by Jake Bible
“Those are some of the reasons,” Lu says. “Linder did rape me, but I was already pregnant. Kyle is yours. I was going to tell you, but after what Linder did, I just couldn’t.”
“Why, Lu? Why wouldn’t you tell me something like that?”
“Because I didn’t think you’d believe me that Kyle was yours,” Lu says. “I figured you’d always think Kyle could be Linder’s. And you know the man is crazy. He thought he owned me. It took all of my mother’s connections to keep that man from getting to me while I was pregnant. I was able to keep my job as a marshal by saying I’d given Kyle up for adoption. If he knew you were the father, he would have killed you out of spite. He couldn’t have me, he couldn’t have Kyle, so he would have killed you.”
“I can handle myself,” Bolton laughs. “Special Forces and all that shit.”
“Not with Linder,” Lu says. “You have no idea how hard those first few years were. It’s why Kyle thinks he and my mother are in witpro. He thinks that someone I put away a long time ago has been hunting my family as revenge.”
Lu throws her hands up in the air.
“I’m a fucking US Marshal and my life is nothing but lies!”
“Why didn’t you ever tell me?” Bolton asks. “All those times I met Kyle and you for camping trips and you never said a word. I thought I was being some noble guy looking out for my old girlfriend and her rape bastard. Turns out I had my son in a sleeping bag right next to me the whole time. Not cool, Lu.”
“You think I don’t know that?” Lu snaps. “I have lived with this for seventeen years. Now the truth comes out and I can’t even tell Kyle myself. Linder is after him and my mom and I’m stuck here, no way of knowing if they are alive or dead.”
“Wait? What?” Bolton asks. “Linder found them?”
“He used the chaos of the volcano to somehow track them down,” Lu says. “He was following them when the convoy left Champion. I...I haven’t heard anything since the gas station when you and your men joined us. I don’t know what’s going on.” Tears well up in her eyes and she chokes back a sob. “I don’t know what to do.”
“Hey, hey,” Bolton says and starts to wrap his arms around her.
‘No!” she yells and shoves him away. “No, you don’t get to swoop in and make it better! I’ve done this all on my own and I’ll keep doing it on my own!”
“Like hell you will! He’s my son!”
“But you have a job to do.” Lu sneers. “You have a job to do.”
Bolton takes a deep breath, his eyes studying every pained feature on Lu’s face.
“You’re right,” Bolton says, pointing up at the sky. The ash roils with movement from the flying monsters, their shrieks muted, then loud, as they continually dive in and out of the cloud. “Come with or not, but I’d advise not staying right here.”
“That’s it?” Lu shouts, bringing more shrieks from above. “Come with or not?”
“You aren’t giving me a choice, Lu,” Bolton says. “Not then and not now.”
He turns and walks away.
“You have to be kidding?” Lu yells. More shrieks and some of the monsters start to circle down away from the cloud.
“I’m thinking we use our inside voices from now on,” Lowell says.
“I have a better idea,” Lu says. “How about we shut the fuck up all together?”
“Then we can’t talk about you two’s storied past,” Lowell says.
“You also won’t piss me off more than I am so I tear you apart and leave you to get eaten one piece at a time,” Lu says as she walks off after Bolton. “Life’s a trade off.”
Lowell is ready to respond, but another shriek shuts him up quickly. He hurries after the other two, constantly looking back and forth from where he’s going and up at the beasts above.
“I’m only coming so I can find out how this soap opera ends, you know,” Lowell says as he catches up to Lu and Bolton. “I just have to find out if Bolton has a twin brother. You do, right? But he’s all disfigured and shit? Right?”
Twelve
“This look familiar at all?” Dr. Probst asks Kyle as they stand before two very large doors.
“Nope,” Kyle says. “Sorry, I probably took a wrong turn back a ways.”
“More than likely we’ve taken several wrong turns,” Dr. Probst says. “But here’s hoping that the way out is on the other side of these doors.”
She reaches out with both hands and gives the handles a yank, but the doors don’t budge.
