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

by P. T. Hylton

  Kurtz nodded. “Smart move staffing the new GMT with thirty-six members. That way, when something like this happens, sad as it is, we’re not out of commission. We can slide the next group of soldiers in with no waiting. What’s the mission? Back down to Fort Stearns?”

  Fleming shook his head. “We need them to track down CB, Brian, and Jessica. As long as they’re out there sowing discontent, we’re all in danger. While the GMT’s hunting them down, I’ll do a broadcast.”

  Sarah looked at him, surprised. “Are you sure you’re up for that?”

  “After Jessica’s broadcast earlier? How can I not respond?” His expression softened a little. “Look, I’m sorry about before in the hangar. I know I lost my cool. But I’m good now. I need to remind the people that CB is a terrorist. I’ll tell them about how he sabotaged Resettlement. What Jessica showed them was real, but there was a very good reason behind it. That’s what they need to hear.”

  “Okay,” Sarah said. “I’ll call down and have them start preparing for the broadcast.”

  “And I’ll get the new GMT geared up,” Kurtz said. “Anything else they need to know?”

  “Yes,” Fleming said. “Tell them I expect them to find CB, Jessica, and Brian before the day is out. And tell them I don’t expect the fugitives to be brought in alive.”

  6

  It was late afternoon before Alex convinced George to allow her and the team outside Agartha. It was far too late in the day for the trip to Denver, and they had promised Jaden they would leave that journey to him and his vampires. But they hadn’t made any such promises about heading out to salvage what they could of the rover that had been destroyed in the previous night’s battle.

  So it was that Alex, Chuck, Ed, Patrick, Owl and Wesley passed through the doors of Agartha and out into the cold, driving a borrowed truck.

  It wasn’t so much that they needed the rover parts immediately. Jaden and his team could easily grab them on their way back from Agartha. But Alex needed to be doing something. Being cooped up in a strange city while New Haven needed her was driving her absolutely crazy. She knew some of her team felt the same way.

  Others were content to explore their new surroundings.

  “I’m telling you, man,” Ed said, “from what I saw, Agartha women have New Haven women beat hands down.” He glanced nervously at Owl and Alex. “Present company excluded, of course. You ladies are super hot.”

  “Thank you for making this conversation even more uncomfortable,” Owl said.

  “All I’m saying is we ate lunch in that cafeteria, and the women were gorgeous.”

  Patrick nodded. “Can you believe it? A whole city of women and they don’t even know us. It’s like starting over.”

  Alex tried to ignore the Barton brothers’ conversation and stayed alert to their surroundings. Although there were probably Ferals hidden in the snow drifts around them, they were keeping to the center of the road that had been packed down by the Agartha transport the previous night. As long as they drove away from the snow banks, a Feral wouldn’t be able to get to them without lunging well into the sunlight.

  Ed was moving around well for a man who’d had his leg sliced open the previous night. There was a slight hitch in his step, and he grimaced occasionally, but he never once complained.

  It took them about three minutes to drive the mile to where the rover had been destroyed.

  Owl let out an anguished moan when she saw the ruined rover. “First the away ship. Then the backup ship. Now this. How much can one person handle?”

  Wesley chuckled. “If it’s any consolation, I’m pretty sure the rover didn’t suffer.”

  Signs of the battle were strewn around them. Pieces ripped from the walls of the Agartha transport vehicle. Body parts of Ferals who’d fallen in the fight. Bits of the rover.

  Thankfully, the remains of the rover were lying at the edge of the road, the heat from its motors having melted the snow around it. They were able to get to the rover without risking being within grabbing range of any vampires.

  Owl knelt next to the rover while the rest of them waited anxiously. After a few minutes of poking around the wreckage, she looked up. “Well, it’s not great, but it certainly could be worse. The batteries appear to be undamaged, and that’s the most important part.”

  “That means we can get the ship working again?” Chuck asked hopefully.

