Cascade box set 2, p.54
Cascade Box Set 2, page 54
“If you’re going to kill this thing, I suggest you do it quickly, I can’t hold it like this forever.”
Zach walked forward to be within just a few feet of the creature which even kneeled was a few feet higher than him, and held his rifle an inch from its head. Its eyes narrowed into an expression of contempt. Zach’s finger went to squeeze the trigger when he stopped, and he looked around until he found what he was looking for. Quickly walking to a nearby mound of what was left of a building, he picked up a five-foot long metal pipe and returned to the alien.
He pulled his arm back. “I got a better idea—” and with an almighty swipe brought the pipe down on the Hulathen's head, crashing through its visor and impacting its bony skull. Its eyes flickered then it fell to the ground unconscious.
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Fiona, Zach, Mitchell and others stood in one of bunker twelve’s large storage chambers. A fizzing crackling sound filled the air along with a metallic smell as soldiers rushed to weld huge metal rods in place.
The Hulathen lay unconscious near the back wall, its arms and legs restrained with five inch thick chains, while other soldiers kneeled and stood pointing a small arsenal of high-powered weaponry at it.
Fiona looked at the bars slowly being secured into the bedrock. “You sure this is going to hold it?”
“It better,” said Mitchell. “We can’t have one of these things running around down here.”
“It’s got enough sedative inside it to drop a herd of elephants,” said Bryce. “But I have to admit, its biology was not something we could make sense of. So it’s all guesswork at this stage. We did manage to remove its weapon that was attached to its right hand though, but not its armor, that seems to be sealed to its skeletal structure somehow.”
“How’s Michael doing?” said Zach.
“A cracked rib and some lacerations, but he’s doing fine,” said Bryce.
Zach walked forward past the burgeoning barrier intended to keep the alien prisoner.
“Don’t get too close,” said Mitchell.
“We’ll need it awake at some point. I got a whole lot of questions for it.”
“I wonder what its name is,” said Fiona.
“Its name is, ‘I got my ass kicked by a human’,” said Bower joining the group, his face and fatigues covered in smears of black soot and blood.
Mitchell looked at him. “How’s it looking up top Captain?”
“No sign of the Hulathen. When we captured this one, and I’m fairly sure injured some others, they left….We took heavy casualties though. Last count was forty-five dead, seventy-six injured.”
“And how many Hulathen were there?” said Fiona.
“Four…” said Bower.
A quiet descended upon the occupants of the cement walled room.
Zach kneeled closer to the alien. “Doesn’t matter if there’s four or four thousand if we can convince them to leave us alone.”
Mitchell looked at Bryce. “I expect you and doctor Joshi to learn as much as you can about this thing, while we manage to keep it as our guest.”
He nodded.
She sighed. “Right. There are some families I need to have a conversation with.”
In the Cascaders living quarters Abbey woke from sleeping on her single camping bed. She immediately sensed someone watching her.
“So you controlled it?” said Erin sitting on the bed opposite hers.
She rubbed her eyes. “What are you talking about.”
“The alien? You stopped it from killing Zach.”
She wondered how he already knew that. “Yeah, it would seem so.”
“This was the idea you said you had in the tunnel earlier?”
She nodded.
He grinned. “I knew! You were more than a pretty face.”
She felt her skin crawl but tried to not let that be too obvious to the man studying her. “Any coffee on the go?”
He looked past her to the other end of the room. “Clovis! We need coffee over here.”
She suddenly realized she had completely forgotten about the man that wanted to murder her. She turned and quickly closed her mouth after it fell open. The tall domineering man she had been so terrified of sauntered across the room between the beds and tables carrying a tray of mugs and cookies. Eventually he stood near the end of the bed holding the tray.
“Put it on the bed then continue with your chores,” said Erin, his eyes not moving from Abbey.
As Clovis did as ordered she looked at the shadows and lines on Clovis’s face and the red rings which surrounded his eyes. He then turned and quietly walked away.
“He… doesn’t seem himself,” she said.
“We had a good conversation about his anger issues and now as you can see he wants to be part of our growing family.” He leaned forward reaching and gripping Abbey’s hand. “We all must be bound together to get through this. Now we know our abilities enable us to control not just the E.L.F’s but also the aliens. This means our future is bright Abbey. Nothing and no one will stand in our way.”
She wanted to remove her hand from his grasp but couldn’t, so instead she nodded and provided a faltering smile.
He let go moving his hands to his knees. “Good! Now get some coffee inside of you, I’m sure we’re going to have a busy day.”
“It’s morning?”
“I believe the sun is just coming up.” He looked around. “I could never get used to living in a hole like the old-worlders have.” He rose, smiled, then walked away.
*****
Zach finished his conversation with a soldier he came to know was called “Tyrone” and moved to the next injured soldier in the infirmary. He had already been there in amongst the smells of the aftermath of battle for well over an hour telling the men and women about the new city which had sprung up near Austin when a private burst through the double door and ran up to him.
“It’s awake, sir. Doctor Joshi wants you to come.”
