Midnight Squad: The Ties That Bind

by J. L. M. Visada

  “We’d never make it. General Garrett’s replacement is down there. He made sure they came ready for anything.” Penny whispered.

  “So what you’re saying is that we’re screwed.” I felt my lower lip start trembling. A panic attack was about to set in. It should have helped that Penny was being so calm, but instead, I not only felt my panic attack about to get the better of me, but now I felt like a big chicken, as well.

  Penny gave me a determined look, “We will survive. Just trust me. Now stay here with Grim. I’m going to go down there and do a little reconnaissance. I’ll be back up here in an hour or so. If Grim wakes up, tell him what’s going on.”

  “I thought you’d already gone down. I mean you sounded like you’d wandered around down there.” I sounded fairly confused, but I just couldn’t figure out how she knew all this.

  Penny rolled her eyes, “I went to the roof and listened to them all very carefully. They might hide pretty well, but they still yammer nonstop. How do you think I found all this out? I’m going to sneak down and get an idea about what’s going on. I keep hearing screams, but it’s too muffled for me to figure out what everyone is up to down there. I might even try sneaking around outside to get a better idea about what these soldiers might have planned.”

  “If you can get out then maybe we could also?”

  Penny shook her head, “I’m…me. I mean, I can sneak around pretty much anywhere. Danika might be able to get away with me, but the rest of you wouldn’t stand a chance. Grim’s the sneakiest out of all of you and even he wouldn’t get twenty feet past the front door before they put a couple thousand rounds into his ass. Now relax, because you’re going to give yourself a coronary at this rate. You guys couldn’t get out, and once the sun starts peeking up over the horizon, the news vans will keep them from just shooting the place. So you just calm down, and I’ll go find out what I can. Now, please be patient because I’ll be back as soon as I can.” Penny smiled and slid off Grim. I heard the door close a few seconds later.

  Chapter 30

  I lay there for what seemed like forever. The only comfort I had was Grim nuzzling against me in his sleep. I felt sweat beading on my forehead. Panic was setting in. What if we couldn’t escape? What if they just came up here, kicked the door open, and then emptied their guns on us while Grim was cuddled up? I couldn’t escape. I just kept telling myself that Penny knew what to do, and to just stay here like Penny said. My heart kept thundering through my chest. I tried deep breathing, and visualizing a calm beach with a gentle ocean breeze. No matter how hard I tried to calm down, I just kept expecting bullets to come ripping through the door into us.

  Grim sighed and pulled me in closer. Strangely, that was much more comforting than I would have expected. That’s when I heard a loud boom from outside. I didn’t know what it was, but Grim suddenly got tense. I looked over and his eyes were wide awake.

  “What was that?”

  “It sounded like a sniper rifle, but that doesn’t make any sense.” Grim’s eyes shot open, “Where’s Penny?” I explained the best I could. The more I told him, the more terrified his face became. I passed on everything that Penny told me. When I finished, Grim was tense. “So you let Penny just go roaming around out there without telling anyone?” He was angry, but trying desperately to rein it in.

  “Yeah, I’m sorry. I thought it was a bad idea, but Penny was, well…she sounded so sure of everything.” I said sheepishly. The truth was that I was afraid, and once again I was willing to let someone else pay for my cowardice.

  Grim took a long calming breath, “She probably told you that to protect you. Penny’s sneaky that way. Now get dressed, and get ready. We need to go find her.”

  “So you think she’s okay?”

  Grim’s eyes turned icy, “She’d better be.”

  I felt my stomach turn to knots. Even the possibility of Penny being injured brought out an almost psychotic rage in the man. The scary part was that I wasn’t completely sure who he’d be directing that at if something went wrong. I was sure he’d definitely be going after the people that hurt her, but a part of me wondered if he wouldn’t blame me for letting her go. Would he come after me? My heart said no, but my head was still trying to understand why he forgave me for betraying him the first time. I guess it was safe to say that I still felt pretty guilty about betraying them, and I kept expecting them to come for their pound of flesh.

