Salvation (Cascade Book 8)

by Phil Maxey

  She looked at the window, specifically at the latch which held it shut. Shaking her head she turned and walked to the door, opening it then leaving.

  The small corridor which she only got an impression of some hours before, had a number of posters hanging from the walls, and a billboard detailing the weeks ‘employee events’. She kept looking behind herself expecting Clovis to suddenly be there. He was nearby, she could feel it.

  Opening the door at the end of the confined space, revealed cathedral high ceilings just visible in the gloom and a scene of opulence. Shelves and racks a hundred feet high, spanned out in front of her, each full of produce and products of some kind.

  Mindful of the presence of Clovis, she switched on her flashlight and walked along the aisles in awe of what was on offer. She felt as if she was having one of those dreams where you are surrounded by the things you want the most, and then realize you can’t take them with you when you wake.

  Arriving at a shelf that held particularly attractive items, she shoveled out the candy bars that were filling her backpack, opened one and starting chewing on it. She then walked along the aisle placing cans of soup, tinned pies, tinned fruit and any other thing nutritious she could carry. When the weight of her pack got to the point where it was going to slow her down, she stopped.

  She whipped around. Clovis was leaning on one of the steel posts which reached fifty feet up towards the ceiling. He had an axe hanging down from his hand which he was gently swaying back and forth.

  “Man could live like a king here,” he said.

  She turned away from him, reexamining the rest of the shelves, and to give him the impression she wasn’t afraid of him. “Then stay, be a king.”

  “Nah. To be a king you need people to rule. And—” He looked around. “—I ain’t seeing many of them around here.”

  Abbey went to reply when a sensation hit her, like a swarm of bees had suddenly invaded her body and flowed from her toes to the top of her head. She slowly turned back to Clovis, he had stopped swinging the axe.

  “They’re coming,” he growled.

  “Did you find a truck?”

  He walked forward, throwing her a set of keys. “Yeah. It’s out front.”

  They both ran towards the front of the store. Abbey glanced at the goods flashing by. She almost didn’t want to leave.

  The closer they got to the large glass windows of the entrance, the lighter it got around them, and the greater the feeling that the other Cascaders weren’t far off. They both bundled through the already open door, and out into the cold morning air.

  Abbey looked up into the clear sky, and quickly caught sight of a cross shape shadow high above gliding effortlessly. Knowing her friend and pet was up there took some of the fear from her, but again she was being chased and it was a feeling she thought she had left in the past.

  As she got into the driver’s seat of the relatively new looking dark grey pickup, an idea jumped into her head.

  What if I shoot him? Not dead, but wound him. Then the others would find him, and I would be able to get further away.

  It was a sound plan, and as he got into the driver’s seat throwing the axe onto the back seat, she pulled the Glock from a pocket in her backpack and held it ready to fire into his thigh. As soon as he sat, she pulled the trigger. A dull click came from her gun.

  Clovis continued looking forward. “To kill a man with a gun, you need bullets. Good thing I picked up some more boxes of them—” He slowly turned to her. “—Now we going to sit here and wait for Erin and his people to catch us, or we getting back on the road?”

  Stupid. I should have checked the magazine.

  She sat frozen for a moment then turned the keys in the ignition and the pickup pulled away.

  *****

  As the pickup passed over the Connecticut river and through Hartford the feeling that they were being followed began to fade. Abbey kept her hand on the Glock even though as a projectile weapon it was useless to her. Maybe if he attacked her she could hit him with it.

  She had spent the first few minutes after leaving the parking lot of the superstore chastising herself for not knowing the obvious, that Clovis was not going to let her have a loaded gun. Once she had gotten that misgiving out of the way, she concentrated on just what the hell she was going to do next. She was travelling with a man that had tried to kill her numerous times, being chased by a group of super-powered humans that thought she tried to blow them up. Who knows what they would do if they caught up with her. She was sure Erin was with them and his was a face she never wanted to see again.

  “I’ve been thinking about why we couldn’t sense the giant critter last night,” said Clovis. His statement pulled her out of her own head.

  “Okay…”

  “Maybe those things from space, took most of the critters that were easy to find. So—”

  “What’s left is what they or we find hard to find…” It was a plausible explanation and one that left her somewhat confused as to how stupid she thought the man next to her was. The phrase ‘street smarts’ flashed through her mind.

  “Yeah.”

  “That means there could be more E.L.F’s out here, and we won’t know they are there until we run into them.”

  “Yup.”

  Great.

  The towns of Waterbury and Danbury came and went, and they kept to highway eighty-four moving in a south-westerly direction and passing into New York state. Soon after they passed over another of the great rivers, the Hudson. They both sensed some creatures in the watery depths, which was accompanied with a splash or two upsetting the calm waters.

  Least there are still some normal E.L.F’s out there.

  As they approached Harrisburg the sun was at its zenith, and both front windows of the pickup were open to allow the cool spring air to blow through the cabin.

  More vehicles started to block the highway and Abbey weaved the pickup through them, her mind caught between her actions, and a hundred other things, all screaming for attention.

