A buzzing in his ear made him shake his head. God, the alarm again. Again? No, still. That meant something, that alarm. What was it? He couldn’t remember. It was something important, wasn’t it? Can’t miss even one, or it wouldn’t take, but one what? What couldn’t be missed? God, he wished he could remember.
He turned his head, looking blurrily at the table. Someone was lying with their head on the counter. Brown hair and a white lab coat. He remembered a syringe. He remembered...
He rattled the cuffs. “Lucy...” His voice came out as a croak, barely audible. She didn’t stir. The alarm rang on and then stopped. She still didn’t stir.
Oh god, he thought. Adrenaline coursed through him, snapping him to full awareness. He remembered now what she’d said. They couldn’t miss one shot or he’d turn for good. Oh god.
“Lucy...” Still barely above a whisper. He rattled the cuffs again. If only he could bang on something, make some noise. He scrapped at the headboard of the gurney with his torn nails, but he couldn’t raise his fist far enough away to bang loudly.
“Lucy, wake up. Please.”
Only three more, he remembered now. Please, god, don’t let it happen like this, not when it was so close. His heart pounded so hard he thought it would burst and kill him. Maybe that would be the best thing. He had already been through hell. Death couldn’t be much worse.
“Lucy...”
She stirred, her head lifting. He rattled the cuffs more urgently. Slowly, she turned to him. Sleep slackened her features, dulled her eyes. She stared at him blankly, then panic flashed across her face. She looked at her watch.
“Oh my god.” She fumbled for the syringe, jamming the vial into it. She ran to the gurney, stumbling. She landed on her knees, holding the syringe high off the floor. Yanking back the sheet, she jammed the needle into him.
Peter hissed as the injection took hold. Fire poured into his veins, burning his nerve endings. Consciousness faded. The last thing he heard was her voice.
“Peter, I’m sorry. Oh my god, I’m sorry. It’s not too late, please no...”
* * * *
The vampires took Raj down at four in the morning.
Rick had been down in the hallway, applying an adrenal patch to keep his augmented metabolism and musculature running at optimal. Sami’s scream made him jump. He raced up the ladder.
He came up to mayhem.
Josh was surrounded by three vampires but managing to hold his own. The Sister was blasting away another two, using the last of the flame throwers. Anguish filled her face as she yelled at them.
Off to the side, he saw a tall woman vampire, bending over a rag doll. No, the rag doll was Raj. His head hung from his shoulders by a few tendons. Sami screamed and fired her Uzi point blank at the vampire. The vampire snarled.
Shit, Rick thought. He recognized her. Tracy Severin, she had been a spotter down near Frisco three years ago. He’d heard she disappeared. Now he knew what had happened to her.
That bitch was the one who did Peter, he realized. Now Raj. They couldn’t let her go.
“Jammer,” he shouted, pointing at her.
Sister Theresa dispatched the one she was working on and turned to help Sami. Josh reloaded and faked right as one of the vampires lunged at him. His hand came up, holding a stake. It plunged into the vampire’s chest. The vampire stumbled away. The other two retreated, growling.
The tall female bent over Raj’s still twitching form, trying to suck up the pulsing blood. Sami darted forward, slashing with a stake. The female twisted, striking out. She caught Sami on the arm and sent her flying.
Rick cocked his shotgun and fired. He hit her arm and she roared, dropping Raj’s corpse. She took a step forward. Sister Theresa aimed the flame thrower. A ball of fire shot out, but the female was already moving, darting away into the darkness. The other two vampires followed her, snarling and growling.
“Follow them?” Sister Theresa asked. Her hands were white and trembling on the flame thrower.
“Yes, we follow them,” Sami snapped. She picked herself up out of the dirt and pulled out another stake.
“No,” Rick said. “We set up a perimeter. We stand guard.”
Sami glared at him. “They killed Raj. We have to finish them off.”
“We finish them off tomorrow or later if they come back for another pass. We got a job here. You got a problem with that? You want to resign?”
