Comes the Darkness: Volume 2

By Marlon Higgins

The world of Man is over.

His time has come. 

 

The blazing inferno that was mankind has been extinguished, and the remaining sparks have been scattered to the four winds. One man stands between an evil as old as time, and its complete conquest of Earth. The Blackwolf has been charged with protecting the dying light. In a desperate battle, against a timeless adversary, surrounded by madness and death – a small knot of humanity, along with some very unexpected allies will risk it all in an effort to re-light the forge of life itself, and dispel the encroaching darkness.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Marlon Higgins
• Release date: Jul 13, 2023
• ISBN: 9781738868018

Book preview

Comes the Darkness

Volume 2

A Novel

Marlon Higgins

Copyright © 2022 by Marlon Higgins

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the author, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1

DOWNTIME

Chapter 2

WILDWOOD

Chapter 3

WOLF AT THE GATES

Chapter 4

OLD FRIENDS, NEW ENEMIES

Chapter 5

INTO THE DARK UNKNOWN

Chapter 6

TREACHERY

Chapter 7

HOSTILE TAKEOVER

Chapter 8

REDUX

Chapter 9

SEASON’S GREETINGS

Chapter 10

PREPARATIONS AND REVELATIONS

Chapter 11

DARK FORCES

Chapter 12

FORCED FLIGHT

Chapter 13

DECIMATION

About the Author

Chapter 1

DOWNTIME

As it turned out, Father D’Angelo was Marek’s only attempt at rescuing any other survivors. From what Sarah, Kat and the priest told him of their experiences, most of the nearby towns would be already overran and lost. Any other towns in the area were too far away to warrant an attempt, the danger such a trip would bring just wasn’t worth the people or supplies that may or may not be there. So, in Station they stayed, fifteen people and six animals. Survivors of something most of them didn’t even understand. Living space for the six animals, horse, tiger and all four dogs was sectioned off upstairs in the shop. Kat had originally been against that plan, saying she didn’t want to come upstairs at some point and find Doc had eaten all of his roommates. Marek just looked over at the big cat with raised eyebrows and asked, You wouldn’t do that would you? Kat had been amazed when Doc actually shook his head then snarled softly at the big one-eyed man. Marek nodded, That’s what I thought. Then to Kat he said, He says it’s cool. And of course, Marek had been right, in the monotonous seemingly endless days that followed all the animals lived together in the shop pretty much free range and the tiger killed nobody- human or animal. Although more than one person was startled by the big cat while completing some task, usually working on Warthog one or two, they would reach over to grab some tool and instead encounter a furry paw or his muscular tail. For being the largest of the big cats, he moved like the breeze and Jimmy the fix quickly became convinced Doc did it on purpose- just to see the people jump. Marek never asked Doc if that was true or not and the cat never divulged the information freely, so the residents of station would never know for sure. The tiger also became fast friends with all four dogs, and they would frequently chase each other from one end of the huge shop to the other in wild games of what looked to be tag. Hayworth was sadly excluded from these games, being the shop floor was made of concrete, but he did seem to enjoy the spectacle. The former racehorse suffered the most over the next eighteen months or so, Marek tried to exercise him, but it was the bare minimum and walking in the shop that Hayworth needed to run almost as much as he needed to eat or drink. Vic and Artie rigged up a horse sized treadmill a few months into their confinement and although Hayworth was grateful and used it every day, it was not at all the same. It was that first week that was the hardest on all of them, all of stations computers were wired into the world wide web and access to what was going on anywhere in the world was only a key stroke away. Almost from day one, Chi had begun saving footage and interviews from all over the internet on what the Hell was happening. All anyone really knew was that the red eyed things were spreading, most of the early reports seemed to be out of the Americas, then Russia, the EU, China and Africa. All across the globe, anywhere there were people basically. The images being shown were all the same, no matter the geographic location or the language spoken. Fire, destruction, death, hordes of red eyed psychos attacking normal people, attacking police, army, pretty much anything that moved. In one video, a female Japanese correspondent was dragged down and literally ripped to pieces on live T.V. as-amazingly, her cameraman continued filming until inevitably he too was killed by the shambling crowd. At one point, Frank had asked, Why do you even record this shit Chi? Chi had looked back at him with a grief filled expression, Someone should document this, for- well for whoever comes next. Maybe they can learn from it, keep what happened to us from happening to them. Frank wanted to tell him that man, as a species wasn’t going anywhere, however he also recognized it as a good idea. He would recommend to Marek that they should all probably study Chi’s recordings and get to know their enemy that much more. This had been only about a week or so after that first shambling red eye had fried itself on the fence. The things were spreading so fast that the authorities could not adjust, understaffed and ill prepared for the onslaught of an enemy that was literally coming from within. Nobody it seemed was safe from the change, as it became known, it occurred while the person was either unconscious or asleep. The majority of them appeared to have simply fainted, upon regaining consciousness however their eyes would be bulbous, blood red and glowing, they all appear to only know three distinct words, For the master and they had an extremely strong aversion to sunlight. They are all psychotic cannibalistic killers from then on, the person they were before was completely gone. It was unknown if there was any cure as the governments of the world were faltering badly in the crisis and could only react to the current chaos, there was literally no time to even set up emergency clinics. It had been tried in the first few days and each one had been destroyed by the things. Eventually all the news stations had gone off the air, phones, both cell and land lines were fried in the first few days, due to sheer call volume, mostly to 911, but a good number were concerned family members trying to reach one another. The internet during that first week was a hotbed of forums and bloggers, likewise the social media sites were being blitzed with people the world over, all reaching out and trying to draw comfort and strength from one another in these- their darkest days. Over just the next week however, the number of people on the net dropped exponentially as they were either turned into mindless killing machines or were killed by their formerly human family or friends. By the day it got harder for Chi to find other people to talk to, reports from across the world were getting scrambled and more sporadic as well. He happened upon a Professor Selkirk’s web blog via a forum portal. The man taught an advanced history course at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, on the same campus as the hospital that Marek had recuperated in after his tussle with the grizzly. The professor also lived on campus and had some very interesting things to tell Chi. Such as a massive contingent of soldiers descending upon the university, complete with engineers and all kinds of heavy equipment. The red eyed people were being sought out aggressively and neutralized, the army seemed to be turning the place into some kind of forward operating base. They were even building a big concrete wall that looked like it may encompass the whole quad. He told Chi that, being on the board- he’d also seen plans for two more of these bases, one in a certain giant mall on the West side of the city and the other at the hockey arena downtown. Chi had tried to get into the big mall’s security cams, but he couldn’t even get onto the site, best he got was their home page telling him that the mall was currently closed, and site updates were coming. It was basically the same message at the arena. The professor said that around campus it had begun to feel like martial law was in effect, only residents were being allowed to stay in the cordoned off area and people trying to get in were being turned away by the military, in some cases violently. Even the residents that were allowed to be there were being asked to stay off the streets and there was a strict curfew in place, a shoot first don’t ask any questions kind of strict. Gunfire, flames and screaming had almost overnight become the norm around campus. It had been fairly obvious that the man was terrified, his bespectacled eyes looked as big as dinner plates above his grey flecked beard. His voice he kept low, hushed as though someone might come crashing in at any moment and kill him. It had been after midnight when they had been conversing, so Chi supposed that was a distinctly possible scenario for the professor. They talked for a while longer before Chi ended the conversation by telling the Professor not to worry, everything would eventually be sorted out and that he would check in on the man the next night. However, the next night, as soon as the professor’s web-cam came on Chi knew immediately something was wrong. The view was canted at a strange angle and behind the couch he saw what could only be streaky, drying rivulets of blood. The man’s apartment had definitely seen some upheaval since Chi’s last visit, a glass and brass coffee table was upended in the middle of the room, likewise a large plasma T.V. lay smashed a few feet away. Papers and books lay scattered all over the formerly tidy apartment, but there was no more blood other than the streaks above the couch and no bodies. Chi took that as a small positive, he said, Professor? There was a muffled thunk, then silence.

