Survive (Cascade Book 1)

by Maxey, Phil

  Were they responsible and wanted to try and put the genie back in the bottle before it went mainstream? And if so, might of they had some kind of fix but couldn’t implement it before it was too late? It was an intriguing thought, not that she was in any position to act on it. Right now the most important thing was to find out if there were survivors and where was the most likely place for them to be. She pulled forward a large map of America that was once in a silver frame on the wall, and looked at the piece of paper from the newspaper office downstairs with the bases on it. Abbey had told her only two bases were sending back a message, Austin and Portland. She wondered if there was any method to contact them. She had done rudimentary radio electronics as part of her communications training and wondered if she could rig something from what they already had. Maybe with Abbey’s help She pondered.

  She stood up and stretched, pushing her arms out and arching her back. Walking forward to stand in front of the large glass window something caught her eye far off in the distance. She moved her face close to the glass window and squinted best she could to try to increase her focus. In another time and place something moving in the distance on rooftops would have been birds, but Fiona knew different. Whatever they were there were more than one and they were moving towards the building. Need to tell the others. Was her thought when she turned around and saw Cal and Jacob appear from the kitchen.

  “We see them.” Said Cal rushing past.

  “What are they?” Said Fiona. Cal tossed her the telescope. Placing it to her eye she looked again. Her arm dropped down her side still holding the telescope. Those things again. Putting the scope back to her eye she could see at least eleven of the wolf creatures jumping from rooftop to rooftop heading in their direction, at the speed they were moving they might have a few minutes max before they reached them. Fiona ran down the stairs to the floor below where she found Jacob and Abbey in the computer room.

  “I’ve found how to lock the doors of the building remotely, the main doors are now electronically sealed, as well as the doors to the bottom stairwell. I’ll seal all the lower floors doors once Cal and Michael are up here.” Said Abbey.

  “What about Zach and the others getting back in?” Said Fiona.

  “Right now they are better off outside if these creatures are intent in getting in here, once it’s clear I’ll unlock the doors. Cal and Michael are making sure there’s no supplies left on the lower floors and then piling as much furniture as they can into the stairwell.”

  “If we just had some weapons” Said Fiona. Jacob reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his handgun.

  “I’ve got this, it’s got ten rounds left.” Said Jacob.

  “If we can barricade ourselves on the top floors, and they can’t get in maybe they will give up and leave, they might be evolved, but they’re still animals. The cameras on the outside of the building work so we can see where they plan to get in.” Said Abbey bringing up the outside camera feeds.

  “I’ll see if Cal and Michael need any help.” Said Fiona running down the corridor to the stairwell.

  Michael and Cal were dragging desks and chairs into the bottom stairwell as Fiona appeared above them.

  “Grab anything of any weight on this floor and throw it down this stairwell against the ground floor door.” Said Cal. Fiona grabbed two chairs and threw them down the stairwell, she then moved over to the windows and looked out onto the street. She couldn’t see the wolf creatures yet, but she felt unnerved by how close this floor was to the ground.

  “I’ve seen those things leap twenty to thirty-foot, they could jump off the roof of the truck and through these windows.” Said Fiona.

  “We are working our well up, barricading as many as we can before they get outside.” Said Michael.

  “They are just a few streets away!” Shouted Abbey down the stairwell.

  “We need to get up to the next floor, now!” Shouted Cal. He, Michael and Fiona ran up to the floor above, and manically started pulling and heaving as much furniture down the stairs as possible.

  CHAPTER 22

  “He’s not going to make it.” Said Ray frantically stuffing various components into a piece of the plastic piping he took from the hardware store.

  “He’ll make it.” Said Zach, who was driving the pickup in reverse towards the middle aged guy. They had opened the back so whoever this guy was could jump in. Dee was in a huddle in the foot space around Ray’s feet. “You ok down there Dee?”

  “Yes, sir.” Replied Dee nervously.

