Salvation (Cascade Book 8)

by Phil Maxey

  They shuddered, but remained shut.

  Holding…

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

  Forgotten traffic signal boxes hanging from cables, swayed in the noon day sun. A gas station sat on one corner of the wide junction, while a drive through restaurant sat on another. In the center fifteen people including Brad and Major Hoxted were on their knees. And in front of them, was Erin with a number of his men. A long convoy of his remaining vehicles stretched hundreds of yards towards the nearby town, and on the forecourts and mud covered ground all around were creatures of all sizes. Everyone human or not was waiting.

  Erin wiped his brow with the back of his hand, then clicked on his radio. “I’m not a patient man Abbey. Do not make me wait any longer.”

  Someone shouted to look up into the sky, and a small dark cross shape appeared high above them, but rapidly increased in size.

  The shape became clearer until everyone could see the large wings of Abbey’s E.L.F beating the air, as they descended. The updraft dispersed the dust from the concrete and Mo lowered Abbey to the ground. He then instantly took back up into the cool blue sky.

  She stood her ground twenty feet away from Erin and the hostages. “I’m here, now let them go!”

  Erin grinned and walked slowly towards her until she was within arms reach. “It is good to see you!” He grabbed and pulled her into him for an embrace.

  She pushed him off of her. “You got what you want. Now let them go!” She looked across at the drained and grime covered individuals wavering in the heat, then back at him. He was just standing there, not talking, but she could feel his mind probing hers, trying to find a way to remove her will.

  She stepped back, shaking her head. “Get out of my head! You said you would let them go!”

  He tilted his head briefly and she felt the pressure ease up inside her skull. “Hmm we all say lots of things in the heat of the moment. I could let them go, or I could keep them, so you do as you’re told.” He walked forward placing his hands again on both of her shoulders. His closeness made her stomach turn. “If you just stopped resisting, give yourself—”

  “Get away from her!” Shouted Brad from behind them. The thud of a rifle butt hitting his head quickly followed.

  “No!” Abbey shouted then wrangled herself from Erin and ran over to Brad who was laying on the floor, trying to get back to his knee’s despite his hands being tied. She looked back at Erin who was smiling. “If I give myself to you, what guarantee do I have that you will let them all go?”

  Erin walked forward, nodding, seemingly in conversation with himself. “That is dilemma for you, I agree.” He sighed. “Okay. I will let all of them go, apart from this one, the old man. I feel he still needs to pay for his crimes.”

  Abbey shook her head, while being just a few inches from Brads.

  He grimaced. “Don’t do it…”

  She looked at him with tears in her eyes. “I have to save them. It’s the only chance they have.”

  She looked back to Erin. “Okay, let them go.”

  Erin looked at the nearby soldiers, who then stepped forward, untied the prisoners apart from Brad and pulled them to their feet. Hoxted and the others looked around bewildered then started jogging towards the south. Brad nodded to the major as she moved away.

  “Right, now let’s get—”

  Abbey stood up and looked at Erin angrily. “Wait until they are safely away!”

  Erin frowned. “What did I say about not being a patient man?” He then grabbed her temples, his thumbs pressing into her skin. A jolt flowed through Abbey’s body.

  Have to resist.

  Even though she was repeating the words to herself, she could feel his mind flooding through hers, moving into her memories and dreams, replacing her desires with his own. She wanted to reach for the Glock handgun in the back of her waist belt, but instead she stood there as he zombified her.

  Then the grip was gone. She hadn’t realized her eyes were closed, but on opening them she looked upon Erin’s face, frozen. He staggered back, reaching around his side as a red patch started to expand. She looked at Brad, in his hand a knife and his mouth was opening and closing, desperately telling her something, but her mind felt like a lead weight in her skull.

  R…Run?

