The Event Series (Book 2): The Gospel According to Matthew, Margo & Lance

by Thomas Larson

  The plan was really pretty simple, Stephen flies us in, we grab the Comm thing and then fly back home, an hour, maybe a little more, and that is it. Del, E and I go in, Stephen keeps the engine running, Code is our outside protection, if we need it. But with the cold and decomp, the Zoms are pretty much a non-issue.

  We go in two days to give time for Stephen to get the chopper checked out; it has been a while since it flew. Stephen was a cool guy, he had been a pilot over in Iraq or Afghanistan with the army. He was a little weird when we first met him, but he put together or refurbished or fixed this helo that he found at one of the airfields nearby.

  Snowball fight in the afternoon, it was almost not cold.

  I am really starting to dislike Deer Stew. Nick does a great job of making it, and changing it up a little, but after all these months for either lunch or dinner, it is getting old, the taste, not the stew.

  Feb 16th

  Big stir in the camp this morning, and I think it actually is a big deal. Last night Captain E and Del were watching the lights off to the west; we have been kind of all taking turns at it. But this time it was different. One of the lights blew up.

  “It was kind of weird, we usually see one out there, but last night there were three, and it almost seemed that one of them was attacked. It was like two of them were chasing the little light,” explained E.

  “We told the Major, woke him up actually, and also filled in The Three,” added Del.

  Ethan overheard and he was off and running, “They’re coming for us, there is an alien war going on, our jets are up and fighting them.”

  “OMG! Ethan, stop, just stop, we don’t know what it is, and it is still far away.” growled E.

  “Yeah but…”

  “STOP!”

  And as often the case, Ethan stormed off muttering.

  “Guys, we have to get that Comm link, and have to do it today, the Major and I talked about it. If it has anything to do with the Air Force, we need to hear what is going on,” said E in a low voice.

  “We can leave in an hour,” said Stephen who had walked up behind us during Ethan’s brief rant.

  “Let’s get our stuff together then and do this!” said Del.

  We all nodded and went to get ready.

  The chopper lifted off about 45 minutes later and really it was an easy mission, in and out, fifteen minutes ground to turn around. We had the link, and a few other items that we thought might be interesting from the communications room. We also looked around for the ammo, but there was not much there, looks like the troops cleaned it out before they left the building. We were back at camp by noon.

  When we got back, E, Cody and the Major immediately huddled away in E’s lab and began to work on getting the device set up. The hope was just to be able to monitor what was going on, maybe find some automated signals with some warnings or information that might tell what the lights in the sky were. We all pretty much felt that the “alien” idea was crazy, if it had been a threat, then the QUalz would likely have given us a warning and maybe even some type of weapon or advice. Whatever the case, the guys are working on it.

  Del and I talked, Charlene joined us, and pretty soon there were about 10 of us talking, and speculating, kind of a hen party; but it was just that, speculation, and just kept us busy.

  Ethan was actually kind of funny in this. He had some very wild ideas of Zombie pilots who had evolved and were hunting down the living and then somehow communicating the information to ground Zoms that fell upon the living like a plague of locusts.

  About 5:30 or so the guys came into the dining room and joined us for dinner. Did I mention I really hate deer meat? Anyway, they said that they have the link up and running.

  E said, “We have found a little bit of stuff but it opened the door to a lot of questions and I am going to have to do some more looking around. The good news is that it is not aliens, exactly, but there may be some AI involved.”

  The Major added, “There is still some military out there, and it appears they are on our side.”

  That set Ethan off, “Then that means there is a war going on!”

  “No, it means that they are not trying to kill us or trying to wipe out little groups like ours,” replied the Major.

  “Then why the explosion in the sky last night?” asked Nick.

  “We’re not sure yet, and are working on trying to find out,” explained E.

  “At least for now everything seems to be at least 100 miles from us, so for now we’re safe,” added the Major.

  After dinner was finished, the boys went back into the lab and continued to work.

  Code came in about 11:30, he tried to be quiet thinking I was asleep.

  “Well?”

  “We have some info, but it isn’t clear yet. We have been able to access the military web, but it is a slow process, the only thing we are certain of so far is that there are drones, and maybe a few fighter planes, but why and what they are doing we don’t know yet,” He said.

  “Are we safe?”

  “As far as we can tell, right now, yes.”

  “Is there a ‘but’ in there?”

  “Yeah, we are not sure for how long, it seems like they, whatever they are, are getting closer and we don’t understand what they are doing yet.”

  Feb 17th

  Del and I headed out this morning for a little hunting trip. We were gone for most of the day while the boys were huddled in E’s lab playing with the Comm thing. We got back about 4ish. It is staying light later and later each day.

  We stopped in to see how they are doing and the faces did not give me a good feeling.

  “We have the thing up and running and are getting a lot of loop recordings from the channels we have been able to search and find,” said Ethan. He seemed to be a little bit more normal, I think not hearing transmissions of ongoing alien battles has him calmed down.

  “There seems to be two types of recurring messages. The first are Broken Arrows and the other are Fort Apache. But we are still looking at what we can find for frequencies and messages,” added Code.

