Cascade box set 2, p.64
Cascade Box Set 2, page 64
She looked at him with a flat smile and nodded.
“Good, I don’t think it’s far.”
“Just a few miles more—” Sam turned sharply from the dirt road surface to a concrete one, sending mud and pebbles flying.
“Couldn’t they just take us from the car? Like beam us up or something?” Said the anxious man.
“Maybe they’re curious about where we are going,” said Sam.
General Trow’s voice came from Sam’s radio. “They still on you Sam? Over.”
“Yes. Over.”
“How much further?”
“Few more minutes. Over.”
“Good luck. Over.”
“Thanks.” Sam steered the pickup around the winding bend, which steadily rose.
“I see the smoke,” said Sean.
A dark plume bellowed into the sky from the valley.
The man arched his head back, trying to see where the green light was. “I don’t see it! Where is it!”
“Ralph, just keep your shit together, we’re almost there,” said Sean.
They drove through an entrance. The gate being already open. The concrete road descended quickly. Through the trees, the power station which converted the power from the dam, sat ominously at the back of a small parking lot. The pickup bumped around and then they drove onto the level ground. A few cars were already parked. They skidded to a stop near the entrance to the station.
“We’re here, everyone out and inside, as quickly as you can!” Said Sam grabbing his semi-automatic rifle.
They all bundled out. The young man forgetting to close the car door behind him and soon they were inside a dark hallway.
Sam clicked on his radio. “Made it. Over.” No response came from the other end.
He and the woman clicked on their flashlights.
Sam walked forward. “Stay close to me. Do not deviate!”
“Yeah yeah we got it,” said Ralph.
After navigating a series of corridors, they stepped onto a gantry of a cavernous space. A cool wind blew past them. Across the floor fifteen feet below were the dam’s generators. But that’s not what everyone was looking at, for the roof was missing from the middle of the large room, allowing the perfect clear night sky to be seen.
Sam took a deep breath. “Let’s do this then.”
They all walked along the metal flooring, apart from Ralph whose hands stayed firmly gripped to the guardrail.
Sean looked back realizing they were one person short. “Ralph! Come on!”
“I… I don’t think I can do it.”
Sean went to run back when Agatha turned and walked back before he could. She placed her hand softly on Ralph’s hand and smiled.
Ralph took a deep breath. “Okay…”
They both turned and joined the others.
They all walked down the stairs, which ran along the wall and were soon on the ground, level with the huge generators.
The light wind was the only noise in the entire chamber as they all stopped.
“Now what?” said Ralph.
“Now we—”
A bright flash momentarily blinded all of them. When their vision returned a huge figure bathed in purple light was standing ten yards from them.
“Now!” Shouted someone in another part of the room which became alive with the clatter of gunfire as a torrent of bullets converged on the Hulathen.
Sam and the Cascaders dived behind the nearest generator.
The alien fired off its own particle beam weapon filling the air with streams of orange focused light.
Soldiers, positioned all around the room fired upon the huge being in the center. A few of them ran forward and fired harpoons attached to nets which flew above and crashed down upon it, but instead of it being trapped it spun around pulling the soldiers’ weapons from them.
The huge alien walked forward as hundreds of projectiles ricochets off its armor, grabbing one of the soldiers and throwing him through the air. It then turned towards Sam who was crouching and firing at it as well.
“Now! Do it now!” he shouted at the Cascaders behind him.
“We are!” shouted Sean.
“It’s not working! Try—” Sam looked up at the twelve foot high creature, its armor glowing amongst the deadly fireworks around it. It then brought its arm, with the strange molded metallic weapon attached to it around so it was just a few feet from Sam’s head and those around him.
Thoughts of Mary and the kids past like a slideshow through his mind as he looked into the cat like eyes barely visible through the monsters helmet. He went to stand when a white flash threw him backwards, landing against the nearby wall.
The deafening constant pops of gunfire were muffled and replaced with a ringing. He shook his head and looked back to where he just was. The Hulathen was down on one knee still fighting, but its laser beam like weapon was now firing less frequently and its armor was less bright.
“You’re mine fucker,” said Sam. He got to his feet then ran forward, as he did Sean spotted him and ran forward too. They both got to the creature at the same time, each man grabbing one of the alien’s arms. Other soldiers appeared and ran towards them as they struggled to wrestle it to the ground. Soon the Hulathen was lost below a sea of blows from rifle butts and metal bars.
After a few moments the fury ended and silence returned to the control station.
The soldiers stepped back, the alien motionless, lying on the ground.
Sam and Sean looked at each other, both holding tight onto one of the Hulathen’s arms and started laughing.
As they both lay on their backs, looking upwards at the gaping hole in the ceiling, they realized there was something blocking a large part of the night sky, for floating silently above them was the aliens black, cube like craft.
“You see that right?” said Sam to Sean.
“Yup.”
