The Rescue (2 page)

“Lockdown initiated.  Will you be in contact with me during your absence Marcus?”

Marcus paused for a second. “Of course.  Maintain constant contact through my earpiece and the MAV.” 

“Confirmed. Good luck Markus.”

“Thanks Jocelyn.  I’ll need it” he said.  Marcus thought he actually may have heard a genuine concern in the computer’s voice.  He definitely had been alone for too long.  He chuckled quietly. 

Chapter 4

By now it was totally dark and after making his final preparations, Marcus climbed in the MAV and turned on all the internal and external systems.  The external shield was functional.  Sensors were all normal.  Just under the light switch to the left of the steering column, he pressed the button that was marked “Silent Night”.  Immediately, all the exterior illumination on the MAV was extinguished.  The windows all changed colors and went into night vision mode.  The interior panels all darkened to a less bright display.  From checking it himself, Marcus knew that when the MAV was in this mode the windows prevented any and all interior lighting from being seen from the outside. 

With the quietness of the engines and the night mode vision, the MAV was almost invisible on the darker nights.  The loudest sound would be from the wheels rolling on the road or underbrush.  He definitely didn’t want to attract any unnecessary attention from the marauders or possibly even a dinosaur.  The external shield could handle most things on the MAV except for maybe the largest dinosaurs, so there shouldn’t be a problem.  Of course, they could be a real nuisance if he startled a herd or something of that nature. 

As he headed out he could see several dark shapes from the wooded area of his compound.  Looks like a herd of deer may have moved in during the day, he thought. He travelled over the bridge and finally through the edge of the canopy.  Driving at a normal pace, he worked his way to the main road and then headed toward to the edge of the mountain.  It brought him comfort that along the way, the only animals he saw were a couple of raccoons, turkeys and several deer.  No dinosaurs. 

As he reached the edge of the mountain where the road began the descent down, Marcus was starting to get a little more nervous.  He knew it had probably been six months since he had been off the mountain.  Six months can make a lot of difference.  Heavy rains could have washed the road out.  Trees could be down.  Any of a hundred different things could have happened.  He slowly began down the long meandering road off the mountain.  Although there were some steep and tight places, the trip down was generally uneventful.

At the bottom of the mountain was a small stream that made its way through this part of the valley.  The small bridge that crossed it had long ago washed out but with it being the end of the summer, the creek was small and relatively easy to cross with the MAV.  As he was crossing it he did notice, with the brightness of the moon, that in a large field next to it there were a small herd of the three-horn frilled triceratops and a larger herd of parasaurolophus.  Some of the parasaurolophuses were down on four legs grazing and some were raised looking around for danger.  Marcus admired their curved cranial crest that extended well above their forehead.  He had seen some of these crests that were four and five feet tall.  He had also seen them rise up on their back legs and take off like a shot.  They were fast.  Marcus didn’t know the names of all the different species of dinosaurs but generally they were in Jocelyn’s database and she could normally identify them easily.  Usually the only problem she would have was with the ones that had been genetically transformed into a different creature altogether.  Marcus kept watching them but they paid no attention to him so he continued on.

He travelled on until he reached the entrance to the on-ramp of the freeway.  A sign that read “I-59 North” was hanging upside down on the ramp as he eased onto the freeway.  Being a remote rural freeway he knew he wouldn’t have too much trouble navigating the road until he got closer to Chattanooga which he figured was their destination for the night.  There were a few cars that littered the highway on I-59 but as he got on I-24, the highway that went through Chattanooga, he knew it was a lot worse.  He still remembered the first time he made the trip through here. Within a couple miles of the Tennessee River, the cars were jammed bumper to bumper on Interstate 24 westbound.  Everyone tried fleeing the cities but the gridlock that ensued had basically turned the city highways into parking lots.  Driving in the median or emergency lane was normal.  Of course that was going out of Chattanooga.  This was going in and it was only tight in a couple of places.  He had even stopped on an earlier trip and moved a couple of cars to make it easier. As he got closer he could tell that the big trucks driven by the Jackals had widened it even further. 

