Cascade Prequel (Book 1): Encounter

by Maxey, Phil

  Brad found the cans with the longest sell by date on them and scooped eight of them into his shopping cart. “Yup.”

  “You must really like canned meat. Ha, you haven’t got one of those things in a cage have you?”

  Brad looked up over the low shelf unit. “No.”

  “I reckon it’s some kind of mutated dog.”

  Brad looked down at the contents of his cart.

  “Ha, no, I mean the thing that attacked those kids. Like those sheep with two heads. Probably, someone’s been keeping it, and it got out.”

  “Could be.” Brad moved along the aisle and swept another block of cans into his cart, but these contained fish.

  His phone started to vibrate in his pocket.

  ’Unknown number’ appeared on the screen. He was beginning to be used to seeing that. He tapped.

  “Hello?”

  “Hey, Brad,” said Grant. The line was scratchy.

  “Hi, do you ever use the same phone twice?”

  “Ha, my cell’s charging, so I’m using a payphone.”

  “You still in LA?”

  “No. We made it out. We’re in San Diego now. Managed to find an apartment to hole up for a while, with some other people. I saw on the news about the attack in Roswell?”

  Brad walked to the back of the store, away from the old-timer that was paying him too much attention. “Yeah, saw it with my own eyes.”

  “The news was saying it was a werewolf?”

  Brad sucked in a breath. “That’s as good as any description. It killed two that I know of. Would have been worse, but someone confronted it and I managed to get the bus out of the way.”

  “You were directly involved?”

  “Yeah. Just my luck.”

  “You okay?”

  “I’m fine. How’s Ben?”

  “Err… he’s fine. Hey, I wondered if you had any more information about all the craziness? These creatures are appearing across the country. You hear anything about the matter getting better? Worse?”

  “All indications I’m getting is that things are getting worse. The reports are coming in faster from all over. I’m not seeing a pattern. I’m—” Brad looked back across the store. The old guy had left. “— Stocking up on some extra supplies. Already got a lot in the storage, but it can’t help to have more. I suggest you do the same.”

  “Yeah, maybe, although I don’t plan on staying here if it gets worse. Probably not a good idea to be in any big city. I was thinking of heading east to Arizona.”

  “That might be wise. Well if you keep on going, you know where I am.”

  “Yeah, I better be getting back. If you find out anything, I’ll be glad to know.”

  “Will do. Stay safe, Grant.”

  “You too.”

  Brad’s phone returned to the home screen. He looked across the mostly full shelves that sat within the empty aisles, and then to the setting sun outside. The neon light of a hardware store flickered in the gloom across the street. They looked like they were still open. A sign caught his eye.

  ‘Guns and ammo inside.’

  *****

  Grant walked up the hill that led up to the corner the apartment block was on. As he did, Brad’s words rolled through his mind. The area around him seemed fairly quiet. No police sirens or helicopters overhead. No hint of monsters lurking in the shadows, but still, the UFO guy was probably right, despite the bits he bought on the way there, it might be worth stocking up. He was glad to have the pickup, he could fit a lot in the back.

  In his mind, he started to plan out what he would buy with his newfound cash.

  Two person tent, camping stove… no, a few tents, blankets…

  If the problem with the strange creatures went away, then it would just have been a few months camping out. He could teach Ben some of what his father taught him and get to spend some time with his son. All in all, it wouldn’t be terrible.

  He crossed the street to the apartment block. As he neared the hallway entrance, he noticed another vehicle was parked alongside his pickup around the corner. It was a plain sedan, the kind the government gave out.

  As he watched, a thickset man got out, with short dark hair. His light blue shirt had rolled up sleeves, and a gun holster rested across his shoulder. On his belt, the metal of a badge looked orange in the fading light.

  Grant quickly walked through the hallway into the courtyard. He was sure the man was Hendricks.

  His mind was a fury of conflictions.

  Should I warn her?

  Don’t get involved, not your problem.

  But this guy could be dangerous.

  Think about Ben. Not your problem…

  He quickened his pace. Instead of walking up the stone steps to the first floor, he kept on walking into another hallway, and then banged on the white door of a ground-floor apartment.

  “Come on…”

  The door sprung open. Gabriel looked back at him.

  Grant pushed inside and closed the door.

  He ignored Gabriel’s reaction and looked at Luciana looking at him from the hallway. “He’s here!”

  A brief moment of confusion quickly left her face. “How?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Come with me, to my apartment.” He moved backwards the door.

  She grabbed her bag and her jacket and moved in the same direction but stopped when hearing footsteps outside.

  “Is there another way out of here?” said Grant.

  The doorbell buzzed.

  “Gabriel Acosta! Open up, it’s the FBI.”

  Gabriel and his half-sister looked at Grant, who took a deep breath.

  “Open the door,” said Grant.

  Gabriel did, and the two FBI agents stood in the doorway.

  Mason’s eyes lingered on Luciana until finally moving past Gabriel to Grant. “You’re the one that brought her here, aren’t you? The ex-detective?”

  “And you are?”

