The Night Killers

by Senese, Rebecca M.

  “Listen Sami, I want you to know how sorry I am about Michael.”

  A quick glance beside him showed she was now staring down at the compad in her lap. Dammit, just when she’d started talking he had to go and ruin it. But it had to be said, he had to say it.

  “Me too.” Her voice was a whisper almost lost in the whine of the engine. “I just keep thinking how unfair it is. Peter got bitten and you found Lucy and she cured him. Then Michael got bit and he didn’t even make it here. It’s not fair.”

  “You’re right,” Josh said. “It’s not fair. I don’t think anything’s been fair for the past ten years. Probably long before that too but definitely more unfair now.”

  She nodded. Her face was wet and he didn’t even have a kerchief for her.

  “Michael shouldn’t have ever been out here,” he said. “It’s not your fault.”

  “I know.” Her voice grew louder. “It’s the Council’s and how they’re gutting the squads.” Her grip tightened on the compad. “We have to figure out what’s on here. That will give us an idea of what that helicopter was doing and maybe we can use it.”

  She leaned forward in the seat. “Where are we?”

  “Near the lab,” Josh said. “There.” He stopped the van in a cloud of dust and pointed at the small clump of wild grass. “That’s the entrance.”

  “Are you sure?”

  Josh opened his door. “Let’s check.”

  Sami climbed out of her seat and followed him around the front of the van toward the grass.

  “The sun is going down soon, Josh.”

  “I noticed that.” He reached the grass and crouched down. A few quick brushes exposed a handle from the trapdoor a few inches to the left of the grass.

  “Here’s the door,” he said. A good yank and the door slid up. A dark shaft led down into the lab.

  “I don’t like leaving the van unprotected,” Sami said. “The vampires might destroy it.”

  “Peter might have a Kaminski shield we can use to protect it. Let’s see.” Josh started climbing down the rungs. Sami waited until he was part way down and then followed. She hugged the compad to her chest with one hand, using the other hand for climbing. When she got close to the bottom, she held out the compad to Josh.

  “Take this.”

  He grabbed the pad and Sami jumped down. The hallway spread out in two directions. Josh remembered the last time they’d been here, the dark patches and general air of disuse. Now most of the hallway looked well lit. By the side of the ladder, Josh noticed a sensor readout. The light indicating the door was flashing along with several sensor lights. Josh nodded his approval; Peter had been busy updating the place. That readout had been completely dark before.

  “Where are they?” Sami said. “They should have seen us coming.” She gestured to the sensors. “Peter would have it hooked up to the general system by now.”

  “Yeah,” Josh said. “Maybe they’re on their way.” The silent hallway made him want to fidget.

  Sami tapped the compad on her thigh. At least he wasn’t the only one feeling impatient. “Let’s find them.”

  She started off before Josh could say anything. He shrugged and followed. He’d rather have her being pushy than lost in grief.

  She led him to the lab. It was empty. A microscope sat on the table with several slides scattered beside it. Sami slipped around the end of the table. She turned on the scope and started looking at the slides.

  “What are they?” Josh said.

  “I’m not sure,” Sami said. “Samples, blood, some skin scrapings. It looks like the vampire virus but I can’t be sure.”

  Josh frowned. “I thought you’d done some studying on that.”

  “I have. This looks different.”

  “Maybe it’s something Lucy’s working on. She did make that cure.”

  “This isn’t it,” she said. “I looked at it and read some of her notes. This is something different.”

  Unease tightened the muscles across Josh’s shoulders. “It couldn’t be something worse, could it?”

  “I don’t know.”

  “Shit, just what we fucking need. Can’t they leave well enough alone? Like the world doesn’t suck enough?”

  “I think we’d better find Lucy and Peter,” Sami said. “I want to find out what this is.”

  Josh nodded and they left the lab. The hallway still gave no clue as to where Lucy or Peter had gone and their lack of response to Josh and Sami’s arrival upset him. Josh hated being upset, it just pissed him off. He glared down the bright hallways.

