The breeze faded but the sound came again, loud enough to reach human ears this time, loud enough to illicit growls from the Dobermans guarding the main entrance of City Hall. Loud enough to stir a little girl from sleep.
A fuzzy, electric-sounding burst.
Eleven-year-old Denise Cannon sat up in her makeshift bed: a wool blanket and a raggedy old pillow on the carpeted floor. As she rubbed her eyes, she realized that she had been in a deeper sleep than she remembered having her whole life. With Nina and the Grenadiers around, she felt safe: a new feeling to her.
Alas, that feeling faded as a sizzling noise seeped in from the dark outside. It sounded as if someone tried to tune a radio station but found only static.
Denise heard a new sound, one from the hallway. A scratching noise.
She opened her door. A portable light at the end of the hall fired a thick beam of harsh illumination down the corridor, flooding most of the passage in brilliant white but also creating sharp shadows along the ceiling and floor.
The black and gray Norwegian Elkhound named Odin pawed at Nina’s door across the hall. That door opened and Captain Forest stuck her head out. She wore sweat pants and a tank top while holding a pistol in one hand and a walkie-talkie in the other.
That static-like, electronic buzz came again. It sounded far off, but still managed to send a shiver through Denise’s body.
Nina saw Denise watching her and must have noticed that shiver.
“Hey, it’s okay. Don’t worry. Now hang on a sec.” Nina raised her radio and transmitted, “This is Captain Forest. Night watch, what have we got?”
A man’s voice answered. Denise had trouble understanding his words because it sounded as if the guy chewed gum while he spoke.
“You hear what we hear, Cap. No visuals, yet. I got spotters on the roof. They can’t see shit. “
Nina answered, “Doesn’t sound too close. Did we get a pinball in yet?”
“No, Sir,” came the reply. “We sent the request up yesterday when we realized what we were dealing with. 1st Mech is shipping one over in the morning. We’ve got rockets down here, if it comes to that.”
“I don’t want to screw around with rockets. That’s not the best way to deal with these things,” Nina sighed and looked to the ceiling as if searching for an answer there. After a moment, she ordered, “Look, bottle things up tight. Stay out of sight. I want to wait until we get a pinball before we start messing around with it.”
“Roger that.”
The radio conversation ended. Nina looked at Odin and commanded, “Silent security.”
Odin trotted off.
“It’s okay. Go back to bed,” Nina said to Denise and added a quick but not-so-convincing smile.
Denise hurried to ask, “What’s a pinball?”
“It’s a special piece of, well, of equipment that we use against Shadows when they pop up. It causes them to, um, sort of break apart, I think. Now I need to get some more sleep, I’ve been going full speed the last couple of days. Good night.”
Nina turned around. She stopped when a new noise reached in from outside: A swooshing sound, as if a large object waved through the air; like a gigantic club or baseball bat hitting nothing.
Denise stood perfectly still. Any sense of security drained away. Once again, she felt like a little girl hiding under a porch watching a policeman pulled into the air by a tentacle, or crouching in the back seat of an abandoned mini van while a furry crocodile swallowed one of her schoolmates whole.
Nina pivoted around to Denise and saw those terrified eyes. The soldier stared at the girl for several long seconds, obviously unsure how to act. But then something clicked home. Some internal circuit breaker connecting a wire between her mind and her heart.
She crossed the hall into Denise’s room and closed the door behind them.
“Hey, hey,” Nina said softly. “It’s okay. We’re safe here.”
Denise squeezed in tight against Nina, as if trying to hide inside the strong woman’s arms. The two slid to the floor, propped up beneath a window.
That swooshing sounded once more, followed by something howling, maybe one of the few remaining Sloths. Still far away, but scary nonetheless.
Nina gave the kid a firm hug. Denise’s trembling slowed and, despite the occasional buzz and swoosh from outside, the little girl felt safe enough to fall asleep again.
–
“General Stonewall, Sir,” Kristy Kaufman entered the command tent.
“Yes, Captain?”
