Starsong Chronicles: Exodus

by Clayborn, JJ

  “These robots look and sound like humans,” James said, driving the point home. “They can masquerade as us and we’d never know. Kosnick needs to study this.”

  Tuesday, November 18th

  James, Mary, and the other leaders of the Resistance assembled out behind the Sheriff’s office. The rest of the resistance loaded the last of the supplies and secured all of the cargo in preparation for the departure. They loaded Sheriff Long’s imposter robot corpse into Dr. Kosnick’s van.

  “So what’s the plan?” Elvin asked.

  “We need to leave here, ASAP,” James explained. “I have strong reason to believe that the governor has been subverted. He’s ordering the National Guard to move against us. He wants to stop us from stopping them.”

  “Where will we go?” Jose Lamb, the newest Captain, asked.

  “When need to bolster our numbers and find a place for Dr. Kosnick to continue her research,” James stated.

  “Our trucks have quite a bit of range, we can get anywhere we need to,” Sean said confidently.

  “I hope I haven’t overstepped any bounds,” Mary said. “But I have a meeting set up for us.”

  “With whom?” James asked, surprised and worried about the group’s safety.

  “Colonel John Ryan, of the US Army 101st Airborne Division.”

  “The Army wants to meet with me?” James asked incredulously.

  Mary shook her head. “No, not the Army. Just Colonel Ryan.”

  James titled his head and squinted at Mary.

  She continued. “He’s been following my story in the paper. Fortunately, he believes us. He’s asked his commanding officers about the situation and they are refusing to get involved. They say that Governor Smith has discredited you as a local troublemaker, so they won’t move. But he wants to meet you and see for himself.”

  James sighed. “I see. Well, I suppose that’s better than nothing. Where does he want to meet?”

  Mary laughed. “He’s paranoid about security, and rightfully so. He won’t set up a meeting unless you call him personally, and not until we are already en-route. He doesn’t want anyone to know ahead of time.”

  James shrugged. “Okay, fair enough. How much lead time does he need to coordinate with his commanding officer?”

  Mary shook her head. “You don’t understand. He’s not telling them. He’s not telling anyone. He’s going off the reservation. It’s tantamount to treason – ‘failure to obey a lawful order’ is what he said. His commanders told him to stand down. He said that he would.”

  “So he’s going against their orders?” James frowned. “I don’t see how one man will be much help.”

  “He’s bringing the whole Division. He’s only telling them that it’s an exercise. They’ll find out when they get here,” Mary explained, handing James the Colonel’s contact information.

  He stared at the numbers, unsure of the situation for a moment. “All right, we’ve lingered long enough. Let’s get out of here.” James walked over the Sheriff’s old pickup and climbed into the passenger seat while Elvin climbed into the driver’s seat. The rest of the leadership of the Resistance scattered throughout the vehicles. Between the supply trucks and personal vehicles carrying people the convoy was about fifty vehicles.

  “Where to?” Elvin asked.

  “Take us south on highway 7, skirt around the forest.”

  Elvin nodded. “You got it.” He put his arm out of the window and the signal to move out. The convoy rumbled to life and formed a neat column on the road.

  The police station shrunk in the rearview mirror and James sighed. He pulled the paper from his pocket that Mary gave him and stared for a long time at the number scrawled upon it. He shrugged to himself and pulled out his phone.

  Two rings later, a gruff voice answered. “Colonel Ryan.”

  “Hi Colonel, Mary Woods gave me your contact information,” he explained.

  “Who?”

  “Mary Woods? The reporter for the paper? She said you wanted to talk to me about what’s happening down here,” James explained.

  There was a moment of silence. “Down where? Who is this? I swear if this is a private pulling a prank you’re going to doing double duty for a month.”

  James sighed. “My name is Ranger James Hutchinson. I work with the US Forest Service in the Holly Springs National Forest.”

