Inferno (The Glitch Book 2), page 7
“What? How?”
“I can’t tell you yet, in case… you are compromised. Just know that I am coming to the town you are in. You just have to wait…”
The odor of smoke wafted across Mike, which he ignored at first, but now it was making his throat sting. He coughed and nodded. “I will… I’ll wait for—”
He was back in the lobby area, with Daryl’s hands on his shoulders, shaking him.
“Are you awake?” said his former partner.
Mike blinked. “Yeah, I think.” The air was thick was smoke. He sat up. “What’s going on?”
“The forest is on fire!”
“Where? What part?”
“All of it!”
*****
Elias drove through a darkness that felt as if it wanted to crush his truck. He had driven the same westward bound road on a number of occasions when he needed to do a supply run to the ‘big city’ but he never remembered it being so devoid of distant sparkling lights as it was on this night. He briefly looked in the rear mirror. Brillo was lost to his view being in one of the footwells, but Travis was sat in the back, looking out into the night.
“Why you keep looking at the road behind?” said Becky. “Someone following us?” She turned around in her seat, looking directly at the young man who wasn’t there. It didn’t help Elias’s sanity. Travis chuckled.
“Err… just checking, but no one’s following us. So you make a habit of breaking into folk’s places?”
She frowned sitting forward again in her seat. “If you hadn’t noticed, everything’s going to shit. I was doing what I needed too.”
He looked across to her. “How old are you anyway? Fifteen?”
She looked at him her face contorting with confusion. “You think I look fifteen?”
“I don’t know! You’ll real young!”
She sighed. “I’m twenty, not that it matters.”
“It will matter if you go down for turning over Mel’s…” The points of blue light back at the gas station came into Elias’s mind along with watching Mel stagger towards him.
“Well, there ain’t no witnesses other than you. So you going to be telling the authorities? Cos if you are, I’d rather you just let me out here.”
“Don’t let her go,” said Travis.
“I can’t really stop—” Elias realized he was replying to an invisible person in the back seat. “I’m not turning you in.”
“Okay then.”
“Where you from?”
“Dallas.”
“What brought you all the way up here?”
“Was traveling with… my sister. We got separated… but I had no food or water. I wasn’t going to end up dying out in the boonies.”
“Where did you last see her? Maybe we can—”
She shook her head more than she needed. “No… no, it’s okay. I’m sure she’s fine.”
“Okay.”
“What about you? Have you heard what’s been happening around the country?”
“I don’t pay much attention to world events anymore. Don’t even have a television.”
“You don’t have a TV?”
“Nope. Just a radio, get all the news I need from that.”
“Not even a computer. Wait… you don’t have a cell phone either?”
“Nope.”
“Wow, although maybe that’s good. My… I was told that the aliens can mess with peoples minds through communication devices, like smart phones. I still got my laptop though, had it for a few—”
“She’s got a computer?” shouted Travis making Elias jump which he then his best to hide.
“Umm… you have it on you?”
“It’s in my pack. Batteries low though, I was hoping to charge it in the store before you started waving your Browning around.”
“You knew what kind of gun I had?”
She went to reply but instead the words stuck in her throat as she was transfixed by what was ahead of them. The clouds were lit by a blue glow from something below. Something they were driving towards.
“Maybe we should go another way,” she said.
Elias slowed the truck slightly. “Not if we want to get to Wichita before daybreak. It’s probably just lights on a property.” He spoke without any real authority seeing he had never seen a similar sight on any of his previous trips. As they grew closer to the source of what was lighting the sky, he slowed them to barely a crawl.
Becky leaned forward trying to get a better view. “What is that? Is that a fire?”
An intense light burned through glimpses they got between branches of trees, until they came to the top of a small hill and saw a sight which caused him to slam on the brakes. The power lines which stretched for miles across fields from the north and then ran alongside the road were ignited in sizzling blue-white electricity. Brillo whimpered.
“It’s okay boy,” said Elias. “Nothing to be worried about.”
“It’s… a power surge,” said Becky.
“The AI is drawing power from the grid. This is what that looks like,” said Travis.
“Can it harm us?” said Elias not caring what his passenger thought of him talking to himself.
“Not unless we get too close. The road is a safe distance.”
“How do I know if it can harm us?” she said.
Elias pushed down on the gas. “Just asking…”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Mike looked out into the night and a smog that had eaten the town. The surrounding stores and residences had been lost to a void, and beyond, plumes of orange-yellow glows danced. He wondered if the AI was out there, its human agents struggling in the raging inferno.
“We’re sitting in the middle of a national forest, Mike,” said Alexis. Beads of sweat were already visible on her brow.
“There’s no fire crew to put it out!” said a woman who he had learned was called Ruth Ascott and was a former school principal in the town.
“It’s going to tear right through all of these buildings,” said Brad. “We can’t stay here.”
“If we go out there, they are going to get us!” said Dawn to him. “You know what happened when we got here!”