“Hold the candle closer,” she says and Kyle steps up, placing the candle right next to the handles. “Huh. No locks.”
“They’re sealed,” Kyle says and nods at a large keypad. “And gonna stay that way since the power’s out.”
“Has to be a manual way to open these,” Dr. Probst says.
“It doesn’t matter,” Kyle replies. “If these doors are this secure then I doubt we’ll find a backdoor through there.”
“We can try,” Dr. Probst says. “At the very least, we could hide in there if we can close and seal the doors again behind us. Give us some time to think and regroup. We have a little less than ten hours before my ride shows up.”
“Shouldn’t we try to find a different way out then?” Kyle says.
“I want to see what’s on the other side of these doors,” Dr. Probst says. “Maybe there are some weapons.”
“You know how to shoot?” Kyle asks. “You don’t look like you know how to shoot.”
“Just help me find a panel that might have the manual release behind it,” Dr. Probst says.
The two look along the walls by the doors, double checking both sides before they shake their heads and give up.
“Must be further back down the corridor,” Dr. Probst says.
She turns and then freezes, her hand shooting out and gripping Kyle’s elbow so hard he cries out.
“What the hell?” he snaps, then follows her gaze. “Oh.”
“Oh, is right,” Gil says, his rifle trained on them as three men stand behind him, equally armed. “You want to see what’s in there?”
Neither Kyle nor Dr. Probst responds.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Gil says. “And, you are right, Doctor, in there will be a great place for you to hang until your ride gets here. Maybe I’ll wait with you and you can tell me what you wouldn’t tell the kid.” He steps forward, the rifle pointed square at Dr. Probst’s chest. “You can tell me what you saw inside that big, old hole. You know, what your precious federal government put there.”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Dr. Probst says. “There’s no point in telling you anything if you are going to just jam the information inside a brain that believes the government has had anything to do with this nightmare.”
“Then there’s no point in keeping you alive,” Gil says. “Moss was always the softy around here, but Moss is gone now. We do things my way and my way only. Luke?”
A man steps forward, cocks a rifle, and puts it to his shoulder.
“Good bye, Doctor,” Gil smiles.
“Stop!” Kyle yells and gets in front of Dr. Probst. “She told me what she saw!”
“No, she didn’t,” Gil says. “We’ve been following you in the dark almost the whole time. I would have heard.”
“No, she did,” Kyle insists. “And it’s big. Like really big. You promise not to hurt her and I’ll tell you.”
“Kyle,” Dr. Probst warns. “Don’t.”
“No, it’s cool,” he says. “They promise not to hurt you and I’ll tell them what they want to know.”
“And they show us what’s behind the doors,” Dr. Probst says.
“Oh, that’s not a problem,” Gil says. He nods towards the door. “Luke? Show them.”
Luke slings his rifle, hurries ahead and kicks at the bottom of the wall next to the door. A panel in the floor slides open.
“Son of a bitch,” Dr. Probst mutters.
“Now, kid, how about that info?” Gil smiles.
“In
side first,” Kyle says.
Gil shrugs. “Makes no difference to me. I kinda like showing this off anyway. Luke?”
“Just about got it, Gil,” Luke replies as he works at several dials and levers in the panel. Then there’s a loud click followed by a series of clangs.
The doors recess slightly and then slide back into the walls until the handles prevent them from going any further. Dr. Probst and Kyle watch in fascination as a massive space is revealed, easily four times as large as the main area of the bunker when they first came in. But the most surprising part is the fact that florescent lights start to kick on as soon as the doors stop moving. Row after row of lights begins to buzz and slowly build up to strength.
“Don’t know why the lights work here,” Gil says. “Guess the government gets lucky sometimes.”
“What is all of that?” Dr. Probst asks.
“That is the future,” Gil says. “Or our future, at least. Once the outside world sorts itself out, we’ll be ready for it. Nothing’s gonna stop us with that in our back pocket.”
