by Muga, D. M.
Mia smiles back and nods.
“What’s brunch?!” Isabelle asks.
Alexander laughs lightly. “Come on. Let’s go find out.”
“Okay!” Isabelle shouts and trots off toward the back of the cabin.
Alexander turns to look over the mountainside, thinking he heard something or feels a strong gust of wind. His eyes go wide as he sees a small aircraft start to fly over the valley with blue rays streaming after it... or even chasing after it.
The aircraft is there and then it’s gone, making a quick turn. He looks to see where the blue rays came from, if anywhere aside from the small aircraft... unsure of what exactly they were. He looks to his left and peers, seeing nothing for a moment. Then he sees the Leviathan come into view, reaching the point where the small aircraft diverged and took off in a different direction.
Alexander watches in amazement and confusion as the massive spacecraft just sits there, as if deciding what to do.
What’s going on?! Was that the small spacecraft that Sergeant Burke and Staff Sergeant Mahoney had over in Big Bear? Was the Leviathan shooting at them? If so, why would they just stop in their pursuit? And why would they shoot at their own people?
Isabelle has taken notice of what’s happening by this point. “Alex? What’s that up there? Are those aliens?”
Alexander sighs with the realization of the girls possibly being in imminent danger.
He turns to her with a forced smile. “No Mia. I mean, yes… Those are the people from Earth Two. The ones we have been talking about.”
“That spaceship looks mean, Alex. What should we do?” Mia replies.
Alexander watches as the Leviathan stops hovering high in the sky over the mountain ridge close to the valley, shifting direction north… toward them.
“I’m not sure, little one…” Alexander replies.
This does not seem good. Not at all… Something happened. That’s for certain. And whatever it was, it looks like Captain Jackson is unhappy with someone. Considering that the others left to go speak with Sergeant Burke and Staff Sergeant Mahoney, it’s not a far stretch to assume that the Reilly’s and the others were involved…
“Alex, it’s coming this way. What do we do?” Mia says with a slight sound of panic in her voice.
Alexander looks over at her. “Go head off inside and make some sandwiches for the three of us. Make some extras for later. We may have to go on a trip.”
“What?! Why?!” Mia says with obvious concern in her voice.
“Mia…” Alexander says, putting his hands on her shoulders. “I need you to try and stay calm and be strong for your little sister. I won’t let anything happen to the two of you. Not while I'm still alive. I promise.”
Mia looks shaken up still, but she relaxes slightly after hearing these words from him. “Okay… are you sure? What are you going to do?”
“I’ll be inside in a moment. I’m just going to put away the chickens and the sheep really quick, so they don’t get out and get lost if we have to go on a little trip.” Alexander explains.
“Okay...” She says as she turns to walk away.
Alexander watches as she looks over her shoulder to make sure he’s still there, every few feet. After she’s inside the cabin, he goes back to lock up the chickens and their one sheep. After securing the livestock, he heads back to the cabin.
I wonder what happened and why the Leviathan would come here. He thinks as he looks at the sky, unable to see the massive spaceship any longer. God, I wish we still had communication lines up and running.
Alexander heads into the cabin to find Mia and Isabelle in the kitchen, getting out the makings for sandwiches.
“What kind of PB&J do you want, Uncle Alex? We still have the smooth and crunchy peanut butter and we have strawberries or regular jelly left.” Mia asks him as he enters the kitchen.
They had run out of the sliced meats and cheeses some time ago. Luckily, they were able to barter for a good amount of peanut butter and jelly. No one seemed to complain about it and the girls seemed to like them enough as well. In these times, it was difficult to be picky with what food was still available.
Bread was beginning to become an issue and Steven and Ben were brainstorming ways to acquire more, or even make more bread, when the time came. Which the time was very near with them only having about half of a loaf left in the cabin.
Whereas, they still had a good amount of other foods to keep them going for a while, on top of the newly bought livestock in the backyard, Alexander was not looking forward to running out of bread. Which looked like that day might very well be today.
