Cascade box set 2, p.46
Cascade Box Set 2, page 46
Raj put his hand on her shoulder gently. She smiled back at him, briefly placing her hand on his. “So what do we do now?” he said.
“Now, we prepare.”
He looked confused. “For what? To find more Cascaders?”
“Oh, there is one we don’t have to go looking for. He’s already on his way here. And he means to kill me.”
CHAPTER TWENTY
Abbey stood in the middle of what was once a plaza, the sun beaming down above her. It was one of the few places in the jungle around her which remained relatively clear of vines and trees. She found it a few hours earlier and realized straight away it would be a suitable arena.
Just at the edge was a bus that had long since stopped being of any mechanical use, but was a useful place for Raj to watch from. The ground shuddered and he ducked down, but kept his eyes fixed on the twisted bark and leaves just a hundred yards away.
The sound of trees breaking echoed around the square and the bus rocked slightly.
Abbey looked to her right, just as the top part of an eighty-foot high tree bent over and a long necked beast with a small head appeared. It swung around and looked at her. She smiled and the rest of the creature emerged from the undergrowth, its hulking torso keeping the thing upright and moving. Raj watched fascinated.
Abbey raised her hand and the creature approached closer still, then stopped. She then took a deep breath and looked to her left. The creature looked in the same direction and moved off into the forest.
Mo landed on the roof of the bus, making Raj jump. As soon as he heard the squawking of Abbey’s pet he breathed in relief. He went to walk towards the bus’s exit when the undergrowth moved once again and out burst a small group of four-legged egg shaped things. ‘Things’ were all that Raj could think of calling them even with all the E.L.F’s he had catalogued.
Abbey looked at them and they all skidded to a stop just a few feet from her. One of the creatures had two antennae which probed the air ahead of it, close to her. She smiled and went to walk towards the creature when she stopped and looked towards the west. The creatures turned and scampered back into the forest.
Abbey ran back to the bus, pulling the doors open and ran up the small set of stairs.
“What is it?” said Raj.
“He’s close.”
“You’re sure?”
“Yes! His signature is unmistakable… It’s like I can smell him.”
Raj looked anxiously out into the thicket of trees around them. “Do you think he’s watching us?”
“I don’t know. Maybe.” She briefly closed her eyes and Mo took off from the roof above them. “Remember what we agreed. You stay in here no matter what happens. I’ll try and protect you best I can, but the best thing you can do is stay hidden.”
He nodded. “Good luck.”
She smiled. “Yeah I haven’t had much of that.” She sighed and stepped back outside. “Here goes nothing.”
The sound of more branches snapping rang out around her and she slowly walked forward from the bus.
All at once howls and growls came from all around her. She secured her footing and searched in her mind for him. Then came laughing.
Clovis stepped out of the gloom and onto what remained of the concrete slabs that used to make up the sidewalks and roads surrounding the square. He walked forward a few more yards and stopped. Through his straggly hair which hung down across his face, she could see a smirk.
“I’ve come a long way for this,” he shouted across the square.
“It’s going to be a wasted journey!” She shouted back. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed movement. Leaves and plants shaking. She knew his creatures were there, ready to pounce and she was ready.
He started walking towards her again and his bear like creatures started doing the same, emerging from the jungle in a ring all around her.
She focused her thoughts and went to control one of the E.L.F’s she had earlier came across, when she staggered.
Clovis started laughing again. “It’s not going to be that easy, girly. I know how to get into your mind…”
The world around her stated to sway and she collapsed to her knees. From her blurred vision she could see his beasts moving towards her, just a hundred yards away.
She tried to get to her feet, but her body felt five times as heavy, even lifting her arms was beyond her effort. She fell further to the ground.
“There’s no one here to save you this time. Don’t worry my beasts won’t kill you today. I need my time with you first.”
She rolled over on the ground and caught a glimpse of the bus behind her. Raj was looking through the window. “No, stay there…” she whispered.
The bus door slid open and Raj walked down the steps confidently. “So you’re the big bad Clovis? I thought you’d be taller!”
The tall man stopped, as did his creatures. “And who are you?” Clovis looked around himself at the jungle and then upwards towards the vine covered skyscrapers.
Raj continued walking forward, stopping only when he was alongside Abbey who was now back on her knees.
“You’re not like us, are you human?” Clovis’s head whipped towards one of the bear creatures, which then bounded forward towards Raj and Abbey.
Abbey saw the danger and closed her eyes. A swarm of dog sized beetles swept from the trees and chased after Clovis’s pet as it bore down on them. Just as it was about to leap the insects piled into it, making it howl with pain and swipe at the air.
“Get back in the bus!” said Abbey to Raj.
He hesitated. “He’s going to kill you! We should run!”
She angrily shook her head. “The only person dying today is him.”
More bear creatures sprinted towards them. Raj pointed at them.
“Yeah I know, I see them.”
She could feel Clovis’s mind probing again at hers, but her anger was acting as a shield. She focused her thoughts into the jungle and found what she was looking for. “Now it’s my turn.”
