The Drellic Saga: Books One, Two and Three

by Mike Marlinski

  Chapter Four

  It was late afternoon on January 8th, 2032, and Simone had just arrived at Greenlawn Cemetery in Newport News, Virginia. She drove slowly over the snow-covered gravel road, leading up to her parents’ graves.

  Luckily, the winds had died down and the snow was letting up. Despite her reason for being there, it was becoming a very peaceful setting. She parked next to a large oak tree. The sun was setting just behind it, causing the tiny icicles on the branches, to glisten overhead. She hesitantly stepped out onto the gravel road and quietly shut her door behind her. She then gently opened the back driver’s side door, allowing her attack drone to silently float towards her and exit the vehicle.

  By this time, she had already been successful in reprogramming the machine to protect her, and to only obey her commands. Once both she and the drone were satisfied that there were no immediate threats in the area, Simone sent the drone ahead of her, to scout the woods surrounding the cemetery, as she trudged up a steep hill behind it, towards her family’s mausoleum. When she reached the top of the hill, she came to the tall, square-shaped stone building that had housed her parents’ remains, for the last six years.

  Three years before the arrival of Drellic, Jack and Maureen West were both killed in a car accident, while on their way home from a dinner date. Their car had swerved over a patch of black ice, causing Jack to lose control. They skidded across a bridge and ended up crashing through some flimsy, metal guard rails, sending them crashing into the frozen Banister River in Halifax County, VA.

  Simone never liked visiting the mausoleum in winter. The cold reminded her of the frozen watery grave that her parents had found themselves in, on that fateful night. But she knew that for reasons unknown to her, she was being hunted by the infamous Winston Severov. If everything the Admiral had told her about him was true, he had an army of trained assassins and a fair amount of what was being called, Drellic Tech, at his disposal. Fearing that her life was in immediate danger, she mentally prepared herself to pay her final visit to the West Family Mausoleum.

  She felt dizzy for a moment, but kept her composure, by fixating her eyes on the key hole in front of her. A thick wooden door with a rusty steel knob and lock, were all that stood between her and the grave site. She unzipped her black leather purse, reached inside and pulled out a long, old fashioned metal key. She slowly inserted the key into the lock, but was startled by a loud whirring sound, before she had a chance to turn it. To her relief, the sound she heard was only the attack drone, reporting to her that the area was clear.

  Simone breathed a sigh of relief and turned the key. But it wasn’t until she tried to unlock the door that she realized the door was already open. Her mind started to race. As far as she knew, she was the only one with a key to the building. She also remembered having locked it after her last visit, years earlier. Simone had a photographic memory and was also very thorough about such things.

  This led her to the inevitable conclusion that someone had been there without her knowledge or permission, and also must’ve had a key she was unaware of, as there was no sign of forced entry.

  She fearfully pressed her ear up to the door and listened for movement. A moment later, she ordered the drone to enter the mausoleum, ahead of her. After getting up the nerve to open the door, she gave it a violent push forward, allowing the drone to enter. Its gleaming blue eye illuminated the stone interior of the building. From behind its shiny metal casing, Simone could see that there was no one inside.

  Finally, she cautiously entered the room and stood beside the hovering drone, while reading the inscriptions of her parents’ names on the golden metal plates on the wall. The name plates guarded two small chambers within the wall of the mausoleum, which held both Jack and Maureen’s ashes.

  They had been cremated, because of the way their bodies had been brutally disfigured by the car crash. Simone shed a tear, as she read the inscription below their names which read, “Loving Mother and Father of Simone”. But to her surprise, as she followed the words on the golden metal plates that twinkled before the blue glow of the attack drone, her eyes came across a piece of paper that had been recently taped to the wall.

  She covered her mouth and let out a muffled gasp, before sending the drone to guard the doorway. She then carefully removed the piece of paper from the wall and found that someone had written her a letter, which she read by the light of the drone.

  It read:

  Dear Simone,

  My name is Trevor Kinsey. I was one of your husband’s co-pilots in the Navy and a former head of Darkside. We’ve never met, because I was purposely kept secret from you. Your husband also had no idea who I really was, until just a few days ago. Callum tracked me down from Chicago and asked me to write you this letter. I regret having to break into your family’s mausoleum in order to do so, but it was necessary. The last time I spoke with Callum, he told me that he was being hunted in the Chicago ruins by rogue Darkside agents. He said that he still intends to arrive in Langley on January 9th, but in the event that he is captured or killed, there are things you need to know.

  The war is not over. The faces and names of the enemy have changed, but that’s all. There is a man named Winston Severov controlling Darkside. You may know of him. This man is at the center of a cover up, that’s bigger than anything you can imagine. I was with the resistance and fought against Drellic. But nothing that happened to me in those dark days, can even compare to what I am about to tell you.

