Final Scream

by Brookover, David

  “Good enough?” Gabriella asked him, tongue in cheek.

  “Abso-friggin’-lutely!” he exclaimed.

  Crow wasn’t as gung-ho about the weapons as Neo, because he basically wasn’t the soldier type. When required, he could hold his own in a light skirmish to ensure mission success, so he sighed and selected two automatic pistols with holsters, leaving the big-bang hardware for his partner.

  Excusing herself, Gabriella went to her bedroom and changed into her black Kundzean armor that would shield her from anything Earth’s enemies could throw at her. It had been a gift from her first cousin, Garvin, who still called the Kundze dimension his home. Her vulnerability was reduced to her head, which she protected with a spell. She studied her warrior reflection in the mirror. The problem with wearing the form hugging armor was that it displayed every curve, bulge, and indentation. She shrugged. All in all, she could have looked worse.

  She turned away, hoping the armor would protect her from alien weaponry.

  Neo was armed to the teeth and resembled a black Rambo, while Crow looked like an Old West gunfighter with the pair of .45 pistols strapped to both hips. Neo wolf whistled when Gabriella bounded down the stairs.

  She blushed. “You’d better not let your wife hear you carry on like that.”

  Neo laughed. “Believe me, girl, I know better than that. Liz would skin me alive.”

  Crow didn’t crack a smile.

  “What’s the matter with you?” she asked.

  “I’m … I’ve lost contact with Geronimo, and it makes me uneasy,” he groused.

  Gabriella waved her hand, and an Apple Watch appeared on his wrist. “You happy now?”

  A huge smile split his somber face from ear to ear. “You bet! Thanks.”

  She addressed them both. “We’re all aware of our jobs and what to watch out for when we hit the island, right?”

  Both nodded grimly.

  “Then let’s join hands and get this show on the road!” With that, they left the kitchen and reappeared on the side of Riai Island’s dormant volcano, below where the winged creatures vanished with Noah.

  The island was choked with smoke and cloaked in darkness from Terror Island’s profuse volcanic ash. The threesome was half hidden in waist deep understory a few yards from the jungle’s boundary. The topography from that point up was barren rock and sporadic thistles sprouting through narrow fissures. Gabriella was glad it wasn’t raining; otherwise, they would be caustically painted ash gray.

  A sooty gloom pervaded the thick jungle and concealed them from any human cameras or alien spies. Thick spreading trees, including the koa, guava, and octopus trees, sheltered them from a lot of the drifting ash and glowing windblown embers. The jungle floor carpeted with large ferns made Neo extremely nervous, because he couldn’t see the critters moving around his feet.

  Crow checked in with Geronimo before they began their ascent and to confirm the supercomputer had pinpointed their positions from the Apple Watch’s GPS signal. Geronimo had established their positions but didn’t update them on Nick’s current location. Crow knew better than to ask because someone could hack into their conversation.

  A series of Terror Island explosions rocked Riai Island so hard that Crow fell below the ferns as dust and small pebbles rained down from the volcano’s rim. Neo slipped an arm around Gabriella’s waist and helped her remain standing until the quake ended. Even more fiery embers bombarded the side of the volcano.

  “Let’s start climbing before there’s another one knocks us for a loop,” Neo shouted above the rumbling din as he yanked Crow to his feet and then brushed his clothes off.

  Gabriella and Crow eagerly agreed.

  Gabriella conjured three filtered gas masks so they wouldn’t cough from the heavy airborne ash content. They slipped them over their heads and tightened the rear strap to seal out any small particulates. Neo gave her a thumbs up, turned, and hiked upward; they followed closely behind so they wouldn’t become separated.

  It was not impossible for them to monitor the skies or what lurked above them as they ascended the steep slope, and they counted on the grimy atmosphere to shield them, too. The climb was grueling, but the deteriorating conditions near the top made their trek even more precarious, causing them to advance one cautious step after another.

  An hour later, the group closed in on the rim when an enormous black silhouette appeared out of nowhere and glided right at them. Before they even caught sight of the flying menace, it snatched Crow without decelerating. Neo shoved Gabriella down and fired at a second shadowy figure darting at them from the murky haze. The bullets didn’t faze it as it maintained its whistling velocity and seized Neo.

