Day Soldiers (Book 2): Purging Fires

by Brandon Hale

  “Put down the stake and I’ll consider it,” Travis said. “Not that it can kill me or anything. It just hurts like hell.”

  Greg climbed to his feet, ran across the room, and stood beside Carl. “You have an extra stake? He took mine.”

  “No,” Carl said. “Mine’s still on the bed.”

  “I’m not putting down the stake, Travis,” Lily said. “You want it? You’re going to have to come take it.”

  “Fair enough,” Travis said. He looked at Enrico and said, “Kill your prisoner.”

  “Can I feed on her?” Enrico asked.

  “Dammit, Enrico,” Travis said. “You’re not supposed to question me in front of people.”

  “I wasn’t questioning your order,” Enrico said. “I was just asking for clarification about how you wanted me to kill her.”

  “You did it again!” Travis said. “When I chastise you, you’re supposed to just say, ‘Sorry, master,’ then look disappointed. And maybe a little afraid.”

  “Sorry, master,” Enrico said.

  “If you’re going to kill me,” Ellie said, “please do it. Death would be better than hearing you two bicker.”

  Enrico glanced at Ellie, then turned back to Travis. “Well?”

  “Well, what?”

  “Can I feed on her?”

  Travis looked at Lily. “Can you believe this?”

  “You never technically answered me,” Enrico said.

  Travis spun back to Enrico and yelled, “You’re the worst minion ever!”

  Taking advantage of the moment, Lily quickly dropped to one knee, picked the crossbow up from the floor, and fired it at Travis.

  Without looking away from Enrico, Travis effortlessly caught the bolt and flung it back toward Carl.

  Carl screamed as the small arrow sank into his right shoulder.

  “Don’t kill her yet,” Travis said to Enrico. A moment later, he was on the other side of the room.

  Before she was even back on her feet, Lily felt Travis grab her from behind. Within a second, he was holding both of her arms behind her back. She tried to break free but quickly realized just how futile the effort was.

  “Kill the nerd,” Travis said quietly.

  “Who are you talking to?” Lily asked.

  She knew the answer when she saw Greg tackle Carl. He wrapped both hands around Carl’s throat and began to strangle him.

  “Enjoy the show,” Travis whispered.

  “Greg!” Lily screamed. “He’s got control of your mind! You can resist it. Greg, listen to me! You can resist it!”

  Ignoring Lily’s screams, Greg tightened his grip on Carl’s throat. Lily watched helplessly as Carl gasped for air. Greg, who was significantly heavier than Carl, had a knee on each of Carl’s arms, pinning him to the floor.

  “I feel like playing a game,” Travis said.

  Travis forced Lily’s right hand to the holster on her hip. “Grab your gun,” he whispered, ignoring the smoke trailing up from their touching skin. “Take the gun or I’ll have Enrico kill the little one.”

  Once Lily had the pistol’s grip in her hand, Travis pointed her arm at Greg and Carl.

  “Free shot,” Travis said. “If you do nothing, the pilot will kill the nerd. If you pull the trigger, you’ll save the nerd, but kill the pilot.”

  Lily tried to move her hand, but couldn’t. Travis held her hand in place, making sure the gun was pointed at Greg’s head.

  “Just pull the trigger,” Travis said. “Look at the nerd. He’s dying.”

  “Let my team go,” Lily said, “and I’ll go with you.”

  “You’re going with me anyway,” Travis said.

  “Travis, please,” Lily said, not bothering to hide the panic in her voice.

  “The nerd’s dying,” Travis said. “I can hear the life slipping from his body. Look at him. He’s barely fighting now.”

  “Greg, please!” Lily screamed.

  Greg ignored her, continuing to choke the life from Carl.

  “Lily, shoot him!” Ellie screamed.

  Even in the dim light, Lily could see Carl’s eyes. He was looking directly at her. Tears poured from the corners of his eyes. He looked terrified.

  “He’s just a kid,” Travis whispered. “He’s not ready to die, but you’re going to let it happen. Your inaction is a choice. The pilot is clearly more important to you than the nerd.”

