Chapter 13

Chapter 13

Nearly twenty minutes after the explosion, the smoke could still be seen from the demolished structure, billowing up from the smoldering remains.  The unit had left the school in search of safer grounds. Once they had reached the park a few blocks away, the explosives were detonated.  Casey could have sworn she felt the earth shake beneath her after hearing those explosions, the sight of black smoke ascending to the clouds a few seconds later. 

Casey studied the rest of the group, their faceguards now gone, thrown to the grassy ground at their feet as they stood in a deformed half circle, their hands unconsciously to their guns.  Everyone except for Nick, who sat on a bench a few feet away, his back to the others.

Casey glanced down to her own face mask on the ground, not wanting to see the dismal faces of her team any longer.  She had only met them a day before but she felt a bond form with them rather quickly.  Maybe it was the dangers they had endured together or maybe it was due to the fact that these men had all endured the same hardships as Nick.  They were the reason he hadn’t been alone all these years, watching over one another as true brothers would.  Perhaps it was for those reasons she grew to care for these men and why her heart ached so much for LINGO’s loss.

She wiped wearily at her burning eyes seeing a patch of wetness on the dark material of her sleeve.  Taking in a long deep breath, she held it for a moment before letting it out gradually finding that doing so gave her a calming sensation, if only for a brief amount of time.  

Cool drops fell onto her face causing her to gaze up into the sky.  The clouds overhead were a subtle gray in color as it rained in an unhurried methodical pattern, the sun still shining in the summer rain.  She smiled, relieved in a way, welcoming the patter of rain to fall over her tear stained face.  At this point, she believed she could face the others again without the sense of weakness she had felt hovering over her.

Looking to the others, she saw they moved closer together, having a conversation, their moods lightening, if only a little bit.  It made her truly happy to see the sight.  Her gaze fell to Nick who remained sitting on the park bench, his back still to the others. Her sense of happiness faded.  I wonder how he is holding up.

Making her way towards him, her eyes fell to the others, seeing that they too were watching her.  They looked to her with an almost pleased expression as she walked passed them.  Had they wanted her to speak with Nick first?  She nearly laughed aloud at her own childish thought.  Of course not, why would they?  It wasn’t as if she and Nick were involved in anyway.  They were nothing more than close friends…

She shook her head, scolding herself. What are you thinking about at a time like this?  Her features fell when she reached Nick’s side.  He looked awful, like a part of himself had been forcefully ripped from his body.  She wasn’t sure what it was she could do for him, but she would most certainly do her best.

Nick glanced over the diminutive, forsaken town of Marksville.  His hometown.  The place where he had come across Casey all those years ago, shortly after the death of his parents.  

Casey had been his god sent.  She hadn’t only helped him cope through the pain of the loss of his parents, but also helped him through the days of his grandfather’s merciless beatings.  Looking over the town now he really felt no loss for its people. The only part of him that had made him grateful at all to this place was that he had met her and ultimately found her yet again.  Here, in this once peaceful town he grown to almost hate with its hidden secrets buried deep beneath its very grounds.

Nick had often wondered if anyone from the town had known what was taking place within that old mine.  When he was abducted, the facility was near completion, the reason for destroying the only known entrance.  That was nearly 15 years ago…the only good he felt that came from his experiences with the countless injections and numerous tests was he was able to meet the others from his unit.  His brothers.

And now, two of his brothers were gone in the short time period of their escape.  Nick had thought they were ready to overthrow that miserable facility and in truth, they were.  But they had miscalculated, not expecting the creatures to be released in to the outside world…but that was all in the past now.  No matter how much he wanted to change it, he could only think of the days ahead of them.

He closed his eyes, letting them burn against their lids, forming more tears as they mixed with the cool rain, a break from the humid summer heat.  His attention turned to his right, sensing someone coming closer and after opening his eyes, he saw Casey at his side.  She said nothing, watching him thoughtfully before taking a seat beside him.  Still, she said nothing, only watched the scene ahead of her before letting out an extensive and languid yawn, resting the side of her head against his arm before she spoke.  “I really am happy to have found you again, Nick.”

He smiled slightly.  “I’m glad too.  I only wish it could have been under different circumstances.”

“Me too.”  She said closing her eyes, sighing.  “I don’t want you to think I’m some heartless jerk, but I think we should get moving.”  Moving away from him, she met his gaze.  “We have to think of some sort of plan to deal with these things.”