He tried again, a little louder this time, Professor Selkirk, are you there? There was a grunt and a ripping noise followed by thumping footsteps getting louder. First a jean-clad leg came into view as someone entered the room from behind the web cam, presumably from the kitchen or back bedroom. The person staggered into the middle of the room and Chi sat up a little straighter, it was young shapely female. She was wearing cut-off jean shorts, a bra but no shirt, a blonde. She stood in the middle of the room looking around with her back to Chi. Hm, nice ass. He said, forgetting his mic was still on. She spun at the sound of his voice, blood oozed from her mouth and her demented blood red gaze was directed straight to the monitor that- judging by where she was looking, must be off to the left somewhere. A shiver of fear ran down his spine, Whoa! Shame about the face. He muttered. Her face may have been pretty at one time, but now with those eyes and the blood smeared all over her mouth and torso, not so much. Behind her, through the glass balcony door he could see a number of large cranes working a few blocks away, the area bathed in strong lights. For the master! The girl snarled at the computer monitor, then launched herself at his image.

Big, jagged lines of interference jumped across Chi’s screen as she impacted with Selkirk’s computer, then the view swung straight up at the ceiling. Her distorted face filled the screen, it skipped a couple times and then the picture went black. Chi shook his head, Bitch. Apparently professor Selkirk would not be hosting any more video forums. Chi decided then and there that he was done with the internet for a while, he really didn’t need to see shit like that. This plan worked well until one night about three months later when Marek was once again battling insomnia and asked Chi if he could find some engine specs off the internet that were needed to get one of the engines in warthog-1 running. Chi had done so immediately, it had been eerie to say the least, it was like being the only person in the world’s biggest library. After copying out the schematics Marek needed, Chi had gone back to the same chat room that he’d met Professor Selkirk on. He probably stared at the screen for a full minute while his mind tried to comprehend what his eyes were seeing. The site was still up and running, everything was still operational, the endless pop ups were even still going. However, there was nobody there at all. The most recent postings were from almost two months previous and the majority of those were cries for rescue or the ramblings of grieving survivors who sounded like they were losing their minds. Now the place was as deserted as a graveyard in January. Chi tried a few more sites, at first out of curiosity, but as he went on he was gripped by a frantic desperation at finding more and more nothing, zero activity across the web. To someone like Chi who practically lived on motherboards and gigabytes it was devastating, computers and their cold, sterile landscape were his domain, his reason for being. He had to sit back in his chair and take several deep breaths, with no need for computers or the internet...what kind of fucked up existence were they headed for here? His thoughts spiraling out of control were interrupted by Marek coming down to check for the schematics he needed, as soon as the he saw Chi’s face he asked, What‘s wrong? Chi explained what he was finding, or not finding on the net and the implications of it, Marek stared at the web site on the screen as Chi filled him in. When Chi was done, Marek was quiet for a few moments before grunting and then asking if Chi had the info he needed for the engine. Chi merely blinked at the big man for a few seconds, wondering if Marek had actually heard a word he’d just said. They were gone. Billions of people- silenced! Everybody was completely off-line!

