“Hold on a sec,” Lewis turned to Denny. “Who’s on duty in the guardroom?”
Denny seemed flummoxed and his aggressive demeanour deflated a little. “Err, well it was Collins but I guess no one is now.”
“Right,” Lewis said, taking control, “Scovell - get your uniform on and get to the guardroom as quickly as possible.”
“Aw sir, please, I was on duty last night. Can’t you get someone else.”
“Just do it!” Lewis barked. “I need you there right now. I’ll try to arrange for somebody to replace you as soon as possible but in the meantime get going.” He was not in the mood to argue.
Lewis now addressed those remaining. “I don’t want to disturb the entire base. We’ll take this down to the conference room.” Then he turned to Wood who hovered at the back. “Fetch Dr Singleton please? And Walkden. And Straddling too.”
Wood nodded and as he was turning away he tried to catch Collins’s eye once more but the floor still fixed her attention. The officers led the two guilty-looking corporals down to the conference room with Millington trailing them by a few steps. He had not exactly been invited to go along but he had not been told to stay behind either. Still feeling protective towards his best mate, he thought he might yet be of some use and wanted to find out what it was that Bannister was being accused of. He was wearing nothing more than a pair of black tracksuit trousers and despite his bulk he moved smoothly and effortlessly along the darkened corridors.
Singleton was the last to arrive. The others were already sat around a single candle in the conference room. Bannister looked sullen and angry. As before Collins stared down, not meeting anyone’s eye and Denny still fidgeted although the gun was now replaced in its holster, much to Lewis’s relief.
“What on earth’s going on?” Singleton looked puzzled and worried.
Lewis said nothing but turned to look at Denny who finally seemed to calm down a little.
“I've had my suspicions these last couple of days, ever since the scavenging mission returned from the petrol station,” he started. “There was talk of vampires and Bannister being bitten but nobody seemed to be taking it seriously. So, I realized that I needed to keep an eye out myself. I had to make sure we were all safe and stop any intruders from breaking in.”
Lewis raised an eyebrow and shot a quizzical look at Singleton who seemed equally surprised by this admission. It was true; the talk of vampires had been all but glossed over. It had taken someone close to breaking point, someone whose grasp on reality had arguably slipped further than theirs, to rise to the possibility of this new, fantastical-sounding menace.
“As commander of this base the safety of the troops is my overall responsibility,” Denny continued, talking quickly and sounding highly excited. “The buck stops with me and I am determined to keep this station safe for all of us. If that has meant going out on patrol at night by myself then so be it. As I said, I had my suspicions and tonight they were proved correct; I caught Corporal Collins fraternising with the enemy.”
“The enemy?” Singleton was baffled.
“Yes, talking to a demon.”
Her confusion obviously did not lessen and Denny started to get irritated. “You know - a vampire. I caught her huddled in the guardroom in confab with a vampire. Lord only knows what they were discussing or what would have happened if I hadn’t arrived when I did.”
He went on to briefly describe his altercation with Sebastian and how he had feared for his own life. By the time he had finished Collins was burning with embarrassment. She looked up now at Wood but it was his turn to avoid her eyes. He had retreated from the light and stood staring into space with an unreadable expression.
Singleton was utterly incredulous. “You don’t actually expect us to believe this nonsense about vampires do you? I mean I know we discussed it before, and I know the troops from the petrol station all corroborated each other’s stories, but this is madness.” She tailed off into exasperated silence and looked at Lewis for support. He just shrugged and glanced over at Straddling, expecting input from the station's most skeptical member, but for once Straddling looked less doubtful than normal.
When he caught the expression on Lewis’s face he too shrugged, looking sheepish. “I know I wasn’t exactly a firm believer in such tales before, but then these are not normal times. If I’m gonna buy into zombies, then bugger me, why not vampires too? Besides, I saw enough in those laboratories to make me believe that there are more things under heaven and earth than we may yet know about.”
