Cascade box set 2, p.20
Cascade Box Set 2, page 20
“Yeah!” shouted a few, while others shouted. “Felton! Felton!”
The soldiers ran forward and quickly helped Michael onto a gurney, while Zach and the others made their way back to the lobby of the Core.
CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
A young soldier nodded into her headset, then turned and looked at Zach. “Sir, this transmission has just come in. It was broadcast on a range of frequencies. We believe it’s from the enemy.”
“Put it through to my headset,” said Zach standing in the main operations hall.
He recognized Troy’s voice instantly.
“People of Camp Bravo. My name is Troy Carlson and I am the leader of the Hell Fire gang. Your military have lost, and now the capital belongs to us. If you surrender the rest of your territory to us we will let you leave the camp peacefully. You have two hours to give us a response.”
Zach looked back at the soldier. “Bring me up the exterior feeds on your screen.” The soldier did as asked and her screen showed the masses outside the Core lobby. He pointed to a small group in the crowd. “Can you zoom in on that section of the crowd?” She did and the view showed a number of people huddled around what looked like a small radio. He stood back up.
“Some will leave, but many others want to stay and fight,” said Elijah.
“Hopefully more of the latter, how many volunteers do we have?”
“Around five thousand. Men and women. Most haven’t fired a weapon before.”
Zach was silent.
“I know you don’t want to do this Zach, but if we don’t fight, and I mean all of us, then everything we have done and sacrificed would be for nothing.” Elijah smiled. “And I have kind of gotten to like this place. I can’t exactly retire to Florida.”
“And if we leave then what? Even if we build another community, who’s to say the gang won’t want that too?” said Fiona.
The nearby soldier looked at Zach. “Sir, Major Telford is on the line.” Zach nodded.
“Brigadier General, we have pulled our forces back to ridges surrounding the Core. If…”
“Yes, Major?”
“If the decision is made to leave the camp by the south or east, we will hold those lines as long as we need too. Over.”
“No one’s leaving the camp Major. Over.”
“Understood, sir. Over.”
Zach noticed General Trow was receiving more news. “What is it?”
She nodded to the soldier in front of her. “Put it up on the main screen.”
The large screen at the front of the hall changed to show a camera feed from the capital. It showed hundreds of people walking up stairs that were inside a hole in the sidewalk and out into the street. Their hands were behind their heads and the gang’s men were standing around them, with guns.
“How did they get into the bunker?” said Zach.
“It looks as if they voluntarily chose to leave it.”
“How many were in there?”
“Over ten thousand.”
“So now he has ten thousand hostages,” said Elijah.
“Sir?” said one of the soldiers on the desks in front of Zach. Zach looked at the soldier.
“We are getting reports of large enemy movements emerging from the city moving east, and from the north heading south.”
“Keep Major Telford updated.” The soldier nodded. “Can you predict how long until they are within range of the Core?”
The soldier looked at Hannigan sitting next to her. “Give me a few moments,” said Hannigan typing away at his keyboard. “Around an hour.”
Bass, Sam and Isaiah appeared from the side door, and walked up to Zach.
“Thanks for coming up here,” said Zach.
“Happy to help,” said Sam.
“When we taking the fight to them?” said Isaiah.
“We’re not going to have to, they are coming to us.” Zach looked at the nearby soldier. “Bring up the plan of the enemy and our units on the big screen.”
The large screen changed showing a plan view of the twenty or so square miles around the Core including most of the capital and Granite Falls to the south. “Major Telford is going to try to hold the enemy along a perimeter around the Core. Until now, our forces have been up against the E.L.F’s they sent against us. We took losses, a lot of them, but their E.L.F’s have mostly been killed, leaving just the gangs people. They still have a lot of hardware, mostly battle tanks. They also have some jets and helicopters, but then so do we. Either way he’s going to need to use his land forces if he’s going to want to take the entire camp. And that means breaking through the lines, the one to the west and north. We also have the high ground here.” He looked around at those that had stopped doing what they were doing and were looking at him. “This is it, we go all in. We defend those here, until there’s nothing left.”
*****
“Is that the last of them?” said Zach, standing alongside Abbey and tired and ragged looking people sitting and standing.
“Yes, as far as I know there’s no one left up top that doesn’t want to be there. The main elevator shaft has been sealed at both ends. Conditions are going to get mighty difficult down here pretty quick,” said Abbey.
They both stood in one of the hallways at the Core. It was just one of many that was crammed full of people. Those that were once outside, living in the parking lot and local fields were now in the depths of the cave system, praying that one-day they would see sunlight again.
“See if there’s any medical conditions we need to take care of and that everyone has water.”
“I will,” she rushed forward and hugged him tight. “Make sure you come back, we have been through too much just for it to end here.”
He smiled. “You’ll see me again, don’t worry.”
Squeezing him one last time, she nodded then turned and started checking on those nearby.
