by Phil Maxey
The path onwards narrowed and Hayes and Harper stumbled a few times but soon they were standing in the garden which surrounded one half of the house Raj and Abbey stayed in a few days before.
“I wonder when all of this is over, they will just let us pick which house to live in? I might choose this one,” said Harper looking up at the towering three floors including an attic room.
As they walked around to the driveway and front door, the missing back wall became apparent.
“Okay so it needs some work doing on it,” continued Harper.
“I always sucked at DIY,” said Michael. They were the first words that had left his mouth since they left the bunker entrance.
Harper smiled. “I guess you should avoid the fixer-uppers then.”
“Yeah, good luck with that,” said Hayes struggling to carry his end of the crate over the slabs of the driveway.
“Let’s get all of this inside and set up, we’re running out of light,” said Diaz looking at the length of the shadows around them.
They all walked inside closing the door behind them, and Harper and Hayes dropped the crate first chance they got, then started unbuckling the straps from it. Soon they flipped the lid revealing a treasure trove of machinery and devices.
“Michael. Find a good place to set the antenna up. That attic looked a good choice.”
He leant into the crate and pulled out the five-foot long silver rod with folded tripod legs.
Diaz then looked at Hayes and Harper. “Get the generator working and get the radio to one of the town facing bedrooms on the first door.” She then bent down and started pulling the cabling out. “I’ll run this up stairs.”
Within the hour darkness had claimed the land around them, and all but Michael sat in the same bedroom Abbey had used some days before.
Diaz looked at Hayes and Harper, both of which had their eyes closed, laying on top of one half of the large bed. “Rise and shine, it’s time for the first patrol.”
Harper grumbled something but remained motionless while Hayes sat up.
He cleared his throat. “How’s it looking out there?”
Diaz stood up from her seat near the large radio box and walked to the wide windows. “Not seeing anything or feeling anything unusual.”
“Do we have a plan if those Hulapeople decide to make an appearance,” said Harper sitting up.
“Other than hide and report to the CIC what we see, nope,” said Diaz. “Do a one mile three-sixty sweep of the area, then get back here. You see any lights in the sky, let me know on the radio.”
“And you’re sure there’s no E.L.F’s around?” Said Hayes.
“I’m only sensing those belonging to the Cascaders in the town. There’s nothing for a good number of miles around us, so you should be safe.”
Harper snorted while Hayes briefly raised his eyebrows.
They both stood, put their jackets on, picked up their rifles and left.
Diaz looked at her watch. It said 7 pm. She clicked on her radio telling the CIC everything is looking clear, picked up some food items they found in the kitchen then headed up the narrow staircase to the attic room. It was almost completely dark and Michael was only visible due to the dim glow coming from the single open window with the large antenna sticking out.
A light breeze made the entire space feel cold and she rubbed her arms around herself as she stepped forward, trying to avoid colliding with the various pieces of furniture that lay strewn around. Reaching into her backpack she pulled out her flashlight and switched it on. “Here’s some of that stuff we found downstairs. You got a selection between five month out of date cookies or two month out of date jellies. Also got some water if you’re out.”
Michael looked up at her as if he was in a dream.
“You been sleeping?”
“Nah, well I don’t think so. Just thinking about things.” He took the jellies and the water, taking a few mouthfuls before handing the bottle back.
She sat on the dusty planks next to him which surprised him. He adjusted his seating position slightly.
“I know you might not feel part of this team but I want you to know we got your back, and even though he comes across as an ass sometimes the Cap is good people.”
Michael nodded. “Its just been a wild few months. I lost a friend and gained a girlfriend and a kid. And the team I was with have kind of moved on, and—”
Diaz smiled. “Now you’re stuck with us?”
Michael laughed. “I’ll be glad when all this shit is finally done and we can try and figure out what a normal life looks like in the aftermath.”
Diaz nodded. “Normal is just what you end up doing, day in, day out.”
Michael nodded. “Yeah…I’m counting the days until I’m back at the camp.”
She took a swig from the bottle.
“What about you? You got anyone back there?” He said.
“Nah. Not anymore.”
Michael could tell it was a sore point for her and resisted pushing further.
“Well, and don’t take this the wrong way because you know I’m spoken for, but you’re kinda hot—”
She laughed.
“You’ll do fine once all of this madness is in the past.”
She smiled then her face returned to one of seriousness. “If it’s ever in the past…it’s like a nightmare you can’t wake up from…” She swallowed. “I don’t even know if I’m still human…”
Michael put his hand on her shoulder. “Hey, of course—”
Diaz’s radio crackled then Harpers voice burst from it. “Lights! Lights in the sky!”
Diaz clicked on the talk button while getting to her feet and looking out the window. “Give me a vector!”
A mile away to the north, in a street where expensive homes used to reside, but now just ruined structures sat, Harper and Hayes crouched behind the broken front wall of a house. Behind them shadows covered rotting pieces of furniture and all was open to the sky above.
“North, northwest, Over.” Shouted Harper into her radio.
“Its…” Said Hayes.
