by P. T. Hylton
As Alex watched on the monitor, Frank immediately leapt toward the tray, snatching the blood pack with both hands. He tore into it with his razor-like teeth. Blood splashed across his monstrous face and onto his ashen-gray body as he slurped at the bag.
As soon as the blood entered his mouth, Frank began to change. His skin shifted and moved, like it was suddenly made of liquid. It rippled as it reshaped itself to the changing structure beneath, and its color began to change. Legs straightened. Arms thinned. The face shifted to a completely new shape.
Fleming, CB, and Alex watched in rapt attention, unable to tear their eyes away from the macabre transformation.
Frank’s spine straightened and he cried out; whether in pain or relief it was impossible to tell. He put his hands to his changing face, and his claws seemed to retract into his hands.
But to Alex, the most terrifying and wondrous part of the transformation was the eyes. The animalistic rage left those eyes as the irises shrank and the whites began to show. An intelligence appeared behind the eyes, even as they widened with the shock of what was happening.
Alex wanted nothing more than to look away, but she couldn’t bring herself to do so.
Finally, after what couldn’t have been more than thirty seconds but felt like much longer, Frank’s now-human-looking fingers uncurled, and the empty blood bag fell to the ground at his feet. Then he collapsed to his knees and began to sob.
“My God,” Fleming muttered.
“Jaden was telling the truth about the Ferals,” Alex said. “This proves it.”
Fleming didn’t respond. His eyes still fixed on the monitor, he said, “We could kill him. Let him out, and the sun would take care of him, right?”
“It would,” CB confirmed.
“Will he regain his humanity? His intelligence?”
“Maybe in time,” CB said. “I think we should observe him and find out.”
Alex put a hand on Fleming’s shoulder. “Now that you’ve seen one of these monsters up close, you understand more about what we’re up against. Don’t you think we should slow Resettlement down and try to learn more about them?”
“I… I’m going to need time to process what I’ve seen today. Thank you for showing me this. Both of you.”
George woke the same way he did every morning: to a blaring alarm at exactly four-thirty a.m. He hopped out of bed and started his daily routine.
Everything in Agartha was based on a strict schedule. This was mostly because the city leaders were hundreds of years old, and liked things to be done in a certain way, but also because there was only so much you could do inside of the city. In George’s case, rising early gave him an opportunity to spend a little time with the vampires before they turned in for the day.
He took a quick shower, threw on some clothes, and headed down to grab a quick bite to eat before the daily briefing with Jaden. As he walked to the mess hall, he tried to enjoy the moment. The city was at its most peaceful at this time of day. The vampires were all finishing up their tasks for the evening, and there were only a handful of humans awake. George treasured these moments. In a confined, crowded city like Agartha, it was rare that you got a moment to feel alone.
George walked by the empty school, and for some reason thought of Jessica. He’d always been focused on his work, but meeting the woman from New Haven had made him consider other possibilities. She was a woman that he could envision sharing a life with. It would be a long shot at best for anything to happen on that front, but a guy could dream while he walked alone in the city.
George walked into the mostly empty dining area and observed the tables spread out before him. Across the room, Jaden sat alone at a table. That was uncommon. As rare as it was for George to get a moment alone, he knew it was much worse for Jaden. There was always some human or vampire who wanted a moment of his time. There was always a decision to be made or an approval to be signed off on. George didn’t envy the old vampire’s heavy load of responsibilities.
George intended to leave Jaden alone, but the vampire spotted him and waved him over.
“Morning, George. Grab some food and join me.”
“Of course.” George was surprised at the offer. He’d only ever spent time with Jaden in professional settings before, usually in Jaden’s office. Though from the papers spread in front of him, Jaden was working. It wasn’t like he’d suddenly developed a taste for oatmeal.
George had been looking forward to a quiet breakfast, but he supposed it was time for him to jump into work too. He got his food and sat down across from Jaden. The vampire had his hands folded on the table, and he watched George with a slight smile on his face as he took his first bite.
“Is everything okay?” George asked.
“I’ve just gotten a little stuck in my routine. I thought I’d mix things up a little this morning.”
“By coming to the cafeteria and watching people eat?”
Jaden laughed. “Sure. Why not?”
George took another bite. Having a conversation with Jaden was always a weird experience. The vampire’s ten centuries of life had given him an odd perspective. It was almost as if everything were a joke to him. Sometimes, when he looked at the humans of Agartha, he bore the same expression an indulgent parent might have when watching a child do something harmless, but silly.
“Something wrong?” Jaden asked.
George hadn’t even realized exactly what was bothering him, until Jaden asked the question. “Yeah, I guess there is.” He looked around to make sure no one could overhear him before he asked his question. “I don’t understand why you let Mark and Aaron go. Isn’t that putting the entire city in danger? I mean, we’ve got two rogue vampires out there running around, planning who knows what.”
“They’ll be dead, soon enough.” He paused for a moment, as if considering how to explain. “I know it’s odd from a human perspective, but what Aaron and Mark did wasn’t entirely their own fault. They didn’t know any better.”