  You need to know that you were lied to from the beginning. Darkside never shared the whole story with you about Drellic. Even your commanding officer, Mandrake, had no idea what you were really doing out there on Charon. They knew Drellic was there. They knew exactly who he was and the threat he could pose. More importantly, someone else was pulling the strings.

  Winston and the others were working with a secret group called, “Shadow” that wanted Drellic brought to Earth for a purpose. Whoever these people are, they were the ones really running Darkside from the start and were also overseeing manned missions to Mars that began in 1994. Even I thought they were for scientific research. Winston was the only one of us who ever knew the whole truth about the Mars Initiative.

  At this moment, there are thousands of people being held hostage on Mars in a place called, “The Shadow Colony”. I only know this, because when I began getting suspicious about the Mars Initiative and started asking questions, Winston tried to have me killed. I managed to break into his office and steal sensitive files that filled me in on this despicable plot. The only things I still don’t know are who the people in “Shadow” are, and why the colonists were taken to Mars under false pretenses and then imprisoned.

  Callum found out about all this, before I had a chance to tell him, which is why they want him so badly. As I’m sure you know by now, they’re after you as well. We’ve already received word that Maryann Santos was tracked down in Houston, Texas and killed by Severov’s men.

  Callum and I can only hope that this letter finds you and that you’re safe. Even as I am writing this, I know the enemy is not far from my door. It’s already too late for me. I’ve been on the run for years and I don’t have much time left. In the interest of your safety and your finding this letter, I intend to lead Severov’s forces away from your parents’ cemetery, by making myself bait. By the time you read this, if you read this, I will most likely be dead.

  In conclusion, just know that your husband loves you very much and that he’s trying his best to come back to you. If all goes well, he will arrive at Langley Air Force Base as planned, on the morning of January 9th at 8am. Stay safe, Mrs. Hammond. I sincerely wish we could’ve met in person.

  Sincerely,

  Trevor Kinsey

  Simone was overwhelmed and began to feel dizzy again. She dropped the letter on the ground and fell to her knees. Barely able to move or process the information she had just taken in, she curled up in the corner of the room. Knowing the drone would never l
et its guard down, she cried herself to sleep and spent the night against the bitter cold stone wall.

  When morning came, Simone was harshly awakened by the stabbing rays of a bright winter sun, partially eclipsed by the spherical attack drone, still hovering in the doorway, like a faithful dog. She looked down to find that the letter left for her by Trevor Kinsey, was still clutched firmly in her left hand. She then wiped her tears from her face and staggered to her feet.

  For a moment, she had forgotten all about the war and worldwide devastation, and pulled her cellphone from her purse, expecting it to be connected to the network. Simone then noticed the time on her silver wrist watch. It was quarter passed seven. Callum was scheduled to arrive at Langley in 45 minutes.

  Her adrenaline instantly coursed through her body, propelling her through the doorway, sending the unsuspecting drone flying forward. She then quickly turned and locked the mausoleum door, before running at full speed down the hill, leading to her Sedan. She allowed herself to fall and slide to the bottom of the icy slope and ordered the drone into her backseat, before speeding away to the main road.

  She could feel herself panicking, as her breathing became more intense. She knew that Interstate 64 would be the fastest route back to the Air Force base. It had been closed off due to damage from the war, but was still drivable in the 8 mile section she needed, to make it to Callum.

  Without thinking, she barreled through the thin fencing that separated her from the highway and recklessly sped through the 8 mile stretch of cracks and potholes, leading her to the base. She arrived ten minutes later, and impatiently waited for Admiral Clement to grant her access through the base’s perimeter. A minute later, the metal gates parted ways for her and she plowed through the snow that had accumulated at the entrance. She then came to a screeching halt at the runway, Callum was scheduled to land on.

  It was only 730 AM. She still had a half hour to wait, before Callum’s plane was scheduled to touch down. She found Admiral Clement standing in front of his hangar, waiting for her. He was bundled up in a thick green winter coat that seemed to diminish his once authoritative appearance.

  Simone quickly approached him and asked, “Have you heard anything?”

  Clement just stared at her blankly for a moment and said, “Mrs. Hammond, I have to be honest. I did not expect you to survive the night. I don’t know how you did it. But I’m glad you did.”

  “Charming,” she sarcastically replied. “It seems I had a little help from a friend.”

  “You mean the machine… Clement said in a confused tone.

  “No. Someone else. Someone loyal,” Simone replied, insinuatingly. At that time, she had no reason not to trust the Admiral. But something in her gut was compelling her to be even more suspicious of the people around her, than she was already.