  “Don’t worry it will be ok, just going to pick this guy up and we are going to be off, which direction is it to your dads.” Said Zach intently steering the pickup best he could while watching the middle age man stagger forward in their direction. The snarling vision of canine anger was only a few hundred yards behind him and gaining fast.

  “Err, straight and then do a left, and then straight for a few mins” Said Dee.

  “Hold on everyone.” Said Zach slamming on the breaks, making them all lurch forward. The middle-aged guy collapsed onto the flat bed at the back of the pickup and grabbed hold of the sides. Zach hit the accelerator and the truck roared forward. The wolf creature bounded towards them for a few yards and then skidded to halt, it then raised its head to the sky like something had called it, and turned and bounded off. They lost site of it when they turned the corner at the end of the street.

  “Has it gone?” Said Ray.

  “Looks that way.” Said Zach. Ray let out a sigh of relief and his arms collapsed in his lap while still holding the device.

  “That thing is not live yet is it?” Said Zach.

  “No.” Said Ray. A bang came on the cabin window, the middle-aged man with glasses breathing heavily, gave the thumbs up. “Dee can you sit up a bit I need directions of where to go.” Dee sat up just enough to see the surroundings.

  “Hey watch it kid, I’m holding explosives here.” Said Ray.

  “Right, yes, oh I know where we are, go down Malvern Avenue, then do a left and second right and you will be in my street.” Said Dee.

  Zach caught sight of the road sign and proceeded down the Avenue as instructed. He kept looking around where they were driving as much as possible while still keeping his eyes on the road incase one of the wolf things jumped out in front of them. After a few minutes they were in Dee’s street. “Fifth house on the right, it’s the one with the green door.” Dee’s head was still just high enough to see the houses, but Zach could tell he didn’t want to look. Zach rolled up to a decently sized single story house, with a fifties era red pickup in the carport.

  “Now that’s my kind of pickup, not like these modern things.” Said Ray.

  “My dad rebuilt it.” Said Dee in a hushed tone. Zach drove onto the drive.

  “Dee stay here, I’m going to say hello to our guest and check things out, ok? Same as before you see something hit the horn.” Said Zach. Dee nodded. “Ray, you reckon you can finish that device outside of the truck? Maybe in the Dee’s Dads car port?”

  “I’ll try.” Said Ray getting out of the truck carefully taking his components and the backpack full of other important items with him. The guy in the back climbed out the back of the truck, and approached Zach with his hand out.

  “Names Brad T Crenshaw, thanks for the rescue back there.” Zach got out of the truck and shook his hand.

  “No problem, glad we were there when we were. I’m Zach, that there in the carport is Ray, Dee’s in the truck.” Said Zach.

  “Actually I knew you were there, my microphones picked up your truck moving down Shrove drive, unfortunately so did one of the canines E.L.F’s as well, they have exceptional hearing and smell.” Said Brad. Microphones? Zach thought.

  “Great, well I have to check out this building, you can wait here if you want or you can come inside with me.” Said Zach backing up towards the front of Dee’s house, then turning and looking through the front window.

  “Happy to help,” Said Brad following “Why are you h
ere?”

  “This is Dee’s house, he hasn’t been back here for a while, and he’s not seen his dad since it all went down.” Said Zach.

  “This whole area was cleared out by the army in the evacuation, I doubt anyone’s in this house, and if the kids dad never found him then the news is probably not good.” Said Brad.

  “Yeah well I gotta look anyway.” Said Zach.

  “Of course.” Said Brad. Zach cupped his hands over his eyes and pressed his face up against the glass of the living room, inside it looked messy, but there was no sign of anyone. Zach turned back to the truck and gestured to Dee that he was going to go around the back. Moving through the carport, and past Ray who was sitting on an upside down bucket near a small worktop, Zach arrived at a shut gate to the back yard, which he opened slowly. Zach and Brad walked past a small pool which was empty of water.

