by Brandon Hale
“How?” Natasha asked.
The man pulled a cigarette from behind his ear and put it in his mouth. “I appreciate you guys allowing us to smoke here,” he said as he lit the cigarette. “That’s one thing I like better about the vampire world. Before, you couldn’t smoke any-damn-where.”
“How?” Natasha repeated.
“This,” Val said, “is exactly why I’ve been bothering you about installing cameras inside the facilities.”
“I’ll definitely concede that argument,” Natasha said. She looked at the man again and said, “Tell me how you did this?”
“About seven this morning,” the man said, “I was playing cards with Ed. He’s one of the dead people there. He needed a four to get a full house, so I looked at him and said, ‘Ed, if you pull a four from that deck, I swear to God I’ll kill every person in this place.’ He pulled a four and laughed. I guess he thought I was joking or something.”
“I didn’t ask why,” Natasha said. “I asked how.”
“Wasn’t hard,” the man explained. “You guys had gone back to your graves or whatever. It was still early, so most of these guys were still asleep. The majority of the poor bastards woke to a slit throat from a kitchen knife. Once I finished the last one, I spent the day carrying them here. I just figured it’d be a better presentation for you folks when you came back.”
Natasha looked at Val. “How did he end up with these people? I thought we purged the prisons.”
The man laughed. “I love how you folks say purge when you mean kill. Besides, surely you understand that not all prisoners are psychos and not all psychos are prisoners. I guess I fall into that second category. We don’t all get caught.”
“And surely you understand,” Natasha said, “that the punishment for murder is death.”
The man nodded. “Yeah, I thought about that. I guess I’m going on the hope that you’ll see the value in not killing me.”
“What value could a human serial killer possibly be to us?”
“Mass murderer,” the man said. “In the old world, I was a serial killer, sure. But after today, I think I prefer mass murderer.”
Natasha’s eyes narrowed. “I’m getting tired of this. You didn’t answer my question.”
The man took a final puff of his cigarette, then put it out on the floor. “We hear things in here. We hear guards talking about your problems, stuff like that. We know the Day Soldiers are still around, for example. It gave most of these folks hope, but it just annoyed me.”
“Friend,” Natasha said, “you have about ten seconds to get to the point.”
The man grinned. “I have an idea!” He ran across the court and grabbed the large chalkboard. He rolled the board close to Natasha and Val, then said, “Talk to each other about the Day Soldiers.”
Natasha sighed. “Val, kill him.”
“Come on,” the man said. “Even if you kill me, give me this. Go on. Talk to each other about the Day Soldiers. Talk about how you can’t catch them or something like that.”
Val looked at Natasha. “Do you really want me to kill him?”
Natasha shrugged. “I’ll be honest here. This guy has me conflicted. He’s just… hypnotic.”
“Yeah,” Val said. “Now you understand why I wanted you to come here pers—”
An awful screeching sound echoed across the basketball court. They both turned to see the man dragging his fingernails across the chalkboard.
“Y’all know me,” he said. “I hunt people and I kill em. I’ll catch these Day Soldiers for you, but it ain’t gonna be easy. Just make me a vampire. For that, you get the girl, her friends, the whole damn team.”
Val and Natasha just stared at him.
The man’s grin widened. “It’s that scene from the greatest shark movie ever made! You know, where the old dude scratches the chalk board then promises to go kill the shark. Only instead of a shark, I was talking about Day Soldiers. I love that scene!”
“Okay,” Val said. “I’ll kill him.”
Natasha looked at the strange man for a moment, then asked, “What makes you think you can find them?”
The man’s grin disappeared. He stared at her with cold, serious eyes. “I’m a hunter, that’s how I know. I’ve hunted human beings for decades. I’ve never failed to catch my prey and I’ve never been caught. Your people have the abilities of a hunter, but they don’t have a hunter’s heart. I think you’re creating the weakest generation of vampires this world has ever seen. They’re designed to hunt. They’re designed to kill. But you’re feeding them. You’re domesticating them.”
“Interesting,” Natasha said.
“I suspect the last true vampires are the ones born before the war.” He pointed at one of the guards. “That guy’s not a vampire. He’s never killed a man in his life. He drinks from the blood farm you made here. He’s never had to use the power he was given. You won the war against humanity, but the price will be the extinction of your own kind... because they’ll become something new. Something new and weak.”
“Evolution isn’t extinction,” Natasha said.
“If you say so,” the man said with a dismissive wave. “But don’t think for a second these people will catch those Day Soldiers. They won’t. Those soldiers are hunters. They’re strong and they’re smart. And it’ll take a hunter’s instinct to find em.”
“And your only price,” Natasha said, “is that we make you a vampire.”
The man nodded. “I can’t think of anything more valuable than eternity. I gotta stay away from death.”
“Why?” This time it was Val asking the question.
“Because,” the man said, “God has already let me know that I’m damned.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small red handkerchief. He unfolded it to reveal a small crucifix.
Val gave a slight snarl.
“Relax,” Natasha said.
“Yeah,” the man said. “Relax. This ain’t for any of you.”
