* * *

  Emma bumped along a rough track as she approached her brother's place. It was remote to say the least. Really it was only sensible to take a four-wheeler down there, but she didn't care. She needed help, and Miles was about the best person she knew to offer it. He cared about her, and he had to be the best-armed person in town.

  She spotted his truck and slid to a halt in the mud. He'd be watching anyone who approached, but he knew their mother's car. She wasn't scared of him, not like a lot of people in town were. She got out and stood still; to give him a clear view, and make sure he didn't perceive a threat. His home was a simple wood cabin built into a hillside. Inside it was far more than that.

  "Hey, Bro, it's me. I...I need your help!" Emma called out.

  She waited. It took a few minutes, but she knew he'd answer. The door swung open, and he stepped out cautiously with a rifle slung over his front. He had long black and dishevelled hair. He was skinny, although clearly worked out a lot, as he was well defined. He looked generally scruffy, though, as if he lived rough and off the land a lot of the time.

  "Sis? Is everything okay?"

  "Right now, yeah, but I am in some trouble, and I need your help."

  "You been followed?"

  "No, nobody around here for miles but you and me."

  "All right, it's good to see you."

  He gestured for her to follow him inside. The log cabin was small and primitive, but she knew it was a facade. He punched in a code, and a large reinforced steel door prised open a little. He heaved it open and showed her inside, sealing the heavy door behind her. They descended down a flight of stairs to a single room that was his real home. Small slit windows looked out from the foundations of the cabin, with sliding inch-thick glass.

  The wall was decorated with guns of all shapes and sizes, boxes of food and barrels of water in another corner, a mound of ammunition, and all the equipment to do his own loading; bows, crossbows, clothing to suit every weather condition imaginable, and a host of radio and surveillance equipment.

  She'd never agreed or understood his prepper ways. It was as if he was always waiting for the apocalypse to come. Now it didn't seem so stupid. She didn't understand what was going on, but she had a sense that it was going to be awful.

  "What can I do for you, Sis?"

  "What?"

  "Come on. Stuff is going on in town, and you've taken Mom's car to come see me. Something ain't right."

  "All right, but this is going to sound crazy."

  "Yep? People say I'm crazy, so I'll be the judge of that."

  She went on to outline her story, but he only looked half convinced by the end.

  "You don't believe me?" she asked in despair.

  "Come over here."

  He led her to a bank of screens he had on a desk. There was radio equipment beside that.

  "I monitor everything that comes in and out of town, like your government agency buddies who just showed up."

  He showed a video feed of Ross' team at the Sheriff's office.

  "This kid if missing, and the military are on exercises in the area, but that's all."

  "That's all? I saw my boyfriend vanish before my eyes. Gone, nothing but a puddle of blood, and now these government spooks are in town? I thought you'd be all over this?"

  "I prepare for the worst, but that doesn't mean I want it to happen. I don't want to be right about the end of the world, the breakdown of society. It could happen, but I pray it doesn't. I monitor everything in the area. If something were going on, I would know about it. Your boyfriend got lost in a storm, but he'll show up sooner or later."

  "No, you're not hearing me."

  "Then tell me. What am I missing? What did you see?"

  "I...I don't know what I saw. One minute he was there, and the next he was gone. There was this strong smell like chlorine or something. And blood, so much blood. I don't know what I saw, but something was out there. Something that meant us harm."

  She began to weep. He moved closer and hugged her.

  "Look, I hate to say this, but the best place for you is at Mom's. What happened to this Sam guy was probably an accident. You'll be safe in town, and I'll keep an eye on whatever else goes on. If anything happens, I’ll make sure you hear about it, you got me?"

  "I’m scared, Miles. Like I’ve never been before in my whole life. What happened out there, it wasn't normal. Sam didn't just tumble off a cliff. He vanished, and left a pool of blood."

  "How'd you know it's his?"

  "I'm pretty sure, and the Sheriff has scans being run now. He doesn't believe me either, but the state coroner will have something in a few days."

  "Look, I’m here if you need me. But it seems to me like the thing you need most is a good night's sleep. The world hasn't fallen apart quite yet. You head on home, and I'll keep an eye on all this."

  She cried further, and yet somehow she felt he was right. He was the first to believe any conspiracy theory, and was the voice of reason here. Things couldn't be as bad as she thought.

  "Go home, Sis, and get some sleep. This will all get sorted. You have people out there working, and you know it."

  She nodded in agreement, but she still wasn't at all happy. She looked out across his room to see a wall of guns, crossbows, knives, and explosives. This was a man ready for anything, and ready to fight for her. It was at least a relief to hear his opinion on it all.

  He led her to the door. The sun was low in the sky, and he was eager to make sure she got out of there before it got dark. She got in her Mom's car and fired up the engine. She flicked though some CDs in the centre console until finally she found one that appealed, Power ballads of the 80s. She hadn't even been alive when they were released, but knew them well, and they were just what she needed. She turned it up high as she rode off with the music blaring.

  Chapter 7

  “Nothing, the tracks just disappear,” said Dunn.

  Jack sighed as they hit another dead end.

