It was a beastly cry, almost animal like, roaring out in the silence of the mall.
“Oh, God.” Robi backed up. What was it? Then she caught a glimpse. It was huge and looked human but it moved so fast it was nothing but a dark blur.
It didn’t see her and she wasn’t going to scream out again. Dropping to the floor with Eva in her arms, Robi scooted all the way back until she and Eva were under a rack against the far wall.
“Hold on,” she whispered to Eva. “Hold on please.”
She frantically grabbed for her radio. Robi was so upset, that she nearly dropped it because she couldn’t get a grip. “Jeb! Tate! Someone! We need help! Be armed. Heavily armed. Bess Ten. Something is here. I don’t …”
It cried out again, only closer this time, and Robi dropped the radio for her revolver. She didn’t want to let go of Eva and continued to hold her tight, feeling the blood run down her hand as it flowed from Eva’s mouth.
Then Robi saw it.
It had to be over seven feet tall. Its body hulking and muscular, and even though it wore clothing, it was evident that every square inch was covered in a dark but thin layer of fur. Every square inch except the center of the face.
She knew what it was. It was a Loomis. Though she never seen one, Mas’ description was spot on.
Why was it there? They weren’t supposed to arrive.
She knew he’d hear the retracting of the hammer, so Robi had to wait until she could get a good shot. Or wait until he ran off.
She aimed her gun, hoping he’d leave, but he was searching.
‘Go, just go. Don’t see us, please don’t see us.’ Robi thought, clutching tightly to Eva.
Then the Loomis turned, pivoted its body, and sniffed the air. It swung out its arms, throwing clothing racks and tables aside until he saw Robi.
At that moment, Robi had a dead on frontal shot. Eyes on the Loomis, Robi clicked back the hammer, and just as she depressed the trigger, Eva jolted and twitched and she shot hit the beast in the shoulder.
He wailed, tossing back his head more in anger than in pain.
Robi fired again as he brought his weapon forward, hitting the creature in the chest. She pulled back the hammer again, and when her finger pressed the trigger, he, too, fired at her.
His weapon discharged a millisecond before Robi’s, and the arrow instrument flew into and through Robi’s wrist. Her gun fell from her hand as the wayward bullet ricocheted off his weapon and sent it flying from his grip.
He charged for them, flinging things out of his way. Standing above them, he bent down, inhaled loudly, and then reached for Eva.
Robi held on. She held on so tight, that when he hoisted Eva, he lifted Robi as well.
He shook Eva’s limp body like a rag doll trying to shake Robi loose, but she wouldn’t let go. Finally, he gripped Robi forcefully separated the two.
He smelled like pine, a weird scent. He brought this nose to Robi, inhaled, then huffed out a breath through his nostrils and shucked his head once. Holding Eva by her shirt, he dropped Robi to the ground. Just as she stood to fight, he revved back and struck her with such force she flew back and into the wall.
Robi slid down. She was unable to move, drained of any physical ability. She was able to cry out one more, “No! Eva!” as she watched the Loomis tote the teenage girl from the store.
Then everything went black.
Chapter Twelve – Back Track
July 22nd - Los Angeles, CA
Jeb was just across the road, high above the street on the roof of the hotel. He could see the mall and was watching it. Nothing, absolutely nothing, looked out of the ordinary.
Then he heard the call.
Jeb. Tate. Someone. We need help. Be armed. Heavily armed. Bess Ten. Something is here. I don’t …
There was a noise. What it was, Jeb didn’t know.
His heart dropped and he felt absolutely helpless.
A call for help and if he could jump off the roof of the building, he’d be there in a second.
Before Jeb could respond to the call, Tate’s voice came over the radio. “Copy that. On my way.”
Jeb flew across the roof of the building to the staircase. “Tate, do not go alone. Repeat. Not alone. Descending now.”
“Copy that. I’m already on my way.”
“Stand down until you have back up,” Jeb ordered out over the radio as he nearly dove down each flight of stairs.
“Negative,” Tate said.
“Tate. I’m on my way.” Jeb blasted.
