Cascade box set 2, p.44
Cascade Box Set 2, page 44
“How we going to stop them and take our planet back?” Said Bower looking around the room.
*****
After flying for about half an hour, the trees and fields below Abbey quickly changed to countless rows of what used to be homes and gardens but now were lumps of green foliage, intermixed with E.L.F’s of all sizes and forms going about their daily business. Growing up in Boston, she had an idea of what she was flying over, but without having spent well over a decade in the old city, she wouldn’t have even known that what was passing below her used to be inhabited by humans.
In the bright early afternoon sun she felt like she had been transported to the tropics, as creatures scurried about, sometimes briefly looking up at her and plants with vibrant flowers, their petals a few feet across fluttered in the light breeze.
The takeover by the newly crowned nature was more complete here than any other place she had previously seen. Even her dreams didn’t do it justice.
Clovis’s voice echoed around her mind, like one of the insects of the old world that you never seemed to be able to pin down. She closed her eyes to steady her thoughts. How did he know I was there? Was he tracking me?
The idea that he just randomly arrived at the same town in Massachusetts wasn’t getting any traction in her mind. Somehow he knew. For now though there were more important things to concentrate on. Like finding the large cathedral type building near the bay that she had seen so many times in her sleep.
The size of the structures covered in plant life grew in size as they continued. Looking a few further miles ahead, she could see the downtown area, with its skyscrapers and parks. She also caught glimpses of the river which she knew led out to the sea.
She focused on that area and Mo altered course. Her parents’ apartment flashed into her mind. It had been many years since she was last there, and looking at the amount of growth this far out from the central neighborhoods she doubted she could even gain access. Maybe she would try afterwards.
Hundreds of feet below them, dark oily black shapes slithered through the water. Some leaping out of the water and grabbing some poor E.L.F that had wondered too close to the shore, then quickly sinking back down into the depths.
She focused on the tall buildings ahead of them. One of them had to be what she dreamed about. The answers would be there, she was sure of it.
Suddenly she felt the air pressure change around her and Mo swung to one side just in time as a creature swooped past them. It had been flying high above them. Whatever it was, it had no ill intent towards her, but it refocused her mind on being alert to where she was.
The waters of the bay could now be clearly seen, even with Boston’s tallest buildings in front of them. One in particular stood out, with its curved edges and multiple spires. It had clearly been a relatively new construction, but designed to fit in with the city’s heritage. Now though it looked like one huge tree, with multiple appendages belonging to plants that had somehow made it their home. She thought about landing near its ‘roots’ but the ground was completely hidden beneath trees and leaves, and even with her abilities she didn’t want to risk it. Instead she spotted the sun glinting off one of the few windows that was left visible to the outside world.
Mo increased his rate of wing strokes and they hovered near the twenty-fifth floor. Her feet found some branches and she reached out with one of her hands, which Mo had just let go off, allowing her to grab hold of some vines. She flat out refused to look down even knowing her E.L.F friend would grab her if she fell. Pushing the leaves from her face, Mo let go of her other hand and she grabbed the branches that were growing all around her.
The window was just a few feet away. Making sure she had a good grip, she inched forward then gave the glass a hefty kick with her boot. The impact made a loud thump but had no other effect.
She sighed then felt around the back of her pants and pulled her pistol out. Pointing it at the window and slightly down, she pulled the trigger.
The glass shattered sending a thunderous noise through the air which was met with squawks and roars, from far below.
She kicked away the shards that were left and jumped inside.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Brad leaned on a fence in one of the large fields that surrounded the property, drinking from one of the bottles of the sharp tasting beverages that the previous owners had left behind. The sun was on its downward trajectory and the light breeze of earlier had become a chilling wind. A noise of squelching mud made him turn around, Zach was walking towards him.
“Don’t tell me… the aliens have explained that it was all a big misunderstanding,” said Brad.
Zach smiled then looked around at the trees and bushes on the edge of the field, and the hills beyond. “This would have been a good place to live, before…”
He offered Zach the bottle. Zach shook his head.
“Never took you as the ranching type?”
“When I was a kid I used to read my father’s comics. It was all cowboys and Indians, and how to handle a head of cattle.” He smiled. “It was a different time, but even seeing those mountains and plains in black and white print, gave me ideas about having my own place one day.”
“Well you still can! Your cattle might have five legs and two heads, but hey it can happen!”
They both laughed.
“Not sure if Abbey would want to be a rancher though,” said Zach.
“I think she likes it just as much as you, it’s just… she had other things on her mind during her stay.”
Zach’s expression hardened. “I thought she would talk to me—” He shook his head. “—Just tell me what was going on with her.”
Brad put his hand on Zach’s shoulder. “Sometimes the closer you are to someone the harder it is to share. We’ll get her back, I’m sure of it.”
Zach nodded.
For a moment both men stood silent with their thoughts.
