by Maxey, Phil
“Everyone look for buildings nearby. Probably a farm house. I don’t think they went far.”
“How do you know?” said Carrie.
“They thought Ben was Hobbs grandson. Thought they could do a trade for stuff. Then they heard us there and ran, taking Ben with them. I suspect they will be going back to the store to offer the trade, but I’m not going to wait that long.”
As they drove Carrie looked out of one side with binoculars, while Ethan did the same on the other, and Grant the front.
“Slow down, I think I see something,” said Carrie.
Jay eased off the gas.
“Don’t completely stop. They might be watching the road,” said Grant. “What do you see?” He looked with his own double lenses across a large field to their left.
“I think I saw a van parked out front of a few buildings, maybe cabins of some kind. Could be yellow, but can’t be sure.”
They approached a turnoff to a road which ran all the way to the small group of structures at the back of the field.
“Keep going,” said Grant. Jay increased their speed and Grant looked back down at his map. “About quarter of a mile there’s some kind of track that heads to the west. Should be far enough away, turn in there.”
They quickly got to the single lane dirt track, and as Grant predicted a series of trees and outbuildings shielded the pickup from the other road. He looked back to Ethan. “You up to be on the long gun?”
Ethan nodded.
They sped along the bumpy track, which rose up a slight incline.
“Stop here!” said Grant.
Jay slammed on the breaks and they skidded to a halt.
“We’re going to try Dame Avenue,” said Grant. The cabin was silent. “It gets us in close.”
Everyone agreed, even though he knew each was worried. Concerns were for another day, a day after he had his son back.
He looked at Jay and Ethan. “Make your way to the buildings from this side. But nobody fire until either I give the signal or there’s no other choice.”
They nodded.
“Okay, let’s do this.”
Everyone got out. He sat for a few seconds, trying to calm his thoughts. He hadn’t got Ben through all this, just to lose him to pieces of human waste. He reversed slightly then turned and rejoined the main road, heading back along the way they came. Slowly he turned into the narrow road, which ran along empty paddocks. A series of green single-story houses sat with a number of rusting abandoned vehicles near them. He slowed then saw it, a paint chipped yellow van with a red stripe along the middle. It was parked outside the second of the five houses.
He stopped, letting the engine run for a few moments then pulled off again taking a left along a small road, which connected to another which looped past the buildings. He followed it around, pulling up just ten yards from the yellow van and parked on the opposite side. The windows around him were dark, most with grime colored drapes masking their interiors. He doubted the men would be in the house closest to the van, when they had all the other buildings to choose from, and he presumed they were watching him sit in the pickup, so that was the place he would pretend to check out first. He turned the engine off, picked up the M4 and got out.
A number of trees blocked the view to the north. He wondered how far the others were, or if Ethan could even see him in his sights. But that didn’t matter. For now he was sure the scum’s eyes were completely on him, and that’s what he wanted.
He got out, paused for a moment near the pickup and used the wing mirror to look at buildings behind him, but there was still no movement behind the glass panes. He then walked straight for the house near the van, stretching his senses for any sign of life ready to pounce on him, human or E.L.F. He stepped onto the slim deck, walked to the door avoiding rotten boards and knocked on the paint chipped door.
He knew there might well be a gun pointing directly at his head on the other side of the glass, but that was okay, it meant they weren’t paying attention to anything else. After waiting a few seconds he stepped off the side of the porch, onto the dry mud that surrounded the property and walked to the back, turning the corner and then quickly crouched beneath the rear window. Wherever the men were, they no longer had a line of sight on him. They had no idea where he was and all he had to do was wait for them to take the bait.
He lifted his head slightly and peered above the window seal into the building he was leaned up against. A bedroom with a single bed and a TV from another century looked back at him. The room’s door was open and revealed a hallway, with a shaft of light coming in from another room. He watched, waiting to see if any of the shadows moved or boards creaked, but none did.
Then he heard it, but not directly, for the sound came from the radio he had near his ear. The volume was low but the open channel to the similar device under the tarpaulin in the back of the pickup was picking up noises clearly. And they were muffled voices then footsteps.
He walked to the far side of the building and peered around to the road and vehicles beyond.
Damn.
He hoped both of the men that took Ben would be equally stupid, but unfortunately only one was sniffing around the pickup. He looked as he imagined he would. Late thirties, straggly beard and a cap. In his hand was some kind of handgun.
Grant held his binoculars to his eyes and scoured the buildings opposite. He didn’t have long before the plan would be revealed, but then a shadow moved behind a distant window.
Got you.
He had to move quick, for Carrie was about to be discovered. He ran along the back of the building to his left, and another, skirting around behind the open yards, then came back to the road. The house with whoever was watching was just fifty yards away behind another next to it. Ben had to be inside.