“Jeb, I’m behind him,” a voice said. “I’ll go in with him.
“On my way,” another said.
“Tyler going in, as well.”
“Gentlemen, exercise extreme caution. We don’t know what we’re dealing with. Survivors or … something else.”
They all ‘copied’ his orders, and Jeb, armed with an enhanced weapon, raced out of the hotel to the street. He knew his brother was already in the mall. “What’s the situation?”
Just as he neared the door, Tate frantically called, “Need water! Need ice! Something liquid! Stat! I repeat, stat!”
Go in or get what was needed?
Tate mentioned nothing about danger, so Jeb spun and raced to the garage. There were supplies on level one.
“I need a medical team on hand,” Tate said. “I need … Martha ready.”
Jeb didn’t say anything, he just sought out the water. There was no ice. A jug sat just on the table by the ramp. People called out to Jeb asking questions, but he didn’t answer; he just turned and flew back toward the street, listening to the radio banter.
“Roger that, but do we have a medical team?”
“There’s a Corpsman on hand with that Doc guy. What about Robi?”
Pause.
Tate replied, “Robi’s down.”
Jeb flew into the mall. Immediately he saw two men standing over Parker.
“He dropped from up there,” one of the men said. “He was shot with this.” He pointed to the object in his chest. “He’s alive.”
“Don’t pull that out,” Jeb ordered and hurried to the stairs.
At the top near the Bess Ten store, another man was with Michael. He had two of the elongated objects on him.
“Alive?” Jeb asked.
“Barely,” the attending man said.
“Don’t pull them out.” Jeb walked into the store. It was torn apart. “What the hell happened here?”
“Jeb!” Tate called.
Jeb hurried to his brother’s voice, stepping over toppled clothing racks. His foot landed in something thick and dark. It looked like blood, but he wasn’t sure.
“Did you bring the water?” Tate asked.
“Yeah.” Jeb stopped cold when he saw Tate standing over Robi wrapping her arm. “She lost a lot of blood.” He tied a belt around her. “We have to get her to the garage fast. Grab her hand. It’s over there. Saturate shits, something. Keep it moist.”
Robi’s hand was lying not far from her. Jeb poured water over a handful of clothes, and carefully lifted her hand, placing it in the moist bath. “Here.” Jeb handed it to Tate. “I got her.”
“Jeb, I can …”
“I got her!” Emotionally, Jeb closed his eye for a second, crouched down, and lifted Robi into his arms. “Get our people safe and secure, and we’ll come back over to find out what the hell happened here.”
Tate nodded and finished wrapping the severed hand. “She lost a lot of blood.”
“I know.” Jeb looked down to Robi. “I know. See you at the garage.”
Jeb was gone. He left the store fast before Tate had a chance to take in what had happened. He couldn’t leave the mall, not with a clear conscious. Taking a step over the racks, Tate saw it lying on the floor. A weapon like he had never seen. He reached down and grabbed it.
Blood surrounded it, or what Tate assumed was blood.
“Tate,” Tyler called out. “We’re heading with Parker and Michael to the garage.”
Tate held up a finger, stepped to Tyler, and gave him the wrapped hand. “This is Robi’s hand. Get it to the garage fast. I don’t know if anyone can save it, but try.”
“You’re not coming?”
Tate shook his head. “No, I can’t.”
“Your brother said …”
“I don’t care what my brother said. Tell him I can’t leave here. She’s here somewhere. In this store or in this mall, she’s here and I can’t leave.” Tate looked around. “Until I find Eva.”
<><><><>
Robi was conscious in brief spurts. She’d open her eyes and see and hear only bits and pieces of what was going on, but not enough to put anything together. Then again, Robi wasn’t with it enough to process any information.
Everything seemed brighter and faces were out of focus. She only recognized them by their voices.
After her initial post-attack black out, the next thing Robi recalled was seeing Jeb’s chest. She was in his arms, and he was carrying her. The surroundings were blurry and distorted as if she herself were a camera with a fisheye lens.
Then she passed out.
