by P. T. Hylton
He ran back up to ground level, looked out of the door, and froze. More vampires were in the lobby than he’d seen in any of the other floors he’d passed. They crowded in the doorway, pushing one another into the light in an effort to get closer to Simmons. He had to dodge out of the way as one caught fire and nearly stumbled into him.
He turned just in time to see a vampire barreling down the stairs from level 2. Cursing, he slung his rifle over his back and grabbed his pistol. He wasn’t as accurate with the smaller weapon, but it was much more manageable in this tight space. He dropped the vampire and gazed up the stairs into the darkness.
What the hell were they going to do? The team could probably clear the lobby, given enough time, but time wasn’t on their side. Besides, if the vampires below smashed the rest of the Daylights while they were fighting the vampires in the lobby, they’d be trapped between two hordes. But what other choice did they have? He gazed up into the dark stairwell. Then he remembered something.
He spoke into his microphone. “Captain, the lobby’s a no-go. The vampires somehow beat us to it. There’s a shit ton of them in there.”
An impressive string of curse words was the only response.
“Sir, you remember the hole in the ceiling on level 3?” Simmons said.
There was a pause, then CB said, “Owl, get the ship in the air. Hover it above the building and open the cargo door.”
“Roger that, sir,” Owl replied.
Simmons took one last look through the door to the lobby. Far past the vampires, he could see the exit, and it sent a chill through him. The light looked far dimmer than it had only ten minutes ago. He heard a crash from below that he knew was another one of the Daylights breaking. No time to waste. He switched on his headlamp and ran up the stairs.
After what he’d seen today, Simmons was hesitant to even begin to guess how the vampires’ minds worked. He had no idea how much they were able to reason and how much they operated by pure instinct. However they’d come to their conclusion, they appeared to be focusing on blocking the team’s retreat through the lobby. Even if they were smart enough to think through other possible escape routes, they didn’t know about the team’s secret weapon.
All told, Simmons encountered five vampires on his way up to level 3. He’d only ever killed four of the creatures before this mission, but somehow, five didn’t seem like a terribly difficult task after considering the horde he’d just seen in the lobby.
When he finally got to level 3, he dashed through the door, then quickly skidded to a stop.
Apparently, he’d sold the vampires short yet again. They had considered alternative exits. At least, some of them had.
A dozen vampires stood fifty yards down the hallway between him and the hub.
Simmons hesitated for only a moment before moving into action. He had no choice. This was their only feasible way out.
He put away his pistol and grabbed his rifle just as the first vampire spotted him and began to charge.
Alex dashed up the stairs, rounding the corner up to G7 just as the office chair smashed into the Daylight on G8, knocking it out. There were vampires crowded in the doorway to G7, and they, too, were throwing objects. How the hell had they gotten up here so quickly? They must have been using one of the stairwells on the other end of the building.
She was close at Firefly’s heels, racing upward as fast as she could. As long as she stayed in the light, she’d be fine. Well, as long as she didn’t get hit by the office equipment that was now flying through the air. Thankfully, the vampires seemed to be focusing their efforts on taking out the Daylights. They were doing a far better job of it than Alex would have thought possible, but the lights were still slowing them down enough that the team would be able to reach the lobby safely.
Simmons’s voice spoke in her ear. “Captain, the lobby’s a no-go. The vampires somehow beat us to it. There’s a shit ton of them in there.”
No. That was impossible.
She pushed the panic away.
The captain cursed in her ear, apparently having the same reaction to the news as she was.
There had to be another way. Her mind was churning through the possibilities, but Simmons got to the only other feasible one first.
“Sir, you remember the hole in the ceiling on level 3?” Simmons said.
Yes! Alex thought.
There was a pause, then CB said, “Owl, get the ship in the air. Hover it above the building and open the cargo door.”
“Roger that, sir,” Owl replied.
Alex pressed onward, her panic giving way to newfound hope. There was a crash as another Daylight smashed two floors below.
The vampires crowded in the doorway of G5 were throwing things too now. Thankfully, they were still hurling small objects and had yet to move on to file cabinets and office chairs. Alex dodged the projectiles and kept going, trying not to think about what would happen if the vampires on one of the levels above them managed to smash the Daylight before they got there.
They kept pressing upward, reaching the ground floor. The sounds of Daylights smashing below grew more frequent as the vampires refined their techniques. How many had Alex heard them smash? Five? Six? She’d lost track, but however many it was, it was too many for comfort.
“Simmons wasn’t kidding,” Drew said as he passed the lobby.
A moment later, Alex passed the door as well. The largest horde she’d ever seen was gathered there. One of them was holding a large part of a desk, hoisting it above its head, and preparing to throw.
“Shit!” Alex quickly ran out of the way and up to level one. She tripped over a downed vampire, but quickly regained her footing. She’d fallen back from the group a few precious steps, though.
Simmons spoke into her ear again. “Level 3 is clear. Hurry up. I’ll cover you.”
“That’s what I like to hear,” CB said.
As they reached level 3, Alex heard a loud crash from only a couple of levels below. The Daylight on level one.
