over the body and now sprawled on the dirt was a simplified skeleton with exposed muscle tendons and no skin. The insect eyes were fragmented and the gash of a mouth filled with needle sharp teeth.
Mindy released me and gingerly I touched my throat, fingertips coming away red.
"Sorry, Ed,” she said, sheathing the sword.
"No prob,” I coughed raggedly.
Walking close, Jessica prodded the thing with her
M16. “How did you know?” she asked puzzled.
Finding a medical pack, I started rummaging. “Saw its shadow. Not human."
"An illusion,” Donaher said, scowling at the monstrosity.
"Yep.” I found the ointment and sterile gaze, and started wrapping my throat. Most assuredly, I did not want an infection, and I knew where that sword had been. Many times.
George gave me an impressed look. “Good thing you're a trained observer. Mandatory for a PI, I guess."
"But what about Richard?” Mindy asked worried.
Touching her forehead, Jessica slowly rotated. “I do not sense him anywhere. He's either gone, dead or deeply asleep."
"Let's hope for the best,” I said, tying the bandage around my wound. “Okay, spread out. Check under the bushes, in the tree and be careful where you step, he may be buried."
It took awhile, but we did find him. Richard was alive, just unconscious and hidden under a bush with a lump on his head the size of an orange. Smelling salts roused our mage and Richard told us how he had gone to use the latrine only to awake spitting dirt out of his mouth. A quick review showed the thickets had not been breached, so the thing must have been already hiding in the camp when we erected the barrier. Just plain bad luck. What the hell, happens to the best of people.
For the sake of expediency, we buried the copycat in the same hole. Somehow that seemed fitting, almost ironic. Although, Mindy did cut off the creature's head and buried it on the other side of the camp. I couldn't blame her. Since we did not know what the thing was, even with thirty, hollow-point, steel-jacketed rounds through it, better safe than sorry.
The sun was fully up by the time we finished making sure the camp was secure. Preparing for a long day, we had a hearty breakfast and got ready to move. Using her rainbow sword, Mindy cut us a hole in the thorn bushes, keeping the disturbance to a minimum. Exiting first, I noticed the grass was thicker and greener today, the trees full of brown leaves. Didn't take a genius to realize this island was coming back to life. And faster with every passing hour. Another reason for haste in our actions.
Before departing, we assembled several packs to take along with us, including; medical supplies, food, ammunition, a couple of LAW rockets and a satchel charge. I gave a brief sigh in mourning over the loss of my briefcase.
As we departed, the team filled the hole in the thicket with a trimmed thorn bush, laced into place with concertina wire, courtesy of Mr. Renault. Meanwhile I did a quick sweep about the encampment, but couldn't find any evidence of last night's behemoth. When something which sounded heavy as an elephant did not leave any tracks in soft soil, that made me very, very, nervous.
Tying a few tree branches together, we swept the ground in our wake to hide our footprints. Reaching the pavilion, we undid the branches and positioned them on the berm in what we hoped were natural positions. There were 18 hours before the killer cloud reached the mainland and we might need our hiding hole again.
As the team gathered round the island map, I was not surprised to find the pavilion in better shape today, with more color in the marble and large chunks of its roof back in position.
"Okay, where do we start first?” George asked, shifting his bulky ammo pack to a more comfortable position.
"The town,” Jessica stated, as if that was obvious.
Adjusting the cap on his bald head, Donaher agreed. “Definitely. That blank area can have no possible importance or else it would be more detailed, and the mountain is probably just the observation nest of Big Bird."
I was amused. My pet name for the thing seemed to have stuck.
"The town it is,” Richard agreed, polishing his staff. In pirate fashion, a red bandana was tied about his head, covering the white gauze pad over his lump. It had proved superficial and the swelling was already starting to go down. Wizards are fast healers.
Reviewing the suggestion, I thumbed a thermite round into my grenade launcher. That was the problem with single shot weapons, you were forever loading the things. “Okay, George on point, I'll take rear guard. Five meter spread, slow walk. Let's not exhaust ourselves early in the recon."
Assuming formation, the group moved o
ut. Incredible as it sounds, in spite of the thick cloud cover, the land beyond the pavilion was bathed in the bright morning sunlight. Plainly, it was a tremendous garden, hectares large. Although long dead, ranks of tiny green sprouts were now forcing their way through the cracked soil and multiple rows of trellises adorned with twisting vines were starting to blossom. I wondered why the island was coming alive before the inhabitants? Did the people draw their life from the land and so it must heal first, or was there some agency hindering the return of the Cloud People? Of course, the resurrection may simply have been going up the evolutionary line: plants, insects, animals, monsters, people.
On George's recommendation, we secreted the emergency supplies next to a prominent flower arbor and marked the location with a radio beacon and an anti-personnel mine. As momma always said, when in doubt, use explosives.
Working our way among the brambles and dry weeds, I began to notice the faint outline of a road beneath the ever-present dust. A wide four lane expressway, with a rusty metallic rail running along the median. Mass transit for commuters? I was discussing this possibility with Father Donaher, when we broke through the vanguard of trees rimming the garden and saw the city.
"Trouble,” the priest sighed, pushing back his cap.
"Big trouble,” I heartily agreed.
Metropolis would not have been an inappropriate word to describe the awe-inspiring expanse of towers and skyscrapers visible. But even worse than raw size, the place was domed by a glass clear hemisphere of something that shone like polished crystal.
Even at this distance, we could tell the lower part of the structure was similar in appearance to the cliff on the beach, a smooth tan stone. But at forty feet, the material became transparent and curved inward to completely encase the city. Following the line of the road, led us to a blank wall with no alcove and keyboard this time. The engineering involved was damn impressive and damn annoying. How could we gain entrance?
I waved Richard closer. “Didn't you used to be in the construction trade?"
Judgment Night [BUREAU 13 Book One] Page 13