by Maxey, Phil
She briefly returned to the living room, grabbed the keys, then closed the door, quietly moving down the stairs, eventually ending up on the sidewalk. The captain’s car had already left. Her building was one of many, located along consecutive circles of roads with a much larger fenced off area at the center. She felt a breeze then spun around.
A handsome man with a mustache and short beard stood ten feet away.
“Sorry I did not mean to startle you,” he said.
For a moment she was lost for words, seeing she had just asked the captain about the very person standing in front of her. Now she could see him more clearly, she could see he was of similar age to her, or perhaps a few years younger.
He walked forward with his hand out. “I am—”
“Alfredo Narvaez. I saw you at the headquarters building.” She shook his hand, which felt warm and secure.
“Please, call me Fredo.”
“Okay… why—”
“Am I hanging around, outside your building?”
She smiled.
“That would be because you and your group are the first Alkrons I have come across for… a very long time. And I just wanted to say… ‘hello’… so hello.” He smiled as did she again, although she wasn’t why she did.
She looked at the dark buildings around them. “There’s nobody living here?”
He turned as well. “Not yet no. These buildings were kept for dignitaries from other countries, but umm as you can see, they did not make it here…” He turned back to her. “But you and your friends did…”
They started to walk together and she recounted the same story that she had told the captain, with the man by her side politely asking questions when there were pauses, which were few. She had no idea why she was opening up to a stranger, but she couldn’t shake the feeling she had met him before she had.
“It is remarkable that you and your friends made it here. And you do not know of Joel’s or the others’ whereabouts?”
For the first time since stepping off the ship she felt a tinge of sadness. “No…”
“Well, from what you have told me, he seems a very resourceful individual. If anyone can make it here, it will be him. And you think this… Rynon and his brother will attempt to come here?”
She stopped, not realizing how far they had walked. “How far have we walked?”
A wall with an iron gate sat in front of her, beyond which were trees which a drive dissected. In the distance an old residence stood, out of place against the modern apartments around it.
“Quite some way.”
She remembered his initial question. “Sorry, yes, if they know we are in Puerto Rico. I’m sure they will come here too. Especially knowing we have at least one of the tablets…”
She started to turn back but he remained near the gate. “This is me,” he said with a smile.
“This is you, what?” He looked back at the drive and mansion behind. “Oh… this is your… house…”
He produced a small black box and clicked, causing the iron gate to slowly open. “You are welcome to come in. Zelma makes the world’s best late night coffee.”
“Oh, no… I left Jess and Jasper alone. I really should be getting back.” She looked around trying to get a take on where she was.
“Um.” He walked closer to her, pointing to the distance. “If you take a left at the end of this lane, you will come to the main road. Follow that for about ten minutes, and then it’s just two rights, and a left. If I had a car I would drive you back myself, but unfortunately, fuel is heavily controlled here.”
“For the first time in a long time, I won’t mind getting a bit lost.”
He smiled, then moved towards the gate. “It has been a pleasure, Marina. I hope we can get to know each other more.”
She smiled as he turned and walked inside, the gate closing behind him. She lingered a few seconds longer than she needed to, then set off back to the apartment.
CHAPTER TEN
Kizzy pushed a wave of emotion somewhere deep, trying not to think about Amos still unconscious beside her, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that part of his condition was her fault. Despite her encounter with ‘Marge’ only being brief, she had completely believed the middle-aged woman was like her, captured by the corporation and that they would become friends. It hadn’t been the first time in her life she had too quickly presumed the best of someone and paid the price, but as she sat within the cargo hold and deafening sound of the four engines, she was determined it would be the last.
They had been in the air for thirty minutes and up front, Nelson sat in the left pilot’s seat, with Joel in the right and Copeland seated at the bottom of the stairs to the flight deck. A combination of the Drak’s instructions and Nelson’s limited experience of piloting a few planes from his service days had got them taxiing along the runway past the remains of single engine planes and the approaching humvees and soldiers. With throttle pushed forward and the flaps in the right position, they gained enough velocity and the heavy plane took to the air.
Barry looked at the palettes of boxes and crates which packed the central aisle. “What’s in them?” he said to Anna, seated to his right. Corine and Dalton were seated further away to his left.
“Probably nothing useful,” said the doctor. She looked down at the boy next to her. “You were very brave. It must have been scary.”
He nodded. “I guess. But I knew you, Joel and Dalton would save us.”
She smiled, then leaned her head back, allowing exhaustion to take her.
*****
Anna awoke with something tugging her arm. She looked up at Joel, who leaned in close. “We’re almost at Cancun for refueling. I don’t want to be on the ground for long. We don’t know what’s down there.”
She nodded. “How you feeling?”
He smiled. “Good. You?”
“Relieved.”
He looked along the aisle to Kizzy cradling Amos’s head in her lap. “How’s he doing?”
She shook her head. “He’s unconscious, but there are no external or obvious internal injuries, so it must be something else, something connected to what he did, stopping that son of a bitch.”
“Will he come out of it?”