  “So where the hell are they?”

  “I don’t know,” Sami said. “This place is too big to just hunt through without a system. There’s got to be a map and they had to have certain areas they worked in on a regular basis. Let’s start there.”

  She headed off to the left as if she knew where she was going. Josh shrugged and followed. He didn’t like this lab, he didn’t like being underground. It felt different than the city. In the city, people overflowed into the halls filling them with life. These halls felt deserted and empty. Had they felt that way even before the virus? The thought made him suck in a breath. This lab was probably the location where it was originally developed. Should burn the whole thing down.

  Sami slipped through a doorway on the left. Josh followed. It was a secondary security room. Banks of monitors lined one wall. He could see their van in one of them. Sami stood behind a console reviewing the controls.

  “What are you looking for?” he said.

  “There,” she said. She hit a switch and the lower row of monitors flickered. Three of them showed blackness but the other two showed empty halls.

  “Most of the internal monitors have been turned off. Let me see if I can adjust it.” She set the compad down on top of the counter. Her fingers flew over the controls, keying in commands. The monitors shifted again. This time three of them showed empty hallways from different angles. Another shift showed the lab and a kitchen. Both still sat deserted.

  “Are they even here?” Josh said.

  “I’ll keep looking,” she said. Another shift and more hallways. Josh wanted to put his fist through one of those stupid monitors. If Sami didn’t find anything, maybe he’d do just that. He picked one, the one on the right. It had a chip off the right top corner. Who’d care if he punched it? No one.

  Another shift, this time a hallway with a closed double door across it. Great. A shadow moved across the window of the double doors then the image shifted again to another hallway.

  “Wait a minute, back up,” Josh said.

  “What? What did you see?”

  “I don’t know, I think it was a shadow, but something moved.”

  Sami switched back. The double doors appeared on the monitor again. From the angle of the camera it was hard to tell if anything was in windows. Maybe it had just been his eyes.

  “There, I saw it,” Sami said.

  Sure enough, Josh spotted the shadow again. Definitely something there behind the windows of the double doors. The angle of the camera created too much glare for him to see clearly but there was movement.

  “Something’s moving behind those doors,” he said.

  “They appear to be locked.” Sami’s fingers flew over the console. “I can override from here.”

  “Wait, I’ll go see what it is. We don’t want to let something destructive loose in here. It could be a vampire.”

  “Go left, down the hall, then left again. It should be at the end of the hall,” Sami called after him. “I’ll watch you on the monitor.”

  Her voice faded as he hurried through the hall. Finally something to do. He hated not doing anything, being helpless. It gave him too much time to think and he wasn’t good at that. He was better in action, like checking out this shadow and taking care of it. If it was a vampire, he’d know what to do. He much preferred dealing with this straight forward situation. He wasn’t any good helping Sami. There was nothing he could do to fix her pain.
>
  Turning left, he spotted the doors at the end of the hall. His right hand slipped down to a small wooden stake he always carried clipped to his belt. He believed in being over prepared. Sure, the regular stakes supplied to the squads worked great but occasionally he’d needed his own mini version when the big one just didn’t allow him to get close enough. No vampire had ever seen it coming.

  Dust tickled his nose as he got closer to the door. He rubbed at his nostrils, trying to dispel the tickle. It didn’t work. He felt it work into his nose. He sneezed just as he reached the door.

  From the other side, he heard a voice call out. “Bless you, Josh!”

  Peter stood in the window of the left door. A quizzical look crossed his face. Josh rushed to the door and grabbed the handle. It didn’t budge.

  “It’s locked,” Peter said.

  “Shit,” Josh said. Where was the camera? He looked around and then spotted the telltale ball in the ceiling corner. He nodded and waved at it. Come on, Sami, open the door!

  A hiss and click sounded. The door popped open. Peter slid out and Josh embraced him, pounding him on the back.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Josh said. “We’ve been looking all over this stupid place for you.”