CHAPTER TWELVE
Abbey had decided to take them back onto the highway, as they were now well outside of chopper range, and after they had been driving for an hour the sky was a blend of orange hues signaling the start of a new day.
As the thick forests of West Virginia flowed past she racked her brain trying to think of what plan the man next to her, had in his head. Whatever it was, she knew it wasn’t good. But she no longer had a weapon to easily kill him, and the chances of taking him down with one blow from a heavy object was risky at the least and probably would be fatal for her if she tried.
But this was the day they would make it back to the outpost and she wasn’t going to drive through those gates to greet Brad with Clovis by her side, unless there was a good reason for it.
Factories and homes starting showing up with greater frequency, and prominent green signs heralded the city of Charleston not far ahead.
“So when do you want me to drop you off?” She said.
Clovis glanced at her. “Ain’t no one going to be dropping me off.”
“So you expect me to just arrive with you at the outpost in Kentucky.”
“Yup.”
She glanced at him as the road rose slightly, and apartment blocks and office buildings appeared to their left. “Why do you want to go to the outpost?”
He sighed. “Got to pay my dues.”
Dues? He wants to hand himself in?
It was the one possibility she never gave any credit too.
“After all this time, now you want to hand yourself in?”
“Yup.”
She went to speak but each phrase seemed insufficient, and instead just a frustrated puff came from her. “Okay…” She wasn’t sure if she believed him, but it was such a crazy concept, that maybe it actually was true.
As they drove over the Kanawha river the sun glinted off the water, and they felt the beasts writhing amongst the waves below. Each had sensed an increasing volume of E.L.F’s the further they moved to the southwest and it gave weight to Abbey’s theory that the Hulathen were sweeping across the country starting in the northeast. That meant the humans and a lot of the creatures still had a chance.
The suburban landscape continued for another ten miles or so until they crossed the state line and were back into hills, this time belonging to Kentucky. She glanced at the man next to her and tried to figure out a plan which did not involve him getting shot. Not that she minded, but she just didn’t want to get shot along with him.
I’ll just let them know on the radio when we are closer. Should be ok…
After mile after mile of forests and some pauses due to E.L.F’s which passed by, or flew over their heads, the highway and landscape around them started to flatten out.
It wasn’t long before they were passing into the outskirts of the city where she first met Miles. She wondered if anyone was still living in the burned out shell of Arena town.
As she drove through the center of town, she thought about driving past the large block like building, but thought better of it. Instead she continued on by, eventually turning to the south.
As they neared the town north of the outpost she grew increasingly anxious. If he produced a knife and stabbed her as she drove, there wouldn’t be much she could do about it.
“We’re only about thirty minutes from the outpost.”
“Okay.”
“So I’m going to radio ahead and let them know we’re almost there. That way they don’t shoot you, or me by accident when they see you.”
“Sure.”
She reached down beneath her feet and fumbled around in her pack until she found her radio. She went to click it on to talk, when she remembered the lumbering mound of teeth and claw which her passenger controlled, and which she had seen intermittently over the course of the past hundred, miles keeping up behind them. “What we going to do with that thing you call ‘Tiger’?”
Clovis smirked. “He’ll play nice.”
“He won’t be allowed in the compound.”
“Sure.”
Abbey frowned then clicked on her radio. “This is Abbey Reisner, coming from the Boston camp. Is anyone out there from the outpost? Over.”
There was a few seconds of static then an excited sounding young man responded. “We hear you Ms. Reisner! Whereabouts are you? Over.”
Abbey explained and then asked for Brad to be put on. After a few moments his voice came from her speaker.
“Abbey! Are you safe? Over.”
“I’m fine. I’m about twenty minutes out, coming in from the north. I have someone with me. Over.”
“Clovis? Over.”
The man next to her, looked across.
“Yes. Over.”
“Okay. Come in through the main gates as always. Over.”
As the noonday sun beamed above them, the pickup drove up the winding lane, until the walls of the outpost and a sky-high radio mast came into view. It had been sometime since she had last seen it, but she was still shocked at how much it had changed. Look out towers sat at one hundred yard intervals, and multi-storey buildings crowded the interior, like a small town. There was even a dome or two, which she recognized as containing radar dishes.
They approached the gate which she could tell was already open. “Don’t make any sudden movements,” she said to Clovis.
He grumbled something she didn’t catch.
She slowed the pickup and they moved past the two large gates, but was only able to get a short distance further, because of the ring of turreted Humvee’s and the larger ring of heavily armed soldiers all pointing their weapons towards them.
She stopped the pickup and turned the ignition off, then looked across at her passenger. “Welcome to the outpost.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
Zach looked at the intensely dark object which seemed to absorb the light around it on his computer monitor in his cramped office. It seemed impervious to gravity as it just floated above the powerhouse near the dam. General Trow with a headset on was inside a small rectangle on another part of the screen.
