2021 (34 page)

‘But the principle is the same is it not
, Monsieur? It matters little how big or small the craft is’ Andre insisted.

‘Well, as long as you’re sure you can handle it?’ smiled Jack.

‘Yes
, Monsieur’ smiled Andre.

‘Right, that’s settled
then!’ ruled the General. ‘Get going you two, film these things and bring me back as accurate a time when they will arrive here at our defences as you can
!’

After they had all left the meeting room, Jack introduced Andre to Stuart, Jenny and Joan before he and Andre went off to the airship with a small accompaniment of troops.

Andre soon picked up the controls of new airship and Jack was very pleased
with his progress.

The new engines
had also proved super efficient enabling the airship to go at a super fast pace.

‘I m
ight use these engines all the time, well that’s if we ever get through this’ smiled Jack. ‘They run just on air’ he laughed ‘the cheapest fuel ever invented!’

‘Don’t tell the government, Monsieur or they’ll tax it!’ commented Andre as they both laughed.

Soon they had reached Los Angeles itself.

It didn’t take long to find the new larger Migrators as they were now pouring through the city at
a quite an alarming rate!

‘My g
oodness, Jack, they’re fast! Really fast!’ commented Andre as he looked quite alarmed ‘and their numbers’ he added in shock.

‘I know
it’s a shock just seeing them for the first time isn’t it’ nodded Jack as he continued filming away.

The speed at which the
new Migrators ran was truly shocking and there seemed to be millions of them now as they turned the whole landscape an ominous blood red colour.

‘The colour, Jack, it’s almost as if it was
‘by design’ to be ‘blood red’ and so as threatening and intimidating to their enemies as possible’ suggested Andre as Jack promptly agreed.

‘Everything about th
ese creatures seems to be designed specifically for battle or warfare’ he nodded.

T
he Migrators seemed to be spreading so quickly through the built up areas of Los Angeles, that viewed from the air they resembled tomato ketchup spilling from of a knocked over bottle.

The tall buildings of L.A. soon became
blood red themselves as the huge creatures just clung onto the walls and even the glass of windows.

‘Holy crap!’ uttered Jack ‘look at their front pinchers, why they’re almost like that of a praying mantis only they’re much
, much bigger, and also miles faster!’

‘OHHH!’ suddenly cried Andre in panic as one of the large red Migrators leapt up at them from the top of a tall building!

‘Have we enough fi
lm now, Monsieur?’ he asked in panic.

‘
I reckon so, we should be able to calculate how far they’ve travelled from this’ smiled Jack as Andre promptly turned the airship around and looked decidedly relieved to be heading back again.

‘It is far worse than I
ever imagined, Monsieur’ commented Andre as he looked very shocked ‘can we really stop them, Jack?’

‘Honestly?’ smiled Jack.

‘Just between yo
u and me’ nodded the Frenchman.

‘I don’t think we stand a chance
, Andre’ Jack admitted with a sad look on his face ‘but don’t tell anyone I said that will you?’

‘I think you are right my friend’ agreed Andre.

‘We have no choice but to make a stand though’ commented Jack
‘at least, we have to try.’

‘Yes of c
ourse’ agreed Andre ‘they have still not begun to fly, maybe that will help us?’

‘Yes, you have a point there
and seeing them climb up the sides of those tall buildings, I reckon we should put grease or some kind of oil all down the sides of our barricades’ pondered Jack.

‘There’s no way we can beat these things is there, Jack’ smiled Andre.

‘
I don’t know, Andre, maybe something will help us’ he shrugged. ‘Still, I’d rather go down fighting any day’ commented Jack defiantly.

‘LIBERTY! FRATERNITY!’ suddenly shouted Andre
as he waved a fist in the air and made Jack laugh.

‘VIVE LA FRANCE!’ added Jack.

Then
he looked thoughtful.

‘Perhaps the French
could send then all to the guillotine?’ and Andre just looked at him and then burst out laughing!

Day Twenty Three:

29
^th
January 2021

Nogales

International Airport,

Sonora, Mexico.

T
om and Alec meanwhile, along with the two men from the Vatican had no trouble flying into America. They could have had an entire plane to themselves if they wished.

Everyone sensible was now flying
out
of America, not flying towards it! Planes were only flying out there at all to fly people away from America and the airlines could almost name any price they liked for those journeys now.

T
om, Alec and the two Vatican men soon found themselves landing at Orlando International Airport to a scene of total chaos, as hoards of panicking people were attempting to board any plane they could now that could take them away from the area.

Armed guards were everywhere as they tried to maintain some form of law and order
, but they were struggling to cope with the crowds of desperate people now determined to escape just about anyway they could!

As Alec and Tom soon discovered
, no one was now willing to fly them anywhere near the dead zone.

With war quickly brewing up in the area, everyone was trying to get as far away from there as they could.

In the end
, the best the two Vatican men could do was to persuade the owner of a cargo plane to fly them to Nogales International Airport in Sonora, Mexico and it cost them a small fortune even for that.

‘This is strictly a one way journe
y you hear?’ the pilot insisted ‘because I ain’t waiting around there to bring you back again!’ he told them bluntly.

The cargo plane was a very rude awakening after the nice wide seats and luxury
service they had received in the empty plane ride from Italy.

This plane hadn’t even any seats for them to sit on for starters. All four of them were just left sitting on the floor of the ancient propeller driven cargo plane as it just threw them all around as they tried to hang on!

