Cascade box set 2, p.50
Cascade Box Set 2, page 50
Fiona walked into the small bedroom. “We just got a message from Mitchell, they say they have secured most of their population in bunkers eighteen to twenty-four. And they are holding the E.L.F’s at bay for now.” Bower nodded while still looking out. “She also said if you hadn’t arrived when you did, they would all be dead.”
This time Bower turned and looked at the face of a woman who had aged during the time he had known her. “I guess coming all this way was worth it then?”
She smiled.
“Her people are hunkered down for the night?”
“Everyone’s secured in the cattle barn. Combining what they could spare and ours, we have around seven platoons or two companies, depending on how you and Zach want to go. And including our Cascaders we have fifteen people able to control the E.L.F’s.”
“Let’s hope that’s enough.”
A noise came from the landing behind Fiona.
“It’s going to have to be,” said Zach. “We’re the only line of defense for those in the bunkers.”
“There are more troops on the way to the outpost from the camp, but we’re talking five days at the earliest that they can get here,” said Bower.
Fiona looked at Zach. “How is she?”
“Resting. She jealous that we went to space.”
“She’s not the only one,” said Bower with a smirk.
“Raj had more information on our Hulathen friends. Probably best both of you sit down.”
Within a few minutes Zach had relayed what Raj and Abbey had told him. Bower and Fiona sat silent, with the occasional open mouth gasp.
“So this shit has been in people for generations.” Bower looked at Zach. “She knows none of this madness is on her right?”
“She knows…”
“And if we get enough Cascaders together, we can stop what’s happening to the land?” Said Fiona.
“That’s what Raj was told.”
“How do we know these Hulafucks won’t try and stop us? Or wipe us all out to cover their tracks?” Said Bower.
“We don’t. But we need to have a plan if that’s how it plays out.” Zach stood back up. “One problem at a time though. We need to help carry out Abbey’s plan, and save as many of the Cascaders down there as possible. Maybe this Erin guy can be persuaded to stop the siege.”
Bower sighed heavily.
“If they don’t Cole, we will take them out.”
“Abbey onboard with that?” said Fiona.
“Yes.” It was a lie, but one that had to be told to the two people in front of him. “Abbey’s going to go back into town tomorrow, with our demands.” Each word of that plan threatened to get lodged in his throat, but he knew it was the best way to stop bloodshed.
“Meanwhile we get our people in place?” said Bower.
Zach nodded.
*****
Abbey stepped out into the bracing cool of the night air. Closing the rear door of the farmhouse as quietly as she could, she made her way across the muddy yard towards the voices and burning fires of the cattle barn. Walking around discarded rusting machinery she joined a small crowd that were warming their hands on the flames emanating from a few metal drums.
“Abbey?”
She looked across the faces to one she recognized. “Burt!”
The burly man walked around behind the others, hugged her then pulled back. “I wasn’t sure you were still alive!”
She smiled.
“Did you—” His eyes flicked left and right at the others around them. He then leaned in a bit closer. “Is he dead?”
She shook her head. “I almost got him. But no, he’s in the town. What about you? How’s it been going in the bunkers?”
He turned slightly to continue warming his hands. “We kept those bastards back. Took losses but most of the civilians are safe in the remaining bunkers. I’m looking forward to getting back down there tomorrow and putting those people and their monsters down.”
Abbey remained silent but nodded.
From the mass of people trying to get some sleep in the barn, one stood and walked out of the gloom. “Abbey?” Said Miles standing a few yards behind her.
“Hey, how are you?”
He walked closer to her. “Can we talk somewhere?”
“Umm, sure.” She turned to Burt. “I’ll catch you again later.” He nodded, and she and Miles walked away, to another small barn. This one was more closed off to the elements and was empty of people. They both walked inside, standing near the door to at least be able to see each other a bit, lit by the fire outside.
“Are you okay?” she said.
“I’m fine. It’s going around that there’s a guy called Erin Santiago in charge in the town?”
“You know him?”
“Everyone in Arena town knew him, and his gang.”
A fusion of thoughts sparked in her mind and she suddenly realized why when Erin mentioned being a ‘creature coach’ it seemed so recognizable. “He was one that fought in the arena?”
Miles stepped back and sat down on an old wooden crate. “He was Hemming’s main guy. Kept all of Cascaders in line. He was not a man you said no too. Anyway I just thought you should know.”
She smiled. “Thanks. I—” A crunching noise came from the mud outside, and the door pushed open. It was Zach.
“Hey…” He then spotted Miles sitting on the crate. “Everything alright?”
Abbey smiled. “Everything’s fine. There’s someone near the fire I want you to meet.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
Abbey looked down the long street which eventually cut through the center of the town. E.L.F’s were already waking in the distance which combined with the sound of the Humvee driving away behind her. Her mind kept wanting to jump back to the night she had just spent trying to get some rest. Zach told her he forgave her for leaving, but she wasn’t sure she deserved it. Hours passed with them just laying next to each other, each one with a mind full of things to say, but none of them able to say them. They still loved each other, but something had changed and she wasn’t sure what that meant for the future. For now though she just needed to concentrate on surviving the next few hours.