Didn’t Marek understand what that meant? Then it dawned on him- The big man fully understood what it meant, but he was currently trying to fix an engine. The world was not his problem at the moment, if he stopped to worry about it, the engine would not get fixed. It was all just that simple for him. Fix what you can, don’t waste energy worrying about the things you can’t. Chi had been pretty close to losing his shit after discovering the wasteland that the worldwide web had become, but Marek’s calm resolve acted as a lightning rod for his own panicked thoughts and suddenly everything shifted back into perspective. Marek asked again, Chi? Did you find that info? Chi shook his head feeling suddenly calm and lucid again- if slightly embarrassed, Uh- yeah, yeah. Here you go. He handed Marek the papers from the printer. Thanks. Marek said and began to leave, but stopped and turned around again, You alright Chi? Chi blew out a sigh, Yeah I- Just. You know, it all kind of caught up to me there for a sec I guess. Marek looked back down at the screen, Yeah, I hear ya. It is messed up and I doubt we will ever get used to it. He pointed at the screen, You know Chi, not everyone is gone- that cursor flashing away means you are still here, and if you’re still here, then who knows? You won’t know unless you start sending some messages, give it a shot, may make you feel better anyway. Marek said, then headed back upstairs to address his immediate problem. Chi stared at the screen, for the first time in his life, he had zero desire to be on a computer, it just seemed stupid and utterly pointless now. Still...Marek made a good point, down here in station life went on, there had to be other places like station somewhere. Chi began typing, leaving a message for anyone reading it to get ahold of him at his e-mail address. He tried to send at least one message per day on different sites around the web in the many days they spent down in station.

Other than spam and the endless pop-up ads that seemed would roll on as long as the net itself lasted, Chi never received even a single response.

The days turned into weeks, the weeks to months. Everyone kept busy at the various everyday activities within station or the shop, mostly working on the warthogs, working out or survival training. Sarah held regular edged weapon defense classes, and she and Chi both trained everybody in the martial art of tai-kwon-do. The partially collapsed tunnel from Lockheed manor was turned into a shooting lane to help all the residents learn complete gun safety and target practice. There was lots of ammo in the armory, but it wasn’t endless, so the training was reserved only for those who desperately needed it. They found out early on that the best shooter in the group was- surprisingly, Marek’s son Talon. The kid had a natural talent and pretty much anywhere he pointed his gun was a direct hit, almost every time. The worst shooter was-not so surprisingly, Father D’Angelo who had never fired any kind of gun in his entire life. After his first session, Marek, Tommy and Frank had just stood there silent, until Marek finally said, I think he’s going to need a shotgun. All four men had burst out laughing, and even though they eventually got the young priest at least proficient with an automatic rifle, he still ended up with a shotgun. They were all relieved that the man had not claimed to be a pacifist and try to weasel out of weapons training. Marek had already raised their eyebrows when he imparted just how many of the red eyed creatures Anthony had killed that first night they had met. The months rolled by, and the group celebrated a strange muted sort of Christmas down in station, followed by an even quieter New Year. None had been outside since early autumn, merely watched the changing seasons through stations monitors. They would not be doing so that winter either- it became one of the worst Alberta winters ever- as storm after storm roared across the prairies. Some came tearing over the Rockies, others blasted in on a howling North wind, the temperatures outside hovered around the -25-degree mark for weeks at a time. The snow was well over six feet in places and there wasn’t much they could do other than be patient and wait on spring. Thanks to the geo-thermal setup, neither the shop nor station beneath it ever got cold, even with the nastiest storm raging outside, the interior of the shop never dropped below room temperature. The residents of station openly pondered how many of the changed would these bitter days kill off. One night, the group was eating their supper around the main table while, yet another blizzard roared by outside. They had been discussing the rarity of these types of storms as well as the severity of the weather in general this winter, when suddenly Tanya’s fork slipped from her fingers to clatter to the concrete floor. Her dark eyes had rolled back in her head, her head itself tilted back as though she was watching the screaming blizzard above them, then a deep croaking voice came from her but seemed to also be coming from all around them, Do not worry. The Mother is healing. It is good. Vic, who was a few seats away on Tanya’s side and couldn’t see the vapid look on her face, guffawed. Oh yeah, that’s what they’re called, Healing winters. This earned him a few dark glares from around the table. Marek called her name quietly and Tanya’s eyes fluttered and once more focused, she tilted her head back down and looked over at Marek, Yeah? she said. Are you okay? He asked. She looked a bit confused by the question and he could tell she didn’t remember her previous statement at all. Uh- yeah. She said looking back down at the table, Just seem to have lost my fork. Frank quickly scooped it off the floor and handed it back to her before anyone else could ask her anything. Here you go sis. He said to her, but his eyes scanned the table a little sheepishly. Her gifts tended to make people nervous and over time, the twins had become rather defensive when others witnessed them.The healing winter"- as cold and brutal as it got, proved to be no problem for the red eyed things, they still showed up every couple nights in packs of anywhere between four to twenty. Bundled in pilfered clothes and rags, many of them were tinged blue by the severe cold but still they plodded and staggered through the snow, pounding on the shop’s steel walls and crying out for the master. However, without a way in and absolutely no chance of burning it down, they always faded back into the trees at the gray light of dawn. The extreme cold and endless snow also cost the residents of station all the long-range cameras over the winter, until the only cameras that were still operational were the two on the top East and West corners of the shop itself. Should those two fail before spring, they would be effectively blind down in station and that would be a very bad thing. In this new reality, opening any door without knowing exactly what was waiting on the other side could be exceedingly dangerous. Nobody down in station wanted to see those cameras go black and as they all took there shifts at manning the control board, they watched in slow horror as a massive drift built up daily that eventually covered the ten-foot-high bay door of the shop. It got within a foot or two of the rooftop cameras before finally receding in late February, the door itself- they were unable to open until a month or so later. When they did finally get outside again, sometime in March, the whole group ended up spending an entire day in the warm spring sunshine and cool breezes. It was a fair assumption that they all had just a touch of cabin fever. That afternoon, before they would have to head back inside, they had a picnic outside the shop in the shade of the budding trees. While the dogs, tiger and horse played around them the group discussed their long winter in station, most agreed that the sun on their skin had never felt so good. Some, like Vic were fine with spending the winter hibernating inside where it was warm and dry. Artie even said he’d have no problem staying down there for another season or three. There had been a brief silence following that statement as most pondered the possibility of that being necessary. Surely another year wouldn’t be needed, but with the internet finally giving up the ghost over the winter the group had no way of knowing what state the world was currently in. It was a moot point however as once again, events they had no control over were transpiring elsewhere that would make the next winter their last in station.