“Go!” she yelled. “They’re coming!”
CB, Drew, and Firefly all passed through the door to level 3 and ran down the hallway toward the hub and its promised escape. Alex was only a few steps back, but the vampires were thundering up the steps behind her, moving more quickly than she ever could.
She reached the door and sprinted through. Far down the hallway, Simmons stood, his rifle raised and ready.
He fired, and she heard a whine close behind her as a vampire fell.
Shit! She’d had no idea they were that close.
Simmons fired again, and another vampire behind her fell. She didn’t dare look back, but this one seemed closer still.
As she ran, she noticed the hallway was littered with what had to be fifteen vampire corpses. Had Simmons taken out all these himself?
CB reached the hub and looked back at her. What he saw behind her caused his eyes to widen.
“Don’t wait for me!” she shouted. “Go!”
He nodded briskly and pressed his thumb against a button in his glove. His jet pack fired to life and he shot upward, disappearing through the hole in the ceiling. Firefly quickly followed.
Drew stared back at Alex. He raised his shotgun, but even he had to know it would be ineffective at this range. No way he could hit a vampire without also hitting Alex.
“Go!” Alex yelled again.
He hesitated only a moment before firing up his jet pack and shooting into the sky.
Simmons fired again and again, not even pausing between shots. Alex felt one of the vampires brush against the back of her legs as it fell victim to his rifle. She wanted to tell him to go, too, but she knew she’d have no chance of escape without him picking off the vampires at her back.
“Let’s go, you two!” CB yelled in their ears.
Alex wanted to thank him for his sage advice and say she hadn’t thought of leaving until he’d suggested it, but she didn’t have the breath.
She reached Simmons’s side just as he fir
ed again, and she looked up through the hole. The sky was dimmer than she’d ever seen it. The sun was almost set. She turned to Simmons. “Come on.”
He fired again, and a vampire’s head exploded in a mist of brain matter and bone. “Right behind you.”
They wouldn’t be able to hold off the vampires long; there was no time to argue.
She pressed the button in her glove, and her jet pack roared to life. She rocketed upward. The away ship hovered a few hundred feet above the reactor’s domed roof. Its cargo door was open, and CB, Drew, and Firefly stood in the open maw of the ship, beckoning her onward. She used her hands to make a minor adjustment to the jet pack’s trajectory, like Brian had taught her.
Just before she reached the ship, she glanced at the western horizon. The sun dipped below it. Night had fallen.
She reached the open cargo door and flew inside. She deactivated the jet pack as she entered the ship, fell to the floor, and quickly spun to look back. She was relieved to see Simmons shooting up toward the ship.
She fell to her knees and let out a huge breath. Thank God. She would have killed him if he’d died providing her cover.
Simmons was about one hundred yards away and closing fast. The team was safe.
Suddenly two vampires leaped through the hole in the reactor’s dome and shot two hundred feet into the air.
One of the vampires grabbed Simmons’s leg. It scurried up his back, climbing him like a ladder. It bared its fangs and bit down on his neck. Its head erupted in flames as its teeth sank into the silver mail. It quickly fell away.
But the other vampire was already on his leg, and, a moment later, his back.
Simmons’s jet pack sputtered under the added weight.
Three more vampires leaped through the dome. These easily reached Simmons, piling on. The jet pack couldn’t handle the weight, and Simmons sank like a stone, falling back inside the dome even as more vampires leaped on him and dragged him down.
A vampire scurried up his chest and bit the underside of his chin, above where the silver mail stopped. It looked up and howled at the sky, its face wet with blood. As Alex watched, its face began to transform.
Then Simmons and the vampires disappeared into the darkness of the dome.
“No!” Alex screamed.
“Owl, go,” CB yelled.
Owl’s voice came through her earpiece. “We’re not leaving without Simmons.”
CB turned and sprinted into the depths of the ship.
Alex stared down into the black emptiness.
Another vampire leaped upward, clutching at the air in an attempt to reach the ship. It only fell short by twenty yards.
The cargo door began to close.
“No!” Alex yelled again. She moved to the window in the cargo door, her gaze fixed on the hole in the dome, hoping against hope that Simmons would appear.
A moment later, the ship shot upward and the dome disappeared below the clouds.
29
Alex raced into the ship. In the passenger area, the team was silently sinking into their seats and strapping themselves in. Their faces looked hollow, as if some vital piece of them had been left below on the surface. Why weren’t they screaming? Why weren’t they shouting that they had to go back and get him? She wanted to grab every one of them and shake them. Simmons was part of the team. He was family.
CB shuffled in, looking old and tired, and went to his seat.
“We have to go back,” Alex said.
“I’m sorry, Alex, but he’s gone.” CB reached for the safety belt and pulled it over his shoulder.
“Screw that. We’re not leaving him.” Alex stormed toward the cockpit. Maybe no one else on this ship cared about their friend, but she did.
CB threw off the safety belt and jumped to his feet. He grabbed her around the shoulders. “Alex, you have to listen to me. He’s gone.”
She shook her head violently, not willing to believe it. “He fought off a dozen vampires by himself on level three before we got there. He could be fighting for his life right now. He needs our help.”