A light breeze wafted over her, making her shiver a little. She looked up until she caught the silhouette of Mo’s outline in the sky, and started walking.
In this section of the town, some homes still stood, although all were damaged to some degree. She thought about running across the overgrown lawns to explore some of the kitchens and basements she was walking past, like she had done on her travels up to where she was now, but the sooner she found Erin the quicker all of this craziness could be done with. He’ll listen…
She wanted to believe he would. Cascaders need to stand together to help fight the threat they were all facing.
As she walked along the damp sidewalk and road, something started to bother her. She was not sensing any E.L.F’s around her. Only the ones that belonged to the Cascaders ahead. She felt the same lack of activity at the farmhouse during the night, and now she was outside, her senses confirmed it. When she was in the town almost a week before, the place was teeming with creatures, now there were just the twenty or so that were already imprinted.
She stopped for a moment, and closed her eyes trying to sense the closest none Cascader E.L.F, and she couldn’t feel one. It was almost as if they all had been scared off or maybe it was something else.
She took a deep breath then continued walking. Soon she was back in familiar territory, surrounded by the almost absolute devastation of the small town. She could sense the E.L.F’s knew she was there, which meant their masters knew as well.
Stepping over fallen power lines and masts, she walked down the center of the road. The public library and buildings she knew the Cascaders were staying in were not too far off. Instinctively she stopped. They’re close.
The sound of masonry being moved came from her left, and a plume of dust rose up from behind some buildings. She steadied herself. The large insect like creature she saw in the parking lot the day before slid around the side of a building, then onto the road and stopped thirty or so yards in front of her. Its head rose up and watched her.
The sound of footsteps came from the same direction and soon Erin appeared, flanked by three others. They walked forward, over the front yards, avoiding potholes, stopping close to the E.L.F. Each of the two men and one woman had rifles in their hands. Erin did not.
He walked towards Abbey, while she walked forward too. They both stopped ten feet from each other.
“Why are you here?” He said.
“You have to stop trying to get into the bunkers and leave those people alone.”
“Right. And why would we do that?”
“What did they do to you?”
He paused then opened his arms out. “Look around you. It’s over. Everything. There is no government or system which will help keep you safe. It’s just pure survival. Beneath our feet are supplies. Lots of them, which we need. It’s as simple as that.”
“Then why not let the people leave? Why are you killing them?”
He smirked. “And you think they would just hand over what they have to us?” He stepped closer. “Abbey, the old-worlders will never accept you for who you truly are. Why do you fight on their side?”
She blinked. His words pulled at her mind, despite her not agreeing with them. “And who am I?”
“You’re a queen! A new ruler of the planet. I hesitate to even call it Earth anymore, as it’s something else now…Can’t you see what I’m saying is true?”
Abbey shook her head, less in doubt at his words and more in trying to dislodge his ideas from her mind.
He stepped in even closer.
A mile off, perched on top of a water tower, Zach and Michael watched through binoculars. With each step Erin got closer to Abbey, Zach’s grip tightened.
“If you come with us, we will leave this town and leave those who hide underground alone. You have my word.”
His eyes fixed on hers and she knew he was telling the truth. His request filled her mind. But what about the plan? The one that she convinced the others at the farmhouse to go along with, rather than an all out assault? She was to convince Erin to stop attacking the bunkers and to come back with them to the outpost and then the camp. They could live out their days under the camp’s protection, and be free to be who they are. If he refused then a battle it would be. And even with their E.L.F’s the numbers were now against them. The Cascaders would die.
No more death…
She could hear Miles words in her mind. ‘He was not a man you said no too…’ But was her life really more important than all those that would die, if he refused to go with them back to the camp?
She shook her head and stepped back. “You and your people are welcome to come back with us to the Camp near Austin. You can be who you are. Cascaders are welcome there, hell they even saved that camp…” Her words fell away as she looked again into his eyes. He would not come to the camp with his people.
She felt the back of her neck. She knew Zach was watching and in unison she could feel her heart breaking. She looked back at Erin. “What’s so special about me?”
He smiled. “Let’s just say I’m good at spotting talent.”
“What about Clovis?”
“He will not harm you.”
Her emotions tore at the choice she was about to make. “Okay, I’ll go with you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
Zach stood on a small mound of rubble and watched as more people climbed out of the manhole in the center of the junction. They joined the hundred or so others that were already enjoying the morning sun.
The embraces and smiles that ran through the crowd, did little to disturb his own sense of loss. As soon as Abbey started walking away with the leader of the Cascaders he knew he had lost her again. Although at least this time, despite his heart disagreeing he knew she would have only left him for the right reasons.