Nevertheless, Alexander knew that life was still adjusting to the new world that they had inherited. He had just hoped that things would turn out well enough for the girls to have a good rest of their childhood and never have to experience the horrors that they endured with those monsters that were rounding up women and young girls. Just thinking about those rapist monsters that they had encountered on the road made Alexander’s blood boil.
“Uncle, Alex?” Mia asks.
Snapping Alexander back from out of the depths of his own brain, he looks at Mia and smiles. “Surprise me. I'm sure anything that you girls make will taste delicious.”
“Okay.” Mia says as she forces a smile back.
She’s scared. She doesn't know why… but she knows that the Leviathan showing up around here is not good news. It’s crazy how kids pick up on things that they know very little about. Like a sort of intuition… that we have when we are young, and we lose over the years of conforming to the realities of the real world.
Alexander goes to the fridge, getting the pitcher of iced tea. He pours three glasses full and sets them at the table for them. Shortly after, the girls place three plates at the table, each with a PB&J on it. They take their seats next to each other, with the third plate right across from them where he’s sitting.
“We made three more like you asked and put them back into the bread bag, since it was empty. One of the sandwiches is made up of the butt bread, though.” Mia explains as she takes a bite into her sandwich.
Isabelle laughs, likely at the word butt.
“Good job girls. I’ll put them in a bag with some bottled water after we finish our sandwiches.” Alexander replies.
“Where are we going?” Isabelle asks.
“I’m not sure yet, Isabelle. We may just go for a little hike, after our snack.” Alexander replies.
“Brunch. You said it was our brunch, Uncle Alex.” Isabelle replies.
“That’s right, Isabelle. I did.” Alexander says with a smile.
The three of them go about eating their PB&J sandwiches and drinking their iced tea. Whilst doing so, Alexander wonders what happened to Steven, Ben, Eileen, and all of the others that went with them.
If I recall, there were nine of them in total. Considering what I saw, something certainly occurred and it was an event that led the Leviathan to fire upon one of its own ships. Because I'm pretty sure that the smaller aircraft was actually the small spacecraft that Staff Sergeant Mahoney and Sergeant Burke were in possession of.
But the real question is, what could have happened to lead up to that scenario? And how would that result in the Leviathan coming to our small town? Can that massive spaceship even land anywhere around here? Our lake still has water in it and the rest of the area is pretty full of houses, shops, and mountainous areas.
After they are done eating their sandwiches, Alexander sends the girls to go get cleaned up and brush their teeth. He wasn’t sure how often they had been keeping up on the regular hygiene routines and thought it highly unlikely that the monsters that had stolen them cared anything about their personal health. So, whenever he found the chance to get them to keep up on their hygiene, he encouraged them to do so.
He was happy to find that the girls didn’t find it an annoying chore. However, that also concerned him, thinking that they were now excited to be able to clean up and do the simple things like br
ush their teeth.
It was not too long ago, at least to Alexander, when he was constantly reminding his own daughters to go clean up. Which usually resulted in eye rolls and lies of how they already did. Alexander smiles at the small memory of his kids trying to avoid showers, deodorant, and brushing their teeth.
While he was lost in thought at the sink drying the dishes he had just cleaned from their meal, he hears Ol’ Betsy crack to life in the cabin’s designated comms room.
“What’s that?!” He says aloud, placing the last of the dishes onto the counter and walking to the comms room.
He can hear static as he enters the room.
“It’s static, but it’s coming from somewhere…” He begins.
Before he can think anymore, he hears a voice over Ol’ Betsy, an unfamiliar voice.
:: Hello people of Crestline. This is Lieutenant Meads, of the Federalist Legion from Earth Two. You are instructed to make your way to your local small body of water, which appears to be a small lake. You are to be there within one hour’s time, and no later than one hour. If you come willingly you will not force us to extradite you from your dwellings and detain you. Make the smart choice. Make the right choice. Captain Abraham Jackson is offering you mercy and salvation. It is 1000, by your time. Be here no later than 1100. Report to your local lake for further instructions from Captain Abraham Jackson of the Federalist Legion. This message will repeat every five minutes, until 1100. That is all, people of Crestline ::
Ol’ Betsy goes back to playing static noise.
