The Savage World Box Set: A Post-Apocalyptic Adventure Series: The Vampire World Saga Books 1-3

by P. T. Hylton

  For a moment, Fort Stearns was quiet.

  Then a howl broke the silence.

  This howl wasn’t the desperate, piecing cry Garrett was used to hearing. This was a low, rumbling sound that seemed to vibrate through the very tower where he stood and into his bones. It began outside the north wall, but quickly spread, growing louder, becoming a full-throated roar.

  Garrett looked around and saw that most of his people had their hands to their ears now. He fought the urge for a moment, but then did the same. It didn’t matter; the sound still rumbled into his brain.

  More and more vampires emerged from the darkness, joining the roaring horde. There was a sea of them that stretched into the darkness and continued who knew how far. He wondered how many more were back there in the dark, summoned by the smell, or the roaring, or their mysterious mental link.

  Looking out at the sea of vampires, he felt like his flesh had turned to ice. Even from this distance, he could smell them, an earthy, rancid odor, like decaying meat and rotting mushrooms. All the while, that horrible roar shook the tower around him.

  And through it all, he heard Alex’s voice. as if she were standing beside him. “Resettlement is suicide.”

  He raised the radio to his lips. “Rail gunners. Light. Them. Up.”

  The gunners opened fire, tearing through the front lines of vampires.

  The roar became more disjointed and broken as the creatures responded to the attack. Ten of them outside the western wall formed a wedge and leaped in unison toward one of the daylights. The rail gunners on that side were ready, sending a barrage of ammunition tearing through the group. Pieces of vampire flesh flew as they were all shredded by the gunfire.

  All but two of them. The two in the back of the wedge.

  The final two landed on the daylight. They instantly caught fire, but they punched at the light, breaking through the protective outer glass.

  A rail gunner fired on them, killing them both, but destroying the light in the process.

  Garrett’s mind raced as he thought about how much ammunition had just been used to take out ten vampires. Two hundred rounds? More? Whatever the answer, at this pace they would run out of ammunition much sooner than they ran out of vampires.

  He wasn’t about to give up yet. That wasn’t how CB had taught him. If they could just survive this initial onslaught, he was sure they’d have a chance. He raised the radio to his mouth.

  “Rail gunners, hold your stations. Everyone else, fall back to the administrative building.”

  He watched from the guard tower as his Resettlers hurried to carry out his order. He could see even from there that most of them were in full panic mode. Some screamed as they ran. Others pushed, shoving their fellow Resettlers out of the way.

  Looking down at them was almost as terrifying as looking out at the horde of vampires. As hard as he’d worked to prepare them, it hadn’t been enough. But could you really prepare someone for this type of horror? He only knew a handful of people who wouldn’t crack in this situation, and every one of them worked for the GMT.

  A loud crash came from the south wall, and Garrett spun toward it. As his watched, a rock the size of a fist flew over the wall and slammed into one of the buildings below, exploding into dust.

  “Holy shit, sir!” Shirley cried. “What do we—”

  Garrett whirled on her. “Get in the administrative building with the others.”

  Another rock flew, and this one slammed into one of the daylights. The reinforced glass held, but how many more hits like that could it take?

  More rocks flew, hitting the lights and the railguns.

  Most of the people were inside the administrative building now, and the rest would be, soon. That would buy them a little time.

  He swallowed hard, driving down the lump of fear and sorrow that seemed lodged in his throat. He’d do his best to keep them fighting. They’d take out as many vampires as they could before this was over.

  But Garrett Eldred could already see how this was going to end.

  31

  The rover hummed up the mountain toward Agartha, its motors smoking from the strain of the trip.

  “Um, is that bad?” Chuck asked, nodding toward the motor.

  “It’s not great,” Owl answered through clenched teeth.

  The sun was a thin line at the horizon now. The team was close to Agartha, but Owl’s calculations had proven correct: they were still two miles out and the sun would be gone at any moment.

  “Okay, everybody, prepare for incoming,” Alex told the team. “They’re going to be coming fast, much faster than we’re used to. Remember the fundamentals and focus on things you can control. Pick a target. Eliminate that target. Repeat. Watch your buddies’ backs.” She paused. “We’re about to face vampires at night. You want to put yourself to the ultimate test? This is it. Whatever happens, we go down fighting.”

  “Is it strange that I’m both petrified and absolutely thrilled right now?” Chuck asked.

  Patrick grinned. “Nah, just means you’re as much of a weirdo as the rest of us.”

  In the distance, a howl came from the shadows. Then, something else: the roar of an engine.

  “If that’s George, I am going to kiss that man on the mouth,” Owl shouted.

  “Me too,” Ed added.

  A large armored vehicle sped around a bend up ahead and careened into view.

  The radio in Alex’s hand sprang to life and George’s voice came through. “I see you! Keep moving. Let’s get to Agartha.”

  Alex quickly answered. “George, don’t you want us to get in the armored transport?”

  “No time. This thing is not tough enough to survive a full-on vampire assault. What I have inside is, but that doesn’t mean that we’re safe. Just keep heading to the entrance like your life depends on it, because it does.”