“I see it!” Said Harper as they both watched the tiny spark of light grow in size.
“I think it’s moving in our direction! I told you we shouldn’t have ventured too far north! If one of those—”
In a blink of an eye the speck of light had become a blinding globe, hovering a few hundred yards from them over a junction. They both squinted trying to see a structure of form within the light, but none could be seen.
A silence fell upon the area.
“What’s it doing?” Whispered Hayes.
Before Harper could reply the shimmering globe sped off, disappearing quicker then they could follow it with their eyes and in its place a winged figure descended then landed on the concrete.
“It’s one of them…” Whispered Hayes.
“Shhh,” said Harper.
The Hulathen standing almost as high as some of the remaining buildings flexed its wings, while looking around itself.
Harper’s radio crackled and she immediately fumbled to turn the volume down. They both ducked down lower. “Fuck.”
A pounding noise came from the junction making them both peer over the wall. The Hulathen was bounding towards them.
Harper clicked on her radio. “Engaging the enemy! Over.” And rested her rifle on the wall and started firing as did Hayes.
Neon streaks flew towards the alien causing sparks to jump from its armor. It covered its angular face then continued moving forwards.
“We’re not stopping it!” Shouted Hayes continuing to fire.
Harper unclipped a grenade, stood slightly and went to throw when a bright light made Hayes cover his eyes. When he looked back Harper was looking at him, frozen in mid-throw, the unpinned grenade in her hand, and a perfect burning hole where her chest used to be. Her mouth was moving trying to voice a word. Hayes, realizing the word was ‘grenade’ threw himself backwards not knowing what was behind him or where h
e would land. The world turned white once again and the rest of the building around him collapsed.
The Hulathen arrived at the smoldering ruins and scanned the wreckage, but on not seeing any signs of life, turned and headed back towards the town.
CHAPTER 32
“Harper?” Diaz shouted into her radio. “Harper! Come in Over.” She looked wide-eyed at Michael. They were both in the main bedroom which had a clear view across the town, and the numerous sparkles of light across the sky. Crackling white noise came back from her radio.
“They were north of us right?” Said Michael.
She nodded and he ran into one of the rear rooms which had a missing outside wall. A blast of cold air hit him as he carefully stepped forward trying not to get too close to the drop off to the floor below. He strained his vision best he could into the dark, trying to see any sign of movement amongst the trees and the suburbia beyond. At first all he could see was the branches swaying in the wind, but then he saw it. A distant bluish glow, moving slowly in the house’s direction. As he watched, the generator chugged along on the ground floor.
Soon the glow was lost amongst the trees and he ran down the stairs and peered through the glass of the front door.
“What can you see?” Shouted Diaz from the first floor.
He turned around raising his arm. “Sssh!” Then looked back. “Fuck!” He instantly ducked. A giant humanoid figure standing half the height of the nearby trees stood at the end of the drive. The forest around was lit by a ghoulish glow from the things armor.
Michael looked back at the generator. Noise…
Behind him the unmistakable sound of gravel being crushed was accompanied by the blue light starting to be reflected off the walls around him.
Diaz crept down the stairs. “We have to turn it off!” She shouted nodding towards the generator. Michael crawled forward and was about to throw the switch on the machines control panel when he stopped. Instead he scrambled to his feet, grabbed Diaz by the hand and pulled her into the kitchen and out the back of it into the yard behind the house.
Without looking back they could both sense the Hulathen not far from them, but the house blocked its view of their escape. They both ran over the lawn, trying to remember what it looked like in the dark, then crashed into the undergrowth amongst the pines of the forest.
Diaz looked back. “We left all our—” Before she could finish a bright flash came from the house, followed by a deafening explosion and the night sky lit up with orange flames and black smoke.
For a few seconds they both watched as what remained of the home they spent the last few hours in rained down on the gardens behind them.
Michael dragged on Diaz’s arm again. “Come on!”
She turned and they both ran as fast as their limited vision of the trees in front of them would allow.
Soon they were back onto a sidewalk surrounded by homes and the sound of battle. They were at a lower elevation but still above the roofs of most of the structures in the center of the town. The points of light skittered left and right across the horizon, while tracer fire streamed into the night sky not touching them.
“They’re everywhere!” Said Diaz. She then knelt. “Hayes…Harper…”
Michael knelt with her against a fence. “Take a breath. We can’t think about them right now. We don’t know what happened. We just got to get back to the bunkers.” In the distance he spotted more of those blue glows in amongst flashes of explosions. He put his hand on her shoulder. “You gotta keep your shit together.” He went to stand back up when he had an idea. “Hey, can you sense them?” It was a crazy idea but then they were two people leaning against a fence, hiding from giant aliens.
She looked at him like he was an insane person. He kept the same questioning expression. “I don’t know…maybe.”
“Try.”
She closed her eyes. A few seconds passed. “Yeah, I think I can. There’s one about two hundred yards parallel with us. I think that’s the one that destroyed the house. Then…” She turned slightly towards the center of town. “And maybe two some way off in that direction.” She opened her eyes and pointed south towards the end of the road they were on.