  “We need to talk with the Major and see if he knows the meaning of the loop messages, but I want to hang on for a little longer to see if we find anything else,” said E. “I have an idea what the Broken Arrow thing is about, but not sure about Fort Apache.”

  Del glared at him, “You gonna share?”

  E looked at her, then lowered his head, “I think Broken Arrow indicates that the base or source location was over run. The Broken Arrow message is a warning.”

  “Well, why not just put that out there for all of us to hear?” I asked.

  “Well, the messages would be only for those who have the Sat Comm links, other military units, so it would not help. My guess is that there is some form of message out there for the rest of the world on a more localized means, like the old am radio, like you would get the weather or highway warning.” Said E.

  “But we never heard them at Waterviet,”

  Code piped in, “Well, that may be because we never really were looking, it may have been there, may still be there.”

  “Anyway, before we get too carried away I want to scan some more channels. I will talk with the Major tomorrow when we hopefully have some more results.” said E.

  I could tell he was distracted, kind of bothered by this. I think he was hoping that we would find someone or something.

  “Did you guys eat today?” asked Del.

  Ethan looked at the other two and said, “ah, no, we kinda got busy.”

  “Good, well let’s go eat, I hear there is a new Deer Stew on the menu tonight,” said Del smiling, she winked at me, and gave the puke signal.

  “God I hate deer stew” I thought to myself.

  Feb 18th

  Actually, the stew was better than usual, I am not sure what Nick did to change it up, but it was almost good.

  Code wandered in last night about midnight. He was exhausted and about all I could get out of him was that they foun
d more of the same as far as message loops.

  The boys were back at it early and that left Del and I with not much to do. The weather was not great so it was a drawing and reading day. We need to expand the library; I am running out of first time books.

  During lunch E and Code came in. They took the Major aside and then headed back to the lab. Del and I wandered over.

  “You’re right about the Broken Arrow, which is a message code that means that the base or lines were overrun. It was a standard term that had been in place for a lot of years,” Major Barkley said calmly. “We had pretty much figured that had been the case early on.”

  “What about the other terms, Fort Apache and Lakota 3?” asked Ethan.

  The Major dropped his head, and you could tell that he was bothered by these terms.

  “I know that Fort Apache was the message word for an internal takeover, they weren’t overrun from the outside, but from within. Someone inside the base became infected and the disease spread that way.”

  “So those locations are infested, no help there,” said Code, more asking than telling.

  “Yep, you got it,” said the Major. “I mean the bases may have cleaned themselves, the Zoms became so decomped that they are no longer an issue. But if we don’t have to risk it, there is not much sense in even trying to get there. But Lakota, that is odd. I don’t know that one.”

  “Well, we still have a lot of area to cover on the transmission band, maybe we can find something else.” E replied, I could see the wheels turning in his head.

  “It is probably better if we clear out and leave you guys to it.” I offered.

  “Yes, Thanks”, said Code.

  I kissed Code on the way out, he smiled. I knew it was going to be another late night.

  Feb 19th

  The boys are looking a little bedraggled this morning. Code never even came home last night. Over coffee they just sat there and I thought back to Tom on our trips to Atlantic City, he was a grumpy bear until he had his coffee and that was the good stuff, what we have now is kind of an herbal type drink without a lot of caffeine.

  “You cheatin’ on me?” Del asked E as we joined them at the table.

  “Huh?” E replied with a start.

  “Humor alert, I was trying to lighten the mood”

  “Oh, sorry, not firing on all cylinders.” He said.

  I asked, “So what did you find?’

  “Nothing, or nothing new, just Broken Arrows, Fort Apaches and a couple more Lakota 3’s” grumbled Code.

  “I just don’t get the Lakota thing,” said Ethan.

  Henry had wandered over and joined us. “Well, what is the Brainiac Squad working on this morning?”

  Ethan filled him in on the business of the Comm Link, the messages and The Three magic words.

  “So we know what Broken Arrow is, and we know what Fort Apache is, but Lakota, now that is the challenge,” said Henry thoughtfully.

  “Yep.”

  “Okay, it is all old west stuff, makes sense, cowboy movies, cavalry westerns, makes sense. Cheyenne Mountain was the big command center.”

  “Yeah, and Cheyenne is now a Fort Apache, overrun from within,” was E’s response.

  Okay, well, what do you think it means, Lakota 3?

  “Our thought is it is a status code, and indicator of a base’s situation is our best guess.” Said E.

  “Maybe, but that does not really make a lot of sense. If it was a status, it should be connectible. I mean, if the base was safe you would be something like High Ground or Teepee. If it was a case of a retaking a transmitter location, one would think Cavalry Charge or Charge would be it,” suggested Henry.

  “I remember that Tom used to get these goofy dream catchers from a Lakota Sioux School out in North Dakota,” I said half to myself.

  “A location? A place, in the area of an old Native American Tribe? Custer, beaten by the Sioux, I……..We got to go! I have an idea!” Shouted E as he raced from the table.

  Code shot me a smile as he followed, “I will see you later.”