CB spun her around and held her by the shoulders, his face close to hers. “There were a hundred vampires. The sun is down, and they’re at their strongest. There’s no way anyone could last two minutes against that horde. Not even Simmons.”
She stared into CB’s face and knew he was right. Going back was suicide. Simmons was dead.
She stumbled to her seat, her eyes filling with tears. “How did they do that? It was like they were flying.” She’d seen vampires jump in Buenos Aires and here today. It had been impressive, but it had been nothing like she’d witnessed when those vampires leaped out of the dome.
“It’s like CB’s been telling us,” Drew said, his voice hollow. “They’re different at night.”
A heavy silence fell over the ship.
They passed through a cloud and broke out into a sunlit sky. They had caught up with the daylight.
“I was an idiot,” Firefly said. “I thought they were just dumb animals. But we just got outsmarted by vampires.”
“They surprised all of us,” CB said. “Of all people, I should have seen it coming.”
Firefly shook his head. “You don’t understand. I believed in Resettlement. Like, really believed in it, even after your story. I thought we could wipe them off the face of the Earth.”
“Some things you have to see for yourself,” CB said.
Alex stared out the window at the clouds far below. Every moment took her farther from Simmons. Or whatever was left of him. He’d saved her life, and she’d failed to save his.
They flew the rest of the way to New Haven in silence.
The team went through the quarantine and decontamination process in shocked silence. No one said anything to the medical team, but the doctors could count. To their credit, they didn’t ask any questions or press the team for information. They just went about their work in silence.
There was a flurry of activity when Drew told them the whole team, barring Owl, had breathed in the dust from dead vampires. The medics talked it over and decided to put the team on a round of strong antibiotics, which Alex took to mean that they had no idea if the dust would do anything to them.
Jessica Bowen was waiting impatiently outside the quarantine area, anxious to take a look at what they’d managed to retrieve. As soon as she was cleared, she ran into the hangar and started digging through the control panel components, which had been unloaded and were now waiting in the hangar.
After decontamination, the team went to the briefing room, where the general was waiting for them. CB recapped the events of the day tersely but thoroughly, his voice devoid of any emotion. Alex respected that. If she’d been called on to speak, she probably would have broken down in a puddle of tears on the briefing room floor.
When CB finished, the general regarded the team. “I want to commend you all for your work today. You are a credit to the GMT and its rich history. I’d also like to say I’m sorry for your loss. Simmons was part of our family, and I promise you, I’ll make sure the Council understands his sacrifice and they give him the hero’s memorial he deserves. His name will be on the lips of every man, woman, and child on Haven, and they’ll damn sure understand he saved every one of their lives.”
“He saved mine.” Alex’s voice came out as a whisper.
The general looked at her quizzically. “I’m sorry, Lieutenant?”
She cleared her throat and tried again. “I said, he saved mine. He died protecting me. If not for him, I wouldn’t have made it out.”
“None of us would have,” CB said.
Alex didn’t reply. It was different for her. If it hadn’t been for their relationship, maybe Simmons wouldn’t have been so careless with his life.
Alex left the debrief and walked toward the gym. She wasn’t sure where she was heading, exactly; she certainly didn’t feel like working out, after everything her body had been through that day. Her feet kept moving, and she followed where they l
ed, too tired to give it a conscious thought.
“Alex, wait up.” It was CB.
She stopped and turned toward him. He looked as tired as she felt.
“I just wanted to let you know I’m proud of how you handled yourself today.”
“Thank you, sir,” she said automatically.
“I mean it. You were brilliant. We might still be stuck in that control room, if not for you.”
And Simmons might still be alive, she wanted to add. But she didn’t.
“Losing a teammate…there’s nothing like it,” CB said. “And no one who hasn’t been through it can understand. Not really. All you can do is give yourself time and allow yourself to grieve. Get some rest, Alex. Take tomorrow morning off. We’ll check in after lunch.”
“Thanks, Captain.” She turned and walked away with no particular destination in mind and absolutely no idea what she was supposed to do next.
30
When Alex woke the following morning, she lay in her bed for a full five minutes, trying to summon the will to get up. For the first time in she didn’t remember how long, there was nowhere she needed to be. More disconcertingly, there was nowhere she wanted to be.
What she wanted was to curl up into a ball and stay in bed, preferably for a month or two. In here, it was nice and warm, if miserable. Out there, Simmons was still dead, and nothing made sense.
Finally, it was the power of her grief that convinced her to get up. If she stayed in bed now, she might never leave.
She threw on her workout clothes and headed out for a run. She figured that if she were going to be numb anyway, she might as well be numb while doing something productive.
At the first opportunity, she exited the GMT-dominated residential area and headed into Sparrow’s Ridge. As soon as she did, she was smacked in the face with the fact that reality had continued here aboard the ship while she and her team had been fighting for their lives in Texas. Even in Sparrow’s Ridge, the streets were normally clean. It was just a part of life on New Haven. Due to the limited space, everything had to be kept pretty tidy, out of necessity. But today she was shocked at the condition in which she found the neighborhood.