He stared at her, saw her eyes filling with tears but he couldn’t coddle her right now. Not with the night surrounding them, with three vampires looking for another opportunity.
“I know my duty,” she said. “You don’t have to remind me of it.”
“Then don’t make me have to,” he snapped. “Josh, deal with Raj.”
Josh swallowed and nodded wordlessly. Rick knew the man was thinking of Peter and how he might have to be doing this for him in the next day or two. Tough shit, he thought savagely. Life stinks.
Josh bent over Raj’s body. Gently he straightened the limbs, tucked stray hairs into the turban on his head. It was lopsided and disheveled but Josh didn’t know how to bound it properly. He didn’t think Raj would mind that now.
Fiery tears blurred his eyes. Stop, he knew what he had to do, what every squad member promised to do for each other if it came down to it. How many damn times had it come down to this?
He took a deep breath as he pulled out the stake, then with no more thought, jabbed down, staking Raj’s body. The decapitation took even less time. The vampire had almost pulled his head clean off anyway.
Rick stepped forward to take the head. Sami had already start digging a separate hole. They buried the pieces separately. Then stood with heads bowed.
“Raj was not of my faith but he believed in the sanctity of human life. On that we agreed,” Sister Theresa said. “He believed in a better future for his children and died trying to make that happen. It is up to us now to fulfill his promise to them in his name.”
As she finished, the sun sent tentative tendrils of light across the sky. The distant hills brightened against the sky, became distinct. They lifted their faces to the sun. Rays of light bled across the sky, first yellow then darkening to orange. Clouds formed like wisps of smoke over the hills.
Rick tasted dirt and filth and blood in his mouth. It was the familiar taste of a night fighting vampires when the gains and the losses couldn’t be measured. He turned away from Raj’s grave, not looking at Sami. He didn’t know if she’d forgive him and found he was too tired to care.
Well, almost.
The door to the underground lab creaked open. They watched silently as Lucy climbed out.
“It’s finished,” she said and stepped back from the hole.
Peter climbed out slowly, moving with the care of someone not familiar with their own body. His normally thin form looked gaunt. The bones of his scalp stood out against his hair. Josh stepped forward, his jaw muscles jumping. When Peter lifted his eyes, Josh stopped in his tracks.
His eyes, always so serious, now looked haunted. Rick swallowed. The young man looked more like a vampire than human.
“Did it work?” he whispered.
“I’ve checked his blood,” Lucy said. “The virus count is negligible. It won’t achieve toxicity levels again.”
“What are you saying?” Sister Theresa asked.
Lucy looked at Peter and then back at them. “He’s immune. Like me.”
“What the hell do you mean, immune?” Rick asked.
“He can’t contract the virus again, even if he’s bitten, and neither can I. It’s a side effect of the cure, because of the antibodies in the system. But it also means he can’t go back to any city.”
“The virus would show up in a blood test,” Sami said. “They’d assume he was infected.”
“And kill him,” Lucy finished.
“Wait a minute,” Josh said. “You said this was a cure.”
“It is. He’ll never become a vampire.”
“But he c
an’t come home. This was a little point you didn’t bother to fucking mention?” Josh advanced on her.
Peter stepped forward, placing a thin, trembling hand on Josh’s chest. “Stop,” he whispered. “Josh, it’s okay. I’m all right now. Don’t you understand? I’m cured. I’m safe. I just can’t come back with you but maybe I can do some good here.”
“Peter...”
“I’m sorry, Josh. She told me before she started and it was my decision. What other choice did I have? At least I can live out here. I don’t have to be afraid of them.” He squeezed his brother’s shoulder. “There’s so much more work to do. This cure only works if the person hasn’t turned yet. That’s only a three day window of opportunity and the cure takes twelve hours. There’s got to be a way to cut it down, to make it more flexible. We can work at figuring that out.”
Josh bowed his head, wiping his eyes.
Lucy stepped forward. “You just can’t tell anyone about us,” she said.