  “It means we have a chance,” Owl answered. “We still have the parts Fleming’s crew sabotaged to deal with, but assuming George can repair those, at least we’ll have the power we need.”

  “Crap,” Patrick muttered. “So you’re telling me we have to count on Jaden and his team to recover the away ship. And then we have to count on his engineering team to fix it?”

  “Putting our lives in the hands of a bunch of vampires does seem a little odd for the GMT,” Ed agreed.

  “That it does,” Alex said, “but that’s where we’re at. It goes against instincts, but so does overthrowing the head of New Haven, and that’s next on our to-do list.”

  CB, Brian, and Jessica made their way down the tunnel, deeper into the bowels of the ship. Fleming’s voice came from Brian’s tablet, reverberating off the metal walls and floor.

  “Is that really necessary?” CB asked, the annoyance clear in his voice.

  “Fleming’s addressing the whole city,” Brian pointed out, “and he’s talking about us. Don’t you want to hear what he’s saying?”

  “We know what he’s saying. It’s the first play in his playbook.”

  Jessica spoke in a low voice, doing a surprisingly passable Fleming impression. “CB, Brian, and Jessica are enemies of this city. Every bad thing that has ever happened is their fault, and definitely not mine. If we don’t catch them soon, your wives and husbands won’t sleep with you and your kids will turn ugly.”

  Brian chuckled. “Fine, I’ll put it away.” He slid the tablet into his pack. “It’s going to be tough getting the people on our side after a message like that. And I certainly don’t see how we’re going to do it while hiding out down here.”

  “It’ll be tough, but not impossible,” CB countered. “Even though Kurtz betrayed me, I believe there are plenty of badges who will side with us when the time comes. I fought with a lot of those guys and gals back in the day. Some of them have GMT in their blood. Fathers. Mothers. Cousins. There’s hardly a badge family that doesn’t have someone who served in the GMT at some point.”

  “Engineering’s the same way,” Jessica said. “We have a lot of supporters there. I say our first step is contacting them. Once we have the few I know are loyal, we can—”

  CB held up a hand, cutting her off. He tilted his head, listening. He hadn’t been sure of the noise the first time, but now it came again. The scuffle of a group of people moving through the tunnels. Trying to be quiet, but not fully succeeding.

  If they were close enough for CB to hear their footsteps, they were also close enough to have heard Jessica’s voice.

  “Run,” CB said flatly. Then he turned and sprinted down the tunnel, hoping his friends would follow.

  As soon as they started running, their pursuers gave up any pretense of stealth and chased after them, their shouts and heavy footfalls echoing loudly through the metal corridors.

  “Stop!” a voice behind them called.

  CB ignored the voice and pushed hard, and Jessica and Brian did their best to keep up, but within a few minutes it became clear their pursuers were closing the gap. Brian wasn’t exactly a frequent attendee at the gym, and his gasps could be heard over the other noises as he ran. Jessica was in slightly better shape, but she wasn’t a runner either.

  Looking over his shoulder, he caught a glimpse of them racing down the long corridor: six headlamps illuminating the darkness.

  “Jessica, we need a way out of here,” CB called.

  Jessica thought a moment. “I have an idea. Think you can hold them off for a minute or so?”

  “I’ll do my best.”
<
br />   “Good enough.” With that, she led them down a smaller tunnel to their left.

  The ceiling in the tunnel was only ten feet high, and CB could touch the walls with both hands if he stretched his arms out.

  “Brian, you’re with me,” Jessica said. “CB, you buy us a minute or two. When I yell, you jump as high as you can.”

  “Jump?” CB asked. “Why should I jump? What are you planning?”

  But Jessica and Brian had already taken off running down the corridor.

  A moment later, six figures entered the tunnel. They were dressed head to toe in black, with masks covering their faces. Each of them held a baton. That made sense. You couldn’t use a gun in these tunnels without risking damage to an essential system.

  CB looked around and spotted a fire extinguisher on the wall of the tunnel. Not exactly the ideal weapon, but it would pack a wallop. He grabbed it and held it in front of him like a shield.

