by Brandon Hale
“A few days ago,” Abbie added, “we received a transmission from a soldier in the field in Indiana. It was an emergency transmission, and it was very brief, but it was enough to confirm our fears.”
“The transmission,” Wallace said, “suggested something is happening in the cities. We’re sending sneakers in across the globe to find out exactly what is happening. That’s your mission.”
“If they haven’t attacked us for a month, why now?” Scott asked. “Why wait so long?”
“We’ve sent in small scale teams to find out,” Wallace said. “Several. So far, we’ve not found anything substantive. After we got the transmission from the soldier, headquarters decided to send in as many sneakers as possible. You folks will be going to Pennsylvania. Specifically, Gettysburg. The only thing we want is information. Get in, take as many pictures as you can, and get the hell out. Do not engage the enemy in any way. Don’t let them know you were ever there.”
Lily looked at her team, then back at Wallace. “When do we leave?”
“The transport goes out at dawn,” Wallace said. “The closest we can get without being detected is about thirty miles outside the city limits. From there, you’ll have to go on foot.”
“Understood.”
Abbie walked around to the front of the desk. “It’s very important that you get in and out undetected. No matter what you see there, do not engage.”
“Yes, ma’am,” Lily said. “Got it.”
“Okay,” Wallace said. “Go have a good dinner and get some rest. Your first mission is a simple one, but it won’t be easy. You have a rough hike ahead of you.”
“We can handle it, sir,” Scott said. He pointed to Abbie. “She made sure of that.”
“Good luck,” Wallace said. “B-Team go.”
Scott cackled. “I love this guy.”
***
Two days, a long drive, and an even longer walk later, the team was finally approaching Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. When they saw a sign that said Gettysburg was 3 miles away, Scott said, “I think it might be time for us to get off the main road. We’ll be coming up on the wall soon.”
The Legion had erected large walls that completely surrounded many of their occupied cities. Gettysburg was among them.
“Remember,” Lily said as they walked into a patch of woods near the road, “our goal is to avoid actually entering the city. If Ellie can’t get some good shots from the top of the wall, she’ll find the safest entry point and drop a rope.”
Grung looked at his watch. “It’ll be dawn in about three hours. Maybe we should wait for daylight.”
“No,” Lily said. “Whatever they’re doing in there might not be happening after daylight.”
“I think our timing is good,” Scott added. “They’ll still be out and about, but hopefully, they’ll be winding down.”
Lily could feel her own heart pounding inside her chest. This was real. They were about to infiltrate an actual Legion city. “Review the plan,” she said.
Scott let out a quiet sigh.
“Don’t bitch about this,” Lily said. “This isn’t a training exercise. Review the plan. Ellie, you start.”
“I’ll see if there’s a place I can scale the wall without a grappling hook. If I can, that’s where I’ll ascend.”
“I’ll be directly below her,” Grung said, “ready for anything that might come from the ground.”
“I’ll be with you,” Scott said to Lily. “Far enough to see if anything is on top of the wall, but close enough to get to the wall if needed.”
“Absolute radio silence,” Lily said. “Scott, do you think we’re close enough to take our scent inhibitors?”
“I think so,” Scott said.
“Okay,” Lily said. “Everyone, pop your pill.”
“I don’t know how these things manage to hide your smell,” Grung said as he swallowed the pill and took a small drink of water.
“Abbie covered that in training,” Ellie said. “I guess you were too busy sharpening your arm.”
Grung rolled his eyes. “That brings up another question. Blade?” He lifted his arm, showing the silver sword, then pressed a button which caused the sword to flip down to the side of his arm as a shaft of wood sprang up to replace it. “Or Stake?”
“You’re just showing off,” Ellie said.
“I think I’ll go with the sword,” Grung said as the blade flipped back up.
“Get down!”
The whisper came from Scott, and everyone immediately dropped to the ground. Lily crawled to him with a question in her eyes.
Scott silently pointed toward the road, which was barely visible through the trees.
Lily’s heart stopped. In the moonlight, she could just make out the shape of a very large creature walking down the road toward Gettysburg.
A werewolf.
Nobody moved as they watched the creature slowly stroll toward the city. Every few seconds it would stop and sniff the air. Lily wished she could remember just how long it took the scent inhibitors to take effect. As the werewolf continued down the road, she let herself release a silent sigh of relief. Apparently, the pills worked very fast.
The werewolf passed and the road was empty again. Grung started to quietly climb to his feet, but Lily reached out and grabbed his arm. She pointed toward the ground and Grung quietly dropped again. Lily mouthed, Scout, hoping Grung understood her concern.
After several minutes, her fears were confirmed. Through the trees, they saw more movement on the road. Another werewolf was in the lead, followed by a large group of what appeared to be humans. It was difficult to be sure, but Lily thought she saw a rope connecting them.
Apparently, Scott saw the same thing. He leaned so close that his lips touched her ear, and whispered, “Prisoners.”
Lily gave a silent nod.
The group of prisoners continued until they were gone from sight. After a few more minutes, a final werewolf – the rear guard – followed them.
