The Dead War Series (Book 2): Desperate Times

by Simmons, D. N.

  “Point taken.”

  Michael nodded once, then took flight leaving Dante on the rooftop alone. Dante checked his clothes for his cell phone and was relieved to find it still inside his left side jean pocket. He called Alexis, and prayed that the lieutenant answered.

  “Dante, where in the hell are you?” was Alexis harsh greeting, foregoing all pleasantries. Not that the one-half of the notorious twins was known for his politeness. More like a lack thereof, but they always had a platonic relationship.

  “I'm in Louisville, Kentucky.”

  “Why?”

  “Apparently, I was bitten by one of these things out there. I don't even remember how I got here. I remember coming out of my blood lust for a second before someone bit my shoulder. Next thing I know, I'm getting tossed by the Master vampire and his foot's doing a number on my fucking vocal cords,” Dante said. He flexed his wrist, pleased to see that the fracture was already healed as were his ribs.

  “Ah, fuck, I'm sure you did a whole lot of damage between Chicago and Louisville. I'm starting to think that's why this virus is spreading as fast as it is. It's no telling how many people you killed and turned along the way. Shit,” Alexis growled.

  “Alexis, what the fuck is going on?” Dante asked. He peaked over the edge of the roof again, noticing the monsters had broken through the glass windows of the lower level and were now climbing inside. It would be a matter of time before they made their way up to the roof. To him. The last thing he wanted to do was get bitten... again. “Give me a minute, I'll call you right back.” He took to the skies, flying a short distance and landing softly on a sturdy tree branch. He dialed Alexis again. “I'm back.”

  “Listen, all you need to know for now is to get your ass to St. Louis as soon as possible. If you see some humans along the way, who haven't been bitten, bring them with you. We're doing a grand harvest.”

  “St. Louis... but... why?”

  “Follow directions, I don't have time to explain. Come to St. Louis, now.” Alexis ordered. “Oh, and Dante, avoid Chicago at all cost. If there's any of us still there, it's too late to save them.” He ended the call.

  Dante knew better than to argue with his lieutenant. Instead, he called his human servant Melinda's cell phone. When she didn't answer he called their home. Still, no answer. During the day, making a mental connection was draining, but now it was his last resort. He focused all of his concentration on locating Melinda. The connection was weak, barely any mental vibrations. There were no images of her current location, no thoughts he could read, just darkness. He didn't need to have it spelled out for him to know what had happened to his servant.

  “Fuck!” he muttered. He didn't have time to think about his loss and what it would mean. He had his orders. He'd take flight and if he found two uninfected humans along the way, he'd bring them along.

  ~*~

  The helicopter hovered over the rooftop of Costco as it slowly descended. Ovidius stood a safe distance away as his eyes followed the aircraft. When it landed the door opened and Cassian stepped out and calmly made his way towards Ovidius.

  “How are preparations coming along?” Cassian asked, getting right to the point.

  Ovidius cocked an eyebrow, but decided to ignore his sire's brashness. “Quickly. As you can see for yourself, the outside barrier is being constructed using cargo trailers. That would keep those things from getting inside. I've arranged for more trailers for sleeping quarters. Over there are the mobile homes for myself, you and our lieutenants.” He pointed to ten large mobile home trailers stationed on the parking lot of Costco.

  “Impressive... and the humans?” Cassian's blue eyes studied Ovidius carefully.

  “Steady. With your vampires trickling in and mine overseeing the fortification of our sanctuary here, harvesting has been... slow.”

  “Many of mine are on foot. They've been instructed to gather humans along the way,” Cassian said.

  “I'm sure you're aware by now that Chicago has been bombed. I don't know how many of yours survived,” Ovidius updated.

  Cassian frowned, a low feral growl rumbled through his chest. It angered him to think of all the vampires he lost. He could feel the deaths of those who were made of his bloodline. As for vampires who weren't from his ilk, but who had sworn loyalty and subservience to him, he did not know. However, he could imagine some of them perished as well.