Chapter 5

Even in a small metropolis like Chattanooga, with a virus that had a kill ratio of 97 to 98 percent, it meant that with a population of 200,000, at least 6,000 people had survived the virus.  With that many people surviving you could assume they could have restarted a small settlement and been somewhat civilized.  While the virus may have killed 98% of the people, the chaos that ensued all but obliterated the remaining population.  At least in Chattanooga, the struggle for survival had almost completely and utterly destroyed the rest of the population.  Marcus was sure that there were probably a few people scattered throughout the city but they were scarce and they generally hid from any contact. Plus the constant worry of becoming dinner for some overgrown lizards was always on their mind.  He had been there on several trips and had never seen anyone. 

Chattanooga wasn’t small and finding the marauders could end up being impossible.  Hopefully the sensors on the MAV would locate them but as of yet he wasn’t getting any readings.  As he was nearing the intersection for interstate 27 and 24, the sensors began picking up a cluster of biological readings near the downtown area.  On cue, he turned and headed down the off ramp to Interstate 27 and proceeded on to the first exit ramp to Main Street.  Turning right on Main Street and weaving through some burned out cars clustered near the entrance, he travelled on to a divided highway called Riverfront Parkway.  Judging by the data from the satellites, this would eventually take him close to where his readings were coming from.  To his left were several large burned out buildings that were in total ruins.  He wasn’t sure what had caused that but it would have taken a major fire to have taken them out.  He travelled on for three or four miles and was getting closer to the river that ran by the downtown area.  His sensors were showing that they were located at the top of a hill to his right.  He slowed down and eased the MAV around several obstacles as he passed the wooded area that surrounded the hill.  The hill was probably about two hundred feet high so Marcus figured his slipping by wouldn’t be a problem.   He travelled a ways further then turned and parked in front of what used to be a large city aquarium.  He was amazed at how well he could see.  On the one night he could definitely use the cover of darkness, the moon was almost as bright as daylight.  As light as it was, he really didn’t have any use for his night vision glasses.

As he got out of the MAV, he double checked his .44 and holstered it on his right side, careful not to strap it down.  If things went bad, he might need it in a hurry.  He took the strap of the AR 15 and placed it crossways across his back.  As he double checked to make sure he had everything, he realized that he hadn’t worn his bullet-proof vest.  Irritated at himself, Marcus knew that this mistake could be a problem later on.

Chapter 6

With the exception of one guard, the Jackals who had been drinking heavily, finally all passed out and it quieted down.  Wynd had rocked Twig for over an hour until Twig finally gave in and went to sleep. It had to be at least three o’clock in the morning.  She was so tired and still frustrated with herself over getting caught.  She laid Twig down in the corner of their moving prison and covered her with some blankets the captors had provided for them.  She moved in behind her, lay down, and put her arm around Twig.  She was just laying her head down on some of the blankets when her eyes caught a movement on the outside of the perimeter fence near the side of the large office building.  She rose up ever so slightly to get a better view.  With the light of the moon and the glow of the campfire, she was able to see what it was.  Keeping a low profile, while coming around the edge of the building, was a tall young man dressed in full camouflage with a machine gun strapped across his back.  He had an athletic build and moved with catlike agility.  She didn’t know if he was a thief or a hero but she wanted to warn him and let him know about the last person that had tried to make it into the marauder’s camp. Frustrated, she knew that any noise would only endanger him that much more.  As he approached the fence boundary, it was obvious that he had encountered this type of invisible perimeter fence before.  He stopped just short of the fence and pulled some kind of device out of his pocket and pointed it at one of the intersection poles.  He pressed three or four buttons and the semi transparent section closest to him immediately winked out of existence.  Almost silently the young man flew across the remaining thirty yards between the perimeter and the back of the truck where Wynd was imprisoned.  As far as she could tell, under the camouflage paint he was a handsome young man.  He was probably in his upper teens with curly blond hair and a slight beard.  He looked at her and gave her the quiet sign and set to work on the lock.  Wynd moved out from behind Twig and slid ever so softly over to the door where the young man was standing. 

