The Night Killers

by Senese, Rebecca M.

  “It’s great to see so many of you here,” Chen said. “I wish this kind of meeting wasn’t necessary. I’d rather be holding this in a bar somewhere.”

  A rumble of agreement ran through the crowd.

  “But we’ve all seen what’s coming. We’ll all heard the same rumours, gotten the same warnings from the USC. The Council is considering a vote on limiting the funding to send squads outside to deal with the ongoing issue of defence. They don’t even mention the word ‘vampire’ in their memo. ‘Hostiles’ is what they call them.”

  Another rumble moved through the crowd. No laughing this time.

  “They claim they want to streamline the process, just cut down on the number of patrols so they don’t overlap. But we all know where that ends. Bevlin.”

  Silence. Rick sipped his coffee.

  “They want to shut us down permanently. They claim by beefing up the dome defences, they can repel any future attack. No city this size has gone down. But we know it only takes one to slip inside. It only takes one to make a few bites, to cause a few infections. Some people would come forward but others wouldn’t and that’s the beginning of the end for this city. They haven’t had an attack within five miles in the last few years because of us. Now they want to shut us down for budgetary reasons.

  “I say we can’t let them. We have a responsibility to the people of this city and we need to tell them what’s going on. We all have confidentiality clauses in our contracts but the time has come to break our silence. We’ve invited several vid and com reporters to join us in half an hour. Please consider sharing your story with them.”

  “What about a strike?” someone shouted from the crowd. A ripple of voices stirred across the room. Rick wondered if it was a plant. But Chen’s frown suggested otherwise.

  “We don’t want to escalate things prematurely,” he said over the crowd. “We need time to create pressure from the populace.”

  He’d lost the crowd’s main focus, Rick noted.

  “We could let out for another city,” another shout sounded from beside the wall. This caused even louder stirring.

  Rick shifted and sipped his coffee. That thought had occurred to him. Any city would be grateful for skilled vampire hunters. The trick would be surviving the journey. Vampires wouldn’t be the only threat; running out of supplies was a real possibility. The city wouldn’t take kindly to any squad stocking up and then fleeing.

  Conversation rippled continuously through the crowd. Chen struggled to regain their attention. He held up his arms, clapped his hands together.

  “People, let’s discuss some actions that can be constructive,” he shouted.

  “In your opinion,” someone shouted back. “You sound like a politician.”

  Rumbles in the crowd grew louder. Rick sighed. They were getting distracted from the issue. He pushed forward. The crowd yielded slowly. Chen’s voice became increasing difficult to discern from the white noise of the arguing voices. Rick pushed past the seats in front and turned to stand beside Chen.

  “I lost two squad members in my last patrol,” he shouted.

  The noise from the crowd drained away. Rick scanned the faces. He registered the strain and worry.

  “You all know what that feels like. We all know the risks but we do it because we believe we’re helping the city survive. We know what can happen if we don’t keep the vampire population in check, if don’t try to wipe out those bastards.”

  Chen nodded for him to go on. The crowd was frozen.

  “I came back from losing two squad members to hear about the squads possibly getting cut back. I come here and listen to you start squabbling. I lost two squad members. How many have you lost over the years? What would they say to hear you arguing with each other instead of fighting for our rights with the Council?”

  A murmur ran through the crowd.

  “I say we do what James asks and we give the people of this city a chance to hear about what’s going on, a chance to hear our stories. Let them decide.”

  He could see several heads in the crowd nodding. More joined in. A few frowns remained but he had most of them. Rick turned back to Chen who touched his throat mic.

  “I’m told the reporters are here,” Chen said. “Will you talk to them?”

  “I will,” Rick said. A chorus of voices agreed with him. The doors opened and several men and women walked in, carrying pad corders, wearing personal cams hooked over their ears and level with their temples. A short blond woman hurried to Rick’s side. Her smile was large and fake. She grasped his hand in a shake and let go before he could shake back.

  As she opened her mouth, a commotion started at the door. Men in uniforms streamed inside and started hustling the reporters out.

  “That’s enough. The USC will be having a news conference in an hour. Please come back for that.” An officer in a crisp uniform stepped forward and took hold of the blond’s arm. She protested and tried to pull away but his grip was too strong.

  “Wait a minute.” Rick took a step. The officer relinquished the blond to another man then turned.

  “Stay back, Captain. You are being detained.”

  “What? Why?”

  The door hissed closed in front of the faces of the protesting reporters.

  “For treason.” The officer glared at him. He pulled a shock stick from his waistband. The end sizzled as it activated.

  Rick froze but some of the other squad members tried to push past. They cried out in pain as the sticks zapped them. Ted landed on the floor a few feet from Rick. The Scourge of Heaven member doubled up in a fetal position, retching.

  In front of him, Rick saw the officer’s hand twitch on the shock stick. Rick took a breath and let it out. He wasn’t going to give the man any excuse to use it. It wouldn’t do him any good. He had to talk to Mitchell. There had to be a way out of this mess.

  “Hands on your head.”