George set down his spoon. “Sorry, they didn’t know any better? Turning on the people who took them in. Trying to kill you and take over the city. They didn’t realize these things were wrong?”
“Before the infestation, things had a set order in the vampire world. Each master taught his progeny for a hundred years. He taught them how to control their almost uncontrollable urges and how to use their powers to their fullest effect. Mark and Aaron didn’t have that. They were like children forced to grow up in the wild, with no parents to guide or protect them. Letting them choose their own fates was the smallest of kindnesses. I felt I owed them that.”
George tried to see things from that perspective, but he couldn’t quite get there. “I don’t know. They were traitors. I still think it would have been better to end their lives nice and cleanly.”
Jaden smiled. “Agartha has stood for one hundred fifty years. I don’t think two rogue vampires of below-average intelligence will change that. Our bigger problem is New Haven.”
George raised an eyebrow at the unexpected shift. Jaden had briefed George and a few of the others after his conversation with Alex, but he hadn’t brought it up since. “Yeah?”
“Their Resettlement efforts are making me nervous. The time’s not right. Their plan could cause the destruction of more than half of the human race. Not only that, but it could endanger Agartha.”
George nodded. “If they do get eaten by Ferals, there will be a whole bunch of intelligent vampires running around.”
“Exactly. I want to set up a meeting with this Fleming guy.”
George scratched his chin. “Jessica said he’s pretty ruthless. You sure you want to do that?”
“I don’t know if I can change his mind, but I have to try. You think you could set it up for me?”
George nodded. “I’ll radio Jessica as soon as New Haven comes into range.”
Jaden’s smile widened and he stood up from the table. “Good. Thank you. It’s almost bedtime for me. Good morning, George.”
<
br /> “Good night, Jaden.”
George watched the vampire go as he considered that he was about to set up the first official meeting between the leaders of Agartha and New Haven, and he wondered what it might mean for both of their futures.
21
The away ship cut through the sky, headed for Fort Stearns.
“Okay, here we go,” Owl said. “As you know, ADX Florence, aka Fort Stearns, is situated in Florence County, Colorado. We’ve covered its population, colorful local history, geography, and recreational activities.”
“Yep,” Patrick said into his headset. “We can probably just skip the facts at this point.”
“BUT!” Owl said. “Did you know Florence County is named for John C. Florence, a nineteenth-century explorer and United States presidential candidate?”
“Or we could just go ahead with the lame facts,” Patrick said with a sigh.
Owl continued, “Florence was known as ‘The Pathfinder.’ Aside from his exploration and his political aspirations, he was also known for his passive-aggressive nature, which was noted by numerous historians.”
The team waited for more, but none came.
“Sorry, that’s all I’ve got. If we come down here again, I’m probably going to have to start making stuff up.”
Alex laughed, glad for the distraction from the anxiety she was feeling that morning. Today, she knew, would be the moment of truth. Fleming had been rattled by seeing Frank, but that had been her trump card. Whether or not it worked would largely depend on what happened next, she believed.
If the buildings where they’d set up the daylights were overrun with vampires today, Fleming would almost certainly listen to her and CB’s pleas to slow the efforts for Resettlement. But if the buildings remained vampire-free, she believed nothing short of a bullet would stop Fleming from moving full steam ahead.
She looked around at her team. She’d done everything she could to keep them away from the politics of this. They had enough to worry about with staying alive. She coached them to focus on carrying out their orders, and not to think beyond the objectives before them.
But was that really fair? By simply working for CB and Alex, they’d put themselves in Fleming’s line of sight. If he decided to make a move against Alex, the team would likely pay the price as much as she would.
Maybe in the beginning, it had made sense to keep them in the dark, but she wasn’t sure it still did.
“Hey, Captain,” Wesley said from across the aisle. “If you don’t mind me saying so, you look a little stressed. I just wanted to say, it’s going to be okay. You’ve got a hell of a team here.”
She smiled at that. Ever since coming back from his injury, Wesley had been the perfect model of chill. It seemed nothing could faze him.
“I can’t argue with you, there. You seem to be the expert in being laid back and taking everything in stride. Got any advice for me?”
He thought a moment. “I guess, once you survive nearly dying from a bullet tearing through your leg, getting hauled through the snow for a mile to certain doom, and you wake up in a city full of vampires, you almost have to develop a sense of humor. I had a moment there, lying in the bed in Agartha, where I either had to scream or laugh. I chose the latter. Kinda changed my perspective on everything.”
Alex respected that attitude, but she couldn’t apply it herself. It took too much detachment. Her biggest strength and her biggest weakness were the same thing: her passion. She couldn’t give that up without also giving up who she was. And that was assuming that she even had a choice in that matter, that it wasn’t hardwired into her DNA.
They were once again traveling in two ships today, with the GMT in the away ship and Firefly, his engineers, and their gear in that ridiculously large transport. Alex supposed it would have made more sense logistically to have the GMT ride in the transport, too, but Firefly hadn’t offered. Plus, she probably would have had to physically restrain Owl to get her to ride in the cargo hold of that monstrosity, while her own ship sat idle. So, they traveled separately.