“Put her here.”
Who was that? Robi opened her eyes. She knew the voice.
“Mom! Oh, God, Mom!”
Nick? He was standing next to her. She tried to answer, but they immediately put a mask on her face.
“She lost a lot of blood,” Jeb said.
“Probably need to do a transfusion,” said the Corpsman. It had to be, because it wasn’t Doc.
But lost blood? Transfusion?
“What is her blood type?” the Corpsman asked.
A, Robi thought. I’m type A.
“B,” Nick said. “I think she’s B.”
“I’m O,” Jeb said. “Can you just use my blood until you type her?”
“We’ll see. Right now I need to get her stabilized. Nick, go and find blood donors, we’ll need them for more than just her.”
“Okay. Take care of my mom.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Her eyes are open.”
“Robi.” The Corpsman leaned over her. “Can you hear me?”
Robi tried to nod. Whether she did or not, she wasn’t sure.
“We need to stabilize you. You lost a lot of blood, but you’ll be fine.”
She was on a cart and it started moving.
“Ta-ta reta na.”
Robi heard Mas.
“Seal not the wound. Bleeding control, but seal not. Work will the healing not is cauterized is the wound.”
“Then we’re gonna have to move fast on this healing thing,” the Corpsman said, “because if I don’t do something, she will bleed out.”
Robi was confused. She knew only of being struck by the beast and shot in the wrist. Maybe the object severed an artery. Her mind was fuzzy and she heard Jeb say something to her, but she didn’t comprehend it. Robi passed out again.
<><><><>
Jeb got the radio call from Tate asking him to come to the mall. No back up was needed, Tate didn’t see any danger. Then again, neither did Robi. Michael and his men were just in the area. Whatever attacked Robi, Parker, Michael, and Eva had done so stealthily.
Jeb didn’t call out when he stepped into the mall. He still didn’t want to take a chance that whatever had attacked Robi and Eva was still on the premises. Not one of the victims was awake enough to say what had happened.
A simple whispered, ‘up here,’ from Tate, and Jeb looked up to the railing, nodded, and headed toward the stairs.
He hoped that Tate had found Eva. Deep inside, Jeb hoped and prayed that the teenage girl was hiding. That was plausible. Hiding and afraid to come out.
Tate waited outside the clothing store.
“Did you find her?” Jeb asked.
“No.” Tate shook his head.
“Then we need to get a search party. Check every closet, ceiling tile, everything. She’s here somewhere.”
“I don’t think so.”
“But you didn’t find her. So that means …”
“I found …” Tate paused. “I found clues that she isn’t here.” He waved his hand. “I’ll take you to the beginning. I’ve been piecing this together.”
Jeb follow him.
“Bags of clothes,” Tate said, pointing to the shopping bags on the floor. “They had to be standing around here stuffing bags with clothes. Having a girls; time, you know. I’m gonna take these back for Robi. I know she is sentimental like that.” Tate cleared his throat. “I’ll let you know what I got from outside once we finish here, but they were here when it happened. The bags were dropped. I think they hid over here, and one of them was hurt. Plus, Robi hit whatever it was.”
“Robi was injured, right?”
“Of course we know Robi was hit. She lost her hand in one shot. Her hand flew over there,” Tate indicated, “and she started to bleed out right here. But she stood up, and I’m guessing that mark on the wall is where she hit because we found another puddle by her.”
“So what happened to Eva?” Jeb asked.
“I think she was hit and bleeding bad.”
“How do you figure? The blood here is consistent with Robi’s lost hand.”
Tate pointed up. “For starters, look at the splatter marks on the ceiling. That isn’t from Robi’s hand.”
Jeb peered up; it looked like red paint splattered in dots.
“I think Robi was holding on for dear life, and whoever or whatever grabbed her, hoisted her up, causing the blood to splash.”
Jeb ran his hand over his mouth. “That still means nothing.”
With a simple wave of his hand, Tate took a few steps. “Look at the clothes. Red blood and dark black blood. I think the dark stuff belongs to our thing. I found his weapon …” Tate handed it to Jeb.
