by Gerri Hill
She took a couple of steps closer, then turned. “Lucky, come on, boy,” she said quietly, tapping her leg. For some reason, she felt better with him near.
She didn’t need her binoculars to see, but she used them anyway. The bodies were laid out, in a neat line, next to each other. She gasped when she realized what their state was. They’d been eaten. Some partially. Some more than others. She counted twelve bodies, most still partly clothed. Five were wearing army fatigues. Three were covered in the remnants of flight suits. The other four appeared to be civilians.
“Jesus Christ,” she whispered as she lowered the binoculars. That had to be the squad that was sent in. But there would have been ten, maybe twelve soldiers. Not just five. Oh, God. Where were the others? And how the hell did the helicopter crew get up here?
Her hands were shaking as she stared at the bodies. Were the others like Hal? Were they…were they out, looking for…for what?
She heard rocks falling—rustling—in the ravine and she jerked her head around, expecting to see…something coming for her. Lucky whimpered beside her, then growled as he took a step away, heading to her left. She stopped him with a hand on his head.
“I know, boy. I’m scared too. Let’s get the hell out of here.”
She hurried back to her horse, nearly embarrassed as she swung up onto the saddle. She was a soldier, for God’s sake. A team leader. A captain. But none of her training had prepared her for this. She turned the horse around, kicking him hard, urging him into a gallop. Lucky darted ahead of her, leading the way. She swore she heard the craft shift, heard metal on metal, heard the creaking of hinges, and she imagined the door opening…imagined things coming out…looking for her, running after her. Had they heard her? Did they know she was there? She crouched low in the saddle, nearly hugging her horse’s neck as they bolted off the ridge and down the side as if running from the devil himself.
When she heard thunder off in the distance, she slowed, only then daring to look behind her. The trail was simply a trail, looking as benign and nonthreatening as a trail could look. She slowed the horse to a walk, continuing to look behind her. A gust of wind whistled down the ridge, causing the brush to rustle around her. It was enough to send her on her way, and she gave her horse a kick, sending him hurrying down the trail once again.
When they got to the bottom and reached the creek, she expected to find Dana and Jean waiting for her. Even though she’d instructed Dana to keep going, she doubted that she would. She didn’t know if she was glad she’d followed her order or sorry that she hadn’t waited on her.
It had been a tough ride up and then down the ridge and she let her horse drink, even though she was anxious to catch up with the others. Even Lucky seemed to be eager to get going. He’d only splashed into the creek long enough to lap up water, then had moved to the other side, waiting on her.
As soon as her horse lifted his head, Corey urged him across the creek. She broke out into a trot, glancing over her shoulder several times, making sure no one was following her. Lucky kept up with their pace, but she knew the dog must be exhausted. In the distance, she could see horses and she pulled her binoculars out, relieved to see Dana, Jean and Butch ahead of her. She slowed her pace, allowing Lucky to catch his breath. Dana was going slow, she noted, and she knew she’d catch them before they made Paradox Creek.
It was only then that she allowed her mind to contemplate what she’d seen. Yes, it appeared to be a spaceship, and God, she couldn’t really believe she was thinking that. And, yes, obviously something was inside it. Were they using some kind of telepathy or something? Was that why Butch was so affected? But why only him? Why not all of them?
She didn’t have a clue to the answer but judging by the indention in the ravine, the spacecraft had crash-landed, burrowing into the rocks. Even then, it appeared to be intact. It was like a thick disc, not quite like in the movies she remembered. There were wings on each side, but they were small in proportion to the craft, nothing like the wings you’d find on jets and planes.
She shook her head, trying to lose the image of the bodies all lined up in a row. But where were the others? Did they get away? Did they escape? Or were they like Hal? Were they…infected or something? Had their bodies been taken over? Was something killing them and then using their bodies?
“Jesus…you’re thinking crazy stuff,” she murmured. Yeah, she was. She also felt like she was in a goddamn movie. Unfortunately, she knew she wasn’t in a movie.