“We run and stay close to the buildings. Keep that alien radar in the head of yours working.”
She nodded.
They both got to their feet and ran from front yard to front yard, stopping at every other junction they came to for Diaz to sense where the Hulathen were. Soon the sounds of battle and individual rifle fire could be heard just a few more streets ahead.
They crouched behind a truck that was in a parking lot. Across the lot in the center of the street, a manhole cover sat reflecting the limited light from the sky above.
“That manhole cover could be another way into the sewers and the bunkers,” said Michael. He raised his radio and clicked the talk button. “Anyone at the CIC hearing this? Come in. Over.”
After a short pause Zach’s voice came back. “Michael, where the hell are you? Are you with the others? Over.”
“It’s just me and Diaz. The Hulathen are everywhere up here. We’re near a sewer entrance, near a parking lot. Over.”
There was a short pause before Zach replied. “Get to that sewer, we’ll send some people out to collect you. Over.”
He looked at Diaz next to him. “You ready to run your ass off?”
She nodded.
They both sprang up from the truck and started running, straining every sinew and muscle their bodies had to propel them faster. Michael’s heart pounded in his ears as the night air brushed past him and he made it to the manhole first, falling to his knees and scratching away at the metal cover. He looked back at Diaz pumping the air with her fists, running as fast as she could. Come on.
His fingers gripped the underside of the metal lid and he pulled upwards almost tearing his nails off. The cover gave way and he tugged it clear. It’s clanging impact with the concrete being lost against the searing sounds around them.
Just as he turned his head to look back from where they came from his vision was overwhelmed by a blinding light. He rubbed his eyes then looked with water running from them. Diaz was frozen in a running posture bathed in a shaft of blue-white light from above. He went to move towards her when she disintegrated in front of his eyes. Particles of her being pulled upwards. Then, as if someone turned off a light she and the light were gone. He immediately looked towards the heavens. A cold dark rectangular shape sat in the clouds. Scrambling backwards he almost fell into the hole. Grabbing the ladders hand rails he jumped down to the sewer floor, and started running through the tunnels using his hands to feel the curved walls in the dark.
* * * * *
Zach dropped the mike to the desk then looked back at the hive of activity all around him in the CIC. He had seen this level of panic before, but it was in a much larger space back at the headquarters of the camp. He stepped forward joining the others watching the various feeds of the outside world above their heads, and the lights that were flitting around the sky.
“I’ve lost contact with him,” he said.
Mitchell looked at a nearby officer. “Get some soldiers out to that part of the sewer system.”
The soldier nodded and clicked on his radio to issue the command.
Another soldier wearing a headset rushed forward. “Ma’am we can’t hold the east entrance to the sewer system.”
“Tell them to fall back to the sewers, lets see how well they move around in an eight foot high tunnel.”
The monitors all around were full of streaks of light flying towards towering figures, each one wearing an armor which emanated a strange blue-purple glow.
“Just one of them took out five E.L.F’s and withstood a hail of bullets. Why it stopped attacking and left I do not know,” said Erin between gritted teeth.
Zach looked at Abbey who was standing at his side. She was oddly quiet. He walked past Erin and held her hand. She smiled back at him.
“All we’re doing i
s slowing them down,” said Fiona.
Bower stepped forward. “What ordnance or explosives you got?” He said to Mitchell.
She looked at the officers next her. “Quite a selection.”
“Because small arms fire ain’t getting the job done and I need to make them hurt.”
“Sergeant West, take the Captain and a squad and equip them with what he says they need.”
The Sergeant nodded. Zach went to leave with Bower.
Bower’s eyes were full of emotion. “Zach, you’re needed here. Just keep me informed on what’s happening around me.”
Zach nodded.
“I’m going with you,” said Fiona. Bower nodded and together with the Sergeant they left.
A slight whisper of dust fell from the ceiling.
Erin looked at Mitchell. “What do you want us to do?”
“Stay out of the way. You’re probably the reason they are attacking us. But they’re not getting you or any Cascaders.”
Erin briefly put his hand on the generals. “Thank you general.”
“Umm okay. Now please let me do my job.”
Erin stepped back with a smile.
Zach looked at Abbey who gave him the slightest of glances. He then grabbed Erin’s arm, pulling him backwards. “Civilians aren’t needed in the CIC, you should get back to your people and your quarters.”
Erin angrily brushed him off. “Okay I’m leaving!”
Abbey left with him, her hand briefly touching Zach’s as she walked past.
Zach pushed his emotions down deep and walked back to the monitors. In the feeds soldiers ran for places to hide while intense beams swept near them, scything in half anything the light touched.
“The shells aren’t penetrating whatever armor they have,” said Zach.
Mitchell touched her earpiece. “Zach, we got him.”
“Who? Michael? Diaz?”
She shook her head. “They just found him. They are bringing him in through the north tunnels.”
Zach’s thoughts flickered to Bower and then he pushed them aside. He looked at Mitchell. “I can’t stay here, I’m of more use out there.”