The two ships landed in the yard, the transport setting down first and the away ship squeezing in next to it. As soon as Owl gave the all-clear, Alex jumped out the cargo door and motioned for her team to do the same.
“No need to draw this thing out,” Alex said. “Let’s see if our daylights held up to the night.”
She led the way toward Building One.
Even before she opened the door, she could see that the lights were still on in the building. Still, she readied her weapon and proceeded with caution, ordering her team to do the same.
As soon as she stepped inside, she heard the faint hum of the generator in the basement.
“Lights, check. Generator, check.” Ed wore a slight smile on his face.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” Alex said. “We can declare victory after we’re sure there are no vamps in here.”
The team spent twenty minutes sweeping the building, carefully checking every room, every cell. There was not a shadow that they didn’t venture into. By the time they’d finished sweeping the basement, the verdict was clear: there were no vampires in the building.
When they regrouped on the main level, Owl said, “Holy shit, Alex. Do you know what this means?”
She knew. She knew all too well.
Alex looked at Owl, sadness in her eyes. "It means that we can keep vampires out of an empty building at night. It also means that three hundred people are going to die."
Firefly was waiting in the yard for them, an anxious expression on his face. “How we looking, Captain Goddard?”
“All clear,” Alex informed him.
The anxious look dissolved into a gleeful smile. “Oh, hell yeah. We are on our way! Didn’t I tell you Fleming’s plan would work?”
“You did tell me,” Alex said, hands on her hips.
“Alex, seriously, thank you. Without you and your team, this wouldn’t have been possible.”
She was certain he meant the comment sincerely, but few statements could have hurt more. She knew it was true. As much as she railed against Resettlement, she was also helping to make it happen.
“What are we waiting for?” Firefly asked. “Start clearing Building Three.”
As Alex gathered her team for another small offensive, Firefly set his engineers to work installing daylights on the tall towers mounted around the wall. Fleming believed this would be the key to keeping vampires outside the perimeter, and Firefly wanted to return to New Haven that night with news of how close they’d come to securing it.
“Okay, Ed and Patrick,” Alex said, “each of you take a light and let's clear the next building.”
They moved in a tighter formation than they had the day before. Now that they knew for certain that the daylights worked, they could all huddle together under them and attack from the safety of the light.
As soon as they passed the first checkpoint in Building Three, they heard a screech, and a vampire scurried away into the shadows.
“Heh,” Ed said. “Looks like we spooked ‘em.”
As he finished speaking, something slammed into him, knocking him backwards. The light toppled over as he went sprawling on his ass.
“Form up around him,” Alex shouted.
“What the hell was that?” Ed groaned.
Alex looked toward where the large projectile had skidded after hitting him. Her eyes widened in surprise.
“Ha!” Patrick pointed at the object, a delighted smile on his face.
“Something funny?” Ed growled.
“Yeah,” his brother answered. “It’s a mattress. You got bowled over by a damn mattress.”
Alex reached down and helped Ed stand. The man was more embarrassed than injured.
“Maximum security,” Owl pointed out. “The beds are concrete. The showers and toilets are steel. All of it built into the floors and walls. If they wanted to throw something, the mattress is just about the only option.”
Alex curs
ed silently. Patrick might have found the idea of mattress-wielding vampires humorous, but she did not. It meant that the vampires were looking for weapons that could take out the lights at a distance. They were learning.
This all reminded her of Texas, where a horde of quickly-learning vampires had taken the situation from bad to deadly in a matter of moments.
“Keep a tight formation,” she told the team. “Remember, these guys learn from each other’s experiences. My guess is, that won’t be the only projectile we see today.”
Luckily, the daylight Ed had dropped hadn’t broken. He picked it up and they continued into the common area.
As they entered the area, the team froze. Twenty vampires stood lined along the top level, looking down at them. According to Owl’s schematics, there had once been bulletproof glass between those corridors and the common area, but the glass was long gone.
“Get the lights in position,” Alex ordered.
Ed and Patrick set the lights for maximum coverage of the room. They were safe in the light, but the way those vampires were hunched up there, some swaying gently, but none of them moving more than that, unnerved Alex. She’d never seen Ferals behave in quite that way.
“Take them down,” she said.
Chuck started firing, and the battle began.
A few of the vampires ducked back into cells, but most just hissed at them. Five vampires were dead within the first ten seconds.
Another mattress sailed through the air and hit the daylight nearest Alex. The light toppled to the ground but remained lit. Alex made a mental note to compliment Brian on how tough these lights were.
“Heads up!” Chuck shouted.
Alex looked up just in time to see a vampire launching itself over the rail. It glided down toward them on its half wings, but it began screaming as it entered the light. By the time it touched down in front of the team, it was in flames.
Patrick fired a shotgun blast into its chest, and the force of the shot knocked it back out of the light. It hit the ground, then began to stand again. The Feral stumbled toward them, its body engulfed in flames and a large hole in its chest.