Lily kept the team on the ground for at least another fifteen minutes before finally daring to move. The team made a small huddle and conversed in barely audible whispers.
“They’re taking them to Gettysburg,” Scott whispered. “Vamp food.”
“Shit,” Lily whispered. She looked at her team. They all wanted to do something. She did, too. “We have our orders.”
Everybody nodded in reluctant agreement.
“We’ll take our pictures,” Lily continued, “and get them back to HQ. Then we’ll request they send in the infantry on a rescue mission.”
“Every town and city in Legion territory keeps a supply of humans to feed the vampires,” Scott said. “The infantry can’t rescue them all.” When he saw everyone’s faces, he added hastily, “I just don’t want you to invest too much in this. We’re going to see this on pretty much every mission we have. We have to learn to deal with it.”
“And every time we see it,” Lily whispered, “we’ll put in a rescue request, with specific directions to the prisoners. Now if Scott’s done being a Debbie Downer, we can get moving.”
They quietly moved on, going through the woods to make a circle just wide enough to avoid the main entrance to town. None of them had ever been so deep into enemy territory. Every noise caused them to draw their weapons. Every shadow made them freeze for minutes at a time. The walk was long and stressful to the point of near-torture.
Lily wondered if every mission would be this way or if it would get easier over time. Emotionally, she hoped it would get easier, but intellectually she knew their fear kept them alert and would very likely save their lives many times.
They eventually came to the end of the woods and were standing at the edge of a large field. On the other side of the field was the city, which was – as Scott had warned – surrounded by a twenty-five foot high wall. They could see the silhouettes of people walking along t
he top of the wall.
“Getting across this field unseen will be a problem,” Grung said.
“More like impossible,” Scott said.
Lily looked at her watch. “Five-twenty. Those guards look to be vampires. We might have to wait until dawn.”
“Look who just got home,” Ellie said, nodding toward the front of the city.
The group from the road had just arrived. When the city gate opened, light from the city streamed out, making the travelers easier to see.
“Definitely prisoners,” Scott said.
All the werewolves were now in human form. From what Lily could see, it appeared to be four captors and about twenty prisoners. There were men, women, and even a few children.
“I don’t know if I can just leave those people to die,” Grung said.
“Then join the infantry,” Lily said, surprised by the harsh tone in her own voice. “The only thing we can do right now is our job, so let’s focus on that.”
“Speaking of,” Ellie said, “we just caught a break. The walls are empty.”
“Well, look at that,” Scott said. “They must be going down to see the new arrivals.”
“Alright then,” Lily said. “Let’s move. Now.”
“I thought you and Scott were keeping a distance,” Grung said.
“Too far,” Lily said. “We’re all going. Ellie, you lead. Just take us to a place you think you can climb. Move out.”
They sprinted fast and low across the field, making it to the wall in a few minutes. Ellie looked up and down the wall. “It’s pretty smooth. I think we’ll have to use the hooks.”
“Damn,” Lily whispered. “That’ll be noisy.”
From the other side of the wall, music began playing. Loud music. Rock and Roll.
“What the hell,” Grung said.
Scott shrugged. “A party, apparently. Or a concert.”
Ellie pulled a rope from her belt. “At least we don’t have to worry so much about the noise.”
She spun the rope a few times to build momentum, then tossed it toward the top of the wall. Everyone flinched when it hit the top, hoping the noise inside the city had successfully drowned out the faint clang. Ellie slowly pulled the rope until the hook latched itself onto something. She gave it a few tugs, then looked at Lily.
“I’ll climb up first, then make sure it’s secure enough to hold everybody else.” She looked at Grung’s arm. “If I fall, I’d prefer someone with two hands try and catch me.”
“You’re hilarious,” Grung said.
Ellie scrambled up the rope with remarkable speed. She peeked over the edge of the top, saw that nobody was there, and climbed up. Staying on her hands and knees, she crawled to the other side of the wall and looked down into Gettysburg. After looking at the scene for a few seconds, she went back to the rope and confirmed it was securely attached to the edge of the wall, then leaned over, looked down at the others, and began to motion for them to join her.
“What’s she doing?” Scott asked, looking up. “She should be taking pictures.”
“She wants us to come up,” Grung said.
They both looked at Lily.
“Okay,” she said. “Let’s climb.”
The three of them scaled the wall and crawled onto the small top section.
“I’ve taken pictures,” Ellie whispered, “but you guys need to see this. They’re… being nice to the prisoners.”
Lily crawled to the other edge and looked down at the city.
Dozens of vampires and four men that Lily assumed were werewolves were congregated around a church. Above the church’s door was a huge banner that said, “Welcome, warriors!”
The vampires and werewolves seemed to be celebrating. Some were dancing to the music while others were simply greeting the terrified prisoners in front of the church.
None of the vampires were feeding.
“I know what’s going on,” Scott whispered as he looked at the scene below. “This is bad, Lily. Really bad.”
Lily looked at him. “That was a pretty fast conclusion,” she said. “We’ve not seen anything yet.”
“I’ve seen enough,” Scott said. “We have to get back to human territory.”