  Grim bounded out of bed and slid the body armor on. He didn’t even bother slipping on clothes over it. It was like he was getting ready to go to war, and maybe that’s what this was. It took me longer to get ready. Grim was all business, and I felt like I was slowing him down. My hands were trembling, and I couldn’t get my body armor on. I kept fighting to get my arm in the sleeve, but I was so stressed out that I ended up knocking over a lamp. That’s when I started crying.

  “What’s wrong?” Grim’s voice was hard and cold. He was getting ready for battle, and here I was, blubbering my head off.

  I wanted to just wipe my eyes, toughen up, and tell him hoo-rah, let’s go! Instead, I went from crying to sobbing hysterically, “I don’t want to die!” Snot bubbles were already forming in my nose. I tried to explain that I didn’t handle stress well, and that he would be better off going without me. Instead, what came out were squeaks and squeals at a pitch that I thought only dogs might hear.

  Grim’s arms wrapped around me, “It’ll be okay.”

  “No!” I sobbed and shook in his arms.

  “It’s going to be okay. We’ll go find Penny, and then we’ll figure out how to get out of here.” Grim was trying to soothe me the best he could. His arms were wrapped around me, and he was actually rocking me gently. After a few minutes I started to calm down. He kept rocking me, and kissing my forehead until I finally got myself under control.

  “Thank you.” I sniffled as I wiped my eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  Grim stared at me in confusion, “Sorry? For what?”

  “I’m sorry for crying, for panicking, for getting snot bubbles on your armor, and I’m sorry for dragging you all here. I really screwed things up this time.” I hung my head in shame.

  I felt Grim’s fingers lift my chin up, and then he kissed me. It wasn’t one of those get in your pants kisses he was planting on me last night. He kissed me gently. There was nothing in it but love, and comfort. “You don’t have to be sorry for any of this. I’d worry more about you if you didn’t panic over this kind of stuff. There’s no shame in crying when you’re upset. You didn’t screw things up. There was no way to know this was going to happen. So cut yourself some slack.” Grim gave me another kiss, and then he gave me a playful smile. “Now, as for the snot bubbles that have decided to take up residence on my body armor, well I’m sure that we can come up with a suitable punishment for that after we find Penny.”

  “How can you and Penny be so calm about everything?” I asked. I still felt like a scared chicken.

  “My home has been battlefields off and on for the last ten years. I hate to say this, but I’m kind of used to crazy being my normal. So yeah, I adjust pretty quickly. As for Penny, you heard some of her life. Frankly, if you’d had to deal with what she’s dealt with then you’d probably take most of this stuff as just another day at the office, as well. Of course, The Darkness has her pretty spooked, but she won’t admit it if she can help it. Frankly, you should be happy that this stuff still scares you, because if it doesn’t then it means you’ve had a lot of horrible things happening to you.” Grim said and then gave me one more reassuring kiss.

  I took a deep breath, “Let’s go get the others and find Penny.”

  “That’s my girl. Now, when we get out there, you stay right behind me, and try to watch the areas that I’m not. Stay far enough back that when you turn your head you can see me in your peripheral vision. If I look left then you look right, and vice versa. The last thing I want is something catching us by surprise.” Grim said as he helped me finish slipping on my uniform.

&
nbsp; I tried not to grin too much, but there was just something about being called his girl that made me feel all fluttery inside. I like to think of myself as an empowered woman, but I guess I still have a ways to go before I qualify as a true hardcore feminist. There’s a part of me that believes being a feminist still allows you to enjoy being feminine, and anyone that says I’m wrong never had a man hold them like they were a precious treasure before. We slipped outside and started gathering everyone. Niki uncuffed Jes after we had everyone else gathered up. The only person missing was Penny.

  “Okay, we stay together, and we keep an eye out for Penny. She might be hurt.” Grim said, and his voice cracked a little when he said hurt. I’m sure he was wondering if she was even worse off. I closed my eyes and tried my best to keep from thinking about the possibility she might be dead.

