AMP- Aftermath

by Brian K. Larson

  Trudy cut away from the door just in time before a sun beam cut its way through the doorframe and through the cement floor before the beam turned sharply and traveled away from the building.

  But the burning rocks continued to pelt the metal tin roof of the building. She turned and headed to where Bennie said to go.

  She turned right and headed down one corridor but stopped at the end where another door was.

  “This doesn’t look familiar. I must have gone the wrong way.”

  She held her hand out to the closed door and pressed against it. She felt if there was any heat or vibrations.

  She removed her hand and grabbed the handle and gave it a turn, “Locked. Well, this isn’t the way we came, but what’s in here anyway?”

  She closed her eyes and shot a small burst of energy into the lock, resulting a distinctive click. Grabbing the handle, she gave it a twist and the door popped open. Feeling around the corner of the door, she felt for a light switch and was rewarded with a click, followed by illumination.

  “What do we have here?” she said as she pushed the door open.

  She stepped inside the room and saw a large machine covered with a sheet. She grabbed the sheet and gave it a tug, pulling the sheet from the machine.

  “Sweet! It’s an accelerator unit!”

  Trudy inspected the machine and was satisfied it was complete.

  She tuned and left the room with the door open behind her as she made her way back down the corridor. This time she took the left turn and headed down the next hallway.

  “This is looking much more familiar. They should be just down at the end of this hall.” She shouted with her hand cupped at her mouth, “Bennie! Trudy?”

  A faint voice echoed from the other side of the last door, “Yeah, we’re back here. Just a minute and I’ll open up,” Bennie shouted through the door.

  A clank was heard as Bennie opened the armory vault door. After it swung open, Trudy met Bennie’s eyes.

  “Wait until I tell you what I just found!”

  “More sun beams tearing across our tin roof?” Bennie mocked.

  “No, nothing like that, Ben. I found a fully functional accelerator unit!”

  “Really?” Bennie shouted, his voice taking an octave higher with excitement.

  “Yes! It’s military issue too, so we can get as much juice out of it as we need.”

  “Well, finally some good news, Trudy.”

  “How’s Jenny?” Trudy asked as she entered the door.

  Bennie pulled the heavy door closed with a slam, it’s echo sounded across the reinforced walls. He grabbed the wheel on the door and gave it a spin, locking them inside.

  The dim lighting told Trudy where Jenny rested, “How is she doing, anyway?”

  “Jenny’s resting comfortably. At least for the moment. She’s had two more growth spirts since we move here. What’s happening outside?”

  “We’re trapped in here until these storms clear, or whatever the hell you call it.”

  Beverly came to Bennie and Trudy’s side and whispered, “Jenny’s finally asleep. Did I hear you say you found an accelerator?”

  “Yes, I did find one. But it’s in the section that doesn’t have this shielding.”

  “How bad is it out there,” Bennie asked.

  “Well, let’s just say I had to dive out of the way from a light beam. Damn thing cut right through the door frame and blew the door off its hinges,” Trudy explained, “The falling fire rocks are another problem. One of the cars that was left at the front entrance was hit by one right at the gas tank. It blew up, taking part of the armory’s outer wall with it.”

  “Is it still raining rocks?” Beverly asked.

  “Yes, last time I was out front, it was coming down pretty hard. If any of us get caught out in that, it’d kill us.”

  “Unless we could be fully amped. Then we could raise a shield to protect us if we had to cross over to another building,” Bennie added.

  The armory shook as a loud boom was heard. The lights flickered before shutting off, leaving them stranded in the darkness of the protected bunker.

  “Oh great!” Beverly exclaimed, “The power’s out. Now we can’t even use the machine.”

  “Maybe it was just a breaker,” Bennie offered, “Does anyone have a light?”

  “Yeah, I’ve got one, hang on,” Beverly fished in her jacket pocket and removed a small flashlight.

  Clicking it on rewarded them with a small beam of light.

  “The batteries are almost gone. We better find another source of light.”