“Well that doesn’t sound good for us whatsoever.” Alexander says aloud.
He looks down to his watch, seeing it read 10:01 AM. Then a thought crosses his mind.
If Ol’ Betsy is working, maybe our phones and the SuperNet is back up. It stands to reason, considering they are all on the same networks. Well, kind of...
He rushes out of the comms room and upstairs to his bedroom. He reaches the room and goes to his nightstand, retrieving his iPhone from the top drawer. He hits the power button and waits for it to power up. After a few anxious moments, it comes to life and he clicks to get onto the SuperNet.
“Yes!” He shouts, as he sees the SuperNet is back up and running.
Their message may have been local and only to Crestline, considering that they mentioned our town by name. But it looks like they had to unblock the entire network to even send the local message. That would make sense with how many fail-safes they had designed for the SuperNet before they left for Earth Two. Now the real question… Do any of the others have their phone on them? Because I definitely didn't have it on me.
Alexander had stopped carrying his phone on him the day prior, with his constant attention going back to checking to see if the network was still down or not. It had become so frustrating, that he thought it best to simply put it away.
He quickly scrolls to Steven Reilly’s number and clicks his name. Putting the phone to his ear, he hears his voicemail right away.
Damn… Makes sense Steven would have done the same. Hopefully Ben and Eileen are a little more attached to their phones than we are.
Alexander scrolls back up in his phone to Benjamin Reilly and clicks his name. He puts his phone to his ear and then hears it ring after a couple seconds. An exasperated sigh leaves him as he listens the phone ring.
After the fifth ring, Ben picks up. “Uh, hello… Alexander, is that you?”
Alexander smiles, and begins to walk out of his room, back downstairs. “Yes, Ben! It is! Are you guys alright?!”
“Uh, yeah. But why are the phones working again?” Ben replies and questions.
“Captain Abraham Jackson must have stopped blocking the network to get a message out to us.” Alexander replies.
“Huh, what message… wait. Hold on. Let me put you on speaker so everyone in the ship can hear you. Burke, do you have Bluetooth or anything like that to have us all hear him on the ship?” Ben replies to Alexander and then is obviously talking to Sergeant Burke.
Ship? Sergeant Burke? So, they are on the smaller spacecraft...
“Thanks Burke. Okay. You're good to go, Alexander. We can all hear you now. It's all of us that left for Big Bear, plus Burke... now.” Ben explains.
“Oh okay… Interesting. So, I take it that it was you guys flying away from the Leviathan not too long ago.” Alexander responds.
“Yeah, Alexander, that was us. But what's this about a message from Abraham? Whatever he said, don’t listen to him. He’s a liar and tried to kill all of us.” Ben questions and warns him.
“Actually, Alexander… The son of a bitch wants to kill most of our men and anyone that doesn’t fall in line. To top it off, he wants to take our women and children! If you see that POS, shoot first!” Steven says over the phone.
“Okay. Well one of his Lieutenants just sent out a message over the radio, telling all of us to go to Lake Gregory. It was not a request but sounded like an order and warning. He gave us an hour, saying he’s showing us mercy and salvation. It sounded like it was directly toward the people of Crestline, and only us.” Alexander explains.
“What?!... That’s crazy! Don't listen to a damn word that crazy maniac says! Stay put in the house and you should be fine, Alexander.” Ben replies.
“That’s not entirely accurate Deputy Reilly. I mean Ben Reilly.” A woman’s voice says.
“Who’s that Ben? And why?” Alexander questions.
“Hold on, Alexander…” Ben replies.
A new voice comes over the phone. “Dr. Alexander Mathis. My people have the technology to scan large regions for human life. Hiding in your dwelling is not ideal. You will be located and detained.”
