David asked. “Do you see anything now? Or have you had a new vision?”
“Yeah, but it’s weird.”
“Tell us.” David stated.
“I see . . . I see that Ken dude standing with a giant vagina.”
David choked.
Reese stood up. “A giant vagina?”
A calm call from Gene in the other room of, ‘Commander?’ was ignored by Reese.
Even Ken’s, “Uh, Gray?” received no response.
“Reese,” called Lucy.
Kip continued, “Not just a vagina, like the whole chick part. The Volvo.”
With a snicker, David corrected, “Vulva.”
“Yeah.” Kip nodded. “Pulsing.”
Reese cringed. “That’s vulgar.”
Kip shrugged. “That’s the vision, and can you sit down dude, the sun is killing my eyes. Wait, that’s better the sun went down.”
“Commander!” Thaddeus yelled.
Frustrated, Reese snapped out, “What the fuck. I’m busy,” and turned, readied himself to chastise the crew, but was speechless. He looked at David, who immediately looked at Kip. Kip stood, too.
The sun hadn’t gone down. Against the window of the penthouse, it had adhered itself. It was large, black, almost octopus like, with only two tentacles from what Reese could see.
Like suction, it stuck to the window.
It moved with a motion that mimicked pulsing as if it were trying to ‘suck’ in the occupants of that penthouse.
“This is seriously fucked up.” Thaddeus pointed and backed up.
Gene added, “Not that I’m an expert, but this can’t be good. Commander? Think we should head out. We are packed.”
Reese had a hard time speaking, his mind was spinning. Was there only one of them or were there more? Sure, they had the vehicle all packed, but was the mobile even there any more? “David,” he whispered. “Go to the penthouse across the hall and see if you can still see the mobile.”
“Got it.” David pulled out his sonar. “Mr. Bryk, you want to join me? You’re the radio guy.”
“As much as this thing is like a train wreck, yeah, I would. Commander, would you listen for my call?”
Reese nodded. “I suggest the rest of you wait in the hall.” His eyes shifted to Lucy. “You ok?”
“What is it?”
“I haven’t a fucking clue.”
Ken stepped closer to the window. The thing began to open up like a toothless mouth. A smaller, pink tentacle emerged swirling against the window. “It’s salivating.”
“It’s hungry,” Reese said. “We’re breakfast.”
Amazed, and with a slow shake of his head, Ken stared, then he chuckled. “You know what? It looks like a big vagina.”
A split second, that was all it took. Suddenly the words that Kips spoke to him, raced through his mind. The vision he had of Ken and the vagina. “Kip get in the hall, now! Thad, go. Lucy . . .” Reese pulled around his weapon. “Ken, get away from that window, now!”
Ken looked over his shoulder. “If it could have gotten in, it would have already. I think we’re safe.”
No sooner did Reese blast out, “Get away from the window, now!” than straight through the glass, without shattering the window, shot a third tentacle, the one they believed was the tongue. It whipped out and snatched hold of Ken. Reese was ready. He blasted the tentacle with a rain of fire from the automatic weapon, as it drew Ken back toward the window. Despite Reese shooting, the tentacle kept slamming Ken into the window.
Reese fired and fired.
Lucy screamed.
Ken struggled.
The tentacle finally broke in two, dropping Ken. But he was weakened.
The thing outside grew agitated, whipping into the window instead of seducing it.
The glass shattered.
Screaming at Lucy to ‘get out,’ Reese swung his weapon around, raced to Ken, heaved him over his shoulder and backed out of the room.
He slammed the door.
“Clear!” Hawk shouted out as he and Gene ran from the other penthouse. “Let’s go.”
“Wait,” Gene said. “Listen.”
A moving series of thumps rang out overhead.
“Tone changed,” Gene looked to Reese. “It’s moving to the other side. The mobile is down there.”
After agreeing, Reese set Ken down. “You ok? Can you stand?”