  “The canines drink the water from the pools. Here in Roswell we have a lot of them.” Said Brad. The patio doors at the back of the property were closed and locked.

  “Going to have to break in.” Said Zach looking around for something to break the glass. Brad handed him a small boulder, we want to try and do this as quiet as possible. In one of the corners of the yard was a dog kennel. Just inside of it Zach could see a blanket. He grabbed it, then placed it up against the part of the glass door near the inside latch, and hit it with the boulder, a small circular piece of glass fell onto the Linoleum inside, Zach then reached through and opened the door.

  “Hello?” Said Zach and swore to himself that he never asked Dee’s what his dads name was. “Anyone home? I’m here with Dee.” Brad stepped through the door and stood for a moment cleaning his glasses. He was wearing a light grey t-shirt with a hunter’s jacket on top, each pocket seemingly containing something. His combat pants pockets the same. The interior of Dee’s father’s home was well decorated. Film posters adjourned the walls, and a large flat screen TV hung proudly on another. Zach picked up a picture of Dee and his dad that was on the floor and smiled, he then took photo out of the frame and put it in his pocket. Brad went into the kitchen and opened the fridge.

  “Still a few bottles in here, hope the young man doesn’t mind me taking them.” Said Brad.

  “It’s fine.” Said Zach as he walked into the hallway, and then into a large bedroom. Various clothes were scattered around the floor, and some drawers were left open. Brad appeared behind him in the hallway.

  “What’s crazy about this whole situation is how most places I’ve seen don’t look that disturbed, it’s like there wasn’t a panic, which considering what was happening don’t make sense.” Said Zach.

  “People had no idea what was happening until it was too late, well apart from the ones that listened to my show. The government gave some bullshit story to everyone about how everything was under control and they all should grab some belongings and move out to camps.” Said Brad.

  “Yes but people must of seen the changed animals?” Said Zach.

  “The people that saw changed animals didn’t get a chance to tell the story. The number one driving force of all the E.L.F’s is to kill and dominate their surroundings. When the government brought large numbers of people together for evacuation it just acted like a magnet for the E.L.F’s. You see any of those nature films back in the day of thousands of wildebeests attracting predators? Well it was like that. The nukes they dropped were almost like the human race giving the E.L.F’s the finger. It took a lot of them out, but not enough.” Said Brad. A noise made them both turn around. Dee was standing looking at them.

  “Your dads not here.” Said Zach. Dee looked down and burst out in tears. Zach went to go to him but Brad reacted first, bending down in front of him.

  “Dee is it? Ok well can you do something for me?” Brad reached into his pocket, and pulled out a small flat black box with a grid of thirty-six LED’s on it. Dee shook his head in the affirmative while tears rolled down his cheeks. “This little black box is very important, you see these little lights? Well if you see any of them light up at this point,” Brad pointed to a section of the lights. “you let me know ok? It’s a real important job.” Brad handed Dee the box.

  “What is it?” Said Zach.

  “It’s wired up to my radio microphones, over 6 miles square, if the microphone picks up a loud noise, the LED will light up. Basically suped-up baby monitors.” Said Brad.

  “Wow that’s smart.” Said Dee, wiping the tears from his face.

  “Where are we on that grid” Said Zach.

  “Roughly D3. The building you are hold up is roughly B2.” Said Brad.

  “You knew we were there?” Said Zach.

  “Sure did.” Brad smiled. Brad didn’t know how to respond but thought it was a discussion for later.

  “Dee is there anything you want to take with you?” Said Zach.