They were both right, but Travis’s words from his dream, played out in his head. ‘You just have to wait,’ except they couldn’t. He looked back to Reed who was standing silently at the back of the lobby. “Will the fire affect the… Tinnies?”
“Their hosts are human, flesh and blood, they can be injured, die like we can, but the AI will just find a new host… which is in short supply around here…”
He knew what the doctor was referring to. The hundred or so people locked up in the station had become an even more attractive food source for the AI.
“We fought them off once,” said Ruth. “We can do it again.”
Mike looked back outside. Smoke drifted innocently across his view. “Can they see through this smoke?”
“I… don’t think so…” said Reed.
“Then this is the perfect time for us to leave.”
“How are we going to evacuate a hundred and twelve people, with many children?” said Ruth. “Through a town on fire, past whatever the hell those things outside are, and then through a burning forest?” Everyone else’s silence told Mike they had the same misgivings, but it wasn’t he who spoke up first.
Meyer coughed, his breathing labored. He had been standing in the shadows. Mike hadn’t even realized he was there. “I was born after the war in Europe, but my father would tell me stories of when he and his parents would have to suddenly escape in the middle of the night, with groups of others.” A tiny orange disc burned in the gloom, as the old scientist puffed on a cigarette. “They did not want to leave as well, but they found a way to survive.”
Mike looked at Brad. “We need vehicles. Van’s, buses—”
“Ah, there are buses at my school,” said Ruth.
“Are they fueled?”
“They should be.”
Mike quickly did the math. “Two should be enough. How far is the school?”
“Not far, just a few miles to the east.”
“I’m going to need you to go with me to the school. We’ll get two buses and drive them back here.””
“I’m coming too,” said Alexis.
“You want me with you?” said Brad to him.
Before Mike could reply, the door to the main room swung open, and Holland staggered into the lobby. “Well, look at this!” He had a bottle in his hand. “A mutiny!”
“We’ll leaving,” said Reed, a cold resoluteness to her voice.
“Is that so… and where exactly are you all going?”
“We can’t stay here!” said Ruth. “The whole town’s going to burn to the ground!”
“And who put you in charge? I don’t see any military rank on your shoulder.”
She fixed her eyes on the tall man. “My husband drunk for thirty years until his liver gave out. And on that day I swore I wouldn’t take anymore orders from drunkards.”
The colonel sneered.
“We got six hours until daylight,” said Mike to the others. “I want to be out of this town in one.”
*****
Elias looked along the highway to the smudge of light in the night sky from the city of Wichita Falls. He had traveled the route many times, but never with so little traffic, even at 2 a.m.
“She’s asleep,” said Travis.
“Yup…” Elias kept his voice low. The young woman from Dallas was reclined with her head tilted to the back and side.
“You can reply in your head, I’ll still hear you.”
“Good to know.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea going into the city.”
“Why...”
Why’s that?
“We do not know what level of control the AI has over the city’s population. It could be dangerous, and I’m not sure how much help your friend—”
“My—” Elias bit his lip, slightly shaking his head.
My friend is a veteran like me, and someone I trust. She can help us get to your father.
A parade of images flashed in Elias’s mind, being so imprinted on his vision that he almost lost sight of the highway. “Damn it! I need to see the road!” The images stopped, and Becky turned her head to the other shoulder.
I’m not a damn video library for you to grab your favorite highlights from.
“Sorry, I just wanted to know more about her… When was the last time you spoke to her?” Travis knew the answer already, but wanted to engage Elias in conversation as he sensed the old man was growing fatigued, and he didn’t want them crashing.
Few months back, I came to the city for her daughter’s wedding.
Headlights appeared up ahead, and Elias relaxed a little.
Other people are driving. That’s a good thing.
“Are you talking to me or—” Elias frowned to Travis’s question. “Just checking.”
The glare from the strong beams of the modern SUV slid across the trucks windscreen as it drove past. Elias glanced at it, then did a double take. He went to speak, but stopped, paying attention again to the highway.
Travis saw what spooked his host, that it looked like there was no one driving the car in the opposite lanes, and from scanning the shadows, he confirmed it. It was an AI controlled vehicle, but there was no need to frighten Elias anymore than his elevated heart rate suggested. On being absorbed into Elias’s skin earlier that day he did a diagnostic of the old man’s system, and got some troubling results, but he didn’t need him to live forever. And if something was to happen to the veteran there was now the young girl to jump into. A good backup.
Elias watched the exit signs come and go, while trying to ignore the nagging feeling that he had just seen something impossible. As they approached an overpass, the sizzling blue light of power lines became visible, suspended from pylons in fields on both sides of the highway. Something else to try to forget, but what he then saw coming up on their right he couldn’t ignore. A dealership which specialized in excavators and construction equipment, one which always had a good selection of caterpillar track vehicles arranged along its forecourt, was a frenzy of movement. All of the lights across the entire range of vehicles were flashing, and the hydraulic arms with clawed buckets were raising and lowering, as if they were waving at Elias, Becky and the invisible young man.
