“It’s still pretty early. I don’t see why not,” Sam replied.
“Yeah, we can go get our stuff and collect some extra food just in case, and see where that map takes us,” Jack added.
“Yup. Let’s go earn me that candy,” Will added.
“Huh?” Sam, Jack, and Tammy questioned simultaneously.
“Never mind,” Will replied. “Let’s just go.”
Leaving the classroom behind, Tammy and her friends retraced their steps back to the original classroom containing the boxes and crates of supplies to gather up everything they would need. Digging through the boxes, they each chose several MREs to bring with them, though Tammy hadn’t a clue what any of hers would taste like. Anything had to be better than paper.
In less than an hour they had packed up their gear, and together they walked down the hall. Unlocking the door they had entered before, Jack held it open for the rest of them. As they all stepped through, they were temporarily blinded by the bright daylight and without warning, a great shadow enveloped them all as hot breath blasted across their faces. The same instant they fell into its shadow, they were met by the same ferocious roar that had echoed across the town the day before.
Chapter Thirteen
Reacting by instinct, Jack threw up his hands as the huge beast before them rocketed backwards more than a dozen yards, thrown by his telekinetic power. Turning, he looked to his panic-stricken siblings and Tammy, ushering them back towards the door. It didn’t take much to convince them. Rushing back inside the concrete walls of the school, Jack turned back to pull the door closed just as the creature reached it from the outside.
With massive fingers as thick and long as one of Jack’s forearms, the beast grasped the door out of Jack’s hand and tore it from its hinges, casting it backwards over its head with no effort at all. Like a huge gorilla, the thing bashed its fists upon its chest, surging forward and reaching into the hallway, seeking to grasp them and pull them free. Fleeing its grasp, Jack and his group retreated further into the hallway.
Too big to gain entry into the building, the enormous ape began pulling and clawing at the door’s frame, ripping out chunks of concrete with every swipe. Within seconds it tore away a large portion of the wall as the unsupported roof above it began to cave in as well. Ripping and clawing the building apart as if it were made of Styrofoam, the monster came on, tearing itself a large path through the building it decimated.
Running down the hall in an attempt to evade the creature, Jack looked over his shoulder to realize that there was no hope. On the monster came, pulling and tearing down wall and roof with amazing efficiency. They were barely keeping ahead of the thing. With limited options, Jack did the only thing he could think of.
Stopping to let his family and friend get away, Jack focused on his task as two large slabs of concrete heaved up and out of the creature’s path. Focusing his power, the car-sized pieces of ruined building slammed into either side of the monster’s head, causing it to scream out in both pain and anger. Enraged, the beast shook its head and came forward with renewed vigor.
Turning, Jack began to run once again, sprinting as fast as his legs would carry him. Gaining some distance, he turned again and pushing with all his might, he used his power to pull the feet out from beneath the enormous gorilla thing. Down it went in a mass of flailing limbs and a cloud of dust as it again screamed, though this time there was only pain.
Watching as it rose once again, he noted a jagged piece of pipe protruding from the beast’s leg as it lumbered forward anew. As it gained momentum, Jack again turned and ran, sprinting past the intersection of the hallways and past Will who stood there watching the creature grow nearer.
Realizing that Will had put himself in danger, Jack slid to a stop, twisting low to the ground as he dug in his toes to propel himself back the way he had come, but it was already too late. The beast slowed as it reared up above Will on its hind legs, roaring at him defiantly, yet Will didn’t move. Instead, the small boy held out his hand as if in greeting and shouted to be heard over the beast’s deafening roar.
“Stop it, I said!” Will shouted, and the creature crashed back down onto all four limbs, blinking its eyes. “You cut it out this instant!” he demanded, quoting one of their mother’s favorite scolding phrases. “You are not going to hurt us. You are not going to eat us. As a matter of fact, you are our friend and you are going to protect us. Do you understand?”
Will’s fear for his brother abated. The boy was crazy, that much was obvious, but this was the answer. This was how they were going to defeat the invaders. Will could command an army with zero effort. All they needed was the army. Watching on, Jack approached his younger brother cautiously as Tammy and Sam reappeared out of the shadowed depths of the hallway behind him.
“You be a good boy now and stay here while I get some medicine for your leg. Understand?” Will asked, as the huge beast cocked its head to one side before sitting its bottom upon the debris-littered floor.
With no more than complete trust over his newly acquired ability, Will turned and walked right past the creature like it was no more than a puppy and retraced his steps down what remained of the hall. Here and there he climbed over piles of collapsed roof and walls, but he more or less just wandered down the hall like nothing at all had happened. Crazy. Absolutely crazy.
Shaking his head, all Jack could do was stand and watch the creature to be sure the effect wouldn’t wear off and turn the thing into a crazed beast again, but nothing happened. Soon enough, Will reappeared from the rubble with two bottles in one hand and a collection of green packages in the other.
Approaching the creature, the small boy looked up into its ape-like face.
“Turn your head so you don’t see it. This is going to hurt a bit, but I’m just trying to help you. OK?”
