Cascade box set 2, p.18
Cascade Box Set 2, page 18
“I know,” said Zach. He looked at the nearby soldier. “Get me Sergeant Bass.”
She nodded and soon Bass’s voice was coming through his headset along with the sound of gunfire.
“I’m here Zach. Over.”
“I need you to pull everyone off the walls and get them back here. Over.”
“That’s going to allow the gang’s people to walk straight in. Over.”
“We got no choice sergeant. Over.”
“Yes, sir.”
CHAPTER FORTY
Abbey’s grip on the straps holding her steady tightened. It was all she could do not to fall forward due to the tilt of the grated floor. The ride back had been level until they reached the walls, then the pilot informed them that they had to fly low to avoid being spotted by E.L.F’s or the Hell Fire gangs forces.
She couldn’t see much through the opening at the back of the helicopter apart from trees and buildings flashing by, but they could all hear the battle raging outside even over the drumming of the engines.
She looked at the crewman nearby who looked like he was listening to his headset.
“What is it Captain?”
He went to reply, when the floor tilted violently in the opposite direction and he flew forward slamming headfirst into the steel supports just to her left. Even with his helmet on his limp body began to fall to the ground then suddenly floated upwards. Abbey’s did the same as she desperately tried hanging onto the straps as her legs dangled weightless for a second before slamming back down into the floor again. It was only then she realized the sounds of screaming around her and the five-foot tear in the aircraft’s hull fifteen feet away
As the g-forces pinned her to the interior wall she glanced to her right to the outside world, only to see the ground approaching and then nothing.
“Are you alright dear?”
Sound and fury burst into Abbey’s senses as she looked around her. She was lying on her back on the ground. In the sky above groups of flying creatures soared and dived attacking soldiers, which desperately tried to fire back at them. E.L.F’s which were so dark it was almost impossible to see them against the gloom of the disappearing sun flitted amongst the ruins of nearby buildings while an E.L.F two stories high with an upper body which looked like an octopus fought with a tank pulling it onto its side as it fired off a shell.
A middle-aged man holding a shotgun and an elderly woman looked down at her.
Abbey tried to get up but instantly felt dizzy.
“You took quite a blow to your head,” said the woman.
Abbey swallowed, her throat felt completely devoid of moisture. “How did I get here?”
The woman’s gaze looked to the building behind them. Abbey turned over to see better. The helicopter sat half in and half out of a storefront.
She tried to get to her feet. “I have to go back, there might be people trapped.”
The man with the gun looked about anxiously. “We have to get out of here! We’re sitting—”
Shouting came from the helicopter. Cries of “Help” were just audible over the instinctual sounds of the E.L.F’s and the firepower being ranged on them.
Abbey tried once again to get to her feet, this time she was successful.
A man appeared from the hole that was once the large glass front of the store. He was covered in dust and blood ran from his dangling hand.
Abbey scrambled forward when the man behind her grabbed her around her waist and pulled her back.
“What are you doing!” she yelled as she fought with him. But then she saw, as did the man who was staggering around behind the wreckage of the helicopter. His widening eyes were even visible at the fifty or sixty yards to where he stood and he turned and started running. But a few seconds later the inevitable happened and a horde of creatures half wolf half ape descended upon him killing him instantly. They then smashed through the remaining windows and into the dark of the innards of the store. Screams and cries of anguish followed.
“We can’t stay here!” shouted the man. “Soon it’s going to be completely dark, and you don’t want to be out here then!”
Abbey hung her head then patted her pants side for her radio but it was not there. She looked around her but all the soldiers were either dead or gone, and their machines destroyed. The battle raged in some streets a block away.
“Okay,” she said reluctantly and the three of them ran across the concrete and into an office-building lobby.
She leaned on an impressive rectangular stone pillar, with a plaque detailing various companies.
The man looked back at her. “We have to hide further in, on one of the floors above or the basement!”
“Where is this? What part of the camp are we in?”
“Southern part of the capital,” said the woman just visible in the dwindling light.
“Isn’t there a bunker around here?”
A scraping noise made them all turn and look to the street outside.
“We have to go!” whispered the man.
Abbey lurched forward and they ran into a narrow stairwell and up three flights until they came out into a corridor. A sign on the wall mentioned something to do with life insurance.
The man tried a few doors until one opened. “In here!”
They all piled into darkness, until the old woman produced a flashlight and shone its beam around. They were standing amongst a few desks with old-fashioned typewriters on them, along with chairs and whiteboards. Another door was half open. Abbey walked to it and looked inside. It was a small kitchen with a sink, one table and chair.
“In here!”
They all moved into the small space and closed the door.
“Look under the sink there might be some candles,” said Abbey leaning back against the door out of breath.
The man looked, throwing out plastic containers until he found two candles covered in dust. “How we gonna light them?”
Abbey went to say something, when a thought struck her. She looked to her left then flicked the light switch upwards. The florescent light stuttered then came on. She smiled.