  Grim turned to the dullahans, “Twilight, Who…please tell me you found Janine’s body. If we get that body, then Janine can use it to sneak us out one at a time.”

  Who smiled, “Yes sir, she’s in the basement with some machine.”

  “Good job.” Grim turned to Katy, “Is everything set up? Can we trap her?”

  Katy smiled, “Oh yeah. I had those girls putting containment symbols on everything they could find. We can make our way down, and I can use my power to trap the body anywhere it goes. Then we’ll go find the coven and have them help me put Janine back into her body.”

  Grim smiled, “Okay, so the plan is we get to the basement, and then we trap her. You and the coven get Janine’s body back, and then we get the fuck out of here before those whack jobs outside are able to go through with their plan. Now let’s roll, people.”

  We reached the elevator, and Grim pressed the button. A minute later the elevator dinged, and the doors opened. Penny led about twenty people out. “Everyone off, and remember to stay away from the windows. We should be safe here.”

  We stood dumbfounded as they streamed out. The last two people off were Samuel Davis, the pastor that had been protesting the furry convention, and his daughter. They were both crying and shaking. Dried blood was clumping on their faces and clothes.

  “What happened? Niki asked.

  Penny shook her head, “Zombies everywhere. Most of the hotel’s been changed. There are stragglers that are still alive, but they won’t last long. I rescued the ones that I could and brought them up here. They’re safe up here while we bide our time. There are still a bunch trapped in one of the convention halls, but there’s about two hundred hungry biters blocking the doorway.”

  “Where’d they come from?” Danika asked.

  A man with a unicorn horn on his head and a long purple ponytail said, “It started with the furries. We were all in one of the halls watching Night of the Living Dead. A lot of the people were sick from food poisoning, but they still came down to watch the movie. It was late, and a lot of the people were falling asleep during the movie, and then three quarters of the way through they started attacking us. At first a lot of us thought they were just playing, but then one of the people got their nose bitten off, and ran screaming around the room. We realized right then that something really wrong was happening. By then it was too late, though. We were surrounded, and it was just luck that I was able to escape. Most of the others weren’t nearly as lucky. From then on, I’ve been running all night. They’ve been attacking everyone.”

  Penny nodded, “It started on the second floor, and has been spreading throughout the hotel. We’re the farthest away from where this all started, so we’ll be the last thing they get to. By that time there’ll be too many to fight off.”

  Janine squelched over the computer speakers, “Oh, shit! Look at this, people!”

  The screen flashed onto a news website. We all read in horror as it said the military was surrounding a hotel in Florida where a biological weapon had been released. Almost everyone in the hotel was dead or infected. There was video of someone from Homeland Security telling the press that all options were being considered, and that they guaranteed that all measures would be taken to ensure the prevention of the spread of the biological agent.

  “What does that mean?” Danika asked.

  The guy with the horn sputtered, “It means they’ll firebomb the shit out of this place.”

  “What makes you say that?” Penny asked. The rest of us were just too shocked to speak.

  “It’s a biological agent. The best option is to burn this place to the ground. It kills whatever caused this.” The man said.

  “What if it wasn’t a biological agent? What if it was something else?” Grim suddenly sounded very uncomfortable.

  “What else could it be?” Purple Ponytail said.

  “A lot of your people have been sick with what we thought was food poisoning. What if it wasn’t food poisoning? What if it was magic?” Grim asked.

  Purple Ponytail laughed, “Dude, you’ve really stepped off the reality train. Magic, come on.”

  “You can accept zombies, but not magic?” Grim stared at him in confusion.

  “This could be something that affects the thinking and behavior of its victims. Maybe it’s some kind of rabies, or mad cow disease. Maybe it’s something that affects their aggression levels while degrading their motor functions.” Purple Ponytail sounded very certain of himself.

