Everyone stood suspended in disbelief as chaos erupted from all of the screens showing the human settlement outside. Like ants swarming their prey, dark shapes ripped into the wooden framed buildings, the air thick with sharp fluttering shadows.

  “Sir, we’ve lost gun emplacement fifteen,” said one of the officers seated to Cary. “Up on King’s ridge.”

  “Put its display on the big screen.”

  The eight-foot wide LCD showed a mass of dark, morphing shapes, interspersed with the occasional claw and beak. The screen then switched to the interior of the APC and a helmeted man with a mustache, bloodshot eyes and smears of blood across one cheek. The metal container he and four others were inside jolted and rocked as he tried to steady the camera. “CIC. The gun’s jammed! And we can’t get out there to clear it! Too many of these damn—” The screen briefly pixelated, the sound cutting out. “— Birds! We’ll keep trying to get outside! Over.”

  “How are the other guns?” said Cary to the nearby officer, who looked at his own console screen.

  “So far, no more jams.”

  Another officer, looked at a circular, neon display with bright blotches. He turned slightly to the general. “Sir, there are more waves approaching.”

  “From where?”

  He tapped a few keys, the display, scrolling and enlarging. “Umm… everywhere, sir.”

  “How many birds could there be?” said Hendricks to anyone with a good answer.

  “The estimate is ten to twenty billion…” said Denise.

  Meyer briefly coughed then waved his hand at the screens. “This… is nothing. Just a distraction. Use our resources fighting phantoms, while the AI prepares its real attack.”

  The President turned to him. “Which will be?”

  Denise answered from her left. “Something worse… a lot worse.”

  The President’s head flicked back to the screens. “Stop firing. We’re wasting our time with this. These creatures can’t do much damage to our equipment or get to us down here.”

  Cary nodded, then did the same to the officer at the desk in front, who immediately relayed the order into his headset.

  The fireworks dimmed. The screens showing glimpses of the town and mountains quickly fading, being replaced with a swirling sea of darkness.

  “Now we wait,” said Denise.

  *****

  Casey watched the cones of light from the motorhome bounce up and down in the darkness, as they made their way along the route which was more track than highway. The frosted white pine trees were close on both sides, with only an occasional break in the blanket of foliage for a gate. She wondered what lay behind. Were the homes in the woods, refuges for zombie like people? Sitting, waiting for orders from their overlord? She shrugged. What Mike had told her, made no sense. None at all. Some kind of advanced computer that the military made?

  No. It had to be aliens. That’s what got into Conway’s brain. One of those worm things she saw in a sci-fi movie once. Made him crazy. Her mind slipped to her husband, Bert. He was shaking his head, then laughing while chewing on some lobster, his favorite meal. Some of the shellfish were getting stuck in his red beard. He hated that. He probably would have put a hole in the fed as soon as he realized who he was. Maybe she should have done the same…

  She sighed, shaking her own head. She was in it now. Heading north with what belongings she had, and anyone and everyone she cared about. The future was a big unknown and she hated that. Bert loved making shit up as things went. Thrived on it. Although it was what eventually got him killed. She though planned everything. After he passed, and she decided she was going to carry on the family business, she was going to run it her way. Which meant every detail had to be perfect. She wasn’t going to go into her old age, being upstate, behind bars, or worse get shanked in the prison shower like he had. And she wasn’t going to let Dale, her son do anything stupid and end up like that either.

  A sign flashed by. They were approaching a small town.

  “We should check out this town,” said Mike from behind her.

  “We couldn’t fit anymore supplies on this thing, if we tried”, said Dale, sitting opposite him.”

  She hesitated responding.

  Mike tried again. “Maybe we’ll find some ammo. You can never have too much of that.”

  “Yes, yes,” she said.

  Jared glanced at her. “You want me to stop?”

  The road began to widen, the trees falling back somewhat as more signs slid past, advertizing gas, then a room for the night.

