Deadly Encounters (Raina Kirkland Book 4)

by Diana Graves

“Yes, master,” Quincy said.

  Seth tugged three times on the hose and from somewhere unseen someone turned on the water. Seth stepped closer to the balcony’s ledge and unleashed the water at the zombies. At first they seemed unfazed, if not just a bit irritated at the water hitting them from up high. One lashed out at the water as if he could rip it apart. Once the zombies were soaked and it was likely the blood had found a home inside their wounds, Seth stopped spraying them and we waited. We didn’t have to wait long, though. The zombies huddled on the ground, against the cars, clawing at the metal and screaming in pain as their insides changed and healed all at once. I hid my face in Nick’s shoulder. I didn’t want to see that. I didn’t want to see or hear them writhing in agony, puking the enormous contents of their stomach, retching while they screamed. And I wasn’t the only one who couldn’t stand the sight and sound of it all. Many were looking away.

  “Can’t you make them quiet?” Michael asked loudly. “Can’t you make them still? You made Katie quiet!”

  “It didn’t mean she wasn’t feeling the pain. It just meant she wasn’t expressing it!” I yelled over the zombie’s screams.

  “We’re recording,” Alistair reminded us quietly.

  He was right. We needed to keep the focus on the zombies. It’s not like they were going to scream forever. Eventually the cries did die down and we were left staring down at a group of scared new vampires. What remained of their torn clothes was the only physical reminder of what they were mere moments ago. What’s worse, they would likely remember every agonizing second of the past six days; every life they stole, every man woman and child…I did not envy those people. Thinking of their mental torment only reminded me that Bastion Fatal no longer had a counselor. Damon was dead.

  “It worked Raina,” Alistair said with a pat on my back. “Don’t look so glum. This method is completely practical for the field. We can fight this and win!” He and the other’s seemed happy about it, but all I saw were people in desperate need of a man who was murdered. Sure there were other therapists they could see. But Damon had a way with people.

  I was left mostly alone on the balcony as the others left to fetch the new vampires from the parking lot. They’d need fresh blood and new clothes.

  “Don’t blame yourself, Raina,” Melvern said reading my mind. He was standing beside me.

  “It’s not logical, I know, but I can’t help it. Its survivor’s remorse or something, I guess.”

  Melvern moved in and gave me a great big bear hug and I hugged him back just as tightly. I should feel better. We found a way to make the cure useful for the military. We’d just saved countless lives.

  “Yes, Raina. Find peace in that,” Melvern said close to my ear. He pulled away and held me at arm’s length. “If you’re to be with your children during the day, you should get to bed.”

  I nodded, wiping away tears. At some point, when this was all done, I’d break down and cry my eyes out. I’d cry for hours. I’d cry until all my tears were spent and my body was sore from it, but that wasn’t tonight. Tonight I was going to be strong for my kids. They were all I had left. For whatever love and lust I had for Alistair, Thomas and Isobel were my world, my entire reason for being. I needed to be who they needed me to be, and that was a mother.

  TACOMA’S LOST

  SNUGGLED NEXT TO my children on the floor in a room surrounded by strangers, I didn’t want to sleep. I wanted to stay up and stare at Isobel’s soft face. I loved her thick black eyelashes and button nose, the soft curve of her cheeks and the way her lips pouted out as she slept. I tried to memorize the look of her lying peacefully with her big brother at her back. I tried to stay awake, but I was tired and there were too many people breathing softly in one place. I wrapped my arm around them, feeling secure in the fact that we’d found a way to beat this disaster and soon it would be all over. Soon we’d be cleaning up the old house and making a life for ourselves. Soon we’d be a family again.

  ♦♦♦

  Before I could even register what I was dreaming, I could hear Raphael talking to me. Immediately I shut him out just like I’d done for the past few days. I was getting rather good at ignoring him. Anyway, I knew what he would say, and I didn’t want to hear it. I wasn’t his pawn anymore. I wasn’t anyone’s pawn anymore. They controlled my life up until today, and they did a swell job, don’t get me wrong, but I wasn’t going to be their fucking messiah or whatever the hell they wanted me to be. That’s not me! They wanted me to kill Apollo, but I didn’t have to any longer. We had a cure of sorts. The zombies will become regular vampires, and Apollo will see that he once again failed to use this disease to kill us off. Maybe he’ll even give up entirely.

  For once since I came back I was going to get a good night’s sleep. I dreamt of playing with my children in a garden with the sun shining down, and the sun didn’t hurt me. It felt warm and lovely on my skin. Thomas was jumping on large rocks, from one to the other, while Isobel swung on a swing tied to a thick tree limb. It was so green, so full of life and happiness. Isobel’s laugh made my heart feel light with bliss. I put my hand over my chest, as if to keep my heart in place. Then there was a loud noise and everything went painfully bright!

  ♦♦♦

  I woke with a start as another loud noise crashed and rampaged through the quiet night. I put a hand over my eyes to block the blinding light shining down on me as a focused beam of bright white.

  “Sorry,” said a woman holding a flashlight.

  When she moved the light from my face I could see the rest of the room. Everyone was sitting or standing, but Thomas was making his way through the sea of people toward the door. Isobel was reasonably scared and I hugged her close to me. I didn’t say anything because too many people were already asking questions and making comments. There were four Bastion staffers holding flashlights, and they wouldn’t tell us anything other than to calm down.

  “Everything is fine,” said the woman who had been shining her light in my face. Her badge read Bridgette.