Nick watched her momentarily before nodding in agreement.  “Yeah, god only knows how many more nests there are.”  His gaze fell to the sun streaming through the silvery clouds, the passing shower calming to a drizzle.  “At least we have a full day’s worth of light ahead of us.”

“Yeah.”  Casey agreed standing, her straightening posture turning to a slow crawl as something crossed her mind.  “Daylight…” she turned to Nick, a newfound worry on her mind.  “I think we have a problem.”

Nick’s brows narrowed as he stood to face her.  “What is it?”

She stepped towards him almost urgently.  “The sun was shining through the windows of the gym in the school.”

It didn’t take him much longer then a second to understand what she meant.  If there was daylight in the gym, why were those sacs there?  Shouldn’t they have been hidden within the darkest parts of the building in fear of being burned like the adults?  And the new creature, the one with the eyes, before it had attacked LINGO, it had emerged from the gym where the sunlight streamed through the large windows freely. This could only mean one thing.

“They’re adapting.”  Nick said his voice low at first when he turned to the others.  “Tactics meeting now.”  He ordered heading towards them with Casey following behind him.

The others looked to him, surprised by the sudden call for a meeting.  Nick had explained their situation to them cursorily knowing they hadn’t much time. It was a miracle all on its own that they hadn’t been slaughtered during their rest in the park.  

Casey tugged lightly on his sleeve, signifying they were all out of time.  Across the street there was a dark figure to be seen lurking within the shadows of the nearby house.

“So what’s the plan?”  AUTO questioned looking to Nick.  The unit without a word formed a circle, their backs towards one another as everyone within the group began to assess their situation.

“We don’t have the time we thought we had,” Nick stated the forms of two more creatures emerging to their right.  “We are going to have to try to get out of this quick.”

“But how?”  MED questioned.  In his view, there was a creature on top of a building, two others lurking towards them on either side of a blue car.  “We are being surrounded.”

SCOPE raised his rifle.  “S**t.”  Looking through the scope, he scanned the area thoroughly, seeing the creatures were not just surrounding them, but appeared to be lying in wait.  “Damn, it’s like they‘re hunting us as a group now.”

“The intelligence in these things is increasing rapidly.”  MED observed in an almost awe stricken manner.  “Could it be the effects of the breeding process?”

“Well, geez MED I don’t know.”  AUTO declared brashly, glaring in his direction.  “Why don’t you ask the f-”

“Now is not the time to be arguing here!”  Casey reminded him heatedly, training her gun on the closest creature.  She glanced at Nick from the corner of her eye.  “What do we do Nick?”

“The only thing we can do.  We have to take out the whole town.”  Nick explained candidly.

“And how the hell do we do that?”  AUTO questioned.  Two more creatures approached from an alleyway.

“How about BANG?”  Casey suggested.  “He can set explosives throughout the town.”

“Wouldn’t cut it.”  BANG said grimly.  “In order to take out a town of this size, or any size for that matter, there would have to be an explosion of enough magnitude at the core of the town.  I might be able to make something but, it’d take time that we don’t have.” 

“Back in the facility’s main terminal there was an administration program that is a trigger to a self-destruct system for the base.”  TECH recalled becoming increasingly anxious, waiting for the dreadful beast to attack.  “With the facility being under the town‘s center, that just might do the trick.”

“BANG?”  Nick looked to him questioningly.

He shrugged.  “Might work.  If I set more explosives at key parts of town, it would definitely do the job”

“Then that’s what we’ll do.”  Nick confirmed, giving one last look over their surroundings.  “The 10s have been quiet for now but we shouldn’t push our luck.  AUTO, I need you to wire a car for TECH, MED, and BANG so they can head to the facility to check out that self-destruct system.  We’ll cover you.”

“Right.”  Without a moment’s hesitation, AUTO rushed over towards a blue car parked across the street, SCOPE taking out the two creatures closer to the car with clear headshots, allowing his comrade to reach the car where he immediately began to start his work.  

The two piercing shots from SCOPE’s rifle seemed to have signaled the 10s to make their attacks as well, the sound of their screeches resonating through the park, their many voices trembling the very ground beneath their feet.  It was as if hell itself had come to the earth‘s surface.  

Casey took in a deep breath as she fired two slugs into the creature coming for her.  One shot going wide, hitting it in its left appendage, just above where the elbow joint would be, causing it to fall to the ground with a bloodcurdling scream.  Quickly she readjusted her aim, hitting the creature squarely in its temple just as it regained its footing.  From the bullets impact, the beast jolted back, falling slowly back to the ground.  It didn’t get up again.  She took aim at another creature though it had already been hit, landing on its back and kicking its legs wildly into the air as it took its last breaths. 