  Del looked at me, and Henry, “and they are off,” she said with a smile

  “Yeah”

  The rest of the day was quiet for us. We would poke our head into E’s lab every once and again but the boys were so wrapped up they hardly even noticed.

  In the middle of afternoon we saw the Major and The Three heading toward the lab, Ethan was escorting them, they found something.

  We started to head that way but Code stopped us at the door, “Not yet, we’re onto something, but not yet.”

  “Damn”

  I think I can understand what it was like hanging outside Saint Peter’s Cathedral waiting for the puffs of smoke that mean a new pope was elected. Just sit and wait, the boys were maybe close to something, but we were in the dark.

  Finally at about 3:30, they all came out of the lab. “We are heading over to the dining hall, gather everyone up, we have news,” said Teckla in a loud voice.

  We all shuffled in; there were lots of whispers and questions about what was going on. I was surprised when it was the Major who took the lead.

  “Lance (that is E) and Ethan have found something interesting and I will let them explain it to you, it has to do with the military, and maybe our future,” he said.

  E looked uncomfortable speaking in front of the group and started out softly. He explained that we had all seen or heard of the lights in the night sky and were concerned. As a result of it, a small group had headed back to the arsenal and recovered a satellite communications device that was there. The thought was that we might be able to figure out who or what was behind what we had been seeing. He went on to say that the lights were aircraft, not alien invaders, and the best they could determine was that the aircraft were mostly drones.

  There was some ruffling in the crowd and Joseph asked, “What are the drones doing?”

  “Now that part of it we have not figured out yet. See, we have been able to break some of the messages that we’ve picked up. They are general loop messages from the military bases around the country. The majority of them are either Broken Arrow or Fort Apache,” said E.

  The Major jumped in, “That is code for the location had been over run, either from the outside or the inside. The last man standing sets an automatic beacon with the message, a warning.”

  “But we have also found a number of other messages. There is Seminole 2, Pequot 2 and Lakota 3. We are still working on it but have an idea that these might be a signal directing us to communications line of an active military location,” added Ethan.

  “How did you figure that out?” asked Fred.

  “Well, it was Henry and Margo who helped break that, or at least pointed us in a direction. The thought was that the tribe names were locators, the Seminole in Florida, the Pequot in Connecticut and the Lakota in North Dakota. The number attached to them is a communications frequency,” said E.

  “Have we, you made contact yet?” asked Tay.

  E, his head dropped a little “no, we have not been able to figure out the 2, or 3.”

  Someone in the crowd asked what the notation of our base was.

  “You mean the Arsenal? That’s Mohawk 1, it was an army facility and…” started Frank.

  “Seminole could be a Navy facility, Pensacola maybe and maybe the sub base in Groton, both have 2’s,” suggested Nick.

  “And the Lakota 3, isn’t North Dakota old Air Force Missile silo territory?” added Stephen.

  Charlene perked up, “Is it possible that the numbers are not a frequency code as much as a way to define which branch of the service?”

  All eyes were on the Major; he looked around the room and shrugged, “I guess.”

  E looked at Ethan and Code, “We have more work to do, but this sounds good.”

  “Not tonight you don’t, R&R is in order for you all, you have been running too hard too long, you all need a good night’s sleep,” Said Teckla, and it was in the voice of a mother that you did not ref
use.

  “Yeah but…..” started Ethan.

  “Yeah but nothing, you heard the lady,” said Henry.

  We broke up the meeting for a little bit so Nick and Grace could put the final touches on dinner. While that was going on Code grabbed a shower. I could tell he was tired, running on nervous energy. It would not be a late night for him.

  Ah, dinner…..did I ever mention I really am tired of deer stew. But tonight we did have a new creation with it, some kind of nut bread; actually it was kind of good, though dry.

  Feb 20th

  I have not talked about some of the other members of our group in a while, and I really don’t spend all that much time paying attention to them or what is going on in their lives. But there are some things that go on that you can’t just ignore.

  The best example is the baby, well not a baby yet, but Heather’s soon to be baby. She is almost 5 months along and there are questions and concerns about that, like what will the baby be normal, or infected or deformed? There is no way of telling, it is not like we have an ultra sound set up. The Major, Doc Barkley and Charlene do the best they can to monitor things, but well, they just can’t tell.

  One of the things that I left behind was church. That really happened more when Meme died, she was the one who would make certain that Matt and Tanya would have a service every Sunday and was always on my case to attend. Since she has gone it is ….well, not that important to me anymore. I go every once and a while.

  Matt and Tanya do a nice service. They don’t ram God down our throat, but there is always the parable or lesson of the Lord that pops up in almost every situation.

  Jan and Fred still seem to still be on their honeymoon, and they seem happy, but so far we have heard no baby stuff out of them. I think that part of that may have to do with the situation with Heather. Let’s get one born and see how it goes.

  It’s funny how you start thinking about one thing and it leads you to another. I wonder how Ron, is doing, he was off with that other group and they were heading toward Ohio. It has been a while and well, I was just thinking about that because he was Fred’s best man.

  The boys were back at it early again today, that is why I am going to do a little drawing, I’m bored.