A shriek sounded behind him and Rick turned to meet a rushing female. He managed to yank a stake free as she slammed into him. He tucked his head and rolled. Her claws clutched at him, shredding fabric and scratching his flesh. He landed on his back, dirt digging into newly opened wounds. The female leapt on him. He shoved the stake up but she dodged it, grabbing his forearm. She slammed it to the ground and pinned it with her knee, then pinned his other arm the same way. A sneer cracked her lips. She ran a ragged, bleeding tongue over her jagged fangs. She opened her mouth and prepared to lunge down.
And Sami shoved a stake through her back.
Rick bucked and the body toppled off. He took Sami’s offered hand and jumped up.
“You know I hate seeing you with other women,” she said.
“I knew she wouldn’t last,” he said. “And I think we’re having an exodus.”
He pointed. Several vampires broke off the attack and slipped away down a corridor across the cavern.
“I want to know where they’re going,” Rick said.
“Sounds good,” Sami said. She whistled for Josh. He snapped the neck of a smaller female and then turned. Sami gave a hand signal. He nodded and they all began to make their way to the corridor. Resistance remained steady but still not what Rick expected. Something was drawing their attention. Had their plan for two fronts worked? He’d like to think so but with the other factors of Peter and Lucy and the infected children, he didn’t know. It might even be a ruse by this Elliott to draw them into a trap deep within the caves. Maybe this wasn’t quite such a good idea.
He triggered his throat mike. “Sister, report. What’s happening where you are?”
He waited, wondering if the structure of the caves would interfere with the signal. If it did, he had a decision to make: go on or retreat outside to re-establish contact. The reassuring tingle in his ear bud saved him the choice.
“Here, Rick.” The Sister’s voice wavered as the bud tried to lock down the signal. “Meeting light resistance. Several vamps have headed back into the caves. We were just preparing to give chase.”
Same as here, he thought. He didn’t like it. It was too much like a trap. A quick glance at Josh and Sami told him all he needed to know; neither of them would turn back. Since he wasn’t officially their captain, disobeying him would be easy but damaging for all of them. Besides, he didn’t want to turn back either. He wanted to, no, needed to find Peter and Lucy, needed to find those children, if only to show himself that he still had what it took to lead this squad.
“Stand down, Sister,” he said. “Hold your position. See if you can take any scans of the cave structure. We’ll track inside from here. I want you catching any who make a move your way. Contact Ted and have him rendezvous with you there.”
“Will do, Rick.” As always the Sister didn’t question his orders. “Roger and out.”
He turned back to Sami and Josh. “Let’s follow and find Peter and Lucy and those kids.”
Josh grinned and brandished his shotgun. “Hell, yeah.”
* * * *
Peter stumbled for the second time in the space of a minute. This time he couldn’t hide it from Lucy. Pressed beside him as she was she became immediately aware of him falling. She grabbed his arm through the bed sheet he’d draped around his body.
“Peter, are you okay?”
Even her whisper blared in his ears. He winced. He’d known this was coming, the price he paid for each use of his expanding power, he just wished it had waited until they were out. But the little headache had blossomed in his head like a mushroom cloud ever expanding, threatening to blow through the top of his skull. Even now he still had to use energy because while he knew he was invisible to the vampires, Lucy was not and he had to work to shield her from them.
“We have to hurry,” he said. She kept her grip tight on his arm as she increased her pace. While he could use his internal vision to “see” the way, he knew she was blind in the dark. So how could she step so surely?
Fatigue, he realized, focusing on the trivial when he needed to be finding the way out. His brain was tired of working so hard and was trying to distract him. He couldn’t let it. He had to find the way out, for himself, for Lucy, for their child.
For the other children...
He sensed them then, nearby. Infected he knew but different enough from the vampires that he recognized them. Close by, very close by.
“Go right,” he said, pulling Lucy that way. She followed instantly, staying pressed against him. A large rock jutted out, forcing them around it. As the corridor straightened, Peter sensed the boy standing in front of them. He stopped, clutching Lucy’s hand to stop her. She halted without a word.
Peter closed his eyes and in his inner mind, saw the boy standing in the middle of the corridor. He stood facing them, as if he knew they were there. Of course he’d probably heard their movements, the shuffling footsteps, the whisper of dirt loosening or compacting. Scent would have told him they weren’t full vampires, just as it told that to Peter. So the boy had waited for them instead of running. Waiting for what?
Was he part of another experimental group, Peter wondered, maybe using a different formula? He wanted to ask Lucy’s opinion but not in front of the boy, not until his intentions became clear. So he waited. Like the boy.
Beside Peter, Lucy stayed silent, motionless. She couldn’t possibly know what was going on but she didn’t question. Whatever impulse that had driven her to leave him and return to Elliott had gone. Her hand on Peter’s arm remained steady.
Peter shifted his attention back to the boy and found him standing with his head tilted to one side as if listening to someone. Peter concentrated and felt something a buzzing, no, a tinkling in the back of his mind. Before he could pull it into focus, it was gone. The boy took a step forward.