With the handkerchief still wrapped around the bottom of the cross, he held it in his left hand without actually touching the crucifix itself. He took a deep breath, then slowly pressed the open end against the skin of his right forearm.
Natasha’s eyes widened as the man’s skin began to burn. Smoke trailed up around the cross as it sank deeper into his bubbling skin.
After a few seconds, he pulled the crucifix away and again wrapped it in the handkerchief. “I told you,” he said as he put the cross back in his pocket. “I’m already damned.”
Val and Natasha stared at the cross-shape now burned into his forearm.
“You’re a vampire already,” Val whispered.
“You know better than that,” the man said. “I’m pretty sure you can smell my blood from there. I’m alive and you know it. I’m just damned.”
“What’s your name?” Natasha asked.
“Travis,” the man said.
“What’s your last name?”
“Travis.”
Val laughed. “Your name is Travis Travis?”
“No,” the man said, “my last name is Travis. My first name is Evan, but I don’t care for it. I’m fine if you just call me Travis.”
“Well, Travis,” Natasha said, “you’re an interesting man. Do you keep your promises?”
“That’s a dumb question,” Travis said. “If I didn’t keep my promises, I’d have no problem telling you I do, so either way the answer you’d get is yes.”
“I’m willing to trust you on this,” Natasha said.
Travis looked at her for a moment, then said, “Yes. I always keep my promises. You can believe it or not, but it’s true.”
“I believe it,” Natasha said. “Give me your promise that you’ll find the Day Soldiers we’re looking for. And give me your promise that you’ll bring me the Day Soldier named Lily Baxter. Alive.”
“I promise,” Travis said.
Natasha turned to Val. “Turn him.”
“No way,” Val said. “I know I promised to fol
low your orders, but there’s no way I’m drinking that guy’s blood. He’s a human that burns from the touch of a cross. Who knows what that’ll do to us.”
“It won’t do anything,” Natasha said. “I think it’s obvious why that happens.”
“I don’t care,” Val said. “I’m not putting his blood in my body. Let one of the guards do it.”
“No way,” Travis said. “I won’t be turned by one of those babies. That’s why I demanded to see the president. I assumed she was the oldest vampire here.”
“I’m not,” Natasha said. “Not by a long shot. But I think I can arrange a meeting with a vampire that will satisfy your criteria.”
“I want the oldest vampire here,” Travis said. “If you want me to bring you the Day Soldiers, that’s my fee.”
Natasha smiled. “Travis, the vampire I want you to meet is definitely the oldest vampire here. As a matter of fact, he might just be the oldest vampire on the planet.”
Travis smiled. “Now we’re talkin.”
Chapter 5
Hideaway One
“This place is incredible,” Lily said.
“This is the data room,” Charlotte explained. “It’s where we input and cross-reference the results of anything we figure out in the labs.” She thought for a moment, then added, “Which really isn’t much. ‘Dead end’ is the most common phrase you hear around this place.”
The room was large and circular. The walls were lined with computer stations. Most of the work stations were empty. Three researchers sat at three different computers, but the rest were currently unused. Lily, Scott, and the rest of the Iveyton team stood behind Charlotte. This was the first stop in their tour of the river facility.
“What are they working on?” Grung asked, pointing toward one of the workers.
“Finding potential Day Soldier facilities,” Charlotte said. “After the big assault, we gave up on doing anything else. Just didn’t seem important anymore.”
“Seems to me,” Scott said, “finding potential allies would be more important now, not less.”
“I would agree with you,” Charlotte said, “if we had any reason to believe there’s a good creature out there. Most of us don’t think so anymore.”
“That’s surprising,” Scott said.
“And disappointing,” Grung added.
Charlotte nodded. “Yeah. We all joined this team with high hopes. Looking back on it, though, I don’t think it was hope so much as it was just blind faith.”
“So you’ve never found anything?” Lily asked. “Not even a small lead?”
“Sadly,” Charlotte said, “no. I’ve been with this department for four years, and every lead we’ve ever followed turned out to be a complete waste of time.”
“I’m not surprised,” Carl said. “The Searcher Division was created on a flawed premise to begin with.”
“I don’t know about that,” Scott said.
“I do,” Carl said. “It’s horribly flawed. It was born from the determination that vampires are inherently evil. I still don’t buy that. They’re slaves to their need for blood, sure. They lack the ability to think beyond that need. I can accept that. But evil? That’s completely subjective.”
“Spoken like a sniper,” Lily said.
“I don’t know what that has to do with anything,” Carl said.
“After you face one up close,” Lily said, “you’ll change your position. You’ll see it in their eyes. You’ll feel it charge the air around them.”
“I doubt that,” Carl said, “but it doesn’t matter. Even if they are evil, the premise behind the Searcher Division is still flawed.”
“How?” Scott asked.
“It’s based on an arbitrary belief that karma exists in nature,” Carl said. “The existence of an inherently evil creature doesn’t guarantee the existence of an inherently good creature. It doesn’t even suggest it. The Day Soldiers decided vampires are evil. Then they decided there must be some good equivalent. So they created an entire division to find this thing, even though there’s no evidence it exists. They’re searching for something they made up. That’s dumb.”