The ground started shaking again, but this time it was more pronounced. Even the bus was hopping with each new thunderous boom.
Clovis’s creatures skidded to a stop and looked around them as did their master.
Trees parted and splinted and a huge ape like creature, with a row of spiked plates running down its back bounded into the square. Standing at least twenty feet high it ran to the first of Clovis’s E.L.F’s and smashed it dead with one blow.
“Yeah!” shouted Raj.
Abbey looked back at Clovis. “Why isn’t he running?”
Instead the man wearing the faded blue jacket, was standing with his eyes closed.
“What’s he doing?” shouted Raj trying to be heard over the roars and growls, as Abbey’s E.L.F fought with the other six-legged bear creatures.
Suddenly the air filled with a booming roar, which made even the creatures fighting hesitate and look to the sky then continue tussling.
A flock of reptilian creatures took to the skies about half a mile from them.
“What the hell is that?” shouted Raj between the screeches and growls.
“Nothing good…” She looked across to Clovis, he was smiling again.
The ground shook so violently that Abbey and Raj fell to the ground, and a creature made of tentacles, each twice as thick as the bus Raj was hiding in, rose up from the forest, slamming into a nearby building and removing a chunk of rooms. A cloud of masonry and dust filled the air near the creature.
Abbey’s ape like creature finished throttling the life from the last of Clovis’s six legged bears and staggered back to her, blood pouring from multiple wounds.
As the trees collapsed behind Clovis, he stood motionless, grinning.
The tentacle creature crashed forward, somehow avoiding trampling Clovis and smashed down on the far end of the plaza sending a shock wave of cracks exploding outwards.
Raj went to say something but realized Abbey had her eyes closed. Clovis’s land octopus stormed forward eating up the ground and leaving an impact crater with each new movement.
The ape creature beat its chest then surged forward, but as it neared the creature coming towards them, was swatted like a fly, sending it spiraling through the air.
Raj’s eyes switched between the vision of impending death and Abbey’s expression of concentration.
“We have to—” Before he could finish the plaza filled with shadows, cross-shaped ones. He looked up to see a sky filled with winged creatures.
Abbey’s eyes opened and with a steely look she pointed both of her hands towards the thing almost on them.
Mo’s compatriots descended upon the flailing tentacles, tearing and biting at it. The scene was reminiscent of a nest of ants attacking a predator.
A crunch noise made Raj turn around, Mo was on top of the bus, hissing at the creature.
The leviathan staggered around the center of the square, swiping at the air, while trying to move towards Abbey and Raj.
“We need to relocate!” he shouted.
Abbey thrust her arms into the air, and she was immediately taken aloft by Mo. Raj did the same and another Simivem grabbed his arms as well and soon both were ascending away from the battle.
Abbey looked back down to where Clovis had been standing but he was gone.
Carcasses of the monkey bird E.L.F’s started to fill up the ground around the giant creature, which itself was slowing as green blood oozed from multiple wounds.
Mo and the other Simivem dropped Raj and Abbey onto a nearby roof, which stood just above the nearby trees.
They both ran to the wall to look down upon the plaza. Clovis’s creature was laid out, its limbs stretching across most of the concrete area while hundreds of the bodies of its attackers lay over it.
It was a scene of devastation that shocked Raj, but Abbey’s face was emotionless as her eyes searched.
“Can you sense him?”
She closed her eyes and looked with her mind. “There’s something, but I can’t tell where. I think he’s moving away.”
“He didn’t seem the running away kind…”
Abbey opened her eyes and looked into the distance as if a thought was forming in her mind. “He’s not running from us, he’s running back from where he came.” Turning, she searched the sky for Mo. “We need to collect our things then return to the Boston camp.”
Far above in the crystal blue sky a demonic looking creature hovered watching. Its huge wings keeping it aloft. It then turned and ascended even higher moving through a circular opening, into a block like craft.
*****
Burt ran through the tunnel as dust and small pieces of concrete fell from the wall above him. Even though he had been here a few days now, he still found himself getting lost in the maze of tunnels that made up the bunkers. This time was no different, apart from the incessant siren and flashing red warning lights. He arrived at a junction and looked both ways trying to ascertain where the medical rooms were. The bag of supplies over his back were badly needed.
The tunnel shook once again. They are almost inside.
A soldier appeared at the end of the left tunnel.
“Hey, which way to the medical rooms?” Burt Shouted.
The soldier pointed to Burt’s right. “End of this tunnel, then take a left, you should see a sign.” The soldier then kept on running. As Burt took off down the left tunnel he could hear more soldiers’ boots following the soldier he just saw.
As described painted words on the curved tunnel wall, indicted he was going in the right direction and he kept on running, until skidding to a stop and then opening a final door to another tunnel, the end of which was a hive of activity. People in white and blue gowns with splatters of red across them, ran left and right, disappearing and reappearing from doors.