“Why not?” Rick asked.
“If they find out about us, they’ll assume we’re vampires, they won’t understand the serum and I don’t have enough synthesized for a full study. Maybe in a couple of years but not yet. We need more time. Can you give us that?”
Rick looked at her and back to Peter. “You’re sure it worked?”
“I have to keep doing blood tests for another couple of weeks, but yes, I’m sure.”
Rick holstered his shotgun. He kicked at the dust on Raj’s grave.
“We’ll have to take your word for that,” he said. “We’ve got some unfinished business to take care of.” He glanced over at Sami. She nodded her head and smiled, her white teeth flashing in the sunlight.
CHAPTER FIVE
“Another day,” Sami said. “Surely we can risk that.”
Rick stared at the hills. The shadows told him there was another five hours before sunset. Like all squad members, he could tell the time just by the position of the sun.
“Sami, we’ve been out here for three days. We lost the trail two days ago. Our supplies are dangerously low. If we run into a nest, we may not survive.”
The set of her jaw told him she wasn’t happy about what he said. Well, neither was he. He didn’t want to admit defeat any more than she did but it was no surprise. Tracy Severin had been a spotter before she’d been turned. That and her experience on a squad made it easier for her to elude them.
Sami shook her head. Long black braids shifted across her shoulders, spilling over her leather vest but she didn’t speak.
He turned away and walked back to the truck. Josh slouched in the driver’s seat. His weathered hands gripped the steering wheel loosely. His chin rested on his chest. Eyes shut, he breathed deeply. Poor guy, he’d hardly had any sleep since they’d left Peter behind. Rick hated to wake him. He sighed and reached through the window.
“Josh, wake up.”
He jerked awake. One hand tightened on the wheel, the other grabbing for his gun. Body bolt upright. Eyes wide, searching.
“It’s okay,” Rick said. “Relax.”
His held breath hissed out of his nostrils. Rick noticed the dark circles under Josh’s eyes as he focused on the leader. Enough already, Rick thought.
“We’re heading back,” he said. “Send the call in that they should expect us before nightfall.”
Josh nodded and reached for the radio. A muscle along his jaw jumped as he set the signal.
“What are you going to tell them about Peter?” He stared at the radio, didn’t look up.
What would he say indeed, Rick thought. Mention the bite and the United Squad Committee would panic about them not killing him. They wouldn’t believe the story about Lucy, her cure, a hidden lab in the desert. Hell, Rick wasn’t sure he’d believe it himself if he hadn’t lived it.
“We’ll say we lost him, like we lost Raj,” he said aloud.
Josh nodded, snapped on the radio.
Rick stepped away, noticed the Sister returning from a sweep. Over sixty and she still insisted on hauling her weight, of course, the augmentation helped. It helped all of them. The Sister’s shoulders hunched under the recon pack. Without a true spotter, the crude and inefficient recon pack was the only way to search psychically for vampires. Didn’t work very well and from the look on Sister Theresa’s face, he assumed its record of consistent failure was unchanged.
“Anything?” he said as she reached him.
She shook her head and shrugged the pack off her shoulders. A small cloud of dust rose up as she dropped it to the ground. She pulled a tissue from her pocket and dabbed at her forehead.
“I thought I might have found something but it turned out to be gophers. I can try again after I take a break.”
“Don’t bother,” he said. “We’re heading back.”
The tissue crumpled in her hand. She stuffed it back into her pocket. “Okay. I’ll stash the pack.”
She heaved it back onto her shoulder and headed for the truck. Rick let out a deep breath. At least that was one person he didn’t have to argue with. The Sister had been around long enough to know when it was time to go.
With just four of them and one truck, it took little time to pack up. Sister Theresa insisted on driving and Rick backed her up. Josh looked horrible. He tried to protest, finally settled for riding shotgun. Rick and Sami climbed under the canopy. Five minutes after the truck started moving Rick heard the gentle buzz of Josh snoring.