“Trina’s outside,” his high pitched voice whispered in the darkness. “She came with those others.”
Peter felt Lucy tense, her body taking a step back, trying to drag him away. He patted her hand to reassure her and tugged her back beside him. She pressed closer, trembling.
“What others?” Peter said, just loud enough for the boy to hear.
“Grown ups,” the boy said. “Fighters with that woman.”
Sami, Peter thought, and others. It had to be the remaining Night Killers. His heart began to pound. The pain in his head seemed to lessen as he realized he felt hope. The swiftness of his own reaction to his efforts had made him uncertain about his ability to get out but with the Night Killers, he knew he could do it. Besides, the vampires would have their hands full by now; Peter was sure that Rick and the others had some tricks up their sleeves.
“Can you show us the way out, to where Trina is?”
Again he had the sense of the boy cocking his head, of listening. The tickling feeling came and almost solidified into thoughts but was gone again before Peter could grasp them, as if someone didn’t want him listening in.
“We need answers first,” the boy said. The solid words coming from the high pitched voice sounded off, as if the boy wasn’t speaking his own thought.
Conduit, Peter thought. How much different were these infected children, he wondered. As if he had any place to judge.
“I’ll try to tell you what I know,” Peter said. “That’s all I can do.”
The boy paused a moment, as if for consultation. “That will be enough.”
“Good. What are your questions?”
“You and the woman are not like the any of the others, either the humans or the vampires. Why?”
“We were infected,” Peter said. “And Lucy administered a cure that stopped the virus.” He left it at that. He didn’t want to get into the specifics of the cure. How much would any of them understand?
“Why are we not like you?”
“The infection is different.” Lucy’s voice came out of the darkness beside him. “Elliott modified the virus to infect you. My cure stopped the other version of the virus. Two dif
ferent infections.”
“Can your cure work on us?” the boy said.
Peter could imagine Lucy’s frown of concentration.
“I don’t know,” she said. “I’d have to study the strain. I didn’t have time with the two children at the lab. It might be possible to modify it or it might not.”
The boy fell silent, as if listening again. Peter itched to hear what was being said as the tickle rose in his mind again but he suspected they didn’t want him to and such eavesdropping might make them angry or even more frightened. He felt a layer of fear emanating from the boy. Even Lucy must feel it as she shifted beside Peter, her fingers digging in deeper around his arm.
Of course they would be frightened, despite these abilities they were still just kids. They didn’t have his experience or reasoning ability to cope with the new powers or urges coursing them because of the infection. They wanted comfort. He had to show them they’d get it from him more than from the vampires.
“What about the other people,” the boy said, “with the woman?”
“What about them?” Peter said.
The boy hesitated, listening again. “Will they kill us like vampires?”
Lucy sucked in a breath.
“I won’t let that happen,” Peter said. “If you come to the lab with Lucy and me, I’ll keep you safe.”
“Promise?” The adult facade dropped away and the boy was just a boy again, fear lacing that word even as hope lifted it at the end.
“I promise,” Peter said.
“So do I,” said Lucy. He heard the steel in her voice as he felt her touch lighten on his arm and her posture straighten. Here was her chance, he realized, to redeem her father’s arrogance and errors.
The patter of feet on dirt sounded, coming closer. Skinny arms clutched at them as the boy threw his arms around them. His face pressed in between them and he sobbed.
Peter felt Lucy drop to her knees and embrace the boy. He buried his face in her shoulder, still sobbing. She made soft, soothing noises as she stood up. He felt the boy’s dangling bare foot brush his arm. He grabbed hold and rubbed it.
Finally the boy’s sobs subsided into sniffles and then stopped altogether. He still clung to Lucy.
“Can you help us get out?” Peter said.
“The others can,” the boy said. “They’re already coming.”
Peter opened his mouth to speak then stopped. He sensed several people coming toward them fast. The boy gasped.
“Vampires!”
Peter already grabbed Lucy’s arm. “Run,” he said and they ran.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Sami swatted at the personal globe on her forehead. The flickering light steadied for a moment then flickered again. Dammit, the strobe effect was almost as bad as the full darkness that pressed in against her just beyond range of the flickering light. Up ahead, she saw Josh’s steady glow. Rick was close behind him. It almost felt like old times yet so much had happened, so much of it strange and unbelievable. How could she face Gran about Michael?
She had no time to worry about this but without the immediate fight the boy’s image stuck in her mind and she played his last moments over and over again. What she wouldn’t do for a distraction now.
The flickering became even more pronounced, longer periods of darkness between intermittent splashes of light. She quickened her pace to catch up to the men. If the globe failed, she didn’t want to be stuck in the darkness alone. She knew she wouldn’t be alone for long.
A flare of light hit the edge of rock on her left. She had already passed it before it registered on her. Why would it jut out like that? She turned back before she thought about it and took several steps. The light flickered again. Oh she was crazy to look at something with this unreliable light. She triggered her throat mike.
“Guys, I think I’ve found something. Come on back.”
“Roger. Coming back.”