  How were their assailants able to see through the dense, sooty fog? Before she could contemplate an answer, a third glider emerged from the ashen sky.

  Gabriella thought about magically shooting the third creature out of the sky, but she reasoned she wouldn’t know where the creatures took Crow and Neo. She couldn’t free her friends if she couldn’t find them. So Gabriella made a split-second decision and allowed the third flyer to swoop down and pluck her off the volcano. She was literally flying blind in the concentrated ash, unable to see where the creature was taking her.

  She peered out through her gas mask at the approaching opening below the volcano’s rim. It was blacker than the sky. The foremost flaw in her strategy was what she would do if Neo and Crow were already dead. How could she set a trap for the Superior while imprisoned by hostile aliens?

  Gabriella forced her fears aside and elected to cross that bridge if and when she came to it.

  53

  Nick’s venture inside the ruins of the destroyed Chrysalis lab answered a few of his questions, including who controlled E.V.A.N. upon his release. The aliens. After all, the cloned beast was not of this world either.

  But were the winged aliens responsible for the lab’s destruction and mass carnage? If so, Nick’s cousin was a dead man walking. The more he mulled it over, the more Nick reasoned that the flyers might not be the only aliens in the vicinity of Terror Island. There was a realistic chance another species rescued E.V.A.N. and blew the lab to Kingdom Come. Without the large rhino-like extraterrestrial, there would be no more military-financed genetic experiments. The Pentagon was screwed, and another lethal result like Nick’s Mortal Eclipse brother Thomas was avoided.

  Nick returned to the scorched surface, turned in his Hazmat suit, and expressed his thanks to the FBI supervisor for his cooperation. Nick pronounced the site free of toxic chemical contaminants before returning to the jungle where he had first appeared on Kauai. He leaned against a koa tree trunk to line-up his priorities. Once he arrived on Riai Island, there wouldn’t be time for deliberation. Only action.

  Did Gabriella, Neo, and Crow set the trap to catch the Superior? He hoped so. A possible shootout with the aliens was dangerous enough, but dueling with another clever witch like Donna Lake could be deadly. Hopefully, they caught her.

  Nick stretched. He imagined the aliens that destroyed the secret lab and abducted E.V.A.N. used the heavy ash for cover when they returned to Riai Island. He trusted his friends avoided those aliens, but there was one simple way to find out. He opened his laptop and contacted Geronimo.

  “Yes, White Explorer,” Geronimo greeted him. “What can I do for you?”

  He asked about his friends’ well-being.

  “I am fearful for their lives.”

  “What?” Nick exploded.

  “Cool your jets, Nick Bellamy. The winged aliens have captured Crow, Gabriella, and Neo. I have a fix on Crow’s Apple Watch GPS signal inside the volcano, but it is very weak.”

  Crow had an Apple Watch? That was news to Nick. “So they’re somewhere inside the Riai Island volcano?”

  “That is correct.”

  “Shit!”

  “Precisely.” The computer paused. “I have other news for you. I reviewed hours of video from the military satellite in fixed orbit above the Terror Island
vicinity, and I observed an earlier winged alien carrying a familiar woman into the Riai Island volcano—at least I believe it was a woman. After I zoomed in on her, I noticed the strange looking wasn’t bound and gagged, so I concluded this … the woman is not their prisoner, so she must be an ally.”

  “You said familiar woman. Who is she?”

  “She was a Wicker person, so I conclude she is Natalie Wright, your cousin.”

  “Bad news all the way around,” Nick grumbled. Natalie? An alien ally?

  “I am sorry. Is there anything I can do to make it up to you?”

  “As a matter of fact, there is. Have you detected any military or civilian movement toward Riai Island?”

  “I have. After the pyroclastic flow destroyed the three Blackhawks above Terror Island, the battleship backed off and anchored three miles to the southeast away from the ash laden wind. As soon as the battleship was settled, a flotilla of smaller boats appeared from behind a northwest island and moved toward Riai Island. I presume they wanted to hide from the ship’s radar,” Geronimo reported.