The drone of the engine lulled Rick to a semi stupor. Sami curled against him, her head against his chest. Her braids pooled in his lap. He leaned back against the side of the truck, feeling the vibration through his body. His arm rested around Sami’s body.
He could count on both hands the number of times they’d had together like this, quiet and restful. Usually it was all business, hunt the vampires, take them down, report back to the city for supplies and the occasional break. Even in the city they didn’t get much chance to be together. The USC frowned on emotional entanglements amongst squad members but there wasn’t much they could do about it. If you were too obvious, they transferred you to another squad so even in the city they had to be cautious. He used to imagine what it would be like after the vampires were gone. He’d marry Sami in an instant. Sometimes his daydreams extended to having a small house, watching her leave in the mornings for her teaching job at a university. Once he remembered the sounds of children in the halls.
He didn’t imagine that any more. The years of constant battle had worn him down. He used to have the house all planned out, down to the color and the layout of the back garden with a workshed for his tools. Now he couldn’t recall any of it. Was it two bedrooms or three? A bungalow or two storey? His current daydreams settled for moments like this, his arm around her as she snuggled against him. A few hours of silence before the battle began again.
The canopy darkened as the sun began to go down. Rick’s left hand found his Uzi even before he was aware of reaching for it. His eyes opened fully and focussed on the dwindled supplies around them. Had he actually slept? He must have. His muscles held the sluggish soreness of sleeping in an awkward position. He wanted to stretch and work out the kinks but Sami was still curled against him and he wouldn’t disturb her. In sleep with her face relaxed, he could see the echo of the child she’d been, sweet and innocent and trusting, before she’d had to learn to be hard and to kill.
To stop from waking her, he triggered his throat mike. “How much farther, Sister?” he subvocalized.
“Another half hour,” came the answer. “We should make it before full sundown.”
Carefully he disentangled himself from Sami. She stirred slightly, murmuring in her sleep then her arm snaked around the roll he’d slipped under her head. Through the canopy opening, he could see the faint blueness of the sky. Already he could tell that the sun was going down. So many years of being aware of sunset and sunrise, would he ever lose the habit of watching it?
He checked the ammunition then tapped Sami’s shoulde
r. She came awake instantly, eyes snapping open, muscles bunched, ready to react.
“We’re almost home,” he said.
Her muscles unclenched. She nodded then knelt beside him to help him finish checking the inventory.
About twenty minutes later, Rick felt the engine wind down. Sami touched her throat then turned to him.
“We’re at the gate.”
Rick reached for the canopy but it opened before he could touch it. A beam of light flashed him in the face. He raised a hand against it. The light moved off, sweeping across the interior of the hold.
“Fall out for inspection,” called a voice.
“What a gentleman,” Sami murmured as she slipped down beside Rick. Outside the sky was darkening by the second, the last rays of sunlight fading against a thin layer of clouds spotting the horizon. Rain, Rick wondered. It had been months since the last rainfall of any significance.
Four guards dressed in dusty grey fatigues formed a semicircle around them, three holding Uzis levelled at their torsos. The fourth guard held a touchpad, stylo hovering above it.
“Squad name,” he said.
“The Night Killers,” Rick said. “Returning from patrol.” He looked over to see Josh and the Sister climb out of the truck and join them. The guards backed away until they had all of the squad members in their sights.
Touchpad guard frowned at something on his pad. “Says you have six members here.”
“We lost two,” Rick said. “I have a report to upload to the USC.”
“I haven’t seen that report.”
“I haven’t sent it yet. Security clearance alpha. Do you have that clearance?”
Touchpad glared at him. “We’re the gate keepers. You don’t get in unless we say so.”
Sanctimonious bastards, Rick thought. Give some people a bit of power and they go mad.
“Your orders are to confirm health and make sure we aren’t infected. Otherwise you have no authority over us. Complete your scan, officer, and be grateful I don’t report you to the USC for interference with the proper procedures of an active Squad.”
The Night Killers Page 4