Her mouth opened but her lack of response gave Joel’s his answer. He nodded and moved towards the entrance to the flight deck, passing Barry sleeping, laying across two seats and the same for Corine who had her head resting on Dalton’s shoulder.
As the engine pitch changed and the plane descended the others woke. Up front Nelson made use of Joel’s eyes to keep lined up with the runway, which was just a thin gray strip amongst dark shadows. They both watched the altimeter as Nelson lowered the flaps. Below, the coastal city was as dark as the sky above.
The plane landed with a bump, and he instantly pulled back on the throttle as they moved along the runway, then applied the brakes and they slowed to a stop.
“You should see a hanger at the end of the runway,” shouted Copeland. “That is where the fuel truck should be.”
“It’s hard to see anything,” replied Joel. “It’s too dark even for me.”
“Go to the end and you will see it.”
A heavy clang of clawed feet was just about audible over the engines, and then a light appeared on the instrument panel.
“One of the side doors is open,” said Nelson.
Joel went to go check, when a shadow moved across the lights of the plane and swept through the air towards the dark blocks of buildings a few hundred yards to their left. “I need to go with him.” Nelson nodded in reply and Joel descended the stairs instantly feeling the cool breeze on his face from the open crew door. He walked into the cargo hold and looked across at Anna. “I’m going outside to make sure the fuel is there. Nelson needs you up top to help him steer. Close the door after I jump out.” She nodded as he dropped to the concrete and sped off into the shadows. She pulled on the cable and closed the door, while Barry appeared by her side.
“Are we getting
out here?”
“Not unless we have too.”
Joel jogged across the concrete, the thunderous four engines of the plane being the only sound in any direction as it followed on behind. A few hundred yards to his left sat the black silhouette of the airport, but his target were the curved roofs of the buildings ahead. Near one of of them he sensed the Drak and ran to it, getting to the entrance just as Copeland kicked in the smallest of the doors. He ducked down and moved inside.
Joel switched on his flashlight and followed. Unlike the clean hanger they had found the transport plane in, this one was full of parts of aircraft. Nose cones sat near sections of fuselages, with ladders rising to huge exposed engines hanging from cranes.
“Over here!” said Copeland, his voice filling the space.
Joel moved along narrow avenues, between the forgotten bones of aircrafts until he found the Drak standing near a green truck with a large canister at its back.
“This! This is our fuel!”
Joel swung his light back to the heavy metal refuse covering the path to the hanger main doors and sighed. “It’s going to take a while to clear all this stuff out of the way.”
Copeland walked forward to a tail fin from a passenger plane and leaned on it. “Then we should get started.”
Back on the plane, Anna got the message from Joel and Nelson powered down the engines.
“We should stay on the plane,” said Joel to Dalton who was opening the crew door at the bottom of the stairs from the flight deck.
“Ain’t spending more time in this tin-can. I want some air.” He walked down the steps.
“Don’t go far!”
Corine appeared from the cargo hold with Barry in tow. “We want to go out as well.”
Anna frowned. “Fine, but stay together, and take this.” She descended the stairs and handed Corine the military radio. “Joel’s on the other end. If you run into trouble, let him know.”
She nodded and walked down the metal steps with Barry close behind.
“Stay with Corine!” Anna shouted to him. He nodded over his shoulder with an excited smile. Anna continued into the cargo hold, walking to Kizzy. “If you want to go outside, I can look after him…”
Kizzy shook her head. “I’m staying.”
Anna kneeled and held her finger to Amos’s neck. “His pulse is strong. This must be some kind of healing process his body is going through. I’m sure he’ll wake up.” She went to move away, when an extended hand grabbed hers.
“He couldn’t do it anymore…”
“He lost his abilities?”
“Yes, but he didn’t want anyone to know. That’s why he couldn’t stop the wolves when they attacked. But he knew he was our only chance when that smoke man had Dalton.”
Anna sat. “He’ll wake up Kizzy, and when he does we’ll be in a place where the Corporation aren’t. A place we can start again.”
Corine and Barry walked quickly across the concrete towards the main airport building. A stiff breeze brushed across them both.
“Do you think the candy will still be good in duty free?” he said to her.
“Shit. I’m going to find out!”
They laughed and increased their speed to a jog, soon reaching a nondescript door at the side of the building.
“Agh, I should have brought a flashlight,” said Corine.
“Can’t you see in the dark like the others?”
She shook her head with a frown that Barry could hardly make out. “Nah. Can’t see better, smell better, all that stuff’s the same.” She placed her hand on the handle and turned. The door swung open to blackness.
“Maybe we should go back,” said Barry.
“We’ve been in the air for eight hours with just blood to drink. Which is great, don’t get me wrong, but I need some sugar.” She walked forward. “Just hold on to my belt. We’ll go slow.”
They walked into the stairwell, her hands finding the handrail, and both started ascending.
With Copeland holding the engine, Joel pushed the crane at the bottom across the floor, scratching groves in the previously smooth surface until it crashed up against a row of other pieces of planes and machinery. He took a moment to let out a breath.
“You tire?” said Copeland.
“I’m fine. That looks like it. You got the keys to the truck?”