  She nodded to the driver then passed the message onto the other vehicle, behind. They slowed, then left the smooth concrete for gravel, the headlights immediately illuminating a large convenience store. Motorbikes and a truck sat outside its glass doors. At two gas pumps sat a similar but smaller motorhome.

  They came to a halt. She looked at the darkness behind the stickers and posters which covered much of the windows, and shook her head again. She wasn’t one for fear, but this little exertion was fraught with danger, considering what could lurk in the shadows…

  The side door behind her, sprung open, making her jump.

  “It won’t take long to see what they have,” said Mike, getting out.

  Paige appeared from the back room and trotted down the aisle then skipped down the steps. Dale and Shayne following. She watched Mike peer into the gloom of the retail area, then try the door. It opened and he switched on his flashlight. Maybe this was just a plan to find more liquor. Despite him never admitting it, Bert had a weakness for the stuff. She knew the signs, although the fed hid them well. She only saw his hand shaking the once.

  A knock came on her door, which she opened slightly. A rush of ice cold air squeezed inside.

  “Me and Bryce going to check out the motel around back,” said Gregg, who was brandishing a shotgun under one arm. Bryce had his usual assault rifle.

  “Okay.”

  The two men walked away into the dark.

  “You staying in here?” said Jared to her.

  She wanted to. Didn’t want to go outside. Didn’t want to confront the unknown. She pushed her door open further then zipped up her coat. “Yup. Anything you want?”

  “Some beer would be real good. For when we stop again.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” She jumped down and closed the door behind her, just as a flicker of snow landed on her face. She looked at the two abandoned bikes, one fallen against the other then the motorhome which was ten yards ahead, then continued to the store, pushing the door open. The brother and sister were fighting over a portable music player, which still had headphones plugged into it, while Dale was munching on a packet of chips, a flashlight on the counter next to him. “Where’s the fed?” she said to whoever would answer, while walking to the fridge units along the back wall.

  “He—” Dale continued munching. “— went into the staff area.” He nodded to a door, with the appropriate sign above it. “Through there.”

  She scanned across the ornate labels on the glass bottles, then chose Jared’s favorite. He was the newest member of the Grant enterprise. A drifter who found himself a few thousand short on one of the tables in the casino. The others, Paige and Shayne were her sister’s kids, who she took in after her sister passed, and Gregg and Bryce had been a feature on the ranch since Bert hired them twenty years ago. Bryce being the younger of the two, his beard only being partially gray.

  She held the beer in her hand, waiting… “Right. I’m going to find that fed. Can’t stay here all night and there’s obviously no ammo.” Dale had started another bag of bacon flavored wheat snacks and nodded as she pushed open the staff door, which revealed a narrow hallway. She quickly tried the first door, pushing it open to a small office with the appropriate glamor calendar and filing cabinets, sitting behind a desk. Then turned and tried the other door, this one being a small closet. She then looked at the only other door left, which was slightly open…

  She walked forward, feeling the cold wind on her face and pushed it wider. Somewhere in the darkness a flashlight bobbed up and down. Was that him? She needed to be sure and waited some more, then turned, returning to the store, moving to a rack of flashlights, and pulling the plastic case apart and switching one on.

  “Did you find him?” said Dale.

  “No. Stay here.” She moved to the rear exit and kept on going. The other flashlight was closer, in fact it was moving towards her. She wanted it to be Mike’s face that came out of the shadows, but instead it was Gregg and Bryce. She did her best to hide her disappointment. “You two seen the fed?”

  They both shook their heads. “He come out this way?” said Gregg.

  The door behind her opened. “Where’s Mike?” said Dale.

  “That’s what I want to know,” said Casey.

  Paige and Shayne bungled into the back of Dale. “We’re getting back on the motorhome,” said the girl.

  “Wait,” said Casey. “We got a problem. The fed’s gone.”

  Paige snorted. “Good.”