This was really happening.
And she was honest enough with herself to admit that she was scared.
Scared to death.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Sutter stared at Duncan, his eyes glaring. “Where is your goddamn squad?” he asked tersely.
“I…I don’t know, sir. We’ve had no—”
Sutter slammed his fist on his desk, causing a sheet of paper to flutter to the floor. “Why haven’t you had communication, Duncan? That’s what I want to know.”
“They haven’t checked in, sir,” Duncan said for the third time. “I assume the solar transmitter is not working.”
“Two days since we heard from them. They should have made it to the checkpoint by now.”
“Yes, sir, they should have.”
“And Conaway? Anything else from her?”
“No, sir.”
Sutter paced beside his desk. He knew General Brinkley would be there within the hour, and he had nothing to give him. Not only did they have a missing helicopter and crew, now they had a missing squad as well. Conaway had given them some hope, at least. Her message on Saturday had been too garbled for them to make out much of it, but they knew she’d found the helicopter. There was no mention of her meeting up with the others, none that they could make out, anyway. The only other words they got were something about following a creek and going up to a ridge. Duncan assumed the creek was Paradox Creek. But the ridge? It could be anywhere out there.
“Sir?”
Sutter turned slowly, almost forgetting that Duncan was still in his office.
“Do you think it’s time to send in troops? I mean, maybe not a whole company, sir, but at least a platoon or two?”
“I imagine General Brinkley and I will discuss that,” he said. “It’s in the news now. We can’t keep a lid on it any longer. Once they opened up the highway again, they got stalled cars going into Paradox, dead cell phones. Yeah, it’s time to send troops in and see what the hell is going on.” He sighed. “And we’ll need to come up with a plan for damage control.”
“I guess it’ll be the true definition of foot soldiers then,” Duncan said.
Sutter looked at him sharply. “Are you trying to be funny, Duncan? Are you making a joke about this?”
“No, sir. Of course not. I was just—”
“All of the damn technology we have at our disposal, none of it works inside this zone. We’re not trained to operate that way, Duncan. There’s got to be communication.” He stared at him. “Why the hell can’t we figure out something to use?”
“We tried the solar—”
“I know we tried the goddamn solar transmitter,” he said loudly. “Find me something that works,” he demanded.
“Yes, sir. They’ve been working on it, sir. So far—”
Sutter held up his hand, silencing Duncan. “Save it. I’m tired of excuses. General Brinkley is tired of excuses. The only saving grace we have with him is that we’ve had some communication from Conaway.”
“Yes, sir,” Duncan said obediently.
Sutter sighed. “Get out of here, Duncan. I’ll let you know when Brinkley arrives. I’ll let you brief him.”
“Of course, sir.”
Sutter sat down in his chair with another weary sigh. How could an obscure four-second blip on radar cause this much chaos?
Chapter Thirty-Eight
At the sight of Corey riding toward them, Dana’s relief was so profound, she hadn’t realized how tense her body had been. She relaxed her shou
lders and let out a thankful sigh. She didn’t want to admit it, but she had been afraid Corey wouldn’t make it back, had been afraid something would get her. Hurt her. Kill her.
God, stop it.
“Do you see the captain?” Jean called from behind her.
“I do,” Dana said, trying not to let Jean see how worried she’d been. But she slowed her pace nonetheless, wanting Corey to catch up to them. It seemed like it had been hours since they’d left the ridge but with the clouds in the west, she had no way of knowing how low the sun really was. She stared at the dark clouds now, wondering if they’d get rain later…and hoping they wouldn’t.
She glanced behind her, looking at Butch. He met her gaze, then blinked several times. He seemed to be coming back around. For that, she was very relieved. Even so, he hadn’t spoken much, just a few repeated references about the ridge…and the mysterious something that was up there. Yeah, there was something up there, all right. And she wanted to get as far away from it as possible.