Stonewall sat at a foldable table. In front of him lay several slices of barely toasted bread and two sunny side up eggs, both half-eaten. An oil lamp lit the small room in a soft glow. A hint of frost escaped their mouths with every word.
“Latest report on enemy movements from reconnaissance.”
“Oh, please, do tell, Captain. Pardon my manners; care for some breakfast? I could have more eggs delivered.”
“No thank you, Sir.”
“Well then, you read and I shall eat,” with that, Garrett Stonewall McAllister returned to devouring his morning meal.
“Reconnaissance reports that several smaller enemy formations have regrouped in Parkersburg north of Bladen Lakes State Forest. They believe an additional group has formed in Kerr, west of the forest. Both those groups have made contact with enemy convoys and are now receiving supplies and fuel.”
“I see.”
“The Hivvan forces that had been in Clinton took heavy casualties and pulled out heading south. Their intentions are unknown. Additional smaller groups are beginning to regroup in areas both northwest and west of Bladen Lakes.”
“You don’t say. Well, it seems our General Shepherd has a clairvoyance surpassing my own. That is difficult to admit.”
“But he’s not going to get to Conway before you get to Dillon, Sir.”
“Oh? And what is the reason behind such a brass prediction?”
Kristy explained, “1st Mech is held up west of Wilmington. They’ve been stuck there for three or four days now.”
“Interesting,” Stonewall set his fork aside and considered. “Let me guess, a field of Hivvan snapmines? Those blasted contraptions certainly delayed our advance, and electrified a few of our boys, too. Nasty way to die.”
“No, Sir, they—”
“The Screamers, then. If the Hivvans chose to strafe our lines, they certainly spent time annoying General Shepherd, too. Still, not much of a delay. I doubt it would account for his current predicament.”
“Not Screamers either, General. It seems—”
“Well of course then, he is facing the same supply difficulties as ourselves. That is, certainly, the reason for his—”
“General, perhaps you should return to breakfast and allow me to complete my report?”
Stonewall opened his mouth, paused, and then retrieved his fork and used it to fill that mouth with another bite.
Kristy told him, “Rumor has it there’s a town of people who won’t allow 1st Mech to go through. It seems that if General Shepherd is to move forward, he’s going to face a village full of people who will resist his passage.”
“Oh,” Stonewall considered that. “Oh, indeed. Yes, that is a remarkable development.”
“I don’t understand it myself, General. If this is true…”
“If true,” General Stonewall McAllister pushed aside his breakfast plate, retrieved his hat, and stood. “It creates a rather difficult—and I should say ‘interesting’—situation. Well, Captain, thank you for your report. Prepare the men for departure; I hope to make good time today.”
“General, may I inquire where you are going?”
“Just a morning walk to inspect the ground ahead.”
He moved around Kristy and exited out into the chilled air of pre-dawn darkness. The General strolled among the tents of his temporary camp in the parking lot of a convenience store. Soldiers rolled sleeping bags, others cooked over open fires, one tried on boot after boot in search of something tha
t fit best.
Stonewall climbed a short rise and stood on the pavement of I-95. Far off to the east an orange glow mustered on the horizon as a new day prepared to arrive. Those first sunbeams provided just enough light for him to read a road sign in the distance.
SOUTH CAROLINA 20 mi.
I wonder how much has changed since my last farewell?
Another interesting question.
–
The scratch came at the door again. However, this time Odin scratched at the wrong door. Still, Nina heard him.
She moved and that woke Denise. The little girl rolled over onto the floor in a ball.
Nina rose to her feet with a crack in her back, the price for sleeping in a sitting position against a hard wall.
The Captain opened the door and saw Odin across the hall. The dog whined. While Nina could not communicate with K9s, she certainly knew when her friend tried to warn her of danger.
Two minutes later Captain Forest—dressed in a black and gray tactical outfit—stood downstairs at the main entrance. Denise had tried to follow but Nina forced her to stay behind with Odin ordered to ‘protect’ the girl.
