On Distant Shores (Exiles Triology Book 1) (26 page)

Everett shrugged, “Could be, but I’m not saying we should trust him, I just think we may be able to bring him over to the dark side, eventually.”

“Well, Master Sergeant, you’ve been dealing with people like these a lot longer than I have.  I’ll trust your judgment on that one.  Just don’t give him too much leeway.”

“Roger Chief, no problem.  Team first.” Everett replied.

Mike spit again.  “We may have to redefine the team.  I think that we can rely on Lieutenant Pang, and most of the engineers, minus Weitz, Randall, maybe a few others.  Once we get a head count, and see who’s with us, then we can start figuring out who else we can trust.  Lieutenant Pang probably knows everybody in this facility, so she can give us an idea of who to trust, and who not to trust.”

Everett wasn’t sure about the approach, “Probably, but we have to accept that the situation is going to affect people differently.  Some people can’t handle the strain when circumstances test them.”

“This is true, but if we can give them some stability, maybe the idea that, while everything’s different, nobody’sgoing to die immediately, they may be able to accept the situation.”

“Yeah, but we have to make it through the day first, and we need to finish cleaning up the mess downstairs, and stay alert for more of the big lizards.”

“Okay, so I say we get Mickey out of the mech armor, and back down the cave to the play room, so that he can start people moving to get the carcass out, and up here to the meadow.  The last thing I want is to have a rotting carcass down there,” Mike looked up into the sky, around the meadow, and back to Everett, “I need for you, Rob and Tom to keep security tight up here.  Let us know if anything comes this way that we have to worry about, and then Mickey and I’ll start the process of getting the carcass up here, and try to arrange everybody into teams to move the damn thing.  That should get their mind off everything for a little while.  Plus, the more people that see the new reality, the less problems we should have.”

“Okay Mike.  I’ll relieve Mickey,” Everett said, “Oh, and send Smith up here so that we can get the reconnaissance drone back up in the air.  I think it would be helpful to us if we can see the entire area.  It can conduct reconnaissance better than we can in the mech armor.  At least it would give us more range, and work as an early warning against anything as big as that monster down stairs.”

“Okay, I’ll send him your way.  I think they’re still hiding some things from us.  We need to make sure that we know everything about the capabilities of this mech armor.”

Everett agreed, “Yeah, I’ll try to worm more information from Smith as the day goes by.  If they don’t tell us what we need to know, we may have to find the weak one in the herd, and apply a little pressure.”

Mike nodded, “yes, but I think when I get Jennifer and Bob, and maybe the PhD Squad away from everybody, we might get some answers.”

With Everett and Mike’s plan coalescing, Everett walked back to the armor.  Mike watched him climb up the back and then punch in the code to open up the hatch.  While he was doing this, Mike opened up his ear bud and commed Mickey.

“Mickey, as soon as you get confirmation from Everett that he’s armored up, I need you to hop out of the mech armor, and come with me.”

“Roger Mike.  What about my med bag?  Do I need it?”

Mike thought a minute, “Yeah, go ahead and bring it with you when you get out.  We probably need to get everybody in one place and do on more med screen, just to make sure that everybody’s okay.”

“Okay, roger that. On my way.”

Everett’s mech armor stood back up at attention, and Mike knew he was on the job.  Mickey’s armor assumed the linebacker stance. Mickey popped the hatch, and climbed down as the hatch closed behind him.  He walked over to Mike.

“Well, what do you think boss?” Mickey asked, “Where the hell are we?”

Mike turned as Mickey caught up with him and they walked back to the cave mouth.

“No clue, we have no idea what the hell happened, or where the hell we are.  I don’t even know if we’re still on earth.  This sure isn’t the place we started out this morning.”

Mickey nodded as he walked, “Yeah, everything’s gone.  There aren’t any signs of civilization here.  I did a radio spectrum scan in the mech armor while you guys were talking.  There’s nothing on the frequencies except for static.  Hell, if nothing else, you should be able to hear some Morse code HF noise.  I thought those guys would be on radio until the end of the world.”

Mike was surprised, “You can do a radio spectrum scan with those things?”

