“At least you’re alive, Stan,” I said. What else could I say? He might have been asleep the whole time, but to be plagued with surreal nightmares? Man, that was doubly, unnaturally cruel.
“I still feel a little numbness on my right side and the nightmares are gone. But they were so vivid. I hope time will get them out of my memory. Horror RPGs got nothing on them,” he replied.
“So, what happened? Cooper said he saw you approach that strange figure?” asked Henry.
“Nothing much to tell. It was as Cooper said, I approached the guy and used the standard protocol in hailing somebody at a checkpoint. Hell, I was even extra courteous. You know, being on home ground. But the fucking bastard didn’t even answer me. Just turned and whacked me one. Lost track of everything after that.”
“What did he look like?” continued Henry.
“Hard to tell, man. Had a hood on. But I remember a weird face, a bit thin, grayish pallor, and black eyes. No pupils. But that’s easy nowadays with contacts. The thought did cross my mind that it was too early for Halloween.”
“Did you notice anything?” persisted Henry.
“He did look a bit confused. Head twisting in all directions. You know, as if he didn’t know where he was. And a slight blurring! That got me thinking about the entire thing being strange as I approached him. It was as if he was either fading in or out. But that blow definitely meant he was fading in,” replied Stan.
“You know what happened to your squad, right?” I commented.
“Cooper filled me in. I can’t even go back to get their tags. Cooper says it’s too dangerous. Though the rest is hard to believe. Stopping an armored vehicle with bare hands? Bullets hitting some sort of a barrier? Quick-rusting effect on metal?” Stan said as he shook his head.
And you really won’t like what you’ll discover, I thought, thinking of the mounds of boneless flesh.
“Believe it, Stan. Though on the bright side, we found that fire does work on the dog-like versions,” I said.
“What dog-like versions?” he asked, eyebrows raised.
Oh, man.
I looked at Henry. He nodded and proceeded to update Stan on the situation as we knew it. Appropriately-tailored information given the fragility of the man, of course. Well, all except for the declaration of ownership of the territory by that large, strange entity; Cooper had heard it too, so there was no hiding it.
As I stood up, I heard a knock on the door. Henry stopped his briefing and went toward it, followed by me. Jen had stopped what she was doing in the kitchen and picked up her pistol. Cooper positioned himself with a clear view of the entrance, M4 at the ready. I noticed Henry had his firearm out and was hiding it behind his back. He stood at the back of the door, making sure it wouldn’t hit and pin him when it opened.
I got ready to open the door, though I called out first, asking who it was.
“That you, Eric? It’s Ms. Adley,” came the answer. Guilt filled me. I had thought about checking on her that morning but had forgotten all about it. I opened the door. There she was, with that familiar, enlivening smile on her face. She had her morning tracksuit on with a distinct difference – surprisingly. a canvas belt was around her waist, on which hung a large knife in its sheath.
“Oh, this? Don’t mind it, dear. It was David’s. He used to bring it on his hunting trips. But with all these terrorists about, it makes me feel safer,” she said, clearly catching where my eyes went.
“Oh, sorry, Ms. Adley, I didn’t mean to stare. Come in,” I said.
“And good morning, dear,” she said as she passed me by, giving me a kiss on the cheek. As I closed the door, I could hear her excited voice.
“And who’s this? Oh! Jen, dear! You look as beautiful as ever! Come here and give me a big hug!”
I turned and saw Jen hugging her. I heard Ms. Adley chide her for not coming over more often. Jen murmured something about exam week. Then the senior woman looked at the three other men in the room. They had all stood up, Stan included, though he leaned on Cooper for support.
“Come on, Eric. Be polite and do the introductions. You have guests, and it’s only proper to do the courteous thing,” Ms. Adley exclaimed.
So, I did. Ms. Adley was her gracious self, smiling and giving a compliment to each man, though we all looked like hell. Introductions finished, she stopped and looked at Cooper and Stan.
