Greenhaus:Storm

by Reckelhoff, Bryan

  Once all were aboard, it didn’t take long for Jeremiah to start in on the rest of the group, “Alright, old-timer, now lead the way to these caves. We will start there,” Jeremiah said.

  “It’s easy. First, find the ragin’ muddy river and follow it south, until the stone levee breaks,” Niles said. “From there I should be able to find the caves and then the Oasis.”

  “You and this damned talk. Ain’t nothing out here but dust and dirt.” Jeremiah lashed out at Niles. “Dust and dirt!” he exclaimed. “I am not going south to look for a bunch of fairy-tale crap that doesn’t exist. I’m doin’ it cuz I don’t wanna die, plain and simple. The air is deadly up here, so is the water.” Then he put his arm around Ren and whispered in her ear, “Plus I think me and you are gonna have a lot of fun together after I ditch these two.”

  Ren cringed and tried to pull away, but he just pulled her in tighter. Jeremiah’s patience continued to be tested with every mention of the Oasis. His frustration was no longer subtle, it was visible and vocal. Ren changed the subject as she wiggled out from under his arm, saving Niles from taking a verbal beating.

  “What do you supposed happened to Ella and the rest of our camp?” asked Ren.

  “My guess…is that they are gone. All of them,” Jeremiah snapped. “What do you think?” he asked, not waiting for a reply. “The Rangers have weapons the likes of which most can’t even imagine. Their guns never run out of ammo, whatever it is. They don’t shoot bullets, but some sort of energy. I have seen the Rangers in action and they are far too formidable to be defeated by the lot we sent to the glass. The camp is dead and gone.”

  Only the rumble of the engine and the mask breathing kept it from being completely quiet. Ren remained silent for over an hour, saddened by the probable loss of her friend Ella as well as the rest of the camp. The three men began talking again, but she tuned them out. Her ears perked up when she heard her name.

  “And I’m not sure why,” Jeremiah stated, “but Ella took a great liking to you, Ren. Made me promise to look out for you and take you with me. She really believed in you as a camp leader, but I have other plans for you,” he laughed.

  Well, she certainly had ZERO faith in you as our new leader, that’s for sure.

  Ren bit her tongue, not wanting to reveal what Ella had said about Jeremiah and his poor leadership skills. Ignoring the last part of his comment, she replied, “I dunno why either.” A fear was beginning to overtake her. Jeremiah’s dark side had revealed itself.

  The ride was neither smooth nor quiet. The treads beneath them conquered every bump, chasm, hill, and valley in its path. They rode the entire day, stopping only to fuel up. After a second pit stop, Jeremiah took inventory of how much fuel remained. “We have used about half of our reserves. We won’t make it another day, unless we find more fuel,” he explained.

  “If we go slower, we can stretch the mileage we are getting. Far enough to get where we are going,” Niles said, climbing down the hatch into the cockpit.

  “Says you,” Jeremiah huffed. “What are you, some sort of expert? I know a lot more than you about these, Niles. Remember, we had the Beast long before these arrived.”

  Niles mumbled something under his breath and declined to elaborate when Jeremiah asked, doing his best to avoid conflict in the small space. The quartet continued on their journey southward, following the muddy river. Ren steered the conversation, to avoid having the Oasis enter the discussion, hoping nothing would trigger more crude comments from Jeremiah. Just before dark set in, Niles again shut down the rumbling green menace for a short break. After donning their protective masks, they exited the vehicle to take notice of the terrain around them.

  Dust and dirt. I’m beginning to believe Jeremiah is right. Nothing but dust and dirt, Ren thought.

  Despite Ren’s best efforts, the conversation inevitably gravitated toward talk of Niles’ Oasis, and Jeremiah’s anger level rose every time it did. Being cramped into such small spaces was enough to set anyone off, but Ren was sure rehashing the same tired conversation over and over is what sent Jeremiah over the edge. “Dust and dirt,” Jeremiah said, repeating his earlier sentiments. “That’s all there is out here. What if the others have gotten in? We should have gone with them, or at least attacked in the second wave, so we’d know for sure what happened,” he said, exhibiting his inconsistent thought process. Just earlier in the day he was certain they all had perished.