The ape turned its massive head. Sitting down it had to be at least nine feet tall, all of fifteen when it stood, and the thing was all thick limbs and muscle. Jack bet it weighed at least three to four thousand pounds. It was like a hairy elephant with long arms and legs and an ape’s head, but here it was, obeying his little brother like a trained lap dog.
“Jack, can you pull that pipe out of his leg? I’m not big enough.”
“Yeah, I guess.”
Reaching up, Jack took hold of the pipe. Looking up to gauge the monster’s reaction when the pipe was pulled upon, Jack yanked back as the pipe slid upwards and out of the leg, leaving a deep jagged wound.
“This is gonna sting,” Will warned before popping the cap on a bottle of hydrogen peroxide.
Turning the bottle up, Will sprayed a jet of the liquid all over the alien ape’s wound and watched as it bubbled and fizzed, causing the creature to suck in a sudden breath and pound one fist on the concrete floor. When it stopped, he opened the first package under his arm and using a huge swath of sterile gauze he wiped the wound clean. Tearing open another identical package, he opened the other container in his hand and squeezed out the yellowish salve onto the gauze. Pressing it to the beast’s leg, he looked again to Jack.
“Can you hold this?”
“Sure,” Jack reached up and held the bandage in place.
“You can look now,” Will said to the creature as it turned its head back.
Tearing open a final package, Will removed a large roll of what looked like ace bandage only it was white in color. Wrapping it round and round the creature’s leg, he kept it tight and when finished secured it in place with the Velcro provided at the end of the roll. Will had just bandaged the wound on an alien that just moments before wanted them all dead.
“So what now, genius?” Jack asked.
“Now I think I’ll name him.”
“Like what?”
“Hmm,” Will said looking up to the giant ape. “I am going to call you Fairy Pickle,” he said to the ferocious looking beast.
“What? No. Come on, Will… Fairy Pickle? Really? Jack asked looking to Sam and Tammy, who still stood by in shock of
the whole event.
“What? Is Fairy Pickle too scary?” Will asked.
“Of course it isn’t scary,” Jack protested.
“Good, then when we get into trouble, and I call for Fairy Pickle, our enemy will laugh right up until they get eaten.”
Genius. Jack had been wrong. He wasn’t crazy. The boy was a genius. Jack couldn’t even reply to his baby brother. All he could do was shake his head in defeat and turn away.
“You hear that, big fella. I am going to call you Fairy Pickle. You stay close, but not too close, understand? I don’t want you stepping on us by accident or something. If I call you, you better come. OK?”
And that was it. The big beast grinned stupidly like a dog might, looking around for something to get into. It was ridiculous, but then again, Jack couldn’t think of anything over the past few weeks that made any sense. Fairy Pickle it was.
* * * * *
Sam stood absolutely dumbfounded. She knew that if Jack thought Will in any danger that he would protect their little brother, but her mind still failed to process exactly what it was that had happened. One moment they were about to be alien monster food and the next Will was patting the creature on the leg telling it that everything was going to be OK, or some other such nonsense.
“So wait… What exactly just happened?” Sam asked Jack.
“Oh… um… Will got a new puppy.”
Yup. Sam gave up.
“So are we going?” she asked.
“Yeah, let’s get moving,” Jack replied, as if nothing strange at all had occurred.
It didn’t take long and they were back out on the street, scouring the area around the school for a small car that Jack could control more easily than the four by four jeep. It took less than half an hour to locate a small hatchback car in a nearby driveway. Although its paint was bubbled on one side from the house that had burned to the ground beside it, and all the glass was broken, it otherwise looked more or less untouched by the alien apocalypse. Jack gave it one look and deemed it fit transportation for his purposes and after they loaded up their gear, they were backing out of the drive with Fairy Pickle watching on from about a block down the road.
The day went almost perfectly from that point. They left town traveling west and found the interstate easily after that, turning the car towards the south. Fairy Pickle chased them down the road, kicking abandoned cars and picking them up to toss them as if it were a game.
It was late evening and around three hundred miles later when they first saw the tip of the alien ship on the horizon. With every mile it grew taller and the devastation upon the land grew more evident. Trees were gone. Grass pummeled to the ground. No houses, buildings, cars, nothing. Everything was gone, reduced to dust and ash. For two more hours the thing grew, taller and taller it loomed, jutting up into the sky like a giant finger reaching for the moon, but it wasn’t a rocket ship. At least Sam didn’t think so. No. It was a city.
Built vertically, one layer atop the previous, millions of tons of steel scavenged from the world of men had been brought to this place and used to erect this monstrous alien creation. Hundreds of stories tall, the thing rose to a point so high that Sam couldn’t really make it out from the ground. Here and there great arcs of electricity shot across its surface as sparks rained down. Bits and pieces of buildings and vehicles could be seen upon its surface, welded into place as if it were a grotesque sculpture created to celebrate the destruction of human kind. The view alone made Sam’s stomach turn.
“What are we going to do?” she asked no one in particular.
“We’re going to tear it down,” Jack replied without even a moment’s hesitation.
