by Phil Maxey
“Four infantry regiments of roughly a thousand people in each. two tank battalions made up of around thirty-five tanks and crews in each, and two air battalions that were made up of over forty fighter jets, twelve bombers, and thirty five attack helicopters. There’s also troop carriers for ground and air,” said Aaron reading from a printed sheet. He then looked up and swallowed. “We lost around twenty of our jets and eight helicopters though with the attack…”
Geneva shook his head. “I’m aware. But what they did was just noise. It’s been a long time coming, but we are finally ready. And logistics? Everyone’s got the fuel and food they need?”
“Yes, sir, that’s taken care of,” continued Aaron.
A man with a gray-black beard and an arm covered in tattoo’s cleared his throat. “The old man say’s he will help making explosives, if we let the woman go.”
Geneva sniggered. “It’s cute, that he think’s he can demand anything,” he turned to Clovis who was standing near him. “Remove her finger and show it to him.”
The tall man leaned into Geneva wincing as he did and whispered something.
“I don’t care which one, any one.”
Clovis nodded and stepped back.
Geneva turned back to the others around the table. “What are our spies telling us?”
“Security has been stepped up at the dam and the food stores. They have not been able to sabotage—”
“I don’t care about that, I mean their military preparations? Are there any signs that are preparing to launch a large scale offensive?”
Aaron took in a deep breath as if he had been a scolded child. “It’s hard for our people to gain access to large areas of the camp. They have it pretty tied up. They might be, but we can’t—”
Geneva slammed his hand down on the dark brown glossy table, making everyone’s glasses jump. “Do all of you want to be dead in a months time? Not only do they have the freaks to control the monsters, they also have their own army! You can be sure—”
He stopped talking and his face froze as if it suddenly became a mask. A small dribble of blood begun to run slowly down the side of his mouth. As he tried to turn to see why he could not feel his body anymore, the seven inch blade slid into the back of his neck killing him instantly.
“I thought you’d never do it!” said a dark haired woman.
The man with the beard stood, and looked at Clovis who was standing behind the slumped forward body of Geneva. “Get the word out I’m now in charge,” said Troy.
“You still want me to do what he said to the woman?” said Clovis, his words sounding rough in his throat.
“No, I want her in good shape, she might be useful. But keep her sedated, we don’t need any of that magic Cascader shit happening here.”
“And the old man?”
Troy stoked his beard. “Tell him I’ll think about it, but we need him to step up first.”
Clovis went to walk away.
“And take this piece of crap with you.”
Clovis pulled Geneva from the chair, throwing him over his shoulder like he weighed nothing.
Troy sat back down and looked at Arla. “Find which of our people are Cascaders. Tell them the witch-hunt was our former leaders idea, and now they will be protected. They will be reluctant at first, so lie and tell them that you’re one too, that should help.”
Arla looked uneasy. “Yeah, but I’m not.”
“I know that. Just tell them.”
Troy then looked at Aaron and was about to say something, when he realized Clovis was still standing with their former leader slung over his shoulder. “What?”
Clovis put Martin Long down, looking like he was guilty of something.
“Clovis, I don’t have all day, if you have—”
“I’m like those others, that can control the monsters.”
“You’re a freak?” shouted Arla.
Clovis’s eyes burned fierce in her direction, making her pull back slightly. “I ain’t no freak!”
“You’re a Cascader?” said Troy.
“Yeah, I guess.”
Troy puffed his cheeks, thoughts started to spin in his mind. “This is good, yeah. When you’re done with disposing of Geneva, join up with Arla finding new Cascaders. If they see you saying it, it will go a long way.”
Clovis, nodded, picked up the dead body and this time made it all the way out of the room.
Troy looked at Aaron who had remained quiet. “Everything you told Geneva true?”
“Yes.”
“Are we ready to attack the camp?”
“We are.”
“Our ground forces will move out at fifteen hundred hours as planned. Hopefully by then we would have found some more Cascaders of our own.”
Arla looked down, then back at Troy. “We sure we still want to do this?”
Troy nodded. “The crazy clown was right about one thing. It’s them or us.”
CHAPTER 15
The sun burned bright above their heads as the convoy moved at speed along the highway.
“Looks like springs come early,“ said Michael sitting behind Zach. Next to him was the shaven headed sergeant.
“Cal’s going to prefer sun to snow, standing up there that’s for sure,” said Fiona.
Cal ducked back inside. “Someone mention me?”
“You enjoying the sun?” said Fiona.
Cal smiled and stood back up. “Sure am.”
Zach looked in his side mirror, at the truck behind them. Sitting next to Gregg’s who was driving it was Bower. So far the Captain seemed an asset, but if he tried to stop him from finding Abbey, they might have a problem.
“Sergeant. What kind of missions you been on?” Zach said to Freeman sitting directly behind him.
“The usual, kill E.L.F’s, find stuff to bring back to the camp.” Freeman said still looking out the side window.
“How long you been in?”
“The army or the camp?”
“Both.”
“Nine years the marines. I arrived in the camp, as part of Tinley’s group.”
The air inside the Humvee got decidedly cooler.
“I thought his people were arrested at Roswell?” said Fiona.