As Corey got closer to them, Dana finally stopped altogether, deciding to wait for her. She looked back at Jean, as if for confirmation.
Jean nodded. “Yes, let her catch up to us.”
“I don’t like being separated. I think we should stay together,” she offered as an excuse.
Jean pushed at the gray hair around her ears, moving it away from her face. Her skin was red from their days in the sun, and Dana wondered why she hadn’t brought a hat to wear.
“Are you going to tell me what you saw down in that ravine?” Jean asked.
Dana gave a shaky laugh. “I’m afraid to say it out loud,” she admitted.
“The captain looked pretty shook up about it too. I imagine her fears were confirmed then.”
Dana nodded. “It looked like…well, like something from a space movie,” she said. She let her eyes drift to Butch. “And he was trying to get to it. Corey had to fight him.”
Her words didn’t seem to register with Butch, who made no comment. Or maybe they did register and he simply had no explanation.
“What do you think the captain will want to do now?” Jean asked.
“I hope we’re getting the hell out of here,” Dana said truthfully. “I don’t mind saying, I’m plenty scared, Miss Jean.”
Jean nodded slowly. “Yes, I think I’d like to get far away from here too.” She looked at her thoughtfully. “But how far is far enough?”
Dana had no answer for her. Instead, she kept her gaze locked on Corey as she came closer, close enough now to make out her features. Close enough to see the concern etched on her face. And close enough to see that she had Lucky in the saddle with her.
Corey slowed her horse as she got nearer, her eyes finding Dana’s. Dana held them, trying to read them. They were filled with worry, which in turn only heightened Dana’s own anxiety. She said the first thing that came to mind.
“Are you okay?”
Corey nodded but didn’t stop. “We should keep going.”
“What…what did you see?”
Corey shook her head. “We’ll talk later. Let’s get to the creek and we’ll rest there.”
As they headed out again, Jean’s voice broke the silence. “Is Lucky okay?”
“Yeah…he ran out of gas,” Corey said. “I had a hell of a time getting him up here, though. He weighs close to a hundred pounds, I’d guess.”
Lucky was practically lying in Corey’s lap, his tongue hanging out as he panted. She imagined the dog was exhausted. They’d had quite a trek already today, not to mention him having to run up and then down the ridge.
There was no more conversation as they made their way slowly toward the creek. Corey turned around several times, looking behind them, and Dana wondered who or what she thought might be following them. At last, the dry, rocky and barren terrain turned green as they reached the valley grass that surrounded the creek. It was cooler near the water, and she was thankful to get out of the saddle for a bit.
“Untie Butch,” Corey instructed. “I need him to help me get Lucky down.”
Dana wasn’t sure if it was safe to untie him, but she did as Corey asked. It was only then that Butch seemed to realize that he was even tied to the saddle in the first place.
“What’s this?” he asked.
Dana met his gaze. “So you wouldn’t get yourself killed,” she said frankly.
He blinked at her several times. “Did I…did I freak out again?”
“Yeah, you did. And it’s a good thing we don’t have a mirror.” She stepped back, letting him get out of the saddle.
While he walked over to Corey to take Lucky from her, Dana went over to Jean and helped her down.
“Thank you,” Jean murmured. “I’d be hard-pressed to do that on my own.”
Dana noticed that Jean seemed to have aged years since they’d first met her. Her shoulders were curved, and she leaned forward as she walked, her steps shuffling.
“Are you okay?” Dana asked quietly. “Sore?”
Jean nodded. “I guess I was a little ambitious when thinking I could still ride a horse. My back doesn’t seem to want to straighten up.”
But she was smiling, and Dana followed her gaze, landing on Lucky. He was lying down in the water, lapping at it as it flowed by. Dana was thirsty too, and she took one of the bottles from the pack on her saddle, drinking a few swallows before putting it back.
Corey was kneeling by the creek, splashing her face and head with water. Then she stood, wiping her hands over her wet hair, front to back. Dana walked over to her.