  “They went to attack,” Ren replied. “If they were successful, don’t you think they would have sent for us? You said it yourself. They are gone.”

  “Maybe,” Jeremiah angrily answered. “But how are we better off than they are now? We shoulda died with them. Or we coulda just stayed at the fortress, where we’d be safe, instead of here, lost and runnin’ out of food and fuel.”

  “But unlike the others, we are still living,” Niles interjected.

  “This is not livin’,” yelled Jeremiah. “This is dyin’. We will run out of food soon and there is nothin’ but dust and dirt, everywhere you look. Dust and dirt,” he shouted at the top of his lungs.

  Niles answered back, “That may be true, but in places that we cannot see now, there are indeed trees. Lots and lots of them. Plenty of food too, not the grubs and tubers you are used to. And there is no need for these stupid masks there either. Animals roam the forest and there are fish aplenty in the waters. Plenty for all, and we have many others that…”

  He would have continued, but a near-the-brink Jeremiah finally snapped, showing a side of him that others in the Storm camp had not seen. He pushed Niles down, a cloud of dust rising as he met the earth with a thud. “Ramble no more, old man. I will hear no more talk about trees or animals, understand? I’m callin’ the shots ‘round here, and I say shut it.”

  Niles hit the ground hard and was slow to rise to his feet. He stared up at Jeremiah, a full head shorter than him, and defiantly informed him, “There are trees. And animals too, you small-minded fool. I’ve seen ‘em myself. Hunted and ate ‘em. Climbed the trees too. And I will talk about ‘em, big boy,” Niles said as he poked his right index finger into the chest of the much larger Jeremiah. “And I will continue to search for them, until I find them again and there isn’t a damn thing you or anyone else can do about it, Jack,” he proclaimed as he repeatedly poked Jeremiah.

  Incensed, Jeremiah grabbed his finger and bent it back with great force. Niles fell to a knee as Jeremiah declared, “I already told you once old man, pipe down about the trees. I don’t wanna hear no more about it or I will cut out your tongue.” Jeremiah eased off on the pressure applied to the bent joint, allowing Niles to return to his feet.

  Niles looked to Jordan, nodded, and winked his left eye, then ran his free hand back and forth across the left side of his face before he said, “I can certainly solve that problem.”

  In an instant, Niles yanked his finger free of Jeremiah’s grasp. Jordan entered the fracas by locking Jeremiah’s left arm in a triangle bar behind his head, dropping the mountain of a man to his knees.

  Niles grabbed Jeremiah’s free arm, bent it behind his back and pushed him face forward to the ground. A blade appeared from nowhere and Jeremiah screamed in pain as Niles sawed off his ear. To silence his blood-curdling screams, Niles stuffed the severed ear in Jeremiah’s mouth before the duo bound and gagged him, leaving him to rot.

  Ren thought about running; she was younger and faster and knew she could get away. Before her instincts could kick in, Niles changed her mind.

  “Now you listen here, I was a General in the United States armed forces, the greatest fighting force this planet has ever seen. I take orders from no one. Not you, or anyone else. And neither do these two,” Niles said as he pointed to Ren and Jordan. “You could have been a part of something huge, big boy, but your mind is small. As far as this traveling quartet goes, consider yourself demoted.” Niles removed his mask and placed it just inches from Jeremiah’s face.

  Jasper followed suit, turned his head toward Re
n and said, “We have no need for these any longer.”

  Ren couldn’t so easily discard her mask. Their masks were generic and plain, given to them when they were brought to the camp such a short time ago. Her mask was different. For many years it was her lifeline. It allowed her to breathe and it told her story. Every camp she’d ever been a part of had representation on the front, plus a notch for every year she survived. She removed it and took a draw of air. For the first time in her life, the air didn’t sting. Ren held the mask at an arm’s length and stared at her past. Her reluctance to discard it ended. The mask fell in the dirt next to the others.