“Our boys in uniform? Is there a war on? I heard there were terrorists, but that was in South Dakota,” she said.
“Precautionary measures, Ms. Adley,” I quickly answered. Giving her the truth might induce a heart attack.
“There should be! There was a mighty ruckus at my door last night. I put on my earmuffs and went upstairs to get my sleep. The nerve! Or it could be raccoons. The little nuisances have been so aggressive lately.”
“Could be,” I answered lamely. I could see grins forming on the faces of the others.
“Anyway, I dropped by to tell you there appears to be some trouble in town. I finally got to talk to somebody. Ann. You know Ann? That helpful assistant at the bakery?”
I shook my head. Mom probably knew Ann.
“Well, she said to stay put as there were troublemakers around and that the town was full of soldiers. Then the line got cut off. Well, what a bother. I have been trying since yesterday to call people. Getting busy tones, people not answering their phones, and when I got somebody to talk to, it was only for a few seconds.”
I was dumbfounded.
Phone? Talking over the phone?
“You were able to call somebody? Over the phone?” I asked. I could see the interest in the rest of the group.
“I did say that, didn’t I? But that call was the only one that got through; the lines were still busy this morning,” she answered.
“What kind of phone, Ms. Adley?” asked Henry.
“My landline, of course. Never did have any liking for those new gadgets. Too complicated. And my eyesight makes it such a problem to see that silly little screen.”
Then it struck me. The Adleys were the first residents of the subdivision. It stood to reason they’d got a landline installed. Cell phones weren’t invented back then.
“I doubt if you could use it anymore, Ms. Adley. If it’s working, then the military might have commandeered it for their own use. Electronics don’t work in the area now,” volunteered Henry. A landline would work, albeit erratically at times. It’s a closed system and the control components are located in the town.
“It also means the town is still a viable option. At least for Cooper and me,” said Stan. “We’ll try for the town when I get stronger and see if our unit is there.”
“Why? Are you sick, young man?” asked the elderly woman. “Anything I can do to help?”
“I’m fine, Ma’am. Just need a bit of rest,” replied Stan. I smiled inwardly. Stan had just missed out on being the subject of Ms. Adley’s 24/7 care system. I’d got sick myself a few times when I was younger, and she volunteered to take care of me while my parents were at work. Man, talk about being pampered, though she took no prisoners when it came to making me drink my medicine.
“You all got food? Water? You need anything?” continued Ms. Adley. “I’ve got a nice chicken soup, you know, in the freezer. I put cabbage in, you know. It makes it…” She stopped, as if she’d lost her train of thought. “Oh, and I could make some—” She stopped again. “It’s very nice, you know.”
“No, Ma’am, I guess we’re good. But thank you,” said Henry, mildly amused.
My stomach grumbled; I could have used some hot chicken soup just about then—even with cabbage in—but felt that accepting might have been mildly exploitative, in case she needed the food later. We were in a war now.
“I’ll be going now. If you need anything, just give me a holler. I might have what you need,” she replied, making for the door.
After she closed the door, we were still looking at the entrance for a few seconds, silent, our eyebrows somewhere headed to the backs of our heads.
No one knew quite what to say. It was amusing, and it was touching.
“She just reminded me why I have to keep on fighting,” said Cooper, quietly.
14
The Gathering
After Ms. Adley’s visit, the day passed quickly. And no, not because we had nothing else to do. On the contrary. We strengthened the overlooking windows with some leftover aluminum sidings. Dad had intended to use them as placeholders for Mom’s potted plants but never got around to it. But there weren’t enough for all the windows on the ground floor, so we braced the rest with what additional lumber we could scrounge. The door got a proper double bar, one near the middle and one near the bottom. That was where the force of an assault of the monster dogs would be, if they decided to pay us a social call.
The car’s tank was drained of whatever fuel was left and its engine of motor oil. Using a vehicle now was a foolhardy proposition. Out on the road? It was a way of announcing a free meal. Henry checked out the woods at the back of the house, taking a spear and a couple of Molotovs along, just in case.
