by P. T. Hylton
Here she was, still trying to break in this new team, trying to help them establish good habits and trust her as a leader, and now there was a whole new group of rookies she hadn’t even been allowed to vet.
Not that she minded having Firefly. As much as they’d clashed over Resettlement, she respected him as a soldier. She’d fought back-to-back with him, sometimes literally, and she knew he could hold his own in a fight. And, as CB had made painfully clear, this was a good opportunity to try to win him over.
And yet, his mere presence confused things. Technically, she and Firefly were equals, both captains. CB had made it clear that Alex would be in charge on this mission. But everyone aboard the away ship knew Firefly held the more important position as head of the entire Resettlement operation.
Not only that, but it didn’t take a genius to realize Firefly wasn’t only there to give his troops experience. He was there to watch her. To make sure she didn’t throw the mission.
Chuck looked out the window and whistled. “Would you look at that? I’ve never seen anything like it.”
Alex had to admit it was breathtaking. Even though she’d been on dozens of missions to various climates and regions of the Earth, the sight of the surface never failed to awe her. Especially rainforests.
She supposed it was a result of spending her life on an airship where most of the surfaces were made of cold metal and every square inch was carefully planned and engineered for optimum usage. The rainforest below was the exact opposite. It teemed with life, and the vegetation sprawled, each living thing limited only by its own ability to survive. If something could get the sunlight and water it needed, it grew.
The sprawl of the surface boggled her New Haven-bred mind.
The away ship slowed to a stop, hovering a hundred feet over the canopy of trees below.
“What’s going on, Captain Eldred?” a recruit named Shirley asked. Alex couldn’t help but notice the recruit had quickly taken the seat next to Firefly and had barely stopped staring at him during the flight.
“Don’t know,” Firefly said. “Alex?”
Alex touched the radio on her chest. “What are we doing, Owl?”
“That’s what I’m trying to figure out, Captain,” came the reply. “These are the coordinates we have, but I don’t see anything down there but trees.”
Alex stared out the window. She saw nothing below them but green. “This weapons stash was supposed to be secret, right? I guess it makes sense that it would be camouflaged from the air.” She thought a moment. “Owl, get us as low as you can. We’ll use the ropes to get down there.”
Firefly frowned. “We’re going into that jungle blind?”
Alex stood up and started back toward the cargo door. “My team is. You can do what you want.”
She was gratified to see Chuck, Ed, and Patrick immediately rise and follow her to the back.
After a moment, Firefly nodded to his crew. “You heard the captain. Let’s move.”
It took a few minutes to get everyone rigged up, but they were soon being lowered down, two by two through the thick canopy to the jungle floor. Alex and Chuck went first, followed by the Barton brothers. Firefly and his three recruits were the last down.
The jungle floor was dim, but Alex was relieved to see there was enough sunlight coming through the canopy that a vampire encounter seemed unlikely. On a less positive note, there were no structures in sight.
Alex looked around, hands on hips, searching for anything that might have been made by human hands. She was already sweating. The humid air felt like a wet blanket over her. She could see in her crew’s faces that they were surprised at the weather, so much different than the arid, cold Colorado weather they’d experienced at the prison.
The sounds of life were all around them, from the songs of birds to the distant calls of unknown animals. The team looked a little spooked. She could hardly blame them, after a life lived on the sterile environment of New Haven, where the only nonhuman sounds were those of machinery. She should have prepared them better for this. But as long as they kept their fingers away from the triggers, they’d be okay.
A gunshot split the air.
Alex spun, drawing her pistol as she turned.
Ed stood with his weapon pointed toward the brush, his eyes wide with fear.
“What the hell?” Alex shouted.
Ed’s stare remained fixed on the brush. “Something was looking at me, Captain. From the bushes. It had yellow eyes. Pretty sure I got it.”
Alex glanced up at the sky and saw once again plenty of sunlight was streaming through the leaves. “Hold your fire. Patrick, with me.”
She slowly crept forward, pistol at the ready. Patrick was close behind her. It took them nearly a minute to make it ten feet through the dense foliage, but they soon found Ed’s enemy combatant.
She sighed. “Well, at least your aim was true.”
The creature lay dead at her feet, a single bullet hole in the center of its skull. She recognized it from the picture books she’d obsessed over as a kid. It was a jaguar.
“Are you kidding me?” Patrick muttered when he saw it. He turned back and shouted to his brother, “You dick! You killed a cat.”
Owl’s voice came through her headset. “Hey, Captain, I ran a scan of the area, and I think I found something.”
“I’m not going to lie,” Chuck said. “This is a bit anticlimactic.”
Alex couldn’t disagree.
The entire expedition, including the four GMT members and Firefly and his three recruits, stood in front of a small structure. The single-story building was made of brick, though thick moss and crisscrossing vines hid most of it from view. The remains of a few other structures stood nearby, but time and exposure had reduced them to little more than piles of rotting wood and scraps of metal.
The building in front of them couldn’t have been more than ten feet by ten feet. If there was a weapons store in there, it would be a very small one.
“Wonderful,” Firefly grumbled.