Zach walked back into the main operations hall, one of the few rooms in the complex which the new visitors weren’t allowed to go.
“Major Telford forces are being set upon by a new wave of E.L.F’s,” said General Trow. “They’re not as big as the first lot, but they are still taking lives.”
Zach shook his head. “I thought they had run out of their supply,” he turned to the nearby comms officer. “Still no word from Bower?”
“No, sir. Nothing since yesterday.”
“Keep trying.”
She nodded.
“You sure you want to do this?” said Trow.
Zach picked up his rifle. “The Core is in good hands with you here. I need to be up there,” he briefly looked at the ceiling, then back at the general, smiling. He held his hand out, but she ignored it and instead pulled him in for a hug.
“See you soon Brigadier General.”
Zach picked up his pack, placing it over his back and walked a short distance along hardly used corridors until reaching his destination. Sam, Isaiah and Bass stood near an entrance to a stairwell, all in combat fatigues and holding rifles.
“We all ready?”
They all nodded.
“Once we walk through that door there’s no going back, as this way is going to be sealed as well.”
“We’re ready,” said Sam.
They quickly ascended the old dust covered stairs. Half way up the twelve flights they could hear the booms above them.
Zach took a deep breath when he got to the final secure metal door and pushed it open. A cool wind and light rain hit their faces.
Fiona was standing on the other side. “They are waiting for you.”
They had come out in an area surrounded by cliffs. Zach and the others walked quickly through a winding path until they came out to a ledge, below them was a plateau full of people, thirty rows deep. They all got to their feet, picking up their guns when he appeared.
Zach walked forward. “Down that valley behind you, is death! Not yours, but theirs!” he shouted.
“Yeah!” cheered the crowd.
“By the end of this day, all will know that this camp is ours!”
The crowd of almost five thousand cheered, as explosions echoed in the distance.
Zach turned to Fiona. “Let’s move out.”
She shouted to some people nearby, who relayed the command to each of their units, and men and women, young and old turned and walked towards the battle that was happening just a few miles away.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
The Humvee that Zach, Bass, Fiona, Sam and Isaiah was in slid to a halt on the damp mud track, just as the sound of a torrent of branches being broken came from the valley below. They jumped out and raised their weapons to the west looking into the blanket of brown trees below them.
People started jumping out of a convoy of army trucks that had been used to ferry them to the frontline as quickly as possible, and taking up positions along the road.
Booms rang out from the ridge above as the camps tanks fired off a volley of shells.
“Hold this position!” shouted Zach to those around him, the order being relayed by others along the line.
The trucks left the same way they come in, and an Apache roared overhead moving towards the west. It’s guns started to pump out bullets towards what was coming up the valley.
Squeals and guttural screams echoed around the woods, but the sound of splintering of wood increased, and fur lined arms and legs and large insect like creatures that scurried appeared between the trees below.
“They’re coming! Get ready!” shouted Zach.
Just as he went to fire a white flash followed by the sound of an explosion knocked him backwards onto the ground. He looked around and saw bodies. He then looked back to where he was just looking and more tank shells exploded around him, sending rocks and mud into the air and leaving trees just as splintered trunks.
He scrambled forward and dived down behind the remains of a tree. He looked across at Fiona, who was doing her best to find cover behind a small clump of rocks. Somewhere beyond he could just make out Bass, Sam and Isaiah doing the same.
He looked down into the valley and instantly fell backwards firing as a huge clawed hand swung at his head. Multiple bullets slammed into the chest of the wolf creature making it stagger backwards and collapse onto the ground.
All around gunfire filled the air as E.L.F’s stormed up the slopes towards the camp’s defenders.
The sound of an engine approaching made Zach look along the track. Another truck of people was driving towards them.
“No…” Was all he could say, as the insect creatures leaped onto the hood smashing through the windscreen. Those inside tussled with their attackers, but by doing so the truck lurched off the track and tipped over the side, tumbling down the steep slope while those in the back tried jumping off.
He quickly looked back to where Fiona was and saw her firing at the creatures around her. He ran forward shooting two dead, and slid down to the ground next to her.
“How you on ammo?”
“Half in the rifle, and another mag in my pocket,” she looked at him with tired eyes. “We can’t hold this position for—”
The clatter of automatic fire came from the trees and slopes above them. An insect that looked like a foot long cockroach was thrown back and one of the wolf creatures fell to the ground as bullets streamed towards the E.L.F’s around them.
Zach and Fiona looked at where the bullets were coming from and hundreds of people started emerging from the tree line running down onto the track.
He sighed in relief, then turned back to look down the valley, more creatures were appearing at the bottom but now they were falling as soon as they were appearing.
More explosions rang out around them, sending bodies flying into the air, but he knew this was their chance. He stood and raised his rifle. “Attack!”
Fiona rose as well, and all around charged down the slope firing at the oncoming creatures.