  She and Erin both went for their handguns and two explosive shots rang out simultaneously. She screamed in anguish as Brad fell backwards and lunged to catch him as Erin’s lifeless body fell to the ground. Out of the corner of her eye as she cradled Brad’s head in her arms, she could see Erin’s people raising their guns at her, while others ran towards their dead leader.

  “Stay with me!” She said to Brad as his eyes flickered. He gripped her hand momentarily, his expression changing from one of pain to a smile, then fell limp. Tears streamed down her face, as gunfire started up all around her. She knew the battle had begun, but she didn’t care as she looked down upon her dead friend.

  *****

  Bass ran into main operations at the Core, dodging people running the other way. On the screens all around him were multiple video feeds across the camp, and the outside of the Core.

  “The main doors are not going to last much longer, they’re cutting their way through!” He said to Trow.

  The general seemed transfixed by the destruction of buildings in the capital. Skyscrapers were collapsing in clouds of dust, while orange beams scythed through the sky.

  “General?”

  She shook her head. “Yes, what is it?”

  Elijah handed her a piece of paper. She nodded and the older man continued with his planning.

  “They’re almost through the main doors,” said Bass.

  “Is our defensive parameter secure?”

  “For now.” He looked at the video feeds. “The capitals taking a pounding.”

  “This fight is not over yet,” said Elijah while continuing his work.

  A young soldier nearby nodded into her headset then looked back at the general. “Ma’am, they have broken into the fourth and twelfth bunkers, but the others are holding.”

  “Tell Baker to deploy his unit to help out those bunkers, and how are the Cascaders doing in the capital?”

  “They have taken heavy casualties,” said the soldier.

  Trow frowned. “Tell them to find shelter where they can.”

  The soldier nodded then talked into her mike.

  Bass looked at the chaos around him, he knew he would be of better use elsewhere. “I’m going to the first perimeter.”

  Trow looked at him, nodded while smiling then returned to the five voices around her asking for what to do next.

  Bass ran from the room, down corridors packed with refugee’s and the injured until he reached a junction. He went to move in one direction, but then stopped and went in the other. Towards the infirmary.

  The sounds of groans and screams reached him even before he pushed open the double doors. Nurses pushed past him in the opposite direction. The people he had come to find were already out of their beds, no doubt given up for those worse off.

  Isaiah spotted him and hobbled over on a crutch. “Give us a gun, we can fight!”

  Wyatt, in a wheel chair, rolled up alongside them. “I can get in their heads, I just need to be close enough.”

  Four more walking wounded, two women and two men joined them.

  “Good, everyone follow me,” said Bass.

  They moved as quickly as they could to the closest armory, picked up all the kit they could carry then made their way towards the main doors.

  In the capital, in bunker twelve, Ray crouched down behind a concrete wall. The large previously secure steel door just a few yards around the corner, was buckling. He looked at the grime covered face of the young woman next to him and nodded. She handed him a long tube. The booms and sheering sound filled the small tunnel space around them. Ray peered around the corner, then instantly pulled back when a laser beam streamed along the corridor. He reached up and felt the warm patch on his head
.

  “Good thing I don’t have much hair.”

  The girl gave a faltering smile in response.

  “Get ready to run.”

  She nodded.

  He pulled the lighter from his pocket, flicked the flame on, then lit the fuse to his bomb.

  The door then buckled completely and flew open, slamming back against the concrete wall. Then came the sound of heavy boots.

  Ray watched as the fizzing sparkle moved along the fuse wire towards the bottom. The Hulathen moved closer.

  He uneasily got to his feet, threw the bomb around the corner, then with the girl ran. He only got five feet before the explosion filled the corridor with flame and heat. The sound of tumbling brick and cement quickly followed.

  On the surface, a few miles away, Mike Lardner of the justice force ran along the sidewalk dodging masonry that was falling from above. The air was filled with a thick layer of dust, and explosions of rock and steel echoed off the pockmarked concrete walls. A young woman, carrying a child ran out from lobby doors. He threw his arms over her then pulled her towards him, shepherding her back the way he had just come. “Run to the bunker entrance in the plaza!” He shouted as she ran for her life and her sons.