  “A solder came through here.” Dunn knelt down by the last boot print he could find. He grabbed a stick nearby and poked around the remaining print, revealing it was a lot deeper than he had first thought.

  “They were heavy, and being awfully careful to follow their tracks.”

  “Heavy? Or carrying a load?” Jack asked.

  “Two men missing and only the prints of one? Make’s sense,” replied Ramos.

  “They can’t have gotten far.” Dunn pushed through some of the dense foliage. He stopped and looked back at the others, changing to hand signals. There was something ahead of them. Jack gestured for the team to spread out as they advanced quietly and cautiously. Dunn parted some thick grass very slowly. A coarse cry rang out as something leapt through and lunged for him. He was quick to respond and stepped aside, striking his attacker with the butt of his rifle. The man tumbled past but was back on his feet in no time. There was a look of terror and anger in his eyes. He was armed with only his combat knife, yet looked ready to use it.

  “Whoa, whoa, enough!” Jack yelled.

  The young soldier circled about, eyeing up each of them. He looked suspicious of them all. He had every reason to be.

  “Son, I am Master Sergeant Jack Ross, and we’re here to help.”

  He looked badly beaten up and absolutely exhausted.

  “Private, you came out here with a platoon under the command of Major Boyd.”

  He relaxed a little as it was making some sense.

  “Who are you?” he asked with a dry mouth and barely audible voice.

  “I just told you that, Jack Ross, out of Campbell.”

  “What unit?” He pointed at the bare uniform he was wearing with suspicion.

  “I suspect you already know that. Something went down here, Private. Something weird, and I think you know what. We were sent here by Captain Rains to establish the location of Major Boyd and the rest of your platoon. Do you know the location of Major Boyd?”

  He was shaking with adrenaline, finally lowering his knife as he came around to believing Ross.

  “We split off from the Major days ago. He went North, last I saw.”

  “Do you have any idea of what he was heading for?”

  “The Major didn’t share that information with us.”

  Ross gritted his teeth and nodded in agreement, knowing that would be the case.

  “What is your name, son?”

  “Donny, Donny Shaw.”

  He hadn’t addressed Ross by his rank, but he would let it go. He was used to it. They rarely wore rank or insignia on operation.

  "Is this a rescue party?"

  "Sure is. We're here to figure out what happened out here, and to get you boys home safe."

  "Nowhere is safe. Not with those things around."

  "What things?" Jose butted in.

  "Like nothing I ever seen. Big. They could see us, but we couldn't see them. They tore us apart."

  "They? How many are we talking?" Ramos joined in.

  "I...I don't know." He shook his head and racked his brain.

  "Look, son, something big went down here, and right now you are our only hope of understanding what. I need you to take a deep breath and think about what you saw."

  "It could have been two, or three."

  "Two or three gunmen took out both fireteams?"

  "He nodded, shaking his head as he relived it, and tried to eject it from his thoughts.

  "There was another with you?" Olsen asked.

  Shaw looked suspicious of answering that, but he had to trust someone.

  "Pope, he's hurt, but he'll make it if we can get out of this hellhole."

  "Just as soon as we find the Major. I don't want to be here any more than you do. Pope, you said, where is he?"

  "He's close. But I’m telling you, we gotta get out of here, and before the sun goes down."

  "Why?"

  "That's when they come, when we can't see 'em."

  "We're ready for that scenario."

  "Ready? Nobody is ready for this. You think you can handle this? You are wrong. The Major is probably already dead."

  Ross gestured for Ramos to follow him out of earshot.

  "What do you think?"

  Time was already getting on. Long shadows were being cast, and they were all a little spooked by what Shaw had said.

  "We've got casualties and wounded, and some big questions without any answers."

  "And?"

  "And I don't fancy hanging around to find out whatever is coming back to finish the job that did this. Head on back to town, report to the Captain, and start afresh tomorrow."

  "Still can't reach him?"

  Ramos shook his head.

  "No phone service. Sat phone can't get anything either. We need to get back to town and go old school."

  They rejoined the group as Shaw finally sheathed his knife.

  "All right, we’ll find this guy’s buddy, and we get out of here. We’ll get back at this tomorrow."

  "Yeah, you and what army?"

  "We have everything we need right here." Payne held up his light machine gun.

  "You guys are badass, I get that, but I don't think you appreciate the kind of shit we are in here."

  "No, then tell us," replied Ortiz.

  "I...I wish I could.."

  "We aren't gonna get out of here before dark," said Ramos.

  "No, so let's not stay out here any longer than we need to."

  * * *

  Miles Tyler watched the headlights of his sister’s car head off into the distance. Daylight was fading rapidly, and he shook his head, thinking about the story she had relayed. He'd already heard the rumours. He was a naturally suspicious man, but even so this all seemed far-fetched. He shut his door and passed through his security door, down into his bunker once more. He picked up a Ruger Mini-14 from his work desk and continued to clean it. He let his mind wander for a moment.

  "Crazy, it’s not like anything like that is gonna happen around here," he muttered, and yet in the back of his mind he couldn’t stop thinking about it.