  “A predictable response from the humans,” Cassian remarked, regarding the bombing. He wouldn't have an account of all survivors until they reached St. Louis.

  Closing his eyes, he used a great deal of his mental powers to reach out to his vampires. The reach of his range was limited, but he was still able to connect with many of them. He urged them forward and warned them of the approaching zombies. When he broke the connection, he swayed and his knees buckled. Ovidius caught him before he fell, wrapping an arm around his waist supporting him until he regained his balance.

  “You should know better than to exhaust yourself that way,” Ovidius chided.

  Cassian panted as he waited for his head to stop spinning. “I do... but we're running out of time.”

  “I know. They'll be banging on our trailer wall soon enough.” Ovidius patted Cassian on his back. “Can you stand?”

  Cassian nodded. “A momentary lapse. I'm certainly not used to exhausting this much power during the day.”

  “You're normally fast asleep, if memory serves me correctly,” Ovidius quipped.

  “It does.” Cassian looked out over the parking lot at the wall. “Is it complete?”

  “Once the third story of trailers goes up, it will be. But even now, they can't climb or jump it. I just wanted that extra story. The more height, the better defense we'll have. I took the liberty of securing a containment unit/laboratory which is only a short distance from here.”

  “Impressive.”

  “Currently, there are only five units which can hold vampires of a substantial strength... say someone like Debra, lord of my Benton Park district. She is just shy of a century and a half.”

  “That is the max?”

  Ovidius nodded. “A vampire of Logan's power, he's five centuries old, if he goes berserk, it will take both of us to restrain him during the day. I may be able to do it alone at night, but I will still need assistance with giving him blood in order to sate the hunger. I wouldn't want to risk losing any of my vampires of considerable age. However, if it's unavoidable, I will do what must be done.”

  “And if it's you who happens to be the vampire in question,” Cassian asked. “Or me.”

  “Let us hope that will never come to pass.” Ovidius turned from Cassian, but not before giving him a sly glance. He began walking towards the helicopter. “So, who do we have here?” He peered inside, taking in the faces of the silent, frozen, but obviously terrified humans.

  Cassian came up behind him. “This one...” He pointed at Vincent. “...he is the sole survivor of the failed lab experiment that created this hellish virus.”

  “Ahh,” Ovidius studied the doctor carefully. Vincent stared back, sweat pooled on his furrowed brow as he nervously pondered his current predicament.

  “And the others?” Ovidius inquired.

  “Either food or to be made one of us if they are serviceable,” Cassian answered.

  “I figured that was your purpose for gathering persons of importance.”

  “The doctor is a given. Maybe these two here.” Cassian motioned to Felicia and Dr. Powers.

  “What about the Major?”

  “Undetermined,” Cassian said. “However, there is something I require him to do.”

  “Very well. We should send this chopper out on more rescue missions.”

  “Be my guest.” Cassian beckoned to the passengers. “Come,” he commanded.

  Unable to resist his mental pull, Vincent and the others began to disembark. They stood in a huddled crowd, unwillingly awaiting the next command.

  When the non-glamored pilot opened the door, to clim
b out, Ovidius pressed his hand to his chest, halting him. “Not you. Tell me, how is this helicopter on fuel?”

  The pilot blinked, but then took a glance at the control panel, checking the fuel gauge. “We have enough to make a trip to Springfield and back, but that would be it. Unless you have some fuel handy.”

  “Jefferson Barracks isn't too far from here. I'll have you go there and see what can be gathered,” Ovidius said.

  “Perhaps you should send someone with piloting skills to obtain any extra helicopters,” Cassian suggested.

  Ovidius reached into his pocket, pulling out his cell phone. He entered a quick text and then slipped it back into his pocket. Less than a minute later, a male vampire opened the roof top door followed by a female vampire. Both approached the two Master vampires, bowing to each one.