“Oh,” said the man. “I thought the power was gone.”
“Throw me that hand towel,” said Abbey. He did and she laid it across the bottom of the door stopping the light from escaping.
The woman stepped forward. “Come here, let me wash some of the blood off you.”
Abbey looked down at her once dark blue top and realized her hands were covered in drying blood. Reaching up to her face it felt the same. “We were flying, only a few minutes out from landing, when something happened and then I woke up outside.”
“You were attacked by a flock of something, we saw it happen. Watched you come all the way down. Including you being thrown free. We were sure you were dead,” said the woman as she washed away the blood from Abbey’s face.
“Why aren’t you in the bunkers or further away?”
The man listened to the door. “We tried, we were turned away, they were all full,” he briefly looked down. “Many didn’t make it in. I’m Irwin this is my mother Daphne.”
“I’m Abbey. I can’t stay here. I need to get to the—”
The room they were in shuddered and the light above them blinked on and off.
“Are you crazy? It’s completely black out there, and the whole place is full of E.L.F’s roaming looking for their next dinner!” said the man.
The screams of the people left on the helicopter forced its way into Abbey’s mind. “I have to find a radio or something to let them know at the Core that I’m safe. Otherwise…” Tears started to roll down her cheek. “If… If I don’t let him know, he will come and…” She started to slide down the wall as she leaned on it, unable to control her sobs until she was on the floor, her knees up against her chest. “I can’t keep doing this.” Her words fell between her crying.
Daphne kneeled in front of her. “Abbey, we will find a way to get a message to the Core, okay?”
Abbey looked up at her and nodded.
CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
“Are the bunkers holding in the capital?” said Zach to a soldier in front of him.
“Yes, sir. There has not been any breaches yet.”
“If we stay hidden there’s nothing for the E.L.F’s to attack,” said General Trow. They were both standing in the main operations hall at the Core.
“We can’t stay hidden forever,” said Elijah sanding nearby.
“Sir, we have Major Telford for you,” said the comms soldier.
Zach nodded to the soldier.
Screeching and the clatter of automatic fire was the first thing Zach heard in his headset. “Brigadier General, we are taking heavy losses, we can’t hold the capital much longer. Please advise. Over.”
Zach looked at the camera feeds on the large screen from various building vantage points. Flares of light from explosions lit up the night. In streets and buildings soldiers shuffled behind tanks, while masses of E.L.F’s ran amok, scrambling over the bodies of human and creature to attack those running for their lives.
“Pull your forces back to the south Major. Protect the people that are fleeing from the city. Over.”
“Yes, sir. Over.”
Fiona appeared from a side door and walked over to him. “Most of the roads leading south from the city and around here are jammed with vehicles. We already have about a thousand people here, but we still got space for maybe another few thousand.”
“Just let everyone in, even if people end up sleeping in the corridors.”
Zach noticed Trow talking vigorously into her headset’s microphone. She then looked at him with an expression that told him she had news he didn’t want to hear. “What is it?”
“We can’t reach Abbey’s helicopter. And we have reports of a twin engine chopper going down at the southern edge of the capital.”
Zach refused to accept the possibilities of what he was just told. “General you’re in charge while I’m gone.”
Trow went to say something, but instead just nodded.
“I’ll go with you,” said Fiona standing behind him.
Zach turned to the soldier in front of him. “I want an exact location as possible on where the helicopter could have crashed.”
She nodded.
Michael appeared from the side door and slowly walked over to them. “Thanks for letting my family—”
The soldier turned back to Zach. “Sir, around Crown Avenue.”
“That’s close enough,” he then turned to Michael. “You busy?”
“Not really, why?” said Michael.
Zach and Fiona rushed past him.
“Get your gear and meet us here in ten,” said Zach.
Soon they were all running past queues of people in the lobby that were waiting for the elevator to the lower depths.
Zach almost ran into a woman. “Please have you seen my son? He’s name is Jay—”
“Sorry, ma’am the soldier over there will help you,” he said pointing to one of the soldiers nearby.
They than ran across the sidewalk outside and jumped into a waiting Humvee. Fiona took the driver’s seat, with Zach in the passenger’s seat and Michael on the main gun.
She pulled out with a jolt and zigzagged around trucks, cars and people coming the other way across the parking lot until they moved through the main gate and onto the road outside the entrance.
Both lanes were almost completely blocked. She hit the horn hard. “Get out of the way!” Cars slowly started to part. “This is going to take—”
The sound of the big gun perched on top of the Humvee opened up, and cars started scattering.
“Good going Michael!” she shouted.
Soon a clear path lay ahead of them, and she accelerated into it. Two Apache helicopters roared overhead, heading west.
She briefly looked at the man next to her who was holding his M4 rifle in one hand and a map of the capital in the other. “We’ll find her Zach.”
