by Greg Ramsay
“You want backup?” Lia asked. Steele shook her head no.
“I’ll take Grant. You, Marks, and Black check the hangars.”
“Alright, let’s go then,” Lia said to John and Suzan.
Steele gestured for Grant to follow then entered the command post building. Lia and her new search team started walking toward the hangars. They observed their surroundings, carefully taking in every detail possible. A warm breeze pushed against them and toward the hangars like a guiding hand, the smooth concrete marked only by paint and dust. They reached the first of the hangars where one of many warning alarms could be heard blaring throughout its huge steel doors that had been left hanging open.
Lia said, “You guys scan the inside of the hangar for anything alive; I’ll check the second.”
Black and Marks entered the first hangar, checking each corner before advancing farther. Once they were inside, Lia walked just past the second of the big half doors, and noticed something. There was a pool of blood in between the door and the side of the hangar, just barely noticeable in the light. Lia swung the door out of the way and grimaced. A bunch of assault weapons, covered in blood and scratches, lay empty across the ground at various points. When Lia looked at the bottom of the pool she noticed something else –– a trail of blood leading toward the other hangar, as though the soldier had tried in vain to seek shelter in the hangar his blood leaving a trail. Lia could hear Grant saying he’d found casualties, then heard Black sigh sadly. Lia assumed they looked just like the unfortunate soldier she found. She turned away, following the trail of blood toward the other hangar. As she drew nearer to the hangar, she started to see more blood pools clustered around it. Lia looked at the other pools as she passed them. Strangely most had black feathers laying around them. Lia walked past the coagulated pools to the shut hangar doors, pulling their heavy latches apart. Glass fell from a window above the doors as she heaved them open; the broken-off shards fell to the ground at her feet. Lia noticed some were stained by blood.
Chapter 15 – Daughter
As she turned away from the birds, her boot crushed a shard of glass which was met with a shrill scream from within the base. Lia stood, immediately gripping her kynari ready to fight. She slowly walked into the hangar looking around for any threats. Thousands of shed black feathers lay, filling the hangar’s cement floor like a black pool. A destroyed door led away from the mostly empty room. A few cots lined the walls, enough for twelve soldiers. When she walked farther into the hangar heading toward the destroyed door she heard a small child crying. Lia quickened her pace jogging up to the door then tried to push it open. She could see the door was blocked by cabinets through holes in its body.
“Is anyone in there?!?” Lia called out. The crying continued, so after no response, Lia said, “If you can hear me, I’m coming in. I’m here to help.” Lia focused energy into her kynari to form a small blade then swung the blade through the inside of the door, cutting through its thick hinges. She grabbed the heavy metal door in both hands, holding her kynari in her mouth, and threw it to the ground behind her in two pieces. She then easily pushed the big cabinets out of her way. Holding her kynari in her hand ready as she entered the small room, Lia heard the small crying sounds stop for a moment. Lia glanced quickly around the room – papers and folders lay strewn around the floor; a desk lamp lay broken on the ground. Lia noticed the big metal desk with marks scratched in its surface just as she heard of movement.
A little girl’s head poked over the top of the desk. The little brunette slowly stood and turned toward Lia; tears flowed from her eyes. Her face was contorted into a look of absolute horror. Lia made her armour recede inside her. She took a step toward the girl, held out her hand for her, and the girl took it.
“What’s your name? Mine’s Lia.” The little girl’s eyes opened wide, she shook a little, and squeezed Lia’s hand. Lia crouched down and gently said, “You’re ok, I’m here to help you. What’s your name?”
The little girl looked at her, her body still shaking scared as she answered, “T..Tory...”
“Nice to meet you Tory, can you tell me what happened here?” Tory shook her head violently, trying to avoid repeating the horrible things she had seen. Lia’s expression turned to that of concern, and then of understanding. She put her arm on Tory’s shoulder, hoping to comfort her a little, but Tori quickly bent over. Lia cringed a little as Tory began retching on the floor, vomiting so hard she nearly fell over. Lia wrapped her arms around the little girl after she had finished, and held her tight, hugging her as she sobbed quietly.