The bearded man had his back to him, but was now poking around the tarpaulin.
Only seconds.
He sprinted across the road then down the side of the first building with the small front yard, and arrived at the rear. Sound burst from back at the road and his radio.
Discovered.
He held the radio close to his ear then crept across the yard of the house, looking into the back of the building he needed to get too.
“Yeah fucker. If you don’t want your balls blown off, I suggest you drop the gun into the bed, and turn around,” came Carrie’s voice from the radio’s speaker.
Shit. The other guy will know something’s going down. Need to act—
The rear screen door of the single-story house in front of Grant, burst open. A man, a really tall one, had a shotgun in one hand and Ben in the other, whose mouth was covered in tape. He was struggling, but the guys grip was too strong.
Grant had to act. He raised the M4 pointing it directly at the man, who looked up shocked and immediately pulled Ben in front of him, then held the double barrels to his young head.
“I’ll kill him!”
Grant had faced twenty other occurrences just like the one he was now witnessing, but none of them could mean his world ending, not even the Cascade did that.
Do my job.
“Nobody needs to get hurt. Just let the kid go and you and your friend can go too.”
The man looked confused for a moment, then a smile broke out across his stubbly chin. “This kid mean something to you don’t he?”
It was a question Grant wasn’t prepared for. He hesitated then realized that already gave the guy the answer.
“If anything happens to—”
Grant’s radio came to life. “Grant! Have you got him? We have to—”
The ground shook and the guy fell back slightly losing his grip on Ben, who sprinted forward. The man went to raise his gun at the boy who was running for his life, just as Grant was doing the same at him, when the houses to their right exploded, filling the air with splintered wood, metal beams, glass and brick.
Grant looked up from the ground, realizing he was yards from where he had been standing, at a four-legged creat
ure which was as big as five of the houses stacked on top of each other. Its lizard like head roared creating a deafening sound, but Grant didn’t care about that. He flicked his head back to the scene of devastation around him.
Ben was lying on the dirt, some pieces of wood over his head. He was moving and that alone despite the monster from hell standing over them, restarted Grant’s heart. He scrambled forward, looking at Ben, the creature and for any sign of the man with the ponytail but the latter had gone. He also couldn’t see any sign of his weapon.
“Grant! Are you there? Over,” said Carrie whispering on the radio in his pocket.
The ground shook again, and more of the building nearby collapsed causing Grant to dive over his son to stop anymore debris landing on him. He grabbed his arm then pulled the tape from his mouth. “Are you okay? Can you talk? Where does it hurt?”
Ben swallowed then looked down at his leg.
“Okay, I’m going to carry you.”
Ben nodded and Grant looked one more time to see if the man was around, but on not seeing him scooped Ben up, placed him over one shoulder and staggered forward, stepping over broken pieces of wood and masonry until he hit up against one of the houses walls that was remaining standing. He looked up at the creature, now almost being directly below it, then walked slowly forward and peered around the wall to the street out front.
The pickup was just as it was before, minus the other guy.
Ben went to talk.
“Shh buddy. No talking right now.”
Grant fished his radio out of his pocket. “I’ve got Ben. Carrie, where are you? Over.”
“Back of the pickup. Over.”
“We’re hunkered down, about a hundred yards, north,” said Jay. “That things huge!”
“If anyone’s got any ideas of how to distract it, I’m all ears. Over,” whispered Grant.
The ground shook and the creature’s head, which had a lot in common with a Gecko, lowered to what was left of the roof of the house Grant was standing against. Warm foul-smelling air washed over him and Ben, and both made an effort to hold their breaths.
“Got an idea, just…”
Grant slowly turned the knob on the radio, reducing the volume to silence as the giant creature nudged its head against the building, making more of it fall to the ground and the air fill with more dust.
An explosion rang out from the north, followed by a mild tremor. Grant didn’t see the fireball directly but black smoke rose into the air.
Suddenly the creature took off with a speed that defied its size, smashing through the remaining houses.
Grant sprinted forward towards the pickup as Carrie jumped out the back and pulled the rear door open. He placed Ben inside with Carrie getting in behind, then jumped in the driver’s seat. The leviathan was now half a mile away and roaring at the fire which was now burning in the fields.
He turned the ignition and the pickup surged forward, moving back to the main track then taking a right towards the main road.
“Jay? Ethan? Over,” said Carrie.
“We’re… Pick…” The sound of scuffling of equipment and clothes came from her radio.
“Tell them to get to the main road!” said Grant, as he careened onto the two-lane road then accelerated northwards. The creature stood, snapping at the flames and smoke about half a mile to their left. A distance the creature could cover in a few seconds if he noticed the pickup speeding along.