  The large vehicle raced past them, then turned a surprisingly sharp one hundred eighty degrees and pulled up alongside the rover.

  “Can’t that thing go any faster?” George called.

  “It can barely go the speed it’s going now,” Alex shot back.

  She looked to her left and saw glowing eyes in the growing shadows. The last sliver of light shone on them, keeping the Ferals at bay as they raced along the road.

  Owl looked at Alex. “I hope that there is a miracle inside of that truck, because we’re about to have some hungry visitors.”

  “Get ready, team,” Alex called. “This is it.”

  All at once, the sun disappeared behind the mountains and night was upon them.

  Alex gripped her pistols hard as day turned to night.

  The Ferals sprang from their hiding places, leaping at the rover.

  As the team picked their targets and fired, an animalistic roar came from the armored vehicle next to them. Jaden rocketed out of the back of the truck, followed by ten vampires. They moved at an incredible speed, landing in the midst of the Ferals and tearing through them.

  “Focus up, team! We still have incoming.” A wonderful and terrible battle lust coursed through Alex’s veins. She fired, hitting a Feral that was racing toward them square in the forehead. The Ferals on either side of it fell too, taken out by Chuck and Wesley. She turned just in time to see a Feral’s head explode a moment before it landed on the rover, taken out by Patrick’s shotgun.

  The Ferals were coming at them with such speed and with such numbers that it seemed impossible even to fire fast enough to hit them all. The rover wouldn’t last much longer if something didn’t change fast.

  Then Jaden charged from where he’d landed, entering the fray. Watching him was mesmerizing. He moved so quickly, her eyes could barely track him, but that was only the beginning. To watch him fight was like watching water flow. He carried two long, curved swords, and he wielded them as if they were extensions of his very soul. Each movement melted into the next in a dance of righteous carnage. His blades whirred through the air, creating a humming sound that added a kind of music to his dan
ce.

  Alex thought that it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

  He moved along the line of attacking Ferals, slicing through them. Heads parted from necks under his blade. He cut one of them clean in half, cleaving its heart in two along with the rest of its torso.

  The Ferals were so focused on the humans that they barely seemed to notice Jaden carving through their companions, much to their detriment. In the time that it had taken Alex to shoot two Ferals, Jaden had dispatched ten with his twin swords.

  Alex tore her gaze away from Jaden and appraised their situation. Owl was still focused intently on the road ahead, as it there wasn’t a battle raging all around her. The vampires of Agartha were moving closer, forming a protective circle around the rover. They ran alongside it, easily keeping up with its speed even as they fought. The members of Jaden’s team were almost as lethal as he was. Within a minute, all of the Agartha vampires were covered in blood and the remaining Ferals fell back.

  Alex knew better than to think it was over. No. It was just getting started.

  32

  Garrett marched through the administration building, shouting orders into his radio. “Teams, I want every gun trained on the entrance. The daylights will burn any vampire that gets in here, but we better make damn sure none of them makes if far enough to destroy a light.”

  People moved quickly to follow his orders, but in such a chaotic fashion that someone was likely to get trampled in this crowded area. He looked around and saw panic in the eyes of the Resettlers as they shuffled for space.

  “Sir,” Shirley said, “people aren’t listening. They’re running around like they have no idea what they’re doing.”

  He couldn’t argue. In retrospect, this was probably not the best mission on which to work out the kinks with a new team.

  His radio beeped and Mario’s voice came through. “Captain, everyone’s inside. We’ve got two rail guns set up in the hall like you said. We’ll blast anything that tries to come through.”

  “Nice work,” he said. “Weld the doors shut.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Mario’s team immediately got to work.

  Most people seemed to be calming down a little, now that they’d found their places and there seemed to be a plan. Garrett looked around, not displeased at what he saw. Maybe they could salvage this thing, yet.

  The plan had always been to use this building as a last stand in a worst-case scenario. He just hadn’t thought that it would happen in less than ten minutes after sunset on their first night.

  He made his way to the bank of monitors set up in the main room. On them, he could see vampires raining down on the yard. Some of the lights were still functional, and many of the vampires were on fire. Still, others managed to find the gaps and slip through unharmed.

  On another screen, Ferals were bashing away at the lights with rocks even as they burned.

  The building reverberated with an unending stream of thuds as vampires and rocks landed on the exterior. It would just be a matter of time until they made it into this building.

  He knew that this was the end for the three hundred Resettlers, but he wanted to be damn sure that they took three thousand vampires out with them.

  “Are we going to make it, Captain Eldred?” Shirley asked.

  “I don’t know,” he said, “but do me a favor. Just for tonight. Call me Firefly.”

  He hit a button on the control panel in front of him, activating the PA system. Then he spoke into the microphone. "All of you brave men and women have proven your courage here tonight. I need you to hold your ground one more time. Everything that makes humans great—”

  At that moment, the lights went out.

  He stood frozen, unable to believe this was happening. A few scattered shouts of fear came from the gathered Resettlers. A few managed to turn on their headlamps.