Roughly nineteen months after Marek had rescued Anthony, the group were sitting down to lunch in the dining area when without warning all the lights in station went out. Dad! Silke cried out in alarm, What’s happening? It was Chi who answered her though, Wait for it. He said calmly. From the control console two quiet beeps sounded, then the lights came back on. He sighed and grabbed his sandwich off of his plate, I’m on it. Then he was getting up out of the chair he’d just sat down in minutes before, and heading to the console to run diagnostics, chase lines and whatever else he would need to do to figure out what had just happened. Marek knew that the man would be reporting back in an hour or so and would also most likely have the problem solved. Chi could be a bit of a pain in the ass, but even at twenty-three he was a consummate professional and quite meticulous when it came to anything electronic. He also had an IQ of somewhere around 300 or so, it may have been Marek’s money that built it- but station was all Chi’s baby almost from its inception. One of his main character flaws if he had any, was that he just happened to be one of the top three computer hackers in the world. His services were much sought after, and he was paid very large sums of money to do unscrupulous things for very bad people. Marek had found him after the Canadian government teamed up with INTERPOL to set the young man up in a sting operation. Chi had been languishing in the Vancouver remand center for two months afterward with bail set at a whopping $100,000. He had tried for his first month inside to call in favors from his wealthy clientele in hopes of raising the cash, when that failed, he’d tried some very close friends. Finally he had tried his family. So it was that he had basically resigned himself to being a prisoner for the duration. Then one day he was informed that he had a visitor. Chi had been quite surprised when he got to his assigned table to find an extremely large, heavily scarred, long-haired man who obviously had some native blood in him. He wore a black eye patch and Chi’s first thought was; Guy looks like he belongs here more than I do. There was also something familiar about the heavily muscled giant trying to squeeze himself into the shitty plastic chair that the jail provided. He introduced himself as Marek Murdoch and got straight to the point- he wanted to hire Chi immediately for a long-term project that would require the young Asian live on site until completion. No, it was not illegal, Marek said as an act of trust, he would post Chi’s bail and wave any repayment if he agreed to the deal. Furthermore, not only would the big man pay for his current legal crisis, he would assign his own lawyers to the case, and he had some very good lawyers. At first Chi thought the guy must be just some crazy that the guards had brought in to torment him with. But Marek laid it all out for him, the basic configuration, timeline, what would be required of him and more importantly how much Chi would be paid for his work. Chi only really had a few questions himself, involving his budget, site location and how long it would take to get him out of this hell-hole. Four hours later he was seated next to the one eyed giant sipping cocktails and flirting with the flight attendants in first-class on a 767 flying East to Alberta. The court had remanded Chi into Mareks custody as a stipulation of his release, which was no big deal in his mind at the time. He figured he’d have Mareks job completed early and just do a quick fade on him, business is business after all. However, once they had arrived at Lockheed manor, he’d gotten a look at the blueprints and schematics for what Marek wanted built, Chi knew this job would not be finished early. He and Marek also visited the site and although crews were working both, above and below ground they were no way near complete. He had gone to bed that night a little overwhelmed at the actual job scope he’d signed up for. It had been a great turn Marek had done for him, but this job was huge! He might have to do that quick fade a little sooner than he’d thought. The next morning Chi awoke quite early and decided to take a quick tour of the grounds around Lockheed manor. The huge house was still silent, and the main floor was dark, so he assumed he was the only one awake. Chi slipped out the front door and immediately began scanning for the two Rottweilers he’d been introduced to the night before. He was an avid dog lover and hoping they would be out here to accompany him on his walk. Sadly, they were nowhere to be seen so he decided to just wander and maybe he would find them along the way. He walked a circuit around the manor itself which took him a bit longer than he thought it would. The place was beautiful! The trees and shrubbery were trimmed to perfection, the lawn itself had a glistening sheet of dew covering it that sparkled in the early morning light. And the view was a complete 360 degrees of incredible mountains and lush forests. Lockheed manor had been built at the base of one such mountain and the low-lying areas still harbored some ground fog from the night before, it drifted across the grounds and hung in the trees like wisps of gossamer. Eventually Chi found the entrance to the boathouse path and wandered down it to be amazed at the postcard view awaiting him there. The almost unbroken blue of the glacier fed lake stretched away before him an immeasurable distance to where the forest appeared to start right at the waters edge and march halfway up the mountains on that side. The rising sun in the East was giving the sky above those mountains’ crazy streaks of oranges, pink and red hues over the fading purple of night. For a city kid like Chi who had never spent any time in the country or mountains, it was a glorious moment. He had never been the religious type but the sheer silent majesty surrounding him made him wonder about the possibility of a greater power. It made him feel small, yet somehow vital, like he needed to be here. The air was cooler down by the lake, though it detracted from the moment not at all, he was amazed at how hushed everything seemed. It was as though he was seeing behind the scenes of some grand movie, just before some director yelled, Action! and all the people came in to ruin it all. Not even sure why, purely following an impulse- Chi stripped off his sweats, tee shirt and underwear then kicked off his flip-flops to stand naked in the chill morning air. He suddenly felt incredibly....primal. He was not the type to just throw off his clothes and wander around naked, not even in his own apartment with all the blinds drawn. Here though, in this setting it just felt right. Slowly, he began to work his way into the lake. At first, it felt as though his heart was going to stop, the water was so cold! However, as he edged his way out, Chi found himself becoming more and more invigorated, he had to control his breathing to avoid hyperventilating but he kept going. As the water rose to chest level, Chi pondered the massive job he’d been brought here for. He had designed everything from gaming systems to deep space satellites for eccentric employers in the past, so nothing new there. Chi had also seen a bomb shelter blueprint or two in his life and knew that was most definitely not what Marek was building. It was a little daunting and definitely not his area of expertise, but it would be challenging that was for sure. The man was also obviously willing to spend however much money it took to complete the project. His body was going numb as he stood pondering his life course, so Chi took a deep breath and dove down into the clear glacial water. From then on it was all about swimming and frolicking in the water just enjoying being alive. He felt amazingly alive and didn’t want to think about anything to do with his life or its responsibilities. Although too soon he reluctantly slogged his way back to shore, the swim had rejuvenated his mind and helped him reach two separate conclusions. The first was that he much preferred swimming in the ocean, with a wet suit! The second, he had decided to stay on here at Lockheed manor and see Marek’s project out till the end. His life had grown too turbulent the past couple years and a nice cushy legal job with a large payout at the end would go a long way to getting his life back in order, he actually looked forward to the everyday boredom that this job would entail. Approximately two minutes after reaching shore, that particular balloon was soundly popped. Chi stopped next to his pile of clothes and surveyed the lush green forest that led up to the manor, not as thick or as wild looking as the forest across the lake but still breathtaking. A shiver rocked his slim frame, forcing him to sit down on a boulder and begin getting dressed. He grabbed his tee shirt first and put it on, then bent at the waist to shake the water out of his longish hair. He stayed that way for a minute or two using his fingers to squeegee out most of the moisture, then shook it out a few more times before sitting up. It took a half second or so for his brain to register what his eyes were actually seeing- when it did he shot off of the rock like it was on fire. Holyfuckinshit! He