Zach followed the soldier through the tunnels and back into the large chamber, one half of which was off limits to any human.
It was standing with its wings in a fixed closed position on its back and seemingly looking at those who were standing just yards away. Panels of a thick layer of clear reinforced glass had been placed over the bars, sealing the alien in its cell, while two open pipes allowed air and eventually water and food to enter. Microphones and speakers had also been installed.
Zach walked up and stood next to Raj. Both were standing just a few yards from the alien’s cell. “It looks a lot bigger standing upright. Has it tried to escape yet?”
“No. Hasn’t even tried the bars. Which is a little unsettling.”
“Either it doesn’t care or it knows it can escape if it wants too, either is not good for us. It can’t see us right?”
“Nope. That’s one way glass.”
“Have you tried talking to it?”
“I thought I’d leave that honor to you.”
“Not sure I’d call it that, but thanks…” A noise made him turn around. Abbey and Erin entered the chamber. Zach looked at the soldiers standing guard. “Please escort this man outside!”
Abbey ran forward. “Zach, no. He might be able to help.”
Zach couldn’t hide his frustration, shaking his head. He looked at Erin. “Just stand at the back.”
Erin nodded and stepped away.
Zach looked at Abbey. “Why are you here?”
She glanced at the Hulathen who was looking straight at her. “Maybe I can help communicate with it?”
Zach put his hand up. “Let’s leave the Cascader stuff out for now—”
A flash of anger crossed her face. “Why not let me help? What harm can it do?”
“We don’t know! Abbey let me take care of this.”
She shook her head and walked away joining Erin who was smiling. It was a smile Zach was beginning to hate.
He looked at Raj. “Okay let’s do this.” He then walked to a hastily constructed intercom box on the wall and pushed down the talk button. “I am Zach Felton, general in the United States army—” It was the first time he had to say those words and most of the terms felt outdated. The prisoner’s head twitched, switching between looking at one of the speakers and the glass wall in front of it. “—Are you understanding any of—”
The creature’s tail flashed across the cell smashing one speaker, then in a blink of an eye flicked across to the other side destroying the other. It then walked forward. Those on the other side of the glass and bars started taking steps backwards. The other soldiers in the room took up defensive positions and raised their guns.
“Not to worry the bars are—”
The Hulathen seized the five-inch thick bars.
“—Electrified,” said Raj.
The lights started flickering in the chamber, while whispers of smoke drifted upwards from the alien’s fingers.
Everyone watched the spectacle not knowing if the creature was being hurt or not.
Zach noticed a flicker of a smirk on the Hulathen’s face. He walked forward closer to the glass.
“Zach don’t get too close!” shouted Abbey from the back of the room.
Zach looked up at the towering alien, as it shuddered, while still gripping the bars. He then realized that its armor was changing color and bent down to examining it more closely. “Off… turn the electricity off!” He shouted while standing up and looking at Raj.
“What?… err… okay.” The doctor ran to a box of wires near the wall and yanked two of them out, but not before the Hulathen had started bending apart two of the bars.
Zach backed away. “The damn electricity recharged its suit!” He turned to the nearest soldier. “Sound the general alarm—” Abbey walked forward with her hand held out as she had done the night before. “Abbey?” Erin then joined her with the same posture.
The Hulathen’s hands dropped from the bars and moved to its temples. It staggered left and right while shaking its head.
Zach briefly looked back at the soldier. “Belay that order.”
The Hulathen fell back against the far wall then threw its arms out in front of it, and roared at those it couldn’t see. Most on the other side of the glass held their ears, but Abbey and Erin persisted. After a few moments of the alien trying to rid itself of their influence it collapsed to the floor seemingly unconscious.
Zach threw his arms around Abbey. “You did it…”
“Yes we did, general,” said Erin not far behind them.
Raj stepped forward closer to the glass. “I guess we now know why the Hulathen want the Cascaders gone.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
A small crowd gathered around the light table in the center of the CIC. A video feed of the Hulathen in its cell sat frozen on one of the monitors.
“We have all just watched what happened to the alien that we have not too far from here. Some of you were actually there,” said Mitchell.
“It was a good thing me and my… colleague were there,” said Erin his face clean-shaven and lacking its usual facial hair. Zach couldn’t help but think his pause before the word ‘colleague’ was for his benefit.
Mitchell nodded. “I agree.” She then looked at the others in the room. “Mr. Santiago has very kindly offered to keep one of his people permanently on guard in the chamber. Any time the alien even looks at the bars wrong the Cascader will do their thing and the alien goes back to sleep.”
Erin rested his hands on the table. “We all must work together to get through this.” His eyes passed from face to face but skipped Zach’s.
“What are we going to do with it?” said Fiona.
“I say we kill it and dump its body up top for those little space bastards to see,” said Bower.
“If I may be so bold, that would be a mistake—” said Erin. Zach sighed. “— Let my people keep trying to communicate with it, see what we can find out.”
Mitchell looked at Raj.