-End
Book Four
Children of the After:
REBIRTH
Chapter One
Looming before Jack in the darkening night ahead was a scene he could hardly believe was real. Like the blade of a knife thrusting up from the ground, the giant alien structure rose what seemed thousands of feet into the air. Constructed of salvaged bits of the only evidence of humanity’s existence on this earth, the thing looked unworthy of habitation, let alone structurally sound. With what appeared to be seemingly random applications, the giant tower was a hodge podge of metal plates and iron beams stolen from any available source. Here was the hood of a sports car and there a mass of twisted and interwoven pipes. Wires dangled everywhere, some arcing and sparking, showering down a torrent of dancing lights each time they collided with the side of the structure, seemingly having lives of their own. From various places upon the structure’s side, where gaps remained in the steel sheathing of the building, odd glowing and pulsing lights shone out in eerie shades of blue and green. Steam and smoke were exhaled from the abomination and about its base and surface could be seen the crawling and scampering bodies of many apparent workers. Though they were barely perceivable silhouettes against the backdrop of a darkening sky, Jack could tell they were of many races. He needed a better look at the place.
“I think we should go on foot from here,” he stated to no one in particular.
“What do you think we should do? I doubt we can just walk up to it,” Sam replied, leaning forward in her seat as if the difference of a foot would give her a better view.
“I dunno,” Jack answered honestly, “We need to have a better idea about what we’re getting into. Any thoughts, Tammy?”
“Your guess is as good as mine. I doubt it is a spacecraft. It appears to be anchored into the ground. I think a city is more like it. Maybe a base of sorts?”
“It’s their evil lair,” Will added, drumming his fingers together.
“I hate to say it, sweetie, but I think you might be right,” Sam admitted. “This thing gives me the creeps.”
Looking all about for miles in all directions, there wasn’t as much as a tree remaining. Nothing was left for cover. There was no place to hide. Remaining with the car would get them discovered for certain, if they hadn’t been spotted already. Jack hated giving up the security of the car, but he knew it would attract too much attention.
“We’re gonna have to ditch the car and find a place to hide for the night so we can get a better look in the morning,” Jack said, planning out loud.
“Hide where?” Sam questioned, as Jack noted all of their looks of concern.
“I don’t know. I doubt we’ll find anything comfortable,” Jack admitted.
“Why not go back a ways, sleep in the car, and return tomorrow?” Tammy asked.
“We could, I suppose,” Jack nodded. ”But we’ll have to walk back.”
“I’d rather be safe and get some rest tonight and have to walk tomorrow, than lie in a ditch all night awake hoping something doesn’t eat me,” Sam replied.
Jack couldn’t argue with that kind of logic. Pushing the compact car ahead with his mind, he turned it around in an intersection and began back the way they had come earlier. If he judged it right, about ten miles back had been the remains of a small town. It was nothing more than basements separated by streets now, but would have to do.
“What about Fairy Pickle?” Jack asked his younger brother, disliking the name a little more each time he was forced to say it.
“He’s following just like he’s supposed to. I’ll have him stand guard while we sleep,” Will replied happily.
“You don’t think he’ll turn on us in the night and make a snack out of you?” Jack asked half joking, though it was a serious question.
“Nah. Looks like he follows commands for a long, long time.”
All Jack could do, all any of them could do, was to hope that young Will was right. With his newfound power, Will was able to control the more than twelve foot tall, gorilla-like creature, but none of them knew to what extent. He was hesitant to trust his little brother’s control of the beast, but what choice did he have? Stay awake all night? Send the creature away where it might tell others of its kind where they were? No way. They had to keep it close.
Straightening the wheel
to steer them back in the direction they had come, Jack focused his mind on accelerating the small car and strained with the effort.
* * * * *
Sam watched the road disappear under the car again as the miles swept beneath them. Though she had looked for signs the entire day and night, she had found no evidence that suggested there were other humans nearby. Retracing the road they had come by, she didn’t bother looking again, already knowing that there was nothing to see. Behind them now stood an homage to human destruction and ahead a wasteland of what was once a thriving farming community.
It didn’t take long for Jack to get them back to the last small town they had seen, if you could even call it that. Judging by the slabs of concrete and cinderblock basements that remained, it was little more than a few dozen households accompanied by a gas station and perhaps a small store. Just off the interstate, it probably had just been one of those quiet towns between two larger communities, but now it had been reduced to virtually nothing. Taking the exit to enter the collection of concrete clad holes in the ground, Jack stopped the car beneath the overpass. Sam knew it was an attempt to hide the car, but had a sinking suspicion that it really didn’t matter what they did. If something had seen them and wanted to find them, it wouldn’t be difficult to do so.
From the interstate above it had been easier to distinguish the foundations that remained of what were once homes, but now on the same level, all the darkness blended together making it nearly impossible to discern one thing from another.
“We have to leave the car and find a place to sleep for the night,” Jack nearly whispered.
“Will. Get out your light,” Sam said, knowing they couldn’t locate anything without being able to see.
“You think that’s safe?” Tammy asked.
“We can’t stay in the car. It’s too obvious,” Jack began. “Our best bet is to find a place in one of those basements out there. It won’t exactly be a freezer truck, but it’ll have to do for at least one night.”
Children of the After: The Complete Series Page 36