by Maxey, Phil
The general was the only person he had on the ‘inside.’
Should have pushed harder.
Hearing her voice though brought back memories. Images and sights and sounds he thought were long buried. He’d find out more next time. Maybe he could find out more through his internet contacts, and present her with what he suspected, see how she reacts.
She’s not the enemy.
The phrase jumped into his head, almost as if it had come from his late wife. She was always his conscience.
He had spent most of the day boarding up the ground floor windows and placing a number of candles in each room. Tomorrow's job was the door to the basement. He always wanted to replace the flimsy wooden construction with something more secure.
He got up and pulled the door which led to the side of the property open. Shadows from the late afternoon sun had already filled the small series of steps outside. He pulled the door back and forth, looking at the hinges.
Probably going to have to replace the entire frame.
A thudding noise came from behind his garden wall some yards away. Brad walked up and onto the ground level, following the sound of a man grunting.
He stood next to the wall, which was at least a foot taller than him. “That you, Carl?”
The sigh was audible. “Yeah.”
“Doing some gardening?” There was silence. “Carl?”
“I had to do it, Brad.” Another thud, followed by dirt falling to the ground.
“Do what? What did you do?” Brad was becoming frustrated looking at the brickwork in front of him.
“I saw what the president said. Ain’t no dog catcher going to take Baxter. Have him alone, at his age in a cage… Had to do it.”
More digging.
Brad could guess what his neighbor had done. It explained the lack of barking.
“You want a drink? I got a good bottle of whiskey here if you want to come over.”
Carl’s shovel dug into the ground once again. “Maybe later.”
*****
Galo handed Gabriel a beer, who was seated in the living room. He immediately took more than a few gulps. Outside the sun had set, replaced with the distant sparkling lights that were now a constant feature on the seafront.
“Did you get a good look at it?” said Estella to Gabriel.
He shook his head. “I… couldn’t tell if it was like… one thing or lots of things… I just saw parts of it. Tentacles. They were… people died. A whole group of them. It didn’t matter if they were young, or old, or what. The thing or things just attacked them.”
She looked at Grant. “Did you see it?”
He shook his head.
She looked at her husband. “What about on the beach? Did you see the monsters there?”
Galo shook his head too. “Couldn’t get close. They had the streets around the seafront blocked. But me and Sofia went up a few floors on an apartment block, and we could see a little more. There were these two large things. Like someone had dumped a pile of dirt on the beach and made two small hills. They were covered up, and all these people walking around them.”
“On the news, they said that the Navy is building pontoons a mile out, along the coast to stop—”
Galo shook his head. “There was no stopping those things. If they came from the ocean. They’re too big.”
“—Well, warn people then. They are going to do it all along the western seaboard.”
“That’s some undertaking,” said Grant.
Estella looked back to Gabriel. “You think the things you saw came from the sea?”
He slightly shook his head. “I dunno. Maybe. They had octopus tentacles, so maybe.”
“The things at LAX came in from the sea. And I saw something in the LA canal, maybe it came from there as well,” said Grant.
“So if they can stop them from the sea, then we should be okay?”
Everyone looked at Sofia standing in the doorway from the hall.
Grant knew they didn’t all come from the sea. Roswell was nowhere near the coast, and the monster locator app he had confirmed there were already thousands of sightings inland. He nodded and smiled to Sofia anyway.
A knock came at the front door.
They all looked at each other.
Grant got up. “I’ll go.” He opened the door to Luciana; her dress was even shorter than usual.
“Gabriel here?”
“Yeah, why? Where you been?”
She looked away. “Tell him Clifton is waiting for him at his apartment.” She walked off down the hall. Grant stepped outside. “Hey, where you been?”
She carried on walking, disappearing into the stairwell her high heels betraying her descent down the stairs.
Gabriel appeared in the doorway and handed the beer to Grant. “Thanks. I need to go. Maybe we can talk more later.”
Grant watched the young man run after his sister.
“Sure…”
Grant moved back into the living room. “Hey, I gotta go do something,” he said to Galo.
“Where you going?” said Ben, standing in the hallway.
Grant grabbed his jacket and car keys. “Just need to check on something. I shouldn’t be long.” He looked out of the window down to the parking lot. Gabriel and Luciana were leaving with the ‘big’ guy in a dark red sedan.
Grant ran out, forgetting to close the apartment door, and was in his pickup just as the sedan was driving down the long road they came in on a day earlier.
He quickly reversed out and made after them.
At night the city looked similar to how it did during the day, but with less activity. The curfew kept most off the roads, but the sedan took a route of winding narrow streets that weaved through suburban neighborhoods, eventually passing under freeways and then to the outskirts and into the hills. Grant made sure to keep enough of a distance so not to arouse suspicion.
The rear lights of the car he was following eventually stopped at a gate with guards, who waved the sedan through. Grant parked at the side of the road around a bend, so not to be visible.