Ken nodded.
“Take him,” Reese instructed Gene. “If I’m not there in two minutes or if it gets close. Go.”
David agreed facially, helping Ken with the aid of Gene.
Lucy looked at him. “Where are you going? What are you doing?”
“I’m ending this with this son of a bitch. He’s done chasing us,” Reese said, “Go with the others.”
“No, I’m not.” Lucy shook her head. “Let me help you . . .”
“Thad.” Reese ignored her pleas. “Take her.”
Thad reached forward for Lucy. She swatted him. But he was persistent, pulling her along.
Reese waited until the others hit the stairwell. Then he prepared for the battle just inside the doorway.
The attachment to the M-4 203 weapon would allow him to launch a small mortar and Reese attached it. He closed the knapsack with the other belongings, swung it over his shoulder, and walked into the other penthouse.
He kept thinking of the crew and hoped they stayed clear if they saw whatever that thing was.
After all, the mobile was just below.
Curtains were pulled some, not much, and Reese ripped them down. A few seconds later, the tentacle, still bleeding, oozed its way across the window, and the beastly creature, adhered itself to the window like it had done on the other side.
In case it had intelligence, in case it had something, Reese didn’t draw his weapon.
He waited.
Like the thing did before, it widened its mouth and began to pulse.
Pulsating. Pulsating. Reese thought to himself, it’s ready. It did this before. It does it before it attacks. . .
He had to be fast. He knew it. Time was of the essence. Hand on weapon, Reese moved just a bit closer.
CRASH!
Straight through of the window shot another tentacle, whipping toward Reese and grabbing him around the waist.
There was no surprise there, Reese knew it would happen.
As fast as he was snatched, that was how fast he pulled forth his weapon, aimed as he struggled and fired into the open and waiting mouth of the creature.
Direct hit.
It swallowed, dropped Reese, and BOOM.
They were racing outside, looking up. The explosion sounded, causing them to pause. Instantaneously, the rain of blood and guts poured down upon them.
Every single one of them, as if a choir, groaned in disgust
David wiped his eyes. “I guess he got him.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
68.3 miles east of New York City, the town of Easton Pennsylvania was the end of the line for sand. It blew through the highway village like an old ghost town from a Wild West movie. Dust clouds here and there, but nothing was buried.
The town like, New York, was void of any life.
The Hall Mobile seemed to be on its last leg, sand embedded itself in the wheel joints causing them to stop.
Gene labeled whatever the monsters were as sand creatures, something that possibly lived buried beneath the ocean and the lack of water, allowed them to move freely. He based this on theory because the sonar that David carried never bleeped a single time.
They had passed a few car lots, but all the vehicles seemed to be dead, not even a fresh battery, jumped with power from the mobile, helped.
Perhaps a solution would be found in the town of Easton. They would stop there for the night, try to find a solution to the transportation dilemma, and then head to the first stop on the route to answers about their families.
Cleveland.
But first Easton.
There wer
e several reasons for camping out in the parking lot of Walmart. They could tease Lucy, but that wasn’t the primary reason. Walmart offered food and other supplies. They were able to get radios that worked. And the automotive center gave Thaddeus a place to pick his tools so he could work on the van he had found and get it running. On that, he was bound and determined.
Everyone was at that Walmart except David and Ken, who, against Reese’s wishes, went out exploring, claiming they were armed, should anything occur.
Reese was not convinced.
But what could he do.
Just outside the far right side entrance of Walmart, Thaddeus stood before the open hood of the van, Gene beating his ear.
Reese was a few feet away with Kip at the picnic table and Lucy stood near Gene and Thad, arms folded and irritated. She stood by a tiny table all set up with first aid supplies.
“Some time today,” she said to Gene, “or that wound will close on its own.”
Gene waved his hand, the handkerchief he had wrapped around the palm, flapped and he fixed it.
“Its fine,” he said as he stared into the engine.