  Bennie felt around the room and quickly located the locking wheel before giving it a couple turns. Pushing on the door rewarded him with it sliding open, letting some of the hallway’s emergency lighting bleed into the room.

  “Mom, you stay here with Jenny. Trudy; you come with me. Let’s see what we can find out.”

  “Okay, Ben,” Trudy nodded her agreement, “We’ll leave this door open for now.”

  “Good idea,” Beverly smiled, “Try not to stay away too long, okay?”

  “It’s okay, Bev. We scoured the entire complex. There isn’t any infestation here,” Trudy assured, “Plus, my Keeper armor would have activated if there was.”

  “Okay, Trudy,” Bennie said, turning Trudy toward the doorway, “She’ll be fine, let’s go.”

  The two made their way down the dimly lit hallway in search for any breaker boxes.

  Chapter 20

  Downtown Seattle

  January 18, 2068 10:52

  Major Preston flew over the Saratoga base and gently set the ship down and powered down the engines to idle.

  Griffin pressed commands on his console, “Skids down and locked, “Shut us down, Major. We need to get Hargrove on board and make our way to the tunnel. It’s already been nearly an hour and a half since they were in position.”

  “We gave them a two-hour window, Tom,” Titus acknowledged as he unfastened his harness. “Hargrove should be ready to roll.”

  Titus pressed his command code on the touch screen opening the inner and exterior hatch of the transport, “Here he comes now! General McKenzie is with him.”

  Hargrove jumped up to the open door on the short-winged ship. General McKenzie climbed after and stood at the entrance of the ship. Griffin met the General with Titus.

  “I trust your mission was a success, Colonel?”

  “That’s a big affirmative, General,” Griffin smiled over at Hargrove, “We’ve got enough to blow the entire basin, enough, Sir.”

  Hargrove chuckled, “Hey, that’s my line!”

  Griffin smiled again, “But it’s a good one. Major, you’ll find everything we need inside.”

  “We better get our ride loaded, then,” Hargrove began.

  “We are loaded, Major,” Griffin cut in, “There’s no time to offload this to your jeep. Preston’s already revved up. We’ll take the transport. General, are there any sign of reanimation going on?”

  “Just a couple wrecked clinkers at the tunnel entrance that were left overs. Mitch reports they moved a pool of alien matter from their maintenance opening, but other than that, it’s all clear.”

  “Perfect,” Hargrove answered with glee, “This ship should make it all the way through the tunnel to the Yesler hatch.”

  “It’ll be tight,” Griffin added, “But Preston will make it through.”

  “From there,” Hargrove continued,” We’ll all take a backpack loaded up with C4 and detonators and plant them on the exterior seawall at Alaska Way.”

  “Aren’t you a little bit worried about us carrying all those explosives on our backs?” Titus asked.

  “No, the C4 is inert until the detonator is inserted,” Hargrove nodded. “Besides, there’s nothing like a good ol’ fashioned adrenaline rush to activate our spidy sense.”

  Griffin pointed with thumb at Hargrove as he turned to enter the ship, “I like the way this guy thinks.”

  “You all just be careful down there,
got it?” McKenzie said with a stern finger.

  “Yes, Sir,” Hargrove gave a salute. “That’s one order I will follow.”

  “Seal us up,” Titus,” Hargrove ordered before kneeling at the payload. Taking his hands, he laid them on his prize at each corner of the pallet and gave the explosives a hug, “I’m in love, guys!”

  The sound of the thrusters alerted them that Preston was taking off. The ship turned toward the tunnel entrance and slowly moved forward, low to the ground.

  Hargrove began loading backpacks with Titus as they flew, “Don’t get caught in those downed powerlines, Major,” Griffin instructed, “A little to your left and ten feet lower… there, that should be good.”

  “I see the tunnel up ahead. It looks pretty small, Sir,” Preston grimaced as he squeezed the controls tighter.

  “Still no signs of any new clinkers or squids,” Griffin said as he inspected the ground around them.

  “I’ll be entering the tunnel in another minute.”

  Griffin depressed his transmitter, “This is Griffin. Mitch, do you copy?”

