by Phil Maxey
“Abbey and Wyatt are not here. We need to search, there might be survivors,” said Zach feeling numb. “Use the night-scopes.”
“They also might still be here,” said Cal, swinging his gun around and flipping his scope back onto his eyes.
Zach knew the sensible thing was to carefully search the area round him, but he had a feeling in his gut that Geneva’s people had gone.
They ran to the breakroom. There was only half a splintered door, left hanging on it’s hinges. Inside most of the furniture was upturned or broken. There was also more blood, but no bodies.
“We need to split up, stay in radio contact, every 60 seconds click the talk button, and meet back here in twenty.”
Each one of them took a different corridor.
As Zach approached the stairs to the first floor, smoke and heat drifted downwards. He could hear the building creaking around him as he ascended upwards into a gray smog. He emerged into a clean looking corridor with students artwork along the walls, and tried to stop his lungs from rejecting the air around him, but failed. He coughed and immediately looked for a reaction from any of the rooms close by. There wasn’t any. Quickly moving from room to room, and not finding anyone he went back to the stairs, but now the space above him was so thick with smoke, it was impossible to see further than a few feet. He shouted into the heat but only the sound of burning came back.
Cal ran to the west, running down corridors, and briefly checking inside each room. They were empty. He then ran into the gym. It was also empty of people, but as he walked into the center of it, his neck started to tingle. There’s an E.L.F here.
Fiona moved swiftly from room to room, without finding anyone or thing. Eventually she arrived at a junction and was about to go down another corridor when a plain silver door which was slightly ajar caught her eye. Above it was a sign, but in the dark it was hard to read. Opening the door, she moved into the dark and almost tripped as her foot dropped onto a step. Slowly she made her way down the stairs, feeling out with both hands to the walls. Until she was under the school. Large metal pipes flowed in different directions attached to cold walls, as she slowly moved forward, her night-scope only giving her the merest idea of what was around her.
Reaching out she touched something soft. It moved, and she yelped, jumping backwards into a pipe hitting her back.
“It’s me! Wyatt! Don’t shoot!”
“Wyatt? Is that you? I can hardly see you, what did I touch?”
A flare of light sprang into the darkness as Wyatt lit a match, causing Fiona to fling her scope upwards and rub her eyes.
“I’m with Mo. I had to make him go into a kind of sleep to get him down here. Have they gone? I guess they must of if you’re here, is everyone else upstairs?”
Fiona ran forward and hugged him to her.
“What…what is it?” said Wyatt.
“We have to go. Can you bring Mo with you?”
“Er, yeah he should just follow me.”
As they both emerged from the door at the top of the stairs, Cal and Zach were waiting.
Zach grabbed the young man by the shoulders. “Are you hurt?”
“No, I’m fine, where are the others? Abbey told me to come down here with Mo then there was lots of gunfire, I thought it would never stop.”
Zach, Cal and Fiona looked at each other.
“Evan, Sara…all the Cascaders are dead Wyatt, Abbey saved you.”
“Is she?” Wyatt’s voice was desperate.
“We haven’t found her,” said Zach. She has to be alive. He then turned to Cal. “Can you sense any other Cascaders?”
Cal closed his eyes, and concentrated. “Only Wyatt and Mo, no one else.”
“Zach, we need to go,” said Fiona.
“Did you check the vehicles?” said Zach.
“No, I thought you did?”
They then all started running back to the gym, but this time they ran through it emerging into a private parking area near the sports ground. The truck and turreted Humvee where still there.
They all couldn’t believe the vehicles were still there, but none were going to say they had been lucky.
* * * * *
Abbey looked out at the vine covered walls of the Bay, but this time it was not with eyes that were afraid but instead, she looked at the beauty of the sun setting over the ocean, and the new creatures that were enjoying its warmth. Looking back towards what was once the city of Boston, she made her way through the trees, and exotic fauna back to the stone entrance of the building she had previously visited.
Pushing the vines from her face, she moved into the cavernous inside and as before watched the creatures skitter away into dark recesses. This time she knew what happened next. The blue scaly skinned figure with huge wings and fiery red eyes descended from the heavens above and landed in front of her. It’s head flicking to one side as it examined her. This time though she walked towards it.
“What are you? What is this place?”
The creatures head moved from side to side as it moved slowly towards her. “Arclight home.”
“Yeah I get it, you want me to come home to Boston, but why?”
The creature did not reply, instead it pointed to the right, between two stone arches. Abbey could not see too clearly as the sun was only allowed into this place as shafts from high above, but as she walked towards the arches, she saw what looked like cocoons, with forms inside them. She looked back and the large blue creature had gone, so she returned her attention to the cocoons, each one six foot high, and looking like it was made of a crystal like material. Stepping closer, she put her hand on the smooth surface, and climbed up to look inside. Is that a face? What? It can’t be…mom?
Abbey woke up and immediately grabbed her head that was throbbing, her temple also felt sticky. She tried looking at her fingers, but there was hardly any light where she was and all she could tell was there was some kind of black substance on them. She pulled her feet to one side and the sound of chains clanging together came before she couldn’t pull them anymore. The room she was in bumped up and down and her head throbbed once more.
Looking around her she could just about make out dark forms laying or huddled. “Hello…? Where am I?” the words crawled from her mouth, in rhythm with the pulses of pain through her head.
One of the huddles in front of her shifted. It looked liked the remains of a man, with rags hanging from bones, and a beard which flopped at the bottom of a smooth bald head.
“Hello? Can you tell me where I am,” the room jumped up and down once again, and she realized she was in the back of a large truck. Feeling the ground around her and touching pieces of straw she realized it was livestock truck.
The body in front of her crawled closer, its movement labored and its limbs scratching at the floor to propel itself. When it was a few feet away she began to get scared. Its bony hands grabbed at her bare feet, and she started to struggle. “Get off me!” but its hands kept pulling itself closer to her, until its face was inches away from hers.
“Abbey?”
Her head spun with the sound of the things voice. A voice she knew all too well. “Ray?”
The End.
* * * * *
Thank you for taking the time to read Conflict. It would be greatly appreciated if you could leave me a review on Amazon. Sign up to my mailing list at www.digiterium.com/newsletter to find out the latest on my writing!
Thank you again. Phil.
About the Author
Phil Maxey is an author who resides in the UK. Formally a game developer he now spends his time putting his love of sci-fi and the paranormal into words.
Acknowledgements
Book cover design by www.starbookcovers.com.
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