  “Hans... Sierra, I want you to travel with this human to Jefferson Barracks. If there are extra helicopters there, take them. Then Hans, I want you to gather as many humans as you can safely transport in these aircrafts,” Ovidius ordered. “Sierra, I want you to collect as much fuel for this aircraft as you can carry.”

  Both vampires nodded and without wasting one more second, climbed inside the helicopter. Hans taking the side passenger seat and Sierra sitting in the back. Ovidius took hold of the pilot's jaw, forcing him to make eye contact. “You will do exactly as you're told, do you understand?” He gave the command along with his unbreakable mental persuasion.

  “Yes,” the pilot droned out.

  “Excellent. Go with my lord, Hans, and follow his every command.”

  “Yes.” The pilot nodded and climbed back into his cockpit and started the engine. The blades began to rotate, slowly at first, and then more rapidly.

  Both Master vampires turned, making their way inside Costco with the humans trailing behind them.

  Cassian huffed as he descended the stairs. “What is the current state of the nation?”

  “As I already mentioned, Chicago was bombed twenty minutes ago. I don't know how much effect it had, considering the spread of the virus has reached as far as Nebraska, Arkansas and Pennsylvania. There's no pattern, it's just all over.”

  Cassian turned sharply, taken aback by this news. “My God!' he gasped.

  One of Ovidius' vampires ran up to them, giving quick bows out of respect. “Master, Marcus has just reported seeing the zombies twenty minutes away from here.”

  Ovidius growled in frustration, baring a flash of fangs. “Did he kill them?”

  “At first, he was able to thin the crowd, but more started coming. It became too dangerous for him to stay. He's on his way here now,” the messenger informed.

  “We knew this was coming. That's why we've been preparing,” Cassian pointed out.

  “Doesn't mean I'm looking forward to it,” Ovidius shot back.

  “Master, what do you want me to do?” the messenger asked, inadvertently interrupting the two men.

  “Help with the wall, Get everyone who's here on it,” Ovidius said.

  The messenger nodded and ran off to do what he was told.

  “You did well preparing this place, Ovidius. I'm proud.”

  Ovidius nodded, appreciating the praise from his sire. Even after all of these years, it still mattered that his maker was pleased with him.

  “So, where do you want to put them?” Ovidius pointed at the humans silently standing by.

  “I will have more words with these four,” Cassian pointed to Vincent, Felicia, Dr. Powers and the Major. “You can put her with the rest of the humans.” He pointed to Sarah. “As for these two, they may be of use, especially this one.” He pointed to Sgt. Santiago. “So you can put them where we're keeping the prospects.”

  “Very well.” Ovidius walked up to Sarah, Sgt. Santiago, and William. He caught each one in his gaze, trapping them with his mind. Cassian released his mental hold over the three humans to allow for the other Master to take control. “Come with me.”

  Ovidius turned, taking them to the two separate holding areas with the other humans who may be “of use” which was on the other side of the store from those humans who would be “food”.

  Cassian took the others into one of the vacant offices. He sat down in the cheap leather chair behind a paper-cluttered desk with a monitor, keyboard and printer on top along with a plastic organizer where the stationary was barely organized. Taking a deep breath, he released his mental hold on the four humans. Immediately he felt the relief of the pressure that was threatening to give him one hell of a headache. He could feel himself growing weaker with every ounce of strength he'd used to do the things that needed to be done. As far as he was concern, the night couldn't come fast enough.

  The humans studied him silently, not sure who should speak first or even what they should say. Cassian's steely gaze panned over each one waiting to see who would be bold enough to be the first to start asking questions.

  Cassian decided he'd break the silence. “Major, I need you to contact the President; he needs to know that St. Louis will be off limits. Right now, the government is bombing cities in an attempt to minimize the spread of this virus. It won't work. The only thing that will is finding a cure. We need to make sure he doesn't make the mistake of bombing this city. He needs to know that not only do we have all of the research data, we also have the one scientist who can find a cure,” he said.

  “The American government isn't going to accept this situation you're trying to initiate,” Maj. Garrett said.