  “Yes, give me a few minutes.” Dee opened a door opposite the large bedroom revealing a medium sized room with a single bed and more film posters intermixed with posters of pop stars. Dee carefully put the black box down on the bed, and pulled a backpack out from under it, he then started to throw some clothes in it. On the wall was a comic from the 1960s in a wooden frame. On the plastic protective cover it was signed “Never stop dreaming, love dad”. Dee carefully pulled the back off and placed the comic and it’s bag inside the backpack. Dee looked around his room, he knew this would probably be the last time he was here and the weight of choosing what to take with him started to overwhelm his mind. There’s no electricity anymore so no point bringing a game console, but that’s stupid anyway, maybe I should bring more things that dad gave me, no, no I need to think like an adult, what would dad want me to do in this situation. Dee took a deep breath and calmed his nerves, and then looked around the room again. He opened a drawer next to his bed and grabbed a pocketknife and put it in his pocket. His dad told him never to take the pocketknife outside but he thought his dad would understand. He also grabbed his computer tablet. He knew there was no Internet but it had lots of good games on it, and maybe Abbey could get it charged somehow. He then remembered his solar powered radio and torch his dad got him for his tenth birthday last year, but couldn’t remember where it was.

  “How long Dee?” Zach shouted from the living room.

  “Not long.” Dee shouted back. A solar powered radio would be a good thing to have, he looked around his room and tried to remember the last place he saw it and then remembered he left it on the window seal in the living room to charge up. Running in the living room past Zach he grabbed the radio and went back into his bedroom. Pushing the radio into his already bulging backpack, he took one last look around and sighed. Turning, he put the backpack on both shoulders and left his room.

  “Your dad was USAF?“ Said Zach holding a picture of Dee’s dad in uniform.

  “Yes he worked in…,” Said Dee searching for the correct terms. “Operations Intelligence. He helped find bad guys before he made games”.

  “For what it’s worth Dee, your dad seemed liked a great guy,” Said Zach. Dee smiled. “You got everything? We need to move out.”

  “Yes. Where’s Brad?” Said Dee.

  “He’s outside, think I heard him talking to Ray. You been watching that box of tricks he gave you.” Said Zach.

  “Shit!” Said Dee and ran back into his room, he slowly reappeared with the black box in his hand, intently looking at it. He then held it up in front of him the LED’s facing towards Zach.

  “What does this mean?” Said Dee. Two lights near the top of the grid were flashing intermittently.

  “It means we need to leave.” Said Zach.

  CHAPTER 23

  Fiona, Cal and Michael had managed to throw various large desks and chairs into the first and second floor stairwells, before running up to the computer room floor. Abbey then locked all of the lower floor doors remotely. Michael, Fiona, Jacob and Abbey stood and sat in the computer room watching the outside camera feeds, Cal was in one of the adjacent offices looking out in the dir
ection the creatures were coming. Nothing could be seen.

  Where the fuck are they? Cal thought.

  “Do you see anything?” Cal shouted.

  “Nothing, you?” Replied Abbey.

  “Nothing, I’m going up on the roof.” Said Cal running up the stairwell. A cool breeze swept across him as he looked at the nearby buildings, there was no sign of the wolf creatures. Have they turned away? For a moment time seemed to stop as there was only silence and stillness out there in the city of Roswell, not insane creatures that shouldn’t exist. But then he caught sign of movement near a car and a brown fur covered creature like something out of a fifties horror movie stood up on it’s hind legs, then leapt forward and within seconds slammed into one of the large glass windows on the ground floor, shattering it and causing glass to fly out onto the steps in front of the building. Only one? Thought Cal. He scoured the area just around their building but again there was no sign of anything. Even from the roof he could hear the paws of the creature on the ground floor scratching on the smooth polished surface. He then ran back down to the computer room. Everyone was watching the foyer camera.

  “What’s it doing?” Said Cal. The creature was standing on it’s hind legs and looking left and right, seemingly sniffing. It then walked forward. Everyone jumped slightly at the oddness of seeing a wolf-like creature move in such a way.

  “Wow that’s creepy,” Said Michael “Cool in movies, not so much in real life.”

  Slowly the creature moved towards the ground floor stairwell door and sniffed it.

  “If they get up here I don’t think your ten rounds is going to be much help, there must be something else we can do to defend ourselves.” Said Fiona.