Crates ten high and one hundred deep forms dozens of rows, leaving just enough space for a small forklift to maneuver between them.
“Forklift don’t work,” Gil says. “Probably out of propane, but we haven’t bothered getting a new tank for it. Not like we need to move any of this stuff.”
“What’s in the crates?” Kyle asks. “Guns?”
“Only about a quarter of them are guns,” Gil says. “Pistols, rifles, carbines, sub-machine guns, you name it. The rest of the crates are full of ammunition.”
He smiles big and walks past Kyle and Dr. Probst and starts pointing with his rifle.
“That row right there will keep me in 30/30 rounds until the end of time,” Gil says. “The government can send who they want after us, but they ain’t getting in without a fight.”
“I think you’d be surprised,” Kyle says.
“What’s gonna surprise me is if you actually have info to tell and not just a bunch of bullshit,” Gil says, stepping up to Kyle and jamming him in the chest with his finger. “Spill it, kid.”
Kyle looks at Dr. Probst them at Gil, then over at Luke.
“Hell,” Kyle says.
Gil waits a second then, “Hell, what?”
“Hell,” Kyle says. “The hole leads to Hell. Not just because of the monsters, which are really demons, but because that’s what the government was looking for. They tried to find Hell and instead it found them. Now the Apocalypse is upon us.”
Gil frowns deepens and he looks at the other men. Their eyes are wide with shock and disbelief. Except Luke’s; his eyes believe.
“Kid, you gotta think I’m fucking stupid if I’m going to listen to that happy horse shit,” Gil smiles.
“But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone,” Kyle says, smiling. “I’d say the fire and brimstone is pretty spot on.Kid.”
“Gil?” Luke says. “You don’t think this is true, do you? That Hell has come to earth?”
“Shut up,” Gil snaps. “Of course, it’s not true. Those things out there are created by the government. Probably by theChinesegovernment and we had to babysit them sinceour government has bent over and turned us all into their bitches.”
“I’m looking at a few of the fearful and unbelieving right now, aren’t I?” Kyle says, taking a step forward, his chest bumping Gil’s. “That what you are in this bunker? The fearful hiding from God’s will? The unbelievers waiting for the righteous to come?”
“The righteous?” Gil laughs, but it sounds weak and hollow. “We’re the righteous, kid.”
“Oh, I don’t think so,” Kyle says. “I’ve met the righteous and they don’t look a damn thing like you scraggly fucks.”
***
“Humvees still secure, sir!” Sergeant Helmut “Hellmouth” Kreigel yells over the roar of the rotors coming from the two Chinook helicopters. “Ready to lift off once we’re refueled!”
“Good!” Lieutenant Mallory Taylor responds. “Make sure everyone is done taking a piss and mounts up!”
“Rogue Team, listen up!” Kreigel shouts as he walks to the edge of the tarmac where four other men are busy relieving themselves on the ash covered, winter withered grass and weeds.
“Let me shake off first, Hellmouth!” Sergeant Chuck Ybarra replies. “Unless you want to do that for me!”
“Not in your wildest dreams, bitch!” Kreigel yells.
“Done and done!” Sergeant Lionel “Lion-O” Toloski says as he turns around, grabbing at the crotch of his uniform. “You need to inspect it?”
“What the fuck?” Kreigel laughs. “What’s with the homoerotic humor? There’re monsters in the fucking sky and you bitches are making gay jokes?”
“Nothing wrong with being gay, Sergeant,” Sergeant Gary Holt says. “Right, Blumenburg?”
“Been working for me just fine,” Sergeant Noah Blumenburg says as he zips up. “But if these boys want to finally throw off their repressed feelings and join the club, then I’m all for it. The more the merrier.”
“You just want a cuddle buddy for your sniper hides,” Ybarra says, flipping Blumenburg off. “And I don’t cuddle. Get me in the sack and I’m all business.”
“Out of business is more like it,” Toloski laughs.
“Saddle up, bitches,” Kreigel yells. “Ybarra and Holt are with me in Rover Two. Blumenburg and Toloski are with the Lieutenant in Rover One.”