  Lily pulled the trigger.

  Greg’s head snapped to the side as the bullet hit his temple. He released his grip on Carl and fell to the floor, dead.

  Carl rolled over onto his knees, coughing violently.

  “Wow,” Travis said. “You shot him. You actually shot him.”

  Lily didn’t speak. She just looked at Greg’s body, horrified by her own action. Greg – a human being – was dead because of her. Her decision hadn’t come from a logical place. Her instinct had told her to fire, and Lily Baxter always followed her instinct.

  She wasn’t sure if she could ever trust her instinct again.

  Travis loosened his grip on her hand and she let the gun fall to the floor. He forced her right arm behind her back again.

  Still coughing, Carl climbed to his feet and grabbed the stake from his bed.

  “What are you gonna do, nerd?” Travis asked. “Your hero here is blocking my chest. The only way to get to my heart is to drive the stake through her.”

  “You want me to kill this one yet?” Enrico asked.

  “Not yet,” Travis said. “I want to see what our nerd is planning.”

  Carl stopped just inches from Lily and Travis. “You killed a good man.”

  “I didn’t kill him,” Travis said. “She did.”

  Carl calmly looked down at the stake in his hand.

  “Carl,” Ellie said, “what the hell are you doing?”

  “I think we broke his brain,” Travis said. “Nerd, if you think you’re going to stab me through her, I’m afraid I can’t let that happen. She’s the one person I need to keep alive.”

  Carl roared and stabbed Travis in the face, directly between the eyes.

  Travis let out his own roar, letting go of Lily to pull the stake from his face. As soon as he released his grip, Lily spun around and punched him in the face. Travis fell against the wall as Lily continued to punch him wildly. His skin bubbled and burned with every hit.

  Enrico threw Ellie to the side and dashed toward the fight. Carl jumped behind Lily – who was still pounding Travis in the face – and faced Enrico.

  Enrico slid to a stop and said, “You have no weapons, boy. What are you going to do, threaten me with your mean face?”

  “No,” Carl said through clenched his teeth as he pulled the crossbow bolt from his shoulder. “I’m going to drive this through your heart.”

  Lily continued to punch Travis with her left hand while she pulled the stake from his head with her right hand. Travis wailed as Lily drove the stake into his heart.

  “What’s wrong, tough guy?” Carl said to Enrico. “Did seeing your master get his ass kicked shake your confidence?”

  “Enough with the damn banter!” Lily yelled. She had both hands on the end of the stake, holding it in place. “Kill the bastard!”

  Still looking at Enrico, Carl said, “I can’t just attack him, boss. He’s too fast. I have to keep him distracted.”

  Too late, Enrico remembered Ellie. He spun around just in time to see her drive a stake into his heart. He took one step back, then fell to the ground. Unlike Travis, the stake killed Enrico instantly.

  “Help me get him to the ground,” Lily said. She was using the stake to hold Travis’s limp form against the wall. “My arms are getting very tired here.”

  Ellie and Carl helped lower Travis to the floor while Lily kept the stake in place.

  “What are we going to do with him?” Ellie asked.

  “We’re going with Greg’s idea,” Lily said. “It’s getting light outside. When it’s completely daylight, we’ll drag him into the sunlight and hope t
hat kills him.”

  “It won’t,” Travis whispered weakly.

  Lily punched him in the face. “Shut up.”

  “Maybe we should just cut him into twenty pieces and bury the parts all across the country,” Carl said.

  “Are you kidding?” Ellie asked.

  “I’m not sure,” Carl said.

  Ellie looked at Greg’s body. “What should we do with him?”

  “Can one of you take over here,” Lily said. “I really need some air.”

  “Sure,” Ellie said as she grabbed the stake and crawled on top of Travis.

  Lily walked through the broken glass doors and stepped onto the balcony. She walked to the edge and looked at the town in the pre-dawn light. She felt sick.

  She actually felt worse than the day she killed Leo. With Leo, she had known what to do. She had killed him because she loved him. But with Greg…

  “Why’d you do it?” Carl asked softly as he stepped onto the balcony.