“Yes, they are kept within the wheel arch…”
Joel could tell the Drak had more to say. “Yeah?”
“My son…”
“What about him?”
Copeland looked away. “Do you know if he is okay… is he safe?”
“Last I know he would have been on his way to the island with the others.”
Copeland nodded to himself then realized the small hybrid was standing directly below, looking up.
“I don’t know what the fuck you did to him to make him so scared of you. But you should know, if you try and harm him when we get to Puerto Rico…”
Copeland looked away.
Joel frowned, then jogged over to the truck and felt up under the wheel arch not finding anything. He tried the second and a set of keys fell to the floor. He held the radio to his lips. “Anna? We’re ready to do the refueling. Over.” Only static came from the speaker. He looked at the walls of metal around him, then unlocked the driver’s door and climbed up. As he started the engine a clang and screeching of metal rang out, as Copeland heaved and pushed the huge door, spanning twenty feet, upwards. Joel drove the truck forward but stopped when the door couldn’t be pushed any higher, still not being clear of the truck’s roof. The Drak beat his huge wings, taking to the air, but couldn’t budge it the few feet it needed to be lifted. He landed with a frustrated grunt.
Joel nudged the truck up against the door, then pushed the driver’s door open and jumped up on the roof. “Do your flying thing again, when I pull upwards.”
Copeland took to the air once again, his clawed wings beating inches from Joel’s face as they both stressed and strained their scourge enhanced muscles and the door jolted upwards a few more feet. The Drank landed, while Joel slumped to his knees, then quickly slid off the roof to the door seal, climbed into the seat and drove the truck forward, under the door and towards the plane.
At the back of the runway, Dalton slowed to a jog, then a walk. A rich darkness enveloped a forest which ran the full length of his view, which for some reason he had no desire to explore, so he walked towards it, his curiosity being peeked. Decay hung in the air, but this wasn’t the kind he had become used too. He walked into the darkness, his eyes quickly adjusting to the lack of light, and pushed past branches and trunks and a rich undergrowth which swallowed him to his waist when he came to a clearing. A pile of rotting things, almost as tall as the trees around him, sat at its center. Instinctively he started to change form, but kept himself mostly human, and looked around at any possible danger, but couldn’t see any. He walked forward snapping bones as he went until he was just feet away from a wall of skulls, not of people but of vamps. Something had eaten them.
A mile away Corine and Barry walked across a large room with a low ceiling and dark shapes scattered across the floor.
“There are suitcases everywhere,” she said, kicking something which collapsed into pieces. “This must be luggage collection. We just gotta go through here to get to the departure lounge, then its candy heaven.”
Barry gave a nervous laugh, but then wrinkled his nose. “Whys it smell so bad?”
“Pfft, bad food or something, I dunno.”
Moving around a corner, huge multi-planeled windows allowed faint light from the sky to light rows of seats, and across to the right stood racks of chip packets, with seemingly fully stocked shelves just behind.
“We have a winner!” shouted Corine. She took off towards the entrance of the open plan store, Barry’s hand slipping from her belt.
“Hey slow—” A distant noise from behind made him spin around. His head flicked back to Corine who had arrived at the store and was
busy opening a packet. The noise happened again, pulling his attention back to the luggage area. He took a step forward. “Hello?” There was no response. An odor wafted across his nose making him put his hand to it and he continued slowly walking to the corner wall which was lit with a hint of light from the windows behind. He peered into the dark of the large room they had transgressed, straining his eyes, trying to decipher one black form from another.
“Barry!” shouted Corine from the lounge, making him jump. He turned and started to walk towards her when something moved tens of yards behind him. He slowly turned back, daring not to move too quickly and scanned from one side of the dark room to the other, his eyes jumping from shadow to shadow when…
His breath stopped in his chest. One of the shadows had eyes, with a green mist emanating from them, and they were rising, higher and higher, until they stopped just below the ceiling.
He spun around and ran towards the store as something heavy beat against the floor, pushing things out of its way.
Corine heard the commotion and saw the boy running towards her as he reentered the dimly lit area of seats. At first her brain couldn’t make sense of the ten foot high shadow that was almost on top of him, but then she saw the eyes, and the claws and screamed.
Outside, the pipes from the truck were connected to the side of the plane, the truck’s engine powering the pump that was sending the fuel into the tanks.
Joel heard the faint scream at the same time he saw Dalton running towards him.
Dalton skidding to a stop, out of breath. “We got to get the hell out of—”
A roar, so primal in nature it caused both men to become their Alkron versions, was quickly followed by the sound of glass shattering.
“It’s coming from the central airport building,” said Joel. They went to run in that direction when static then Barry’s voice burst his radio.
“Help! Help u—” The signal cut out.
“Hello? Barry? Are you there?”
They sprinted forward, into the dark, towards the three story building.
Anna, Nelson and Kizzy ran down the plane stairs to the concrete as the other two were lost to the gloom. Kizzy went to move off after them, but Anna’s hand flicked across her. “No, stay here.” She looked at Nelson. “Copelands got a crate of guns inside. Grab the largest caliber ones you can find.”