Judging by the condition of the exterior, Alex couldn’t imagine anything inside would be in usable condition, but she kept her feelings about the situation to herself. “Well, we’re here, aren’t we? Let’s open her up.”
Chuck tried the door. “Seems to be rusted shut, Captain.”
Alex looked at him, her face expressionless. “Shame we don’t have an explosives expert who might rectify that situation.”
“Yeah it is.” He paused a moment, then turned red. “Oh, right.” With that, he took off his backpack and began rifling around inside.
Alex suppressed a chuckle. This was the man’s first mission in charge of explosives, so she couldn’t fault him too much. She glanced at Firefly, who wasn’t making any effort to hide his annoyance at the way Chuck was slowly going through the backpack.
“Use a charge,” he said. “A small one. We don’t want to risk anything large if there could be weapons inside.”
“Yes, sir,” Chuck answered.
Alex nodded toward the backpack. “You miss it, Firefly?”
“It’s Garrett,” he said, almost under his breath. “Getting to blow stuff up? Hell yeah, I do.”
Alex turned to the recruits. “You should have seen this guy in action. There was this one time we were trapped in this tiny control room in a nuclear reactor building, surrounded by vampires on every side. Your captain pulls out the cutter and goes to work, cutting a hole in the damn floor. We dropped down to the next level and ran right out from under the bastards.”
Firefly laughed. “Cutting the hole in the floor was your idea, if I remember correctly.”
“Team effort. That’s how we worked best.”
Firefly nodded. He glanced at the recruits, and the smile slipped from his face. “Anyway, that’s enough war stories for now. Got that charge ready, Lieutenant?”
Alex chuckled. At least she’d gotten Firefly to drop his bigwig routine for a second. That was a step in the right direction.
“Ready,” Chuck said. “Stand clear.”
He pressed a button and the charge exploded with a loud pop, knocking the door off its hinges.
They waited for a tense moment for the familiar angry howl of a woken vampire, but none came.
Patrick said, “Not a lot of room in there, Captain. Unless you want us all standing shoulder to shoulder—”
“I got you.” Alex started toward the door, intending to check the small building with one of the others, but then she stopped. It was time to start trusting her team. “Patrick, Ed, clear the building.”
Ed grinned. “The Barton brothers are on it.”
She stopped herself again just as she was about to remind them to check the dark areas for vampires. They knew their jobs. It was time to let them do them.
Patrick awkwardly clutched his shotgun. After Hope’s death, he’d asked Alex if he could start carrying her favorite weapon instead of his usual carbine. She’d quickly agreed. Having a shotgun on the team came in handy, and it was a great way for him to honor Hope’s memory.
The brothers entered the building and gave it a quick sweep.
“There’s nothing here, Captain,” Patrick called. “Total waste of ti—”
His words were cut off and a clanging sound split the air, like something heavy had been dropped onto a metal surface.
“What happened?” Alex paced toward the building.
“He fell through the floor,” Ed answered. “Patrick, you okay?”
Alex walked through the door just in time to hear an echoey response.
“Yeah, I’m good. But I think I found something. There’s a big steel door. Like a vault, maybe.”
That sounded promising. Maybe this mission wasn’t going to be a bust after all.
“It’s locked up tight!” Patrick called. “We’re going to need the cutter.”
Alex turned back to the group waiting outside. “Chuck?”
Once again, Chuck turned crimson. “Yes, ma’am. The thing is, I didn’t think we’d need the cutter. I haven’t learned how… you know.”
Alex took a step toward him. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. “You don’t know how to use it? I told you to spend time with Brian’s team, learning the gear.”
“I did, Captain. It’s just, after learning all about the explosives, my brain was fried. I asked if we could wait until—”
“I don’t want to hear it.” She turned to Firefly. “Remember that teamwork we were talking about?”
Firefly smiled, and for a moment she saw a glimpse of her old teammate. “On it.” He walked to Chuck’s backpack and picked it up, slinging it over his shoulder. “Lower me down, rookie.”
Ten minutes later, he was through the door and the team followed him into what lay beyond.
“Now, this is more like it,” Ed said.
The vault was a forty-by-forty-foot room with ten-foot-high ceilings. The walls and floor were made of steel. Much like the prison, it looked pristine. More importantly, the room was lined with large shelving units filled with crates.
“Sweep the room before we dig in,” Alex reminded them.
It didn’t take long to ensure there were no vampires, and then Ed cracked open one of the crates.
“This…this is the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he said.
Alex looked over his shoulder and saw the crate was full of rifles.
Firefly grinned. “This is a huge find. What else do we have?”
The Barton brothers ran through the vault, prying open crate after crate, cheering each time they uncovered a new type of weapon. They discovered a massive variety of rifles and pistols. They found grenades and landmines. One crate even had missile launchers.
As each crate opened, Alex felt like a weight was pressing harder against her chest. They’d accomplished their mission, but what would the consequences be? Each weapon here would make Fleming a little more confident. Each gun brought them one step closer to Resettlement.
She felt like screaming. Her every success was bringing her enemy one step closer to victory.