  “I don’t know,” Lily said. “I wish I could say I did it because I knew it was our best chance at survival. I mean, Greg was under his control. You weren’t.”

  “If you hadn’t done it,” Carl said, “we’d be dead and you’d be a prisoner.”

  “I know,” Lily said. “And I wish I could say that was in my mind when I pulled the trigger, but I don’t think it was.”

  “What was in your mind?”

  “I’m not sure,” Lily said. “It happened fast, Carl. One second, Travis was arguing with Enrico. The next, he was forcing me to decide between you and Greg. I didn’t have time to weigh all the options.”

  “Maybe you did,” Carl said. “Maybe you knew, somewhere deep down, that we would die if you didn’t pull that trigger.”

  “Maybe,” Lily said, “but I don’t think so.”

  “Well, don’t think about it too much,” Carl said. “You did what you did and we’re alive because of it.”

  Lily turned around and looked at Carl. “I think I know why I did it.”

  “Why?”

  “Because you’re Ellie’s Leo,” Lily said. As soon as the word “Leo” came from her mouth, tears began to trickle down her cheeks. “And I’ve been thinking about Leo a lot in the last few days.”

  “I think I understand,” Carl said.

  Lily laughed softly through her tears. “No, you don’t.”

  Carl smiled. “No, I don’t. But that’s okay. You saved my life by doing something that’s going to haunt you for the rest of yours. I am forever in your debt.”

  “No, you’re not,” Lily said. “We have a ‘no debts’ rule on the B-Team. And make no mistake, little man. When you stabbed Travis in the face, you became a full member of this team.”

  “I’ll leave you alone now,” Carl said as he turned around and started to walk back inside.

  “Carl,” Lily said, “don’t start evaluating your worth. It wasn’t about who deserved to live and who deserved to die.”

  Carl stopped, but didn’t turn around. “It kinda was.”

  “No,” Lily said. “It was just some crazy shit that happened. Nothing more, nothing less.”

  Carl turned around. “That’s true,” he said, “but it’s also more than that. Greg died so I could live. I didn’t know him all that well, but I think you did exactly what Greg wanted you to do. He just couldn’t say it.”

  “I think so too,” Lily said. She was surprised by the fact that she actually believed it. “If I had let him kill you, it would have devastated him. I don’t think he’d have come back from it.”

  “Right,” Carl said. “But no matter what was in his head at the time, he died so I could live. I’m not going to shrug that off as some crazy shit that just happened. I’m going to make his sacrifice mean something. I’m going to make your sacrifice mean something.”

  “I killed a man,” Lily said. “I didn’t sacrifice anything.”

  “Bullshit,” Carl said, “and you know it. Don’t stand there and act like this won’t follow you until the day you die.”

  “It’s gonna be hard to give you crap from now on,” Lily said.

  Carl grinned. “I don’t believe that for a second.”

  “Go help Ellie,” Lily said. “We should never leave someone alone with that monster. I’ll be in shortly.”

  “Thank you, Lily,” Carl said.

  “Get inside,” Lily said. “That’s an order, soldier.”

  “Yes, sir,” Carl said, then turned around and walked inside.

  Lily turned around and looked at the town again. At one time, this place was a tourist town. People came here to laugh and have fun. They came here to have their imaginations sparked by crazy stories of spaceships and aliens. Back then, the town was a happy place.

  Now, it was a graveyard.

  Lily could barely remember life before the war, but the thought that this graveyard used to be a place where people came for fun angered Lily. The Legion had taken everything from humanity. Everything.

  Even fun.

  She felt something vibrate from her belt. She quickly pulled her headset from the belt and put it on her ear. “Baxter here.”

  “Hello, Lily.” It was Abbie. “I have something very important to ask you.”

  Chapter 22

  The Duel

  Dawn came too fast. Grung had played with the sword provided, but he definitely didn’t consider it adequate training.

  The werewolves had built a wooden platform in the center of the resort. It was basically a large square, big enough to hold a small house. It stood on stilts about a hundred feet above the ground.

  The ground beneath the platform was covered with upraised spears. All of them were silver.