  “Oh, I think he will.”

  “The president will take this as a hostage situation, most definitely.”

  “Then tell him whatever you need to. Tell him if he tries to infiltrate our stronghold, we'll kill all of our hostages. Isn't that the protocol in these matters?” Cassian retorted. “Point is, he needs to refrain from setting bombs on this location, this city. So tell him whatever he needs to hear to make the right decision. We all want the same thing and that is a cure to save the human race. The safest place for that to come about is here, not in some lab that won't be protected enough from what's coming.”

  “He'll want proof, I'm sure.” Maj. Garrett frowned, he was unable to hide his total dislike and distrust of Cassian and he wasn't too happy with being manipulated at the moment.

  “He'll have you and if need be, Dr. Masterson himself along with these other two,” Cassian made a lazy gesture towards Felicia and Dr. Powers. “Now, enough stalling. Get to it.”

  Maj. Garrett gave the strange and obviously inhuman man before him a cautious look as he pulled his satellite phone from his bag. He dialed the number of his highest-ranked contact and the woman answered right away.

  “We've been trying to reach you for over an hour, are you all right? What's the situation?” Amanda Sellers, the United States Secretary of Defense.

  “There's been a change in plans, Ma'am,” Major Garrett began.

  “What do you mean? What's going on?”

  “I'm currently in St. Louis with Doctors; Masterson, Anderson and Powers. We will be setting up base and working on a cure here.”

  “You were given a direct order to rendezvous with Dr. Hawkins at the CDC, why have you changed course without approval? This is unacceptable. The CDC has a lab prepped and ready, waiting for your arrival. We can't delay,” Amanda's tone was authoritative as she laid down the law.

  “Ma'am, the matter is completely out of my hands. We were taken against our will by a group of people who claim they are the only ones who can save us. I do have footage that we managed to record that I can send to you if you require proof.”

  “What are you talking about? What do you mean you've been taken? What's going on?”

  “I'm not entirely sure, ma'am. Our helicopter was hijacked and we were taken to a location in St. Louis.” Maj. Garrett wanted to give her more information. He wanted to tell her there were at Costco's but for some reason the words never left his mouth.

  Cassian watched the soldier converse as well as listened to the telephone conversa
tion. He made sure the man only told the Secretary what he wanted him to tell her.

  “Have they made any demands?” Amanda asked.

  “Only one, ma'am. That you do not set bombs to this city.”

  “I'm going to have to insist that you send that footage right away so that we can get some idea of what we're dealing with,” Amanda said. She tried very hard to conceal the fear and uncertainty she was feeling. She was very confused as to what was really going on with the Major and his company.

  “I'll send it to you shortly. Ma'am, I would highly recommend that you adhere to this demand. Like I said, we have all of the research, everything is here including the sole surviving scientist who was working on that project. If you have any plans in motions, please abort that mission. Get the President to sign off on that, I beg of you,” Major Garrett pleaded.

  “We don't negotiate with terrorist, you know that,” Amanda said, trying to hold solid to her resolve.

  “This isn't that kind of situation and I don't believe we have all that much of a choice in the matter. If we don't give them what they want, we may be dooming all of humanity if we lose the research, especially. Not to mention, they have over...” He paused looking at Cassian.

  Cassian mouthed the words “six hundred” knowing exactly what he wanted from him.

  Major Garrett nodded and continued. “...They have over six hundred people here. You can call them hostages if you want. They say they don't want to hurt them, that they want to protect them and come up with a cure. They say they want the same thing we all want, to save humanity from whatever the hell is going on out there.”

  “Those things are already in St. Louis. What if we send in a few choppers and get you out of there--”

  “Ma'am, that is not an option,” Major Garrett interjected, having watched Cassian shake his head. He didn't know how the man was doing it, but apparently he could hear every word he spoke with Amanda.

  “Shit! I'll let the President know of your situation. We can't risk losing that research, if you can tell me your location, I can get an extraction team out there.”