by Maxey, Phil
Joel nodded. “Be ready. They will be coming before sunrise.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
Joel walked amongst the candles and battery operated lanterns, looking at the scared and cold people locked deep within the old fortress walls. Some he recognized from Jankle, others were new to him. They smiled and nodded as he passed, offering him more reverence than he thought he deserved.
Hector, the kids from the church, Jasper, Jess and Barry were seated together, with hardly a word being said between them and some of the younger children sobbing.
“How is it going up there?” said Hector.
“No sign of them yet. But we don’t have long until we’ll all be safe. Not much longer now.”
Hector nodded and Joel went to walk away when Barry spoke up.
“I can help…”
Joel turned back with a smile. “Being down here with everyone else is helping. I need to know you are all safe.”
The boy frowned but nodded.
Joel continued over to Sasha and Corine, both seated on a blanket laid across the cold hard floor with the two dogs. He kneeled and patted Flint first then Shadow.
“Did Evan make it here?” said Sasha.
He paused, then continued stroking the dogs. “No.” He looked up at the young girl. “We don’t know where he is. Maybe he found a place to hide. Don’t give up hope.”
She nodded.
He heard the sound of the boots before the gate opened across the room. A soldier quickly scanned across the bodies. Joel got up and jogged across to him.
“You’re needed upstairs,” said the soldier.
They were both soon entering the makeshift headquarters.
“What’s happening?” said Joel to the senior officers. Amos, Anna and Marina stood with them, around a series of others operating laptops.
“We’re picking up some weird sounds on the seafront,” said Marina.
Winston handed a headset to him, and he listened. At first there was only the wind and waves but then he heard it, a chanting. He focused to pick it out from the elements, then heard it again. A rhythmic thudding accompanied with grunts. It reminded him of a Māori haka.
A female soldier with her own headset looked at those around her. “Forward post alpha is reporting…” She listened to her headset again. “Oh… yes, hold on. Over.” She looked at Joel. “There is a Dalton here to—”
Joel exchanged headsets, instantly hearing the continued guttural voices in unison. “I’m here Dalton, what you seeing. Over.”
“Figures moving on the opposite bank. Maybe around two hundred, and Joel, they smell like Alkrons… Over.”
It was the one possibility he wanted to avoid. A bombardment of conventional weapons, thousands of vamps, all could be survived, but hundreds of super powered humans?
“They making moves to get to this island? Over.”
“They’re moving… along the bank, following the road… towards the bridges… I think they’re gonna try and cross. Over.”
Joel looked at Galloway and the colonels. “How many Alkrons you got on this island?”
“Not including your people, maybe eight.”
“Where are they now?”
“Some are here, some are—”
“Get them all to the forward posts, now. They’re the only ones that can stop what’s coming.” He held the headset’s mike back to his mouth. “Dalton. We’re on our way.”
“I’m coming with you,” said Anna.
“No. You and Marina need to stay here. You know what to do if things go bad.” Anna rushed forward and hugged him.
“What’s going on?” said Corine entering the busy room.
Joel looked across to her. “How you feel about kicking some corporation ass?”
She smiled while nodding.
*****
Dalton stood on the roof of a three-story building, and looked down at what was left of one of the destroyed bridges. The ocean crashed and slid across the ruins of three concrete pillars that spanned the distance to the other side. He nodded to himself. If he had too, he could leap the twenty or so feet between them no problem, which meant the enemy could too, even in the stormy conditions.
In the street below he could smell the nervousness of the young soldiers. That was good. It would keep them sharp. Hopefully mean they would live longer.
“Ah, I hate waiting,” said Kizzy by his side. She looked again through her rifle’s scope. “Why don’t they attack already. So we can get this—”
The entire opposite bank, covering quarter of a mile lit up with the booms and clatter of automatic weapons, sending neon red streams across the angry ocean and making everyone in the bullets’ path dive for cover.
“Why the fuck do they need guns, they’re Alkron’s!” shouted Kizzy hunkered down below the top of the small wall which was slowly disintegrating. The soldiers nearby returned fire.
Dalton edged higher and watched a flood of shadowy figures leap from the broken start of the bridge to the first concrete plateau. Neon projectiles missed them, until one hit, knocking an armor suited creature into the ocean, but others leaped again.
“They’re halfway!” shouted Kizzy.
Bullets pinged around the intruders who then leaped again, this time landing on the last concrete outcrop.
“Here we go,” said Dalton, stepping onto the roof’s wall, then dropped, transforming into his full wolf self by time his clawed feet hit the concrete of the road. Bullets streamed past him, as three Alkron’s leaped a final time, two of them landing by his side, while he slashed across the third, its head tumbling to the ground separate from its body. Screams made him pivot to blurs that had already killed two soldiers. He roared forward ploughing into one of the hybrids, knocking it into a wall, grabbing it by its neck, then smashing it again into the concrete. Before its neck snapped, he heard the sound of others reaching the road behind him.