‘Ch
rist, this is rough on my arse!’ commented Alec at one point whilst Tom just smiled back at him.

‘It wouldn’t surprise me if he handed us all a parachute next’ laughed Tom.

‘S
hsss, shut up, Tom, you’ll give him ideas’ commented Alec.

The plane finally reached
Nogales International Airport in Sonora, Mexico, which was where the two Vatican men handed the two teenage boys both a wad of dollar notes.

‘In case you need some money’ one of them explained.

‘What? A
re you not coming with us then?’ asked Alec.

‘No, I’m afraid t
his is a far as we can go’ explained the second Vatican man. ‘Bless you both and may we wish you all God’s protection and love.’

‘Thank you’ replied Tom
politely and he shook him by the hand, but when he shook the second man’s hand he put his other hand over his.

‘I will pray for you
, Tom’ he told him sincerely.

‘Thank you’ Tom replied
.

‘GET OFF T
HE PLANE WILL YOU!’ the pilot now shouted loudly, even though he hadn’t even fully landed. ‘JUST OPEN THE DOOR AND LEAVE,
NOW
!’ he screamed.

‘Come on, Alec,
I guess we’ll just have to jump for it’ smiled Tom.

‘Are you sure?’ panicked Alec as
one of the Vatican men just opened up the door for them, as Alec just stared at the ground just moving swiftly passed them!

‘GET OFF MY PLANE! OR I’M TAKING YOU BOTH BACK AGAIN!’ now shouted the pilot and Alec and Tom just nodded their thanks to the Vatican men
again, before they both grabbed their bags and then just leapt from the moving plane!

W
ith that, the two Vatican men immediately swung the plane’s door shut, just in time as some people came running over to try and see if they could board it!

‘Couldn’t we just rescue some of the
se people?’ queried one of the Vatican men.

‘No way!’ refused the pilot firmly ‘there are organised criminal gangs now hijacking planes and selling of
f tickets to the highest bidder’ he explained. ‘It’s all right for the big airline companies as they have armed guards on board and a locked door between the pilot and the passengers. I have
neither
so we’re leaving!’ insisted the pilot.

He
was true to his word too as no sooner had Alec and Tom jumped clear did he have his plane headed straight back down the runway again as it quickly lifted off the tarmac as several people finally gave up chasing after it!

T
he two teenage boys meanwhile were now left to somehow cope on their own.

‘Blimey,
Tom, the bloody fixes you get me into’ smiled Alec as he just dusted himself down.

‘Are you all right?’ asked Tom as he picked up his now slightly damaged bag.

‘Yeah, I’m all right’ nodded Alec ‘but I wouldn’t
recommend that airline.’

‘No, me neither
!’ chuckled Tom.

T
hey both now looked over towards the airport building and shook their heads in dismay.

I
t was literally heaving with life as people pushed and shoved one another hoping to catch the next plane out.

‘This is just completely
mad
, Tom, I don’t even know what we’re doing here’ Alec shrugged.

‘You’d rather be back adding up figures at work then?’ suggested Tom and Alec thought about it for a moment.

‘Na, I wouldn’t quite go that far’ he laughed ‘this is a bit of an adventure after all.’

‘More than a bit I’d say’ smiled Tom.

‘Look on the bright side, I doubt if anyone’s going to bother us at the customs desk’ smiled Alec as they made their way towards the airport terminal.

Inside the terminal building it was a scene of complete pandemonium as it seemed the whole world and his wife wanted to just escape from the area, not just on a particular plane, but simply
any
plane and just about
any
destination would do!

‘I think the word ‘Terminal’ on this build
ing now describes it well’ commented Alec as the only way they could even find their way inside the building was over the empty and now completely stationary baggage carousels.

Once inside the main building the noise and clamour was simply deafening as people pushed and shoved each other to try and get further ahead of the queue. There were sporadic fights breaking out as people tried to push in front of each other and people were not just on their own either as they seemed to want to take every possession they owned with them, including televisions, rugs, birds in cages, dogs, goats, sheep and just about any other thing you could possibly imagine!

‘I think they’re trying to take everything other
than the kitchen sink with them!’ commented Tom as they struggled to fight their way through the mass crowds of panicking people.

The heaving throng were so tightly pushed together it was very difficult for Tom and Alec to even push their way out of the terminal building.

‘Seeing a
ll these people trying to leave is making me rather nervous’ commented Alec, as they finally managed to squeeze their way out of the crush of bodies to finally reach the outside.

‘You’ll be all right’ smiled Tom calmly.

‘I feel better being free of that place’ commented Alec ‘it’s simply crazy in there.’

‘People are scared, Alec’ Tom Commented.

‘Yeah’ pondered Alec ‘so why aren’t we?’

‘Oh stop whinging, we’re on holiday!’ smiled Tom as he just had to laugh at Alec’s expression.

‘Yeah, it looks like the usual holiday destination I end up on with you’ he replied sarcastically.

‘Oh
stop moaning, it’s free isn’t it?’ smiled Tom.

‘It bloody needs to be
’ commented Alec.

They then spent the best part of half an hour trying to get someone to take them to San Diego, several times almost getting run over in the process as people were even resorting to hijacking cars to escape the area at this late stage.

E
ventually though, they managed to call out to an American man who was driving a large pick up truck a short distance from the airport.