by Maxey, Phil
Finally after some hours they all sat on various desks and chairs tired out, with boxes and other supplies scattered across the floor.
“We should see what’s on the other floors, maybe we are not alone in here.” Said Jacob.
“If there’s anyone or anything in here it’s kept very quiet” Said Cal.
“Either way we need to be sure, three groups of two, me and Abbey will take the next floor, Cal and Michael the next, Ray and Fiona the next, Jacob you hang back here and take stock of what we have. What’s the situation with your charge batons?” Said Zach clicking his own baton, which promptly came to life. The others tested theirs too, Cal’s refused to spark.
“I’ll be fine.” Said Cal.
They all walked to the stairwell, and ascended. Jacob sat rubbing his leg, looking at the CB radio.
Zach opened the stairwell door onto another bright open plan space filled with cubicles. He thought this is how it must look early morning before work starts, like a hive without it’s bee’s. Abbey appeared behind him. There were a few chairs slightly out of place, but there was nothing that said panic about the arrangement. The last time workers were here they must of like it was any other day. Just to be sure they both moved along the rows and checked each cubicle, cautiously but also half in hope that maybe someone was hiding and needed saving.
Cal’s and Michaels floor had cubicles with higher partitions and it was also obviously the floor of a gaming company. Large posters of space ships and brightly coloured furry animals adorned the walls.
“Hey do think one of these things came to life,” Said Michael pointing to one of the posters. Cal gave a wry smile. “Wow graphics certainly have come on in the last ten years.”
“Let’s keep looking, might be some useful tech here.” Replied Cal. They wondered past the small foyer and into a gaming area, with a table tennis and pool table. Michael immediately rolled one of the balls across the pool table making it clatter into the rest. Cal gave him an angry look.
“Look, we’re definitely alone in this pl…” Said Michael as a rustling noise came from across the room. Cal immediately picked up a pool stick. Michael raised his charge baton.
“Don’t use it until we know there’s a threat.” Said Cal.
They both looked to the far corner of the room, but something else caught Cal’s eye. Empty food packets and soft drink bottles were strewn across the stone colored carpet. Cal pointed for Michael to move around the right side of the room, back past the stairwell entrance while Cal moved up the left channel between cubicles. He noticed at the end of the row, cushions lying on the floor sticking out from one of the cubicles. A suspicion, which started with seeing the soft drink bottles, crystalized in his mind.
“Hey we’re not here to hurt you.” Said Cal. Just as he finished saying that a young boy of around ten years wearing jeans, and a hooded top, sprang out from the cubicle and fled down the end row, knocking over a box of bottled water. Looking behind himself the boy ran straight into Michael.
“Let me go.” Said the boy struggling.
“Chill kid, I’m not going to hurt you.” Said Michael struggling to hold him.
“Let him go.” Said Cal. Michael let go and the boy backed up against a desk shifting his gaze between both of them.
“What’s your name?” Said Cal.
“Darian, ” Said the boy cautiously. ”People call me Dee.”
“I’m Cal, this is Michael, we didn’t know this was your place.” Said Cal.
“That’s ok…” Said Dee looking nervous.
“How long you been here?” Said Michael, sitting on one of the desks. Dee was about to answer when Abbey and Zach appeared from the stairwell.
“Who are they?” Said Dee.
“They’re with us.” Replied Cal. Abbey and Zach walked up to them.
“Looks like we were not alone in this place, hi I’m Zach, this is Abbey” Abbey smiled best she could.
“We were just finding out how long he’s been here.” Said Michael.
“Do you need any food? We got plenty downstairs.” Said Zach.
“Yeah, what you got?” Said Dee.
“Why don’t you go down and have a look, but tell me is there anyone else in here?” Said Zach.
“Nah, only me.” Said Dee. Zach gestured to Abbey. Dee appeared to relax slightly, and pulled his hood down. He and Abbey walked away and then left the floor.
“Three more floors to check, maybe we should check them together.” Said Zach, and they all walked to the stairwell.
CHAPTER 16
Ray and Fiona stood looking at walls lined with important headlines from the past. Alongside these carefully framed newspapers was metal lettering.
“ROSWELL TRIBUNE”.
“If anyone knew what was going on it would be journalists right?” Said Ray, Fiona rolled her eyes and walked forward onto a scene of paper carnage.
“I guess they must have been old school” Said Ray following. Sheets of printed-paper, typed articles and hand written notes lay strewn across the floor and desks. Fiona picked one up, it was an editorial from September first.
“Roswell Editorial. By Jeff Holden.
This will be the last edition of our great paper, and my last editorial. Please excuse the briefness of it, but the army will be here soon to take us to the camps. It pains me to type these words, but I fear newspapers will be a thing of the past all too soon. For thirty-five years I have worked for this newspaper in one form or another, starting with delivering the paper in my teens to becoming chief editor seven years ago. This town became famous for a kooky story to do with ships from another planet, but nobody thought humanities end would come about the way it has. But I’m not going to take about the animals, or what they became, that’s for others to talk about in the days ahead, if there are any days ahead, instead I would just like to say, thank you. Thank you for reading the Tribune, we all did our best to inform this town of ours and hopefully make it a better place to live. I wish you and yours safe passage in the days ahead.”