cried in alarm. Not five feet away, where a moment ago there had been nothing, now stood a huge white wolf. Its head was lowered, its jaw hung part way open, revealing some very sharp teeth and its yellow eyes seemed to bore straight into his. That wasn’t all. Standing in a rough semi-circle about ten feet behind the white wolf, cutting off his route to either the path or the boathouse, were five more wolves. Two blacks and three grey, all looked formidable enough though none were as big as the white one. Adrenaline had flooded Chis system upon sight of the wolves, but he was also in total wonder of them. So much like regular dogs until you saw their eyes, the eyes of these creatures held a cold indifference and cunning intelligence that no dog’s eyes ever had. Okay- uh...nice wolves, nice. He backed into the water up to his knees as he was speaking to counter the step that the white had taken toward him. Chi remembered reading somewhere that wolves were incredibly social and curious animals, so he was hoping that they’d just have a look and fade away as quickly as they’d shown up and he’d have a cool as shit story to tell his grandchildren someday. Then all six wolves began growling at him. Aww shit! Hey- no, no, no! He said, almost pissing himself at the sound. Chi raised his arms palms out in what he hoped was a calming manner. The growls amped up immediately into full out teeth baring snarls, a black and then a grey also began snapping their jaws at him. Unbelievably they were all wagging their tales. No! Come on! Nononono- please. No! He was forced to stop begging then as their buzz saw snarls were drowning him out anyway, then as one they began advancing toward him. All six wolves came on into the water slowly, so Chi backed up even further until the water touched his rapidly shrinking manhood. NO! GO ON, GET! He yelled at them waving his arms now, but that only riled them up even more, one of the blacks actually lunged toward him when he’d waved his arms, causing him to take another step back into the freezing water. Chi’s normally analytical mind was now racing in overdrive, and he was moments away from complete panic mode. He wanted to formulate some sort of crazy heroic plan, but all he kept thinking was, I’m about to fucking die half naked in three and a half feet of water! Chi was a strong swimmer and briefly considered diving back into the lake and try to swim out and circumvent them, but he knew they could also swim and no matter where he tried to come ashore they would be there to intercept him. All he might really be able to do is grab one when it reached him and try to drown it before the rest got to him, then just fight for his life until they dragged him down. The white was the closest to him, which sadly, looked like it almost outweighed him. There was nothing for it though, he tried to steal himself for the battle, but the cold water was already taking its toll and he could barely feel his legs. Two of the greys were hanging back near the shore, assuring there would be no escape in that direction while the other four kept coming. Their snarling was at a feverish pitch, and they were so close he could almost feel the spittle whenever they snapped their fangs at him. He felt his own anger burst in his chest, COME ON THEN! He yelled at them. YOU WANT SOME OF THIS? LET’S GO! COME GET IT! He opened his arms to receive the white wolf in hopes of drowning it. Chi knew it was a stupid plan, but he didn’t care, if he was going to die he planned to go down fighting. He cringed as the huge animal dropped its shoulders, preparing for the leap that would deliver its teeth into his throat. The leap never came. All the wolves inexplicably stopped snarling and snapping at him, once more the lakeshore was deafeningly silent. The big white stood tall and stretched, then it turned and splashed over to its grey companion and nipped its ear. The grey wolf pulled away shaking its head, then it began nipping and playfully mauling the larger white. They were soon splashing around in a good old-fashioned tussle, which the other black that had come out that far soon joined in as well. The two greys on shore sat down, one began cleaning its feet and the other just yawned and flopped partially onto its side. The third grey lapped up some water and walked back to shore to nuzzle with the wolf that had lain down. Chi just stood there shivering, totally dumbstruck by the complete change in the wolves behavior. What the fuck were they doing?! Was this some form of trick? Or did they deem him so unworthy of killing that they planned to just let him freeze to death and then pull his carcass out later to have a nice breakfast beside the lake? What the fuck? A minute or two later the three wolves were done rough housing and slogged back to shore. All six broke into a lengthy deep howl that caused even more shivers to run down his spine. It was an oddly beautiful yet sad sound and when they were finished Chi heard it echo back from across the lake. Wow. He breathed. After the howl, the big white turned and looked at Chi a moment before a big dog-like grin broke on its face. Uhh...w-what up? He said, having no real clue what to say. The wolf made an Aaaarrooo sound, not quite a howl but similar. Then it turned and re-joined the others- Chi apparently, for the moment forgotten. He said- you have no fur on your body and you should come out of there, before you make yourself unwell. It was Marek’s raspy voice he heard, but Chi had to scan the forest twice before he spotted the hulking form of his new employer leaning casually against a tree. Holy shit Marek! Call the cops or somebody- you’ve got wolves! He pointed at the animals for emphasis. Come on Chi, Marek replied walking down to the shoreline, You say that like it’s a bad thing." Chi noticed the big man didn’t have his cane and his limp was quite pronounced, but his face was as serene as the lake Chi was standing in. Marek turned and looked over at the wolves, Chi noted that they all eerily looked back at the big man as if he’d said something. They stayed that way a few moments and even though neither the wolves nor the man made a sound, Chi got the distinct impression that something was passing between them. Marek.. What the f-f-fuck? Chi hissed through his chattering teeth. Oh! Marek said as though just recalling Chi was even there at all, Yeah, you need to get out of there before you catch your death. Come on in, it‘s safe Chi didn’t move just gaped at Marek. The man was standing not ten feet from six bloodthirsty wild animals and was treating them like house pets! It’s ok Chi, you‘re safe Marek repeated. You can come out of there. I’m not going anywhere until they are fucking gone thanks, and just what the fuck is this shit Marek? His teeth were chattering so badly he ran the sentence out in one breath. A brief look of annoyance crossed Marek’s face as he replied, You really are in more danger of freezing out there than you ever will be from them, so come on in and we‘ll talk. Chi was about to reply that Marek hadn’t seen them a few minutes ago when they were about to shred him a new asshole when it suddenly hit him- Mr. Marek Murdoch had seen them a few minutes ago, seen the whole performance and had probably been there the whole time. Had most likely arrived while he was still swimming, which meant...Chis flesh was already full of goosebumps, but a weird creepy feeling crept across his body as he realized that things were quite a bit stranger out at Lockheed manor than he’d been led to believe. Marek...fuck man, they’re wolves. He said weakly, his back was killing him from all the shivering, yet he remained rooted out in the lake. Marek blew out a sigh and said- Fine. Then he looked over at the wolves and once more all six heads turned toward him, an instant later all six wolves were up and heading into the trees without a backward glance at either men. Oh my god, what have I gotten myself into? Chi asked himself while watching the wolves melt into the trees until they disappeared from sight. Better? Marek asked. How’d you do that boss? Chi chattered in reply. Don’t call me boss, my name is Marek. And I told them that their presence was causing you fear, then I asked them to leave. Chi continued staring at the big man, Uhh- pardon? That had been the one answer he hadn’t expected and somehow, he knew it was true. "Yeah, if you plan to work for me and not die of hypothermia, we should probably talk. Marek said grinning. I’ll wait for you to get dressed over by the path. Chi scanned the trees for the wolves, but they were apparently long gone, he shook his head, once again wondering about his life choices. Then he shuffled back to shore and stumbled his way into his clothes, a minute or two later he joined Marek at the path. So. Marek- essentially what just happened here? He was still shivering uncontrollably. A test. Marek replied simply. You passed by the way, the guardians were very impressed with your bravery. The guardians? Chi asked dubiously, he knew who Marek meant but wanted to hear him say it. The guardians." Marek said, looking pointedly around Chi. Chi slowly looked behind himself. All six wolves were now standing calmly not three feet behind him, tongues lolling as they panted.