“You found this?” Jeb examined the long gun-like weapon; it was heavy, and copper in color, with a wide barrel.
“Yes. It has the black blood stuff on it. Now, whatever had her was carrying Eva. Two streams of blood, one a black trickle, the other … well, a lot bigger. I followed them.” Tate walked the path, showing Jeb the stream of blood that led from the store. “The red blood increases, because it was carrying her like a sack and she just bled out the entire time.”
“It lessens here at the entrance,” Jeb said.
Tate nodded sadly. “Bleeding less. Its blood stayed steady. Whatever it was stopped here to check on Michael, and its blood pooled slightly.” Tate showed Jeb the small black pool. “Michael was shot with a single arrow, sending him into the wall where he slid down. But our creature or whatever it is lifted Michael and put him back down. Moved him, rather, because the blood is smeared to here.”
“Gene.”
“Gene wasn’t shot. No blood at all from him until he landed below. He was thrown over the railing. I think that all happened before it went after Robi and Eva.
“Where did he run?” Jeb asked. “I don’t see any more dark blood.”
“The blood trail heads to the railing. Look.”
“Whatever it was, it was still bleeding.”
“It’s humanoid,” Tate said. “That’s a hand print.”
“A big fucking handprint.” Jeb placed his hand near the print left on the railing. Jeb was a big man, his hands were large, but they looked like a child’s hand in the palm of a grown up in comparison to the print on the railing.
“Then he jumped.” Tate pointed below.
Jeb peered over the railing to below. He was surprised that Parker had survived it, let alone something jumped from the distance.
Both men walked below.
Tate then showed Jeb the darker blood with only a few speckles of red.
“This is the last that we see of Eva’s blood,” Tate said. “The thing dripped its blood all the way across the mall and toward the east entrance. Out the door, another hand print is there.”
“So it ran out with Eva.”
“That’s what I’m guessing.”
Jeb exhaled. “She stopped bleedin
g.”
“It was a lot of blood, Jeb. I think she died.”
Jeb closed his eyes. “It makes no sense. Why take her if she was dead? Why her and not Robi, Parker, or Michael? All of them are fit.”
“Age maybe.”
“Maybe.”
“We gonna get a team together and go after it?”
“Absolutely. But first we need to know what we’re dealing with. Something tells me that those lights you saw last night and this … are related. I don’t want to waste time. We need to search for Eva. Let’s go speak to Mas and Sam. I’m pretty sure after seeing this …” He held up the weapon, “. . .they’ll tell us what we’re dealing with.”
<><><><>
“Loomis,” Sam explained as he examined the weapon. He stood with Jeb and Tate along with Mas on the garage level where they built the weapons. “This belongs to a Loomis. It shoots a long thin object like the one removed from Michael. Usually it paralyzes the recipient unless it hits in a deadly area, such as the heart.”
Mas continued. “Many weapons they have do they. One of many is this. Other of shock. Other of bullet of our modified weapon similar. Must have for Atranda.”
“They strike and attack the Loomis as well,” Sam added. “Our guess is that the Atranda will remain until the Loomis colonize.”
“But they’re here,” Jeb said. “So are the Atranda gone?”
Sam shook his head. “This must be part of a scientific group. Explorers. They come to set up technology and such for life for when Loomis arrive. It is certain they are arriving now, just not for a while.”
“So we’re not talking a brigade.” Jeb nodded as he leaned against an old car. “Okay, then answer me this. Robi and Michael shot. Gene thrown. We think Eva may have bled to death from the arrow hit. Why did they take her?”
Sam looked at Mas first then answered. “Robi not only smokes, but she drinks alcohol. Gene drinks alcohol. Michael smokes a tobacco that carries a substance you know has THC.”
“Weed,” Tate said. “Okay.”
“The chemicals in the tobacco smoke are offensive to them in more than smell,” Sam answered. “A similarity would be a gas of such. They not only cannot tolerate tobacco smell, they avoid it and it throws off the senses.”
The Last Mile Trilogy Page 60