  Of course it would.

  "You want to cause chaos, start small, test the water."

  He was convincing himself there was a threat, but then looked to his radio. He'd heard and seen nothing that would give cause to worry. But he also didn't believe his sister was crazy or delusional. He wiped down the rifle and finished putting it back together when he heard a crack echo outside. It was fairly quiet, but not something he would expect to hear out where he was. He reached for the fully loaded magazine of the Ruger lying before him, slammed it in, and rushed to the small slit windows of his bunker. Confident in the knowledge nothing would touch him in his own small fortress.

  Another cracking sound rang out, but he couldn't see where it could come from. He rushed back to his desk to look at the surveillance camera footage. It was quiet, but as he went from screen to screen, he noticed a black shadow glance past the screens. It had to be the size of a person.

  "Right, you son of a bitch, you just trespassed on the wrong land."

  He rushed to the window for a better view. He was looking all around, but could see nothing, until finally tin cans rang out triggering his tripwire. He followed the line of movement, and that's when he spotted a figure.

  "Get out of here. This is private property!"

  The figure stopped and glared at him. It was silhouetted, but that’s when he realised how large it was. It was standing on two legs, but didn't look Human.

  "What the fuck?"

  Light flashed from the silhouette, and a pulse of light soared towards him like a rocket.

  "Shit!"

  He leapt for cover. The light smashed into the reinforced and armoured window. It burst through the opening, taking the frame with it, and smashed into the far wall. The ball of light splashed out over his wall, hissed as if either very hot or some kind of acid. Several of his rifles were burning up, and now he was truly angry.

  "What the fuck!" Miles yelled again.

  He got up and took aim at the spot where he had last seen his attacker and fired five shots, stopping as he realised it had gone. His eyes darted around, looking for whatever it was. He was breathing heavily and starting to panic. He’d spent years preparing to make a stand no matter what; this was nothing like he ever imagined. This isn’t what he prepared for. He was desperate to spot the intruder. He saw another flash and leapt for cover as the blast smashed into the wall of his bunker. It burst out on the wall and didn’t penetrate, but shards of the light burst through the smashed window, showering his radio equipment, and burning through it like it was butter.

  Miles had set up to be self-sufficient, to rely entirely on himself to survive, one hundred percent certain of his ability to do so. Now he was not so sure. He reached for his mobile phone on a table nearby, but there was no signal.

  “Shit, shit, shit!”

  He peered out through one of the other windows but could still see no sign of his attacker. He reached out to a switch and flicked it on. Floodlighting on the roof of his cabin lit up the entire scene. There was a loud squeal that sounded like it came from a big cat in pain. But that squeal turned to a roar. Then he spotted it. It was like no creature he had ever seen. It was as black as night. Completely flat black and not reflecting light. It looked more machine than anything living, and stumbling around as if stunned by the bright lights.

  “What the hell are you?”

  He watched the thing flail about. It was empty-handed, although seemed to carry some kind of weapon on its right forearm. The body was very narrow at the waist, pivoting on one large joint. Its limbs and joints controlled by complex mechanical components. The head was swept back and long, with antenna-like objects rising up like ears. Miles had no idea what he was looking at, but he knew it meant him harm. He lifted his rifle as the thing still thrashed about. He took careful aim and squeezed off a shot. The bullet met its mark, and the robot-like creature stumbled back. He kept it in his sights and fired off another three rounds. It staggered back from the impacts, but his bullets didn’t seem to even scratch it. Finally, it lifted its right arm up and fired the cannon on its forearm. It was firing wild and blindly, as if it couldn’t see or focus on any target. Bursts of gunfire smashed into the ground in front of him. Several more flashed overhead and cut into the trees around the cabin. Another hit the cabin itself, and he heard a crashing sound as if the whole thing was collapsing on top of his bunker.

  “Oh, shit!”

  He ducked down for cover. There was an almighty crash as everything above ground began to topple, and his lights were blown out. As it began to settle, he got up. One light was still working and wasn’t pointing out towards his attacker. It provided enough ambient light for him to see the menacing creature, and that terrified him. It wasn’t thrashing around anymore, but entirely focused on him.

  “What are you doing? What are you doing?” he asked impatiently, trying to figure out what was coming next. He took aim as it stopped firing. It was as if it were assessing the scenario, or regaining its composure.

  “It hates light. What the hell are you?” Miles muttered.

  The creature suddenly sprang forward and came at him at a jogging pace. It was slow but quiet and smooth as it approached. He squeezed off a few well-aimed rounds, but was soon firing as quickly as he could loose off the rounds. He ran empty and backed off to his gun wall, too stunned to do anything. There was silence for a moment, and he remained perfectly still.

  “This can’t be real. This can’t be happening,” he whispered.

  He would be the first to consider the most wild conspiracy and crazy far-fetched story, but he could find no logical reason for what he was seeing right now. There was a crashing sound as something hit the bunker hard, and part of the wall collapsed in. The machine had barged straight into the wall and punched a small hole. It recoiled back and came again, throwing itself at the wall as if it were a battering ram.

 

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