  A clattering sound echoed off the dry road surface. At first she wasn’t sure she was hearing it right, so she slowed leaning out of the driver’s window slightly.

  “I hear it too,” said Clovis.

  The repetitive noise was getting louder and she knew what it was. Her eyes darted around looking for a turn off, but there were only steep grassy banks and walls on both sides. “We need to get off the highway.”

  Clovis turned around trying to see out of the rear window. “What you reckon it is?”

  “It’s a helicopter. Erin’s sending humans after us, so we can’t detect them coming.”

  Clever.

  She pushed the gas pedal down, increasing their speed, but the vehicles lying scattered all around made any linear movement hazardous.

  “I see it,” said Clovis. “It’s still a few miles off, but coming this way.”

  Abbey spotted the exit, but it was a few miles ahead of them and there were numerous rotting wrecks in front of them before they could get to it. She then had an idea and slowed to a crawl, then violently turned the steering wheel. Clovis slammed into the passenger’s door, grabbing hold of his seat. Their pickup lightly crashed into a yellow sedan, crumping its front bumper and they sat at a right angle across the highway.

  She then pushed her driver’s door open and hunched down in the foot well, pulling her backpack over her. “Get down!” She shouted as the sound of the helicopters engine began to be heard.

  Clovis did as ordered and they both got as much as they could under the dashboard.

  While she was in the dark confined space, she mentally told Mo to keep his distance. She wondered if Clovis was doing the same for his creature, which she had seen glimpses of during the previous few hours, bounding behind them.

  The pickup started to rattle as the helicopter drew close, the thunderous rhythmic chopping of the blades filling the air.

  Abbey held her breath as they were momentarily bathed in shadow.

&n
bsp; After what seemed like minutes, but was just seconds the deafening sound started to fade.

  Abbey lifted her head and peered above the dashboard. The military chopper was already a few miles off, keeping low to the highway.

  “We have to stay off the highway from now on, or as much as possible and we should try and travel mostly at night,” she said getting back into her seat, Clovis did the same. As she glanced at him, he nodded.

  CHAPTER SEVEN

  Isaiah lay on the medical bed with the bottom half of his leg encased in white plaster, and raised slightly. He looked around him at others, most of which seemed far worse off than he was.

  Sam appeared at the end of the ward and approached looking glum. Isaiah looked concerned.

  Sam placed his hand on Isaiah’s plastered leg. “Got some bad news buddy, doc says they are going to have to take your leg!”

  “What?” Isaiah started to push himself up in the bed. “They told me it was just a break!”

  Sam shook his head. “You got some weird alien shit inside it—”

  Isaiah’s eyes widened. “What?!”

  Sam started laughing.

  Isaiah frowned shaking his head then relaxed back in the bed. “I can’t be doing with losing any more body parts.”

  Sam saw his friend looking around the ward. Each bed a vision of horror. He sighed and sat on a small chair at the side of the bed.

  Isaiah looked at his friend. “I didn’t know those alien fucks had put some drone thing in the building below us. If I had—”

  “I know…It’s not your fault. That tech could have taken any of us out. It was just Boe’s bad luck he was the first to get hit.”

  Isaiah nodded. “They probably put those things everywhere. Going to make moving about on the surface real interesting.”

  “Yeah, you got to give it to them, they ain’t stupid. They drop those drones, then leave and wait for us to come out and get taken out. Like reverse guerrilla warfare.”

  “Maybe there be a way we can detect them?”

  “I’m sure the people at the Core are working on that.”

  “How are Mary and the kids?”

  “I talked to them just thirty minutes ago. They’re okay…”

  “It’s a strong bunker we built at the house. As long as they stay down inside it, they gonna be fine.”

  “I’ll be happier if they were here, or in any of the other camp’s bunkers.”

  “They’re better where they are, less of a target. None of them are Cascaders right?”

  “No, but you know with kids, the test is sometimes inconclusive…”

  “They’ll be fine. Did you see if the bar is damaged?”

  “Never got a chance to go near that area, but unless the aliens have a problem with warm beer I’d say it’s still standing. From what I saw, it was mostly the gun towers that they took out, and then they targeted buildings that were being used for cover.”

  “Me and a few others got cut off from the rest of the squad, made a run for it into that skyscraper that’s being built…” Isaiah swallowed. “Brigg’s took one in the back. I thought it just clipped him but by time we carried him into the ground floor of the building, he was already dead. Me and Kyle headed upwards to the next floor, then sat and waited for those Hulathen's to come after us. Luckily for us they didn’t.”

  “I heard Kyle’s gonna make it?”

  Isaiah nodded silently, his eyes glistening. He breathed in then looked at Sam directly. “How do we fight these things? They ain’t no stupid animal.”

  Sam sighed. “Maybe those ‘stupid animals’ can be what we use to kick their asses.”

  Isaiah nodded.

  “If there’s any left. The aliens seem set on hoovering them all up for whatever reason. But I saw a little girl control Mr. Teeth—” Isaiah looked at him confused. “— Just think, T-Rex crossed with an elephant, but three times as big as either of them.” Isaiah raised his eyebrows. “Anyway that thing took down a Hulathen, squashed it like a bug and that was even after the alien got in a few licks.”