  “And which side of the Riai Island volcano did Gabriella, Neo, and Crow materialize on?”

  “The south side.”

  “Strange. I would’ve thought the boats would’ve acted as an alien diversion to the group’s presence.”

  “I would have, too. Hold on!” Geronimo bellowed suddenly. “I am afraid my creator is now dead. I have lost his GPS signal.”

  Grief and rage engulfed Nick. If Crow was dead, then what about Gabriella? Neo? He sensed his alter ego’s enzymes stir within him. It was time to seek revenge and end the Superior’s venomous plot.

  He closed the laptop and checked that his sidearm was loaded. It was. There was going to be hell to pay inside the Riai Island volcano!

  Nick was ready to teleport to there when his smartphone rang. He was tempted to ignore the call until he glanced at the Caller ID.

  Dammit!

  He needed to answer it.

  The person’s input could be vital to his Final Scream investigation.

  Nick swiped the smartphone screen and listened.

  He was immediately treated to another unforeseen bombshell.

  The normally calm caller was completely freaked out!

  54

  Gabriella’s heart leaped into her throat as she and the flying creature freefell into the volcano’s black depths. She was close to being sick before her orange captor veered sharply right along a horizontal lava tube and glided along a narrow tunnel surprisingly illuminated by primitive flaming sconces. It wasn’t long before they made another right turn and landed inside a murky room.

  The monster flapped its wings hard and made a vertical landing like a Harrier jet. A small wall sconce mysteriously ignited and cast a dim glow around the pair. Gabriella stared at the flyer’s lizard-dog face and its barbaric expression, but she was unfazed by its daunting presence. She was perfectly capable of taking care of herself.

  Someone groaned in the darkness beyond the reach of the wall sconce. Then another groan. Followed by a third. Two of the whining grunts were familiar and belonged to Neo and Crow. The other one was female and definitely not a voice she recognized.

  The creature jerked its head in the direction of the sounds. Gabriella frowned. Did it want her to join the others?

  The word yes resonated throughout her head.

  It was intelligent and using mental telepathy to communicate with her.

  “Who are you?” she shot back with her mind.

  “A Lothran. We control this small area of your planet.”

  Gabriella wasn’t buying the claim. A subtle variation in its mental tone sounded suspicious. A lie. “I don’t believe you. Who actually rules this realm?”

  The Lothran became agitated and advanced menacingly at Gabriella.

  “Back off before I make you sorry you ever flew me down here,” she threatened the winged brute.

  “You can do nothing,” it countered.

  Gabriella waved her hands in front of the Lothran’s hideous face, and it suddenly found itself imprisoned in a cramped steel cage. It repeatedly slammed its muscular shoulders into the bars, but the reinforced metal refused to yield. Finally, the Lothran admitted defeat and pleaded to be released.

  She propped her hands on her slender hips. “Do you promise not to harm me or the other prisoners?”

  The beast chuffed and snorted for several moments before acquiescing.

  “Is that you, Gabriella?” Neo queried weakly.

  She replied using mental telepathy before realizing her error. “Yes, it’s me,” she stated aloud.

  Another brisk hand wave magically produced a dozen flaming wall sconces that illuminated the entire end of the cavern. Her complexion reddened with anger.

  Neo, Crow, and a tall and athletic young sunburned man were bound to a lava rock wall with iridescent metal manacles. A gaunt auburn-haired young woman and a tall, salt-and-pepper haired groggy older woman were fettered across from the men. All of them were seated on rough stone benches that served as their crude bed as well. A large stone vessel sat beside each short bench, and Gabriella instantly recognized their function: human waste storage.

  “Don’t forget about me,” the Lothran gruffly reminded her.

  With a slashing wave, Gabriella made the cage vanish.

  The liberated monster moved away. “You cannot free your friends as easily.”

  Gabriella smirked and tried to conjure the restraints away, but the heavy metal shackles stubbornly remained locked in place. After several futile attempts, she scowled at the Lothran. “All right, I give up. How do I remove the manacles?”

  “You cannot do it, and neither can I. It takes a Shabacco,” it confessed.

  “So you did lie. The Shabaccoes are really in charge around here, aren’t they?”