Singleton was still shaking her head vehemently. “For one, Sergeant, they are not zombies. They have developed a condition that makes them act on basic instincts without pain, fear or reason. But they are still human beings. And two, there are no such things as vampires!”
Denny suddenly leant forwards and reached across to Bannister. He grabbed him by the scruff of the neck and ripped his shirt back, revealing the angry looking mark where he had been bitten. “Well what do you call this then?”
The wound was undeniable and still looked fresh. Bannister snatched his shirt out of Denny’s hand and covered himself with a hostile scowl at his commander. "Let go of me."
"Enough!" Lewis snapped. He was tired of people bickering. He would not stand for any more nonsense. Life was hard enough for him as it was without constantly having to adjudicate arguments on base. “You two tell us everything you know about this right now, and don't leave anything out.” He indicated Bannister and Collins who now glared at each other. “Starting with you Collins; what exactly happened tonight?”
Reluctantly she relayed the events of the previous two encounters with Sebastian in the guardroom, trying to remain as objective as possible. As she spoke there were various gasps and tutting noises from around the table but nobody interrupted her. No one uttered a single word while she spoke. There was a rapt silence of people at various stages of belief and disbelief, trying to catch up with each other, struggling to take in this extraordinary story. Bannister too remained silent with his head bowed but when Collins mentioned the clan and his own interactions with Flavia he glowered at her. Throughout, Denny sat back in his chair looking smug and self-satisfied. His head was half in shadow, half in the wavering light from the candle and the expression on his face took on a contorted, clown-like façade with his eyes darting about. Of all the recent meetings in this room, this was the occasion where everyone’s hackles were raised, like a ghostly séance around a campfire.
She told them briefly what she knew of Sebastian’s early life in Marseilles, how he was converted into a vampire and what she knew about the clan. She described what she could remember of the history lesson regarding Count Dracula but it was only when she started talking factually about vampires compared with the fable that Singleton could contain herself no longer.
“So you’re telling us that this also is some kind of ‘condition’? A condition that is transmitted by blood into victims, that changes the physiology of the recipient, changes how their body functions, similar to the infected that we have been dealing with?”
Collins nodded looking dejected. She wanted the emphasis to shift to Bannister but clearly they were not finished with her yet.
Singleton seemed to be finding it hard to swallow. “I don’t believe it, it just can’t be true.”
Wood had remained standing in the shadows but now spoke up. “Pardon me ma’am but the situation isn’t really any more about whether we believe in it or not. It’s gone way beyond that. We now have to consider the facts. What do we actually know for sure? It’s now the case that there has been one sighting confirmed by six soldiers when two of these characters, be they vampires or whatever, tore through a load of infected supposedly with nothing more than their bare hands, then seemed to disappear into thin air. Now we have another sighting by Group Captain Denny of one of these characters called Sebastian in our guardroom. Collins corroborates that and says he has visited the base twice and Bannister also has been bitten twice. These are
the facts. Whether they are actually vampires or not is immaterial. What matters is what are we going to do about it? Whoever they are, whatever label we want to give them, they are clearly not exactly normal people and certainly not to be underestimated.”
Lewis was nodding enthusiastically. “I agree. I am just wondering what they want with us? Collins, why has this Sebastian come to visit you?”
All eyes were again on Collins and she shrank down into her chair. “I don’t know. He didn’t say and I didn’t really have a chance to ask him. I kind of got the impression that he just missed human interaction and missed his human life. Now with everything that’s going on he feels able to approach us... to approach me. That’s all. I didn’t get the impression that he wanted anything else.”