  He stopped when a pair of kids stepped out, a boy and a girl. They held hands and looked at him. The boy sniffed.

  “Human,” he said. The girl shushed him.

  “He’s my brother, Josh,” Peter said to the kids. He turned back to Josh. “Is the squad here? We need to get after her before she reaches them.”

  Peter started hurrying back up the hallway. Josh followed with the children bringing up the rear. Josh didn’t like turning his back on them, something about them seemed off. He could feel it in his shoulders, like he wanted to hunch and hide from them. He forced his attention back to Peter.

  “No, it’s just Sami and me. We had a big problem. Who’s going where?”

  “Where’s Sami?” Peter stopped.

  “She’s in the security room.”

  Peter started off again forcing Josh to hurry along. Again he felt uneasy turning his back to those kids. What the hell was with them? He kept glancing back to find them watching him.

  “Stop that,” he snapped. The girl cocked her head at him.

  “Katey, Marc, I want you to wait here,” Peter said. He had reached the security room and stood in the doorway. The children finally looked away from Josh who wanted to sag now that the pressure of their gaze was gone. The girl nodded. They stood by the wall like statues.

  “Come on, Josh.” Peter gestured him into the room.

  “Peter!” Sami came around the console and hugged him. Josh saw the tears in her eyes and knew she was thinking about the cure, about Michael, about how close it had been and yet impossible.

  He looked away.

  “Sami, you okay?” Peter guided her back until they stood looking at each other.

  She took a breath and let it out. “Fine. Why were you locked behind that door? Where’s Lucy?”

  Peter cocked his head at Sami, reminding Josh of the girl in the hall. It made Josh want to shudder. Of course Peter would know Sami wasn’t telling him everything, he was psychic, so why did his gesture unnerve Josh?

  “We found a nest a short ways from here. The vampires are kidnapping children; Katey and Marc were there with a group of other kids. We managed to escape and bring them back here. Lucy took some samples that show the vampires are infecting them with a variation of the virus. Ten years ago, her brother Elliott was working on the cure but he became infected and is now a vampire. He’s probably the one that created this variation.”

  “Where is Lucy?” Sami said.

  Peter looked away. “Gone.”

  “Gone where?” Josh said although he thought he already knew the answer.

  “She locked me in with the children and left. I think she’s gone to Elliott.”

  “Shit! Why would she go there? He’s a vampire,” Josh said.

  “He’s also her brother. You of all people know that still counts for something,” Peter said.

  Sami turned ashen. This time Peter definitely noticed.

  “Why is it just you two? Where’s Rick and the Sister?”

  “It’s a long story…” Josh said.

  “They aren’t with us.” Sami’s voice sounded flat. “Rick was forced to resign and we got a new commander who took us on a day patrol to break in two new recruits.” She faltered. Josh opened his mouth to continue for her but she shook her head at him. After a moment, she started again.

  “We found a nest. One of the recruits was killed. The other, Michael, was bitten. We tried to bring him here but he had an allergic reaction to the virus. He was changing too fast…” She trailed off.

  “Michael?” Peter said. “Your Michael?”

  The tears flooding her eyes were her only response. She blinked fast to stop them from falling.

  “Sami, I’m so sorry.” Peter hugged her. Her body stiffened and then seemed to melt in his embrace. Her breathing sounded ragged and hard then started to relax. Peter was sending out some of his mojo, Josh knew, some soothing psychic effect he had. He’d always been able to do that. People always seemed calmer in Peter’s presence but now it made Josh uneasy. Even as he thought it he noticed Peter turn his head in Josh’s direction.

  Peter released Sami and for the first time since Michael’s death, she looked like herself again. Gone were the hunched, rigid shoulders, the focused but vacant stare, the tight jaw. Her pain was still there but muted, like the color of the desert sands.

  Peter did that, Josh realized, and for the first time he felt a little bit afraid of his brother.

  “I have to go after Lucy,” Peter said. “We have to know what her brother is doing.”

