Beyond

by Phil Maxey

  “Just come in Raj, I’ll try not to get naked while we are just a mile from homicidal Cascaders.”

  The door opened and he walked in with some packets in both hands. “I found these in what was left of the kitchen.” He threw them onto the king sized bed. “Least we’ll sleep more comfortable tonight…if we get any that is. What are they doing?”

  “Laughing, dancing…all while their creatures create craters everywhere.”

  “So they’re having a party?”

  “It would seem so and that’s a good thing.”

  Raj looked confused for a second. “Ah, because they have been drinking? Dulls their Cascader abilities?”

  “I have no idea, but hopefully.”

  He sat on the bed and started tearing a packet of dry roasted nuts open. “How can we help those underground? If they could have defeated the Cascaders above them, they would have done so. How are we going to help?”

  Raj didn’t have to say it, but she could tell he wanted to leave the town and head back to the outpost.

  “We can’t just leave them.”

  “They just left us. We could have done with their help. Even if it was just to know we weren’t the only ones left alive.”

  She sighed. He was right, but she still couldn’t leave them to their deaths. “There’s at least a few thousand people down there Raj. We need to do something.”

  He got to his feet and walked to her. “Maybe the best thing we can do is go back to the outpost and get reinforcements. More Cascaders to even out the numbers?”

  She shook her head.

  “I saw what just two of you could do with the creatures around you. How many are down there? Twenty? Thirty? And they can control most of what’s alive around us…” His eyes widened on realizing something. “You want to talk to them don’t you? Because of what Elcher said?”

  “Your alien friend made it very clear. I need to find more of my kind. Then we can stop the Cascade. Why not start with those down there?”

  “You just said they were lunatics!”

  “Homicidal I called them, but maybe that’s just because they were under the influence of Clovis. Maybe I can convince them to change.”

  Raj shook his head and moved back to the bed grabbing another packet. “You’re gong to get yourself killed. And what will you do when he returns?”

  “That’s why I’m going to have a quick rest then try and make contact.”

  Raj shook his head then left the room closing the door behind him.

  Abbey looked again through her binoculars. One of the men a few miles off, was keeping away from the others. He also had one of the largest E.L.F’s, a kind of tall four-legged lizard which did not look that dissimilar to pictures of dinosaurs she had seen as a kid. He sat on top of it, watching the others.

  He’s the one.

  * * * * *

  Abbey moved through the passageway to the back of the house, which was open to the world outside. It saved her having to open and close the front door, which Raj might hear. Stepping over pipes and masonry she emerged onto an expensive looking patio, and then moved around the side of the house onto the driveway. She looked up at the house then ran down the road, trying not to make a false step. She had no light, but the moon was providing enough illumination to make out shapes and the path that wound its way between the trees.

  Soon she was back on the road. The calls and shrieks of various nocturnal E.L.F’s rang out around her. Remembering best she could where things were, she jogged down the slope towards the main town junction which was a few hundred yards away. Earlier she ate some of what Raj had left with her, then gave herself a few hours of sleep. It was now around 2am by her reckoning and as far as she could tell there wasn’t any movement in the town. Even the E.L.F’s that belonged to the people there had dropped to the ground to rest.

  Glows came from the upper floors of the few buildings that were still habitable and those were her target.

  Running down the two-lane road, she avoided dark shapes which sat on the concrete, and then moved onto the sidewalk as she neared a parking lot at the back of the buildings. A scratching noise made her turn around. Instantly she froze.

  Facing her was a large humanoid cat like E.L.F, standing a foot above her on its rear legs, its eyes shimmering in the moonlight. It growled then just as it was about to lunge forward, she thrust her hand out in front halting its progress. She could feel it wanting to tear her apart and its rage was almost too much for her to control. Straining with all her might, she felt something give in the mind of the creature just a few feet from her, and it turned and sprinted away towards the buildings she was moving towards.

  One of theirs.

  Her top lip felt wet. Touching her finger to the area made it feel warm and sticky. Her nose was bleeding. Have to be more alert.

  She crouched and allowed her mind to scan the space between her and the back of the building. She needed to find the large dinosaur looking E.L.F, that would hopefully help her find its master.

  No…No not that one…That could be…nope…ah…

  She looked across the decaying cars that littered the street, towards another junction. It’s down there.

  She stood then ran as fast as she could trying to keep her mind open to anymore unwanted appearances from the Cascaders creatures. Once she was past the parking lot, she was alongside old stores and office buildings, all of which were smashed and broken in some way. She glanced inside a few of them as she trotted past, but only intense shadows looked back at her.

  Soon she was at the junction. With her back against the wall, she peered around the corner, and saw what her mind already sensed. A huge reptilian creature laying in the middle of the street. She really did not want to have to try and fight the imprint on the creatures mind again, as she could still feel the affects of the last mental battle.