“I have the stuff to suture you. You don’t know if it will get infected or not.”
“It’s fine.”
“Gene,” Lucy whined.
Gene had been a married man and knew the fine art of tuning women out, which is exactly what he did.
“This is a complete waste of time,” Thaddeus said. “Really.”
“Let it be my waste of time. Now back the hell up. I’m almost done.”
“Fine. Fine.” Thaddeus tossed out hands, and then placed them on his hips. “Work away. But, keep in mind . . .”
“You’re the invention guru. Yeah, I know.” Gene huffed out an exhale of relief, grabbed the rag and wiped off his hands. “Start the van.”
“Just like that?” Thaddeus asked, sarcastically.
“Just like that. Start the thing.”
“Sure.” Thaddeus nodded. “Understand I totally see your theory on this.” He opened the van door, slid half-assed in and reached for the ignition. “But don’t you think . . .”
The van started.
“Hey, hey, son of a bitch!” Gene grinned. “Didn’t I tell you? Common goddamn sense, Einstein. EMP pulse had to have knocked out the electricity. Solar flares do that. The solenoid valve is the electromagnetic control of the vehicle. I knew it was the thing that was blown.”
All Thaddeus could say was, “Wow! I bow to you.”
Gene smiled. “Now, we can fix what we need.”
Thaddeus tossed a glance to Lucy who lifted her hands, tilted her head, and gave a look that said ‘I’m waiting,’ before saying, “Speaking of fixing.”
“I know. I know. The nurse awaits me.” He headed toward Lucy, but not before tossing the rag to Thaddeus.
Thaddeus laughed, but the smile quickly dropped when he looked down at the bloody cloth.
<><><>
It was a chuckle that sounded off his amazement at the working van. “Now, they can stop bickering,” Reese said, then returned to drinking a warm beer and talking to Kip.
“Dude, it’s entertaining.”
“At times it is. So . . . go on.”
“You’re tapping my psychic ability like a typewriter. Hit, hit, hit . . .”
“Enough.” Reese commanded. “Do you or do you not have any more visions? You only got the one out before that thing attacked. What’s your gut say, anymore?”
“ I think they are ocean related, I don’t know why. I see them swimming in the sand.”
“Them?” Reese asked. “As in more than one?”
“Tons of them. We lucked out.”
Reese whistled. “What about on this side of the ocean?”
“They’re weird. One is. I keep seeing it very clear. Like over and over again...”
“What is it?”
“Medusa shopping at Walmart. She’s like rolling down the aisle with her pasty face, worms coming out of her mouth, grabbing Cheez-Its and munching.”
“Medusa at Walmart eating crackers?”
“Yeah,” Kip said. “What do you think of that?”
“I don’t have a clue.” That was a lie. Immediately, concern painted Reese’s face. The shopping at Walmart was to Reese a warning about Lucy. He cleared his throat, when he cleared his mind of the negative thoughts. He would concentrate on preventing anything from happening to Lucy. “Anything else?”
Kip lowered his head some.
“What?”
“We’re going to Cleveland, right? First stop to look for our families.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t want to say.”
“Tell me. What awaits us in Cleveland?”
“Nothing. Nothing we want to see. I could be wrong.”
“Yeah, you could be, just tell me the vision.”
Kip inhaled hard before speaking. “I see a little girl with a guy. He’s holding her in his arms. But I see them underground.”
“Dead?”
Kip nodded. “The little girl is holding a toy space shuttle. It’s disturbing.”
“So you see a buried child in Cleveland holding a toy space shuttle?”
The gasp caught both Reese’s and Kip’s attention.
Kip closed his eyes after seeing Lucy. “Fuck.”
Confused, Reese questioned Kip, and then turned. “What? Lucy.”
“Oh my God.” Lucy covered her mouth, spun and ran.
Reese stood. “What did I miss? What did she hear?”