Getting out, he ducked between the wooden beams of an old fence and made his way along a dry creek. There was just enough light left from the day to allow him to miss stepping on most large stones and boulders. The dark ragged shapes of mountains were stark against the coming night. He scrambled up a bank, then immediately fell to his stomach on seeing the light seeping from a large block-shaped building which looked like it had been a factory in a former existence. A field alongside had been turned into a temporary parking lot and was filled with vehicles.
A rumble of excitement was audible even from a mile away. Three individuals, one much taller than the rest approached the guards at the entrance.
Suddenly in the light above the door, Grant could just about see Luciana and Gabriel. They moved inside.
He jogged down the sandy bank and onto the level surface. He was pretty sure with the night sky behind him, he wouldn’t be seen, and he quickly got to the first of the vehicles.
An undulation of roars, mixed with other noises, sounds he had no reference for, emanated from the building.
Keeping low, he ran along a column of cars, some of which had wagons attached to them. He wondered if, within the walls ahead of him, livestock was being bid on, although he couldn’t understand what would cause such glee from the spectators.
He made it to the final row of vehicles, before a twenty-foot gap of flat ground.
No cover.
He still hadn’t figured a way inside, he just hoped when he was closer, a route would reveal itself.
Noticing the guards were both looking the other way, he sprinted forward and made it to the wall, trying to catch his breath.
His gamble paid off, for further along the side of the building a dull glow crept from the underneath of another door, this one unguarded.
He was quickly at it and trying the handle. Opening it revealed cattle pens, and a wall of noise so loud he immediately crouched, being prepared to be appre
hended. But there was only hay, steel bars, and the sound of bloodlust.
The strange noises were now also clearer, but not anymore definable. Squeals mixed with roars, accompanying a wave of excitement.
Making his way past the stalls, he came to a door that was shaking as thuds and crunching sounds filled the air.
He slowly pulled the handle and walked into a cauldron of bodies.
The smell of sweat and blood hung in the air, along with odors which stung his nose. Pushing his way forward, finally, enough heads were clear from his view that he saw why they were all there.
In the center of the huge building, was a cage. He guessed it to be fifty feet square and reached an equal height.
A creature, which on first glance was some kind of huge bear slammed up against the five-inch thick silver bars, spraying the front row with blood. The creature roared in pain.
Grant pushed further forward.
“Oooh, that was a good attack from Octo Beast! But I think Insectobear is still in this!” A man, whose eyes bulged, stood on a platform that was attached to the bars. Around his face a headset.
The commentator was correct. The thing that took the hit, stood upright. Covered in dark brown fur, it had six appendages. Grant wasn’t sure if they were legs or arms, for the creature seemed to be able to stand on them regardless. He watched astonished as it thundered forward, towards its opponent, a being equally as unnatural.
The thing preparing itself for the attack looked as it if it had just crawled from the ocean. Tentacles, expanding outwards to at least fifteen feet, wavered through the air, as if it was still submerged.
Just as the bear-thing was on top of it, it deftly grabbed some of the cage’s bars, lifting itself above the other creature’s attack, then dropped down upon the poor beast’s head, completely enveloping it.
The six-legged bear flailed, crashing into the bars, sending everyone on that side backwards a step.
When the mutated octopus released its grip and rolled into a ball, rapidly moving to the other side, it was obvious the battle was over for there was nothing left of the other creature’s head.
A vapid smell filled the arena, making a number close by retch.
“And it’s over! ‘Octo Beast’ wins again!”
A number of men, with long metal poles, started stabbing the winner with them. It squealed and rolled into a tighter ball, now only ten feet in diameter. A mesh of metal fell on it from the top of the cage.
It was then Grant spotted Luciana.
A gate slid up in the cage allowing the same men to run inside. With electric prods, they corralled the thing to slither and roll back the way they had just come. Then, with her head held high, into the cage walked Luciana. Her almost nonexistent skirt sparkled, and she walked mannequin-like to the center of the area with a large board. It said something about the creatures that were to fight next, along with the current betting odds.
Grant pushed to be close to the bars, waving at her. He wasn’t sure if she had seen him, for her eyes remained glazed over as she walked around the side of the caged space. Whistles and hoots rang out from the crowd. Coins and empty bottles landed around her, but she remained passive and walked back to the open gate.
Grant moved along the side of the cage trying to get her attention. He stopped when he walked into a large man he had seen before. A hand clamped down on his shoulder.
“Clifton wants to see you.”
The man led Grant past the edge of the cage, and through a doorway into an equally large area full of smaller cages. Squawks and grunts filled the air with such noise that he felt as if he had wandered into a zoo.
As the big man walked on ahead, Grant couldn’t help but be hypnotized by the sights and sounds around him. One creature, which appeared to have insect-like wings, buzzed and flitted about inside its cage. When it finally landed, it’s claws holding onto the inside of the bars, it instantly changed color to match the metal around it. Grant almost lost sight of it against the bars.