  In one of the apartments above the row of stores a dim light glowed. Got to be him. She looked across the road. At the end of the block was a fire escape. She looked around her for any movement, then quickly ran across the junction, and to the side of the building opposite. Pulling the metal ladder down as quietly as she could, she clambered up the steps, past the first and second floors until she came to the third. She had noticed from the ground it was the only one with a window that was partially open. Leaning forward she heaved it upwards, then ducked inside.

  She knew the apartments weren’t linked, but she had other plans. She pulled the small flashlight from her pocket and shone its light around the corridor. Dark streaks covered the patterned wallpaper and the carpet was covered in what looked like rags, but on further inspection seemed to contain bones. She swallowed and walked forward until she found what she was looking for. Pushing the door open, she walked up the narrow staircase, then opened another door and came out onto the roof.

  Making sure to keep her light pointed at the ground, she walked forward trying to not make noise. Climbing over the dividing walls between the apartments, she was soon near the one where she had seen the light on within.

  She walked quickly over to the external wall and looked down to the street. The large E.L.F she wanted to avoid was still sleeping in the middle of the road. She then went to turn.

  “You do know it’s not safe to be creeping around rooftops in the dead of night, right?” Said a voice behind her.

  She slowly turned. A man who was striking even in the limited light of the moon stood just a few yards away. It’s him.

  She went to talk but he continued.

  “You’re a Cascader. This is why I’m standing here. Question is though, why are you here?”

  “I wanted to see you.”

  “I see, and who might you be?”

  “Abbey.”

  “Abbey…”

  “Reisner.”

  “And why do you want to see me Abbey Reisner?”

  As she went to talk the ground around her became bathed in shadow and she realized something was blocking the light from the moon. She slowly turn
ed her head. The man’s E.L.F was standing on its hind legs, and its long crocodile like head was looking down at her, just beyond the rooftop wall.

  “Oh don’t mind Surus, he’s just a little protective of me. But you were saying?”

  “Maybe we could go inside to talk?”

  He spun around with his arms out. “Why would we want to do that? It’s a beautiful spring night.” He looked at her expectantly.

  “Look, I don’t know who you are. But you seem to be in charge of the people here.”

  “The Cascaders?“

  “Yes, and well I learned of some information, which means that Cascaders need to come together.”

  “Hmm, that’s interesting.”

  “And I thought you could help with that.”

  He walked forward and past her, leaning on the outside wall and looked out into the night. “What information are you referring to?”

  “I know how to stop the Cascade.”

  He turned around to face her. “Stop? Look around! It’s already over. Humanity lost. I think you’re a little too late.” He smiled.

  She shook her head. “Only the animal part has stopped, but the environment, that’s still changing. And it will keep changing until it’s more habitable for those that started the Cascade in the first place!”

  His expression changed and she could see for the first time he was genuinely curious.

  “Go on.”

  She walked nearer to him. “The Cascade was started by a race of aliens—”

  He rolled his eyes turning away. “Ha! Aliens!” He sighed. “For a moment there I must admit I was beginning to be interested.”

  “No, I’m telling you the truth! It was the Hulathen! They—”

  Noises came from the nearby door to the apartments below, and two men appeared, which Abbey could sense were Cascaders. They walked towards her. She started to back away. “You don’t understand, the planet is in jeopardy, what you have now, it won’t last!”

  “These men will show you to a room downstairs. We don’t hurt those Cascaders who stand with us, but equally we don’t know you, and honestly you seem a little—” He twirled his finger near his head. “Loco.”

  She thought about running and trying to call to Mo to fly down from where she left him on the hill, but it was too dangerous. Instead she nodded and walked away with the men.

  CHAPTER 23

  Zach walked to the Humvee outside the cinema and opened the driver’s door. In the black of night a background of squawks and roars echoed all around him. Trying to ignore the sounds he climbed inside. Those seated behind and to his right were barely awake. Closing his door, he clicked on his radio. “Ready? Over.” Bowers voice confirmed they were refueled and ready to leave. Zach then took a glance at Fiona who was holding her head and started the engine. They were soon back on the highway and pulling away from the town.

  He reached down beneath the seat and held out a bottle of water to Fiona. She took it and swallowed a few gulps.

  “How much further?” Said a tired sounding Wyatt.

  “Roughly six hours, but we will be stopping in a few hours time and deploying the drone. That should tell us how best to approach the town. You get any sleep?”

  “Some…”

  Zach didn’t bother asking any of the others, as they looked like they were still sleeping. He was pleased at least one of the Cascaders was awake.

  A light drizzle filled the air as the convoy thundered along the highway.

  “How you feel?” Said Zach to woman next to him. He had offered her some help getting to the car as she had staggered her way through the lobby of the cinema but she pushed his hand away.

  “Fine,” she croaked.

  “Keep drinking the water.”

  “I know what I need to do.”

  After an hour Wyatt couldn’t contain the questions that were rattling around his mind. “So…how are we going to stop the aliens from doing what they are doing?” It was a question he posed to Zach, but he immediately looked to the other passengers. No one answered.

  Zach looked in the rear mirror briefly to see the young man looking back at him.

  “Don’t worry about the big questions, kid,” said Fiona. “Just concentrate on getting through to the next day.”