There was only one way forward. Firefly. She needed to win him over, and she needed to do it soon.
He grinned at her. “Looks like we’re going to need that pretty new rover they built you.”
“One problem,” Chuck interjected. “Owl can’t land. How are we going to get it down here?”
Alex nodded toward the backpack Firefly was still wearing. “You got enough explosives in that thing to clear a landing site?”
“I sure do,” Firefly answered.
Ed and Patrick both stopped what they were doing and looked up.
“Um, can we help?” Patrick asked.
It took four hours to clear a landing zone and load the ship. In the end, they only had room to take a small portion of crates. It would take four or five more trips down here to get the rest of the weapons.
As the away ship took off, Firefly nudged Alex. “Hey, that was a great mission. We should celebrate. Want to have dinner with me tonight?”
She blinked hard, taken aback. “Um, are you...”
“No! I mean, not like that. Not a date or anything.” His expression grew more serious. “But we need to talk.”
She hesitated only a moment before answering. “You’re right. We do need to talk, Garrett. Dinner it is.”
15
Alex drew in a deep breath and stepped through the dim doorway. It took her about three seconds to realize she was wildly underdressed.
She’d come straight from the debriefing room, and she wore an old flak jacket over a ratty T-shirt and pants that hadn’t seen a washing machine in a week. And the people around her…the only times she’d seen people dressed this nicely were weddings and City Council meetings.
But what could she do about it now? She was committed.
She spotted a man waving to her from a table across the room, and it took her a moment to recognize him. When she did, she had to stifle a laugh. The sharply dressed man with slicked-back hair didn’t looked much like her old GMT friend. No wonder he’d left the debriefing early.
She walked to the table and sat down across from him.
“Welcome,” Firefly said. “You ever been here?”
“I’ve never even heard of this place. I don’t make it to the Hub often. Except for meetings.” She took another look around, hoping she didn’t look as uncomfortable as she felt. “Is this really necessary? We could have met at Tankards.”
Firefly raised an eyebrow at the mention of their old favorite dive bar. “Why would we do that? Alex, you deserve to reward yourself. We both do. That was quite the haul we brought back today.”
“Maybe your idea of reward is different than mine. Besides, we didn’t even run into any hostiles.”
“Yeah, but we got results. That’s what matters. You should try the wine. The waiter said it’s from one of their best barrels. It’s been aging longer than we’ve been alive.”
Alex took a sip to humor him, hoping it would make her feel less out of place. She needed to focus. She needed to talk to Firefly, and this was the prime opportunity to do so. “I can’t believe all those weapons. It’s tough to imagine anyone would ever need that many.”
“Yeah, I hear you. A few months ago, I would have said the same thing. But we sure as hell need them now. Nights are going to get cold on the surface, and I’ll feel a lot better if every one of my people has a warm rifle in their hands.”
She resisted the urge to launch into a diatribe against Resettlement right then. She had to be smarter than that. She needed to play this like Fleming would.
“Anyway,” he continued, “all I’m saying is, you’re kind of an important person in New Haven now. Enjoy it. God knows you’ve earned it.”
“Is that what you’re doing? Enjoying it?”
The skin tightened around his eyes as he frowned. “What I’m doing is working my ass off. In my few hours of free time, yeah, I’m trying to enjoy a few of the perks. Is there something wrong
with that?”
“Of course not, Garrett.” She almost tripped over the name as it fell heavily past her lips, but she needed to be nice. “Listen, there’s something I need to talk to you about. Something that could change the plans for Resettlement.”
She went on to tell him about the conversation with Jaden and the things she’d learned. About how masters controlled turned vampires. About how Ferals who drank from humans returned to their intelligent forms. About how vampires could communicate simple ideas psychically.
She spoke in hushed tones, leaning in close so only he could hear her. As she spoke, the color slowly drained from his face.
“You understand what I’m telling you, right?” she said when she’d finished. “I’m not saying Resettlement should never happen, but we need to learn more about the Ferals first. Doing it now will be suicide. The Ferals will learn, over time. Individually, they’re dumb animals, but each failure will make the survivors smarter. Eventually, they’ll launch a coordinated attack, like they did to us in Texas. And if even one Feral gets into your settlement and turns someone without your knowledge, it's over. They’ll have a slave on the inside.”
“Damn.” He was quiet a moment, staring into his wine glass. “There’s only one thing we can do. We’ve got to tell Fleming. Now.”
He started to stand, but Alex put a hand on his arm.
“We already did,” she said.
He stared back at her in disbelief. “You did?”
“Do you think I’m an idiot, Firefly? The first thing I did when I got back to New Haven was tell CB. He walked directly over to Fleming’s office to tell him. Judging by your reaction, Fleming didn’t exactly rush out to tell his favorite captain.”
Firefly’s lips tightened in a thin line.
“Listen to me,” she said, speaking even more softly. Her voice cracked with emotion when she continued. “Fleming does not understand. You and I have been on the surface. We’ve fought them in the day and in the night. We’ve watched as they tore our friends to shreds. You remember what they did to Drew? What they did to Simmons?”