She whispered to him, “You need to leave.  When they find you, they will kill you.” He continued working with the lock and basically ignored her. Once again she said, “You need to…”

He didn’t allow her to finish.  She could see a flash of anger come up on his face. Forcefully, but quietly he whispered angrily to her, “You don’t seem to understand, do you?  You don’t want to know what they are going to do with you when they make it back to their home base.  Now leave me alone while I work on this.”

In just a matter of minutes he had jimmied the lock and slowly opened the door careful not to make any noise.  He motioned her to bring the little girl to him.  She quietly picked up Twig, careful not to wake her, and handed her to the stranger.  She started to speak again and he flashed that angry face again but she persisted this time. 

“What about Rom?” she whispered.

He had put Twig against his shoulder and was just turning to leave as she spoke.  He quickly turned around and looked at her with a quizzical look.  Still whispering, he asked, “What is Rom?”

“Rom is a boy not a what.  He’s chained inside the other truck.”

The young man glanced quickly at the other truck.  The other truck was closer to the bonfire and very close to some of her passed out drunken captors. 

“I can’t see him,” he whispered.

Sternly she shot back, “Believe me, he’s in there and if you insist on rescuing us, I won’t leave without him.  He’s a twelve-year old, scared little boy and he has helped me.”

Hesitantly, the young man glanced back at the other truck and finally made a move.  After she had eased onto the ground from the back of the truck, he took Twig and placed the little girl in her arms.

Quickly, he said “Did you see the way from which I just came?”

She nodded.

“Take her and start back that way.  You will see a small trail that leads down the east side of this hill.  Follow it to the bottom and you will come to an old four lane highway.  Directly across the highway will be an old dilapidated baseball stadium.  Go to the parking lot of that stadium and then continue eastward off of the hill where the stadium sits.  When you get to street level you will turn left on the first road that appears.  Follow this road for two blocks and turn right.  You should see my vehicle sitting in a parking lot in front of a large pointed building.  The moon is bright enough tonight so you shouldn’t have a problem.  When you get to the vehicle, speak the command, ‘Entry M R 7’.  This should unlock the vehicle.  Get in and lock the door.  If I’m not there in thirty minutes, speak the command, ‘M R Emergency’.  Do you understand?”

Wynd nodded her head tentatively.  He turned and started around the far side of the truck and then dropped to his hands and knees.  As quietly as she could, she took the girl and went in the direction that he had indicated.  The path off the hill was steep and overgrown and the underbrush made it darker but she could see where the young man had made his way up the hill and that made it easier.  It took her about twenty minutes to make it to the edge of the highway.  Amazingly, Twig had slept through her entire descent.  She must have been extremely tired.  As Wynd crossed onto the highway, it was littered with bumper to bumper vehicles that had been abandoned.  She knew that several cities were like this.  Certain highways became congested and overran with people who panicked and tried to get away from the general population.  With the speed of the virus, there wasn’t enough personnel to help clear the cars and get the traffic moving again.  Wynd weaved in and out of the cars and made her way to a fence on the other side.  She thought at first there wasn’t a way through but then she saw where the fence had been cut.  Twig started crying and wanted to walk.  Wynd whispered to her and calmed her down.  It would take too much time to drag her along.  Although Wynd was getting tired, she knew she had to make it to the young man’s vehicle.  As she crossed the parking lot of the old stadium, she heard the distant sound of gunfire.  Frightened, she increased her speed, saying a silent prayer for the young man and Rom.  She knew they would kill Rom if he was caught trying to escape again. The last time he had tried escaping it had ended up with him being beat severely.  Making the turns as directed, it took her about fifteen more minutes to reach his vehicle.  It was a large SUV military type vehicle painted black with darkened windows.  Using the command he gave her, she spoke, “Entry M R 7”.