“Okay… What should we do then? And who is this?” Alexander asks.
“My name’s Alicia Burke, Dr. Alexander Mathis. Formerly part of the Federalist Legion, myself. Up until earlier this morning… If the message is only for your settlement, then retreat from your settlement, and do so quickly. Before my brothers and sisters cut off your exit points.” Alicia Burke responds.
Retreat? Where? I know I have been here for close to two months, but I still don’t know the area that well. I'm from the other side of the continent, for goodness sake! Alexander thinks as he begins to worry about the girls.
Reaching the bottom of the stairs, he turns around and heads back to his room to pack a bag for their immediate exit.
“Where should I go?” Alexander asks.
“Alexander.” Ben says. “This is Ben, again. You said the network is back up, right? Use the SuperNet to take the 138 Highway to Silverwood Lake. It’s about half an hour north and slightly west of us. But you need to go now.”
Alexander nods, as though they can see him. “Right. SuperNet is working for the time being, and they gave us one hour. So, it will hopefully be up for the entire hour, since the message is to repeat every five minutes.”
“Sounds good, Alexander. Now get off the phone, grab what you can, and get you and the girls the hell out of town. Stay safe bud.” Ben replies.
“Yeah, Alexander… stay safe and watch those girls for me.” Eileen adds.
“Alexander, we are making plans to return shortly. Just get out of Dodge and we’ll figure it out.” Steven adds.
“Will do. You all stay safe as well. I'm glad you guys are alright. I was starting to worry.” He replies.
“We’re good, Alexander. Close call, but good. Call us when you get to Silverwood. Now get off the phone and get going, bud.” Ben replies.
“Right… bye.” Alexander says and ends the phone call.
Wait, I forgot to ask them where they were and about the spaceship. Alexander thinks and then shakes his head. Not important right now, Alexander… The only thing that’s important right now is getting those two girls out of Crestline, and quickly…
The earth begins to shake beneath his feet and Alexander braces himself against the earthquake. After close to a minute of shaking, he checks his surroundings to find no damage from this last
quake.
How many is that now in the last few days? I wonder if this one originated from the Bear Ridge Faultline, like most of the previous earthquakes… Alexander thinks to himself as he heads toward the girls, wanting to get them out of the house within the next few minutes.
20
Benjamin Reilly
“Really? The last humans on Earth? That seems pretty damn insane if you ask me… Just how many of us are left?” Ben asks as he questions Burke’s statement.
“Yes, Deputy Reilly. Your kind from the Blue Hole Radius are the only humans left on Earth One. We are not sure exactly of the number currently. We did perform a global scan after the incident at the military installation in one of your desert areas.” Burke explains.
“You mean when you all committed genocide and killed a lot of innocent people. And cut the crap with the Deputy Reilly shit, Alicia Burke. My name’s Ben Reilly. Either Ben or Reilly is fine, because I sure as shit am not calling you Sergeant Burke anymore. You all don’t deserve titles after what you did! Fucking Federalists Legion my ass! In our world, your kind is executed for being traitors.” Ben spits back at her.
This gives her pause and she doesn’t reply for a moment. Ben takes this moment to take a look around the STARU spacecraft, seeing everyone is either listening to him or staring out the viewing glasses of the spaceship, or both…
After a moment, he looks back to Burke. “How many of us are left? Our kind and your kind?”
Burke sighs and replies, “As far as our kind, I'm not entirely sure, but the number is likely under 500… We had two interstellar crafts leave Earth Two to come here. The Renaissance was destroyed along the way through the dangers that come along with interstellar travel. The Leviathan left with 101 souls and arrived with 92 souls. After today’s events, there should be 85 souls remaining from the Leviathan, including myself. I'm not sure how many of the Utopians and fellow Federalists survived the Grand Global War, back on E2.”
Grand Global War?! What the hell?!
“Wait a damn minute! So, you’re telling me that you guys came all the way out here, after you all demolished your planet, just to remake ours in your own image? Am I getting that right?!” Uncle Steven asks.