Tory looked up at Lia, and asked, “Where’s my mommy?”
Lia looked toward the door of the office, noticing the shredded corpse of a woman, and replied, “Your mommy is just resting honey; the birdies made her tired.”
Tory looked up at Lia, her eyes wide open, still tearful and asked, “Can you help her too?”
Lia’s expression turned sombre. She forced a smile for the scared child, and replied, “Yup you should come with me; that way you can be safe. Your mommy wanted that.”
Tory looked at Lia, then looked at the corpse of her mother and said, “Ok.”
Lia smiled at her, and took her hand. “How about I carry you out of here quietly, so you don’t accidently bug your mommy while she sleeps?” Lia asked.
“Ok,” Tory replied. Lia grabbed the child under her arms, and hoisted her up, holding her snugly against her.
She started toward the office door, and as she passed by Tory’s mother, Tory said, “She’s not waking up, is she?” Tory’s eyes welled up again and she laid her head on Lia’s shoulder. Tory stayed in that position until Lia carried her out of the hangar, and Lia felt thankful she didn’t notice the bodies of the soldiers as they passed by. Lia carried Tory toward the first hangar, where she met up with Black and Grant. Black looked at Lia quizzically when she noticed a girl in her arms.
“There was nothing but bodies in our hangar; does that mean she’s the only survivor?”
Lia almost nodded, and then she stopped herself. “We should go rendezvous with Steele, see if she’s found anyone.”
Black and Grant nodded, turning to follow her as she walked toward the command building. As they neared the command building, Tory looked up from Lia’s shoulder. “Can I walk now?” Lia smiled at the little girl, and set her on her feet, gesturing for her to follow. Tory quietly followed Lia and her group to their destination. Lia did her best to ignore the flashes of holding a girl in her arms before seeing a mass of filth as she walked.
When they arrived at the command post, its large steel bay doors stood ajar, and Steele leaned against the side of the building waiting. “I see you found a survivor,” Steele said semi-surprised. “What’s your name kid?”
“Tory,” Tory answered.
“I’m Captain Bailey Steele; have you met my friends?”
“I met Lia,” Tory replied. Steele smiled; she could see the girl had been through a lot.
“The big tough guy over there is Private Bob Grant, the lady beside Lia is Gunny Suzan Black, and...” She paused noticing John hadn’t come out with her. “Anybody see where Marks went off to?” She called for him.
“Up here!” John called down from the top floor window of the command building. “I found a storage contents list; it says the storage is under the second hangar.”
“That’s good work,” Steele yelled up to him. “Come down here, Lia found a survivor.”
John grabbed the list from the commander’s drawer, and made his way down from the building’s third floor where the office was located. John walked casually from the command building, stopping beside Lia. He held out his hand for the little girl, and said, “I’m John, what’s your name?”
Tory took his hand smiling when he shook them, and answered, “I’m Tory.”
John smiled, “It’s nice to meet you Tory. Do you live here?”
“Ya, I live here with my mommy, and the nice soldiers that stay here.” Tory looked sad
a moment, then regained her composure; John looked concerned. Before he asked Lia shook her head no.
John’s expression saddened for a minute, and then he changed the subject. “What about your daddy; doesn’t he live here with you?”
Tory shook her head no. “He went to fight the bad guys one time and didn’t come back, Mommy said he had to stay.”
John thought for a moment, then asked, “How long has he been away?”
“Two years,” Tory answered.
John looked at her, and asked. “How old are you Tory?”
“Seven,” Tory said.
“So he left when you were five?”
“Yep,” Tory said nonchalantly, “Mommy says he’ll be back soon.”
John remembered an overseas casualty chart he had found in the CO’s desk. “What’s your last name Tory?”
“Carlson,” Tory said. John’s eyes went wide, and his expression immediately sombre. Tory looked confused.
“What’s wrong, John?”
