Empire of Blood [Box Set]

by Robert S. Wilson

  The second the woman stepped out of his way, Danny slammed on the gas. Just in case he grabbed his radio and called over to Gage. "Deputy Gage, if and when you manage to stop the suspect, you are to hold tight until I get there, do you hear me?"

  Static replied in a long dry crackle.

  "Deputy Gage. Do. You. Hear me?"

  Crackle crackle, pop, crackle shhh.

  Danny slammed the radio down on its hook. "Goddamnit!"

  Up ahead on the right, the flashing lights of Gage's cruiser spun like a blue and red syncopated beacon in the night. As Danny pulled up closer, it became obvious that the girl's car had crashed into an old wire fence. Where are they? Danny pulled his cruiser just to the right of Gage's which was sat parked bumper to bumper with the back end of the Le Sabre. Danny practically jumped from his car, not even managing to close the door all the way as he tripped over the tall grass sweeping up in the wind like the long thinning hair of an old man in denial, face down and pushing through.

  There was a scream up ahead. Female. Son of a bitch. "Goddamnit, Gage, I told you to hold your position and stand by."

  There was no response. Coming up on the Le Sabre, several things became clear immediately. One, the boys were still in there, crouching down low in the floorboard of the backseat. Two, neither Alexandria or Gage were anywhere within sight of the Le Sabre and yet Danny knew they had to be at least somewhere close or he wouldn't have heard that poor girl's scream.

  She screamed again and Danny kicked into action, bursting forward with all the muscle power his legs could manage. The grass only continued to thicken and grow in height as Danny came deeper and deeper into the field. Turning and looking back, he could barely even see the cars now. Another scream, this time half scream, half whimper, reached out into the open air and extended a single finger that slicked up the back of Danny's neck and disappeared into one long chill that ran down his spine.

  The sound was up ahead beyond a line of trees that, at best guess, must have marked one farmer's field from another's. Danny ran in the direction where the sound seemed to come from and nearly tripped over Gage lying on top of the girl, her arms handcuffed behind her as he pulled back on her chin and searched his way up the side of her face with his tongue.

  At that moment, it took everything Danny had not to send the fucker's head through the air, fucking Jasper High Cougar's style, but in a reasoned second of hesitation he feared too much what the consequences would be for him. Instead he called out with as much authority as he could manage, "Deputy Gage, get away from the suspect and stand by, do you hear me?"

  Gage was trying Danny's patience, half heartedly dry humping against the young girl for a second longer as if it had taken a moment for Danny's words to register though he damn well knew better than that.

  "I said 'get up,' Deputy. Now."

  Gage rolled off of the girl, slamming her head down against the ground in the process on purpose and leaving her crying there with blood streaming down her nose. The urge to plant his fucking foot in Gage's face reasserted itself in every single one of Danny's muscles, but he continued to fight the temptation with everything he had. Besides, he wouldn't be much help to this girl, let alone anyone else, if he got himself killed.

  Once on his feet, Gage didn't even try to hide the grin wrapping around his face. He simply backed away, inhaling long and deep breaths every few seconds, then pulling out a pack of no-name brand cigarettes and lighting one. Danny ran forward to check on the girl. She seemed to be okay save for some bruises and her bleeding nose. There was no way to know off hand without having some tests run or something of the sort, whether she was truly suffering from any major injuries or not.

  "Ma'am, you okay? You took a pretty nasty spill there."

  With agonizing slow movements, Alexandria turned her head and looked around and past the field that spread out beyond her.

  The next instant, she seemed to wake up from a trance and immediately started calling out in a high pitch between quick successions of high-paced breathing.

  "Jeremy!" She gasped in a huge deep breath, "Rudy!"

  ***

  Frank woke up lying face down, cheek glued to the cold concrete floor by his saliva. He rolled over and sat up trying to take in his surroundings. Dark blurry vagueness was all he could make out at first. Then a wall lined with shelves shaped like inverted pockets brimming with items he couldn't quite recognize began to ooze into reality before him. He sat there a long time trying to regain some sense of focus.

  The grainy darkness was starting to transform into more distinctive shapes now. Frank leaned on one arm in order to lift himself up to a standing position. It was a bit disorienting at first, but he managed. He couldn't believe she had left him knocked out like this. He kind of understood why, but for goodness sakes. He wasn't going to live much longer anyway, even if that missile somehow detonated there in the city and he managed to survive. Cancer wasn't exactly known for its sympathy and well wishes.

  Frank immediately went to the main door and tried the knob. It was unlocked, but the door wouldn't budge when he pushed. She must have blocked it with something. It's not like it would be hard for her to simply mind-fuck some things on over and against the door.

  A moment of investigation made it clear to Frank that the room he was trapped in was actually some sort of materials storage for the entire facility. Nuts, bolts and metal and plastic doodads of all kinds filled the white, blue, and black pellican-pouched shelves. Unless by some miracle one of those gadgets happened to be able to push a metric fuck-ton of weight without much effort, Frank was pretty sure none of it would be of any use to him.