“So the good news is we have a Hulathen, and we also have whatever the hell that thing is,” said Trow.
“Right. And the bad?”
“The bad, is the alien might be dead. We can’t tell. And we have no idea what the black thing is. We thought it was its space ship or something, now the tech guys are telling me it’s something else entirely, but they’re not sure what.”
“We could do with Raj.”
She nodded. “Ain’t that the truth.”
“Still no word from up there?”
She shook her head. “Only dead air.”
“And your team have made a start on another possible toxin with the Hulathen you have?”
“Started is a relative term. They’re having trouble getting a sample of its blood.”
“Okay, keep me informed of any progress of any kind.”
“Will do.”
He went to click her screen off when she went to talk again.
“How’s Michael holding up?”
“I’m not sure. Fiona said he hasn’t spoken a word to anyone but his stepdaughter since they returned. Actually I’m about to go see him now.”
“Tell him that my thoughts are with him and his daughter.”
Zach nodded and the general’s screen went black.
He sighed and stayed looking at the strange black mass for a few seconds more then got his feet and left his office. It wasn’t long before he was in another part of the bunker system, standing in front of a door, which had been the entrance to a former maintenance cupboard, but now was a small bedroom. He knocked.
“It’s me Zach. I’m just here to see how you are?”
Only silence came from beyond the door.
He went to knock again, but his hand wavered. “If you need anything, my office is always open, just—”
“Sir?”
Zach turned around. A soldier was standing at the end of the corridor.
“Yes?”
“There’s a communication from the outpost. They are saying Abbey Reisner and a man called Clovis have arrived.”
Zach turned back to the door. “I’m sorry for your loss.”
He walked away towards the soldier. “I want a soldier stationed at this door. If private Chang, has any requests then it’s that soldier’s job to make them happen. Got that?”
The soldier nodded. They then walked to main operations. Zach placed one of the available headsets on. “This is General Felton. Over.”
“Zach?”
A strange mixture of relief and joy flowed through him at the sound of Abbey’s voice. “Abbey? I’m here, are you okay? Over.”
“I’m okay Zach. I have the toxin, Raj gave it to me before I left. Over.”
“It works? Over.”
“I don’t know. But I have it. Over.”
Zach paused for a moment, trying to work out the best way to get the biochemical contents from Kentucky to Texas.
“I was thinking maybe a plane to get it to you? Over.”
“Yup. That’s probably the best way, it’s a gamble, but probably less of one, than trying the overland route to here. I’m not sure though our friends in the skies will allow us access to our runways. But I’ll see what I can do and if it’s possible I’ll set it up. Over.”
“There’s something else. Over.”
“Clovis was with you? I know. Over.”
“Yes, but that’s not it. He said he wanted to hand himself in. Pay for what he has done. Over.”
Zach didn’t believe Clovis wanted to do that at all and waited for the catch.
“But there is something else, Zach…”
Here it comes.
“He says he has information, regarding your family. Over.”
Abbey’s words flashed though his mind making him shudder. “My family? What about my family? Over.”
“He says he has information about your daughter. Over.”
Images of blood and body parts forced their way into his mind, and vertigo started to get the better of him. He sat down on a nearby desk. “My daughter is dead. Abbey. Over.”
“I know. But he says that he was told something from Tinley…I know this must be incredibly difficult to hear. I don’t know what to say. He’s probably lying. I hate him for doing this. But I had to tell you. Over.”
Zach knew she was probably right and his dizziness started to be replaced with rage. “Why does he want to tell me this? Over.”
“I don’t know. He says he wants to tell you in person. Over.”
“Does he want leniency for what he has done? Over.”
“He says he doesn’t want anything for the information. He just wants to tell you in person. Over.”
I want to kill him.
“Tell him, I will meet him, when he’s here…” He paused before continuing, emotion threatening to overcome his words. “It will be nice for us to stay in one spot for a while. Over.”
The sound of sniffling came from his earpiece. “We will Zach. We will. Over.”
He then suddenly remembered the supposed explosion at the Boston camp. “What was all that about a bomb in the bunker network? Over.”
“That was Clovis. He was meant to cause a distraction for us to get away. I had no idea he was going to explode a bomb. Was anyone killed? Over.”
Zach’s chain of thought stuck on the word ‘us’ before he forced himself to answer her question. “No. Only minor injuries, but Mitchell sent out some people to look for you. She says you’re a danger to all Cascaders. She seems a little bit unhinged, well more than she was when I was up there. Over.”
“We saw them looking for us, but they didn’t find us obviously. I have to go now, but we can talk again later. Let me know when the next plane out here will be. Over.”
“I love you.” He blurted the words and waited for a comeback, but there was only static on the line.
*****
Abbey put the headset down and thanked the comms officer whose seat she was in.
Brad was seated alongside the large table nearby, looking at her. “How is he?”
She smiled. “Confused.”
Brad smiled. “There’s a lot of that going around.”