Every time one of those monsters had fallen, there were only two more in its place.  Is there no end to them?   She thought taking out one of the creatures with another clear head shot, the sound of MED’s gun firing rapidly, taking out a few more approaching from the side.  She was glad she wasn’t fighting these things alone.

“Got it!”  AUTO’s voice was barely heard over the barrage of bullets.

Nick turned in his general direction.  “Everyone move!”

The group moved as one across the park, firing, reloading, and checking their footing all in one go.  Upon reaching the car, TECH, MED AND BANG jumped inside, MED in the driver’s seat with TECH in the passenger, BANG jumping into the backseat.

Nick stood in front of MED’s open door letting the others guard his back, shots firing one after another.  “We are going to secure a plane for our escape.  Stay at the facility until we return.”

“Got it.”  MED answered with a nod.

“Be careful.”  He slammed the door shut turning his back to the car.  After a few moments, he could feel the car pull away.  MED accelerated the vehicle quickly, speeding down the road having to swerve around a creature scurrying up in the middle of the street.  He turned to AUTO.  “We need a car.”

“Right.”  However, as they scanned the surrounding area, they could see their options dwindling.  The creatures were closing in fast and without the others, their manpower was severely halved.

Casey felt her heart race as she watched the swarm before her edging closer, noticing more of the 10s emerging from their hiding spots in the distance.  There has to be at least fifty of them, if not more.  What could they do?  If they didn’t think of something soon…

She scanned the line of buildings behind them, her gaze coming to a stop at the local bank.  Nudging Nick, grasping his attention, she pointed her gun towards the bank.  “Hurry, this way.”  Nick looked to where she had pointed questioningly.  “Behind the counters is a back door.”  She explained, firing a few shots at the approaching creatures.  “If we go through there it should lead us to the back parking lot.”

“Good thinking.”  He looked to SCOPE and AUTO.  “Let’s move.”

Heading to the bank, AUTO flanking and protecting the rear, the squad moved fast.  SCOPE took the lead, pulling open the front door, waving the others inside.  Nick and Casey immediately began their sweep upon entry, turning their flashlights on, as they walked through the bank.  SCOPE took one last shot at the nearest creature after AUTO entered the building before he, himself ,darted inside, pulling the glass door shut behind him.  

The group didn’t stay still for long as they headed across the main lobby to the bank tellers station.  Each one hopped over the counter, Nick being the first to the door in the back left-hand corner.  After SCOPE went over the counter, the glass to main entrance shattered as one of the beast crashed through, another following shortly after.

Nick pushed the back entrance open, ushering the others back outside.  “Hurry, move!  Move!”  SCOPE and AUTO rushed passed him through the opened door, relieved to see none of the creatures had come this far back…yet.

Casey shoved Nick out the door next, looking back to the main lobby in time see one of the beast leaping over the counter after her.  Eyes widening she raised her gun, readying to fire when she felt herself being pulled out into the parking lot beside Nick as AUTO slammed the door closed.  An audible thump sounded as the creature hit the door face first, its claws scraping against the thick metal of the door.

Just as Casey had thought, the back door of the bank had led to a parking lot.  Relief struck her like a ton of bricks when she saw that there was still one lone vehicle left.  A dark green blazer.

Without a moment’s hesitation, the group hurried over towards the vehicle.  With any luck, the doors would be unlocked and after the sweet click of the door handle coming open AUTO went to work.  Nearing the end of his work the others began to see the creatures lurking around the building.  The metal door to the bank beginning to bend outward from the forceful attacks.

Everyone was already boarding the blazer, AUTO taking the driver’s seat after the sweet hum of the vehicle sounded after roaring to life.  Casey and Nick climbed into the back while SCOPE took the passenger seat. Opening his window, he leaned out somewhat taking aim with his rife  and fired, making a direct hit on the closest creature nearing the front of the vehicle. 

AUTO backed the blazer out over the curb causing the others to jolt from impact, the tires squealing on the asphalt.  He glanced back to the others through the rearview mirror.  “Directions?”

Casey pointed behind her.  “If you follow this road it’s the quickest with only a few turns along the way.”

AUTO rolled his eyes in annoyance, not towards Casey but to the fact that the road they needed to be on was behind them.  “Of course.”  

In a hand over hand motion AUTO tuned the wheel hard, forcing the vehicle into the left lane, the tires squealing once more as they headed for the airport, leaving the creatures behind in a trail of smoke.