Creatures landed and kept on running, moving faster than he was able to track them, while others immediately became smoke as streams of projectiles from the windows and roofs of surrounding buildings slid straight through them.
Thirty feet above, Kizzy emptied the magazine of her M4 then dropped it. Standing on the wall, she readied herself to join the fight when a clawed hand tore through her shoulder, knocking her back to the roof. A huge winged beast landed ten feet away, its eyes glowing amongst the shadows, and then surged towards her, whipping its clawed wing at her face but missing due to her deforming body swaying backwards. She suddenly grew in size, her arms and legs quadrupling in mass, her hands becoming claws and barreled into the Drak, taking it and her off the side of the building. Its wings tried to beat the air, but she gripped her huge hands around its neck as they both landed then rolled off the roof of a sedan. It slashed across her but the wound resealed and her grip tightened. The huge monster flailed, staggering into a nearby wall but she wouldn’t let go, and then with a final shudder it fell lifeless to the ground.
She staggered back, attempting to take a breath of her own, then realized the whole island was alive with the sound of battle.
CHAPTER FORTY
Joel’s humvee skidded to a stop amongst flashes, explosions and red streaks. A missile scorched the air, being launched from the window of a nearby apartment building and exploded near the start of the bridge. Bodies flew but he couldn’t tell on what side they fought. What he could sense were the Alkron’s in the streets around him.
“Above!” shouted Corine.
With Amos he flicked his head upwards to a dog-headed figure clinging to a window frame two stories above. Knowing it was spotted it roared and leaped towards them. With a wave of her hand a lamp post swung across slamming into the creature, sending it careening through the air into another building.
An explosion of wood and glass came from a cafe to their left, bringing with it a whirl of claw and fangs to the street. For a moment they didn’t recognize Dalton fighting an Alkron similar to Kizzy, the other creature standing at least t
he same height as him, and moving so fast they couldn’t make out its true ever changing form.
Dalton fell backwards against a truck, the creature about to inflict another blow when from the shadows another shape changer slammed into it, knocking it to the ground. It quickly grew in size, now fifteen feet tall, its head becoming that of a serpent. Kizzy stepped back not knowing what to make of what she was seeing.
Amos stepped forward, closing his eyes and clenching his fists in the direction of the misshapen beast and concentrated. A small trickle of blood seeped from his nose but he kept his thoughts focused and just as quickly as the beast had enlarged, its form shrunk until it was a man barely half Dalton’s height.
Dalton sprung forward and with one blow broke his neck, then fell to one knee, wrapping his hand around his stomach. As the gunfire fell silent around them, Joel ran forward and helped him back up.
“Look!” said Amos gesturing towards the bridge. More figures landed in the dark, joining those that were already there.
Joel’s radio crackled. “Fall back to Bravo! Over,” said Gus.
“Everyone in the humvee!” shouted Joel. He jumped back in the driver’s seat, while glancing at his watch.
Too soon.
*****
Marina stood with Alfredo on the forward battlements of the fortress and looked at a landscape of orange flashes and glowing streaks flying out into the night. Around them soldiers readied their weapons, large and small, all directed towards the eastern part of the island.
She looked at the man to her side. “I guess you have seen this scene many times…”
He nodded, sighing. “And I never get used to it. The first time was against a local village. There were maybe twenty warriors on both sides, armed with spears and hand axes. I quickly learned the futility of war.”
“But now we have no choice. They won’t stop until we are all dead.”
He turned to her, holding her hand. “It won’t come to that.”
“What will you do after? When you are no longer—”
“So old?”
She smiled. “I mean, you have been a hybrid for a lot longer than you were not…”
“It will take some time to get used to… Perhaps you know someone who can help?”
She nodded, continuing their moment of light relief, then both looked back to the battle raging a few miles off.
She turned to speak again, but he leaned in and kissed her. Pulling back he looked into her eyes. “Promise me after all of this is done, you will be here to help lead those that are left?”
“I… am not—”
“I have seen many leaders in my time. You, Joel and Anna are some of the most impressive I have met. The coming day will see the end of the war against the scourge, but you will all need to fight to rebuild what you had before.”
She nodded.
“Now, I need to prepare.”
She went to reply but he quickly turned, then jumped down to the wet gravel and ran back to one of the entrances to the lower levels.
Two miles away, the secure doors to a vast neoclassical local government building were pulled closed and latched, the last base before the fortress. Joel and the others ran past soldiers checking their magazines, while others pushed heavy furniture up against the wooden doors.
They ascended the wide curved staircase, quickly finding the route to the roof, and came out to the lessening wind and rain. Sandbags were along the perimeter wall, with LMGs sticking through gaps, pointing towards the streets below. The ocean waves crashed just a few hundred yards away to their right, and even closer on the opposite side, the building being at a pinch point, roughly halfway from the downed bridges and the fortress behind.
He looked at his watch.