  “Where’s Mr. ‘teeth’ now?”

  “As far as I know inside a loading bay for the new sports arena that was going up.”

  “Ha yeah, going to be strange to be cheering…” He paused lost in old memories. “Well if these aliens leave us to ourselves.”

  Sam got up. “By time you’re back on your feet I’m sure all will be well in the world.”

  “Just stick an M4 in my hand, I can still shoot!”

  Sam smiled. “Get some rest.”

  *****

  Zach walked through the maze like corridors, stepping over ragged and exhausted people. Some were sitting up, some were sleeping, all were wondering when they could return to the surface.

  “Excuse me?” Said a women in a white shirt, her jacket over her knees.

  He stopped and looked down. “Yes?”

  “Are you in charge?”

  “I am. Is everything okay?”

  “I was just wondering how long we were going to have to stay down here?” She looked around her. “All of us here have nowhere proper to sleep. We can’t just stay in this corridor.” Murmurs rang up and down the few dozen people that were trying to make the concrete floor and walls habitable.

  Zach’s head began to ache again. “We’re doing everything we can to keep all of you safe. Have you got enough food and water?”

  “Yes, but—”

  “Then that’s all I can do for now. When we know it’s safe to return to the surface, we will let everyone know.”

  The woman smiled meekly.

  He walked away, not being sure which direction to take. Hearing noises from behind a door, he knocked then opened it. Two soldiers sitting at desks looked up, startled.

  “At ease. Which way is main operations again?”

  “End of this corridor, then right and third door on the left, sir.”

  Zach smiled. “We need to get some signs on these walls so old men like me don’t get lost!”

  The soldiers nervously smiled.

  As he walked away any vestige of humor left his expression. Soon he entered a large corridor with equally wide doors at the end. He pushed them open to a wall of noise.

  A young woman in civilian clothes ran up to him. “General. How long do you think we will be down here?”

  Zach walked into the center of the room and stood looking at various video feeds showing the different parts of the camp. “Your guess is as good as mine, Karen.”

  She looked frustrated. “General, there are over twenty thousand people crammed into a shelter that was designed for seven. I’m the civilian liaison, I need something to give these people hope that they’re going to see the sky again.”

  He turned to the woman a good few inches smaller than him, her hair tied in a ponytail and searched for what she required. Words of hope. “The best we can do for them right now is keep them warm and give them food and water, but beyond that it’s up to the aliens.”

  She frowned, nodded then walked away.

  He turned his attention back to the camps video feeds. A few hundred feet above his head it was a blistering sunny day. Most of the fires that were alive the night before had burned themselves out, and the different areas inside the one hundred and sixty square miles looked almost peaceful.

  He looked at nearby soldier. “When was the last time we saw any of the Hulathen or their craft.”

  “Last sighting was at zero two hundred hours, sir. Approximately twelve hours ago.”

  “If that changes, let me know.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Zach turned on his heel and left the noise, entering a small quiet tunnel which led to comms. As he walked he went over in his head what Abbey’s reason could have been to be involved with a bombing, and leaving with a man that had tried to kill him and her more than once.

  He entered the small room. “Patch me through to general Trow.” He said to the officer stationed there.

  The soldier did as orde
red, then left the room as before.

  Zach sat down.

  A few moments later Trow appeared on the monitor. “How are things in bunker five?” She said.

  “Bit of a tight fit, but we’re managing, you?”

  “Pretty much the same. We’re monitoring for the aliens, but it has been a while since they made an appearance…do you think they could—” The general looked to her side as if someone was talking to her. She looked shocked. She looked back at the camera. “Zach, we’re getting reports of explosions at the power station.”

  Before he could reply, a knock came at the door to his side. “Yes?”

  An anxious looking soldier appeared. “Sir, there’s been explosions at the power station. It looks as if the camps electricity grid is offline.”

  “Can you bring up the feeds of the station, on these other monitors?”

  The soldier quickly entered and typed away at the keyboard on the desk. A scene of smoke rising from the block like building appeared on one of the monitors.

  “Looks like they’re still around,” said Trow on the other monitor.

  “Cutting power to the camp. Good thing these bunkers have their own generators.”

  “Yeah, but what about the other five or so million that are still up top?”

  “We could send a crew out there to try and restore power, but maybe that’s what the Hulathen what. What does Elijah think?” It was a question he didn’t want to ask, but he was open to any good ideas.

  “He thinks we should just give the aliens what they want. Which is not going to happen on my watch.”

  “He wants us to just hand over the Cascaders?”

  “Yup. He said ‘A few thousand to save over ten million is worth it.’”

  Zach shook his head. “Even if we did do that, there’s no guarantee the Hulathen would stop. No, get his genius brain to come up with something else.”

  Trow nodded. “Well he did have a plan B. He said the aliens are waiting for us to go up top and hand over the Cascaders…but what if we use the Cascaders to draw the aliens out?”

  Zach liked the idea, but it meant risking some civilians which most of the Cascaders still were. “I’ll ask the Cascaders if they would be in on that.”