  The entire center area of the resort was full of werewolves. Most of them were in human form, but some were wolves. The crowd cleared a path for Grung and Scott as they walked toward the structure.

  Talbot stood on the platform, looking down at the crowd. “Grung!” he yelled with a smile. “Come on up. The fun’s about to begin.”

  “Good luck,” Scott said.

  Grung gave him a single nod then climbed the ladder attached to one of the support legs of the structure. When he reached the platform, he saw that Talbot was holding a sword that looked identical to his own. It was a one-handed long sword, similar to the kind used by knights in the Middle Ages. Its blade was long and straight, sharp on both edges.

  “This is your last chance, Grung,” Talbot said. “Join us. I would much rather see you on my team than dead at my feet.”

  “Not gonna happen,” Grung said.

  “You’re not a human anymore,” Talbot said. “You’re not one of them.”

  Grung pointed his sword at Talbot. “It’s not going to happen.”

  Talbot sighed. “Very well. I have high hopes that you’ll be a bit of a challenge. Please don’t disappoint me.”

  Grung glance down at the crowd and said, “Why aren’t they watching us? Is that some kind of weird werewolf tradition?”

  “No,” Talbot said as he looked at the crowd.

  Nearly everyone was looking in the opposite direction. They were looking toward the road leading into the resort.

  “Maybe you have company?” Grung said.

  “I’m impressed,” Talbot said, still trying to see what had the crowd’s attention. “A lesser man would have tried to strike while I was looking at the crowd. You didn’t. You want this to be a fair fight. I was right about you. You have honor.”

  “Actually,” Grung said, “it just didn’t occur to me. So are we going to do this or not?”

  Talbot sniffed the air. “Not yet,” he said. “Maybe not ever.” He leapt from the platform, easily clearing the traps below, and disappeared into the crowd.

  Grung ran to the edge of the platform, but stopped before jumping. “Screw that,” he said as he walked toward the ladder. “I’ll learn to be a werewolf later.”

  Grung worked his way through the crowd and eventually came out to see Talbot facing a ma
n in the center of the road. Talbot blocked his view of the man’s face, but he could see that thousands of werewolves – all in wolf form – stood behind the man. Whoever he was, he had brought an army.

  Grung stepped to the side to get a better look and was stunned when he saw Commander Wallace facing Talbot. Scott was standing behind the commander.

  “Grung, get over here,” Scott said.

  Grung jogged across the space between the two armies and stood beside Scott.

  Talbot was the first to speak. “Hi, Dad.”

  “I’m here to claim my place as the leader of these wolves,” Wallace said. “And I’m not your father.”

  “You don’t have the right to challenge me,” Talbot said. “You’re a traitor to your people, including your own daughter.”

  “The army behind me gives me the right,” Wallace said. “And make no mistake, Talbot. Despite your claims of honor, you are the traitor. You allied yourself with parasites. These people trusted you and you betrayed their trust by forcing them to embrace a darkness that is beneath our kind.”

  “I accept your challenge,” Talbot said. “But first, I have to kill Daciana’s killer.”

  “I am Daciana’s killer,” Wallace said. “Grung dealt the killing blow, but she died while attacking me. Grung killed her from behind.”

  “You killed your own daughter,” Talbot snarled, “and you preach to me of honor? If we were in the old world—”

  “I’ll let you in on a little secret,” Wallace interrupted. “All of you.” He snatched the sword from Grung’s hand, transformed into his wolf form, leapt onto the roof of a nearby building, then shifted back to his human form. “The old world code,” he said, speaking loudly enough for everyone to hear, “is stupid! Did you all hear that? The old code that Talbot loves so dearly… is stupid.”

  From the ground, Talbot snarled.

  “Growl all you want, kid,” Wallace said. He looked at the other wolves. “The old code is ridiculous! You all have minds. Use them! Why do you follow a werewolf based on his ability to win a damn sword fight? Follow your hearts instead!” He pointed a finger at Talbot. “He can spout off about honor all he wants, but you all know the truth. He didn’t fight this war because he cares about the fate of the world. He fought this war because he likes to kill!”