Wings of Death

Alex Sanchez

Alex Sanchez and Nathan Browning used to be neighbors a couple of years back. They had shared many secrets and had a great deal of fun together. Alex was never a bright student but he could hack any computer in seconds. He was 24 year old with a freckled face, frizzy brown hair and a disarming smile and had already visited a prison for hacking into the Air force’s security systems and disabling all drones just for fun. The Air force was infuriated with him but certain shady agents cut him a deal and freed him from his prison cell. The deal was that Alex had to help these agents create an AI that could remotely control several gun emplacements at once and fire them independently at different targets simultaneously.

He had never thought that some monsters would show up and start killing people mindlessly.  Alex and his brother Joshua were hiding in the parking lot of a shopping mall along with another family: the Smiths. Mr. Smith was a middle aged man and had a young wife who was in her mid twenties. The couple had a lovely one year old daughter named Melissa. They were scared out of their minds when they heard the screams and saw people bleeding to death inside the mall. Luckily, they were on the ground floor.  If it were not for Alex and Joshua’s presence of mind, they might have ended up just like the others. Alex had asked them to cover their ears and follow him to the parking lot.

It was 7 AM, Alex felt a nudge on his shoulders and opened his eyes most unwillingly. Mr. Smith was standing next to him. He was still feeling too sleepy to figure out what Mr. Smith was saying. He rolled over to one side of the seat and finally opened the car door. The previous night they had all decided to sleep inside their cars. It was certainly more comfortable than sleeping on the floor though not as comfortable as sleeping on a bed. Alex splashed some water on his face and greeted Mr. Smith.

“I need to find food for my daughter. Please, could you help me out?” said Mr. Smith

“Hold, on. Let us first make sure those Bloodwings aren’t around”, replied Alex.

“Bloodwings?” piped Mr. Smith in a rather confused manner.

“Oh yeah, that’s what the government has decided to christen them. A certain Dr. Erica made some announcements on the radio last night”, continued Alex.

He explained everything that he knew about the Bloodwings to Joshua and Mr. Smith, including the fact that they were probably afraid of the rains. After that he put on his jacket, grabbed his palmtop and data cable and started accessing the building’s security cameras. He could not see any of the Bloodwings. It was drizzling outside.

“Okay, now is our chance to gather supplies. Only me and Joshua are going to go out there. Make a list of things you need. You have exactly two minutes”, said Alex, turning to Mr. Smith.

Joshua knew the shopping mall like the palm of his hands so they had no difficulty in navigating through the floors. In just ten minutes they had collected all the necessary supplies. They were about to head back downstairs when Joshua insisted that they grab some micro cameras from the third floor.

“Why the hell do we need micro cameras? You want to make a movie on the apocalypse?” said Alex in a rather angry tone.

“Just trust me on this. They will come in handy in case…” Joshua rushed off without even completing his sentence.

Alex returned to the parking lot with the supplies and distributed them among the Smiths. Joshua entered a few minutes later with a whole bunch of micro cameras, mini microphones and a fire extinguisher. Everyone gave him a strange look. They were all perplexed by Joshua’s actions.

It was 8 AM now, Alex had almost forgotten about Nathan’s plan. He decided to give him a call and wake him up. An automated voice kept repeating, “THERE IS CURRENTLY A NETWORK PROBLEM. PLEASE TRY AGAIN LATER” He knew this was bad news for them. If there was a network error then they won’t be able to contact each other in any way. He asked Mr. Smith and Joshua to check their cell phones. None of the cell phones had a network. Alex started thinking about what could have gone wrong. Was it because of those monsters? Perhaps their screams were causing some interference but how was it possible when they weren’t even around. Maybe the people maintaining the communication lines and network servers had been attacked.  He should have known, especially after the news channels shut down. Things were looking gloomy but he refused to give up so easily.

If only he could somehow reach the main office of the network operators he could bring the servers back online. He just hoped the cell phone towers were still functional. Alex walked up to Joshua and told him about the problem. They had to first locate the main office of the network operator. After that one of them would go outside and try to fix the problem. Alex suddenly had a brilliant idea.

They could use the wireless short range transmitters and radios for communication. The shopping mall had a gadgets section and Alex had already seen them there. It was decided that Alex would go outside and Joshua would stay on the radio and guide him using the short ranged two way transmitters. Now, they just had to locate the main office.

Mr. Smith had overheard their discussion. “I can help you. I used to work quite close to the network and communications office”, he said.

“Okay Mr. Smith, you stay on the radio and guide me in the right direction. I am going to head out now while it is still drizzling”, replied Alex. Without wasting any time Alex grabbed his backpack, put on a raincoat and headed towards the parking lot exit.

Joshua shouted after him in an anxious manner, “What are you going to do if it stops raining?”

“I will probably have to run for cover and find a place without windows”, replied Alex with a nervous smirk on his face.