by Nate Castle
“Sir, one of the European pilots will be picking up Logan and company in about an hour.”
“Beautiful. Now can you make sure to send a handful of Americans on that plane too? The Europeans haven't yet gained my trust. We need to keep a close eye on them,” President Taylor said to the ‘intern’ or whatever you might call him.
“Did that dude seem nervous to you?” President Taylor said.
“Yes a bit nervous. But you are the President and that was likely his first time ever talking to you.”
“Hell it seems like I have a new assistant every week. My turnover rate is god awful, I must not be the best boss,” President Taylor said.
General Kaplan could tell he was kind of half kidding and then said, “One piece of advice. Learn their names. It sounds simple but works wonders. If you call them by their name, they don’t feel like a subordinate and will have an easier time communicating with you.”
“You always give me good advice, you know——HEAVENLY FATHER, DID YOU SEE THAT?”
A flash of light came from outside, it was hard to miss and it was followed by a rumbling sound. The President and General, quickly but cautiously opened a door that led outside. A bunch of people who had also witnessed the event were congregated on the lawn. Spaced about 30 seconds after the first one, another beam of light lit up the sky. The only way to describe it was a fireworks show on crack. When the beam of light hit its peak, it turned into thousands of small beams, with each one lighting up as a different color.
“I haven’t been to a fireworks show in the past five years or so, but I’m pretty damn sure that human fireworks don’t look like that,” General Kaplan said, “By the way, you are not cursing anymore, it’s weird for me to hear things like ‘oh heavenly father’ come out of your mouth. What’s up with that?”
“I watched a Netflix show a few weeks ago about a college football team and a lot of people started despising the coach because all he would do was yell and swear at the players nonstop. He made a promise to himself that he was going to change that, so that inspired me to clean up my language a bit,” President Taylor said.
Christina and Sierra had appeared next to them now.
“Is that the drone that we lost contact with?” Christina said.
A flying object was making a direct line towards them, it was too small to be an aircraft, and when they sent drones on the mission to deliver the message to the Zyrgians, the drones’ network was mysteriously disabled right when it reached the drop zone. Sure enough Christina’s theory was spot on. The drone was now hovering overhead before it released a shiny box that fell to the ground. The spectators were hesitant to open the box and were relieved when it actually opened itself.
The box opened into a very sophisticated LCD screen. Without further adieu, the screen lit up and projected a 4 foot by 4 foot hologram. It looked like a picture frame suspended in midair.
After the frame was ready, a message appeared inside of it. The message was written in English:
We are not here for the purpose of harming you. We are here seeking refuge from another tribe. There have been numerous opportunities for us to cause extinction to the human race if that was our desire, but as you can see it is not. A representative from our tribe will be in contact with you shortly. We thank you in advance for your cooperation, as we will need to unite as one to fend off the new invading tribe.
The message stayed on for two minutes before it shut off and the box closed. The drone swooped in and used its claw arm to lift the box up and fly out of the area, leaving all who witnessed this event speechless.
“Well this changes things quite a bit,” President Taylor said.
“That’s an understatement,” Christina said.
Sierra chimed in, “We better verify that what they are saying is true before we team up with them. They could be playing a trick on us, so that we are caught off guard when they attack again.”
“She’s right, let’s get the video team back on it and see if they can dig up anything, given our new scenario,” General Kaplan said.
“My mind is blown right now,” President Taylor said.
He looked up at all of the people who had witnessed the event. They were still standing there on the lawn, as if they were waiting for him to provide a plan for what they should do next.
“Excuse me, sir, you’ve got a phone call, it seems urgent,” said the ‘intern’ who had talked to the President earlier that day.
“Thank you I’ll be right in. And your name is?” he said , remembering what General Kaplan had said about how knowing someone’s name went a long way.
“It’s Devon.”
“Alright Devon, keep up the good work,” President Taylor said.
He followed him back inside the building and Devon handed him the phone. On the other end of the line was Clyde, who had just broken down in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Clyde explained his story to the President, who was on the verge of hanging up before Clyde could finish, but had a feeling in his gut that he should hear the man out. Clyde eventually convinced him to arrange a pick-up to take him to DC. Even though it didn’t make sense to ‘charter’ a plane that would only be taking one passenger, President Taylor did it anyway.
8
Now You See Me
“I’ve never been so excited to see a plane in my life!” Shelby said.
They were standing on the tarmac at Roanoke-Blacksburg Regional Airport, when they saw a 777 plane makes its descent for landing.
“Let me talk to this pilot for a minute before we get on board, you know to vet him and makes sure he’s legit,”Hank said.
The plane landed 200 yards away from where they were standing. Hank did as promised and boarded the plane first to speak with the pilot. It made him more comfortable the fact that some Americans were on the plane along for the ride too.
Shelby, Noel, and Logan, anxious to get on the plane were on standby until Hank appeared at the top of the steps leading to the plane. He put his right arm out straight and started making a circular motion repeatedly. It looked like the signal that the 3rd base coach in baseball makes when he is telling the baserunner to keep rounding the bases instead of stop.