“It’s up on North 23rd street,” a burly Hunter-Killer Century Commander reported as he and Nina exited the building. “My K9s are giving it shit but they won’t last long.”
“Yeah, well, neither will we if we don’t get that pinball.”
A noise—that electronic, buzzing sound—echoed over the rooftops.
The Commander said, “Damn thing is pretty active. Why didn’t we see it before?”
Another soldier stood by a Humvee parked at the curb. He wore the typical black BDUs of the Hunter-Killers but carried a heavy knapsack and Nina saw the back of his Humvee packed with crates. She knew him to be a heavy weapons ‘Specialist” assigned to one of the K9 Legions.
“Captain,” the Specialist called. “We’re expecting the pinball some time this morning. It’s coming down from Raleigh in a convoy.”
Nina told the two men, “I was hoping to hunker down until we got that pinball, but it’s too active to ignore, now. Besides, we have to show the survivors around here that we can handle things like Shadows.”
“What did we do to get this thing in our shit?” The Commander asked. “Kill off all its food? Is it running around now because it’s hungry?”
“They don’t eat,” Nina explained as she sat in the shotgun seat after the Commander jumped in the back. “Not as far as we know. I think it’s just pissed off because we’re around.”
“Guess they just don’t like people,” the Specialist, moving behind the wheel, said.
As the vehicle pulled away Nina asked, “Who does?”
The Humvee headed north beneath a sky just starting to turn blue and with long shadows stretching across the pavement in the low sun.
K9s in groups of three appeared on the sidewalks and side streets every few blocks, sniffing the air and searching for hiding hostiles. The pacification of Wilmington had reached the point that the dogs were set loose on their own to hunt down stragglers. If they found a big problem, they barked for help.
A Shadow is a big problem.
As they wove through the business district, Nina saw the leftovers from the Shadow’s nighttime visit. Buildings, cars, fences, trees: pieces of each had simply been removed. It was as if they were drawings and something had walked down the street swinging an eraser.
If a key support was erased then, yes, the level above might fall as had happened to one office building. Otherwise the chunk was simply gone, surgically removed leaving behind a hole with perfectly smooth edges: a sedan missing everything between the hood and the trunk; a fast food restaurant split in half as if it were some kind of play set for a giant child; an overpass neatly cut in two pieces.
Nina heard the swoosh and crackle of the creature wreaking devastation.
“All heavy teams report to North 23rd street,” Nina radioed. “We’re going to need rockets. A lot of heavy stuff.”
They turned left and drove through a smashed gate leading on to the grounds of ‘EUE/Screen Gems Studios.’ This large compound was one of the reasons why, in the old world, Wilmington became known as the Hollywood of the East.
Several rows of long and tall featureless buildings comprised the studio grounds with paved lots and roadways between.
As they drove onto the front lot, the Shadow appeared in the hazy early morning light.
It did not look real; more like a bad special effect from a 1950s science fiction flick. A tall and lanky creature standing nearly seven stories tall, the Shadow resembled a stick figure man but blurry and with smooth edges and no discernable hands or feet. Indeed, it did not appear to touch the ground, walking on some invisible cushion.
No features—no eyes, no ears—no appendages other than two arms and two legs. Nothing but black. In fact, it resembled less a creature and more a walking void cut from the fabric of reality.
Whatever the Shadow touched, it annihilated. That is to say, matter disappeared. Vanished as if it never existed.
As it moved, it ‘swooshed’ its arms back and forth. Sometimes it walked straight though buildings. Walls and windows, metal and rock, anything it touched disintegrated.
This Shadow moved out from behind a tall, warehouse-like studio building. In front of it scrambled a pack of K9s, mostly Rottweilers. They could not actually fight this monster. Instead, they barked and snapped in an attempt to delay or confuse it but no one could be sure that a Shadow had sentience enough to be delayed or confused.
Nina’s crew stopped a hundred yards from the monster on the open pavement of the front parking lot. She spoke into her radio, “All units we have sighted the target on the grounds of the Screen Gem Studios. We need immediate assistance.”