It was Lewis that had asked her the question but it was Wood that she was staring at when she answered, imploring him silently to believe her. He briefly returned her look and tried to give her a reassuring smile but it was a thin effort that he had to summon up from the pit of his stomach. He didn’t want to doubt her but the same question had been bothering him too; why had this Sebastian come to her? Twice? What did he want from them? From her? Why had she not opened up and told him about it after the first visit? And why had she not spoken to him more about the incident at the petrol station? He had really been stirred up by her, had found someone who he felt relaxed with. Finally someone who could climb over his defences and penetrate to the real man, the person he kept hidden, safe and distant from the outside world. But now he felt a wedge driven between them, a frosting of his heart, a betrayal of his emotions.
To Collins's relief the attention finally switched to Bannister. Straddling was sat beside Denny, and he now leaned forwards, bypassing Denny completely.
“So, according to this Sebastian character, you snuck out and went to see this she-vampire the other night, and she bit you again. Is that true?”
Bannister stared at his sergeant and coughed, stalling for time.
“Well? Answer me dammit!” Straddling thumped the table. Like everyone he was angry and getting impatient, and he was in no mood for any kind of insubordination.
“Yes,” Bannister snapped at him. “All right, yes, I did.”
“Why laddie? What on earth got into you?”
Bannister looked dejected and almost apologetic for the first time. “I don’t know. It was all just a blur, like I hadn’t really got any control over myself. I felt hot and feverish, I just needed some fresh air and went outside for a walk, and before I knew it I was out of the base and going to meet her at the petrol station…” He petered out and the last few words were nothing more than a murmur, quite unlike his normal, vociferous self.
“What were you thinking?”
“Nothing!” Bannister screeched, rising up from his chair, momentarily out of control. He stared wildly about at them all, huddled around the halo of light as though for protection from the demons that they had summoned forth by their séance. “I told you, I wasn’t thinking anything. It was like I was in some kind of a trance.”
Collins was nodding and much as she felt betrayed by Bannister, as they all did, she still felt that she should come to his defence. She did not want the attention to be focused back on her but it was important that they all understood the truth of what they were facing.
“Sebastian did say that they, vampires, can use a sort of hypnosis on us that can work really quickly. He said that the vampiress had done it to Bannister, hypnotized him the first time at the petrol station, so in fairness, it probably wasn’t entirely his fault.”
For a moment Bannister’s demeanour towards her changed. He actually looked to be relieved and grateful but it was a fleeting expression and the pressure was back on Collins.
“So in that case why didn’t Sebastian hypnotise you as well?” Wood tried to hide the jealousy in his voice but it was apparent to all and made Collins squirm with embarrassed guilt.
“I don’t know. He said that he didn’t like to do that kind of thing, he would rather people do what they want without being forced, or something like that.”
“Huh, a real romantic.”
“So if this Sebastian knows where we live,” Lewis interrupted, “I assume that the others in this so-called clan know as well?”
Collins looked at Bannister and nodded. Bannister did not react and stared blankly at the table.
“Bannister, did you tell them where we live?”
He looked miserable and this time there was no rescue from Collins.
Lewis groaned and leant back. “I think we’ve got to assume that means yes. Whatever they are, vampires or not, we have to accept that if one of them has been here then there may well be more and we’ve got to prepare for that. And quickly. Can either of you tell us anything more about them? Their weaknesses? Vulnerabilities? Anything?”
Bannister was silent but Collins spoke up. “Sebastian told me a few things. He said the typical traits that people believe about them are not necessarily true.”
“Example?”
“Well, like garlic. Many of them do develop sort of an allergic reaction to it but it doesn’t have the huge effect that the stereotype of vampires would have us believe. And holy water and crucifixes don’t do anything to them. But he said a stake through the heart will kill them, as it will kill any creature, so I guess that they can be harmed by normal means.”
“I can’t believe we’re actually discussing this?” Singleton was still not convinced.
“You may be right,” Lewis said. “It may all be hocus pocus, but there’s definitely something to these stories and better to be prepared than not. The worst that can happen is that we all wake up in the morning and feel like idiots. But for starters we need another soldier in the guardroom.”