When they were on board a man standing behind Hank who must have been the pilots greeted them, “Hey lads, I’m Colin.”
They one by one introduced themselves and shook his hand before thanking him for his help and heading back to choose seats.
“Was it Kellen or Colin? That damn Irish accent was so thick that I couldn’t tell the difference,” Noel said.
“Definitely Colin. He seems like a good dude,” Logan said.
Logan recognized some of the Americans from the White House, so he took a seat next to their group and started asking questions about if anything noteworthy happened while his group was gone. They filled him in on some minor events and were just about to tell him about the delivered message from the Zyrgians, when Logan got a tap on the shoulder from Shelby.
“I need you,” she said.
She took his hand and led him down the aisle. She had a guilty smile on her face that she had trouble containing. Logan kept silent, letting her continue to enjoy the suspense. She stopped at the passenger restroom in the first class section of the plane.
“We have to get our membership to the the mile high club, it’s on my bucket list,” Shelby said.
Logan wasn't surprised by Shelby’s request, but acted like he was. The two of them hadn’t been able to have any intimate encounters in the past few weeks, so it would be good for them to release all of that bottled up sexual energy.
“After you,” Logan said, “ I love it, you’re keeping things fresh!”
She opened the bathroom door and immediately began aggressively kissing and undressing Logan.
“Thank you sir, that was very kind of you to put your ass on the line to come pick me up,” Clyde said to the pilot of plane.
They had successfully made it back to Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport in DC. A golf cart was approach
ing the plane. The driver had a shaved head and looked like a bouncer, with forearms that likely led to a deadly handshake grip, and calves the size of footballs. Clyde wasn’t scared of many people, but this guy surely had put the fear of God into some unfortunate people over the years.
That’s what I’m talking about! Now I’m in good hands.
The IHL organization would have trouble defending itself against guys of this physical caliber.
“The name’s Kaplan, General Kaplan, hop in.”
He didn’t get off of the golf cart, but reached his hand out for a shake. The pilot of the plane hopped on the rear facing seat of the cart, letting Clyde take the front.
Clyde told General Kaplan the story, trying to summarize when he could. He got got the sense that Kaplan wasn’t big into listening for long periods of time.
“Hmmm, this IHL group that you speak of sounds smart in some aspects, but stupid at the same time. We’ll take care of ‘em don’t you worry about that. In the meantime, I want to think long and hard about how you can best use your skillset to help with what we have going on at the White House.
“Hoo-rah! I’m looking forward to it,” Clyde said.
Hoo-rah, where did that come from you dufus?
“Two things. One, you won’t have that same happy-go-lucky attitude when you find out what’s really going on at the White House, so enjoy it while you can. And two, don’t ever let me catch you say hoo-rah again you knucklehead. That’s reserved for those who have been in the Marines,” General Kaplan said.
Clyde felt a little embarrassed, but the guy did have a point.
“Ten minutes ’til touch down,” the pilot said over the intercom.
“Jesus, those two better hurry up in there,” Hank said.
Hank hadn’t noticed Shelby and Logan come out of the bathroom, but they had and were just sitting alone on a different park of the plane.
“They’re big kids, I’ll let them take care of themselves,” Noel said. She kind of a had a bitter tone in her voice as if she was irritated that Shelby was getting some and she wasn’t.
The plane landed as promised and when the flybridge was lowered, they could see a Chevy Camaro SS approaching. The car was putting on a show, doing doughnuts and getting sideways at every opportunity before finally screeching to a halt. General Kaplan hopped out of of the driver’s seat and greeted them.
“As you can see I’ve gotten quite bored without y’all around, so I’ve taken up hobbies such as driving fast cars,” General Kaplan said.
He filled them in on the message from the Zyrgians, the story that Logan missed when Shelby took him away to the mile-high club.
“Do you believe the aliens or do you think they are setting us up?” Logan asked.
“Personally, I think we are being set up, but I’m gonna go along with it for the time being. There is a team trying to find evidence to corroborate the Zyrgians story,” General Kaplan said.
He parked the Camaro at the warehouse across the street from the White House because he wanted to show them the transformation of this warehouse into a living quarters for the new guests.
“So I guess no one is going to address the obvious elephant in the room, what are these British people doing here?” Hank said.
“They sent over a bunch of volunteers to help with whatever we needed help with,” General Kaplan.
“That’s all fine and dandy, but where were these people when we needed them after the first attack?” Hank said.
A voice interrupted the conversation.
“Is that Logan Motherfuckin’ Sheffield?”
Logan turned around to see who was addressing him.
“Clyde ‘Free Range’ McGill, what are the chances! How’ve you been bud?”
Clyde pulled Logan in for the bro hug; the kind where it starts as a handshake and then you use the leverage from the handshake to pull the other guy in close and give him an exaggerated pat on the back.