  As the Lothran retreated closer to the cavern entrance, its mouth stretched into a horrible grin. “That’s not entirely true.”

  “I’ll bet! Now where can I find a Shabacco to free my friends?”

  It shook its orange head. “Not necessary. They will find you soon enough.”

  Gabriella studied him for a few moments. “They’re headed this way right now, aren’t they?”

  “Yes.”

  “Are they armed?”

  “No need.” He tapped his bony skull. “They are very powerful up here. And they are bringing the Slayer with them.”

  “Is the Slayer supposed to frighten me? It doesn’t.”

  “Your Earthly military and scientific people renamed the Slayer E.V.A.N., and the monster is unstoppable. Only the Shabaccoes can control it. Let me tell you this. We Lothrans and most of the other life forms inhabiting these islands were relieved when the Slayer died twenty-three of your Earth years ago, but then you imprudent humans went and cloned it. Now you will all suffer horrible deaths for that lapse in judgment. You see, Slayers reproduce asexually and can breed many times a year.”

  Gabriella rolled her eyes. Oh great!

  “It won’t take the Slayers long to reproduce in numbers large enough to vastly reduce the human and alien population in the South Pacific, as you call this region of your planet.”

  After that ominous remark, the Lothran fled the volcanic room, abandoning Gabriella and the confined humans to a fate worse than death.

  The Shabaccoes and their Slayer.

  55

  The crazed caller was none other than Rance Osborne.

  “Nick, listen to me, goddammit!” the FBI director shouted from his office inside the J. Edgar Hoover Building in Washington, D.C. “I discovered the identity of the traitor inside the Pentagon, but he’s missing today. No one seems to know where he is. After that, I didn’t waste any time locking up the man’s three accomplices in one of our holding cells, where we can keep a close eye on them.”

  “The three in holding cells ratted out their leader?”

  “That’s what I’m telling you.”

  Nick knitted his brow. “That
doesn’t ring true. I mean, why would they confess to anything at this point?” The more he thought about it, Rance’s excited tone didn’t sound right, either. He was an ass-chewer, not a panicky pansy, as he often put it.

  “Because we monitored their supposedly encrypted phones for five weeks and gathered enough evidence to send them away for life. So they were anxious to make a deal.”

  Rance’s argument didn’t win him over a hundred percent convinced, but experience taught Nick it was fruitless to bicker with the iron-headed FBI director.

  “So who’s the hotshot Pentagon conspirator?” Nick asked.

  “Army Four-Star General Rex Jamison. He was a real badass during the Mideast conflicts a decade ago, but now he’s up to his neck in debt. So it was a simple matter for the people behind the Final Scream operation to wave big bucks in front of his face and convince him to cooperate.”

  “How much debt?”

  “Three million dollars.”

  “Jesus!”

  “Amen.”

  “Are you sure you’ve identified all the Pentagon accomplices?”

  “Besides the NSA’s Jonathon Foster?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Hell no, I’m not!” Rance bristled. “My investigation is still a work in progress.” He paused until he reined in his temper. “I saw a piece about the Terror Island volcano on the news. I’m sorry about your cousin.”

  On the news? Rance detested television news telecasts. He claimed they were more propaganda and advertising than enlightening. “Thanks.” Nick wasn’t about to reveal Noah’s current whereabouts to an imposter. The enemy.

  “Do you want to come in and question these three dolts?”

  “Sorry, but I’ve got other plans.”

  “Like what?”

  “I’ll tell you later,” he replied curtly.

  “Dammit, Nick, you’re nothing but an ingrate! I’ve gone to the trouble of…”

  Ingrate? Since when did Rance use that descriptive word? Nick terminated the call and Googled a picture General Rex Jamison on his cell phone so he would at least know what the enemy’s scapegoat looked like if they met. Jamison was well groomed but looked like he was full of himself. He had close-cropped black hair with gray streaks, a deeply lined brow, and bushy eyebrows. His high cheekbones, hooked nose, skewed umber eyes, and Dumbo ears were like disparate puzzle pieces. If he wasn’t a scapegoat, the general’s unattractive mug would fit right in with the criminal wanted posters pinned to a post office bulletin board.