Checking our egress route, he said. I just hoped it wouldn’t come to that.
Cooper dealt with the car and created more gasoline bombs, in addition to improvised torches. Around four in the afternoon, electrical power failed.
Learning from me that the power plant was near the town, Henry surmised it must be a transmission problem. A tower must have finally toppled from rusted foundations. With all manner of creatures running around, it was highly possible. Or one of the bastards had sprayed acidic pee on a steel column.
Later, Cooper and I began hauling plants, the large garbage bin, and other miscellanea to cover the egress route through the back door. Retreating was always safer when your opponent couldn’t see you. But I was not too sure about the senses of those monster dogs. Just to be safe, we laid out a series of blockages on that side of the house. Otherwise, they’d easily be able to catch us if and when we instigated what Cooper called a “retrograde action.”
“Nice house,” he told me after we’d finished the tasks. “Brick, stone, and concrete. The siding, though, doesn’t fit the design. A recent addition?”
“Yep. And thanks for the compliment. Mom’s design actually. Some sales associate got through to Dad. Convinced him to cover the wooden portion with it,” I replied.
“Tell you what, when this blows over, let’s see what we could do about it. Dad has a small construction outfit back in Missouri. Sometimes, we get left-over materials from a job. Let’s see if we could replace those things.”
“Man, I would like to, but the cost… you know. We couldn’t probably afford it as of now,” I said.
“Don’t worry about it. Materials at cost and we could do it at our own pace. Pay when able. It’s the least I could do for saving our asses.”
“Deal.”
That offer deserved a fist bump and Cooper got one.
As we walked back inside, we got our marching orders from Jen. Bath time.
Henry was already done and was wearing jeans and a blue long-sleeved shirt. He had one of my old jackets wrapped around his waist. The professor did advise me to pick a similar outfit. The sleeves, he explained, would greatly minimize cuts and bruises on my arms if we ever needed to move out. The dark color would help in avoiding visual detection. Stan and Cooper got fresh T-shirts, underwear, and socks. They couldn’t dispose of their uniforms, of course, and using the laundry would be a late decision. There was no telling when the things would dry out after getting laundered, considering their plan the following day to try to reach the town. But I strapped my jacket to my backpack. Moving in the woods tended to make you sweat.
Finally, at dinner time and huddled under the light of an emergency lamp, we crowded around a map of the area, one of those cheap tourist maps you could buy from a gas station. But it was what we had and was usually in the car’s glove compartment. Mom and I sometimes used it. Of course, we knew about GPS and all that but Mom, believe it or not, often checked the digital route against the map. It had these little handwritten lines where she had found shortcuts.
Jen kept watch as the three men – Stan, Henry, and Cooper – tried to determine the safest route back to town. I looked on, serving as a resource person on possible ways, the terrain, inhabited areas. Not that I could answer all of their questions but I determined it was twelve miles to town using the highway. The two intended to keep to the woods. Good decision, but it increased the distance they had to travel, not to mention the difficulty. Cross-country movement was never an easy trek.
Finally, they settled the matter. The two would leave at dawn. Stan was now rapidly getting his strength back and they thought it best to move now while the situation appeared calm. I did think it was relatively peaceful, but it was a false perception brought about by the absence of any recent sighting of the creatures.
Then I heard Henry give a few pointers for Stan and Cooper. I have to admit I didn’t understand the part about detonators.
“You heard fire works, at least for the dogs,” I heard Henry say. “That would be helpful information for our military if they still don’t know that bit of information. Napalm is out of the question as I don’t think we have the means of delivery. Our planes would just fall out of the sky, especially those expensive fly-by-wire models. Anything that has electronic systems or is dependent on signal transmissions outside of a closed system is vulnerable. Considering the effect of the aura on metal components, we’d rapidly run out of planes. That listing also grounds our choppers and drones.”
The man stopped and thought for a while.