“Just looks like a party,” Grung said.
“It’s more than that,” Scott said. “Look around. Do you see any humans other than the prisoners? Any at all?”
“No,” Lily said. “Does that mean something?”
“It means everything,” Scott whispered. “This city is crawling with the undead, yet there isn’t a single human here. Normally, you have more humans than vampires in every city. They let them do what they please during the day, and feed on them at night. There should be humans down there.”
“Maybe they’re inside the houses,” Ellie said.
Scott shook his head. “Not with a celebration like this. Do you ever party without drinks? And look at those vampires. They look like skeletons. They’re starving.”
“What are you saying?” Lily asked.
“I’m saying,” Scott explained, “they’ve turned every human in this city. They’re all vampires now, which means they have no food here. Instead, they have thousands of new vampires.”
“I don’t get it,” Ellie said.
Scott looked at them with fear in his eyes. “They’re preparing for an invasion. If they’re doing this all across Legion territory, it means they’ve decided – win or lose – it’s time to end the war. I think things are about to get very ugly.”
“Yeah,” Lily said. “We need to go.”
The music stopped and everyone on the ground turned to the church. The team watched silently as the church door opened and a vampire stepped out onto the front steps. He looked like any other vampire. Bald head, white skin, monstrous face. The only difference was his clothes.
“He’s a preacher,” Scott whispered.
Ellie glanced at him, then back to scene below. “Preacher?” she asked in whisper.
“Vampires,” Scott explained, “always turn religious leaders. They never just kill a minister. They always turn them into a vampire, just as an extra screw you.”
“Nice,” Lily whispered.
“Yeah,” Scott said. “It gets better. The transformation apparently has some strange side-effects on those guys. They can’t seem to let go of their faith, but because all goodness has been drained from them, they end up developing some very strange belief systems.”
On the ground, the preacher was circling the prisoners. He would stop and occasionally smell the neck of a prisoner, but he didn’t feed.
“A weird little vampire religion cropped up,” Scott continued. “They still follow the bible, but they think it now describes the rise of vampires.”
“Nice,” Grung said.
“It’s not that far-fetched,” Scott whispered. “Think about it. Jesus went around offering people eternal life, and he eventually rose from the grave himself. There’s even the bit about him asking his followers to drink his blood. These guys take all that literally, and they think the rapture is about the rise of vampires and the destruction of humanity.”
“Vampire zealots,” Lily whispered. “Wonderful.”
“They wouldn’t be the first people to twist religion to fit their own screwed up world views,” Scott said as the preacher walked back to the steps in front of the church, then turned to face the prisoners.
The preacher looked out over the crowd, smiled, and said, “You folks are very lucky. You have been chosen to serve God in the coming rapture!” The vampires in the crowd roared. To the prisoners, he continued, “You will be transmogrified to higher beings. You will help rid the world of God’s greatest disappointment! You will stop them from destroying the beautiful world that God created for them. Revelations described the day that the Lord would send his angels to take the chosen few to heaven. Well, look around. You are surrounded by those a
ngels!”
“He’s going to turn them,” Ellie whispered.
“Of course he is,” Scott said.
“What’s the population in Gettysburg?” Lily asked.
“About eight thousand,” Scott answered. He looked at her suspiciously. “Why?”
“How many werewolves would you say live here?”
“Impossible to know,” Scott said. “Could be ten, could be a thousand. Lily, what are you thinking?”
Lily shushed him as the preacher started talking again.
“I suggest you enjoy the sunrise,” he said. “It will be your last. Tomorrow, the beautiful dark shall embrace you.” He turned around and entered the church.
“Who talks like that?” Grung said.
“Apparently vampire preachers do,” Ellie answered.
Below, the crowd was dispersing. The vampires entered various houses while the four werewolves took the prisoners to a building that appeared to be an old sheriff’s office.
“Why didn’t they turn them now?” Ellie asked.
Scott pointed toward the sky. “Sun’ll be up shortly.” He turned to Lily. “Which is our cue to get the hell off this wall. We have what we came for.”
“Right,” Lily said. “The only question is which side of the wall we should climb down.”
Scott stared at her for a moment, then said, “Oh, hell no.”
“He’s going to turn them, Scott,” Lily said. “Then, they’ll be weapons used against us. I think it’s our duty to rescue them.”
“That’s a load of crap and you know it,” Scott said.
“Yeah,” Lily conceded. “It is. I know we’re not a rescue team. I know our mission to get back with this information is vital. But the thought of leaving these people to that maniac is… bothersome.”
“That’s an understatement,” Ellie said.
Scott took a deep breath. “I almost hate to point this out, but you’re in charge out here. In the field, you outrank Wallace. Whatever you decide, we’ll do.”
“No,” Lily said. “I won’t do that. Something like this has to be unanimous. If one person has any doubts, we go back.”
“Let me get this straight,” Scott said. “You want to go into a city with around eight thousand creatures of darkness, rescue twenty or so humans, take those humans – civilians, I might add – through thirty miles of enemy territory to rendezvous with a transport that probably doesn’t even have the room to carry them to safety.”
