Jack smiled. “You are, Skipper.”
“Then why in the name of god did you just tell a civilian that you’d pick him up at the airport?” he asked, trying to keep his voice calm.
“Because we are down one man and rather than go back to two squads of seven and bump Spalding as a Team Leader, this way we can still maintain the three squads of five.” Jack was still grinning.
“He isn’t qualified to…” Mitchell began.
“Didn’t you train him yourself, Skipper?” Jack asked, still grinning like a possum.
Matt paused and stared at him. “Chief that was years ago. He’s aged since then. He’s not augmented.”
“So we put him in a position where augmentation won’t matter. Over watch maybe. I dunno.”
“I’m putting him on your squad.” Mitchell smiled back.
“That’s fine. He’s a Marine. He’ll fit right in with a bunch of squids. I’ll send Gus over to Second for a while…until we get Dom back. I’ll keep a tight watch on Tufo and make sure he doesn’t fall too far behind.”
Mitchell stared at him a moment longer. “I still think this is a mistake.” He said.
“This may be the end of the world, Skipper. Who knows? Maybe this is the thing Nadia was talking about? Maybe me bringing in Mark is what saves the world?” he smiled.
“I doubt it.” Mitchell downed his scotch. “Don’t get me wrong. Back in the day, he was a damned fine operator. One of the best.” He said, remembering the Gunnery Sergeant from their days of hunting monsters and establishing the Monster Squad, molding it into what it would one day become. “But times have changed. And without the augmentation, he’s just another grunt to be fed to the grinder.”
“We’ll see, Skipper.” Jack said. “If he’s got half as much piss and vinegar in real life as he had on the phone, he’ll send those vamps running for the hills as soon as we unleash him.”
“I don’t think the blood suckers will be scared of a Marine Gunnie yelling at them.” Matt muttered.
“They haven’t met ours yet.” Jack grinned.
23
Dominic moaned as he slowly regained consciousness. The room he was in was spinning and he could feel his head throb with every beat of his heart. He knew that meant he was still alive, and that meant that he still had a chance at escape. He tried to sit up and sharp stabs of pain shot through his head and erupted behind his eyes. He lay his head back down and let the cold of the solid stone floor seep into his aching head and suck as much of the pain away as it could. He rolled his head gently to the side and slowly opened one eye. There wasn’t much light in the room he was in, but what little there was, hurt him. “Must be a concussion.” He guessed as he slowly raised an arm up to his head and felt the lump under the skin on the back of his head.
“That would be my guess.” A voice replied quietly in the dark. Dom tried not to snap to see who said it, but his body betrayed him and he paid for the action with pain. “Easy there, big guy. I wouldn’t move so fast if I were you. It looks like you took a pretty good hit to the back of the head.” The voice said. Dom could hear movement behind him and somebody settled in close to him. “Here. I have some water. It may help.”
“Who are you?” he asked through a parched throat.
“A prisoner, like you.” The voice said. Dom could tell it was a male, but he couldn’t open his eyes enough yet to make out any features. “We were sightseeing through Rome. Took a semester off from college with a bunch of my buddies and decided to hike through Europe.” The disembodied voice continued. “We were clubbing one night and woke up in this…dungeon, for a lack of a better word.”
“Any idea where we are?” Dom asked, finally accepting the water. It tasted like it had sand in it, but it was cold and wet.
“Nope. I’ve been here about two months now. They bring me this swill they call food and this nasty stuff they call water.” The voice informed him. “You get used to it, I suppose.”
“Where are your friends?” Dom asked. “Didn’t you say you were with them?”
“Yeah.” The voice answered quietly. “They were with me when we first came to. But one by one, these big, strong guys would come and just pick somebody out and take them out of the cell and leave the rest of us here.” His voice saddened and lowered, “I’m the last. And I have no idea where the others were taken.”
“I hate to tell ya, pal. But your buddies probably aren’t coming back.” Dom said flatly.