Two and half hours…
“Good of you to join us,” said Carla with a smirk, holding up an M4. She looked towards the east. “How bad was it down there?” Joel’s silence gave her the answer.
“How long we got left?” said Kizzy to him.
“Few more hours.”
She let out a breath then instinctively hugged the young man by her side. “Thank you for saving me…” Amos smiled.
“If you two can find the time to stop making out,” said Dalton. “Maybe we can kill some more corporation.”
Kizzy laughed and punched him lightly in the arm. They all walked to the southeastern corner wall and looked down to a barricade of multiple trucks and cars pushed across the narrow stretch of streets.
Joel clicked on his radio while watching the shadows of the old town. “We’re at the capitol building. Over.”
“Joel? Is everyone okay? Over,” said Anna.
“We’re fine. Just waiting to see what they do next. There must be a lot of Alkrons on the island now. Over.”
“We still got—”
“I know. How’s everyone there? Over.”
“Prepared. Over.”
“I love you… Over.”
“That’s good, because I feel the same way. Over.”
He smiled.
An extra gust added to the blustery wind blowing across the rooftop and a soldier shouted that something was coming from the sky.
Joel looked up already feeling the lack of dangerous intent from the winged creature. “Hold your fire! He’s with us!”
Copeland landed with a thud, his body now being covered in some of the black clothing that once belonged to the enemy.
“I see you found yourself some armor,” said Joel as the others walked away.
Copeland nodded. “It has been useful.” He looked to the east. “I can feel the sun beneath the horizon, but the Alkrons will be here long before that…”
“They will, and we will stop them.”
The Drak moved closer. “I know what will happen when we reach sunrise. Those that are less than human will… cease to be.”
Joel nodded.
“Will you do something for me?”
“If I can.”
“My box that I brought to Puerto Rico. I have left it on the roof of Alfredo’s home. Can you give it to my son?”
“I will.” Joel went to speak again, but large bat-like wings beat the concrete and Copeland was soon lost to the sky once more.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
Rynon looked out from a luxury penthouse hotel room, twenty floors up, towards the west and his final prize. The tablets and those that had taken so much from him were out there, at the edge of the small island, no doubt waiting, but not knowing what fate awaited them.
He smiled. He could feel the presence of the burning sphere of fusion wanting to emerge above the horizon behind him, but he would make the terrified humans and the traitors that helped them contemplate how they would die, just a bit longer. Allow them to stew in their anguish at least until the sun rose and they could see their own blood and entrails in vivid daylight.
A knock came on the door which he at first ignored, but then it came again, harder. “Yes, what is it?” he said without turning from his view of the smaller older buildings.
“I know you did not want to be disturbed, but we need to talk. It’s urgent,” said Rosetta.
He sighed. “Yes, come in. Tell me what is so important that you feel the need to disturb my grieving.”
The door swung back and in walked the mind reader, head to toe in black body armor. “We got a problem.”
“What?” said the ancient king.
“I looked into the minds of some of the soldiers we captured and despite their attempts to hide it from me, they were all trying to conceal the same secret.”
“I suggest you get to the point.”
“They have got some kind of anti-scourge bomb, and it’s—”
Rynon spun around with an expression she had not seen before on him. Fear. The king walked closer. “Involving the tablets?”
She nodded. “That’s what I saw.”
He looked around as if the answer to a question was in the room with him. “But how could that even be…” His eyes
grew wide. “She lied… he lives…”
“Who li—”
He grabbed her armored jacket. “When? When will it detonate?”
“I… I don’t know! None of them had the exact time, but it felt—”
He let go, spinning around to the large windows. “Tell everyone to attack now!”
“I thought you wanted to—”
“Now!”
Before Rosetta had raised her radio, the hybrid king had leaped through the glass panels, falling to the smaller roof below, then leaped again.
*****
Joel heard a low rumbling and sprang to his feet, looking to the east. He quickly checked his watch.
Forty minutes. So close…
He clicked on his radio as Dalton and the others stood nearby, looking over the wall in the same direction. “Something’s happening. Over.”
“Yes. Lookouts are seeing movement,” said Anna, her voice tinged with stress. “Alkrons are moving towards you. Over.”
He looked to Dalton. “You seeing anything?”
The big guy shook his head. “Not…” He leaned forward over the wall studying the dark coastal road, then moved right slightly to see the tree-lined main route which ran along the center of the island. “Yeah… we got movement… coming this way.”
Joel heard the increased heart rates in the humans and Alkrons alike around him, and weapons being cocked. He jogged to the right and looked down into the dark at the uniformed bodies crouching behind trucks and cars.
“Got movement on the southern coastal road. Over,” came a male voice from his radio. He looked to the south at the five-story apartment block sitting at a junction a few hundred yards away, then slid his view east and saw what they had. Dark shapes were leaping between rooftops.
“Here they come!” shouted Carla readying her rifle.
The din was suddenly broken by gunfire in both directions, the streets, sidewalks and trees lit by streaks of neon and pings from ricochets.