  Mason walked forward. Gabriel stood in his way, just a few inches from him. Mason looked at him. “Get out of my way.”

  Grant’s eyes flicked between Mason and his partner.

  “I’m here to talk to Luciana.”

  “That’s not gonna happen,” said Gabriel, looking at him directly in his eyes.

  Hoang’s hand slowly moved to his side.

  Grant weighed up the options. None of them were good.

  Mason slid his hand to his side and pulled his Glock from his holster, holding it to the side of Gabriel’s head.

  Grant went to move forward, but Hoang pulled his gun and aimed it directly at him.

  “It doesn’t have to go down like this, Luci.”

  She delved into her bag, pulling out bundles of dollars. “Here, I have your money, take it.”

  Mason’s expression turned to frustration. “I don’t care about the money! You know what I want!”

  Grant looked between them, finally settling on Luciana. Her face was one of defiance.

  “Fine, this is on you—”

  The air filled with a siren. It was the kind of noise you might hear in an old black-and-white movie, the kind that you couldn’t ignore.

  Everyone looked at Mason.

  Shouts came from outside in the street.

  Mason’s eyes flickered in frustration. He looked over his shoulder at his partner. “Go see what’s going on outside.” Hoang wavered. “I got this. Just go.”

  Hoang moved out of sight.

  “I want the thumb drive, Luci.”

  A single trickle of sweat crept down Gabriel’s forehead, but he stood his ground.

  “If I give you that, then what’s stopping you from ending me?”

  “I wouldn’t do that, Luci.”

  “I know what you’re capable of!”

  Grant was hoping Mason hadn’t realized that he was inching towards him.

  A roar of jet engines briefly overwhelmed the air-raid siren that was continuing.

  Hoang appeared in the doorway. “You better come out here,” h
e said to his partner.

  Booms played out in the distance and the ground shook.

  Mason gritted his teeth. He looked past Gabriel to Luciana. “Stay here. We’re not done.” He then turned and disappeared down the hallway with Hoang.

  Gabriel sighed then looked at his sister. “You should go before they return.”

  More booms rang out.

  Despite the situation he found himself in, a voice at the back of Grant’s mind was urging him to go outside. He looked at both of them. “Let's see what’s going on outside.”

  They all took the same route the two FBI agents went, traveling the fifteen feet down the hallway, through an arch and onto the sidewalk which ran up and down the hill.

  The street was filled with people, some looking up at the dark blue sky, but most were looking down to the bay area, which was full of fire and neon streaks.

  “What the hell…” said Grant.

  Mason and Hoang stood a few yards in front of him. The former was waving his cell phone through the air while swearing.

  Another explosion rang out and the ground shook. Screams accompanied people running left and right. Grant turned and ran back through the hallway, across the courtyard and up to the second floor, the door to his apartment was already ajar. Inside, everyone was at the living room window, which faced south towards the ocean, while an anxious-looking reporter in a flak jacket and helmet spoke into a handheld microphone on the TV.

  Grant went to talk to Ben who was looking into the distance with the others, but instead, he stopped, mouth agape at the flashes and streaks of light that were just visible. A battle was happening just a few miles from them.

  “We… we are being kept back by the military, but as you can see behind me, some kind of operation is taking—”

  A booming roar bellowed out from the television, but those in the room felt it against the windows in front of them.

  “What was that?” said Sofia.

  Estella crossed her chest with her hand.

  Grant’s attention was drawn to the flat-screen television. The reporter’s cameraman was racing up some stairs, following the reporter. They stopped at a balcony that had a clear view of the beach and bay area.

  “My lord…” said the reporter.

  “What are those?” said Estella, looking at the TV.

  “Monsters…” said Ben under his breath.

  On the screen, two dark forms, each one a few stories high, swayed on the sandy grass, trying to avoid the torrent of shells raining down upon them. Powerful beams from helicopters buzzing around their semi-truck-sized heads seemed to irritate them, and they swiped across the sky with arms the size of redwoods. Rockets sliced through the air and exploded against their leathery hides, but that just brought forth more roars.

  “Studio, are you getting all this?” said the reporter, but there was no reply.

  The attackers on the sandy grass looked like toy soldiers compared to the things that had slithered from the ocean.

  “I… I think one of these things is weakening,” said the reporter.

  On cue, one of the leviathans staggered to its side, its front legs buckling. The neon orange streams converged on it, and it snapped at the air with multiple rows of teeth that shone in the searchlights. With a final roar, it collapsed to the ground.

  The other creature, seemingly angered by the other’s fall, surged across the grass and onto the sidewalk and road, just yards from the reporter and cameraman, who both ducked instinctively below the balcony wall.

  The view from the camera shuddered and bullets pinged off the walls around them. The reporter tried talking into his mike, but the fury around him overwhelmed any noise he made. The world became a mass of roars, screams, hissing, and explosive impacts, until, with an almighty crashing noise, the camera shook violently for a few seconds.

  Then silence…

  Grant hadn’t realized that Gabriel, Luciana, Mason, and Hoang were standing in the hallway behind him, also watching the television.