“Get back to the main road! We’re on our way! Over,” shouted Carrie into her radio.
Grant looked at the field. “No…”
The creature looked up. Something had caught its attention and it wasn’t the pickup. It took a faltering step forward, then another.
“We… running…” Jay could hardly get the words from his mouth.
Grant skidded to a stop at the top of the track. Jay and Ethan were running towards them.
“Get down!” cried Carrie into the radio. “It sees you!”
But they couldn’t hear for the creature was roaring again, and running towards the two men that were struggling through the long grass, towards the dirt track and pickup.
It made up the distance on them within seconds. Ethan turned and started firing, but the bullets were like flies to the four story high thing that slammed down its foot on him. Jay hadn’t looked back, hadn’t seen the fate of his friend, but couldn’t cover the ground quickly enough either. The monster ran forward and…
Grant had already pulled away, quickly accelerating. Faster and faster, skidding around the winding roads as the monster, flames and deceased friends moved into the distance behind him.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
After ten minutes of driving too fast, Grant pulled over to the side of the road and checked on Ben. He was dehydrated and tired, and his ankle was bruised but apart from that he appeared as well as could be expected.
Over the next hour, Ben lay in Carrie’s arms, both of them crying intermittently. Grant’s eyes though remained fixed on the road and the occasional groups of trees or field. He had reverted to a state of mind he had found himself in too often during the years he was in the department. A detachment from emotion which allowed him to get through the day. Unfortunately it also usually continued into the evenings, and it wasn’t too much of a surprise to him when Iona pulled the ripcord on their marriage.
Ben’s okay.
He had been saying those two words over and over as he moved further away from where the two men he had come to like and respect had died. With the words came anger. Not at the creature but at himself for not being more aware. He had been so focused on getting his son back, that no other danger really mattered. And anyway he and his team had dealt with E.L.F’s before, maybe not as large as the thing back in the field, but dangerous creatures that would kill you as soon as sniff you, and had come out largely unscathed.
They were good men.
His throat started to tighten and his eyes grew wet, but he steeled himself against the wave of guilt and scanned the landscape which was breathtaking in its grandeur. It was now mid-afternoon and they were driving through mountains, allowing a view of tens of miles and to the greener valleys below. In the distance there were plumes of dust but it was impossible to see the cause.
“They died because of me!” shouted Ben.
His son’s words hit Grant like he had been shot. “Monsters killed them Ben, not you. And other kinds of monsters took you.”
“I… I tried to shoot them… but…” he started to cry again.
“You were amazing,” said Carrie. “So brave!”
A tear ran down Grant’s cheek and he swallowed trying to push the pain back to where it needed to be, somewhere where it wouldn’t interfere with his brain. He just needed to get out of California, get into the desert and hopefully less E.L.F’s.
The road coiled left and right and then the same again, continuing their journey to a lower elevation.
“I… feel sick. I’m going to—”
Grant slammed on the breaks, but it was too late and Ben heaved, but hardly anything emerged from his guts. Carrie pushed open the door and allowed Ben to lean out. He heaved again and she passed him a bottle of water, which he drank from.
“Feeling any better?” said Grant.
Ben nodded. “A bit.”
“We need to keep going son.”
Ben pulled his legs back in and closed the door. Grant pulled off.
A parking lot appeared below the road to their right, and low flat buildings to their left.
Carrie turned to Ben. “Do you mind if I get in the front next to your dad? I need to navigate.”
“It’s fine.”
Carrie squeezed between the seats, bringing her bag with her and once seated pulled out the road map. “We’re going to pass through Palm Springs…”
“Okay,” said Grant.
“You been?”
“Many years ago. You?”
“Few times.”
The road they were on was n
ow four lanes, and homes of pastel shades fought for space with palm trees and cacti on both sides.
“Look at the cars,” said Ben from the back seat.
Grant slowed. “I see them.”
A mass of broken and twisted metal lay across most of the wide road. Some of the wrecks were unrecognizable from what they were before, mangled and melded together. Grant weaved the pickup carefully between them.
“Watch the hedgerows,” he said. Carrie did as asked, for the road was bordered by high rows of lush green bushes, blocking any view of what lay just a few yards beyond.
Once clear of the wreckage Grant pushed down on the gas and quickly got back up to speed.
“Look,” said Carrie indicating to an apartment block off the side of the road. A large white sign had been hung across the front.
’Need water. Please help,’ it said.
They moved on, past huge parking lots, shopping malls and restaurants, all deserted with only the occasional abandoned vehicle to move around.
“Maybe we should stay in one of these places for the night?” said Carrie. “We’re about to move back out into the mountains and it’s getting late…”