“Nothing honey, I’ll be right back, ok? I’m just gonna talk to Captain Steele a minute.”
John walked past Steele, and gestured for her to follow. Once they were out of earshot of Tory, he said, “I saw a Sergeant Carlson on an overseas casualty chart. He was noted as KIA just over two years ago. Also based on my count, we’re missing a person on the roster.”
Steele bowed her head a moment. “Poor girl, her father’s been dead two years now, her mother got killed trying to save her, and now she’s got nobody left. Thankfully she’s too young to figure out the truth of what happened to them. Maybe this unaccounted-for soldier escaped.”
John nodded. “I’m going tell Lia what I told you. Would you mind filling in Black and Grant?”
“Alright,” Steele said.
John walked up to Lia, and said, “I need to talk with you too.” They went away from Tory, then John told her all he had told Steele.
Lia looked over at Steele, talking to Black and Grant. “Is she passing on what you just told me?” Lia asked John.
“Yes, she is,” John answered. Lia’s expression saddened, she glanced over at the innocent child, and a tear rolled down her cheek. Lia blinked and wiped her cheek.
“Do you think Steele will let her come with us?”
“Of course,” John replied assuredly. Lia nodded quietly, then walked over to Steele.
“I promised Tory I would get her out of here, I promised her I would keep her safe, and I intend to do that.” Lia took her powerful resolve as a sign of commitment despite the inconsistent memories that plagued her at random intervals.
Thankfully Steele smiled understandingly, and said. “Good, she can ride with you and Wanderer then.”
Lia smiled then walked back to Tory. She kneeled in front of her. “I talked to Captain Steele and she said you can come with us. She also said you get to ride with me, what do you say?”
Tory’s face brightened a bit. “Where are we going?”
Lia laughed gently. “Somewhere safe, without anything scary.”
“You sure?” Tory asked uncertainly.
Lia put out her hand, tousling Tory’s hair “I promised you, didn’t I?”
Tory smiled and said. “Yep, you did.”
“Well, how about I introduce you to a friend that rides with me?”
Tory looked intrigued. “Ok,” she said. Lia took her hand and walked past the command building, slowing as she approached her Hummer.
“Don’t worry, he’s nice.”
Tory looked confused for a moment, then Lia opened the Hummer’s passenger door and Wanderer jumped out. He wagged his tail when he saw Lia, calming to an unsure state when he noticed the little girl beside her. Tory held out her hand, unafraid when Wanderer sniffed it. His tail started wagging slowly, speeding up slightly when Tory laid her hand on his head lightly. She petted him, giggling at his sudden enthusiasm; he sat down beside her to make it easier for her to pet him.
Lia smiled, waiting until Tory’s happy giggling calmed down a minute, before she said, “How about you two hang out in the in the truck. I have to go check on the others; is that ok with you, Tory?”
Tory smiled. “Yep.” Lia indicated the passenger seat of the Hummer; Wanderer hopped in and sat in the driver’s seat waiting for Tory. Lia lifted her into the passenger seat then closed the door with the window opened. She saw Wanderer lay across the seats, resting his head on Tory’s lap. Tory began petting his head gently; Lia walked away smiling. She walked back to the others to find them consulting the storage facility diagram that John had found. Steele gestured for Lia to come closer and indicated a chamber in the diagram that was unlabeled.
“What do you make of this? It intersects with the entrance, follows alongside the main chamber, and stops abruptly without anything on the diagram to indicate its purpose.”
Lia looked at the diagram, shrugged, and said “I have no idea, for all we know it could be a shifted creating lab.” She laughed cynically and continued, “We’ll have to get down there.”
Steele rolled up the diagram. “Ok, let’s get to the hangar and try to find a way into this vault, or whatever it is.”
John said, “I’m going to shut the alarm off from the command post; I’ll meet up with you guys at the hangar.” John jogged back into the command post and the others headed toward the hangar.
Steele turned to Grant. “What did you find in this building?”
