She wanted to say you’re crazy, but stopped herself. “Umm, okay,” was all she could think of saying.

  “Good! This is your copy. As a sign of good faith I’m going to let you take it back to your camp. It will be your job to convince them to agree. If I don’t hear agreement from you within the next two days… It pains me to say this, but there will be war, and none of us want that.”

  Abbey sat looking at the eyes of the man who was threatening a second American civil war.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  Zach looked at the twisted pillars and pylons of the large steel framed bridge, which covered the Mississippi river. He was sitting in the driver’s seat of a black pickup with an open back. Greggs said she chose it because whoever owned it previous obviously cared about it, and because despite being built in the 80s it was in good condition.

  Fiona sat to his right, with Wyatt and Michael in the back. They had salvaged as much as they could from the Humvee, most of which ended up in the army truck, but the fifty caliber was in the back with Michael.

  The small window between the pickups cabin and the open bed in its rear was open and Wyatt was looking through it to Zach.

  “There’s a lot of E.L.F’s around he—” before he could finish there was a loud squawking and a flock of what looked like giant fruit bats swept overhead.

  Zach looked back at Wyatt. “They aware of us?”

  “Oh, yes.”

  “Just tell me if any of them mean us harm.”

  Wyatt nodded.

  “I’m feeling kind of exposed out here, Zach!” shouted Michael, his legs either side of the large gun. He looked up at the dark gray forms silently gliding hundreds of feet above his head. “Be great if we could be on the move.”

  Zach clicked on his radio. “I’ll go first, see if we can get across. Over,” he then revved the engine and pulled out around the tank and onto the bridge.

  Smashed and abandoned cars and trucks littered both lanes, which were divided by a small concrete wall.

  As Zach weaved in and out of the wreckages, Michael looked anxiously at the parts of the bridge where its struts were missing. One of the two hundred foot high central pillars was also badly damaged. He noticed Wyatt was more interested in the waters below so he sat up and looked over the side of the truck and immediately regretted his decision. A hundred feet below whale like creatures but with what looked like arms with webbed claws on them were thrashing around in the water. He sat back placing his hand on the big gun.

  Wyatt looked at him and laughed. “They’re harmless.”

  “They look like they could swallow this truck whole,” said Michael.

  “Maybe, but they are just enjoying the sun. Now the warmth’s coming back you will see a lot more E.L.F’s.”

  “Great.”

  The road ahead on the bridge opened up and was clear of further obstructions. Zach told the others, and soon the small convoy was moving away from the river, heading deeper into the state of Mississippi.

  After an hour of silence, Fiona spoke. The map was in her lap. “We’re heading into an area with lots of national forests and rivers. Probably a hive of E.L.F activity.”

  Zach briefly looked at the back of the pickup, Wyatt’s head was only just visible through the small window. “Wyatt? You hear that.”

  No response came back.

  “Wyatt!”

  There was a scuffling from behind them, and Wyatt’s head appeared in the small opening. “Yup, what is—”

  “What?” said Zach.

  “There’s a lot of E.L.F’s here.”

  “Where?” said Zach trying not to sound too irritated by the fact that their early warning system was sleeping.

  Wyatt squinted. “Umm, all around us. Few miles off.”

  “Are they moving towards us?”

  “Some are.”

  Zach exhaled frustrated, then clicked on his radio. “We got a number of E.L.F’s heading towards us,” he then noticed some kind of parking lot with garages and a number of delivery vans parked outside, up ahead. The landscape to their right was fairly flat and they could see a few miles, but to their left was a wall of high thick trunks and branches, stopping any view to the west. Zach continued on the radio. “We’ll park up near the garages on the right. Over.”

  Zach drove over the grass, and through an already open chain mail gate, and onto a beige forecourt. The other two vehicles followed close behind. He then pulled up against the row of garages.

  The sun was still bright above them, but was on its downward trajectory as Zach jumped out of the pickup and ran over to the closest garage shutter. Grabbing the handle he tried pulling it up but it was locked.

  “They’re not far away!” shouted Wyatt from the pickup.

  Zach ran over to the truck and Bower who was now standing outside it, and pointed to where he had just come from. “We need one of those shutters open.”

  Bower turned to Harper and Freeman who were standing nearby. “We need that shutter open, and everyone inside.”

  Freeman climbed back into the truck, and quickly emerged with a large bolt cutter. He then ran to the shutter and made short work of the locking mechanism, lifting the shutter up.

  Not much could be seen in the gloom and the smell of oil wafted out. Everyone started running inside as the sound of distant trees splintering drifted across the highway.

  It wasn’t long before everyone was standing around inside. Zach pulled down the shutter plunging them all into almost complete darkness. Fiona lit up her flashlight and waved it around the space they were all in. Instead of being a row of five garages, it was in fact one large one but with five entrances. Near to where they were all standing, daylight peered under a door, which Diaz walked to and opened. Inside was a large office, with desk, filing cabinets and a standing beverages and candy dispenser. It also had two high-up small windows which looked back towards the highway they had just driven from.