The men look up at the massive ash cloud far above Mountain Home Air Force Base. The base is still without power from the EMP, but the Chinooks were able to set down and refuel using the manual pumps, getting the SEAL Team that much closer to their target: Dr. Probst.
“Move!” Kreigel yells and the men double time over to the waiting helicopters and the Humvees attached underneath each one.
“Hold on!” Lieutenant Taylor shouts as the men start to run towards their respective Humvees, ready to ride inside the vehicles instead of inside the helicopters for the last leg of the trip. “Huddle up!”
The men circle their lieutenant and lean in close so they can hear him over the rotors.
“We can only go two hundred miles before the Chinooks have to drop us,” Taylor says. “That way, they have enough fuel to get back here. That puts us about one hundred and fifty miles from where the last transmission came from. We do not know what we are walking into. We have no idea who is hostile and who is friendly. Do not forget that no matter what is happening in that sky, everyone we meet is still an American citizen. Martial law may be in effect, but I want you to think hard before you pull that trigger.”
“Humvees will be almost out of fuel by the time we hit the target, sir,” Toloski says.
“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but there are these things called gas stations, Toloski,” Taylor smirks. “You pull up into one and get to pump your own gas. Hell, son, some even have diesel. It’s an amazing world we live in.”
“I know, sir,” Toloski grins. “But without power the pumps won’t work.”
“Then we do it the old fashioned way,” Taylor says. “We siphon straight from the tanks. There are hoses in each Humvee.”
“Hey, Ybarra?” Blumenburg shouts. “You get to play out that cocksucking fantasy you keep having. You can practice on the syphon hose before I let you go down on me.”
“You don’t want the power of these lips on your little pecker, Blumenburg,” Ybarra laughs. “I’d suck it right off and choke on the little thing.”
“You two done?” Taylor smiles.
“They finish fast, sir,” Kreigel says.
“Load up, kids,” Taylor yells. “Strap in and get ready. Keep guns hot and watch the skies. Those bogeys haven’t shown themselves on the trip so far, but they are bound to come at us as we get closer.”
“Fun!” Holt yells. “I love duck hunting!”
&
nbsp; “Shut up and get in the Humvee,” Kreigel says. “Leave the jokes to the other guys, Holt. You suck at them.”
“You know who really sucks?” Holt asks.
The whole team groans and several throw soft punches at Holt’s head.
***
“We aren’t going to talk about this?” Bolton asks Lu as they walk along the highway, Bolton’s eyes look from the map to the CLD to the road in front of them then back down to the map. “Once we get to the coordinates, things will change. We may not have another opportunity. If there is a sat phone, then my orders may not be the same as yours. We may have to split up anyway.”
“Then I go and find Kyle,” Lu says.
“Lu, you’re still a United States Marshal,” Bolton says. “That may not be an option.”
Lu shrugs.
“I’ll go find him,” Lowell says. “I’ve got nothing better to do.”
“You’re a convicted killer,” Bolton laughs. “They’ll probably execute you on the spot to save the hassle of transporting you.”
“Nice,” Lowell says. “That’s the thanks I get for saving your asses? God bless America.”
“You killed judges, killed police officers and kidnapped a little girl,” Lu says. “You may think we’re all in this together now, but we aren’t. We aren’t friends, Lowell. Not now, not ever.”
“An hour ago, you were about to let me go free,” Lowell snaps.
“Go for it,” Lu says, pointing at the tree line by the side of the road. “Knock yourself out.”
“Fuck you,” Lowell says, looking over at the trees. He thinks about it for a second, but then a roar from off to their right changes his mind. “I’m good right here.”
“That one was close,” Bolton says. “I’m surprised we haven’t run into anything since Coeur d’Alene.”
“I think it’s because of them,” Lu says, pointing up at the flying monsters threading in and out of the ash cloud. “I don’t know why, but I think the ground ones are afraid of the ones with wings.”