  “Ranger Hutchinson! I’ve been expecting you.” His tone changed for a moment. “Next time, lead with who you are. It will save us both a lot of confusion.”

  “Okay.” James said petulantly. “What did you want to talk about, Colonel?”

  “Tell me straight, son. Is this business about robot aliens real?”

  “I’m afraid so, Colonel. We’ve lost a lot of good people trying to figure out what’s going on here. And now that we know, no one who matters will believe us. We’ve put together a resistance, but frankly we’re pretty outclassed. I don’t know how much good we can do.”

  There was silence on the end for a moment. “I think I can help with that.”

  “How so? Mary told me that the Army wasn’t going to get involved.”

  Colonel Ryan chuckled. “Officially, no. The army isn’t going to get involved, but I am.”

  “I don’t follow.”

  “I’m the commanding officer for the 502nd Infantry Battalion. I’ve decided that my troops are going to do a little field training.”

  “I see.” James said feeling somewhat relieved to have support. “Won’t your commanding officer be pissed if he finds out what you’re doing?”

  “You leave him to me. Where are you now?” Col Ryan asked.

  “Well, we had to evacuate our facility,” James said.

  “Under attack?”

  James shook his head. “No, not yet. But we were about to be.”

  “Explain that,” Ryan said, to the point, as always.

  “I called the Governor’s Office and told them of our discovery and subsequent battle in the woods. The first time he heard about it he wanted proof. We managed to capture one of them and are studying how to defeat them.”

  “You have one of them in your custody now?” Col Ryan asked in disbelief.

  James relayed the story. “We do. It’s being contained and isolated so that it can’t communicate with others. When I told the governor that I had proof he knew immediately what it was. I pressed him on it and he said that he read about it, dodging my questions. Ultimately he ordered me to stand down and hand over the robot.”

  “I see,” Ryan stated.

  “It gets better…or worse, actually. I refused to comply and he indicated that he would have myself and anyone who assisted me arrested and that he was dispatching the National Guard to come and seize the robot. I’m pretty sure that he’s serious, so we’re not taking any chances and we’ve moved out to delay them as long as possible.”

  “Wait one.” There was silence on the end of the phone. Muffled conversations between two or three voices carried faintly over the lines. “Confirmed.”

  “What is?” James asked.

  “The Governor is sending troops after you. And we have a problem,” Ryan said.

  “A problem bigger than he’s sending troops?”

  “Yes,” the Colonel confirmed. “He’s not just sending troops. He’s sending the best troops that he has access to. According to the data that I have clearance for, the 2/20th SFG out of Jackson has been activated.”

  James was silent for a moment. “Pretend that I don’t understand military lingo, Colonel.”

  “He’s send the 2nd Battalion, 20th Special Forces Group. The Special Forces guys are elite soldiers. They live, breath, eat, and shit combat. It’s all they do. They’re hard-core and mission-driven, and the governor just pointed them at you with a mission objective to eliminate you on the grounds that you are terrorists trying to detonate some dirty bombs.”

  James sat in the seat, trembling slightly. He stared absentmindedly ahead and his brain refused to process what he just h
eard. He didn’t want to die.

  “Did you hear me, Ranger?”

  James pulled himself together. “I heard you. You said that we’re fucked.”

  “You need to get to ground and stay low until we can meet up. If they catch you out in the open, then you’re finished. You can’t let them find you.”

  James leaned over to Elvin. “Punch it, we need to pick up the pace.”

  Elvin nodded and accelerated and the rest of the convoy followed suit.

  “Okay, Colonel, we’re moving faster, trying to get out of here.”

  “Where are you now?”

  “Heading south on Highway 7. The plan is to go around the forest to New Albany, regroup there.”

  “My men are simply waiting for the command to deploy. We can rendezvous with you there, but it will take us a while to arrive, we’re coming from Fort Campbell.”

  “That’s fine, Colonel. I appreciate any help you can spare. How will I know when you’re arriving?”