“Well given the circumstances and the fact that I’m still alive, I’d say I’ve never been better,” Clyde said, “How about you, you look like you’ve gone through some tough times?”
“Huh?”
“Your leg and arm.”
“Oh you know, nothing major just been fighting some aliens. The prosthetics are great though, I can’t tell the difference,” Logan said.
Clyde and Logan met at Interlake High School in Bellevue, Washington. What started out as a fist-fight over a girl, turned into a long-term friendship. Clyde started the fight because of a rumor that Logan was shacking up with his girl. The rumor turned out to be fake, but Clyde admired the way Logan fought back, rather than just accepting the beating, and the rest was history.
“Alright lovebirds we got some shit to take care of, c’mon,” General Kaplan said and led them into the White House.
President Taylor began speaking to a group sitting around him at a long rectangular redwood table.
“Listen up, we have two issues that require attention at the moment. One, determining the course of action to take with the Zyrgians, and two, there is a group trying to benefit from the current state of this country by taking control of various entities. These include water, gas stations, and prescription drugs, and likely others that we don’t know about. They are charging civilians an arm and a leg for these things. Clyde is the one who saw this firsthand and gave us the intel. I think we need to nip this in the bud before it spirals out of control.”
“I don’t know boss, we’ve got a lot on our plate right now, it might not be in our best interest to take valuable time away from the alien projects,” Cade chimed in.
“Yeah well if we let it runs its course, there might not be any civilians left in this country by the time we do decide to handle it. Trust me, these are some bad dudes running the IHL,” Clyde said.
“What do you propose we do Clyde?” Cade said.
“That’s why I came here, so you guys could help come up with a solution.”
“What if we found a way to deal with both at the same time?” Logan said, “Like if there was a way to diminish the cults power while also creating a safeguard from the new aliens. Now don’t ask me what that would look like, but just consider it.”
“Here’s a simple solution to Logan’s challenge. Many of you know that I designed the White House to be ‘alien proof’. I’ve also designed smaller modular versions of this safe house, if you will, each one can fit on a semi trailer. We could mass produce and transport these ‘safe houses’ to various spots in the country and then have people relocate if they have been affected by the IHL.”
Aaron, the construction manager responded, “We definitely have enough manpower to make it happen, but time is my main concern. Surely the aliens will attack or something new will go down with the IHL before we have these safe houses up and running.”
“Aaron’s right, but keep the ideas flowing, you’re coming up with some good ones,” President Taylor said.
Las Vegas, Nevada
The IHL was getting impatient. Their plans were working, but not as fast as they projected. Their leader Gino decided to up the ante a bit. He took a few hostages and dismembered them before sending the bodies back to their respective families. He hoped this would send a message and word would get around that you don’t want to mess with the IHL, and when that note gets put under your door instructing you to pay $400 a month to get your water turned back on, you best better be proactive about it, and not look for ways to cheat Gino’s system.
They’d run into some trouble in one of their Southern California territories; someone had hacked the system and turned the water back on. The IHL couldn’t regain control of the water unless they went to each house individually and shut off the physical pump, which would have been a real hassle. After Gino’s test run, he decided to duplicate the hostage killing situation in each of the twenty territories controlled by the IHL. Up to this point, his employees, or followers as he liked to call them, were very loyal. He hoped they would stay that way, d
espite knowing that the end goal might take longer than forecasted when this all began.
9
Liar’s Dice
“The IHL situation has escalated,” said General Kaplan, “We’ve received a dozen or so calls now describing disturbing situations where the IHL kidnaps family members, kills and then sends back the body parts to the family, in order to make a statement. This has allegedly occurred on the west coast and also in parts of the midwest,”
“Great, that’s the last thing we need,”President Taylor replied, “Christina I need you or someone else to hack into their system and figure out who their employees are, what their last known locations were, and how many total people we are dealing with here.”
Christina left the room with a few others to go obtain that information.
“I have a temporary solution to the problem,” Logan said, “I think we’re gonna need more time to come up with a good permanent one though, we don’t want to rush it and think irrationally.”
“Let’s hear it,” General Kaplan said.
It was the morning on February 12th, 2038. Logan would turn 35 this year, which he didn’t much care about, but February 12th was a special day for him, he always got a little teary eyed. It was the day his grandfather died by the hand of a drunk driver. Logan had a really close relationship with Grandpa Buck, closer than what he had with his father.
“We have all of this money lying around in the Federal Reserve Bank. The IHL is after money. We take money to the infected areas and give it to the civilians who need money to pay for IHL services. Hopefully the IHL stops killing people and is satisfied for the time being. The only catch is that the IHL can’t know that we are funneling money to the civilians because if they do, it will turn into a ransom situation where they request millions of dollars from us.”
“Wow Logan, you hit the nail on the head. Give them what they want so they stop acting like imbeciles and then gather more information on them before coming up with a permanent way to shut them down,” Clyde said.