“Yeah, a lot were. But some of us were just following orders. We didn’t know he was a psycho.”
“Wasn’t it obvious?” said Michael looking at Freeman who looked back at him.
“It wasn’t obvious,” he let his stare stay on Michael, and then returned looking back out of the window. Michael did the same for his window.
Zach gripped the steering wheel a little tighter.
After a few hours they were passing through the city of Monroe. Cal suddenly remembered the sensation he had weeks before of the strange E.L.F that had tracked them all the way to Jackson.
He momentarily closed his eyes and scanned around him. He sensed a few creatures a few miles off, Mo who was circling high above, Wyatt and the other Cascader in the truck behind, but nothing like the thing that followed them. As highway signs flashed past he wondered what it could have been.
In the back of the truck Wyatt sat looking pensive, his knee bouncing up and down.
“It’s Wyatt, right?” said Hayes.
“Err, yeah.”
“Beautiful morning.”
“Sure.”
“That’s impressive, how you can control the monkey, umm, sorry I don’t know what to call it. E.L.F seems not right anymore.”
“He’s name is Mo.”
Hayes smiled. “Ah, yeah Mo. Anyway, he’s your pet?”
“No, he belongs to someone else, I’m just looking after him, until she comes back.”
Hayes nodded. A few seconds of silence passed. “What did you do before the Cascade? College?”
“Yeah. I was hoping to get into university.”
A shadow appeared on the road behind them, and Mo landed on the tailgate of the truck, his wings flapping out the back and his head and arms leaning over Wyatt.
&
nbsp; Harper woke from her sleep, and raised her gun in panic. “What the fuck!”
“Calm down Harper, it’s just the boys pet,” said Diaz with her eyes still closed, under her cap.
Harper slowly lowered her gun as Mo briefly hissed at her, and then turned his attention to Wyatt who produced a small piece of bread which Mo took, turned, and flew off with.
Hayes’s eyes were wide and his expression frozen. He then started to laugh. “Well okay then.”
Wyatt started to laugh with him.
After another hour they moved into Jackson, and drove towards the pharmacy. Zach clicked on his radio. “Let’s make a quick stop at the pharmacy up ahead, we have used it as a base of operations a few times. Over.”
“We should keep on moving, if we want to keep to the schedule, sir,” said Bower.
“I’m aware Captain, but a break of ten minutes won’t hurt that. Over.”
The convoy pulled into the large parking lot, with the tank parking in its usual spot up against the entrance.
Zach turned to those in the Humvee with him. “Everyone take a quick break, take a leak, stretch your legs, grab what shit you want from inside. We are back on the road in ten,” he repeated the same message to others on the radio.
Everyone got out of the Humvee, most went into the pharmacy, while Zach walked to the back of the truck. Mo was already on top of it, fluttering his wings and giving the occasional squawk.
“Not getting out, Wyatt?” Zach said to the young man who seemed rooted to the spot. “It’s a beautiful day, good to get some sun, and I’m sure there’s snacks still left on the shelves inside.”
Wyatt gave a quick smile. “I’m good thanks.”
Zach then looked at the trucks other inhabitants, as Bower walked up to him. “You sensing anything Diaz?” said Bower to the young woman who was climbing down from the back with Hayes and Harper.
“Few E.L.F’s around us, but distant enough not to think about,” she said walking towards the pharmacy.
“You see any soda in there bring me some!” shouted Bower after her. He looked upwards at the large monkey-bird hybrid just a few feet above their heads. “Unless I saw it with my own eyes I never would have thought these things could of been domesticated.”
“He’s not, he just knows that we’re not his enemy,” said Wyatt.
“Maybe I’ll get me one when all this shit is done!” said Bower with a grin. Wyatt looked down.
Bower then pulled a large cigar from his top pocket and lit it. “I would offer you one sir, but well they are in short supply,” he said to Zach.
Zach smiled. “Well if I smoked I might be offended by not being offered one.”
Diaz appeared from behind the tank, with a small bag of cans, and chips. As she got to the back of the truck, she pulled one of the cans out and threw it to Wyatt. “Here you go kid.”
Wyatt smiled. “Thanks.”
Others starting filtering back out of the large building.
“Right, let’s get back on the road, everyone!“ shouted Bower. “Five more hours of driving.”
Soon they were driving along the highway, dodging the occasional rusting hulks of semi’s and smaller vehicles.
Frosted white trees grew in number on both sides of the road.
Fiona clicked on her radio. “We’re passing through a national forest stay sharp. Over,” she then looked over her shoulder at Cal standing at the gun position. “Cal, you sensing anything?” she shouted.
He ducked his head back in slightly. “There’s a number of E.L.F’s up ahead, not sure if they are directly on our route.”
Just as he finished, everyone’s radio came to life with Diaz who repeated the same.
It wasn’t long before they saw what the Cascaders were sensing. Trees on both sides of the highway were flattened, and creatures which looked like large hippopotami accept with spikes across their backs, heads and long tails, laid across the highway. A few of the creature’s heads rose as the convoy stopped a few hundred yards from them.