  Mason moved closer to Luciana, but before he got to within a few inches, he realized her hand was out. He placed his hand under hers, and a small black plastic stick fell into his grasp.

  She briefly looked at him before returning to the TV screen. “Take it. I don’t think it matters anymore.”

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

  “Sorry, but we were unable to connect your call. Please try again later.”

  Brad looked at his cell phone, then placed it down on his desk. He had watched the footage from San Diego seven times already, after each shocking viewing trying to call Grant with no success.

  He sat in the dim light of a few lamps around his basement room and picked up the glass of golden liquid and went to take a sip before realizing it was empty.

  He had picked up a few more bottles from the store earlier to add to the stash he already had, but he had a feeling he was never going to have enough anyway.

  For most of the day, he had been collating information from around the country and further afield. He had discussions with those he respected online, and the general feeling was the same from everyone. That something big was going down, and the governments of the world didn’t have a clue how to stop it. Strange creatures were appearing across the globe, most of which were deadly to any humans foolish enough to get near them. Some of his friends put forward the alien theory. If there were crazy monsters running around, then they had to have come from space, right? A few days earlier he would have agreed, but since then another idea had been percolating around his mind. It was first sparked from the woman in Idaho, and her dog's discovery of strange husks in the woods, and it was cemented when the worker at the stadium showed him what had become of the dog's cage.

  The earth’s animals were changing, and the government knew but seemed powerless to stop it. The things they were becoming, were generally larger, stronger, faster. They were predators. You didn’t need to be a scientist to know that didn’t bode well for humans.

  For most of the day, he had the same sensation he would have before a storm would roll into town. The air was thick with potential. A wave was coming.

  He looked at the bottle on his desk, it too was empty. He sighed, then looked at the small picture frame sitting on top of his old ham radio box, the one he hadn’t used in years.

  “Something bad is coming, Marie… Guess I better start battening down the hatches.”

  His mind drifted to the sounds of the dogs barking at the stadium and the faces of the owners who would rather die than let them be put down. He wondered where those dogs were now.

  On his screen, news footage showed military deployment. Tanks and other military hardware being moved to the west coast as that is where the worst of the incidents seemed to be happening. All of the uniforms made him think about his father, who was a USAF officer for many years. It also made him think of Elizabeth Trow. An army friend of his wife’s. They hadn’t talked since she passed. He wondered what she knew.

  He picked up his phone and scrolled through the contacts. Trow’s number wasn’t there.

  I’ll find her number in the morning.

  He slowly got to his feet, then fell straight back into his chair.

  Think I’ll just stay here a while.

  *****

  The apartment was quiet.

  Grant looked out of the bedroom window, leaning against the wall. He had lost count of how long he had been standing there, but he figured it was over an hour. During that time, he had seen people hastily throwing their possessions into their cars and screeching away into the night. He didn’t blame them. They were two miles from where the army battled giant monsters. Not somewhere you want to be.

  For most of the time he was there, his gaze had been fixed on the bay and the chaos of lights there. As far as he knew, the bodies of the things that came from the sea were still lying on the beach. They had all stayed up for some time watching the news footage, and the soldiers climbing over their victory like game hunters displaying their k
ill. There was also preparations. Tanks were now lined up along the road which skirted the coastline, and spotlights from helicopters could often be seen searching the oily depths of the ocean.

  He looked back at his son sleeping and sighed. He was a good kid, and although he would never admit it to her, had his mother’s strength. He had an awful feeling that he was going to need it in the coming days, weeks… who knows how long.

  Whatever was causing these things to appear didn’t seem to be going anywhere anytime soon, actually, it was getting worse. The news was now story after story of people witnessing animals that just a week prior, didn’t just not exist, but could not exist. A parade of scientists and doctors sat and proclaimed how what was happening was impossible, and that the most likely explanation involved aliens. These things had somehow either fallen from the sky or had entered through ‘inter-dimensional’ portals.

  None of that mattered to Grant. But it was obvious no one knew how to stop it. And that meant he wasn’t going back to LA anytime soon.

  But where to now?

  San Diego didn’t exactly seem safe, being so close to the ocean.

  Need to head inland.

  He now had more money than any in the group. Mason, despite saying he wasn’t interested in Luciana’s money, took it anyway, along with whatever else she had of his. He asked where the other twenty thousand dollars had gone. Luciana said she spent it, luckily he believed her.

  Grant now had roughly fifteen thousand dollars. It was going to have to be enough. In the morning they would pack up, and he and Ben would go east to Arizona. He would leave another month’s worth of rent for the Cuestas and some money for food and be on his way. No more sea monsters for him.

  He needed some air.

  He took one last look at the specks of light in the distance then slipped his shoes back on and quietly left the apartment. Walking down two floors to the courtyard, he went to the hallway which led to the street, when he heard a noise from the shadows.

  “Not a time to feel safe is it,” said a man seated at one of the garden tables. The orange cinders of a cigar glowed momentarily, then dimmed.