  Rick complied. His stomach clenched as they cuffed him and the others. Their footsteps rang the metallic hallway as they left. All of the reporters had been escorted away well ahead of them, Rick noted. No one wanted this witnessed.

  They ended up tossed in separate detention cells. They even carried Ted into one, leaving him lying on the floor as they locked the door.

  “Get him a medic,” Rick said to the officer. He gave Rick a flat stare and slammed the door shut.

  The cell wasn’t much smaller than his room. He crossed to the cot and lay down. The mattress was only a little thinner than his bed. If they were trying to punish him, they should have tried harder. He fell asleep to that thought.

  The bang of the door woke him. He sprang to full alertness, jumping to his feet, arms outstretched, ready for attack. The man at the door scrambled back. A moment later, Rick remembered where he was, not outside, no worry of vampires here.

  In here, it was starting to seem worse.

  He straightened. His back cracked. A hand in the doorway gestured him forward. Rick stepped out into the hall. Light from a high window told him it was late afternoon. He’d slept a good part of the day. Nice of them to let him rest.

  “You’re to report to USC.” The officer from this morning was back.

  “Wonderful,” Rick said. “Lovely to see you again.”

  The man scowled, gripping the shock stick. He used it to point down the hall.

  “Move.”

  Rick wanted to ask about food but thought he’d better not push his luck. This guy looked ready for any excuse to use that stick. Rick wanted to have his wits about him for wherever he was going.

  They escorted him to the USC building and down several floors below ground. I don’t warrant a view anymore, Rick thought. They left him in a bright, white room with a single white metal chair. Unbroken paint covered all four walls and with the door closed, the sensation of being in a cloud was complete. But Rick knew they would have all kinds of surveillance equipment here. They could probably hear his stomach rumble and count the grey hairs on his head.

 
; He sat down on the chair to wait. It faced the door. Without a clock, he couldn’t tell the time but he knew his own resting heart rate. He started to count. When the door finally opened, he figured they’d let him sit there for almost an hour.

  A thin man entered wearing casual fatigues. No insignia adorned his collar but from his bearing Rick surmised he was probably a general, if not higher. He didn’t recognize the man. Where was Mitchell?

  “Do you know why you’re here, Captain?” the man said.

  “No, sir.”

  The man glanced down at the band on his wrist. “You were not informed of the charge of treason?”

  “Something was mentioned,” Rick said. “I don’t recall being informed officially of any charge.”

  The man pressed his lips together. They thinned to almost nothing. Everything about this man looked thin, his frame, his expressions, his movements. He had yet to reveal his name. Petty and it irritated Rick. He decided he wasn’t going to make any of this easy.

  “You are a member of the USC, pledged to uphold the orders given to you.”

  “I am pledged to fight the vampires,” Rick said. “I follow USC orders to that effect.”

  “You fall under our jurisdiction,” the man said. “We tell you what to do.”

  Tension crept up Rick’s back, tightening his muscles. He itched to jump out the chair, maybe even hit this idiot in front of him. He took a breath and let it out.

  “All USC business is covered by confidentiality clauses in your service contract, Captain, and yet you were about to discuss confidential business with reporters. Do you deny this?”

  “I’m a citizen, sir, I was going to give my opinion.”

  “Your ‘opinion,’” the man sneered. “You are a squad leader. You have more than a simple opinion which is why the confidentiality clauses are in effect.”

  “Are you in the practice of arresting people on what they might say?” Rick said.

  The thin man stiffened. He looked like a twig that could be snapped in half. “Your attitude has been noted, Captain. We are advising that you have been out in the field long enough.”

  Tension coalesced into fear for Rick. “What are you talking about?”

  “Effective immediately you are being removed from the Night Killers squad and assigned to duties inside the city.”

  Rick jumped out of the chair. His heart rate wasn’t at resting any more. “You can’t do that! I want to talk to General Mitchell.”

  “I’ll pass along the request. The treason charge is in effect until you tender your resignation from the Night Killers.”

  “Oh, I get it,” Rick said. “You want me out but you want it to look like it’s my fault. That’s why you drummed up this idiotic charge.”

  “Take you pick, Captain. You can fight the charge if you wish. You’ll be removed from the squad command until the outcome and believe me, it will take a very long time. Or you can resign now and be reassigned. You choose.”

  The man turned away. The door opened and he left. Two junior officers stepped inside, one wearing a cam unit hooked over his ear. It reminded Rick of the reporters. He wouldn’t get a chance to talk to them now.

  “What do you want?” Rick said although he knew the answer.

  “We’re here to record your statement,” the shorter one said.

  Of course they’d force him to choose immediately, no chance to think about it. He’d have to live with whatever choice he made now. But how could he choose? How could he give up the Night Killers? This was not the way he’d imagined the end of it would come. He always thought either the vampires would get him or he and Sami would retire, living the rest of their lives together in the city, in that little house of his imagination. How could it come down like this? How could he make a decision like this without her?

  The soldier wearing the cam unit switched it on. The red light glowed alongside his temple. “We ready for recording, sir.”