“Careful use of flamethrowers from a distance could be useful but we stopped using those due to a 1978 unilateral declaration by the Department of Defense. I don’t know if we still have them in our reserve stockpiles, but it would take time to get them, refurb the equipment, and then train the troops. Finally, this is the second day,” he continued. “I believe whatever spread out from the Pines Valley area has already covered this state. I don’t know what the effect of that cloud would be on military gear. But considering we were unable to stop it in South Dakota, my educated guess is that many, if not most, of our firepower assets are now useless or won’t do any damage.”
“Shit. So, we’re back to using gasoline-filled bottles,” commented Cooper.
“You could advise your commander to try using C4 explosives but use nonel detonators. They’re plastic and could serve in lieu of landmines. The rest of the available types of detonators have some metal in them, making them dangerously unstable.”
“Will do, Henry. Or should it be “sir?” asked Stan.
“I am a bonafide civilian now, lieutenant. Henry is perfect.”
“I really can’t get over the fact that our rifles and heavy machineguns don’t do shit except push them back. That is, if they don’t rust or there’s no bizarre barrier involved,” said Cooper.
“That’s a huge problem. Our fighting ability on the ground depends a lot on the individual firepower of the troops. Unless those brains back at DARPA could come up with a ceramic AP bullet immediately, it’s going to be a medieval conflict. Only without the steel for spearheads and arrows,” Henry replied grimly. “A lot of good men are going to die, whichever way we look at it.”
As the group went to bed, I insisted on being given my share of watch duty. Then Jen followed my example. My argument was simple. Stan couldn’t be assigned yet as he needed to build up his strength and I knew Cooper was leaving with him. Whatever extra hours of sleep the soldier could get were vital. Otherwise, he’d be functioning at less than optimum level, endangering both Stan and himself. Jen got the first watch, and I got the dawn schedule which meant I was awake when the two soldiers got ready to leave through the back door. A fist bump, a hug, and a high five for Stan. A handshake and another bro hug for Cooper.
I gave Stan the shotgun. He needed it more than I did, and the rock salt loadout meant less recoil than usual, making it ideal for him.
/> The two left quietly, with the backpacks Jen had prepared. Each also had a makeshift spear and four Molotovs. A torch was likewise strapped to each backpack. It was a short goodbye. What else could we say to each other? We all knew they were headed in harm’s way. We didn’t know if we’d see each other again. And long goodbyes were really awkward at the best of times. But I did remember my parting words as he slipped out of the door into the false dawn of the morning.
“Don’t burn the woods down, man. We’re still here.”
Stan laughed. “We’ll try to evac you guys once we get into town.”
“Thanks,” I said simply. And then just like that, the two were gone. Like ghosts.
I went back to my post. We still had some surviving to do.
At around nine in the morning, Henry and I were looking over the map to determine our own escape route. We had just finished deciding on a possible exit when we heard Jen.
“Guys! Come here! Something’s happening.”
Both of us rushed to the windows. As we looked out, something was indeed happening.
Darkness had settled over the entire area.
The darkness was limited to an area encompassing the subdivision and part of the woods behind; whatever light the burdened skies gave was still visible beyond the boundaries of the phenomenon. I didn’t have any doubt that new devilry was going to happen.
Suddenly, a sickly green beam shot up from what I surmised was the middle of the encompassing dark. It did bring some illumination around the subdivision, if one could call the repulsive greenish glow it cast as brightening the surroundings. It hurt the eyes to gaze at it for a long time. From what I could determine, it was happening about a mile and a half away and formed a two-to-three-mile radius of black night around it.
Then an enormous blast wave erupted. It didn’t give off any sound, but before I ducked, I could see houses and other structures near the pillar being blown away like kindling. It was worse than the most violent hurricane. A house was there, and then in the next second, it was gone. There was no initial violent shaking of the structure or the sight of the house being torn apart. It was literally instantaneous. But the utter silence by which the destruction was triggered was one of the most terrifying things I have experienced.
Planar Wars: Apertures (Book 1) Page 8