“Are we in trouble?” she asked quietly.
Corey nodded. “Yeah, I think so.”
Dana met her eyes. “What did you find?” Dana thought she might not answer her as Corey’s gaze looked past her, back toward the ridge. But she turned to her again.
“Bodies. Twelve of them. The three crew from the helicopter, four civilians and five…five from the other squad that was sent in,” Corey said, her voice cracking with emotion. “They’d been…well, they’d been partially eaten.”
Dana gasped. “Eaten?”
“That’s what it looked like to me,” Corey said.
“Dear God,” Dana whispered. “What are we going to do?”
“The squad would have had ten or twelve soldiers,” Corey said. “So…the others either escaped or…”
Dana reached out and grasped her arm. “Or? Or they’re like Hal? They could come for us?”
Corey nodded. “Yeah. So we need to get away from here. And fast.”
“Good. You won’t have any argument from me,” she said as she took a step away. “In fact, let’s go right now.”
Corey stopped her when she turned. “How’s Butch?”
“Quiet. I doubt he has any recollection of what happened,” she said.
“The farther away we get from the ridge, the less hold it’ll have on him,” Corey said. “At least I hope so. It’s like…some kind of thought transference, like telepathy or something.”
Dana nodded. “Like something takes over his mind, his body. Why only him? Why not all of us?”
Corey shrugged. “I don’t have a clue.” She gave Dana a nervous laugh. “And I don’t want to find out.”
Dana’s eyes bored into hers, and she again reached out and touched her arm. “You’re scared,” she said. It was a statement, not a question. “I’m terrified myself, Corey. Please…you can’t be scared too. We need you to get us out of here.”
Corey took a deep breath and nodded. “I’ll do my best.”
Chapter Thirty-Nine
If Corey had to do it all over again, she’d have insisted that the others stay at Jean’s house. Or even better, head back to Paradox and find shelter there. She imagined that Anna Gail would have put them up, even if there were protests from her husband. But she hadn’t insisted, and there was no point in using hindsight now. Of course, if she were being completely honest, she was glad that they were with her. After what she’d seen on the ridge, her imagination
was running wild as it was. Maybe it was the old safety in numbers theory, but she felt a little more in control—of herself and the situation—having Dana, Jean and Butch with her. And Lucky, she added, as she glanced at the dog that was alternating between walking beside her horse and jumping in the creek.
The clouds that had rolled in earlier were moving off, taking the threat of rain with them. The sun peeked out from time to time, brightening the day. While it wouldn’t be long before sunset, it wasn’t quite as late as she’d thought. They needed to get much farther away from the ridge before they stopped for the night. Of course the prospect of spending a night out, with them again taking turns at keeping watch, was not very appealing. Especially not when she wasn’t sure if she could trust Butch. And certainly not after…well, not after what she’d seen up there. She turned and glanced behind her, her eyes drawn to the ridge. It still seemed so close. Too close. Because whatever was up there, if it was indeed a…a spaceship of some kind, then the occupants were definitely not friendly. She wondered how long it’d be before General Brinkley sent in troops. Hell, she didn’t even know what day it was. How much longer would Harry wait on communication from her? She hoped he’d already given up on her and had given the go-ahead to send in help. Although help would be on foot and it could take days before they showed up out here. They probably didn’t have days.
No, she thought their best bet was to get back to Paradox and wait for help. They were out of food, except for three measly meals that she still had. Maybe Lucky would scare up a rabbit. She figured Dana would be hungry enough to eat it.
She pushed her thoughts away as she looked behind them once again. It was only then that she noticed that the sun had disappeared behind the ridge. They’d still have a good hour of daylight before the shadows crept in. That should get them far enough away. The problem would be finding a place to camp where there was enough firewood to last through the night. There were pockets of trees along the creek, but most of them were young cottonwoods and they weren’t dropping limbs.
She turned around one more time to look behind them, then did a double take. She frowned and narrowed her eyes, trying to make out what the movement was.