“The kid holding the toy shuttle? The one that’s dead?” Kip dropped his voice to a whisper, “I think it’s her kid.”
Reese wanted to reiterate the ‘fuck,’ but he bit his lip and clenched his jaw. Instead of spewing forth the word, his mind raced with what words he could to say to Lucy.
<><><><>
“Lucy!” Reese shouted. “Stop.”
Where was she running? She had made it half way to the end of the parking lot. She did stop finally and Reese jogged his way to her.
Her back faced him. He didn’t need to see her face to know her expression, even from a slight distance, he could see her arms clenched tightly to her body, and she was shuddering.
“Luce.” Reese laid his hand on her shoulder. “Hey.”
“Reese, he’s been so right about a lot of things.”
“I know.”
“He senses my children are dead.”
“No. he didn’t say that.”
“Yeah, he did.”
“And do you believe it?”
Lucy didn’t answer.
“Look into your heart, Lucy. Do you believe it?”
She lowered her head. “Yes.”
“Well, I don’t,” Reese said adamantly. “I don’t. I told you I would believe until I had reason not to. I’m not a true optimist here, but on this, my gut tells me otherwise.”
Finally, she turned around. She raised her eyes to Reese. He stared at her, studying her eyes and perhaps what was behind them. What she was thinking? To say he wasn’t worried about Lucy would be a lie. He did worry about her, in more ways than one.
“Reese, I need hope. I pretend it’s there, I want to believe it’s there, but . . .” She stopped, obviously, trying not to cry. But she failed. A single tear rolled down her cheek.
Reese reached for that tear at the same time she did and their hands met. Lucy clenched on to him with her small fingers wrapped around his coarse hands. Reese pulled her into him for an embrace. “You have more hope than you care to admit. I see it.”
Her head buried into his chest and her fingers clenched to his arms. Reese’s one hand cradled her tight; he lowered his head to hold on tighter, but stopped when he saw them flying his way.
Hawk and Ken.
They had taken the Mobile, and were high-tailing it directly toward him.
He refrained from saying, ‘something is wrong,’ but pulled back as they slowed the vehicle.
David in a cross between out
of breath and excited, jumped from the mobile before it even stopped. “Reese.”
Sliding away from Lucy, moving to Hawk, and praying in his mind that it wasn’t anything bad, not at that moment, Reese asked, “What is it?”
David grinned. “You have to see this.”
<><><><>
It was probably at one time a ‘Welcome to Easton’ sign. Wooden, painted green, it was just on the outskirts of the main town area.
It was weather worn, but even then, it was easy to read. Not the word ‘Welcome’ but the other messages plastered there.
‘Robert K, I’m alive. Went to SC14. Mom.’
‘Ellen Davis meet me at SC14. Bill.’
They were just two of hundreds of messages.
Reese asked, “What is this SC14?”
“Here,” David said as he reached for a sheet of paper, laminated in plastic. “This was left. We didn’t examine the whole board but found this.” He handed it to Reese.
Reese skimmed it. “It’s coded. Why?”
Ken pointed to one line. “I think that’s a radio frequency. Not sure. Obviously, these people are scared of something, that’s why they coded it. A safe zone? Something is up. Maybe if we find this frequency, we can pick up something.”
“Nothing’s on the radio. Not now.” Reese handed it back to David. “It’s been five years since these people posted. But we need to find this SC14 . . .” he faced Lucy. “There are people out there—lots of people. We just have to find them.”
“Think about this,” David said. “People organized and all went somewhere, this SC14. I wonder if . . .”
“Guys.” Thaddeus interrupted. “Check this out. This one is different.” He lifted other flyers to read one. Ripping it from the board, Thaddeus read it. “Clockwork Orange Julius. Destination. Oct 10th. Bill Ray. In fact . . .” he lifted the flyers. “The deeper ones must be the earliest ones; they all read Clockwork Orange Julius.”
The Last Mile Trilogy Page 44