  Rick swallowed. What could he say? What choice did he really have? His fingers shook as he brushed his hair back from his face.

  As he opened his mouth, he wondered what words would come out.

  CHAPTER TEN

  “Are you sure you heard correctly?” Sami fought to keep her voice steady.

  “I’m not deaf, you know.” Michael crossed his arms. Now he was going to pout. She wanted to shake him. God, why did he have to make even the simplest conversation difficult? She took a breath to steady herself and stop her hands from reaching for his throat.

  “I know you aren’t deaf. Please just tell me one more time. Pretend I’m thick.”

  His expression said it wasn’t hard for him to imagine. “June-Elle’s brother Sten’s friend George said he heard from a neighbor about a raid against some clandestine squad meeting down in the grey sector. Lots of arrests, including some reporters who wouldn’t back off.”

  Sami didn’t bother asking again for more details. With each telling, the story got shorter. Michael tapped his foot on the floor. He kept glancing at the door behind her.

  “Fine. Get out.”

  “Thanks, Sami.” He bounded for the door then paused in the doorway. “If I hear more, I’ll tell you.”

  “Sure.”

  He was gone, leaving her with a sour feeling in her stomach. Thank god, Gran had headed off for her afternoon shopping. Knowing her, she’d return with enough food to feed the entire floor for a month.

  The apartment walls seemed to narrow in on her. She could almost feel the pressure of all those floors stacked above. She needed to see the sky, feel the desert air on her face. Gran would be upset to find her gone but she couldn’t wait.

  Sami left a note on the dining table and headed out. With each step, she increased her pace until she was almost running for the elevator. When she reached it, she had to wait for the second shift. Several families were heading up to the entertainment levels. Their chatter grated on her ears. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d listened to so many voices at once. It felt like they were reverberating in her head. Was this what it felt like for Peter? She remembered him trying to explain his psychic experiences to her. Only now did she think she had an idea of what it felt like.

  The elevator door chimed and she followed a family of six inside. In the confined space, the voices dissolved into meaningless noise. Everything felt like noise and irritation to her. Where was Rick? Why hadn’t he contacted her? Her fingernails bit into her palms the entire ride.

  The family disembarked at level five, leaving her in silence for the ride to the surface. She should have relaxed, expected to be able to, but without the noise she had nothing to distract her from her own thoughts. Squad members arrested. Her stomach soured even more.

  Fading sunlight greeted her as she stepped outside. Normally the light cheered her but not today. She followed the streets to the row of small bunkers where Rick’s room was located. She knew he didn’t like her visiting here, thought she deserved a real house. She didn’t care as long as he was with her.

  Her knock on the door yielded only silence. Now she missed noise. She wanted the noise of him unlocking the door, the sound of his voice greeting her, the beat of his heart against her as he held her. But there was nothing. Only empty silence.

  She knocked once more, and then picked the lock. Inside, the bed was made. Her fingers twitched, wanting to grab onto the sheets and rip them away from those perfect corners. Rick only made his bed this perfectly when they were going out on patrol. Seeing those corners meant he hadn’t slept in it since they got back.

  Where was he?

  Squad members arrested.

  She sat on the edge of the bed. Her hands itched to do something and she wished she’d brought a gun with her, something she could take apart and put back together again. The mindless action would give her something to do. But all the guns were kept with the squad vehicles. She had nothing to occupy her hands or her mind.

  Scuffling in the dirt outside caught her attention. She stood as the door swung
open. Rick filled the doorway, then stopped when he saw her. She smiled in relief and stepped toward him the stopped herself at the look on his face.

  “Rick, what’s wrong?”

  His shoulders, rigid and high, drooped. He looked away from her face, down to the floor.

  “You might as well hear it right away,” he said.

  The sourness in her stomach churned again. “What?”

  “I resigned from the squad. I’m no longer captain for the Night Killers.”

  She dropped back onto the bed as though someone had kicked her feet out from under her. She tried to make sense of the words. He had spoken, she’d heard him, but it didn’t make any sense at all.

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I resigned.” He closed the door behind him and sat down on the bed beside her.

  “Why? How?” She felt incapable of forming a full sentence.

  “They blackmailed me into it.” His shoulders hunched again. Her hand reached up to touch his back. Beneath her fingers, she felt his muscles taunt and quivering.

  “It was resign or be tried for treason. Either why, they got me out of the squad.”

  She shook her head. “But the USC…”

  “The USC are the ones who did this.”

  “No!” She snatched her hand away. He had to have misunderstood, the USC would never do this sort of thing.

  “You said it was the Council,” she said. “Mitchell was supporting the squads.”

  “Mitchell isn’t the whole USC,” Rick said. “He wasn’t there. I suspect they probably forced a lot of squad members out.”

  He described the meeting and the raid. She started shaking her head until her whole body quivered. By the end, her hands clenched into fists on her lap. The sourness in her stomach turned into burning. How could the USC do this to the squads, after everything they’d done?

  “I’m resigning too,” she said. “This is outrageous. They can’t force you off the squad.”