Mickey looked sheepish, “Yeah, well, Tracy’s taken a liking to me.  She talks about some of the other things that the mech armor is capable of.”

Mike looked at Mickey, very seriously, “Mickey, I need for you to treat Tracy as a source right now, no matter what else you two have been up to.  I need to know everything the armor’s capable of doing.  It might be a matter of life or death.”

Mickey’s sheepish look disappeared and he got serious, “Sure boss, I’ll find out everything I can.”

Mike was satisfied with the answer, “Okay, we need to go downstairs, and arrange teams so that we can get the damn carcass of that monster downstairs out of the play room.”

Mike and Mickey kept talking about what the hell was happening as they walked through the cave back into the tunnel.  They got to the shaft, then used the service ladder to climb down to the warehouse floor.  This ladder, compared to the one in the other elevator shaft, was much easier to use.  It was now at an angle that you could lean into, making it easier to climb.  Mickey was down the ladder first, and Mike joined him on the elevator soon after.  When they walked into the play room, there was much more people gathered round the monster’s carcass.  It looked like everybody, minus security, Jamison, Mitchem.  Mike saw Langford, and some of the other civilians from topside.  Evidently they had moved into the secure area when the alarms sounded.  He didn’t see Captain Dickerson, though. 

The crowd saw Mike and Mickey, and then the questions started flying at them.  Mike held up his hands, and quieted the crowd down.  Pang, Bob, Joel, and Ed were in the forefront.  As he motioned, the crowd slowly grew quiet, though he could see the apprehension on everybody’s faces.

“Alright, alright, everybody calm down.  I’ll answer your questions if I can, but first, let me tell you, that we don’t know what the hell is going on here.  If you were watching the surveillance drone, you can see that everything is gone.”

The crowd didn’t like that.  Someone yelled from the back, “What do you mean, everything is gone?”

Mike shrugged, “I mean, there’s no blast door at the top of the elevator shaft, there’s no large warehouse with offices, there are no cars, no parking lot, no chain link fence, no guards, no road.  Oh, and that big mountain that was east of us, well that’s gone.  It’s been replaced by mountains that are taller than the Rockies.”

He let that sink in, then continued, “Mickey did a radio spectrum survey, and there’s no radio signal, no TV signals, no CB radios, no HF Morse code signals, nothing that indicates that there has ever been civilization up there.”

“Jesus Christ,” somebody yelled.  The crowd erupted in loud voices.  Even Lieutenant Pang looked concerned, and she never looked concerned, about anything.  She was a tough cookie for someone that weighed about ninety-five pounds soaking wet.

“Hey, everybody, calm down, calm down!” Mike yelled, his arms up, commanding attention.

“We have some good news!”  Mike was still trying to quiet everybody.

This calmed the crowd, somewhat.  Mike continued, “We haven’t found any more of those monsters here.  There’s nothing out there bigger than a squirrel that we can see, but,” and with this, Mike motioned to John Smith, “I need you to go up there, and set up the drone so that we can see a bigger area than just the meadow.  With the drone up, we should be able to see anything like that,” he pointed at the carcass, “coming from a mile away, if not further.”

John nodded his head, gave a thumbs up, and ran over to grab the laptop and controller.  He shoved them into the case.  He started walking fast towards the elevator shaft, and, as he was passing, grabbed Weitz by the arm, pulling slightly to get him moving up the elevator with him.

Weitz pulled back, “No way, no way.  I’m not going up that elevator shaft.  Something up there could kill me.”

Dr. Ed spoke, “And if you don’t go up there, some more of those creatures can come here, and kill us all.”

Mike told him, “don’t worry, I have Everett, Tom, and Rob up there in the mech armor to guard the cave entrance.  Nothing can get by them.  If you don’t go with John, I’m going to have to put you on a team to help drag this carcass out of here.”

Weitz looked at the carcass, and turned green.  Blood, bile, ropes of meat, feces, and shards of bone changed his mind.  The last thing he wanted to do was touch that bloody carcass.  “Uh, okay, I’ll go.”

He caught up with Smith, and both of them walked to the elevator shaft.  Mickey helped them into the shaft, and showed them how to climb to the top.