“Umm yes, it’s possible the Cascaders and the Hulathen share a link of some kind. Well obviously they do, otherwise they wouldn’t be able to affect it the way they do. We tried taking blood samples, but we were unable to penetrate the things armor. But the link could be genetic.”
“That’s settled then. It stays alive for the time being—” She looked at Erin. “I trust you to pass on anything you find.”
“Of course general.”
“The rest of you, find something useful to do around the bunkers. There’s plenty of walls and roofs to be mended and I want to be ready if its friends try and rescue it.”
Bower stepped forward while most of the others filtered out of the room. “Now things are quieter up top, I want to go out with a squad to where Harper and Hayes went missing yesterday.”
Mitchell paused for thought. “Okay, but I want you all back by fifteen hundred hours.”
“Yes, sir.” He then left. Zach remained.
“I’m quite busy general,” said Mitchell.
“I’ve been thinking. It might be wise for myself and some of the others to return to the outpost in Kentucky and then to the camp. There’s much we have learned here, that the camp needs to know. Not just in words on the radio, but from people who have witnessed it.”
“So you want to leave us to this mess? A mess which you and your girlfriend seem to be integrally part of?” Mitchell’s reaction took him by surprise.
“You have everything under control here. I’m sure you’ll do what needs to be done with the alien, but I’m responsible for millions, not just thousands and I need to get back.”
Mitchell looked down at the charts on the table in front of her. “You’re right we don’t need you. Now I need to get back to my work.”
Zach nodded, more to himself than anyone around and left the room. After a quick search he caught up with Bower, who was in one of the armories instructing a group of soldiers on what weapons they needed to take out on the patrol.
“Can I have a word?” said Zach.
Bower nodded and they both found a quieter spot.
“I’m returning to the outpost and then the camp.”
“I…”
“I know you can’t come with us…”
A wave of emotion flushed through Bower’s face. It was something Zach hadn’t seen in the older man before.
“I just have this feeling, that they’re still out there,” said Bower.
Zach nodded. “You trained them so I’m sure they still are.”
Bower smiled.
“But I’m going to need you to keep an eye on Santiago. There’s something you need to know about him.”
A short while later Zach was standing outside the Cascaders living quarters. The two soldiers that were standing guard before had been replaced with two people he didn’t recognize, and were not dressed in military uniforms. He went to move towards the doors when one of them stepped in the way. “You’re gonna want to move out of the way son,” said Zach.
“We are not to let anyone inside.”
Zach went to push the door open when the man put his hand on Zach’s shoulder and instantly regretted it, as he was on the floor with his arm in a lock within seconds. The other of Erin’s men went to strike Zach on the back of the head, but Zach swiveled around striking the taller man in his stomach and sending him to the ground as well.
The double doors opened with another face holding them open that Zach didn’t recognize.
“I’m here to see Abbey!” shouted Zach letting the first man go. In the distance Zach spotted her getting to her feet.
She quickly walked across the room and walked outside pulling Zach to the side. “You can’t just beat people up, Zach!”
He pulled her further away from the doors. “I’m going back to the outpost and then the camp. And you’re coming with me.”
She looked away shaking her head. “I can’t…”
“What do you mean you can’t?” He looked back at the two men watching them from the other end of the corridor. “Is this his words? Is he controlling you?”
“No… I… I don’t think so.”
“Then…”
“That alien. It knows things Zach, I can tell. I can’t leave now. And then there’s Elcher, the alien Raj met. I need to make contact with him somehow.”
“How?…”
“I don’t know. I don’t know how to do any of this, but I just know I can’t return just yet…”
The thought of leaving her around the man in the other room turned his stomach, and then there was Clovis who was still active even if he was subdued. His emotions threatened to overwhelm his thoughts.
She put her hand on his face. “You need to let me do this.”
“But—”
“This is me talking, not Erin. I won’t let him completely control me. I’m stronger than that…I can feel him trying to probe my mind sometimes, but I can hold him at bay.” Images of a sedate Clovis jumped into her mind, which she pushed away.
Zach sighed. “When you have what you need, you’ll go to the outpost and then the camp? And you need to leave him behind the more Cascaders he comes in contact with—”
“I know… But right now we need to stop the Hulathen.”
He drew her in, kissed her, then hugged her close. “If things go sideways here, get on that radio and let me know.”
“I will.”
A short time later Zach stood on the surface near the manhole in the center of the junction. Behind him a turreted Humvee sat with its engine idling, while in front of him a group of soldiers stood, with Bower and Abbey at the front. He held his hand out which Bower shook.
"Mitchell's lucky to have you here. I hope you find your people,” said Zach.
Bower nodded and a subtle look passed between them. Bower then turned to the other soldiers. "Okay I want the Cascaders on point. Let's move out! Hopefully one of those purple bastards will fall out of the sky and we can say hello.” Bower and the soldiers then walked away into the long shadows.
Abbey ran forward and hugged Zach. "Tell that old man at the outpost I'm doing well and I'll see him again." He nodded. She then looked into his eyes. "And you'll see me again. I promise."