  He ducked inside the entrance of the apartment block. The bodies of soldiers and civilians alike covered the wide street, mixed with huge blocks that had fallen from high above. Military vehicles sat motionless, only crumpled memories of what they once were.

  He clicked on his radio. “Flores, Baxter, Jenkins? You out there? Over.”

  His radio crackled, just barely audible over the sound of battle in the nearby streets.

  “Here…Hulathen…Over.”

  “Say again? Is that Baxter? Over.”

  “Yes! We’re pinned down in the park on fourteenth. Over.”

  “Are Flores—” Two people emerged from the dust and ran past him. “— And Jenkins with you? Over?”

  “Yes, and four others. Over.”

  “Stay there I’m coming to you! Over.”

  Turning, he ran into the street, hopping over the dead and rubble, when something solid slammed into his back, sending him flying through the air until he was stopped by the side of a burning APC. Dazed he scrambled to his feet, then pulled the M4 rifle from his back and turned. Two Hulathen were walking towards him. Just as one of them went to raise their weapon bearing arm, the ground shuddered, almost knocking the aliens from their feet. Mike fell back onto the APC.

  A deafening roar boomed out and an E.L.F ten story’s high, stepped over the APC and crashed down on the Hulathen, killing both of them instantly.

  Mike looked up at the four-legged reptilian creature trying to see the top of it.

  “Are you okay?” said a child’s voice from nearby.

  Mike still in shock at what just happened, flicked his head to his right. A young girl was standing, clutching a soot covered teddy bear, looking back at him. He staggered forward then crouched down in front of her. “Is he yours?” He said looking back at the towering creature.

  “His name is Mr. Teeth. Are you okay now?”

  Mike nodded and smiled, putting his hand on the child’s shoulder. “You and Mr. Teeth saved me.” He stood back up. “Is there anyone with you?”

  She shook her head.

  “My friends need your help, that okay?”

  She nodded.

  He leaned down, picked her up in his arms, then ran towards his original destination. Mr. teeth slowly turned and followed.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

  Mary Tanner looked out of the window of her farmhouse. It was over fifteen miles away from the large buildings of the capital, but the flashes of explosions, and multiple streams of the alien’s weapons were clearly visible.

  “I can smell the battle,” said Irene standing behind her. “You can’t stay up here, you need to get back down to the bunker.”

  “They’re destroying everything we built!” Said Mary with tears in her eyes.

  Irene walked forward feeling the edge of the double bed, and put her hand on Mary’s shoulder. “We’ll rebuild, we did it once, we can do it again.”

  Mary’s head jolted forward and she lifted the drape. “There are people out there!” She then turned and went to walk out of the room.

  “Mary! We can’t help everyone!” Shouted Irene, but Mary was already half way down the stairs.

  Mary passed Tyler and Addison in the corridor, both armed with rifles.

  “What’s going on? Are they coming?” Said Addison.

  “There’s people out there, they need our help,” said Mary pulling open the front door. Smokey air wafted in.

  “Go with her!” Shouted Irene to the two teenagers from the top of the stairs.

  Mary ran across the lawn, onto the sidewalk, then into the center of the road. A man, woman and boy where running towards her. Behind, some fifty yards away a group of Hulathen were marching towards them.

  A house parallel with the aliens, ignited in flames as intense beams converged on it.

  Mary ran forward to greet the family. A shot rang out, making her look back. Tyler was aiming at the aliens.

  “No!” She waved at the young man and Addison to get back inside. “Get back to the bunker!” She beckoned the people towards her, shepherding them towards her house. She dared not look over her shoulder as they all ran onto the lawn, but then stopped dead in their tracks. A Hulathen landed in front of them, as if it fell from the sky, blocking their path. Bullets started to ping off the back of its armor as those inside the house let forth a volley of shots.