“No,” Denny said, “not enough. You haven’t seen how fast they move. We need at the very least three or four men out there, and some people patrolling in the grounds. We just can’t take any chances. We can’t let these devils into the base again.”
“What are we going to do with them?” Straddling pointed at Collins and Bannister.
Bannister now stood up, shoving his chair back.
“I think I’m gonna be sick, so if you don’t mind I’d like to go to the toilets.”
Straddling laughed at him. “No way laddie, you’ll be off over the wall and back to yer sweetheart the moment our backs are turned.”
“No I won’t” he retorted insolently. “I’m not going to go anywhere. I just need to go to the bathroom, that’s all.”
“Okay, you can go, but not by yourself,” Lewis said reluctantly. “Millington, take him to the bathroom, and don’t let him out of your sight. I know he’s your mate and all, but if he tries anything you are to knock him down. And that is an order!”
Millington and Bannister rose and left in troubled silence with Straddling leaving a moment afterwards to wake extra men for guard duty. It had been an emotional discussion and they all felt exhausted, but none more so than Collins. She tried to catch Wood’s eye and he smiled at her again, this time a little more warmly. A look of sympathy in place of wounded pride.
“How’s the patient?” Lewis asked Singleton.
She shook her head as though clearing it of the surreal conversation. “What? Oh, which one? Darby was okay for most of the day. He’s lost quite a lot of blood and that has really taken a toll. He stayed in bed much of the time, then later this afternoon he started to feel nauseous. He was still quite lucid at first, just complaining of a headache and sickness, but then he started to slip in and out of consciousness and talk gibberish so we have put him on a sedative and strapped him to the bed again. The three lads are all in the medical centre now, sleeping on camp beds and taking turns to watch him. If anything happens they’ll be able to deal with it, especially given that he can’t actually move.”
“And Bennett?”
“He’s been responding to the medication and fluids well. He’s been awake some of the afternoon and talking a
little. I think he’ll be okay now.”
“Has he said much more?”
“I didn’t want to press him as he’s still very weak, but he said he was involved very closely with the drug production. When I mentioned the laptop he knew what I was talking about. I think it must be the computer that the main scientist, this Dr Boxall, used throughout. He said something about atonement, about their trying to make amends, to devise an antidote but I haven’t pushed further.”
“Well that sounds promising.”
Singleton nodded, and it was clear to Lewis that she was more comfortable talking about such real, tangible matters, rather than the myth and legend of vampires. He sat pulling his lower lip, not really taking in what she was saying as his brain raced, trying to decide the best way to proceed. Should he wake everyone up now, or was that being too alarmist?
As Millington led Bannister away into the dark, each grabbed a torch. Millington tried to put a hand on his friend’s shoulder but Bannister all but shrugged it off in irritation.
“What’s going on buddy?” Millington asked. “You’ve not been acting yourself for some time now.”
Bannister sighed and seemed troubled but forced himself to keep his voice level. “I’m sorry mate. I don’t know what’s come over me.”
“Is it true then, these vampires and all? Have you really been bitten by one?”
Bannister felt foolish and gave a little laugh to cover his embarrassment but it sounded hollow. “Yeah, I guess so. Sounds kind of unreal, hey? Look, I’m sorry if I’ve been a bit off with you lately.”
Millington was as forgiving as ever. “No worries buddy, I’m sure you’ll be back to normal soon as.”
“Yeah, maybe.”
It was clear that he did not feel like talking and Millington let it drop as they padded softly down the corridor, round a corner and down a few stairs towards the nearest toilets. He made a mental note to keep a closer eye on his friend and to raise the subject again with him at a more opportune moment. As he now thought back over the past couple of days he could remember various occasions when Bannister had been short with him and acting out of character, not being his normal ebullient self. He kicked himself for not having been a better friend and seeing that he was in trouble and in need of help.
The Blood of the Infected (Book 2): Once Bitten, Twice Live Page 23