  Colonel Ryan laughed heartily. “You’ve never heard an Air Cavalry unit deploy, have you?”

  “No, sir.”

  “I’m bringing around 1,000 men, plus supplies and equipment. It won’t be quiet.”

  “We’ll wait for you in New Albany,” James said, staring to feel somewhat hopeful.

  “Ranger,” Colonel Ryan called out. “Be careful. If the 2nd follows protocol, they will send out a force recon team to find you and test your strength before the main unit rolls in.”

  “Great. We’ll keep an eye out.”

  “Ryan out.” The line went dead.

  James noticed that Elvin was giving him an odd look. “What was all of that about?” Elvin asked.

  James shook his head. “The long and the short of it is that we have friends coming to meet us at New Albany, but we may get attacked before we get there.”

  Elvin looked at James for a long second. “Are you sure that you can trust this Colonel?”

  “Honestly, I don’t know.” James shrugged. “Given the circumstances, I don’t see what choice we have. He hasn’t given me a reason not to.”

  Elvin nodded but said nothing. They drove in silence for about 15 minutes before Elvin straightened up his posture and started looking around.

  “What’s up?” James asked.

  “Passing over the lake now. The water is higher during winter, I’m trying to see where it’s at.”

  James and Elvin had just crossed the bridge when a faint sound lingered on the air. “Do you hear that, Elvin?” James shut off the air and rolled his window down.

  Elvin strained to listen. “No. I don’t hear…. Wait. Yes, I hear it.”

  “They must be far away to be that quiet.”

  The sound of a couple of helicopters could be heard over the hum of the engine, but only just barely.

  “I don’t know,” James said. “I think they are closer than you realize.”

  Elvin looked at James. “Do you think they’re here for us?”

  The radio that they used for emergencies crackled to life. “Contact! Contact! We have enemy contact!”

  James snatched up the radio. “What? Who? Details!”

  The voice was Sean Herbert’s the quartermaster at the back of the line. “Three large double bladed military helicopters at the far end of the lake. They were just hovering. They have something slung underneath them.”

  “Can you see what it is?”

  “Boats!” A burst of static followed. “They just dropped them into the water and the helos bugged out. They look like small RIBs, fast too.”

  “Shit.” James said to himself. “That must be the recon team the Colonel told us about,” he said to Elvin. He pressed the radio button again. “Where are you?”

  “Halfway across the bridge. The boats are closing. They should be in range in….”

  A loud explosion echoed through the air and a flash of light lit up the rear view mirrors. Two more explosions in quick succession followed, and then a sound of loud crumbling and water.

  “What happened?!” James shouted into the radio.

  Jose answered. “Those boats must have rockets. Something hit Sean’s truck and it went up like a candlestick. Then they took out the support for the bridge.”

  James and Elvin exchanged worried glances. “They don’t want to let us retreat,” James said. He pressed the radio. “Everyone, get ready. We’re about to have a firefight.” As soon as he clicked off the radio he turned to Elvin. “Punch it.” James grabbed one of the full auto rifles they had taken from the sheriff’s office and leaned out the window, scanning in all directions.

  Everything was eerily quiet for about two minutes, and then gun fire erupted from the woods on both sides of them. James and Elvin had just passed the turn for highway 244 so they had no choice to continue on.

  The resistance cars began taking pot shots back into the woods, but they couldn’t see where the shooting was coming from. A few cars in the back of the convoy turned onto highway 244 to get away from the fighting, but most of the cars followed James.

  “Is this the Special Forces?” Elvin nervously shouted above the noise of the engine and the gunfire.

  “No!” James fired off a couple of shots into the woods. “The bridge was the recon team the Colonel mentioned. But this…” He fired again. “This is something else. The military would have killed us already.” James banged on the roof. “Turn, turn, turn!” He pointed to his left; a small road branched off the main highway.