  “Yeah,” said Shayne. “Good. What we need him for anyway.”

  Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the twitchiness of Bryce. His head was looking left and right, searching the darkness.

  “We can’t let him go,” said the forty something man. “He knows where the safe places are, up north.”

  “Bryce is right,” said Gregg. “Better he be with us.” The older man looked at the silhouettes of hills, then mountains around them. “And, where the hell would he go out here?”

  Paige rolled her eyes. “I’m freezing my ass off. I’m getting back on the motorhome.”

  “I said, wait!” Casey’s outburst made the girl jump a little as it did the other two young people. Steps came from the side of the building, causing flashlights to slide in that direction. Jared looked surprised at the gathering. “What’s going on?” He looked into the darkness and then the other structures. “We got an alien problem here?”

  “Mike’s gone,” said Dale.

  Jared laughed. “So let’s get back on the road and head north. Leave him here.”

  “No!” shouted Bryce. Now it was Casey’s turn to jump.

  She looked to the bearded individual with the baseball cap, covering his eyes. “Easy, Bryce.”

  Gregg looked bemused by his outburst. “Yeah, what’s eating your ass?” He turned to the others. “Let’s get out of here. We got a long way to—”

  “No, no no!”

  Gregg looked back at the man he had worked with for over two-decades. “Bryce. We don’t need the fed.”

  Bryce raised his rifle, making some step back, but it was pointed into the darkness. “He’s here! I can feel it. Feel… I know… We’re not—”

  Casey and Gregg felt the splatter of blood before they heard the boom from the rifle. Gregg hit the ground, while the others ran into the corridor. She though, just stood frozen, hoping she made the right choice after receiving the written note from Mike an hour earlier. As Gregg’s frantic calls for her to find cover became distant in her mind, she looked at the body and knew she had. She walked forward, looking down at the crimson hole where the front of Bryce’s forehead once was and saw the silver substance slide out, down the side of his face and look for refuge amongst the dusty concrete. She wanted it dead. This thing which had invaded the mind of one her oldest friends. She lifted her boot.

  “No!” shouted Mike, running towards her.

  “What the fuck,” said Gregg, his shotgun waving in Mike’s direction.

  She looked at Mike, letting her boot drop back down to the increasingly frost covered ground, the silver slither, still looking for a new home.

  Mike had his hands up as he approached.

  “Don’t shoot him, Gregg. Bryce was one of those things.”

  The old man looked up, then got to his feet. “What?”

  “The metal you smuggled across the border,” said Mike. “It wasn’t what you thought it was. It was the AI. Part of it at least. Somehow it got into your friend.”

  Anger surged across Gregg’s face, and for a moment Casey seriously considered letting him kill the fed.

  “We did this, Gregg…”

  The rage turned to confusion on the old man’s face. He shook his head, lowering his gun, then looked down at his friend, letting out a misty breath.

  CHAPTER ELEVEN

  Brad stood just inside the entrance to the mess hall. It was half the size of the Cheyenne mountain version, but twice as full, with people knocking elbows with others. Not all were military. Some were clearly civilians, bewildered to be inside the super secret complex. One table though was special, or at least the two youngsters sitting at it were. Kevin eagerly ate from a bowl, while Constance sneered at the contents of hers, both were surrounded by five marines, heavily armed with the latest in anti-AI weaponry.

  He hadn’t seen what transpired two hours earlier, but the chiseled hallways were awash with hushed voices talking of insane animals tearing apart the old mining town. Some laughed, no doubt using humor to hide their fear, but most were silently worried at what was coming next. He sighed.

  Just need to keep the kids alive.

  It was a simple task, confirmed to him by Cary. ‘These two young people might very well be all that stands between humanity becoming part of a computer game, and well… not. I’m going to need you to keep them human. You up for that?’

  He had smiled and the general tapped him on the shoulder. Constance and Kevin still had the marines though. He was just the back up, if the AI somehow got through them.