“I sort of expected not.” He replied. “Otherwise, they would have gotten the police or the consulate or…somebody to come back for the rest of us.” He sounded completely without hope. “So where did they nab you at?”
“Ohio.” Dom answered.
“What?! You’re kidding, right?” Dom had worked his way to a sitting position, his back against the stone wall. He chanced opening an eye. He was looking at a scruffy looking twenty-something year old with a scraggly looking beard.
“Nope. No kidding. I was in Ohio.” He answered. “They shot me full of horse tranquilizers, shoved my ass on a plane and I woke up in flight.” He said. “I went to the pilot to complain about the in-flight movie and the bastard conked me in the head with a blackjack.”
The kid stared at him wide-eyed. “If they’re grabbing people off the streets of America now, then nobody’s safe.” He whispered.
“Ya think?” Dom answered sarcastically. “Kid, do you have any fucking idea just who or what it is that has you here?”
“What do you mean? I figured they were kidnappers looking to try to ransom us to our parents. We just couldn’t figure out why they were waiting so long for us to…I dunno, make a call or a video or…whatever.” He said naively.
Dom shook his head. He knew that the kid was going to be a meal, just like his friends had been, but he didn’t have the heart to tell him. No sense in making his last hours or days on earth any more frightening than they had to be. And he didn’t even want to think about what the ‘swill’ he had been fed was actually made of. Dom lay his head back against the rock and tried to crack his neck, to work the tension out of his shoulders. He could feel his body trying to heal itself, but a blow to the head like he got, delivered by a fucking vampire was going to take longer than he figured he had.
“How often do they come down here to check on you?” he asked the youth.
“Not often.” He answered. “The door is locked and there’s no other way out.” Dom looked up and saw the steel bars that made the door. It looked like a jail door from an old west movie with thick vertical steel bars and a lock integrated into it. He looked to the side and saw that the giant door was resting on hinge pins. He pulled himself up and regretted it almost instantly. His head throbbed with each heartbeat and his eyes slammed shut with starbursts flashing across his field of vision.
“Dude, you probably shouldn’t be getting up just yet.” The scruffy guy got up and put a hand on his shoulder to try to guide him back to the floor.
“Wait, hold on a minute. I need to check something out.” Dom told him and staggered toward the door. He leaned against the cold, rusty metal and tried to catch his breath. “This isn’t going to be easy. I feel like I’m going to toss cookies.” He panted. He could feel the little scruffy guy step to the side to avoid getting hurled on.
“Dude, you really need to lay down or something. You got a goose egg on the back of your head.” He tried to pull Dom back to the back of the dank room, but Dom held fast.
“Just a minute. I want to look at something.” He said, pulling himself up to stand straight. Dom took a deep breath and opened his eyes slowly. It took a moment for the image to come in focus, but he was able to get a good look at the door. He wrapped his hands around the bars and pulled. There was some play there as the door clanged, but not much. He moved slowly toward the hinge side and looked at where the door was connected. It was simply two bent pins that the door sat on. If there was room to lever the door up, he might be able to jimmy it up and off the hinge pins. But even
then, in the condition his head was in, he probably wouldn’t make it far.
He leaned back against the door and sighed heavily. “Is there anything in here we can use as a pry bar?” he asked. “A board, a steel rod…anything?”
“Nothing, man. All we have is that cot over there.” The scruffy little man pointed to a folding cot along the wall. Dom squinted trying to focus on it. From where he stood, it appeared to be made of metal, but somehow he doubted it would be strong enough to lift the door.
He turned back around and faced the door again. Working his hand through the bars, he felt for the lock. It felt very old. “Have you gotten a look at the key they use to open this?”
“Yeah. Every time they come and grab someone I see it. It’s one of those really old timey keys.” He said.
Dom nodded, smiling. He started patting his pockets again, fishing for anything they might have missed. He found his paperclip but knew it wouldn’t work. He found the pack of gum and shoved a piece in his mouth. The scruffy kid all but oozed at him, wanting a piece. Dom just threw the pack at him. “Knock yourself out.” He said. He found the pen light and stood there a moment studying it. Could he somehow make it work? Dom toyed with the pen light, but it was too thick. He hated the idea of tearing it up, but it really did him little good behind bars.