“So what do you make of all of this other world stuff?” said Zach.
“I was hoping you would tell me! You went on a pretty wild ride. I know…or knew a good many people who would have given up an important body organ to have been where you were and saw what you did.”
Zach smiled. “A prison’s a prison, being in space makes no difference, and once I got out the cell…”
“It must have been tough…”
“Which part?”
“Being confined again.”
Zach walked closer to the fence, looking off into the distance. “It was what it was.”
Brad could tell his experience of being locked up again was something Zach didn’t want to dwell on. “But you haven’t come all the way out here to humor my former role as an ufologist. From what you have told me, for some reason these beings decided to make this planet their home. They didn’t come down here and try and negotiate or offer anything in return, they just decided to end us and start again, to remake the planet, in ‘their’ image…” He looked rueful.
“What?”
“These aliens, the Hulathen as you call them. Looks like they see themselves as gods and us as a nuisance to be got rid of.”
An idea was forming in Zach’s mind. “So we make ourselves a pain in their ass.”
“Obviously the level of technology they can wield is way beyond what we had, let alone what we have now. So guerrilla warfare is our only hope. I’m sure Trow and Bower are already thinking along these lines. But we need to know more about them. Just having a name and the fact that they have restarted evolution doesn’t give us much to go on.”
“Maybe we could get ourselves one of their ships, or whatever those things are that took us.”
“Any piece of their tech would be something. What about the aliens that helped you, do you think they would help us?”
Zach shook his head. “I guess, who knows. We don’t have any idea how to contact them, where to look or anything.”
“We’re on the start of a—” Brad looked past Zach’s shoulder to a soldier that was running towards them from the main house. They both started walking towards him.
An out of breath young man stopped just a few yards ahead of them.
“What now?”
The soldier caught his breath and looked at Zach. “Sir, there’s a message from another camp.”
“Other? You mean the camp in Texas?”
“No, sir. We have a message from the Boston camp. They say Abbey Reisner was recently with them, but she’s now gone—” Both Zach and Brad’s heart rates jumped. “And that they are under siege by someone called Clovis.”
Both of the older men looked at each other, then started running back to the house.
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Abbey sat in a worn but still comfortable sofa in the lobby of the Grand Imperial hotel. The light from the sun was dwindling, and even though it was spring the air was getting noticeably colder, so she stood and looked around for firewood.
Mo, who had squeezed through another opening somewhere else in the building, sat on a pipe that stuck out of the broken floor to the second floor above. In his mouth was some kind of small E.L.F. It was the first time she had seen him eat another creature, but after being out of contact with him for so long, she knew she needed to accept that he was going to find his own food sources. Still, the idea him killing something troubled her.
She picked up a few pieces of wood with splintered ends and walked back to the sofa and threw them on the ground, then pushed them closer together. A tear started to roll down the side of her face, but she ignored it and instead looked for more fuel for the fire.
After entering the building on the upper floors, she had slowly made her way down, lower and lower, searching the rooms but always moving towards what she hoped would be a resolution. When she finally got to the lobby, she stepped out into a huge area full of reeds and plants and some E.L.F’s which she sent on their way, but there was nothing else. No cocoons with her relatives inside and no strange demonic looking creature to answer all her questions.
Scattered across the floor were rags, dark rotting magazines and what she thought were the hallmarks of people having lived there, but long since had left or died. The whole place felt like death and she had sacrificed everything to be there.
The idea was growing inside her, that the reason she had made the journey was simply because it was home. That it was the last place she knew her parents were, but her subconscious mind had put together some elaborate story to get her to come, otherwise she never would have.
She swallowed and wiped her cheek, then picked up the driest looking pieces of paper she could find, scrunched them up and placed them between the pieces of wood. Pulling a lighter from her pack, she ignited the paper, blowing on it to keep it going, then watched as the flames grabbed hold of the smaller pieces of wood. It wasn’t long before smoke was rising and the fire was warming her hands.
Mo gave a quiet squawk.
“Yeah, fire, yay. Hey, maybe we can cook whatever that is you’re holding.” It was a joke, for the idea in reality turned her stomach a little. She needed humor, it was the only thing that was keeping her sane.
Sitting down on the sofa, she reached into her pack and pulled out her hand radio. The battery was dead. Even if it weren’t the idea of pulling Zach and the others into this hell, was something she couldn’t do. They would die trying to get to her. Then there was Clovis. He was coming. It wasn’t a sensation, like she felt with knowing an E.L.F was nearby, it was more of a hunch, an expectation.
He’s going to kill me.
She sighed and threw the radio back into the backpack.
As the flames danced, her eyes grew heavy.
*****
Abbey’s eyes sprung open.
What was that?
The light from the day had been replaced with a wall of darkness around her, with the dying embers of the fire being the only source of light.
