It was raining furiously and Kyle didn't like it one bit. They'd known a storm was supposed to be moving into the area that day but with the blindness of hopeful optimism they had decided to push forward with the operation anyway. Kyle paused and thought for a moment about the warmth he was missing not being home, but figured the sacrifice was worth it. He mused for a moment about the comforts of a warm fire, and being with his family...
Then the enemy's round exploded on the tree just above his head...
"Move, MOVE!" he shouted as he threw his body violently to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Daniel move up to his right, heard the cacophony of half a dozen shots leaping out of the muzzle of Daniel's rifle and then saw the result of another impact near him. He pushed himself up to a half-crouch in order to make another quick move to a safer position.
There was a single empty moment of quiet and then Kyle saw another quick movement to his left side. He saw the attacker's face clearly first, then noticed the rifle the man held at waist level even as he was twisting his own weapon around to take a shot.
But it was too late. The attacker fired first, a burst of rounds impacting as they stuttered across his chest. The air wheezed out of him as he fell where he crouched. He heard a burst of counterfire from his companion Daniel who appeared to nail his killer, but as he lay there struggling to breath in deeply he heard a single rapt shot from behind Daniel's location and the words that let him know that Daniel, like himself, was finished too. "I'm out!"
"Who's brilliant idea was it to play paintball in the rain anyway?" scoffed the mountain of a man who answered to the name Joey. "This would have been a perfect week for playing that indoor field down in Central Way. Or doing something inside at any rate"
"Hey don't talk to me about it," complained Randy. "I sold the family fun center we owned two years ago so you would have had to find someone else to mooch off of. Who knows, you might have actually had to pony up some cash for entertainment this time, Joey." He smiled.
"Let's just grab the rest of our paintball gear and head back down to the cabin," offered Kyle. "I'm dying for something to grub and I'm guessing you guys might be too."
They walked uietly for a time, the neverending rain complicating matters further with each step.
"It is just freaking pouring today. What is up with this? This is supposed to be May, man." Lobo, Kyle's appropriately nicknamed younger brother had never liked the rain, but even playing paintball in the downpoor he wore signs of his unnatural fixation with their shared Native American heritage.
As they reached the simple wooden cabin that served as their camp Kyle's cousin Nick emerged from the structure to meet them.
"Hey, what's up?" queried Kyle.
"Dude, something's going on down in the Valley. I was listening to the radio and phht... it's gone, man." Nick's dreadlocks swung pendulum-fashion as he shook his head. "It's really weird something..."
"What, like a dead radio battery?" asked Lobo teasingly.
"No, stupid, I thought of that. And it's one of those windup things your brother is so fond of. Isn't that why you bought it, Kyle? Because it doesn't need batteries?" Nick looked up at Kyle.
Daniel stepped forward, towering over everyone else but the equally-tall Joey. "You sure you weren't doing some of that 'classy grass' again?" he joked.
"No man, I haven't touched that stuff since I broke my leg on the slopes last month. The super-Tylenol is way better." He looked up at the darkening sky above them. "I'm telling you guys that all the radio stations from the Valley are off the air."
Kyle turned to Randy. "Hey dude, do you still have your satellite phone you use for backpacking?"
Randy shook his head. "No, Joey's had it for about a month or so."
Kyle transferred his gaze up to Joey's eyes. "Joey?"
The tall Nordic figure responded. "Yeah, um, it's in my trunk. What do you need it for?"
"Actually, Joey, I think I have it in my backpack," interrupted Daniel. "I grabbed it when we ran out for that hike this morning." Daniel stepped to Kyle's side, where his half-foot height advantage was most evident. "You want me to grab it real quick?"
"It's probably nothing. Lobo, weren't you getting a signal up here yesterday?" Kyle asked.
Lobo thought for a moment. "I just got a couple text messages from my wife yesterday. For some reason they seem to get through to me sometimes when regular cell calls don't."
"Well, check your cell phone too just in case," Kyle said. "If you don't mind, that is." He glanced at his digital watch, his eyes strained to read the numbers in the waning cloud-covered twilight. "Man, how long did we play? And when is Brad due back from town?"
Nick responded. "It's an hour drive round trip and then forty-five minutes to hike back up the mountain. Considering the quad is up here, he's not going to have much choice but to hike."
"Wasn't he supposed to pick up some more soda too?" asked Daniel in one of his more random comments of the day.