  The radio crackled static before Mitch’s voice broke in, “Roger, Major. I read you. Still all clear. You’re going to go through the tunnel?”

  “Ten-four, Mitch, it’ll be tight, but Preston here says he can do it. It’ll be better in case any squids or clinks show up to our party above ground.”

  “Agreed. Don’t forget about the green ooze we moved earlier. It’ll be down there with ya,” Mitch said over the ship’s comm link.

  “You don’t have to worry about that,” Hargrove smiled as he set an extra C4 charge in his pack. I’ve got that covered too.”

  “Great,” McKenzie nodded, “Hargrove says he’s got that handled already.”

  “Kent and Jack just checked in. They see you lowering down to the road level. It’s all clear for them at this time.”

  “I spotted them,” Griffin acknowledged. “They’re waving to us.”

  “Okay, guys,” Preston said with hesitation, “I’m goin’ in.”

  “Nice and easy, Major,” Griffin nodded.

  “We’re in… tight… but we’re in…”

  Preston flew the ship slowly down the underground tunnel, turning and easing around the lazy turns. Crossing several of the street signs from below, he reached his mark

  “Full stop!” Preston reported, “Lower landing struts.”

  Griffin pressed a few commands on his touch screen, evidenced by several servos pushing the struts to the ground.

  Preston turned the ship one-hundred and eighty degrees before landing, “We’re down,” Preston again reported, “Shutting systems down.”

  Griffin removed his straps and climbed from his co-pilot seat, “You all set back here, Hargrove?”

  “We have four backpacks fully loaded,” Hargrove answered as he handed one of the packs to Griffin.

  Griffin took the pack by the straps and slung it through his arms before taking a firearm presented by Snaggletooth.

  “Thanks, this’ll be great,” Griffin smiled as he cocked the weapon ready.

  Titus handed another gun to Major Preston, “Take this rail-gun and Hargrove’s got your pack.”

  Titus slung his pack over one shoulder and grabbed a portable rocket launcher. Turning he smiled back at Griffin, “What?”

  “Just seems like a bit of an overkill.”

  “I’m not taking any chances,” Titus nodded as he strapped a side arm to his hip and another rail-gun for his free arm.

  “Whatever floats your boat, there, Titus.”

  Titus presented the rocket launcher before Griffin, “Yes, this floats it just fine,” he laughed.

  Hargrove finished handing out the packs before he slung his over his back and took one grenade launcher and a rail-gun from Titus.

  “Okay, we’re all set,” Griffin nodded before releasing the ship’s door, “Move out!”

  Major Preston took point and exited the ship first, his rail-gun pointed at the ready as Titus joined him next. Hargrove and Griffin exited and jumped down from the short-winged ship.

  The four stood in a semicircle from the ship’s door, their guns pointed in all directions before Hargrove shouted out, “There’s the alien pile they told us about.”

  Major Preston broke the circle first and headed to the alien substance for a closer examination.

  Kneeling down, he held the butt of his gun to the ground as the others followed him over, “It’s got movement!”

  Preston jumped back as a tentacle slowly rose from the substance and wiggled in the air.

  “They’re starting to regen,” Griffin protested as he tapped his headset, “This is Griffin, get me the General, pronto!”

  A moment later Griffin’s headset rewarded him with the General’s voice, “What’s your report, Colonel?”

  “We arrived at the Yesler street maintenance hatch and found the alien substance. They’re starting to regenerate, Sir. Stay on your toes out there!”

  “Affirmative, my front-line teams are reporting they’re seeing movement as well. You better get those charges set soon!”

  “That’s a big 10-4, General.” Griffin nodded before taking aim at the expanding alien mass, “I’ll report in shortly, Griffin out!”

  He squeezed his trigger, sending hundreds of rail-shot into the regenerating mass, reducing it back to a pile of liquid.

  Reloading his weapon with a fresh clip, he motioned to the ladder, “Let’s keep moving.”

  Hargrove trotted ahead of Griffin and began climbing to the open hatch above, “J? CB? You up here?”