A bang echoed in the distance making her get to her feet. She immediately pulled her Glock from her belt, and waved it into the gloom. It wasn’t an E.L.F, she would sense it if it was. This was something else.
A crunching noise came from behind her, making her whirl around and fire off a round. A boom echoed around the walls and momentarily the lobby lit up allowing her a glimpse of a person ducking on the other side of the room.
“I see you there! I got a gun and I’m a Cascader, so I—”
“Abbey?”
It was a voice she knew, but one that couldn’t be there.
Am I dreaming?
She lowered her hand. “Raj?”
More sounds of wood breaking and something stepping towards her. She raised the gun again.
“Don’t shoot!”
She quickly reached into her pack and brought out the flashlight and pointed it towards the voice. Raj was looking back at her, trying to cover his eyes.
“Raj?” She walked forward, still with her gun pointing at the figure in front of her.
“Please lower your gun, it’s me,” he said walking up to her.
“But how?” She looked around. “Are the others here?”
“No. I’m alone. Do you have any water?”
She walked back to her pack and pulled her bottle out. “Here. It’s all I have.” She handed it to him.
He took a few gulps and handed it back to her. “Who would have thought being in a spacecraft would make you so thirsty.”
“Uh?”
He stepped forward, throwing his arms around her, taking her by surprise, her gun still in her outstretched hand. “It’s good to see you are still alive.” He let go and stepped back. “Elcher informed me he had been trying to keep a close eye on you, but he can’t watch you all the time, and—”
“What are you talking about?”
He pointed at the sofa. “I think you should take a seat.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The senior staff all sat around the large table in the outpost’s basement. On the comms General Mitchell had just finished telling them and Trow who was linked into the transmission, their story. Of how the decision was made to expand the bunkers early on in the Cascade, and how that choice saved thousands of lives.
Brad leaned in to Zach. “Still not seeing why they have been quiet all this time. Would have given people hope to know others were out there.”
Zach nodded, although he hadn’t heard much after they moved on from recalling how a young woman had been discovered in the tunnels a few days earlier, and how she had trained some of them, only for other Cascaders to show up and kill someone.
Clovis.
As General Trow and General Mitchell exchanged ideas as to how to lift the siege of the Boston bunkers, Zach could only think about how alone the woman he loved must be feeling. Even with her pet by her side.
“Don’t you think?” said Bower to Zach.
He hesitated, trying to remember anything that had just been said.
Brad leaned forward. “Obviously Clovis has brought others together, like himself and the Cascaders in the bunkers will be no match for them.”
Zach nodded, pretending he knew what they were just talking about.
“And they presumably can control more of the E.L.F’s that are in the area. So we are trapped down here. Over,” said Mitchell on the radio.
“And you have supplies for four months you say? Over,” said Trow.
“Yes, but that’s not the issue. A number of tunnels are shuddering, as if—”
“They are digging…” said Zach.
“Yes. We have a lot of firepower down here if we need to use it, but it will get messy real quick if their creatures break into the bunkers. Over.”
Bower was shaking his head as she was talking. “We’re not going to let that happen, General.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves Captain,” said Trow. “Boston is a good two days away by road and it won’t be easy getting planes up there. General. Do you think you can hold out for three days? Over.”
“Doesn’t seem we have much choice. Over.”
As if waking from a dream, Zach realized he had hardly contribute anything to the discussion. “We don’t have to tackle Clovis’s people head on, we just have to draw them away. And if he knows I’m in the vicinity, it will do just that.”
Bower looked frustrated, but didn’t get a chance to vocalize it, because Trow talked first. “Zach, we just got you back, and—”
“I’m the senior officer in command up here. So this is what we’re going to do.” He then went to lay out a plan, which involved himself and a small detachment of soldiers, moving as quickly to Boston to distract the attackers, while a larger force moved from Austin to the outpost, and then joined them in Boston. It was a good plan even if it was just something he had thought of within the last few minutes.
He looked around those in the room, then to the mike in front of him. “So we in agreement General? Over.”
“We are. The force will be ready to roll by the morning. Over,” said Trow.
“Give us hourly updates, General Mitchell. Over,” said Zach.
“Will do. Over.”
And with that the link between the outpost, the camp and the bunkers was ended.
Silence fell across the room. “I’m not sure not telling them about the aliens was the right move,” said Bower.
“They got enough on their plate Cole. We’ll tell them once we have taken care of their Clovis problem.”
Bower nodded.
Zach looked around the room. “I want a squad put together and ready to leave by zero six hundred hours, which gives us plenty of time to get some rest and get prepared.”
“Yes, sir,” said most in the room.
“I’m going to get some air.” Zach stood and walked to the stairs. Michael, who had remained silent for the entire meeting followed.
Zach continued through the hallway and out the front, standing on the porch. The brisk night air helped clear his head. “Just when you think we’re getting ahead of the game, the game changes,” he said without turning around.