  “It’s almost night,” Sami said. “You can’t go after her now.”

  Peter’s lips curved upward, not quite a smile but almost. “Night doesn’t matter to me. I can’t be reinfected.”

  “Maybe they can’t turn you but they can rip your head off,” Josh said.

  “He’s right,” Sami said. “You can’t go by yourself. We’ll go with you.”

  Peter shook his head. “I won’t leave the children here alone.”

  “Fine,” Sami said. “Josh will stay with them.”

  “Wait. What?” Josh said.

  “Protocol,” Sami said. “You know the rules, Josh. Family members do not go on missions together. Having you both together in the squad was enough of a stretch.”

  “Hey this isn’t the squad now,” Josh said. “We aren’t playing by the USC rules here.”

  “She’s right,” Peter said. “I don’t want to have to worry about you, Josh, and I can’t spend any more time arguing about it with you. Lucy’s already got a head start and we have to get to her before she gets to Elliot.” Peter turned to Sami. “Do you have wheels?”

  “Yes, a van but it’s low on gas.”

  “We’ve got some fuel here. Let’s load up.”

  They were out the door before Josh said anything. He ran after them. Even the sight of the strange children following behind didn’t stop him.

  “Hey, I’m not finished with this!” he yelled.

  “I’m not arguing about it, Josh,” Peter said. He kept walking with Sami at his side. Josh pushed past the kids and grabbed his brother’s arm. Peter stopped and stumbled as Josh turned him around.

  “Then you’ll listen to me, you little shit,” Josh said.

  Peter jerked his arm out of Josh’s grasp.

  “No, you listen.” He stuck his finger in Josh’s face and Josh was suddenly aware of the distress in Peter’s voice.

  “I’m not wasting any more time discussing this. Every second Lucy’s getting farther away. They could kill her and I won’t let that happen.”

  Peter’s expression twisted with pain before the mask of impassivity fell back into place. It finally clicked for Josh. He got it now. Peter was scared for her.

  Josh n
odded. “I’ll watch the kids.”

  Peter’s shoulders dipped just a bit. “Thanks,” he said and turned away, leading Sami off to get the fuel.

  Josh turned to find the two children watching him. He forced himself not to shudder beneath their gaze.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

  Through the driver’s side window, the wind tickled her neck with several loose strands of her brown hair. She hadn’t had time to tie the turban properly on her head as she fled the lab. Now her hair had worked free in several places, loose strands waving in her eyes or tickling her neck. The feeling on her neck reminded her of fingers, a soft, gentle touch. She wouldn’t give a name to that touch, refused to let her mind go there. Because if it did, if she let it, she might realize that this wasn’t such a good idea.

  But she couldn’t be sure of that either. The only way to know was to test her hypothesis. That was the scientific way to do it. She was heading out to test her theory and this way she would know.

  The truck shuddered as it drifted in the sand. Lucy shifted her attention back to steering. She needed to stay focused, don’t let her mind wander. Sometimes it seemed harder these days. Sometimes in the lab she would be working and find herself listening for any sound, waiting to be interrupted by…

  She stopped that thought. Focus on driving.

  Even with this wind, a faint trace of the tire tracks she’d left last night marked the desert floor. It would lead her back to the nest as long as the nest was still there. There was a chance the vampires would have fled after the escape but she didn’t think they’d have time. Not if it was set up as some kind of lab.

  Another hypothesis to test.

  She noticed her fingers ached on the wheel. She’d tightened her grip too much. She peeled her left hand off and shook it before replacing it so she could shake off her right hand. Silly to grip the wheel so tight, completely unnecessary. The wind wasn’t that bad. She’d traveled in a lot worse.

  The truck jostled on the uneven ground. Against the distant horizon, she noticed the rise of the ground, a line broken and cracked like gnarled knuckles pushing up through the desert. Soon they shaped themselves into rocks and small mountains, she knew. She recognized the approach. Had it only been a couple of days ago?