  Someone fired, and someone else screamed, but it was impossible to identify either the shooter or the target.

  Somehow, impossibly, they’d been compromised without the rail guns firing a single shot.

  He turned on his headlamp and shone it around the room. Everyone stood frozen. He didn’t see any Ferals, but—

  His light caught a blur of movement on the other side of the room. He heard someone nearby shout. People were screaming, but he couldn't see any vamps. He turned his light to another part of the room and was shocked to see four people lying on the ground and covered in blood, their necks ripped open.

  Screams and isolated gunfire rang out from various parts of the room, but Firefly kept his eyes on the four dead Resettlers. It was as if he was frozen; he couldn’t make himself look away. These were four brave individuals who’d risked everything because they’d believed in the cause. They’d believed in Fleming. They’d believed in Captain Garrett Eldred. And they’d paid the ultimate price.

  As he stared at them, something impossible happened. They opened their eyes and stood up.

  Seemingly unaware of their massive wounds, they got to their feet and stood perfectly still. It was as if they were waiting for something.

  Firefly turned, casting his light around the room in a slow circle. Everywhere he looked, he saw the same thing. Resettlers with gashes in their necks and blood-drenched clothes standing at attention.

  And then something grabbed him.

  He fought hard, flailing against the strong arms that held him, but he may as well have been trying to bend steel. His hand went for the weapon at his belt, but before he could raise it, something sharp and cold sank into his neck and icy pain surged through his body.

  As if from a distance, he felt himself sink to the ground, and then everything went black.

  And then he opened his eyes again. He felt different. Changed. Cold, but strong.

  Within two minutes of the administration building losing power, every one of the three hundred Resettlers were dead. Two minutes after that, there were three hundred new vampires on Earth.

  From the darkness a voice called out, "Who was the leader of this settlement?"

  Firefly felt no shock at the sudden appearance of an intelligent vampire. It seemed right.

  At first, he thought no one would respond to the question. After all, wasn’t everyone dead? Then he heard a voice answer. It wasn’t until he was already speaking that he realized the voice was his own.

  “I’m the commander in charge of this operation."

  A moment later, two vampires stood in front of Firefly. From outside, he could still hear lights smashing and vampires howling.

  The taller vampire wore a big smile. "I can't believe this all worked so well. We figured this building would have the most humans in it, but you served yourselves up to us before the Ferals could even get to you."

  Firefly felt a surge of anger at the vampire’s words. He willed his arm to raise his gun and put a bullet through this asshole, but it refused to do so.

  The shorter vampire glared at Firefly. "I can see that you want to use that gun on us. You can give that idea up right now. We are your creators. You will not be able to hurt us or disobey us."

  The taller one chuckled. “Honestly, you should really be thanking us. If we hadn’t turned you, the Ferals would have torn through your defenses in the next few minutes and drained each and every one of you dry. You would be gone, but we saved you. All we ask in return is that you obey each and every one of our commands without question for the next hundred years or so." He laughed again. "And since you will have no choice, it looks like we are going to get along just fine. My name’s Aaron, and this is Mark. But you can call both of us Master.”

  Firefly looked around the room. Somehow, he could see in the darkness as clearly as if the lights had been on. Every soldier stood in silence. Some had tears streaming down their cheeks, but none moved. He reached up and touched his neck. His fingers came away sticky, but not wet. His wounds were already healing.

  “How?” he asked in a weak voice. “How did this happen?”

  Aar
on stared at him a moment. “I don’t really have to answer your questions, but you’ll find I’m a kind master. I’ll answer this one. Then I have a few questions for you.” He took a step back and scratched his chin, as if deciding where to begin. “Mark and I recently spent some time in a city called Agartha. We didn’t, let’s say, assimilate well. But we knew there was another human city, so we’ve been hunting for it. Vampires have a mental connection. It’s kind of awful, actually, constantly having Feral instincts shouting in your head. You’ll see what I mean, soon enough. But we could tell the Ferals in this area were all kinds of agitated, so we came down to check it out. I’m pretty glad we did.”

  “From there, we made it inside before you had all those damn lights installed,” Mark said, “and we buried ourselves next to a wall in the sub-level. Then we waited for moving day. Once the action started up top, we cut the power lines. Honestly, I never thought it would be so easy to get an army.”

  Aaron nodded. “You should be embarrassed, commander. Anyway, as you might imagine, we have big plans for settling the score in Agartha, but we’re also dying to hear all about your city. Why don’t you go ahead and tell us? Now.”

  Firefly felt himself begin to speak.

  33

  Both vehicles rolled forward, making progress toward Agartha, but Alex feared they wouldn’t get there quickly enough. The smell of blood and the sounds of battle had certainly alerted every Feral in the area by now. It wouldn’t be long before the second wave of Ferals hit them hard.

  Two Ferals slammed into the side of the Agartha transport and sank their claws into the armored vehicle.

  “George!” Alex called. “Heads up!” She cursed, realizing he couldn’t hear her. “GMT! Protect George’s transport, and make sure you don’t hit any friendly vamps. Got it?”