What the shit?! Chi exclaimed jumping to the side so fast, he bounced off Marek‘s solid torso. Marek laughed heartily, Come on Chi, let’s get some hot liquid into you and I’ll fill you in on some things. Chi had decided to stay on after Marek explained as much as he dared and was able to- then the big man had put almost the whole project under Chi’s control. The final design and basic configuration would all be approved by Marek but other than that, Chi was put in total control of the entity that would eventually become station. Marek had placed a vast amount of trust in Chi and for the most part Chi had delivered. From the first days of its construction he had been there overseeing every detail every day, twelve and fourteen hours a day. It was almost perfect, they had still been working out a few bugs when the world went all to shit around them. He had been planning to jet off that fall for some beautiful, sunny destination with all the money Marek paid him. Now as he worked his way through a level 3 TWP processor diagnostic of station’s electrical system, Chi wondered if anywhere was beautiful anymore. He had never expected to actually be a resident in station and now that he was the place took on added importance to him. Even after it became operational, Marek might own it, but it was still his baby. Frequently he would enlist the assistance of one or more of the other residents to help him with changing out filters or chasing down a leak, or any of the other many day to day menial tasks required to keep them all alive. It didn’t take Chi an hour to report back- but a full three hours later he showed up exhausted at Marek’s office above the shop. As it turned out that the good news Marek had been expecting could not have been worse.