That electronic, static noise buzzed everywhere. Nina felt the hair on her arms and neck stand straight.
One of the Shadow’s long, featureless arms swooshed at the pack of Grenadiers. It passed through the front half of a Rottweiler with no resistance, as easily as waving in air. The head, neck, shoulders and front paws of the dog disappeared with no trace. Messy innards from the lifeless back half oozed out as the remains plopped to the pavement.
The Shadow turned and ‘walked’ into a huge, long building. As it made contact with walls, those walls evaporated. No dust, no crash, no smashing. Instead, annihilation at some molecular level that left no atom intact.
As it erased one wall, a banner from an internal ceiling beam fluttered to the ground. It read, “Shooting Stage: One Tree Hill.” Nina saw catwalks and row upon row of colored lights hanging above a sound stage where, apparently, this show once filmed.
It moved off toward the back lot, seemingly uninterested in the dogs or the people for the moment. Nina did not waste the opportunity.
“Listen, we need to mass our fire,” she spoke to the Specialist and the Century Commander. “You know the drill. Sometimes you hit these things, sometimes you don’t. Grab one of the AT4s.”
The Specialist warned, “These three are all I got left, Cap.”
“Then they’d better do the job, right?”
Each soldier grabbed one of the shoulder-fired anti-tank rockets.
Nina then whistled to grab the attention of the K9s trailing the beast.
She waved and yelled, “Withdraw!”
The canines enthusiastically retreated from following the walking void and assembled around Nina and the two H-K handlers.
However, the Shadow noticed their withdrawal, or perhaps it heard Nina’s whistle, if it could hear at all. Regardless, the shambling creature changed direction, returning toward the front lot and stepping through an old catering truck on the way.
“Spread out, hurry!” She ordered the other two men who then jogged in opposite directions, trying to flank the Shadow as it closed.
It strode into the parking lot, although no part of the blackness seemed to touch the ground, despite making the motion of walking. No sound, no tremor, no impa
ct she could see. Again, as if it did not exactly exist in her reality.
The dogs growled and snapped again, turning to face the approaching monster.
Nina yelled, “Fire!”
All three rockets launched nearly simultaneously.
Nina aimed directly where the creature’s ‘chest’ might be. The projectile passed straight through the target and headed harmlessly into the morning sky, its contrail drifting in the light breeze.
A second rocket came from the Shadow’s left and went through the blackness of what was supposed to be its head and continued on into that same orange atmosphere.
A third rocket, from the Specialist, impacted in what might have been the ‘gut’ of the thin entity. It exploded and shoved the Shadow backwards, not so much staggering as sliding. While the projectile hit, the explosion from the warhead seemed to miss, as if the entity faded out of existence in the microsecond between impact and detonation.
Undeterred, the Shadow moved toward Nina. She jumped in the Humvee and skirted away as the Shadow tried to smash one of its arms into the vehicle. It hit the pavement, leaving behind a gigantic pothole in the form of a perfect circle.
The other two soldiers and the K9s scattered. Nina drove between studio buildings with the Shadow in pursuit. While not particularly fast, it held the advantage of not having to go around anything, it simply sliced through buildings, cars, and walls as if they never existed in the first place.
As she struggled to round a left turn at the rear of the lot, her radio crackled.
“Captain Forest! The supply truck is here! We got the damn pinball!”
She stopped driving. The Shadow bore down on her.
“Send the Grenadiers to keep this thing busy!”
Nina slammed the gas as the Shadow bent its lanky frame and pounded one black arm at her. The strike missed, leaving yet another perfectly smooth scar in the pavement.
She raced to the front lot again. As she did, the pack of ten Grenadiers hurried in the other direction to confront and, again, attempt to delay the monster.
She and the Specialist rendezvoused with a deuce-and-half army truck at the front gate.
The driver of the supply truck jumped out and pointed in the distance at the tall black stick of a thing walking around. Like all survivors of Armageddon, the man had seen his share of nasty beasts but few matched a Shadow for outright weirdness.
Beyond Armageddon: Book 02 - Empire Page 21