Fiona walked up to him from the mass of people lining the street. “Wyatt and Diaz say they can sense no E.L.F’s around us, controlled or otherwise.” Fiona knew what that meant and put her hand on Zach’s shoulder. “What you see out here, all these people seeing the light of day for the first time in month’s, that’s Abbey’s doing.”
Zach looked back at her and smiled. “I know.”
A middle-aged woman of diminutive statue climbed out of the manhole. Some of those around her saluted. Zach walked down from the rubble and into the street. “General Mitchell?”
“That I am. And you are?”
“I’m Zach Felton—”
“Ah, the other General!”
Zach smiled. “Yeah I’m still getting used to that.” He held out his hand which the general shook warmly.
“I guess we owe you a thank you for saving our asses.”
“I’m just glad we learned of your existence so we could help. We should probably make some plans about what happens next.”
Mitchell walked forward a few feet past Zach and took in a deep lungful of air. “We will. But right now my people and I need to feel the sun on our faces.”
“Of course. My people have secured a mile perimeter around us… I was hoping to see these bunkers below us.”
Mitchell turned back around. “Captain Kelnor here will be happy to give you the tour.”
A bearded athletic looking man in fatigues stepped forward then pointed with an open palm to the opening in the ground. “After you, sir.”
After an hour of being guided around mostly dark empty corridors and low ceilinged rooms of various sizes, they ended up in the central operations room.
“And this is the main CIC for all the connected bunkers.”
A flurry of bright screens with important looking statistics looked back at Zach and Fiona. The twelve soldiers continued talking into their headsets not being disturbed by their guests.
“From here we monitor the environmental systems, food, power, anything that we need to survive. It’s also where we communicate to the outside world.”
Fiona walked closer to one of the screens. It was showing the crowds outside. “You had outside feeds?”
“Not many. We had more but they were destroyed.”
Zach was impressed by the setup. It looked like a place where the human race could survive no matter what went on, on the surface. He went to click on his radio.
“Your radio won’t work down here. But we can get a message out. What frequency?”
After a short while, Zach had relayed everything that had transpired to Brad at the outpost, and he then passed the information on to the camp. A few hours later everyone up top had returned to the bunkers.
Zach sat in the small but impressive room which served as Mitchell’s personal office. He looked at the almost empty glass in Mitchell’s hand. He had just finished telling her everything he knew of the Cascade, Abbey’s roll in it and the Aliens that made it all possible. A full two minutes had passed without the general across from him responding.
“So that’s everything. I think—”
She got up and walked to a shelf with an array of half empty bottles, unscrewed one and emptied its contents into her glass, then sat back down again.
_Zach leaned forward in his chair. “I know it’s a lot to take in—”
“That’s one way of putting it.”
“—But we can’t just give up and let the whole planet spiral into some alien world, that we can’t exist on.”
“‘We’, meaning the non-Cascaders?”
“I mean for everyone. Even the Cascaders will have a hard time existing without any of the old civilization still existing.”
“That Erin fellow seemed to think differently. Is that why your woman went with him? To persuade him otherwise?”
“Well—”
“She was meant to persuade him to give himself up and go back to your camp, instead, she just ups and leaves him with him. But then… she’s like him isn’t she?”
Zach started to feel hot. “Maybe you’ve had a bit too much general.”
Mitchell raised her glass. “What this? This is just what I have for breakfast.”
“The bunkers you have here. You have created something that maybe can survive even against the aliens, if they decide to be more proactive. The camp in Austin fought off an army, including many Cascaders and their E.L.F’s, but I don’t know how to defend against something that had the power to create the Cascade in the first place…” He looked around at the walls hewn from rock. “Down here, and if we can create something similar in Texas, maybe we have a fighting chance. But we need to work together.”
She put the glass down, letting her finger linger on the rim. “Where do we start?”
“We start with a scientist that goes by the name of doctor Raj Joshi, he knows more than most about the Cascade and has an idea that might work…”
*****
A hush descended over the occupants of the CIC, as all eyes were on the young man in the chair in the center of the room. Medical equipment had been wheeled in to monitor his vitals and his chest and temples had wires taped to them.
“This is not going to hurt him, right doc?” said Michael standing next to Raj.
“Umm no I don’t think so. It should be just like hypnosis.” Raj looked away from Michael’s gaze. He then stepped forward closer to Wyatt. “Okay, Wyatt, I just want you to look at the screen over my shoulder and watch the little ball bounce back and forth…”
Raj nodded to a soldier nearby who tapped a key and a plain white circle started sliding left and right on a computer monitor.
Wyatt nodded and watched the computer graphic monotonously repeat the same movement, over and over. At the back of his mind he could hear Raj talking to him, but soon his eyes were closed and all was black, until it wasn’t.
The town and all its destruction sat beneath him, as he floated on the wind hundreds of feet above it. The air buffeted his ears and an immense feeling of peace wafted over him.