“I got the supplies!” shouted Burt trying to catch one of them. A woman with short blonde hair looked back at him. He ran up to her out of breath, then took the backpack from his back. “Got what you wanted.”
She took the pack, opening and looking inside, then disappeared into a door in front of them. He walked up to the small glass windows in it and looked at the bodies of people writhing in agony in beds. Some proper hospital ones, others makeshift camping beds only a few inches off the ground.
He saw someone coming towards the door and backed away. The man opened the door and looked at him. “You the guy who brought the supplies?”
Burt nodded.
“You’re needed at section five. There’s been another breach.” Burt went to ask where that was, but the man had already moved off through another door.
Burt took his assault rifle from his shoulder and checked the magazine for the amount of ammo. Seeing it was full, he snapped it back in and ran back to the outside corridor.
Section five… section five. He looked left and right at both ends of the tunnel. And randomly chose the right one.
Running through the tunnels, he came across a woman running in the opposite direction who gave him the directions he needed.
As he grew nearer his destination, the ground shook more violently and the clatter of gunfire filled the air.
He careered around a corner, and immediately ducked to the ground as the body of a soldier flew over his head. A creature looking like a giant scorpion with no stinger but at least four pincers railed against the tunnel walls as bullets bounced off its armored torso.
Burt got to his knees and started firing as the other dozen or so soldiers on both sides of the creature were also doing.
He shook his head. Not working. He then reached into his pocket and pulled out something which had saved his life on more than more occasion, a flash bang grenade. He had brought a few with him from home.
The creature lunged forward and swiped through the confined space scything through a soldier, instantly killing him.
Burt pulled the pin and threw the nade along the tunnel. “Cover your ears and eyes!” he shouted, doing just that.
A blinding flash, together with an explosive noise filled the tunnel. Burt was the first back to his feet and started firing again at the creature that was staggering against the tunnel walls, swiping at the air.
“Everyone move in!”
The solders focused their fire on the creature, as they did Burt realized the creature’s underside was oozing a dark brown liquid. He dived to the ground and fired again, hitting the creature and making it let out a piercing screech.
“Everyone shoot its belly!”
As they did the creature fell backwards while more of the liquid burst from it. After a few seconds of sustained fire, it slumped to the ground with its limbs twitching.
He ran beside the creature and looked up into the gaping twelve-foot square hole in the ceiling. Pieces of soil started to fall on him.
He looked at the soldiers around him. “Quick, we need to barricade this area, there’s more coming!”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
Abbey and Raj stood on a roof of a shopping mall, looking across what was once a huge parking area, but during the Cascade had become a shantytown of sorts. Multi-storey wooden buildings sat half destroyed amongst the refuse of small constructions, and between them rags and a myriad of items which had long since been of any use.
“It must have been chaos here. Makes you realize just how lucky we were in our camp,” said Raj.
“Yeah…” She was beginning to feel the pines of longing for the home she and Zach left near the lake.
He looked towards the hills and forests in the distance. “How much further until we get to where the bunkers are?”
“Not far, maybe another ten miles. You ready?”
He rubbed his arms, then took out a rag he had found and wrapped it around his mouth. “Yup.” He then raised his arms into the air and was almost instantly grabbed and took aloft. Abbey did the same.
From high above the destruction of the Boston camp was even more obvious. Huge swathes of trees laid flat in forests, created by E.L.F’s making their own roads, while only a handful of buildings beyond a few stories remained upright, and everywhere in-between crumpled vehicles of all size and color lay. The monsters had clearly made the camp their own.
As they neared where she had fled from a few days earlier, an inner alarm fired off in her brain and she could sense a large number of Cascaders. She strained her eyes to see a few miles further ahead, but it was impossible to see anything amongst the ruined buildings and creatures lumbering inside the wreckage. Mo started descending, as did Raj’s creature.
They landed on a road lined with broken 1950s wooden homes.
“What is it?” said Raj looking around them.
“There’s something weird up ahead. I thought it better we went the last bit on foot.”
A striped yellow snake like creature but with four legs stopped a hundred yards away and looked at them.
“Weirder than that?” said Raj.
Abbey started walking. “Come on. I need a better view of what’s happening over there.”
He ran after her. Soon they were walking up a road of a steep hill, bounded by a dense forest, although driveways could be seen weaving inside.
Raj tried to ignore the movement between the burgeoning green of the trees. “You know there’s—”
“Yes, I know. They won’t harm us.” She said charging up the sidewalk.
As they neared the top the road sloped back down the other side and into the center of what used to be the small town. Even from this distance they could see a swell of creatures standing at various points, at the back of buildings and in the streets.
Raj walked forward slightly. “Is that—”
“Yup. People or more accurately Cascaders.”
“They seem to be using the E.L.F’s to dig into the ground…”
“They’re trying to get to the bunkers.” She turned around and looked at the sky from where they came. The sun was just a few degrees from the horizon and the shadows were growing long. “Let’s find a place to hold up and see how things play out. Mitchell won’t be letting anyone in with that going on.”