  “Colonel Brickman,” one of the masked men said, “stand down. By the authority of Director Fleming and the GMT, I’m placing you under arrest.”

  CB raised an eyebrow, suddenly understanding. “The GMT? Is that what you think you are?”

  “Sir, let’s not make this any harder than it has to be.”

  CB took a step forward. “I have to admit the new uniforms are intimidating. Won’t help against the vampires, though.” He scanned their faces, wishing he could see their eyes. “Look, you boys must have been badges before getting this new gig. That means you know me. You know General Craig. There’s no way you believe the stories Fleming’s telling about us.”

  There was a moment of silence, then the lead man said, “We have our orders. Surrender or we will take you down hard.”

  CB smiled grimly. “You’ve been GMT what? A day? Guess it’s time for your first real sparring session.”

  The faceless GMT members moved forward cautiously. If they did know CB, then they knew he was a formidable opponent. They’d be careful.

  CB reminded himself he didn’t need to take every one of these GMT imposters down; he just needed to hold them off for a couple minutes. He believed he could do that, especially if he made a strong first impression.

  The masked man in front—the one CB assumed was the leader—surged forward, swinging his baton at CB’s midsection. CB stepped to his left, easily avoiding the telegraphed attack. While the man was still in motion, CB swung the fire extinguisher, holding it by the hose. The canister slammed into the attacker’s face with a metallic clang. The new GMT leader dropped to the ground, unconscious, his ruined nose spurting blood.

  “Not a great first attack,” CB said. “Who can do better?”

  The others hesitated.

  “Come on!” CB growled. “You want to call yourselves GMT, then you damn well better act like it! Obey your orders.”

  Finally, three of the them stepped forward, each holding a baton. They attacked in unison, the three of them shoulder to shoulder in the narrow tunnel.

  CB felt a slight smile cross his face. They were fighting like this was a brawl at Tankards; nothing about this seemed like a coordinated assault. He stepped left and forward, effectively putting the leftmost attacker between him and the others. When the man raised his baton, CB threw a right-hand jab, catching him in the throat. CB snatched the baton from the attacker’s suddenly loose grip and whirled around, dropping into a crouch and hitting the center man in the knee.

  As the center man went down, CB brought up his left hand, swinging the fire extinguisher upward. The canister slammed into the man on the right's jaw, and he reeled backward.

  “Seriously?” CB shouted. He was talking louder than he’d intended, unable to keep the anger out of his voice. “If you were any sort of team, you’d have me on the ground right now. You better hope to God you never go up against the real GMT. They would grind you into dust.”

  He turned his angry gaze toward the remaining two, but before they could make their move, Jessica shouted in the distance.

  “Now, CB!”

  He leaped into the air as high as he could, bringing his knees up, getting as much air as possible.

  A flash of light shot through the tunnel a moment before CB’s feet landed back on the ground. The remaining members of the faceless GMT went down.

  CB was breathing hard, trying to figure out what had just happened, when Jessica and Brian came running back down the tunnel.

  “Nice work,” Jessica said.

  CB stared down at the fallen attackers. Now that the fight was over and his anger was subsiding, he almost felt sorry for them. They’d been following Fleming’s orders, same as CB would have in another time. “Thanks. Back at ya. What the hell did you do?”

  “We found the transformer panel,” Brian said. “Jessica had the idea of disabling the ground and overloading the circuit. Sent a burst of electricity through the metal tunnel. The range was limited, but it worked.” He gestured to the fallen faceless GMT members. “Obviously.”

  “You science people don’t mess around,” CB said. He dropped to a crouch next to the attackers and felt each of their necks. “Looks like they survived, but we need to get out of here. Fleming could have three more teams just like them for all we know. One thing I want to do first.”

  He reached into one of their packs and found what he was looking for. Standard-issue Kevlar rope and a radio. “Let’s tie them up.”