Unscrewing the end, he dumped the batteries and tossed the cap. He next unscrewed the bulb end and tossed it aside, staring at the empty tube. He laid it on the stone floor and placed his heel on the empty tube. He placed his weight on the aluminum body and crushed it under his heel. When he picked it up again, he noticed that it had split down the side and he was left with two pieces.
Dom’s befuddled mind studied the two pieces and he realized, one might be usable as a crude blade in an emergency and he shoved it back in his pocket. He took the other and gingerly placed it in the lock working it side to side trying to pick the lock. He really had no clue if he could pull it off. He wasn’t the best lock picker in the best of circumstances, but under these conditions, he felt it would be by the grace of god if he pulled this off. Dom noticed a foul smell and turned to the side. The scruffy looking kid was standing right next to him, watching him try to pick the lock. “Um, excuse me? Would you mind standing a little bit further away? You’re…in my space.” Dom tried to be nice. He knew the kid could no more help the smell than Dom could help the pain in his head.
“Oh, sure. Sorry. I was just watching.” He stepped aside but still tried to watch what he was doing. Dom continued until his head throbbed so badly he thought he would throw up. He finally gave up and pulled his hand back through the bars.
“I can’t get it.” He said with a sigh.
“Mind if I try?” the kid asked.
“Go for it. Let me know if you hear a click and the door opens.” He staggered back to the wall and sat back down. Dom watched the kid fiddle with the lock until he got bored and he closed his eyes. The concussion called him and he felt sleep nagging at him. He fought the urge to lie down and let it take him and rubbed at his eyes to try to wipe away the little stars that would explode there from time to time. He knew this wasn’t a good situation to be in. But he’d been in worse before, he was sure. He just couldn’t remember what it was at the moment.
Gingerly he felt along the back of his skull and although he wasn’t positive, it felt as if the swelling around the knot had gone done in the short time he’d been awake. He knew he would heal fast, but he still expected to be days away from being his best, if not weeks. Rage shot through him as he thought of the pilot who had suckered him in to trusting him. He had to give him credit though, he was a hell of an actor. Dom heard the scruffy kid working on the lock and he looked up at him. “You have to be gentle. Don’t try to force it.” He offered.
The kid’s eyes went wide momentarily and Dom dared hope that he’d unlocked the gate. His hopes fell when the kid pulled the flattened pen body back through the bars and it had been broken. “Shit. I think it broke inside the lock.” He said. “Their key may not work now.”
“We can only hope.” Dom muttered.
“You don’t understand, man. They’ll be pissed.” He was beginning to panic. “They’ve already captured us, they might not feed us. They might…”
“Kid, if that is the worse they do, then we’re lucky.” Dom said. “You seriously have no fucking clue who these people are, do you?”
“W-what do you mean?” he stammered out. “Do you know them?” he asked.
“I know what they are. And it ain’t something you want to buddy up to, I promise you.” Dom said, hanging his head low and keeping his eyes shut. It seemed to ease the pain.
“What do you mean ‘what’ they are?” he asked. “Are they like the mafia or something?”
“They’re fucking vampires, kid!” Dom shouted and immediately wished he hadn’t. He winced and rubbed at his temples. “They’re monsters. They ate your friends and they’re going to eat you, too.” He said more quietly. “You’re just a meal to them.” He all but whispered.
The kid stood away from Dom and stepped even further away. “Naw, man, you’re screwing with me. There’s no such thing as vampires.” He chuckled nervously. “You’re just saying that to try to scare me. I’m not a kid, either. I don’t fall for stupid shit like that. If there were vampires, the world would know about it!” he yelled.
Dom winced at his yelling. “Keep your voice down, please? My head is killing me.”
“I don’t give two shits about your head!” he yelled again. “I’m fucking trapped in here and you’re telling me that these sick fucks want to eat me?” He turned and started screaming outside the gate for somebody to come and let him out.