Fiona dropped the piece of paper back onto the floor.
“Learn anything?” Said Ray.
“Nope.”
“There’s got to be more here for us to go on.” Said Ray.
“Keep looking” Said Fiona, who walked among the paper sheets, like walking amongst autumn leaves.
“Think I might have something, look at this” Ray was holding a list.
“EVACUATION CAMPS IN THE USA
CAMP ALPHA - BOSTON
CAMP BRAVO – NEAR AUSTIN
CAMP CHARLIE - PORTLAND
CAMP DELTA – SAN DIEGO
CAMP ECHO – NEAR CHICAGO”
They both looked over the list, apart from the camps it went onto say that each camp is well fortified and could hold off an attack from E.L.F.’s.
“Elves ended the world?” Said Ray.
“It’s obviously an acronym, but doesn’t say of what. But at least we now have a reason for what happened.” Said Fiona.
“Yeah, elves.” Said Ray.
“Bravo Looks like it’s the closest camp, near Austin, and it’s sort of in the direction we are going in. Anyway, this floors clear and I’m not going through every scrap of paper, let’s move on.” Said Fiona. As they entered the stairwell, Cal, Michael and Zach came up the stairs. Fiona handed the piece of paper to Zach and continued up the stairs. Zach read silently, then passed the paper to Cal. Michael leant into read as well.
“I’m heading back down, my legs aren’t too compatible with going up and down, I’m sure you got this.” Said Ray who was already descending.
“Hey wait up.” Shouted Zach in the direction Fiona went in.
“So that’s where everyone is, in these camps? What are E.L.F’s? apart from, you know, pointy eared Santa’s helpers?” Said Michael.
Cal played with the acronym in his mind, but nothing made any sense, he folded the paper and pushed it into his pocket.
“Let’s get these floors checked then ge
t some food.”
Fiona and Zach stood amongst a completely empty open floor, no desks or chairs, just a large open space and a thick layer of dust on the medium grey carpet. Fiona walked over to the windows. The sun was setting.
“Must be later in the year than I thought, the suns gone down pretty quickly, maybe November, I wouldn’t get too close to those windows.” Said Zach.
“I know what I’m doing, the angle of the sun on this side means all anyone from the outside is going to see is blinding reflection.” Said Fiona, who looked out over the city. This wasn’t the highest point of the building, there were still two more floors above them but the setting sun over the desert in the distance made most of the buildings look pink which made her smile. She was always more of a sunset than sunrise kind of girl her abusive husband used to tell her.
“You know, I didn’t notice when we drove in, but from up here the road and sidewalk look wrong.” Said Fiona.
“What do you mean?” Said Zach walking over to her and then following her gaze down to the streets below. At first he wasn’t sure what he was looking at, like a graffiti artist had been let lose with an obsession for the colour red, dark red. But then the realization started growing in his mind to what he was seeing. Splashes and dark patches of crimson lay scattered everywhere.
“That much blood, there must have been a lot of people.” Said Fiona breaking the silence. Zach looked away.
“I’ll check out the floors above” Said Zach ignoring where his own mind wanted to go. As he entered the stairwell Cal and Michael were coming up the stairs.
“This ones clear. What’s your thoughts on that piece of paper.” Said Zach.
“The camp near Austin is the closest, the chances are no ones looking for us, not even the military, we could go take a look on the way to Boston.” Said Cal.
“I was thinking the same.” Said Zach.
“We shouldn’t try and stay completely off the grid?” Said Michael, as they all walked up to the next floor.
“I don’t think there’s a grid anymore.” Replied Zach opening the stairwell door to the floor. A rush off warm air hit them.
“Well this is different.” Said Michael. Instead of the usual open plan arrangement of cubicles they were confronted with a corridor going left and right of them. To the right were three doors all closed and to the left the corridor continued around to the right. Cal cautiously moved to the left and looked around the corridor.
“More doors, ones open down the end.” Said Cal.
Sprawled across the wall in front of them were the words
“RIVERSIDE SECURITY”.
“All these doors have keycard access, let’s check the open one first.” Said Zach, as they all walked down the corridor and towards the open door. Straight away a voice could be heard and they all backed up against the walls. Zach made a hand sign to Cal, which he understood. Zach crouched down, while Cal and Michael pushed themselves up against the left side wall to be as hard to see from inside the room as possible, and Zach pushed the door open. The room was quite large with banks of computer screens on the left sidewall. Ahead of them and to the right, were a number of computer desks and computers, but apart from that there were no people inside. On the far wall, under a desk were some blankets on top of what looked like cushions from a sofa. Zach stood up.
“Where did the voice come from? Sounded like a man’s voice.” Said Michael. They all walked into room, their faces being lit up by flicking images on the screens.
“We need Abbey up here.” Said Zach, but before he could say anything else the male voice coming from one of the speakers stopped him.
