Human Nature (Book 4): Human Nature IV by Borthwick, Finlay (book recommendations website .TXT) 📗

Elliot began to nod his head in reference to Annabelle, but then stopped, scared for how she would react to this news, “My sister…”

“Your mother is strong.” Erica reassured Annabelle while brushing her arm. “But you already know that. She’ll be okay, I promise.”

Annabelle’s face was still completely white; she had been through a lot in the past week.

“And you know who else is strong? Elliot.” Tina added. “He wouldn’t let anything happen to her. He loves her as much as you do.”

“Tina! Erica!” Petra burst into the room, interrupting the tender moment.

They both spun around instantly. “Petra? What is it?”

“Look!” She ran into the room and leapt over the bed, opening the window, and pointing upwards to the sky.

A faint mechanical whirring filled the room.

Erica and Tina looked at each other fearfully, then jumped up to the window.

“Everyone is hearing it!” Petra commented, pointing towards the road alongside the river where many members of the community had stepped outside their houses and were now looking up into the sapphire evening sky.

The noise grew louder, though Annabelle remained completely unfazed.

The three women at the window looked up and were all blown away.

There, in the sky, five fighter jets flew overhead. They were in a perfect V-shaped formation, all at an unchanging constant speed.

“How....How is—How’s that even possible?” Erica was at a total loss for words.

Tina shook her head, still transfixed on the aircrafts as they passed into the horizon.

“The army?” Petra suggested.

“Pfft.” Tina scoffed and stepped back from the window as the jets went out of view again. “What army?”

“Czechian army!” She presumed, given their location.

“I don’t think so…” Erica rebutted this notion. “We’ve scouted for miles and miles in any given direction around this place and not once have we found any signs of a military presence. If it is the army, then they’ll be from somewhere else without a doubt.”

“People!” Petra was feeling overjoyed by this revelation. “There is hope. There is a future! The world is not over!”

“Whoa, whoa, don’t get ahead of yourself.” Tina raised her hands in a gesture that meant ‘Stop’. “We don’t know what we just saw. For all we know, they could be evil. They may not even be an official army!”

“I agree. I think they’re a militia if anything.” Erica added.

“Where is Annabelle?” Petra asked, looking down at the bed, noticing their quiet friend had vanished.

“Uh…” Erica looked back outside; there were many people out there still, but none of them were Annabelle.

“Annabelle!” Tina called out as she went to search the house.

KIELCE, POLAND

LATER THAT DAY…

 

The young lad had been told to wait in the barracks all day for a call from his commanding officer; he was the only one in his platoon who was fluent in both English and Polish, and as such, was perfect for the task.

Finally, the phone rang out. It was vintage and hooked up with a wire, just like it was straight out of the 1950s.

The lad wiped his palms down his trousers and then hesitantly picked the phone up. “Hello?”

On the wall in front of his desk there was a large wooden board. The sheet of paper pinned to the centre of the board read ‘PROJECT ZODIAC’. Above this sign, there was a photo of space station with several portraits of its’ crew members around it; the station was labelled as ‘GEMINI’.

There were other projects on either side of the board as well, labelled as ‘AQUARIUS’, ‘CAPRICORN’ and ‘LIBRA’.

“Yes sir, I understand…” The lad complied with ease, as his eyes drew up to the bottom of the wooden board in front of him to a photo of a stealth bomber aircraft. “Operation Libra is greenlit…”

Chapter 3: New Arrivals

DUNMORE EAST, IRELAND

 

In spite of how late in the day it was, it was never too late for a fresh cup of coffee. With an entire factory at hand, Corey was able to brew whatever he had a craving for.

He set up his deck chair on the coastline and gently lowered himself into it. Wrapped up in multiple layers, he inhaled the steam emanating from his coffee.

Just as he prepared to take a sip, a rather large and ominous noise began echoing out from the misty ocean in front. Corey squinted in an attempt to get a visual on what the noise was.

Then, lights came into view from the distance. By tracing the lighting and the darkened areas around it, he quickly figured out that the noise-in-question was coming from a boat; a boat that was headed for his coastline.

He quickly shot up from his chair and rushed over to the nearby table which had a transceiver on it.

He pressed the ‘talk’ button down, and slowly pulled the microphone up to his lips.

“Breaker, breaker… This is Dunmore East to unregistered vessel; please respond, over.”

He lifted his finger and listened to the static for several seconds. But then, “Dunmore East!” The static was interrupted by a jovial female voice. “This is Captain Tanika Bell of the S.S. Aquarius, receiving you, over.”

Corey’s entire face lit up, resulting in a bright smile. “Copy that, Aquarius. Must confess, it’s good to hear from another soul after quite some time. Over.” He responded and then laughed to himself.

“I can relate to that, over.”

“I say that accent…” He hadn’t heard any voices aside from his own for quite some time now, let alone a foreign one. “Am I speaking to an American? Over.”

“Aw, and there I was thinking people were done making that mistake! Correction, I’m from Newfoundland, in Canada.”

From the background of Tanika’s radio, a rather angry man could be heard storming onto the scene, though his words were inaudible from that distance.

“I say.” Corey remarked to himself. “Was that another voice