“Being honest,” Charlotte said, “most of us have come to the same conclusion.”
“I don’t agree,” Grung said. “Twenty years ago, that would’ve made sense, but not anymore. Once the world learned that vampires and werewolves were real, everything changed. After that, any possibility should be explored.”
“No,” Carl said. “Everything didn’t change. Two things changed. We learned vampires and werewolves were real. That’s it. For years, we thought the giant squid was nothing but a Greek myth. After we discovered they were real, we didn’t suddenly start believing in Zeus again because all bets were off.”
“I still disagree,” Grung said.
“Why?” Carl asked. He looked genuinely confused.
“Because,” Grung said, “you’re the one saying it.”
Carl sighed. “I don’t know why you guys have such a problem with me.”
“You’re back!” Ellie said as she walked into the room from the doorway on the other side. “From now on, you’re not allowed to go on any missions without me, no matter what Wallace says.”
She ran straight to Carl and gave him a powerful hug.
“We love you too,” Grung mumbled.
“Shut up,” Ellie said as she pulled away from Carl. “I knew you guys would be fine. But Carl is a sniper. He’s not trained for the up-close stuff.”
“I held my own,” Carl said with a smile.
Ellie took Carl’s hand and began to pull him toward the hallway. “Come on, guys,” she said. “If you’re done in here, let me show you the rest of the facility. They actually have a ping pong table in the rec room.”
Grung watched as most of the team followed Ellie and Carl into the hallway. Once they were out of sight, he said, “I really don’t like that guy. I don’t know why exactly.”
“It’s a real mystery,” Lily said with a smirk.
Scott laughed.
“What?” Grung asked.
Ellie poked her head in from the hallway. “You guys coming?”
Lily looked at Grung. “A ping pong table does sound pretty cool.”
Grung sighed. “Yeah, I guess.”
“If it’s cool with you guys,” Scott said, “I’m gonna hang back and poke around their computers for a bit.”
“Sure thing,” Lily said. She turned to Charlotte and said, “Watch out for this guy. He’s a charmer.”
Charlotte chuckled. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I’m not into werewolves.”
“Wolfist,” Scott said.
Lily laughed. “Have fun with your computers, Howler.”
“Dammit, Ellie,” Scott said, “that name better not stick.”
“Come on, already,” Ellie said. “We can play doubles. Guys versus girls. Me and Lily against you and Carl.”
“Oh, joy,” Grung said as he and Lily followed Ellie down the hallway.
“A rec room,” Scott said as the others left the research area. “Pretty fancy for an emergency bunker.”
“It’s more than an emergency bunker,” Charlotte said. “This place was one of the very first facilities built by the Day Soldiers. Originally, it was meant to be a completely self-sufficient research station. During the first few years, this place had a full staff, but as it became more and more evident that we weren’t really accomplishing anything, most of the researchers were transferred to the Information Division.”
Scott nodded. “Not surprising. They considered it a waste of talent to use them for research when they could actually be helping with the war effort.”
“Yeah,” Charlotte said. “This place was built in the early days of the war. They chose this mountain because there were so many coal mines in the area. It made construction inconspicuous.”
“And the river is a source of water and power, I’m guessing.”
Charlotte nodded. “Yeah. Although, the river only provides p
art of our power. Most of it is from the generators on the bottom floor. All in all, we’ve got enough power to last another five years or so.”
“Impressive,” Scott said. “I do think Carl had a point, though. I’m really surprised the big-wigs would spend so much effort on a Searcher Facility.”
Charlotte smiled. “This isn’t just a searcher facility. It’s the search facility. I think the Swiss have a similar lab, but other than that, we’re all there is. To be honest, I was surprised you guys found us. This place redefined ‘Top Secret.’ As far as we knew, only about three hundred people knew this place existed and most of them had no idea it was the searcher facility.”
“We got lucky,” Scott said. “We picked up a kid around the Canadian border that had you on his map. He said he used to make deliveries here. Out of all our soldiers, he was the only one with this location. That gave us hope.”
“What’s his name?”
“Jerome Becket, I think,” Scott said.
Charlotte laughed. “I know Jerry. He delivered here quite a few times. Is he with the rest of your team? The ones coming from the cave?”
“No,” Scott said with an uncomfortable sigh. “We were attacked by a group of zealots in Maryland. They killed sixteen of our people. Jerome was one of them.”
“That’s horrible,” Charlotte said. “What the hell are zealots?”
Scott couldn’t contain his sneer. “Humans,” he said. “They claim to worship the werewolves as gods, but that’s bullshit. They just use that as an excuse to hide in the woods without being killed. And the werewolves love it. They use them to guard the border regions.”
“You’re a werewolf,” Charlotte said. “You ever tried to use that to your advantage?”
Scott laughed humorlessly. “They call us fallen gods. We have no influence. I think it just shows that they’re not following some belief structure. They just picked a side.”
“Sounds like it,” Charlotte agreed.
Scott looked at one of the computers. “So you’re okay with me exploring your database? I find the searchers fascinating.”
“Sure,” Charlotte said. “I’m pretty sure you’ll be disappointed.”
“Do I need a login code or anything?”