Evacuating? What the hell do you mean evacuating?! Vic Delmar asked in disbelief. The group were gathered around the pool table in the rec room above the shop for an emergency meeting, one that only minutes old- was already deteriorating quickly. Marek could hear the fear in Vic’s voice, looking around the table he could see it in most of the other faces as well. He sighed and went on. Evacuating, bugging out, leaving, exiting the premises in a calm and orderly fashion. Getting the fuck out of Dodge! Marek’s raspy growl let everyone in the room know his current mood. Vic wisely ignored the sarcasm, pulling off his ball cap he swiped a hand through his thinning grey hair. I know what evacuation is Marek- but...what you’re saying. Those things are still out there you know! Although Marek could almost feel the fear coming off Vic, he knew his top welder very well and did not for a second consider the man a coward, nor did he want to paint the man in that light. He took a deep breath and tried to cool his own anger. Yes Vic, I know. But right now, those things are not even on my short list of things to worry about. Sarah said, When I first got here you said station was impervious to attack, has something happened to change that? Marek was glad to see that she did not look overly concerned one way or the other. No, I stand by that. This place will be here long after we’re all dust, only... He looked around the table before going on. Totally unable to sustain any life. When only shocked silence met that statement, Chi stepped in seamlessly. You see our problem is external- station was built to last but we never had a chance to implement a long-life hard cell power source so other than our generators and solar panels on the shop roof, we’re kind of dependent on the local power grid. Now I’ve tracked the cause of this afternoon’s interruption and rerouted our lines to a different switching station. The one we were getting our feed from is offline now for whatever reason, this causes a trickledown effect dependent upon power being created, stored and distributed. Too many load capacitors, not enough slots for the p-190 panels to- Chi. Marek said, interrupting him, he didn’t say it angrily just firmly. Chi was about to ask him why he interrupted when he looked around the table and realized nobody had a clue what he was talking about. Oh, yeah- sorry. The long and short of it is that we have anywhere from three to six months drawing power off this new switching station but without maintenance and upgrades that one will also fail, then we’re pretty much fucked. Artie Switzer piped up from over by the far corner pocket, Now hold on Chi, we have equipment and tools. Couldn’t we rig something up, or- I don't know, build some machine to generate what we need? Artie was ten years Vic’s senior and like his friend, he had no desire to leave the safety of station to join the insanity they had all witnessed via the internet during the world’s death throes. It was Marek who answered him, "Might work if we were on the coast or anywhere close to a raging river but it would be a waste of energy and resources trying to create something here that would only be temporary anyway. Chi will be scanning satellite feeds and location numbers for any other switching stations that are still operational and close enough for us to piggyback when this one goes down, but the problem is they are all going to fail roughly around the same time, so we’ll see how that goes. In the meantime, we are still fine down here. Station is dying but we have at least until early spring at which time we load up with as much weapons and supplies as we can and head out. Hmmph. Doesn’t sound like much of a plan. Artie muttered crossing his arms across his chest. Marek snapped at him before he could stop himself, Oh and you think staying down here suffocating on your own expelled breath is a better plan Artie?" The outburst obviously stung, and Artie only looked away, choosing not to reply.