One of the airmen spoke up, a young girl, tall, thin, brunette.  “Why do we have to get this thing out?”  She looked green.

Mike turned and told the crowd, “I know you don’t like the idea, but we have to get this carcass out of here, otherwise, wild animals will follow the smell, and then we have to contend with other dangerous creatures coming down that shaft.  Plus, in a few days, this thing will bloat up and rot, and that will draw insects and other nasty creatures.  The smell alone will be horrible.”

Mickey spoke up, “and that could create conditions that lead to infectious diseases. We don’t want that, do we?”

“There’s blood everywhere, what about that?” one of the civilians asked.

“Yeah, I know, just make sure you don’t get any in your mouth or eyes.  Don’t touch your face, and hopefully nothing will be infectious.”

Dr. Humphreys spoke, “Look, this creature is not of our world, wherever we may be.  Wherever it came from, the odds that it has some kind of disease or parasite that we can catch, are pretty low.  But, up in the lab, I have denatured alcohol.”

The crowd looked blankly at him.  He chuckled, “sorry, rubbing alcohol, used for the medical instruments.  I’ll bring that.  We can get the mops and mop buckets from the custodian closet to clean up when we’re done.  Just do what Sergeant First Class D’Inazio, and Chief Warrant Officer Duggins asks, and don’t rub your eyes, face, or get any in your mouth.  We’ll be okay.”

It was a nice touch for Dr. Humphreys to throw in their rank, Mike thought.  It subtly reminded everybody that they outranked the Airmen, and reinforced Mike’s and Mickey’s authority to everybody.

Still, there was grumbling, and groaning.  Lieutenant Pang caught Mike’s eye, nodded slightly, and she started separating the crowd into two teams, one to lug the carcass to the elevator shaft, and one to go topside to pull the bloody parts to the surface.  The one going to the surface was comprised of mostly younger, stronger men.  The older men, and the women, stayed on the bottom, to drag the chunks of carcass over to the elevator, and attach them to a rope to be pulled up.

Bob walked over and looked up the elevator shaft.  He walked back to Mike.  As he walked, he motioned over Lieutenant Pang and Tracy Sheffield.

“Mike, I think we need some rope, some nets, and a block and tackle to get this thing out of here.”

“Do you have anything like that?” Mike asked.

Bob looked at Tracy and Lieutenant Pang.  Lieutenant Pang nodded.  Bob looked back at Mike, “I think we can find something if you give us an hour or so, then we can clear this out.”

Mike looked back at Lieutenant Pang.  “Okay, you’re in charge here.  Get everybody started, and let me know when everything’s in place.”

Mike waved over Mickey, and then motioned Dr. Nachman over.  “Joel, I’m going to leave Mickey down here, for two reasons.  First, if anybody needs a medic, I’ll have two of you here to help with injuries,” then he looked at Lieutenant Pang, “and if you need some muscle, Mickey is the man to knock heads for you.”

Mickey grinned.  He couldn’t help it.  He was a natural brawler. 

Tracy, Pang, Joel, and Bob’s faces blanched slightly when Mickey grinned.  Mickey’s smile could sometimes do that.  While he was a good natured man, he struck fear in the hearts of his enemies, and sometimes his friends if they saw the amount of destruction he could wreak on the human body.  Mickey was truly a beast, though strangely, s shy around women.  Mike caught Tracy Sheffield eyeing Mickey with open admiration.  Then she saw Mike looking at her, and she started blushing.  Mike smiled at her, which she returned shyly.

“That would be a good girl for Mickey,”
Mike thought.

“So, you have this, yes?” Mike asked the group.  A chorus of yes, and roger came to him.  He thanked them all, then turned and walked back to the elevator shaft.  He grabbed the ladder and started the climb back up to the cave.  He reached the top, and followed the tunnel back down to the cave entrance.  Everett, Tom, and Rob were out front, and nothing had changed except for Smith and Weitz standing there with the laptop, looking at the screen.

Mike walked up to them.  Smith and Weitz heard him walking up and turned around to look.  Smith started to talk, but Mike held up one hand, “Wait one minute, please.”