  “To whom are you referring?” Clement eagerly inquired.

  Simone just stared at him blankly, mocking the way he had first greeted her and replied, “The shame of it is, neither of us will ever have the opportunity to find out.”

  The next thirty minutes felt like hours. Finally, the sound of a plane was heard in the distance. Military officers began pouring out of the surrounding buildings, to get a glimpse of the approaching air craft. At that moment, Simone was fearing the worst. The inbound 747 seemed to be flying normally. It descended at a normal rate and dropped its landing gear, before safely touching down on the runway. It then coasted for a few hundred feet, before coming to a complete stop.

  It was a civilian airliner, but had been commandeered by the military, after the war. The plane was used to make supply runs to and from Langley Air Force Base, but had made plans to pass through Chicago to pick up Callum Hammond and a few other resistance fighters, who had family in the Hampton, VA area. A few minutes after landing, Simone watched as a few officers were sent to roll the “air-stairs” up to the door, allowing the passengers to de-board. She anxiously looked on, as about thirty people exited the plane. None of them being Callum. Admiral Clement then looked down at her with sympathetic eyes and simply stated, “I’m sorry.”

  Simone became enraged and screamed, “Bullshit!” She then charged up the stairs and into the plane’s cabin. Aside from the pilot and another officer who were still standing at the door, there was no one else on board that she could see. She screamed Callum’s name a few times and got no response. Finally, the elderly Caucasian man, who had piloted the plane, approached her and asked, “Ma’am, are you looking for Callum Hammond?”

  “Yes!” she screamed, at the top of her lungs. Tears rolled down her face, as the pilot and last remaining officer on the plane, exchanged confused looks and whispered sentence fragments to each other, too quiet for her to hear.

  “What?!” she yelled, as her blood boiled. The pilot approached her and said, “I don’t understand. He didn’t get off the plane?”

  “No. Are you fucking stupid? Do you see him down there?” Simone snapped, as she pointed down to the crowd on the runway below. The pilot scanned the group and then nervously replied, “I remember seeing him not fifteen minutes ago.”

  “He was sitting right there,” the officer added, as he pointed towards the back of the plane.

  Simone ran to the back of the cabin and found no trace of Callum. She then spotted the bathroom door, which was right behind where Callum had supposedly been sitting. It was open just a crack and as she got closer, she could hear the sound of running water inside. She instantly flung the door open and cried out in agony at what she saw inside.

  The pilot and officer ran to her and looked over her shoulder, to see Callum’s dead body on the bathroom floor. His throat had been slit and he had most likely bled out in seconds. His eyes were lifelessly fixated on the bathroom mirror, just above the sink. The pilot turned off the faucet, which had been releasing scolding hot water, for nearly twenty minutes.

  Through the steam that had been rising from the sink, the pilot and officer spotted words written on the mirror. Simone saw the words too, as she cradled Callum’s head on her lap. The pilot waved his hand back and forth, to clear away the steam, and found the words, STOP HIM- SAVE THEM- I LOVE YOU, written on the mirror in blood. Simone looked down at Callum’s right hand, to see thick drops of blood on his right index finger.

  He had undoubtedly written the message himself, with his own blood. Simone was the only one who understood its meaning, and through all her rage and despair, knew what she had to do.

  Realizing that someone on the plane had murdered Callum, minutes before it landed, Simone got to her feet and ran to a window, overlooking the crowd on the runway. She crouched down to stay hidden and scanned the faces below, looking for anyone who looked suspicious or perhaps even someone she would recognize from Darkside.

  To her dismay, no one stood out to her. A moment later, she pondered the notion of either the pilot or the officer being involved, but before she could even complete her thought, she heard the all too familiar sound of two handguns being cocked behind her head. “Don’t even turn around,” said the pilot. “We’ll make this quick and painless,” the officer added.

  Simone knew she had only seconds to react, if she wanted to save herself. She already had her hand in her purse, when she first crouched down at the window. Inside her purse, was the carbon composite remote, assigned to her attack drone. The machine was still waiting in sleep mode in her car.

  Simone had spent hours memorizing the remote. She quickly sent a distress signal to the drone, causing it to crash through her car window, startling the crowd of passengers, standing outside the plane. The drone spotted her heat signature using an infrared lens and rocketed into the cabin. The pilot and officer quickly turned their attention from Simone to the approaching machine, but were both vaporized by a hot beam of blue energy, launched from its eye, before they could react.

  Simone then quietly stood up and walked back to the bathroom. She returned to the floor at Callum’s side and gazed up at the bloody message he
had left for her on the mirror. “Stop him. Save them. I love you,” she whispered, as her eyes filled with tears. “I will. I promise.”