  He raced across to the opposite wall where a large vertical-sliding shipping door stood centered. Frank assumed truck trailers connected to the outside of it for receiving large shipments. There was no visible handle or lever to lift it that he could make out. He walked up and tried to push upward on the door with his bare hands. It rattled noisily but gave no indication of progress.

  He sighed.

  "Well, fuck..."

  Circling around the room, Frank looked for any other glimpse of an idea or way out. There was a long white counter that stretched along the length of one of the walls where he assumed some sort of material handler or material manager had been stationed back before the city turned into vampireland.

  He squeezed in behind it only to find more and more buckets and containers filled with little tools and screws and devices, all of which completely useless in his current predicament. Out of an odd force of habit, he started from the bottom shelf and worked his way up, examining the contents for anything helpful. When he had glanced over every inch of each of the four shelves, he stood up and let his eyes wander over the surface of the counter. Everything was covered in dust, but the items on the counter were covered in so much of it as to look nearly fuzzy and grossly lifelike in comparison.

  What he suspected were a pen and notepad sat just a foot in from the far end and a number of folders and papers were spread out across the rest of the surface at random. Wait...

  Attached to the side of the counter just nearly out of sight, something poked out of the obscurity of that corner. Frank moved to get a closer look. It was some sort of electronic device with a mini keyboard and keypad and a small digital screen. With nothing else to use, Frank took his arm and wiped the thick layer of fuzz off of the device. A cursor blinked on the screen, barely visible. Frank looked around the room for a light switch, found one, flipped it on and nothing happened.

  Worth a shot, I guess.

  He went back to the device and ran his hands over the top and bottom and sides of it for any kind of hidden switch. Bingo! A thin plastic notch hid at the top right of the base. It gave some resistance, but he managed to flip it over to its on position and the screen glared into bright blue life.

  Now fully visible, the cursor blinked next to the second of two choices.

  Up

  Down

  Frank found the arrow keys on th
e keyboard and tried moving the cursor to the up position. The device beeped at him in agitation of his obviously stupid move. "Yeah, yeah..." He tried the letter U and without so much as a warning the large shipping door quickly scraped and screeched its way up until it was completely open, waiting for the next time someone would tell it to go down.

  With the door now open, Frank suddenly remembered just how dangerous it was out there. Sure it wasn't fun being cooped up in this place, but at least there weren't thirsty vampires flying around in large numbers in here.

  At least not anymore.

  He slipped over to the opening and peeked his head outside. Fire off in the distance. Some street lights and half obliterated neon signs lit the occasional spot here and there, but otherwise it was darkness. There was no ramp from where he stood. Just one straight drop down as he had expected.

  Frank scanned up and down the large open parking lot behind the facility. A busted up delivery truck sat parked just a few hundred feet out. Otherwise the lot was empty. The thing probably wouldn't start even if he had the keys but it was there, so Frank knelt down and then dropped flat on to the black top below. His ankles stung when he landed but more important things were at stake here than some silly little discomfort.

  He ran over to the truck as quietly as he could manage and climbed up onto the outside step on the passenger side. His heart nearly shot from his chest when he saw the remnants of a face inside staring back at him from the driver side seat. The poor bastard's fleshless throat was spread out all over his chest and his face was frozen in mid scream.

  When Frank could finally breathe again, he tried the door and it opened. The smell inside was almost reason enough to close it back up immediately. The key wasn't in the ignition, but given the tatters of the man's uniform, Frank was pretty sure he didn't get in this vehicle by mistake. From the looks of things, it was more likely he didn't manage to start the truck in time to get away whenever the vampires got to him.

  The guy's hands were clutched tightly onto the steering wheel so the key's weren't there and there was no way Frank was touching the guy's body to check. He reached down and went for the obvious, spreading his hands blindly along the floorboard of the truck. He ran into some old fast food cups or something of the sort and when he moved it there was a jingle from deep under the seat. Frank dropped down on his side and shoved his entire arm under to try and reach whatever had made that sound.

  The cold metal of the keys was like a spiritual awakening, he was that grateful when he got hold of them. He quickly scooted back up to a sitting position and then rose to his feet. "Sorry, pal, I kinda need to take your seat." Frank reached across the dead man's body and opened the door and flung it open. Cringing and hiding his face he reached one foot up and kicked the man's right shoulder and tried pushing the body out of the truck. The body moved easily enough but those hands were still solidly gripping the wheel and so Frank did what he had hoped he would be able to avoid. Taking a shred of cloth from the seat he grabbed the hands one at a time and pulled them loose.

  It was hard hard work to break the fingers free from the first hand, but they eventually cracked open. The second hand was easy and when it came loose, the entire dry husk of a body rolled down the side of the truck and onto the parking lot, crumpled pieces blowing off in the wind.

  Frank watched, still cringing, for a second and then closed the driver side door as quietly as he could. He then reached over and did the same with the passenger side. It was highly likely that as soon as he started the truck, vampires would come from near and far to find out what was making that noise. But he had to go. He took a deep breath and then put the key in and turned.

  Nothing.