Kyle studied his watch some more. "Yeah, but that's not what's important. For kicks and giggles let's just check Lobo's cell and take a look at Randy's sat phone to see what's up. Let's hope another 9/11 or San Diego attack didn't happen while we were up here on our annual 'Boys Will Be Boys Outing. Our wives would never forgive us if we skipped out on Armageddon." A smirk passed over his face.
Lobo and Daniel took off walking to grab the phones. Joey turned towards the door of the cabin. "I'll help Nick start cooking if you guys will carry my paintball gear to the storage shed. We'll add in whatever Brad brings up when he gets here."
It was no more than twenty minutes later when they gathered around the table, the lantern casting long shadows across the walls. They talked in normal tones, with Lobo and Randy playing with their phones while eating half-heartedly. For some reason, they all felt a strange sense of foreboding, not for any rational reason, but just the subtext of concern that sometimes evidences itself during times of unease.
"Now this is weird," said Randy playing with a set of dials. "It's acting like the satellite is down. It's never done this before."
"Well you're the communications guy, Daniel. What do you think?" asked Joey in a snotty voice.
"I don't know that much about sat phones. I was just stealing Randy's for our hike." He took the unit from Randy's hand. "Seems strange though..." His voice trailed off as he squinted in the shallow depth of light given off by the lantern.
Suddenly Lobo interrupted. "You think that is weird? I finally got a little reception and I've got like fifteen text messages that are just crap... gibberish..."
They leaned towards Lobo in an effort to all see the tiny LCD screen on the phone's face. Lobo scrolled through a series of messages made up entirely of hundreds of letter "A"s in a randomly varying sequence.
"Now that is odd," stated Joey flatly.
Lobo spoke again. "I just checked my voicemail too. Here's the really weird part..." He turned on the speaker mode setting so they all could hear the message.
"Dwayne," the message began using Lobo's less-preferred given name. "Something's happening..."
They all looked at each other.
The message continued after a brief pause. "The entire neighborhood is going nuts. The power's out everywhere and this is the fourth time I've tried to call you. I'm really officially freaked out now. I'm going to grab the girls and run over to Sylvia's house. They have a generator so... Well, you know. If I'm not home when you get back check..." There was a pop on the other end of the line and the message ended.
Kyle looked at Lobo puzzled. "How did you get that message if the cells are down?"
Lobo responded to the question but was obviously distracted now, "I... don't... have a clue." His words drifted off.
"Maybe Brad will know something when he gets back," offered Nick.
"Yeah I hope," answered Kyle. "Let's just take it easy 'til he gets here. We can always go back early if we need to."
So they waited...
Then the enemy's round exploded on the tree just above his head...
"Move, MOVE!" he shouted as he threw his body violently to the ground. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Daniel move up to his right, heard the cacophony of half a dozen shots leaping out of the muzzle of Daniel's rifle and then saw the result of another impact near him. He pushed himself up to a half-crouch in order to make another quick move to a safer position.
There was a single empty moment of quiet and then Kyle saw another quick movement to his left side. He saw the attacker's face clearly first, then noticed the rifle the man held at waist level even as he was twisting his own weapon around to take a shot.
But it was too late. The attacker fired first, a burst of rounds impacting as they stuttered across his chest. The air wheezed out of him as he fell where he crouched. He heard a burst of counterfire from his companion Daniel who appeared to nail his killer, but as he lay there struggling to breath in deeply he heard a single rapt shot from behind Daniel's location and the words that let him know that Daniel, like himself, was finished too. "I'm out!"
"Who's brilliant idea was it to play paintball in the rain anyway?" scoffed the mountain of a man who answered to the name Joey. "This would have been a perfect week for playing that indoor field down in Central Way. Or doing something inside at any rate"
"Hey don't talk to me about it," complained Randy. "I sold the family fun center we owned two years ago so you would have had to find someone else to mooch off of. Who knows, you might have actually had to pony up some cash for entertainment this time, Joey." He smiled.
"Let's just grab the rest of our paintball gear and head back down to the cabin," offered Kyle. "I'm dying for something to grub and I'm guessing you guys might be too."
They walked uietly for a time, the neverending rain complicating matters further with each step.
"It is just freaking pouring today. What is up with this? This is supposed to be May, man." Lobo, Kyle's appropriately nicknamed younger brother had never liked the rain, but even playing paintball in the downpoor he wore signs of his unnatural fixation with their shared Native American heritage.
As they reached the simple wooden cabin that served as their camp Kyle's cousin Nick emerged from the structure to meet them.
"Hey, what's up?" queried Kyle.
"Dude, something's going on down in the Valley. I was listening to the radio and phht... it's gone, man." Nick's dreadlocks swung pendulum-fashion as he shook his head. "It's really weird something..."