“You really don’t want to do that.” Dom said quietly. The kid stopped yelling long enough to shoot Dom a hate filled stare.
“You don’t get to tell me what to do. You’re new here. I’ve got seniority.” He growled through gritted teeth. “And…you’re fucking crazy, man if you think I’m going to buy the shit your shoveling. Fucking vampires! I’m telling you, there’s no such thing!”
“And I’m telling you, quit yelling.” Dom said quietly.
“Or what?” the kid turned and took a step toward Dom. “You’re wounded and can barely stand. I could take you out before you could…”
Dom jumped to his feet and had the kid by the throat and pinned him against the iron bars, feet dangling. The kid latched both of his hands around Dom’s wrists and pulled as hard as he could. Dom kept his head low and eyes clenched tight to keep the stars that were exploding behind his eyelids from erupting out and causing his head to burst. “I asked nicely.” He growled through gritted teeth. “This is me telling you to shut your fucking mouth before I shut it for you.” Dom pulled the kid down to eye level and lifted his head. He forced his eyes open and glared at the scraggly faced youth. “Got it?”
The kid forced out a ‘gak’ and nodded his head up and down as much as he could before Dom opened his hand and let him fall to the floor gasping for breath and coughing. The kid scrambled away from Dom as far as he could and curled up in the corner, rubbing his neck, forcing air into his burning lungs.
Dom glanced down both ends of the hallway leading to the cell and saw nothing. He hoped the kid’s yelling didn’t draw any unwarranted attention. He stood there a few more moments to make sure that nobody was coming before he returned to his spot on the floor and lowered himself back down. “What I wouldn’t give for some fucking aspirin or Tylenol right now.” He mumbled, rubbing his head.
Something hit his foot and rolled away. Dom looked up, his eyes not quite focusing in the dark. “There’s ibuprofen in there. And some aspirin, too.” The kid barked, his throat still burning.
Dom turned to him, his look questioning. “I nearly choked you out. Why would you…”
“Whoever these assholes are, they took my friends.” The kid said, tears forming in his eyes. “You may be my only chance of getting out of here alive.” He tried to keep the te
ars from coming, but they ran down his dirty cheeks. “If that will help you get your head cleared up faster, take them all.”
Dom nodded and scooped up the plastic bottle, the label all but worn off. He fished out four of the small brown caplets and four of the white ones. Popping them in his mouth, he scooped up the water with the sandy aftertaste and washed them down. He popped the lid back on what was left and shoved them in his shirt pocket. “Thanks kid.”
“Jake.” He replied. “My name is Jake. And I just want to get back to Sacramento.”
Dom nodded. “Dominic. I’m an east coast guy myself.”
“Sorta figured by the accent.” Jake said. “What were you doing in Ohio?”
Dom thought about lying to the kid. But the odds were against him surviving against their captors. He deserved to know the truth. “I’m with a special military unit. We hunt down the monsters before they can do any real damage.” Dom answered, his eyes still closed. “I got separated from my team and they shot me in the ass with a tranquilizer dart. Apparently they wanted me alive.”
Jake listened and watched him closely. “So, you’re serious about the whole vampire thing?” he asked nervously. “You’re not jerking my chain, are you?”
“You wish, kid.” Dom sighed. “I don’t know who’s behind all of this, but whoever it is, doesn’t play nice and is most likely connected.”
“Why would you say that?”
“Because you don’t just nab a bunch of American college kids off the street and use them for midnight snacks without fear of getting caught.” He said softly. “Americans have a way of never letting it go when one of their kids come up missing. They tend to move hell itself to find them.”
“What makes Americans worth more than any other nationality?” Jake asked defensively.
“I didn’t say that they were. I just said that American parents tend to stop at nothing to get their kids back. They don’t come from third world nations and they have more resources at their disposal to raise hell and put pressures on other countries’ governmental officials.” He tried to explain. “They just think they’re more important.” He muttered.
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