Chapter Nineteen: Stage One of the Plan

Carlisle, Celeste and a few soldiers stood in a room that was locally known as The Glasshouse. It was known as that because the walls of the room were almost entirely glass. Against the back wall was what Celeste knew was some sort of restaurant place, a continuous counter ran from one side of the room to the other and The Glasshouse itself was built into the grandstand

‘We have no food Ma’am’ Carlisle told Celeste.

‘You mean there’s no food here. Military personnel would have rations in their packs, correct?’ Celeste replied.

‘Yes, but not a lot. If we ration it properly, we have two maybe three days worth of food, tops’ Carlisle replied.

‘Then we’ll get some more’ Celeste replied

‘And how are we supposed to do that?’ a soldier replied. ‘The roads are completely flooded and the ground is like quicksand’

‘Private’ Carlisle said, turning around.

‘Yes sir?’

‘Shut up,’ Carlisle responded. ‘He does have a point though’ he added, walking over to window, overlooking the race track.

‘You’ll divide the soldiers and able bodied civilians into teams. I want civilians and soldiers together in all teams, understand. There may be food in the freezers that wasn’t transported. Any food found will be stored in or near a food outlet, Understand?’ Celeste said.

‘Yes ma’am, but any food we find will most likely be bags of chips and frozen meat patties’ Carlisle said.

‘I know, but it’s better than no food. Use a phone in one of the outlets to ring here if you find any, understand?’ Celeste said.

‘Yes ma’am’ Carlisle said, talking the soldiers outside the Glasshouse. Celeste sighed, sitting herself down in a chair.

‘Come on Jason’ She said quietly to herself.

‘The freeway is flooded so much it’s effectively part of the river now. We can move by land but it will be slow’ Miles told him.

‘Well you lot better get moving. You have about sixteen hours of daylight to get there’ Jason replied.

‘Jason! You are going to get yourself-‘

‘Captain, I need to you take those soldiers and leave now’ Jason replied.

‘Sir-‘

‘Now’ Jason said, staring Miles down, who eventually backed off and took the soldiers North. Jason walked west, back towards the showgrounds. Sarah and the others were taken from there, so if he was captured there, he had the best possible chance of ending up in the same place as them. He moved slowly and cautiously. He didn’t want to be caught by the Tallentiri too early, and there could be Nexus forces our looking to survivors. The minutes slowly melded into hours as Jason finally reached the area surrounding the showgrounds. It was truly an apocalyptic scene; the showgrounds had been reduced to absolutely nothing. Just three deep craters in the ground and the remnants of buildings and walls in scorched earth. Spot fires were still burning and the surrounding had also been affected. Some buildings had been either partially damaged or completely destroyed. There was shattered glass all over the road, which crunched under his feet, smoke still hung in the air making everything look slightly grey. And then he heard it; the distinct sound of exoskeletal feet of concrete, the feet of the Tallentiri searching. Well, he wasn’t going to make it too easy for them. Jason moved quickly to an open area and fired three rounds upwards. Almost immediately Tallentiri began moving out from behind buildings all around him.

‘Come on you alien bastards. Let’s dance’ Jason said to himself. Jason pulled the trigger but heard the empty clicking noise.

‘Oh you have got to be kidding me Carlisle!’ Jason yelled, tossing away the rifle and running at the ruins of an empty building. When he exited the other side, he jumped and planted his right foot into the abdomen of a Tallentiri, before landing and continued running. Left, right, left, right, left, right, Jason weaved his way through the ruins of buildings.

‘Shit’ Jason said as he discovered his path blocked when he turned into an alleyway. Two buildings had collapsed, leaving a wreckage too steep to climb. Jason pulled out the service revolver and checked the bullets.

‘Five shots, five kills’ He said turning around, readying the revolver waiting for the Tallentiri to come around the corner. the next Jason knew was immense pain and then blackness.

The telephone rang.

‘Yes?’ Celeste answered.

‘We haven’t found any food as of yet,’ Carlisle’s voice replied. ‘but we did find water, along with other drinks’

‘Well, how much water did you find?’ Celeste asked.

‘I’m not sure in terms of volume, but probably enough for a couple of weeks’ Carlisle responded.

‘Store it’ Celeste ordered.

‘Yes ma’am’ Carlisle said before hanging up.

‘Celeste?’ a voice called out.

‘What is it? Celeste replied.

‘I’m not sure. I’m seeing flashes of light. Could be some sort of signal’

‘Directed at us Nathan?’ Celeste asked.

‘Yes’

‘Then it’ll be them telling us they’re on they’re way’ Celeste replied, as she got up and walked up the stairs to the third and final floor. She saw Nathan standing at a far window, holding a pair of binoculars in his light brown hand.

‘Where?’ Celeste asked.

‘Apartment blocks on top of the tunnel’ Nathan answered, pointing in the direction. Celeste focused the binoculars on the block of apartments. The light she received back was dim but none-the-less obvious.

‘It’s not random. It’s definitely a signal. Have we sent a signal back?’ Celeste asked.

‘Not yet. We don’t know if’s really them’ Nathan replied.

‘No one else knows we’re here. That light is directed at us. Send the light signal’ Celeste ordered.

‘If it’s not them-‘

‘We’ll know soon enough, send it’ Celeste ordered again.

Hours passed before they arrived and the soldiers were welcomed back by their peers.

‘What’s going on in Perth?’ was the first question asked of them in the hailstorm of words, but only Celeste seemed to notice they were one short.

‘Where’s Jason?’ she asked.

‘He chose to stay behind’ Captain Miles answered her, before leaving and making his inside the building.