  Zach pointed his own flashlight at the shutter he had just closed, then looked at Michael and Bower standing nearby. “We need to get something against this shutter it won’t take much for it to be lifted back up.”

  They nodded, and soon were dragging some heavy shelving units which had been holding tools over to the shutter. Just as they pushed it up against its metal slats, the ground shook slightly and the snapping and breaking of large trees rang out all around them.

  Zach looked at Wyatt. “Do you know what they are?”

  “I… they are large, heavy. That’s all I can pick up sorry.”

  Zach put his hand on Wyatt’s shoulder as he walked past him to the office. He pulled some of the chairs across underneath the windows and stood and looked out. He immediately ducked back down. “These walls won’t stop them from getting in here, if they want to.”

  “I want to see,” said Diaz pulling her own chair over.

  Zach walked back to the garages. “They are just outside, everyone keep quiet.”

  Diaz reappeared from the office looking shaken.

  “What do they look like?” whispered Hayes.

  Diaz sat down on the greasy floor. “Lots of claws.”

  “Can’t you and Wyatt control them?”

  “Some E.L.F’s don’t respond and I don’t want to test that on whatever they are outside.”

  During the following few minutes, the sound of snorting and the occasional primal roar echoed around the forecourt just beyond the flimsy looking metal shutter. After half an hour Wyatt said they have moved on, but there were still lots of creatures around them and they should get back on the road as soon as they can.

  Zach took the advice, and soon their convoy was heading into the center of the nearby city along a multilane road. Restaurants and shopping malls, with high neon signs went past them, which Zach noticed Fiona looked away from. He wanted to say something to make her feel better, but each time something came to mind he couldn’t get the words out because words were not going to bring Cal back. Instead the miles melted away in silence, and by time the sun was not too far off the horizon they were all ready to stop for the night.

  A thick wall of brown trees came and went from both sides of the road they were on as Zach looked for somewhere to stop.

  He went to say something to Fiona then realized her head was tilted to one side and her breathing was slow and steady.

  He gently reached across and picked up the map from her lap, and spread it out in front of him. A town was ahead of them, and beyond that a large lake. He definitely didn’t want to be moving around the latter in the dark.

  Soon gas stations and homes were passing them by, and the amount of concrete increased together with the buildings approaching the side of the road. He stopped at a junction, surrounded by shops and office buildings. Ahead on top of a small hill was a building that sat above those around it. The words ‘Stonebrook county court house’ stood out across the front of the proud building.

  Zach nodded to himself then clicked on the radio. “Pull up close to the entrance of the courthouse, looks like the tallest building around her, should give us good visibility.”

  Bower agreed, and the three vehicles drove across the street and stopped close to the stone steps, which ascended up to the large impressive white and smoke stained pillars.

  Fiona looked up, and wiped her eyes. “Where are we?”

  “East Texas. This place looked a good place to stop for the night,” said Zach with one foot already on the ground outside the driver’s door.

  Fiona stretched. “I’ll be right in.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  The vehicle Abbey was in stopped. This journey had been a lot more comfortable than the previous one due to the padded seat she had been sitting on, but she was blindfolded again and had no idea where she was.

  “It’s time,” said the gruff female voice. She recognized it as the woman who had pulled her to the top of the office building some hours earlier.

  The car door next to her opened and a hand pulled her out of the vehicle. The cool night air instantly made the hairs on her arms stand up. She then heard the footsteps go back to the car.

  “Wait! I can’t see! Take my blindfold off!”

  “Not my problem,” shouted the woman.

  “You can’t just leave me here! There are creatures out here!”

  “You’re a freak, just do your thing.”

  Abbey then heard the car door shut and its engine start.

  She whirled around trying to use what senses she could to understand where she was. She was outside, she was sure. And for now at least she couldn’t sense any E.L.F’s.

  A sound of wheels moving came from close to her, and then she heard the car drive away.

  She instantly put her hands up to her blindfold and gripped it best she could with her fingertips and pulled it down.

  She was standing in the middle of a small road, with dark rectangular looking shapes beyond what looked like a park. Much closer was a large solid looking building. Its walls were bathed in a ghostly pale blue light from the moon above her. Where the hell is this?

  She spun around trying to get some idea of where she had been dropped, but it was too dark to see any details she recognized. She started walking towards the large building and stopped just a few yards in front of its glass doors.

  Much of the wording above the door had been destroyed, but “rary” was just visible in the gloom. Library?

  She pressed on the smooth cool surface of the door and it slowly swung back. A small amount of light tinged the tiles near her, but behind that was a rich darkness without any indication of what might lie there.

  She walked forward slowly with her fingers outstretched and bumped into what felt like a counter of some kind. Feeling her way around it, she came to a door, which she opened. She then walked inside, closed the door behind her and slid down to the floor. Anything could have been a few feet from her, but that would have to wait until tomorrow. Right now she just wanted to sleep. She let her head fall back against the hard surface behind her and closed her eyes.