  “Okay…”

  Zach watched Wyatt sit back in his seat. He was sure it didn’t answer what Wyatt wanted to know but it was about as true an answer as he was going to get.

  After a few more hours the sky was beginning to change from black to dark blue and they approached a bridge over the Hudson river.

  Zach looked back to make sure the two Cascaders were doing their jobs. Both had their eyes closed, but their faces were one of concentration.

  Fiona looked to the south. “Fifty or so miles down river is NYC.”

  “You been?” Said Zach slowing the convoy as he steered around an overturned semi-truck.

  “I lived there for a while. You?”

  “Only once.”

  “I wonder what it looks like now…”

  “All messed up,” said Michael in the back.

  Fiona continued looking into the night. “No doubt…How much further?”

  “Another hour till we stop.” Zach briefly looked behind. “How’s things with the E.L.F’s around us?”

  “Keeping them away for now,” said Miles.

  As they progressed the convoy slowed almost to a crawl to avoid all of the vehicles broken and forgotten across the highway.

  Zach clicked on his radio. “We’re not far from Hartford, let’s take the next turn off. I think we might reach a standstill soon staying on here anyway. Over.”

  Bower agreed and soon they were on a wide four-lane road which stretched out to the west of the city. With each new turn the concentration of buildings increased and after travelling for ten minutes, Zach pulled over to the side of the road, and got back on the radio. As he spoke he looked at a large blue sign with white writing visible in the Humvee’s headlights. “There’s a hospital up ahead, let’s stop there. Over.”

  Driving a short distance, Zach pulled the Humvee into the entrance of the hospital then stopped far short of the actual hospital doors as ahead was a wall of sandbags and cars used as barriers. He looked back at Wyatt and Miles. “How are we?”

  “Lots of creatures in the city. Apart from one or two the rest are still sleeping,” said Miles.

  “Wait here.” Zach got out taking his rifle with him.

  Harper ran up to him from the other Humvee. “The boss says I’m to go with you, sir.”

  Zach nodded and they both walked slowly forward towards the wall and then started to climb over it, using what light they could from the vehicles. Clambering best they could over sand and steel they both eventually stood fifteen feet high off the ground. Zach flicked on his flashlight and waved it around into an empty parking area beyond. He looked back at the convoy and waved them out.

  Soldiers started jumping down from the truck and the others got out of their vehicles. Michael was the first to join them on top of the barricade.

  “Can’t see anything on the other side. Looks clear, might be a good place to hold up and get the drone functioning,” said Zach looking down to Bower who was looking up at him.

  The older man nodded and the soldiers were soon clambering past Zach and down into the shadows at the doors to the hospital. Others were pulling the tarpaulin from the drone at the back of the second truck, as well as four of them carrying a heavy looking piece of machinery with antenna and a control panel.

  “We’re going to need that on the roof of the hospital,” shouted Bower.

  The soldiers looked at the wall they had to carry it over and groaned.

  Zach and others from his Humvee stepped over splinters of glass from the entrance doors and into a large lobby. It looked empty. Even the furniture was missing. As the beams from the various soldiers’ flashlights swept across the walls, large holes and hundreds of postmarks stood out. That’s also when most in t
he lobby looked around their feet to see the dark stains which drenched the tiles.

  “Must have been some battle here,” said Miles.

  Fiona walked forward, not bothering to step over the blood marks. “See one battle inside a hospital, seen them all.” She looked at Zach. “So how long until we got a feed coming in from the drone?”

  “We need to get the control station and antenna to a high point, then just a matter of finding an empty stretch of road for it to take off from.”

  She turned and walked into a shadow infested corridor. “Good”

  Zach looked at Miles. “Go with her.”

  He nodded.

  By the time the sun was peeking over the horizon, most were on the roof trying to keep warm. A lieutenant sat on the ground with a joystick in his hand just behind the device that had taken an hour to get to the roof. A nearby portable generator churned away, giving the machine which linked to the drone in the street outside, life. The young man turned and gave the thumbs up to Bower, who clicked on his radio and walked to the outside wall.

  He looked down upon the street and the drone at one end. “We’re getting a feed from the drone. All the shit out of the way? We don’t want it crashing before it’s even in the air. Over.”

  In the street below Wyatt looked anxiously out to buildings around them. Then looked at Zach nearby. “There’s things waking up around us. I’ll try and cloak our presence but the sound of the generator is going to draw them this way.”

  Zach nodded, then clicked on his radio. “We’re all good down here. Ready when you are. Over.”

  Six soldiers, three on each side of the makeshift runway, looked out at the buildings around them as roars and noises that belonged to inhuman things echoed in the cool morning air.

  Zach and Wyatt stepped back from the ten foot square miniature plane shaped drone as its engine fired up. It slowly started to roll forwards, then suddenly surged, covering twenty feet in a few seconds. Tilting backwards it took to the air.

  Zach noticed something out of the corner of his eye. Something with wings took to the air and headed for the drone which was now at about roof height and had already moved past the end of the road they were protecting.