  Once they’d bound the faceless GMT, Brian, Jessica, and CB made their way deeper into the bowels of the ship. Jessica said she knew a place they would be safe, and even the GMT wouldn’t be able to find them.

  “So that’s our strategy?” Brian asked. “Hide until Fleming gets bored of ruling New Haven and gives up?”

  “Not exactly,” CB said. “I have a plan, but we need to rest and recuperate before putting it into action. Then we just need to find a way to take over the flight controls for a few hours.”

  Jessica and Brian exchanged a glance. “That won’t be easy," Jessica said. "The controls were designed to be unhackable. The only way to steer the ship is to get control of the flight deck itself.”

  “Okay, let’s do that, then,” CB said. When he saw the looks on their faces, he grinned. “Hey, nobody said overthrowing a dictator and taking control of a flying city was going to be easy. I’m counting on you geniuses to help me figure out how to bypass the flight control’s security, avoid these masked killers, and take control of the flight deck without killing innocent people.”

  “Uh-huh,” Jessica said. “And what are you going to be doing?”

  “I’ll be arming my secret weapon.”

  7

  The cafeteria in Agartha was quiet, as was the team sitting around the table. Their plates had long since been cleared and they’d run out of things to say.

  Once again, they were waiting, and Alex hated it.

  It was a few minutes before sundown. A few minutes until Jaden and his team would wake up and prepare for their journey to Denver to retrieve the disabled away ship. Assuming it was still there. At that point, Alex could either go to bed and most likely stare up at the ceiling until morning, or pace around Agartha and drive all the vampires who stayed behind nuts with her questions.

  Ed leaned forward. “Heh.”

  “What’s so funny?” Chuck asked.

  “I was just thinking about CB. He’s gotta be pissed right now. He’s the only guy I know who hates waiting more than Alex.”

  Alex chuckled. “Very true.”

  Owl climbed from her seat and sat on the table. “CB probably thinks we’re dead, right? I mean, that’s gotta be what Fleming told everyone.”

  “Sure,” Wesley agreed. “He probably gave one of his big speeches. You know the ones. Tragic accident. This loss will not be in vain. Resettlement must move forward.”

  Something clicked in Alex’s mind, something that had been bothering her for the last couple of hours but she hadn’t been able to put into conscious thought. “I don’t know. If Fleming said we were dead, CB
would insist on being on the team that came down to check out the landing site and recover the away ship.”

  Patrick shrugged. “So what? Maybe he was on that team.”

  Owl shook her head, catching on. “If CB’d been to the landing site, he would have seen the missing batteries and rover. He would have known exactly where we’d gone.”

  “And he would have been knocking on Agartha’s doors twenty minutes later,” Alex added. She thought a moment. “We need to get back to New Haven fast. CB’s in trouble. What are the chances we can have the ship up and running tomorrow?”

  “Hard to say until we see it,” Owl replied. “Though we have to be realistic about this. Even if Jaden and his team get the ship and it’s an easy repair, New Haven has a defensive system. It hasn’t been used since the early days, but it’s tested and operational. Fleming could shoot us out of the sky if he sees us coming.”

  Alex looked at the pilot. “I have to believe the people of New Haven won’t let that happen. They’ve got to be fighting Fleming by now. We have friends up there. Brian. Jessica. CB. Who knows how many more. When the time comes, we have to trust they’ll help get us inside.”

  Patrick sighed. “This is great and all, but we need a ship before we have to worry about any of that. Let’s let the vampires do their thing, and then we’ll worry about doing ours.”

  Chuck looked at him in surprise. “Wow, Patrick, that might be the wisest thing I’ve ever heard you say.”

  Patrick stared back at him earnestly for a moment, then opened his mouth and let out a tremendous burp.

  Ed burst out in laughter at the apparently brilliant piece of comedy.

  Alex’s radio chirped and George’s voice came through.

  “Alex, you there?”

  She scooped up the handheld radio and held it to her mouth. “Yeah, I’m here, George. What’s up?”

  “Remember how you wanted me to let you know when he woke up?”

  “Yeah.”