  Frank fought back the urge to slam his fists against the steering wheel or scream out obscenities. Another deep breath and something akin to an atheist's prayer and Frank turned the key once more. This time it made a cranking sound but still didn't start. Progress was good. More progress would be better. Frank decided to give it another minute and try again. Maybe it just needed a gentle hand to lead it back across the valley of death.

  "Come on this time, you son of a bitch," Frank whispered. Then he turned the key and the truck choked and rattled and choked and then roared to life. It was all Frank could do to keep from whooping and hollering into the night. He waited a moment before putting it into gear, trying to listen for any company headed his way. He heard nothing, so he put the truck in gear and it jerked forward before he even touched the gas pedal.

  A minute later and he was on a road along an industrial park, he had no clue where, he'd never actually visited the city before now. Not that he would have wanted to for the last couple of decades or so. He did remember what the map had looked like and he was struggling to make it fit with the roads he saw around him and up ahead and failing miserably.

  "Okay, just one goddamn familiar road and I can find this." He watched the street signs pass by with various unfamiliar names. Polaris Ave, Dean Martin Dr, Windy Rd. "Come on." The very next street, Las Vegas Blvd, rung a bell and it was all he could do to slow the truck down and turn around without burning rubber to do it. He hadn't gotten any unwanted attention yet, he wasn't about to do anything consciously that would do so now.

  When he was finally turned around and headed down Las Vegas Blvd, the glow of that fire he had noticed before was straight ahead and a deep nervous weight in his gut told him he was headed the right way. The thought of Jackie in trouble gripped tightly on his heart. "Fuck it!"

  He slammed on the gas and let out the tension in his chest with one big loud war cry.

  Chapter 53

  An Unexpected Ally

  "All right, George. Thanks. We're nearly there. We'll get ourselves in position and once we have a good hold on the situation, we'll figure out a plan and get those kids out of there tonight. I'll call you when I have something to update. Okay. Bye." Jonathan hung up the phone and looked at Yusef and Jonny. "The old man got an update from the Imperial wire. Apparently they've been picked up by a local sheriff awaiting transfer to her local precinct tomorrow. And I'm sure I don't have to tell you what they'll do to the girl once they have her. The boys'll probably be put in an Imperial orphanage. But with attacking a soldier like that, she'll likely be next on the list for the Nightly Broadcasts."

  "So what do we do?" Jonny said.

  "We go and stake out the Jasper City Police Station and see exactly what we're dealing with. And then we get those kids out of there... tonight."

  Jonathan put his full attention back on the road. "We'll be there in about an hour and a half, maybe two hours, so take some time to clear your heads and maybe even get some rest between now and then. I need both of you to be as ready as you can be. Whatever it takes. This is three young kids' lives we're talking about here. I intend to get them out of there no matter what. You guys with me?"

  "Yeah," Jonny said.

  "Absolutely." Yusef nodded.

  ***

  Between the cold, the pale fluorescent lights, and the surrealism of exactly where they were and all that had happened to bring them there, the room was spinning all around Alexandria as she sat there, Jeremy clutching one side of her and Rudy clutching the other. She had been shushing them for some time, cooing and patting their backs and whispering all kinds of bullshit about everything being okay and whatever else would come to her head that sounded reasonably hopeful in the midst of an unreasonably hopeless situation. She still couldn't get that cop's face out of her mind. He had looked at her like a coy and hungry lion, approaching its prey with full lustful knowledge of its fear, as if the fear itself was more satisfying than the meat it needed to survive.

  If the sheriff hadn't come when he did, she was sure she would be dead now. And who knew what that crazy fucker would have done to Jeremy and Rudy afterward. At least this way, the boys would have a chance. However, she had less than twenty-four hours before they would get transferred back to Shelby and then it was game over. The room around her took on new clari
ty as her eyes focused on something, anything, to try and take her mind off of this realization. She pulled the boys closer, trying to comfort herself now. She was resigned to the knowledge that there was no way out now. Miracles never happen and no one would come to save them. Alexandria let the sob building up in her chest release and she wept as she held her brothers for what she was sure would be the last time.

  ***

  Braldon, Yusef, and Jonny sat in the rusty green truck parked behind an old abandoned house about a block down the road from the Jasper City police station. The fenced in yard and large leafy oak tree gave more than enough cover to keep anyone curious from happening along. Braldon had a small radio device with two long bunny ear antennas sticking up and out from it sitting on the dash. After about ten minutes of hearing an assortment of conversations from the surrounding houses, Braldon finally was able to tweak it to just the right setting so that the majority of what they were hearing came from the police station with a bit of static and cross talk from other places in between.

  They sat listening as the officers went through a number of conversations that gave the impression they were routine to the point of boring for each officer. The Sheriff, however, seemed to have other things going on. The man was constantly scribbling away on a notepad of some sort and his heartbeat was nearly louder than the background static. At one point he whispered a short conversation to himself.

  "They're just kids for Christ sakes..."

  "I can't keep this shit up. I have to do something..."

  There was some rustling around in the room and then the scratch of pencil scribbling on paper returned.

  Jonny looked at Braldon. "You think we oughta try getting in touch with this guy and see if we can't work together?"

  "How? If I had to guess, I'd say every goddamn government communication device in this entire country is tapped somehow."