Rick’s voice filled the ear buds, making her heart beat a little faster. Gone was that shell of a man he’d been after resigning from the squad. He was back to his normal self, decisive, strong yet able to balance options from the other members. How had he ended up with Mitchell and the lieutenant? She hadn’t gotten any sexual vibe between Rick and the woman, much to Sami’s relief. But it did make her wonder once again if it was such a good idea to get involved with someone on the job, not that her heart gave her any choice.
Footsteps sounded behind her as light and shadow shimmered on the rock walls. Rick’s hand touched her arm. She inhaled fast and caught a brief whiff of the smell of him; musk and sweat and dirt.
“What’s up?” he said.
“Here.” She indicated the jutting rock. Both Josh and Rick’s globes held steady light and she could now see a smaller path led off this main path. Unlike the others, this path looked specifically build and in such a way to hide the entrance. Why would the vampires do that?
“Interesting,” Rick said. “I totally missed it.”
“I think we were meant to,” she said. “Give me your globe, Josh.”
Josh frowned but popped the globe off his forehead and handed it to her.
Rick was also frowning. “Sami, maybe one of us should go first since your globe isn’t working right.”
She popped hers off her forehead and tossed it to Josh. His stuck to her forehead with one good press. “This one works just fine. It is my find, Rick.”
“I know. Just…”
She nodded and let a small smile curve her lips. “I will.”
With a gun in one hand and a stake in the other, she slipped around the jutting rock edge into the narrow path. It was wide enough for her shoulders, both Rick and Josh would have to turn a little to follow her. Even the roof was shorter than the main path. At least she didn’t have to worry about total ambush here.
After about two yards, the path curved again and another portion of rock jutted across the opening similar to the other end. Sami slowed and peered around the rock. A cavern opened out and she saw tables and what looked like lab equipment. Her breath caught in her throat. She stuck the stake in her waistband and grabbed hold of jutting rock edge. Could this be what she thought it was?
“Guys, you’d better get in here,” she reported back then realizing how that sounded, she said. “All clear.”
She stepped out into the cavern and turned her head, shining the light as far as she could to take in everything. By the wall to her right, an inoperative glowglobe sat on the ground. A sweep of her head exposed pristine counters opposite her. As she moved closer, she saw petri dishes sitting in neat rows by a microscope. Along the back wall sat various scanners. The quiet hum of two specimen fridges caught her attention. To the right of them she saw another doorway opening to a small generator.
Light flared from around the edge of the jutting rock then Rick and Josh slipped inside. Josh’s mouth hung open at the sight of the lab.
“Holy shit,” he said.
“I don’t think I’d call it holy,” she said.
“Is this where they would have experimented on those kids?” Rick said.
“Probably.” She opened one of the fridges. The light popped on revealing rows of small glass specimen jars. She turned to read the labels. Batch numbers with dates. She spun several more; almost every one had a different date but the batches… She counted. Damn there were at least four different batches! Her mouth went dry. Had he injected every one into those kids?
“We have to take samples,” she said. “I have to study these. Find out what they are.”
A quick search yielded only one small cardboard box, barely big enough to take a large enough sample. Plus it wasn’t refrigerated. Sami pursed her lips. Without knowing the exact make up of the batches, she couldn’t know how long they would remain viable outside the fridge. The drive back to the lab was a couple of hours, plenty of time for a sensitive solution to degrade enough to be useless.
“I need someway to refrigerate them,” she said.
“How are
we going to do that?” Josh said.
“I don’t know. Is there anything in either van that can be adapted for cooling?”
Rick frowned. “I’ll check with Sister Theresa.” His throat moved, subvocalizing the request to the Sister. While he waited for a response, Sami returned to the fridge. Maybe she could figure out a method to the batches and dates, some way to decide which one to take along. She wanted at least one of each batch and would prefer a sample of each date that was already almost half of the fridge. She had to think of a way to pare it down.
Had they made any observations of the results or left any records? She made a quick search for data beads but found nothing. If they had recorded results they hadn’t kept them in the lab. Maybe Elliott carried them on his person or kept everything in his head.
“Ted thinks he might be able to rig something.” Rick’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “He could reconfigure the flame thrower and hook it into the air conditioner in the Scourge van. It won’t be completely refrigerated but we could drop the temperature in the back of the van.”
“How far?” she said.
He conveyed her question. “Probably no lower than 67 Fahrenheit.”
She blew out a breath. “I don’t know. There’s no way to know if that’s low enough.”
“What if we need the flame thrower?” Josh said. “Reconfiguring it will take it out of commission.”
“I’m open to any other suggestions,” Rick said.
Silence fell between them. Maybe if she tried to pack them in ice it might work, Sami thought.
“Well, I have an idea but it’s a stupid one,” Josh said.
“Just say it,” Rick said. “I don’t care if it’s stupid.”
“Okay.” Josh sucked in a breath. “Why don’t we just take one of the fridges?”
Rick shook his head. “You’re right. That’s damned stupid.”
Sami ran a finger along the edge of the fridge door. “Maybe not.”
“What?” Rick spat the word out.
“They had to get the equipment in here somehow. We just need to find out how and reverse it.”
The Night Killers Page 31