Marek felt a cool hand on his arm, he looked over into Natasha’s gold flecked eyes. She didn’t say anything, didn’t need to as her eyes spoke volumes to him. He took a deep breath and went on, forcing himself to calm down. Look, this isn’t a debate. If we stay here- we die, it's that simple. So we will be leaving come spring, I know that probably scares the hell out of some of you but believe it or not that’s a good thing. Knowing what’s waiting out there, a little fear will help keep you alive. We are also not running out of here in a blind panic, we are leaving here armed to the teeth, healthy and well supplied, we all know what the warthogs are capable of so even though there may very well be killing- it won’t be us doing the dying.

Any idea where we’re going? Frank asked. Marek shrugged, Yeah, Chi was talking to a professor at the U of A before the guy got iced. He said there was some huge concrete wall going up around the place as well as a couple other safe zones around Edmonton that were being set up. Figure we’ll head there and see what happened. Artie, Vic. Those two warthogs just became our top priority, we need them 100% ready when it’s go time. You two need help from any or all of us, you just shout alright? Both men visibly brightened at the mention of the warthogs and assured Marek they would, seeing as they had pretty much rebuilt the former nodwells into the armored war machines they were now. Alright people, that’s the news. All we can do is try and roll with it, same way we’ve been doing. We’ll be fine, let's just stick to our routines and stay busy until then. Marek had called the meeting to keep everyone in the loop and to reassure them that- in the end losing station wouldn’t be that bad. Looking around the pool table though, he could tell none of them looked particularly reassured.

Winter came and everyone in station found some work that kept them extremely busy, each of them finding different projects or hobbies to while away the time, as well as individually coming to grips with the impending evacuation. They all found themselves working extra hard at their respective jobs, hard labor left very little time to think or worry about the coming spring. The two former seismic units that they had dubbed Warthogs 1 & 2 needed the most work. They had come a long way from their original purpose as oilfield exploration drills, both now more closely resembled their new names than they did mobile drills. Each three-ton track unit now sported a large plated steel crew cabin in place of its drilling mast and water tank, complete with shuttered gun ports, ob slits for viewing and both units each had four mortar pots. Everyone found that one kind of odd, wondering where Marek acquired vehicle mounted mortar pots and where he expected to find the mortars for them. Then Marek had gone down to weapons storage and brought up six cases of them, well over a hundred mortars. Over the winter, every adult in the group would learn how to fire them in dry run after dry run until any one of them could fire the things without even thinking about it. Warthog 1 had the heaviest piece of ordinance of the two in the form of a belt fed M-60 built into an enclosed turret that could spin a full 360 degrees. It was mounted high on the cab, two electric servo motors wired into two-foot pedals gave the gunner the ability to shoot in a complete circle if necessary, spinning left or right with a simple touch of either foot. There were headphones and a mic to communicate with the other occupants and Chi was busying himself with wiring both units up to receive satellite signals, which he said were still up there working, so they would all be able to communicate through Bluetooth. This would also include any ground crew that happened to be outside of the steel walls, for Chi- this was the real feat. The rear quarter of the cabin was designated storage space which was walled in with steel mesh while eight seats lined both sides, backs to the walls all with five-point harnesses for when things got bumpy. Directly in the middle of the cabin was the first of two huge 6000 horsepower diesel engines, another was up front between the driver and co-driver seats. This made both units unique as a nodwell’s usual top speed was about 20kmh. With the twin engine design the two warthogs would be able to reach 70kmh, should the need ever arise. The idea had oddly enough come from Jimmy the fix while they had been installing the forward engine of warthog 1. So why don’t these things have two engines? They’d go faster then. He’d said out of the blue with that child-like innocence. From that moment on it became a group mission to find out if it was possible, design after design was tried and scrapped until they found one that worked. They’d had to redesign almost the entire wiring harness and reinforce key parts of the machine’s frame. Once they completed the re-build and tested warthog 1 for viability, they got to do it all over again with warthog 2. Locked in the shop for the winter, it would be impossible to test the extra speed theory, but they intended to try it in the first couple days after evacuation. Their main concern with the machine’s speed was the terrain, due to them having almost no suspension, excessive continuous speed would be too hard on everything. Mainly the people inside but also the machines themselves, if they broke down there would be no repair shop just down the road, not anymore. Still it would be nice to know the speed was there if needed. On the very front of the metal behemoths was the device that gave them their name, a huge wedge-shaped piece of steel plate much like the old cattle catchers that steam locomotives used to have on them came off the front of the front of each rig. Attached with heavy duty bolts and able to raise or lower as needed via hydraulics, they were studded with hard facing welds and large spikes of pig-iron had been welded onto the wedges. Two recessed cameras in the cab’s upper corners gave the drivers their view out the front when the ob-slits were down, a single camera set in the back helped with reversing. Oddly enough, it had been the mortar ports that had given them the most problems, after many trips to the drawing board Sarah had taken over the designs for the project from Artie, Vic and Marek. They were all great engineers, fabricators and welders, but none had ever been a soldier. Sarah proved to be a huge asset, with her hands-on experience she found a suitable design almost immediately and led the work crews installing them in both units. Which only left about a thousand more little things to cover before spring. There was also the general upkeep and maintenance to the shop and station to further busy themselves with. Natasha’s Pathfinder was also upgraded with steel plating over the windows and covering both side doors as well as the wheels. Extra lights covered the newly installed bush grill and the boys had raised the whole vehicle almost a foot with a lift kit and larger all-terrain tires. The final touch had been the grey and black camouflage paint job, it was meant to be just the extra supply vehicle, but it actually turned out to look pretty badass. Station continued giving them problems over that long winter, as Marek had said- it was dying, and these were the just its death throes. Some days it would be the power, other days it was the plumbing, but Chi had built in enough fail-safes that being locked in with no way out was next to impossible. Kat had mentioned it as a concern at supper one evening and after being reassured by Chi, Marek had quipped, Besides if that were to happen, we’d just blast our way out. Not even Natasha had been sure if he had been joking. All in all they had a very productive season and all three machines had been triple inspected, with as many of their components tested as possible. Both machines passed all three inspections so with nothing left to do but load up weapons and supplies, the group was go for evac. At one point, just days away from the evacuation station had another power outage. This one took quite some