  After discarding a large part of her past, Ren chased her future. Though she knew it was wrong, she returned to deliver a swift boot to Jeremiah’s ribs. Even though he was bound, she still feared him and sprinted back toward Niles and Jordan. The engine started and she closed the hatch. The trio left the burly bully for the grubs. Jeremiah screamed in agony for them to come back, and continued to do so long after they were out of sight.

  Chapter 34 (Jacob Niles)

  After exiting his Beebe, Jacob blasted through the arrivals terminal, bag in hand. Workers repairing the fleur-de-lis hanging above the terminal exit attempted to reroute Jacob around the work site, but he ignored their requests, running directly through the roped off area on his way to the central desk. He rang the buzzer and looked back toward the arrivals terminal for Sylvia, anxious to ask if she had seen the same thing that he had.

  A familiar face appeared through the floor and wasn’t given time to breathe. “Cole, is there any word from New St. Louis?” Jacob frantically asked. He could tell by the look on Cole’s face that something had indeed happened. The news didn’t appear to be good. “Cole, tell me what you know,” he demanded, pounding his fist on the glass counter while trembling.

  “I will, Jacob, but we should wait for Sylvia,” Cole responded.

  “But it’s not her home. Her mother doesn’t live there,” he loudly protested. “Mine does. Mine,” he yelled while forcefully closing the cover on the flat screen display panel.

  “Jacob, calm down. You’re inviting unwanted attention,” Cole quietly instructed him as many eyes turned their way.

  Struggling to keep his emotions in check, Jacob tapped his foot waiting for Sylvia to arrive. Scared by what he had seen heading toward his home ‘Haus, his mind could only think the worst. A long caravan of marching foot soldiers that had stretched almost a half mile had preceded four separate trails of dust. From the tube’s height and position, he hadn’t seen much detail, but could only assume the army to have malicious intent.

  Sylvia finally arrived and joined them at the long desk. Cole spelled out the details. “The news out of New St. Louis isn’t good.” His voice dropped, confirming Jacob’s worst fears. “They were hit by the same things that blasted the huge holes in the walls here. The info coming in is still sketchy, but this is easily the worst attack in the history of the Greenhaus colonies. We can only assume more will be coming.”

  “What about the crews in 23, did they make it out?” asked Jacob.

  “Wes Freely did, but only by a matter of minutes. Bagwell and Green weren’t so lucky, both nodded off in Decon during the transfusion stage,” Cole told them. “The other crews were long gone, but there were several Medics who perished in addition to twenty-two civilians and uncounted Rangers. Lost several Teslas too. Annex 22 was badly damaged and 23 almost completely destroyed. The unfinished dome has collapsed.”

  Jacob gasped and fell to the ground, the shocking death of his two longtime co-workers too much to bear. He pulled himself up with the help of Sylvia. “I have to get home,” he insisted. “I have to! Next Bullet to New St. Louis please.”

  “No can do, my friend, you are stuck here. We all are,” Cole regretfully informed him. “Department of Transportation issued a ‘cease travel’ edict on orders from the Commissioner’s Assembly, shutting down the entire grid. Rangers will scour the area around New St. Louis and analyze the potential threat of further attacks,” Cole explained. “I’m locked out of the system, couldn’t even sneak you on if I wanted to. Look, the outgoing terminals are powered down.” Cole pointed to the darkened terminals. He pressed a few buttons and flipped some switches.” They have overridden my controls. Repairs could take weeks; there is no telling when travel will reopen.”

  “Does this happen often?” Jacob asked, pacing the floor in front of the desk.

  “The shutdown is unprecedented,” Cole answered. “The Commissioner’s Assembly, minus Vice Commissioner Needles, who remains here, is holding an emergency session to formulate a response. Commissioner Law is worried the rest of the Outsiders in the area could target the traveling tubes’ support towers with these powerful attack vessels. They may have more range than our coils, rendering the defenses ineffective.”

  Hazel Eyes. Jacob couldn’t help but wonder if she was involved, if the dirty, malnourished, wispy figure he had met through the glass was there only to spy on his home colony while she plotted its doom. Was the pain in her eyes real? Or was she only scared she would be caught? Could the girl that he left food for, the girl he allowed to escape, been involved? Have I unwittingly helped the enemy? The trouble I would be in if anybody knew.