Grant replied, “Just cots lined along the walls. I didn’t see any hatches, switches, or anything to open a vault or secret storage.”
“OK, let’s head in and wait for Marks.”
Steele took point, checking inside the building, the others followed behind her. She gestured for Black and Grant to look on the right wall; she and Lia took the left. They tapped the walls, inspected the creases in the reachable bricks, and checked the frames of each cot.
Black turned to Lia. “What about that girl you’re supposedly guarding?”
Lia smirked. “She’s in good hands. If she needs more help, I’ll be there.”
Black looked at her as though she had said something stupid. “You think Wanderer could handle a swarm of them?” Lia shook her head no.
“Well perhaps, but I doubt it’ll come to that. Like I said, if something comes up I’ll know in time to reinforce him.”
Black eyed her uncertainly. “You sure have a lot of faith in him.”
Lia smirked. “Of course, he saved me.”
Black turned away seemingly unimpressed with her response. Lia smiled to herself then went back to searching. They probed the hangar for anything that would give them access to the storage, but found nothing. Eventually they met up at the back of the hangar. Steele watched the hangar door; John still hadn’t met up with them and she wondered if he had been attacked. She dissuaded herself of that notion. If he had been attacked he would’ve at least managed to let off some shots. Steele steadied her weapon. The warning alarm in the hangar had been silenced, but that didn’t concern her. What caused Steele to be on guard was a sudden high pitch ringing that filled the hangar. There was a deep hissing sound followed by a mechanical whirring as a section of the floor cracked apart from its previously seamless surface. The hangar floor continued to slowly separate into two panels, sinking onto an unseen depression track being pulled by mechanisms under the floor. Steele noticed a shadow approaching the hangar door. She raised her weapon, staring intently down its iron sights, prepared to drop the shifted that had been drawn by the noise. Everyone else readied automatically in response. The shadow grew shorter as its caster approached the doorway and stepped inside. Steele let out the air in her lungs in a small huff, relaxing her guard as they saw John walk in, nonchalantly waving one hand in greeting. Steele, Black, Grant, and Lia stepped around the opening in the floor, walking to the front of it as Marks walked up to meet them.
Steele smirked. “You could’ve died there,” she said dangerously, a mock angry expression on her face.
“As if you did
n’t think it was me, or did you not?” He smiled jokingly, and stood with his arms crossed, laughing at the grimace that drew out of Steele.
“Next time I’ll be sure to pull the trigger.”
John laughed. “I found the switch for the storage; have you guys looked in there yet?” John asked, indicating the stairway exposed by the moved floor panels. Black shook her head.
Steele piped up, “Shall we then? Grant, you take point.”
Chapter 16 – Remnants of Destruction
Private Grant pulled his shotgun free from its ammo belts, levelling it as he walked down the dark stairway. After finding a handle in the wall, he pushed it up carefully. A line of fluorescent bulbs lit the area. The group found themselves standing in a narrow hallway that angled downward and led to a heavy steel door. Grant held his guard as they approached the door; he aimed the shotgun at it as John grabbed its submarine style wheel latch mechanism, roughly heaving it to the right. The big steel wheel latch spun, drawing locking mechanisms into the door. A sigh of air escaped from the chamber beyond as it opened. Grant stepped in first, once he’d seen the room was clear. He gestured, then the others advanced past him at the ready.
The area they found themselves in was nothing more than a stout square chamber, barely high enough for Grant to stand. It contained spare weapons, foot lockers, and various ammo boxes. At the side of the room was a short hall. Continuing past the weaponry into the hall, they found a terminal and a large panel in the floor that was still closed. Steele activated the terminal; a message immediately came on-screen that read, “Threat response activated. Any personnel still in the supply chamber after the alarm sounds will be sealed in until the protocols are reset.”
John spoke up, “I remember seeing this up in the control tower... The alarm you heard before was me releasing the lockdown on the bunker. When I did, it gave me the option to unlock the lower storage.” He paused a moment, Steele watched him.