  Grim nodded, “You might be right, but hear me out anyway. What if what everyone thought was food poisoning was really those people slowly changing into zombies? The people that ate those chicken nuggets all got food poisoning, and that coven cast some kind of ritual magic on those chicken nuggets. Maybe anyone that ate those became a zombie?” Grim was asking, but I could see in his eyes that he already thought he knew the answer to this. His eyes turned to Katy, “Is that possible?”

  Katy shrugged, “Yeah, it’s possible, but unlikely. None of them have anywhere near the power they’d need to pull this off.”

  “Yeah, but what if someone was helping them. Someone with some real power…is that possible?” Penny asked.

  Katy thought about it, “Yeah, but we’re talking some serious power here, and that means they’ve been doing a hell of an acting job, because I didn’t have the slightest clue that they were up to anything screwy.”

  Purple Ponytail snorted, “Come on! Magic…Zombies. What next, vampires and werewolves?”

  Penny and Danika both laughed and extended their hands, “Hi, welcome to reality.”

  “That’s just silly.” Purple Ponytail just couldn’t believe it.

  “Silly or not, it’s true. Danika, do you want to convince him, or should I?” Penny questioned.

  “It should be you, if I wolf out in front of these people they might run back down to the zombies just because they feel safer.” Danika said with a smile.

  Penny opened her mouth and let her fangs slowly open so that the man could watch them fully extend. Then she tilted her head up so that he could see it wasn’t just some really amazing costume piece. “This is an amazing bit of body modification.”

  “Body modification…you think this is like a pierced nipple?” Penny stood with her mouth open.

  “Well, it’s certainly extensive, and you must have had an amazing doctor. Just restructuring the musculature to allow for the fangs to do that would require an amazing knowledge of anatomy.”

  “You’ve never heard about us before? Where have you been? I mean, we’re on commercials everywhere. The Midnight Squad…Ben and Jerry’s released a flavor named after us. Come on, you had to have heard about the vampire, the werewolf, the witch, and the ghost that saved the world with some humans?” Danika said in shock.

  Purple Ponytail just shook his head, “Midnight Squad…ahh, yes. They were all over the news. It was an amazing bit of publicity. Their illusions are amazing.”

  “Illusions, you think all this is an illusion?” Penny sputtered.

  “Well, of course. Why wouldn’t I? It was definitely a great bit of marketing, but anyone that believes that they…oh, I’m sorry…that you are re
ally a vampire, is just a moron.” Purple Ponytail sounded very sure of himself.

  “But I really am a vamp…“ Penny never finished the sentence. I think she's having a really difficult time accepting that anyone could be so confident and still so wrong.

  Grim held up a hand, “It doesn’t really matter whether those things are zombies, or something else. What matters is we’ve got our hands full, and we don’t need to be wasting our time debating this.

  “So, what does this mean for Janine?” I asked.

  Katy stared at me, and it was almost like I could see the wheels turning in her head. She was really thinking about everything that had happened up until now. Finally, a sly smile grew on her face, “Well if they’ve been trying to be sneaky, then they did too good a job. They’ve been carrying out my instructions to the letter. So if we get down there I can still trap the body. Then, I’ll need you all to help me perform the ritual that returns Janine to her body.

  “So, what are we going to do with these people?” Penny asked.

  Grim looked around at them all, and then said, “Anyone that wants to come with us, can. We’ll probably be up to our eyeballs in zombies, but the more we stay together, the easier a time we’ll have fighting our way through them. It’ll be dangerous. If you don’t want to come with us, then you can stay up here, and hope that we make it to Janine and get back before the zombies get here. If you wait up here, you might end up trapped, and when that happens, you are as good as zombie chow. So figure out what you are going to do fast, because we’re leaving right now.” Grim turned and started to move to the elevator when Samuel’s daughter started crying.

  In spite of her father, we all liked the girl. Her father was a complete tool, but she and her mother both seemed nice. Then it struck me, where was her mother? “Penny, what happened earlier? We heard a gunshot.”

  Penny looked sad, “I was rescuing these people from the zombie horde, but we got too close to one of the windows. A sniper was trying to shoot me, but got her mother instead. She was dead before she ever hit the floor.”