  The remaining cars in the convoy made the turn and followed the lead truck. The shots from the woods had slowed, but everyone remained on edge.

  The road turned to the south. As they drove past a church, James saw movement inside the tower. He snatched up the radio. “Sniper in the church!” A shot rang out and one of the smaller cars careened off the road and smashed into a tree, steam billowing from under the hood. The rest of the convoy sprayed gunfire into the steeple as they rolled past.

  The next few minutes were tense periods of silence punctuated by random bursts of gunfire from the woods. Once again James pounded on the roof and pointed left.

  “Where the hell are we going?” Elvin shouted as he made the turn.

  “Anywhere but here!” James pulled himself back inside the cab for a moment. “There’s a town up ahead, I’m trying to avoid the main intersections.”

  The convoy raced toward another highway. Small groups of civilians came out along the road. One by one they raised all manner of small arms and rifles and began shooting at the convoy. Two more of the resistance cars were shot up and crashed.

  James lined up his sights and fired off a few rounds. The bullets found their mark, but the bullet ricocheted off the man’s chest with a spark. “These people are fucking robots!” He called to Elvin. He hit the radio button. “Civilians are robots, shoot to kill. Repeat, civilians are robots!” James returned fire, aiming for the head.

  Elvin saw a bigger road that lead out of town and once more turned left. He punched the gas and pushed the truck faster. After a few minutes the remaining cars had cleared the ambush and were speeding away from the town.

  “Where the hell are we?” James asked, pulling himself back inside the cab.

  Elvin shrugged. “According to the sign, County Road 215, heading east.”

  James pulled up the map on his phone. “Okay, the road will turn up ahead, follow it around. It will take us right along the edge of the forest.”

  “You got it.”

  James consulted the map for a few moments. He kept looking at New Albany and tried to figure out how to get everyone there in one piece. “Fuck.”

  Elvin raised his eyebrows in question, but drove on.

  James gestured angrily at the map. “If we stay on this road it will take us right to the outskirts of Oxford, which is a much bigger town.”

  Elvin shook his head. “If we got that kind of welcome in Abbeville…”

  “Exactly. I don’t want to risk it; we have to go around,” James sai
d.

  “So what’s the problem?”

  “Well,” James frowned. “There’s no way around. We either push through Oxford, and end up on 278, taking the original route we planned.”

  “Or?”

  “Or we can take Road 204, the only road going west, and try to connect back to the 7. But that would still take us through the heart of Oxford.”

  Elvin sighed. “And there’s no other option?”

  “Only one, and I hate it,” James explained.

  “Well?” Elvin asked.

  James stared out of the window for a moment, lost in thought. “If take Road 202 we can use a bypass and connect with Highway 30, which is the fastest, most direct route to New Albany.”

  Elvin glanced sideways at him. His expression asked why James didn’t start with that option.

  James shook his head. “Don’t look at me like that. It’s the shortest, fastest route, but it also takes us right through the southern part of the forest. We’d be in the woods for miles.”

  Elvin sat in silence for a long time. “Do we know that they’ve reached that far south?”

  “No, but it is close. The northernmost point of highway 30 isn’t far from where some of the deputies went missing.”

  Elvin scrunched his face in thought as he drove. “Here’s an idea. What if we only took highway 30 part of the way?”

  James frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “What if we only use part of it? The northern point is on the other side of the forest, right?”

  “Yes,” James confirmed.

  “So we go halfway there on Highway 30, and then we turn off onto a smaller road and keep going East and Southeast until we’re through.”

  “That…” James thought it over. “That might work, actually.”

  “It would keep us away from the robots for as long as possible,” Elvin offered.

  James sighed. “I guess we don’t have a choice.” He stared out the window at the passing trees. “I just hope this isn’t the wrong decision.”

  “It’s not,” Elvin said. “It’s the only decision.”

  “We’re not crazy, are we?” James laughed. “I mean, I feel like this should be a dream or a bad hallucination.”