  The sound of a vehicle’s engine woke her. Instantly she saw the reflection of lights on the wall in front of her, and took the opportunity to get to her feet and look through the small opening in the wall, that she saw when the room was illuminated. Outside beyond the glass doors, a large rectangular vehicle with bright headlights was slowly driving in an arc. It then stopped, and she could just about make out its rear doors opening and two men get out, which looked like were wearing combat fatigues. They also had rifles and flashlights, which were now probing the area around them.

  Shit.

  She ducked down as one of them along with his light beam looked in her direction. She then heard the voices. Muffled, but they were shouting something.

  In the gloom she saw a desk ahead of her and crawled forward and under it.

  As the glass entrance door she had earlier came through opened, she tried to make herself as small as possible.

  “Abbey Reisner?” shouted a man. “Abbey? Are you in here!”

  What?

  She could hear the man sigh in frustration from where she was, and slowly the idea that these men were not here to hurt her formed in her mind. She scrambled out from under the desk.

  “Yes! I’m here!” she shouted in the lobby’s direction.

  A light beam lit the room around her, shining through the opening in the wall. Standing in the light, she held her hand up to her eyes trying to see the man beyond it.

  “I’ve found her. Over,” said the man, who lowered his light and ran to the door, opening it.

  Abbey ran towards the man and collapsed in his arms. Emotion came swift and she found herself weeping.

  “Are you hurt?” said the man while shining his flashlight up and down her.

  “No… I don’t think so. You’re from the camp? Is Zach with you? I mean—”

  “Major Felton is currently out on a mission, ma’am. We’re here to take you back to Camp Bravo.” As he was talking, he led her out into the lobby and then back outside into the ice cold night air.

  Another man ran up to her. “My names, Captain Briggs, ma’am we’re going to take you back, please follow me.”

  She did as requested, and was soon in the back of the Humvee. As the soldiers got in with her and the car pulled away from wherever she was, her eyes grew heavy and once again she was asleep.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

  Corporal Bell’s voice woke Zach, who had found a sofa in a judges chambers to sleep on. “She’s back, sir! Abbey Reisner!”

  Zach blinked. “What?”

  “Your partner sir, Abbey Reisner?”

  Nothing the corporal was saying was making sense, and Zach felt like he was still dreaming. “What do you mean she’s back?”

  “The Hell Fire gang released her, she’s back at Camp Bravo. She’s on the radio in the tank now, sir.”

  Zach sat up so fast he half fell off the plush red leather piece of furniture and quickly put his boots on. He then followed the Corporal down the grand stairs, onto the granite hard floor of the building’s lobby and out into the night air. Running down the steps he was soon climbing inside the well-lit interior of the tank. A young solder was holding a mike, which he handed to Zach.

  “Abbey?”

  “Zach! I’m here—” there was the sound of sobbing.

  “Are you hurt? Did you escape?”

  “I’m okay, are you okay? Over.”

  Zach felt a rush of emotion together with relief. All of which begun to be crushed by the weight of the news of what happened to Cal.

  “I’m okay.” He wasn’t sure how to tell her what happened. “But I have some bad news—”

  “I know about Cal, Zach, they told me. Poor Fiona. Over.” The sounds of more sobbing filled the small space in the back of the tank.

  “I’m on my way back. We should be back at the camp within the next twelve hours. Over.”

  “Geneva’s no longer in charge of the Hell Fire game. Over.”

  “What? Who’s leading them now? Over.”

  “A man called Troy. He gave me a proposal to put to the council here in the camp. They want to divide up the country into their and our halves. Over.”

  Zach’s expression changed to one of disbelief. “What? That’s insane. Over.”

  “It’s that or war Zach. The council is considering it. Over.”

  Zach realized he needed to get back to the camp as soon as possible. He looked at his watch, it was just past 4 pm. He then looked at the Corporal standing just outside. “Wake everyone, I want to be back on the road within the hour,” he then clicked on the mike button again. “We’re leaving this place soon, should be with you by early morning. Try to dissuade them from making any decisions until I’m back. Over.”

  “I’ll try…”

  “Is Holland or Garland there? Over.”

  “Only the less senior offices are here, everyone else is sleeping. Over.”

  “Okay, I’ll be there soon. Over.”

  Zach went to put the mike down, when Abbey’s voice continued. “I love you Zach.”

  He clicked his transmission button on. “I love you too. I’ll be there soon. Over.”

  Zach climbed out into the night air and took in a deep breath. Tears started to well up inside his eyes, and he kneeled suddenly feeling the impact of the last few days and weeks. He heard a noise to his right.

  Fiona was standing on the bottom of the stone steps. “You okay?”

  Zach stood and smiled. “Abbey’s back at the camp. They released her.”

  Fiona smiled. “That’s good Zach.”

  Zach sighed. “It’s unexpected. She… already knew about Cal, they told her.”

  Fiona nodded and looked away slightly.

  “How’d you sleep?”

  “I didn’t.”

  “Try and get some sleep on the road. I want to leave within the hour.”

  She nodded again, turned and walked back up the steps.