When Darkness Falls

I dressed, pulling on my pants and parka. I then took the gun from Sue and watched Ellison while she dressed. I then pulled the trap door open. Rudy jumped down into the tunnel and waited. I then indicated that Ellison should climb down. I gave the gun to Sue and followed Ellison. I went to a security console sunk into the tunnel wall and tapped the keys setting all the security protocols on. An electric field filled the tunnel and flashed down to the exit in the woods.

Susan was at the bottom of the ladder waiting until I was finished. I signaled Rudy and then pushed Ellison after him. Sue brought up the rear. It only took us a couple of minutes to reach the exit. Rudy sat waiting at the bottom of the stairs. Looking up I could see the trap door was open and several men were looking down at us, their mistake. I pushed a button on the security panel to my right, four stun grenades launched into the air. At three feet from the ground, they exploded, knocking all the men off their feet.

Rudy bolted up the stairs and into the woods above. Grabbing Ellison by his coat collar, I pushed him up the stairs. As we came out of the ground, I could see the men lying around the exit covering their eyes and moaning. They would be out of action for about ten minutes. As Sue stepped out of the hole, I bent down over one of the men.

"Don't follow us! Is that clear?" He did not answer so I kicked him none too gently.

"Yes," he whispered hoarsely. Susan and I then disarmed them taking their weapons into the woods with us.

As we turned to head into the woods, Ellison turned and started to run in the other direction. Five feet from his starting place, he was knocked to the ground by a flying black dog. Rudy stood over the prone body growling as he gently squeezed Ellison's neck in his powerful jaws.

"Rudy, I think he's learned his lesson, let go of him."

Rudy gave Ellison one final growl and let go, backing away.

"Get up Ellison and please don't try that again. Sometimes he gets a little excited and snaps the person's neck, not on purpose mind you, but you'd still be dead."

Ellison grimaced as he got to his feet brushing the snow off his pants. Rudy growled one more time then was off into the woods. Susan prodded Ellison in the back with the pistol. Ellison moved ahead of us. As I walked watching his back, I wondered if we would make it to our destination some four hundred miles away, with him hindering us at every step.

After two hours of slogging through the snow, I called a halt so we could rest. Rudy came bounding out of the woods and sat at my feet as I sat on a log. He waited patiently while I poured him some water into his bowl. Susan sat next to me on the log facing Ellison sitting in a snow bank where she had pushed him.

"How much further?" Sue asked.

"About another hour," I told her.

"Hey what about me?" Ellison queried.

"What about you?"

"Don't I get any water?"

"You have a canteen on your hip, use it," I quipped.

"It's empty."

"Fill it with snow, it should melt shortly."

"I'm not going to drink that."

"A wise man. So why can't you see what's going on around you?"

Ellison did not answer my question, but I did give him a drink of water from my canteen. After ten minutes of silence and peaceful rest, we continued. Walking in the snow was very difficult, time-consuming, and tiring. At the end of the hour, we arrived at our destination exhausted. The clearing was about fifty feet across and knee deep in snow. Sitting in the middle of the clearing was the just visible outline of our transport. The outline glittered and sparked from the snow pressing against the shield. Pulling a controller from my pocket, I pressed the green button. The snow slumped to the side and our transport was now visible.

"What the f..." Ellison started. I pushed him toward the transport as the door in the side dropped down to allow entry.

"Get in," I snarled.

"Rudy, come," Sue shouted.

A black streak zipped by us into the transport.

"Hi buddy, how you doing?" came a voice from inside.

"Honey we're home," I called out.

"We have a guest," Sue shouted.

Michelle stepped into the doorway smile beaming. She pushed past Ellison and was upon me in an instant. She hugged me hard then stepped over to Sue and hugged her. Turning to Ellison, she shoved him through the doorway.

"Go, inside, we lift in two minutes," Michelle called as she pushed past Ellison.

Ellison followed her inside eyes wide with wonder. He looked around as he walked after Michelle. Rudy sat in front of the door to the flight deck baring Ellison's way. His eyes lit with wonder and his expression was one of disbelief.

"Where did you get this? What is this? How..." he stopped midsentence.

"You are now in one of the best-kept secrets of the world, at least here in America. This is a state of the art shuttlecraft. It works in the atmosphere as well as space."

The door closed and a whine went through the ship. I could see we were rising through the atmosphere but Ellison could not. I smiled and pointed behind him. He turned and almost jumped out of his skin.

"Son of a bitch, I don't feel any acceleration," he said to no one in particular.

Susan laughed as she took a seat along the side of the cargo bay. Rudy growled at Ellison who immediately sat down two seats down from Sue. Rudy went and sat between Sue and Ellison. I had to laugh at the looks he was giving Ellison. Sue giggled at them too.

The trip north took all of ten minutes. We were on the ground before we knew. Ellison, amazed by the speed with which we had traversed the state, sat staring out the port. The door was opening on the side of the shuttle. Rudy was sitting in front of Ellison not letting him get up. The door to the flight deck opened and Michelle's smiling face appeared around the door.

"Final destination, everyone out," she shouted.

Sue and I rose and headed for the door.

"Come on Ellison, your wife and kids are waiting for you. Rudy, heel!"

Rudy ran to my side as I walked down the ramp. At the bottom, Beth Ellison and her children met me. They all looked expectantly up the ramp.

"Wally!" Beth shouted running up the ramp into her husband's arms. The two children ran screaming with joy up the ramp to meet their father. Turning to look up the ramp, I could see there were tears in Wally's eyes as Beth hugged him and the children tried to get his attention.

Michelle walked slowly by the family on her way down the ramp. She was smiling at the joy in Beth's eyes. She continued until she was standing in front of me.

"How did it go?"

"As expected, but I don't think I convinced him."

"Maybe a couple of days here will convince him."

We all watched as the Ellison family walked down the ramp.

"Thanks, Cap, I'm really glad you brought me here. We need to talk some more, but not right now."

"Sure thing Wally, go, be with your family. We'll talk in a couple of days."

He turned and walked away with his arm around Beth. The shuttle slowly lowered into its hanger, underground.

"So I guess the trip was worth it after all?" Michelle asked.

"Maybe it will work out, after all," Sue, said smiling.

"Maybe, maybe."