  Not that his own trouble was at the forefront of his concerns. Jacob worried more about the place he called home, and his fellow workers who would never return to the beams again. The Medics, the civilians, the collapsing dome all took precedence. The chance that he had been seen was somewhere between slim and none. He had been careful to be sure no one was watching, and did his best to hide, but also knew that in the ‘Haus, one could never be entirely certain there wasn’t an undetected pair of spying eyes.

  “Jacob, are you okay?” a concerned Sylvia asked.

  “No, I wanna go home. I need to know my mother is safe,” Jacob replied.

  “She is. She will be brought to Engineering HQ. The department heads of Engineering, Recycling, and the Rangers are meeting as we speak,” Cole interjected.

  “Why would they take her there? What does she have to do with any of this?” Jacob wondered aloud.

  “That information cannot be divulged here,” Cole explained as he lowered the volume of his voice and covered his mouth.

  “Jacob, you are losing focus and causing a scene again. People are always watching,” Sylvia whispered into his ear. “Quickly, come.” She grabbed his arm and pulled him away.

  If it was five minutes or five hours, it didn’t matter. Time was standing still for Jacob. Sylvia pulled him along at a brisk pace while his mind spun. It wasn’t long before they were descending the ladder into the underground tunnel, hopping aboard an ATV, and zooming toward the Oasis, the entire trip a blur to Jacob. The pace was furious and neither spoke until reaching their speakfreely sanctuary on the Outside.

  Jacob was the first to dismount after coming to a stop near the bust of his father. “Sylvia, what is going on, and how is my mother tied up in all of this? What are you not telling me?”

  “Jacob, I promise I wanted to tell you. It was on the list of things to cover during the next six weeks. Your mother is a silent member of the Whisperers…”

  Jacob interrupted her. “One of the redacted names from the list then?”

  “No, she is off the Whisperer rolls completely, in case we are discovered. She is what we call ‘a seedling’, someone who knows enough to restart our cause if the existence of our group is made known and we are eliminated. Only the higher-ups and training agents like me know of their existence,” explained Sylvia. “The good news is that she has vouched for your sealed lips and ability to keep information confidential. Not disclosing your involvement in our organization to her was a huge test. I’ve been green-lighted to begin your next training mods, but Jacob, I am not sure you are ready for some of what I am going to tell you.”

  “What makes you say that?” he asked.

  “You almost lost it at the central desk, twice,” Sylvia said. “We can�
�t have that. We can’t have you become suspect to the watchers. You, like all in Engineering, are too easy to get to with your daily decons and the resulting lapses in consciousness.”

  The synapses quickly fired in his head, connecting Sylvia’s last statement and the last thing Doyle had told him. “Medical,” he blurted out.

  “Huh?” asked Sylvia.

  “Medical,” he repeated. “They have access to our records. They can easily get to anyone. Plus, if we suspect mind control and breeding programs, who better to be in charge of something like that.”

  “Mind control, who said anything about mind control?” Sylvia asked.

  Without thinking, Jacob responded, “Doyle. He said some people on the Outside have been discovered to have EPC’s, but their memories have been erased. He suspects it might be just as easy to program someone. After I find the mole, my next mission will be to look for these programs.” He could tell by the reaction on Sylvia’s face she did not have this information. ‘Keep quiet and stay safe. Sylvia has the rest of the details,’ Doyle’s words echoed in his head. Sylvia has the rest of the details, he repeated. Meaning, she doesn’t have all of them.

  Jacob didn’t keep quiet as Doyle had advised. Now he had to wonder whether or not he was safe.

  Chapter 35 (Ren Fire)

  “It’s time we let you in on a little secret we’ve been keeping,” Niles said to Ren. “Now that we’ve jettisoned the excess baggage, we have a few things to tell you. To begin, my full name is Harvard Niles, and this is my half-brother, Jasper Jordan.”

  Ren looked them both up and down, looking for the resemblance. She saw little to indicate any relation, but kept staring.

  Niles clapped his hands and asked, “Now that it’s just the three of us, is there anything you’d like to ask us?”