Wings of Death

The strange cave

All the 4 teams had finished searching the different regions assigned to them. They had managed to rescue over 125 survivors hiding in underground shelters. Operation Paladin was a success. The soldiers returned to Fort Barton along with the survivors they had just rescued. They had almost given up any hope of being saved from certain death. The whole town used to have a population of 56000 but now it had been reduced to less than 200 civilians and only 93 soldiers. Humanity had been pushed to the brink of extinction, yet the survivors held on to dear life like a tree clings to its last leaves in autumn.

When the teams returned to the base, they reported directly to Major Morris who had been waiting for them inside the war room along with Dr. Erica and Margaret. Dr. Erica had important news to share with them about a recent development.

“A couple of hours ago General Abraham Collins contacted us via the satellite phone. Winston Advanced Command has managed to survive the invasion. They are holed up inside nuclear bunkers at the moment. Over the course of the last two weeks they had sent their reconnaissance teams to scout for the enemy and find out more about them. One of the advanced scouts had managed to shoot tracking darts at two swarms of Bloodwings. They wanted to monitor the Bloodwings and find out where they disappeared when it started raining. They followed the tracker and found out that the swarms all headed deep into the forest when it was about to rain and the connection was lost in front of a cave in the forest. Later on during a rainy night they sent a scout to investigate the cave. He never returned. His last words were, ‘Something is glowing inside the cave. I am going to check it out”.

Everyone listened to her with complete attention. Sergeant Abel remembered that he had also observed a strange red glow emanating from inside a cave in the forest.

“I came across such a cave while we were exploring the forest. Do you think it was the same one?” he asked.

“Yes, it was the exact same cave. When the Captain gave me your location I knew you were standing right outside that strange cave. I think the cave is being used by the Bloodwings as a lair. That’s why I advised Captain Elijah to get you out of there as fast as possible”, replied Dr. Erica.

Major Morris was about to say something when his satellite phone rang. As he picked up the call the expression on his face changed completely. His eyes widened in disbelief and his face turned pale in horror.

“Half of Winston Advanced Command has been wiped out. They were sent to the cave to rescue the scout. The Major sent us a voice recording. Alex, check our satellite database.”

Alex took out his palmtop and logged into Fort Barton’s secret database. Having found the audio file, he connected a Bluetooth speaker to it and pressed the play button.

The recording contained the voice of a terrified soldier, “THESE MONSTERS ARE EVERYWHERE. THERE IS NO WAY OUT. DAMN IT! WHY DON’T YOU DIE? OUR WEAPONS ARE NOT WORKING! THEY HAVE SOME KIND OF SHIELD AROUND THEM. I TOSSED A BALLOON FILLED WITH RAINWATER AT ONE OF THEM AND IT JUST EVAPORATED BEFORE MAKING CONTACT! WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE. WE ARE ALL GOING TO DIE. HUMPH... TELL MY DAUGHTER...I...FOUGHT BRAVELY...” The voice recording ended with an agonizing scream which chilled everyone to the bone.

The people in the room were so shocked after hearing the voice recording that they stood there dumbstruck. Finally Nathan broke the silence, “At least we know now for sure where those creatures are hiding. Those men did not die in vain. We need to avenge them! If we can destroy their lair the Bloodwings would have nowhere left to hide. This is the only way to end their reign of terror.”

“He is right. We won’t let their sacrifices go to waste. We must find a way to destroy the Bloodwing cave. That is the only way to save humanity”, said Captain Elijah.

The Major sat down on his chair and lit his favorite Cuban cigar. With the cigar pressed between his lips he turned to Dr. Hart and signaled to her to come closer. As Dr. Hart approached the Major, he took a puff and said, “We need a plan. Dr. Hart I want your input on this”.

“I need more information sir. All I can deduce from the voice recording is that they were attacked by several Bloodwings inside the cave. I have no idea why their weapons did not work on them. We know that rain water is fatal to them but even that did not prove effective. He mentioned something about a shield surrounding the Bloodwings. We have never encountered Bloodwings with any kind of shielding.”

“Perhaps it has something to do with that cave. Maybe the Bloodwings gain some special powers when they are inside their own lair”, said Margaret.

“Sergeant Abel mentioned something about a red glow emanating from the cave. I think this is not any ordinary cave. It must have something inside it which amplifies the Bloodwing’s defensive and offensive capabilities”, added Nathan.

“We can’t risk sending our men inside so there is no way to find out what it is”, remarked Captain Elijah.

Joshua raised his hand and excused himself from the meeting. “I will be back. Just wait. I have something which can help us.  Before Alex had the chance to say something he rushed out of the war room.

He came back after a couple of minutes with a military backpack in his hand and walked up to the table. “This is what I was talking about”, he explained taking a remote controlled car out of the bag. “I built it from spare parts of vehicles and gadgets available at the shopping mall. It has a video camera and a mini microphone attached at the front. This antenna at its rear end is a signal transmitter. We can deploy this inside the cave and find out more about what’s inside.”

Major Morris smiled and applauded him. “I reckon there is a lot that we can learn from your generation”, he said.

“There is one problem though; I can’t control this car properly. It often tends to tip over or crash into a wall”, added Joshua with an embarrassed look on his face.

Nathan placed his hand on Joshua’s right shoulder and said, “You can leave that to me. I am a gamer, remember? There is no remote controlled car that I can’t control”.

Alex chuckled and replied, “That’s true. Give him any controller, even a broken one and he will still be able to control the car better than anyone in this room”.

“We should go there tomorrow. Alex, connect the cameras on the car to your palmtop. I will stand a few metres away from the cave and control the car”, said Nathan.

“Alright, it’s settled then. Once we find out what’s inside the cave Dr. Hart can tell us how to deal with it. This may be our chance to put an end to this madness once and for all”, said the Major.

It had been a long and tiring journey, as soon as the meeting was over everyone went back to their own rooms to get some rest. It was almost 3 AM and they hadn’t even eaten their dinners.

Nathan knew that the cave in the forest contained the answers to all their questions. It was only a matter of time before they revealed its secrets. He tried to sleep but the screams of the soldiers who had gone inside the cave haunted him all night.