Zach clicked on his radio. “Corporal Bell, keep the tank’s turret on the E.L.F’s. Diaz, Wyatt, Cal anything you can do about this? Over.”
Cal ducked back inside. “Probably best if all three of us worked on this.”
“Agreed,” said Zach.
Cal got out of the Humvee and ran around the back of the truck, where Wyatt and Diaz were already getting out.
Diaz walked past Cal confidently. “I got this.”
He grabbed her arm, which she shrugged off. “I said I got this.”
“We still don’t know what E.L.F’s our abilities work on, and which they don’t, or even what signals we are sending them,” said Cal.
Diaz kept on walking. “Yeah yeah. I thought you rescue squad one Cascaders were less pussies than this.”
Cal frowned and ran up to her as they both moved past the front of the tank. “We both work this together, right?”
In the distance, the creature’s tails flicked around as the large E.L.F’s looked at their observers nonchalantly.
Diaz and Cal both stood side by side and facing the creatures. Diaz pulled her cap off and put it on backwards, then moved her head from side to side. Cal watched her, slightly amused.
“Hey it’s what I do, you just do your thing,” she said as he looked at her.
He looked back at the gray-blue creatures and closed his eyes. Immediately he saw them as illuminated beings against the void, as he did the woman standing next to him. Projecting forward he imagined them getting up and moving away back into the forests. He then opened his eyes. The creatures hadn’t budged an inch.
He looked at Diaz, who gave him a brief look and then held out her hands in the creature’s direction. As she strained with her eyes closed, veins on her neck started to appear.
“Argh, it’s not working!” she said frustrated.
Her radio then came to life with Bowers voice. “What’s taking so long? Over.”
“Give me a damn minute,” she said into her radio. Then continued. “Sir.”
“I can help if you want?” said Wyatt just a few feet behind them.
“Get back in the truck, the grown ups have got this,” said Diaz.
Cal looked back at the wiry young man, with black curls for hair. “Yeah, step up here. Let’s try this together.”
Wyatt walked forward and stood to Cal’s side.
“Okay, on three. One, two, three,” said Cal.
All three closed their eyes, and concentrated. They could feel each other’s mind as much as they could the new animals in front of them. The ground started to shake, and they opened their eyes to each one of the creatures getting to its feet and slowly lumbering off back amongst the broken trunks and branches.
Soon the highway was clear.
Diaz put her cap on the right way round and walked off, back to the truck. Cal turned and looked at Wyatt who was smiling. He pulled the young man in for a brief hug. “Well done!”
Wyatt looked awkward but smiled nonetheless.
CHAPTER 16
As the sun hung low in the sky and gray rain clouds began to threaten what had been a relatively clear day, they approached the city of Montgomery from the west.
Cal looked out over the wintry trees and fields from his position at the Humvee’s main gun, when he sensed something at the back of his mind. He looked up and around himself. Mo was flying high above as usual, and he could feel the other Cascaders not far from him, but that wasn’t the sensation he was having. This was more substantial.
Just as he was about to duck back inside the Humvee, he felt the subtle vibration through his fingers as they rested along the metal trim of the turret frame. Something’s coming.
He pulled up his sniper rifle, and looked down the scope. As the highway they were on rose above the trees and buildings around them, he caught a flash of metal moving, at least ten miles off to their east. He immediately banged on the top of the Humvee and ducked inside.
“There’s some kind of ve
hicle convoy up ahead,” he said.
Zach raised his radio. “All stop. Over.”
Their convoy immediately did just that.
Zach opened his driver’s door and got out. He then looked down the scope of his own rifle. It was at this moment that he felt the vibration through his boots from the ground he was standing on. He also started to hear it, a low rumble.
“You hear that?” he said to Cal who was still straining his eyes through his own scope.
“Yup. I’m only getting glimpses, but it looks—”
“What is it?“
Mo squawked and landed on the ground just behind them, making them both jump.
“I’m only seeing them as they pass through gaps in the trees, but if it’s a convoy I haven’t seen the end of it yet,” said Cal. The intensity in the ground shaking increased.
Bower also approached them both, carefully walking around the E.L.F.
“What’s got you and our feathered friend here spooked?”
“There’s a convoy up ahead, heading this way. Look for yourself,” said Zach looking around them at how exposed they were on the highway that passed over others below.
Bower looked down the site of his own rifle. “I believe we have found our enemy.”
“And they are coming this way,” said Fiona who was looking through a small pair of binoculars standing to the right of the Humvee.
The sound of an immense number of vehicles traveling towards them was now unmistakable.
Zach looked back the way they came. “We need to get off the highway, find somewhere to watch them pass by.” By now the others were standing around watching as well.
Zach looked at Corporal Bell. “Get on the radio to the camp, tell them a large enemy convoy has been spotted moving west through the town of Montgomery,” he then noticed Cal was touching his temple. “What is it?”
“There’s a whole lot of Cascaders in that convoy.”
“Everyone back in their vehicles now!” shouted Zach. He jumped back in the Humvee as Fiona did the same, and turned them around. He then led the way back down the highway they had just come up with the truck and tank behind.
Fiona had her head down looking at the road map. “Pull off the highway over there.”