"What, like a dead radio battery?" asked Lobo teasingly.
"No, stupid, I thought of that. And it's one of those windup things your brother is so fond of. Isn't that why you bought it, Kyle? Because it doesn't need batteries?" Nick looked up at Kyle.
Daniel stepped forward, towering over everyone else but the equally-tall Joey. "You sure you weren't doing some of that 'classy grass' again?" he joked.
"No man, I haven't touched that stuff since I broke my leg on the slopes last month. The super-Tylenol is way better." He looked up at the darkening sky above them. "I'm telling you guys that all the radio stations from the Valley are off the air."
Kyle turned to Randy. "Hey dude, do you still have your satellite phone you use for backpacking?"
Randy shook his head. "No, Joey's had it for about a month or so."
Kyle transferred his gaze up to Joey's eyes. "Joey?"
The tall Nordic figure responded. "Yeah, um, it's in my trunk. What do you need it for?"
"Actually, Joey, I think I have it in my backpack," interrupted Daniel. "I grabbed it when we ran out for that hike this morning." Daniel stepped to Kyle's side, where his half-foot height advantage was most evident. "You want me to grab it real quick?"
"It's probably nothing. Lobo, weren't you getting a signal up here yesterday?" Kyle asked.
Lobo thought for a moment. "I just got a couple text messages from my wife yesterday. For some reason they seem to get through to me sometimes when regular cell calls don't."
"Well, check your cell phone too just in case," Kyle said. "If you don't mind, that is." He glanced at his digital watch, his eyes strained to read the numbers in the waning cloud-covered twilight. "Man, how long did we play? And when is Brad due back from town?"
Nick responded. "It's an hour drive round trip and then forty-five minutes to hike back up the mountain. Considering the quad is up here, he's not going to have much choice but to hike."
"Wasn't he supposed to pick up some more soda too?" asked Daniel in one of his more random comments of the day.
Kyle studied his watch some more. "Yeah, but that's not what's important. For kicks and giggles let's just check Lobo's cell and take a look at Randy's sat phone to see what's up. Let's hope another 9/11 or San Diego attack didn't happen while we were up here on our annual 'Boys Will Be Boys Outing. Our wives would never forgive us if we skipped out on Armageddon." A smirk passed over his face.
Lobo and Daniel took off walking to grab the phones. Joey turned towards the door of the cabin. "I'll help Nick start cooking if you guys will carry my paintball gear to the storage shed. We'll add in whatever Brad brings up when he gets here."
It was no more than twenty minutes later when they gathered around the table, the lantern casting long shadows across the walls. They talked in normal tones, with Lobo and Randy playing with their phones while eating half-heartedly. For some reason, they all felt a strange sense of foreboding, not for any rational reason, but just the subtext of concern that sometimes evidences itself during times of unease.
"Now this is weird," said Randy playing with a set of dials. "It's acting like the satellite is down. It's never done this before."
"Well you're the communications guy, Daniel. What do you think?" asked Joey in a snotty voice.
"I don't know that much about sat phones. I was just stealing Randy's for our hike." He took the unit from Randy's hand. "Seems strange though..." His voice trailed off as he squinted in the shallow depth of light given off by the lantern.
Suddenly Lobo interrupted. "You think that is weird? I finally got a little reception and I've got like fifteen text messages that are just crap... gibberish..."
They leaned towards Lobo in an effort to all see the tiny LCD screen on the phone's face. Lobo scrolled through a series of messages made up entirely of hundreds of letter "A"s in a randomly varying sequence.
"Now that is odd," stated Joey flatly.
Lobo spoke again. "I just checked my voicemail too. Here's the really weird part..." He turned on the speaker mode setting so they all could hear the message.
"Dwayne," the message began using Lobo's less-preferred given name. "Something's happening..."
They all looked at each other.
The message continued after a brief pause. "The entire neighborhood is going nuts. The power's out everywhere and this is the fourth time I've tried to call you. I'm really officially freaked out now. I'm going to grab the girls and run over to Sylvia's house. They have a generator so... Well, you know. If I'm not home when you get back check..." There was a pop on the other end of the line and the message ended.
Kyle looked at Lobo puzzled. "How did you get that message if the cells are down?"
Lobo responded to the question but was obviously distracted now, "I... don't... have a clue." His words drifted off.
"Maybe Brad will know something when he gets back," offered Nick.
"Yeah I hope," answered Kyle. "Let's just take it easy 'til he gets here. We can always go back early if we need to."
So they waited...