Another thing, for ‘thing’ was the only definition he could apply to it, stomped around its cage, which was taller than the rest. It walked on two pole-like spindly legs, with jagged protrusions sprouting from them, and its torso was almost apelike with a chest, two arms, and a head with large eyes. Two men stood watching it, cattle prods at the ready.
“Keep up!” said the large guy ahead of Grant. He picked up the pace, and soon they were both walking down a narrow hallway and up a staircase.
The man nodded to another man of equal stature and then opened a door to a large room, which appeared to have a dual purpose of office and lounge. Luciana was sitting on a white sofa, a glass in her hand, Gabriel sat next to her.
Behind a desk sat Clifton smoking a cigar, to either side of him were two more men who had gun holsters across their shoulders.
“Grant Collins! A detective doing detective work and finding us here!” He looked up at the man to his right, get Grant a drink.
Grant raised his hand. “I’m fine.”
“Get him one anyway.”
The man started to pour some alcohol into a glass.
“So, what do you think of my establishment?”
“You’re fighting these creatures against themselves?”
“Hell, yeah, I am! I call it ‘Alien Battlefest!’” His hand painted the phrase in the air.
“We don’t know what they are…”
The man handed Grant his drink.
“Oh, I know what they are. They’re fifty K per night, that’s what they are. The way I see it, I’m providing a public service, we get these things off the streets, and people are entertained. It’s a win-win.”
“And what if they break out and kill everyone? They’re not pets.”
“Not yet! But why not? Yeah sure, some of these things are dangerous. But how are they any more dangerous than a big cat, or rattlesnake? Thousands of years ago, the world was full of giant lizards, now we’re here. We’ll always be here. You know why? Cos we got the smarts.” He pointed to his temple. “Sure, these things got sharp teeth or claws, but they are just dumb animals. Give it a few years, and we’ll be having them between two buns, some cheese, onions, and ketchup.”
“Don’t the authorities know what’s happening here?”
“Of course they do! Hell, I got half of the city council out there. They love it!”
Grant looked at Luciana and Gabriel, both who looked like they’d rather be anywhere but where they were. “What’s Luciana and Gabriel got to do with any of this?”
“Gabriel has certain skills when it comes to, shall we say documents. And Luci? Well, I mean, look at her, wouldn’t you like to have her around?” Clifton looked down briefly. “Or is that why you’re here? You got a thing for her? You got her out of LA, right? You looking to get some payback from her for that good deed?” Clifton grinned. Grant did his best to quell his building anger. “Oh, thanks for that, by the way. She had some real useful information on her. That ex of hers is going to do as he’s told when all this monster business settles down.”
Grant looked at Luciana, but she was looking the other way.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Brad poured half a glass of whiskey and handed it to Carl. Smears of dark brown covered his neighbor’s boots and pants.
The room they were in felt like a cage due to the boards across the windows. Brad sat in the other armchair and took a sip from his own glass.
“You know I had to do it, right?”
Brad sighed. “He was an old dog.”
“Yes, he was. Had him since he was a puppy. Janine used to fuss over him all the time, but I told her, that’s not how they learn. You need to be firm—” Carl’s mouth quivered. He took another sip.
“When’s Janine getting back?”
A wind made the boards clatter.
“Should have been back yesterday, but her flight was grounded… Not sure now. She’s looking into driving, but it’s not going to be cheap.”
“She’s
in Seattle?”
“Yup.”
Silence filled the room, as they both sipped.
“I saw that thing, over on Lear Street. At the junction.”
“You saw the monster?”
Brad nodded. “Was maybe twenty feet away from it.”
“What it look—”
A scuffling noise from outside made it through the walls of the living room.
“What was that?” said Carl.
Brad got to his feet. “Think it came from your property, towards the back.”
Carl stood and walked with a slight sway into the hallway, and then the kitchen. Brad followed and they both stood trying to see any movement in the dark outside.
Another noise, this one louder. Something hit the wall between the properties.
“What the hell is out there?” said Carl. He moved towards the door to the garden.
“Hey, hold on, let me get my rifle.” Brad jogged back into the hallway and down the stairs to the basement. The clean-looking weapon was leaning against the wall. It wasn’t loaded.
“Hold on, Carl!” he shouted upwards, not knowing if he was heard or not.
He pulled the box of ammo open and loaded the bullets into the magazine as quickly as he could, which was frustratingly slow. Once the five bullets were in the slim metal container, he slid it into the bottom of the rifle and ran upstairs and back into the kitchen. Immediately, the cool air on his face told him Carl had gone outside.
He swore under his breath and walked to the door. “Carl!”
There was no response.
He backed up slightly and flicked the switch on the wall. A series of lights which were strung along the outside of the workshops lit up, bringing the entire area into sharp relief.
There was no Carl.
The sound of something being dragged came from the same direction as before. And then another noise, a sound he had never heard before but instantly recognized. With it came a putrid smell, drifting on the night air.
He wanted to shout his friend's name again outside, but fear stopped him. Every part of him was shouting that his neighbor of over eight years was gone. Now just a memory, like his dog. Like the bus driver… like Marie.