  Mary knew what was about to happen and reached out. A burst of energy streamed from the aliens hand and tore through the front wall of her home. She grabbed the hand of the boy next to her and went to run, when she realized the alien was now pointing its weapon at them.

  She closed her eyes then felt the wash of heat flow over her, together with a piercing sound which hurt her ears.

  After a second a voice at the back of her mind was trying to wake her from her frozen state. Opening her eyes, her mouth fell open at the crater which was now sitting where the Hulathen once was. She also realized they were bathed in a large shadow.

  As she looked up the piercing noise repeated and she watched as pulses of energy streamed from a large craft which hung in the sky. Each bolt of plasma impacted the ground and scattered the group of Hulathen.

  She had no idea what was happening, but pulled the young boy and his parents with her forward, running around the large smoldering hole and up the stairs to the front door.

  “Are you in here? Are you hurt?” She shouted running into the living room, which was covered in rubble but was empty.

  “We’re okay!” Shouted Tyler from the entrance to the bunker.

  Mary ushered the family past her and into the stairwell. “Get inside, you’ll be safe in our bunker.”

  She went to follow them, when she heard footsteps behind her.

  “Mary?”

  She turned and despite the shock ran forward to embrace Sam. She pulled back. “Are you okay?”

  “I’m fine. Are you okay?” He looked past her to Tyler watching from the top of the stairs to the bunker. “Is everyone okay?”

  “We’re fine. Where have you been?”

  He backed away. “I can’t stay, I just needed to make sure you were all okay. Get into the bunker, and don’t come out until you hear from me!”

  She nodded then watched him turn and move down the steps and climb into the back of a small craft, which then ascended into the air.

  *****

  Zach held on to the armrests of the seat on the bridge, and looked at the virtual screen of the camps capital. The room he was in shuddered.

  “They are focusing their weapons at the ship,” said Klept.

  “Is it a problem?” Said Zach.

  “No, they only have personal beam weapons, they cannot penetrate our shields.”

  The large interstellar warship, weaved in between the broken skysc
rapers.

  “Then give them hell.”

  Klept hesitated as if not understanding, then nodded and tapped away at his screen.

  Volleys of spherical energy spewed from gun turrets on the bottom of the ship, slamming into the streets and sidewalks and vaporizing any Hulathen close by.

  Fiona looked at the panel in front of her, noticing the small neon dots that were approaching from all directions. “I think their craft are coming at us!”

  “Cube gates don’t have any offensive capability,” said Klept.

  Zach got to his feet. “They’re retreating!”

  The ship hovered over a large group of Hulathen that were bearing down on a group of people. The humans appeared to be trying to defend an entrance to a bunker, that was positioned in the middle of a park area.

  “What the hell is that?” Said Fiona looking at the huge dinosaur like creature being set upon by hordes of aliens.

  “Mr. Teeth…” Zach said under his breath.

  “What?”

  “Defend that creature and the people around it!” Said Zach.

  Klept tapped away but looked troubled. “I’m having difficulties targeting the Hulathen, they are too close to the humans!”

  The only Hulathen on the bridge nodded to himself. “Get lower. I kill Hulathen.” He went to leave, when he felt Fiona’s hand on his own.

  “Be careful,” she said.

  He nodded to her, then was gone.

  On the ground, Mike ducked as another laser beam flashed over his head, slicing a statue behind him clean in half.

  The E.L.F known as ‘Mr. Teeth’ had withstood a battering from the Hulathen, but had kept them all alive by taking out a good many of them. The large creature was now bleeding from multiple wounds and its movement was sluggish.

  “We can’t hold this position any longer, we need to get into the bunker tunnels!” Shouted Mike.

  “Look up!” Shouted Joan next to him.

  “No…” Like something from a sci-fi TV series, a craft as big as a football pitch was descending through the smoke. Mr. Teeth roared at the sky. And then something unexpected happened. A single figure fell from the bottom of the ship, and landed in the center of the aliens.