He looked intently at the piece of paper in his hand, while trying to balance a flashlight at it. “I know. Head south on this road, then take the first right. It doesn’t look like much of a road, but it should get us to the capital quicker.”
*****
Abbey crept along the carpeted office aisle surrounded by desks. Outside the only light was the occasional burst of gunfire from a lone tank or soldier still resisting the onslaught.
She grimaced as the wax from the candle she managed to get lit, burned and quickly dried on her hand.
Using its flickering light she opened a drawer and rummaged through its contents looking for something she could use to communicate to the outside world. Pushing it shut in frustration, she looked back at the dozen or other drawers and cupboards she had already opened. Turning back to the front of the large room she was in, she looked at the large glass broken window just ten yards from her. The smell of smoke and other things drifted through the splintered hole. She walked towards it, towards the absolute blackness on the other side and stood just a foot away trying to make out anything of the city which she knew existed out there.
A small flare of light appeared a few miles off and was quickly distinguished. A noise came from behind her and she turned around.
Irwin was walking towards her. “You find anything? There’s nothing in the other—”
“What?” she noticed he was looking past her. She turned back to the window with her candle in hand, and immediately jumped back. Just a few feet away, behind the shards of glass was a floating head made up of glowing red eyes, and teeth which belonged in a shark. Abbey froze. The head bobbled up and down slightly and she realized it belonged to something that was hovering with massive wings just outside the window.
“Back up slowly,” said Irwin.
Abbey’s instincts were to do exactly that, and she took one tentative step back, but then stopped. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and felt outwards with her mind to the creature in front of her, five stories up. What are you doing? Raj told us we couldn’t control the ones that have already been controlled!
“It’s gone!” said Irwin.
Abbey opened her eyes to the same rich darkness again. She let out a breath.
“It just took off, strange. Hey, are you one of those Cascaders? I watched the documentary about them on TV.”
Abbey looked down at the streets below. A small fire was still burning in the building near the crashed helicopter. She turned around and walked back towards Irwin. “I have to get to the helicopter. There might be a radio there.”
He grabbed her arm. “What part of, lots of monsters running around, killing everyone do you not understand?”
She shrugged him off. “You stay here, but I have to go out there.”
CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
Zach looked at the flames and smoke rising high into the night sky of the once proud looking new capital of Camp Bravo. Intermingled with the buildings and occasionally lit by the fires were the winged E.L.F’s still searching for their prey. The road they were on was barely a dirt track, but it was the only way to the west as all the major roads were full of vehicles desperately trying to get away from what was hunting them.
Just a mile off in a field a row of tanks fired off a volley of shells which exploded seconds later, illuminating huge creatures which roared with pain.
Fiona slammed on the breaks as their headlights lit up a bear looking creature but with a more pronounced snout, and a large spear like tail. It looked at them and snarled.
“Ba—” was all Zach could say when Michael let loose with the main gun above their heads. A stream of red tore into the creature which howled then turned and ran through the undergrowth. Fiona drove forward quickly passing the spot where the creature was.
Soon they left the track and bumped up and down onto an empty main wide road, just south of the city. Single story homes and stores passed by, while the tallest buildings loomed just a few miles away. At this distance they could see a creature almost as high as one of the skyscrapers lumbering between the towering structures.
Zach looked back down at his map. “Stay on this road, it should take us to the right area.”
“It might be hard to find the helicopter if it’s gone down behind some buildings, Zach,” said Fiona.
“Just keep driving, we’ll find it.”
Suddenly she veered to the right to avoid something in the road.
“Stop!” shouted Michael above them.
The Humvee slowed to a halt.
“What?” shouted Fiona.
“We passed two soldiers, one looked injured,” said Michael.
She reversed up the road they just came down, eventually stopping beside two men in combat fatigues, one holding the other up.
“Get in!” shouted Michael.
The two soldiers obliged bundling into the back.
“Thanks, we got separated from our platoon when they pulled out. I’m private Ross and this is private Wood. He’s got a wound that won’t stop bleeding.”
“We’re looking for a downed chopper, you see any around here?” said Zach looking into the back.
Ross looked at his friend, whose eyes were fluttering. “Stay with me Gil! Gil!” The young shoulder shook his friend, but private Wood just lay limp in his arms.
“I’m sorry private, but have you see any do—”
“Yes! Okay, yes! Just a block from here, a twin engine went down, but it was right in the middle of some fierce fighting, I doubt anyone survived.”
“We’re looking anyway,” said Fiona. “Where about? Up here?” Fiona weaved around a huge dark mass in the center of the road, while pointing into the night ahead of her.
“Yeah, take the next right.”
She did and soon they were driving down a slight incline. The wreckage of the chopper was obvious even from a few hundred feet away.
“We can’t stay here for long, your lights will attract them!” said the soldier.
They screeched to a halt in the road, alongside the wreckage.
Zach opened his door.