Zach ran through the trees, skipping over bodies of creatures, while firing ahead. He briefly looked around and hundreds were doing the same. Up ahead glimpses of open land could be seen. Running as fast as he could while trying not to slip or be caught by branches, he surged forward and through the last row of trees out onto the large expanse, which sat just before the river.
He skidded to a stop. “Wha…” Hundreds to his left and right did the same, running onto the plain and then stopping as soon as they could.
He looked up as a missile from a jet scorched through the sky hitting an Apache sending it spiraling to the ground.
He then looked back to what was on the other side of the river. Tanks, thousands of armed people and worse, hundreds of E.L.F’s. Some standing hundreds of feet high. All waiting for Zach and his forces to appear so they could attack.
He looked at the faces of those around him, including Fiona’s. She smiled. It was the expression of someone who knew there was no way out.
“Take up positions!” shouted Zach to those around him. Hundreds stepped back and hunched down between the trees.
Zach’s radio sprung into life, making him grab at it.
“Brigadier General Felton. There’s a large number of E.L.F’s converging on your position! Over.”
He went to respond that he already knew, but instead just dropped the radio by his side and raised his gun.
The five story high E.L.F. which looked like one of the creatures he used to look at in dinosaur books when he was a kid roared and lurched forward making the ground shudder all around.
“Here they come!” He shouted.
Some of those around him dropped their guns and fled back into the trees. He reached out for Fiona next to him, holding her shoulder. She put her hand on his, and then they both looked down the scopes of their rifles, as the masses in front of them started moving forward.
Events of the past few months flashed through his mind, until just one image was left, that of Abbey.
“Look!” someone shouted to his right. “In the air!”
He looked in the direction the man said. In the sky to the north, a mile or so off, the sky was filled with dark shadows, their huge wings majestically flapping.
Zach shook his head. I guess we never had a chance.
He then caught sight of something which made no sense. Some of the thousands that were waiting on the other side of the river, started running, but not towards Zach and his people, they were running away. He looked at Fiona who was looking at him as well.
More of the people on the opposite bank started running. Then he saw them, way off in the distance to the north and south, dark forms moving amongst the trees, bounding and walking across roads and fields. All moving towards the gang’s people who were now fleeing on mass.
Zach stood and started walking forward. Tank turrets that were once pointing towards his side of the river were slowly rotating towards those beings that were rushing towards them.
“Yeah!” someone shouted.
Zach watched as a huge flock of winged creatures swooped down, picking up and clawing at people trying to find cover. Those that couldn’t tried shooting into the heavens above them.
The gang’s tanks started firing off shells, while their E.L.F’s wavered looking about themselves growling and squawking.
Soon thousands of creatures ran onto the plain across the river, tearing apart man, beast and machine.
Zach’s radio crackled once again and he slowly raised it to his ear, not quite believing what he was seeing. “Sir, we have a message from Captain Bower. It’s just two words. Over.”
“Yes?”
“He just said ‘Found them.’ Over.”
CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
“What the hell?” Zach jumped back as the seven-foot high furry beast emerged from the side of his and Abbeys house.
“Oh, you made it!” said Abbey almost jumping for joy.
“Uh?” said Zach not being sure of what to make of the werewolf looking creature standing looking hungry just a few yards from him.
“I told him to find his way back to the house, I never thought he would actually make it back here!”
A squawking came from above.
“Mo!”
The monkey bird like E.L.F landed near them, flapping its wings and ducking its head.
For one moment Zach thought she was going to hug the Simivem, but instead she ducked her head in response, and grabbed Zach’s hand.
They both walked slowly to the back of the house and pulled the kitchen door open. Inside the scene was what they hoped it wouldn’t be. Most of the furniture was broken or smashed.
“Well, the gangs forces did come through here, we’re lucky none of their E.L.F’s did any worse,” said Zach.
Abbey nodded, then kneeled picking up a broken picture frame of her, Zach, Michael, Fiona and Cal. She swallowed as a tear began to roll down her cheek.
Zach put his arm around her. “We’ll have this place back to how it was soon enough don’t you worry.”
“Some things can’t be mended,” she said putting the frame back down.
His radio on his hip made the sound it does when he was about to get a message, and he unclipped it and waited for the voice.
“Brigadier General, we have General Trow here for you. Over.”
Zach placed his arm around Abbey’s shoulders, then walked back out into the yard. The sky was ablaze with pinks and oranges as the sun began to say farewell to the day.
“Put her through. Over.”
“We did our best to close off the walls gates, but some of the gangs people still managed to get away. We think by helicopter. What I can confirm is that Troy Carlson and those around him are dead. We came across one of their people in the capital, an old man who calls himself ‘Ray’, he said—”
“You found Ray? Over.” Zach noticed that Abbey was standing behind him.
“Oh, yes, is he the same Ray that you escaped from New Mexico with? Over.”