“That the AI doing?” said Elias forgetting he was meant to use his inner voice.
“Yes,” said Travis.
“Uh?” said Becky, her eyes now open and transfixed by the scene just tens of yards away.
We in any danger?
“Not if we keep driving.”
That’s exactly what Elias did. He watched the animated vehicles continued their antics in the rear mirror, then took the next exit, entering the city’s outskirts.
CHAPTER TWELVE
A cacophony of crackles, pops and the sound of falling trees and masonry surrounded the trio of two women and one man, as they made their way across a park. Through the smoke orange glows and sparks illuminated points within the night, helping give them a sense of direction.
To Mike it felt like he was submerged in the oily depths of the deepest ocean. Benches, walls and the refuse of people’s lives would come and go, being swallowed by the smog as they tried to run and crouch at the same time, keeping as low as possible to breathe fresher air.
Blackened pine needles brushed across his arm causing him to step to the right and press his boot into something soft and spongy. He looked down then fell back in horror at the sight of tiny hands and feet.
“It’s a doll,” said Ruth from behind him. Her words muffled from the scarf she had across her mouth. The others had the same.
Mike swallowed, his mouth being dry and tasting bitter. He walked forward making sure to keep Alexis in his sight, as she too was starting to fade into the smoke. “Slow down,” he said trying not to let his voice become too obvious.
She did and the three of them were now within touching distance, stumbling forward as the ground sloped downwards.
“It’s at… the… bottom of this hill,” said Ruth, trying to disguise her coughing between words.
Mike wondered how they were getting on back at the station, which was only a few hundred yards from the tree line. The old scientist wouldn’t last thirty seconds out here, and he was sure he saw some of the children with inhalers. Time was running out.
They started to move faster as the ground steepened. Alexis tripped, then fell forward landing on the mud.
He ran forward. “You okay?”
She nodded. “I’m fine.” She got back to her feet and they continued on, walking onto a tarmac road. A line of fire, broken up by squares of light confirmed what they all suspected, that the school was already aflame.
Ruth stood for a moment, the light from the blaze illuminating the white of her eyes sitting within a soot covered face.
“Ruth?” said Mike.
She looked at him, blinking. “Yes, sorry. This road circles the school, follow me.” She took the lead, walking fast and a metal chain linked fence came into view which she briefly touched, then used it as a guide through the dark.
They arrived at a gate, a path being visible leading towards a large block shape of a building that was bathed in equal measure with shadow and light. Somewhere beyond glass shattered.
“The buses are on the other side of this building, in the parking lot. But… I have to go to my office to get the spare set of keys.”
“Let’s go,” said Mike waving her to the path.
They quickly arrived at the double wooden doors.
Ruth touched the handle and yelped. “It’s burning hot!”
“We can’t go through here,” said Mike. “Is there another way—” He noticed Alexis was looking back the way they had come. He turned around. “What is it?”
She coughed. “Thought I saw something… but it’s gone.”
Ruth nodded. “Yes, there’s a side entrance.”
They skirted around the base of the building, which was lit by the flames coming from the second floor and arrived at a single blue painted door.
Ruth went to try the handle, but Mike held his hand up and did it for her. His grip remained and he turned the warm metal and pushed. A stream of black smoke bellowed out, but then dissipated. They all moved inside and closed the door.
He switched on a small flashlight. Posters that were once attached to the yellow painted walls were now on the floor, together with scattered plastic binders. He shone the beam further afield. Two doors opposite each other and another at the end of the fifteen foot corridor reflected the light back. The one at the end was full of blisters of red paint, and the bottom and top were singed black.
“Tell me your office isn’t through the door at the end,” said Mike.
Ruth ran forward to the closest door on the left, which had a sign above mentioning a staff room. “Actually, we can get to it through here.” She tentatively tried the handle and then pushed it open. They followed her inside, and the door swung closed behind them. The air smelled of melted plastic, and crashes and distant booms rang out beyond the walls, which were covered in notices of events and awards won by pupils.
Ruth ran to the only other door and again tested the handle before pulling it open, but this time a wall of heat knocked her back and she fell against a desk.
Mike edged forward and peered into a wide corridor. A thick layer of black smoke rolled across its ceiling. “Where do we go?”
“Left, then down the corridor and up the main stairs.”
“Up?” said Alexis.
Ruth nodded. “Up the stairs and it’s the first door opposite as you come off the last step. It’s only one flight to climb,” she said.
They all moved out into the corridor, quickly finding the staircase and ascended, but the smoke was even thicker the higher they went and they all bent over trying to find the cleaner, clearer air to breathe. They staggered from the top of the stairs, ignoring the flames which were raging left and right. Ruth ran forward then turned the handle to her office and they bundled through the doorway and slammed the door closed behind them. Without hesitation she ran to her desk and pulled the right drawer open, but Mike and Alexis were more taken by the view they had across the town from the large windows. The landscape was a blaze of fiery yellow-red streaks which cut across huge swathes of the surrounding hills.