“This is Brad Crenshaw broadcasting from Roswell New Mexico, the date is September twenty-fifth and this message will continuously loop. Friends, I don’t know if there’s anyone else left alive in this area, but I’m hold up at Westside Avenue. I have enough provisions for over a year, and you’re welcome to stop on by. I’ve seen two types of E.L.F’s since the cascade, both land based. No idea what they were before…not that it matters, but those alone took out most of the towns defense forces and it’s habitants, I’ve only survived by staying here. One more thing, they seem to be nested around Main Street so stay away from that area. I’ll be broadcasting on different frequencies and the internet for as long as it still exists.”
“That’s the guy! It’s him!” Said Michael excitedly. On of the screens a small photo of a guy in his fifties with glasses was positioned next to the text “RECENT EMERGENCY BROADCASTS”.
“Cascade?” Cal said looking at Zach, who stood stony faced. Fiona appeared behind Michael making him jump.
“Jesus, you a ninja or something?” Said Michael.
“Looks like this floor might be useful, it also has better protection by being sectioned off into rooms and being higher, we should probably bring the supplies up here, but first we need to get into those other rooms, I don’t want any surprises,” Said Zach. The recorded message started to play again, Zach walked over to the speaker it was coming from, and turned the volume down.
“I’ll get Abbey.” Said Michael. Cal walked closer to one of the screens that had a map of the USA, various cities were flashing red, while two white circles pulsed.
“This floor must run off it’s own power supply,” Said Zach looking around. “No windows and well insulated, probably why the light in here didn’t attract any attention from the things outside.” Cal nodded.
“I’ll tell the others we are moving everything up here.” Said Cal and disappeared off down the corridor.
“We better check the remaining floor.” Said Zach to Fiona. They both left the computer room and moved up to the floor above, this time though they came out onto a very small landing, with only one door. It also had a keycard access.
“Wonder what the hell is in here.” Said Zach.
CHAPTER 17
“How did you end up here? Where are your parents?” Said Ray.
“I came here looking for my dad, he was a coder, he made Cloud Pirates.” Said Dee. Ray had a blank look on his face.
“You know, the best selling game of last year?” Said Dee waiting for some kind of response.
“The last game I played kid, I had to load with a tape recorder.” Said Ray, now it was Dee’s turn to look confused.
“Why did you stay? Didn’t your parents come for you?” Said Abbey.
“I was going to leave, when I saw those wolf creatures attacking everyone, so I came back inside, I waited for my dad to come, but he never did.” Said Dee. Abbey placed a hand on Dee’s shoulder.
“How far do you live from here?” Said Ray.
“We live over at Sandy Heights, it’s like fifteen minutes by car, I kept thinking about making a run for it, but each day I see those wolf things in the streets, it never looks safe. My dad always said to me if I’m ever in trouble I should stay where I am until he comes.” Said Dee.
“Here” Jacob handed Dee a bottle of water which he gladly accepted. Michael appeared from the stairwell.
“Abbey you’re needed up stairs, fifth floor.” Said Michael.
“Find anything useful up there?” Said Jacob.
“There’s some kind of computer room on the fifth.” Said Michael.
“Yeah that stuff is still working, but I couldn’t figure it, all password protected or something. That’s where I sleep because it’s got some light and it’s warm at night.” Said Dee.
“Why don’t you come and show me what you know of it?” Said Abbey walking towards the stairwell, Dee dutifully followed.
“So how long you been here?” Said Abbey.
“Five weeks, three days, my dad had a calendar on his desk, I use that to keep track.” Said Dee. They both arrived on the fifth floor, Zach was standing facing them.
“All these doors got keycard access, you reckon you can get inside the rooms? There’s another one above us.” Said Zach. Abbey bent down in front of one of the keycard slots and examined it closely.
“Pretty stan
dard stuff, if we run electricity through it, it might short, but you said there was a ‘computer’ room?” Said Abbey.
“Just round the right there” Said Zach.
“Let’s take a look at that computer room shall we.” Said Abbey to Dee.
“So where you from?” Said Dee.
“Originally Boston.” Said Abbey.
“I’ve never been to Boston, but it looked nice on the web, old time like” Said Dee.
“It certainly is that.” Said Abbey as her thoughts drifted to the home she grew up in. They entered the computer room.
“That’s where I sleep, under that desk.” Said Dee pointing.
“Smart to sleep here.” Said Abbey looking around the room, Dee smiled.
“So what do you know about what’s on these screens?” Said Abbey. They both looked up at the two rows of three screens, positioned one row above the over.
“The top one on the left, that’s like a map of the USA, and sometimes it has red dots flashing on cities I think, not sure what the white dots are, but there were more weeks back.” Said Dee.
“And this one?” Said Abbey pointing at the monitor with the title “Feeds” on it.
“Yeah that’s a message from the UFO guy, everyone around town knows him, used to have a radio show that crazy people listened too, listen” Said Dee, walking over to the speaker and turning the volume up. They both stood and listened until the whole message had been played, Dee then turned the volume down.
“Why do you think they were crazy to listen to his show?” Said Abbey.
“Dad always said crazy people listened to it, but now I’m not sure. I kind of liked hearing someone, so I would leave it on sometimes.” Said Dee.