  Constance and Kevin were arguing. That was unusual, in fact he had never seen them say as much as two bad words to each other. The five individuals standing in a ring around them, didn’t flinch though.

  Brad sighed again. Baby sitting was not something he signed up for. He started to walk in their direction, when Constance stood up from the table, shouting at the soldier nearby who completely ignored her. “Constance? What’s wrong?”

  “I need to talk to Travis. It’s very important.”

  “Okay, we can make that happen. But why were you arguing with Kevin?”

  Her face contorted as she looked away. “That’s between us.” She then looked back at Brad. “It’s very important.”

  Brad thought about suggesting she told him and he would pass the message on, but knew it would be pointless. He walked to the nearest marine. “The man in charge of all of you, told me that I’m in charge of the kids. So we’re going to go for a little walk.”

  The female marine frowned beneath her helmet. “You don’t have clearance to see the FBI agent.”

  “Last time I failed to act on the info that came from one of these two kids, lots of people ended up at the bottom of the Pacific ocean. You want the same thing to be on you, private?”

  She sighed, then tapped her ear piece. “I’ll send it up the chain.”

  Brad nodded then smiled to Constance. The girl though remained stony faced.

  *****

  Alexis sat perched on a gate and looked out over a field of wheat, which swayed in a summer breeze. Above, birds glided against a pale blue sky, and at the bottom of the field, which sloped downwards slightly, sat a house. White wooden construction, two stories, deck and a nearby red and white barn. She knew Mike was inside. He had an old Mustang in there. Had been working on it for a few years. Maybe this summer it would finally be road worthy.

  Travis was funneling her imagination directly into a live-action movie, which she was inside of. She let out a breath as a blue butterfly fluttered amongst the nearby hedgerow and enjoyed the warmth on her face…

  Is this what the AI was offering humanity? Heaven?

  “Yes… maybe,” replied Travis. “I don’t know. Either way, he wanted use of the real world, while your minds would be trapped inside his.”

  The scene pixelated then completely disappeared. For a moment Alexis was disorientated then came the wave of nausea, the second in so many hours. She bent over the side of the bed. “You never told me it would be like having a hang-over.”

  “The human mind is not built to return from this kind of simulation. When the AI does it to people, it’s usually a one-way trip.”

  She held up a heavy hand. “It’s okay… it’s better than staring at these damn walls.” The sickness began to pass. She looked up at a more mature, stronger looking Travis. “Neat trick. The nanites appear to have worked for you, but I’m glad there’s no mirror in here…”

  “My neural net has greatly increased, giving me the capacity to run deeper, richer simulations of the—”

  “I don’t need all the details. Just saying I’m glad you’re feeling better.” He smiled and for a moment she saw his father in his face.

  A dull thud came from the door, which then sprang open a few inches, a female marine pushing it further, then stepping back to let the much larger figure of Brad enter. He tried to hide his reaction to Alexis’ appearance but she caught it regardless.

  She forced a brief smile. “I’m locked in a cell all day and night, doesn’t help the complexion.”

  He started to reply, when Constance pushed past him, the marine behind her losing grip of the girl’s arm. She stopped a few feet from Alexis, who was surprised to see her.

  “He didn’t want to show me what he drew,” said Constance. “But I saw it, before he tore it up…”

  “What did it show?” said Alexis. Her eyes flicked to Brad then back to the girl.

  Constance began to speak, when footsteps came from beyond the door and a flustered Denise appeared in the entrance. “What’s the meaning of this? Out, everyone—”

  “No!” said Constance, making most flinch slightly. Her head flicked to the older version of Mike’s son. “I have to tell you what I saw in the drawing.”

  Alexis made an attempt to stand, but the effort proved difficult. Brad quickly moved forward and offered his arm, which she leaned on. She then walked closer to the girl and with some effort again, kneeled in front of her. “It’s okay. We’re all here to listen to what you have to say. What is it?”

 

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