  Hargrove’s head poked into the maintenance shack to find both Charlie and J watching out the cracked door.

  “Yeah, we’re seeing all kind of squid activity forming out there. You’re gonna have a firefight on your way across Alaska Way,” CB reported, as he helped Hargrove from the manhole opening in the floor.

  Griffin climbed up next followed by Preston and finally Titus, who took up the rear. The six men squeezed inside the small room.

  “How bad is it, J?” Hargrove asked.

  “They’re regenerating at pretty quickly now,” J protested, “We’re running out of time. They’ll be full squid form in about five more minutes, by the looks of it.” J moved his head back and forth, trying to get a better look, “They’re already forming tentacles and heads.”

  “Not really what I had hoped for,” Hargrove protested.

  “Well, it is what it is,” Griffin nodded.

  Hargrove turned and gave him a quick stare, “Okay, let’s move out! I’m taking point! CB and J, continue to hold this position.”

  “You got it, Major,” Charlie nodded.

  Hargrove burst through the door, crouch-running across the street to where Mitch and Kurtis were waiting. Griffin followed Hargrove after waiting three seconds, followed by Titus and Preston, who took up the rear this time.

  The alien squid creatures grew at an alarming rate, forming rail-guns before they formed their three legs.

  Hargrove aimed at one of the clusters of squid aliens and opened fire, as he continued to run low to the ground. After cutting the first three squids down to alien goo, he turned and fired on another grouping of five.

  Griffin opened fire on their flank, taking more forming aliens, cutting them down before they had a chance to return fire.

  Titus joined Griffin’s fire at a larger squad of eight as Preston slowed his run to aim to his right flank and cut three more down.

  “They’re everywhere!” Hargrove protested.

  Mitch and Kurtis rose from their hiding place and opened fire being careful not to catch the approaching fire team in their crossfire.

  Kurtis grew green armor and shielding to protect their position. The wave of energy filled a dome arch of protection as Hargrove charged for cover behind the new shield.

  Griffin finished off his grouping and took aim beyond them. Holding his grenade launcher in the air, he sent three rounds in a three-degree spread to t
ake down a grouping of ten squids.

  The three rounds impacted, detonating and sending green alien matter in all directions before he took cover behind Kurtis’ shielding.

  “Good to see you guys,” Hargrove nodded as he removed his pack.

  Preston and Titus made it to the shield and set their backpacks on the ground and began unloading their payloads.

  Kurtis’ armor began retracting after his shield lowered, “We got ‘em all for now. Seems like my armor will alert us if they start to regen again.”

  Hargrove meticulously placed all of his C4 on the seawall and then took more from Preston as he began handing his payload.

  Once all backpacks were fully positioned, Hargrove began inserting the detonators on each C4 charge. Then Major Preston rigged up the trigger and checked his wireless connection.

  “This wifi is isolated to these detonators,” Mitch reminded Hargrove, “So we can make our way back to the ship and blow it from there.”

  “How are we gonna know if we succeeded? Charlie asked.

  “Oh,” Hargrove chuckled, “We’ll know when the tunnel begins to flood.”

  “That’s why we need to get back to the ship and blow it from there,” Griffin said, scoping out the territory from their position, “There won’t be enough time to get the ship out if we don’t.”

  “I’m all set, Major,” Hargrove reported, “All the detonators are in place.”

  “They’re already regenerating!” Charlie exclaimed, “There’s a special in the seafood department on fresh squid.”

  Kurtis’ armor began to form once more around his torso and down his arms, “Yeah, we better get moving!”

  Raising his hands as he ran out in the open, he raised a shield of protection. Hargrove patted each of his fire team as he pushed them out, ensuring all his men where on the way before he left.

  A wall of squids rose, cutting them off from the maintenance shack. Titus raised his rocket launcher to his shoulder and shouted, “Hit the deck!”

  Squeezing the firing trigger sent a short powerful rocket from the mini launch tube, its fire blew from the back of the launcher in a cloud of smoke. The rocket shot across the street aimed toward the new forming squid army of twenty.