  “If everything is fine, why are you down here, shining lights in our faces?” asked an irritated man. She didn’t answer him. “At least put your flashlights away and turn on the bloody lights, we’re all awake anyway.” Thomas had just reached the other side of the room and flipped the switch. “Thanks, kid.”

  As one of only two vampires in the room I could hear the distinct sound of gun fire above us, but I was keeping it to myself. It seemed the other fella was, too.

  When Thomas returned to us I let go of Isobel and guided her into his arms. “I’ll be right back,” I said as I moved away.

  I reached out for one of the four staffers, placing my hand gently on his shoulder and beckoned him out into the hall for privacy. He was a human. His badge said his name was Cory, and he was wearing custodial coveralls.

  I leaned in and whispered close to his ear. “Those gun shots I’m hearing, are they coming from outside or inside the building? I can’t quite tell.” He didn’t answer me with words. He didn’t have to. The distress on his face said enough. The zombies had gotten inside the building. But how? More importantly, “How many got in?”

  He shrugged. “The army left the city less than an hour ago. We watched the tanks just—leave us here. The zombies came at us in a massive wave right away.”

  In his eyes I saw sheer horror. The things he must have seen up there. Hordes of the undead. I shook my head and looked back at my kids.

  “How well are our men faring?” I asked him with my eyes still on Thomas and Isobel, but I had to look back at him when he didn’t answer me. He seemed at a loss for words. “How bad is it?”

  “Core,” said Bridgette as she came into the hall.

  “What were your orders?” I asked her. “Your supervisor sent the four of you down here to check on us while they cleaned house up top?”

  “Our supervisor is dead,” she said quietly as the other two staffers exited the room. They both wore the black slacks and grey shirts of office couriers.
Their badges read Trever and Chance. Trever had sandy brown hair and a few extra pounds, while Chance had curly black hair and quite a few extra, extra pounds.

  They weren’t guards, they had no training and no weapons. Bridgette was the toughest of them, being a witch and all, but even she was wearing a red pantsuit and four inch heels; not exactly combat ready this lot.

  “Goddess help us,” Bridgette muttered when the elevator door opened up from down the hall.

  The only thing the five of us could do was brace ourselves. Cory brought up his flashlight and held it like a bat. Bridgette brought out a wand from her coat pocket and pointed it firmly at the elevator. The other two, Trever and Chance, braced themselves for a run. I stood in pajama pants and a tank top and held my hands out, fully ready to roast me some undead peoples. I held my breath until a guard came off the elevator with a passive gun in his hands and a purpose in his step, then another and another and then Alistair came off. He didn’t have a gun because he didn’t need one. However, the sleeves of his shirt were burnt up to mid bicep for having poured so much flame from his hands. The five of us let out a collective breath of relief.

  The three guards didn’t waste a second standing around. One took straight to the stairs, opening the door gun first and peeking up and down the staircase.

  “It’s clear,” he called back to Alistair.

  The second guard started going through each room, verbally declaring them clear, while the third came straight toward us at a trot.

  “Everyone safe?” he asked.

  “Yes,” said Bridgette.

  “Get them dressed and ready to move,” was all he said before he passed us to make sure the rooms farther down the hall were clear, too.

  Bridgette turned to the other men, “You heard him, let’s help them get ready to go.”

  Her words sounded confident, her posture was perfect, but something in her eyes said just how freaked out she really was. Even so the men followed her back into the room without question.

  I walked forward to speak with Alistair. He was facing the elevator, listening to it. I could hear it, too. The sound of pounding and scratching from above. The zombies were up there…or were those people trying to escape? Somehow that was a worse thought.

  “Alistair?” I asked him, but he didn’t look at me. He was listening too intently.

  At the sound of a violent thud on top of the elevator’s ceiling I gasped in shock and jumped back. Alistair forced the elevator doors shut and with a hot blue flame from his fist he burned the door, obviously trying to seal it shut, but he couldn’t get it hot enough to melt.

  “Want some help,” I said, before I stepped up beside him and called my flame into my hand as hot as I could get it. Normally my flame was a nice bright white fire, but I needed this hot enough to burn solid steel doors, so I conjured something a tad hotter, something bright gold. Alistair followed my lead and together we melted the entire doorway into a solid piece of metal.

  “Thanks,” he breathed as he tucked his hair behind his ears. “Is everyone ready?” he asked.

  “Ready for what? What exactly is going on? They said the military left the city. They said zombies overtook the fence and got inside the building.”

  “I’ll tell you everything, I’ll tell everyone everything, as soon as we’re safe underground.”

  “We are unground.”

  “Deeper.”

  DOWN DOWN DOWN

  WITH ONE HAND I held Isobel on my hip, the other was firm in Thomas’ hand as we climbed quickly down the staircase, which was packed with people, mostly kids. They were told not to cry, but kids cry when they’re scared. And what’s not scary about being woken in the wee hours of the morning, snatched from their beds and escorted in a rush by armed men down a narrow passageway with the knowledge that flesh-eating zombies were coming to get them? The staircase was full of cries and sobs and whimpers. Isobel’s cries were among them. Her arms were tight around my neck, and her legs snug around my waist as she cried. I could have stopped their cries, but Alistair wasn’t worried about them, and neither were his guards.

  We stopped at the third floor down. One of the guards opened the door a fraction of an inch, gun first, to peek into the VCC, but before he even opened the door I could hear the carnage on the other side. The staff and those vampires unfortunate enough to be newly born at that very moment were being eaten. I quickly covered Isobel’s ears as best I could with one hand. Alistair touched the guard’s shoulder and the guard shut the door quietly.

  “How did they get there before us?” a vampire quietly asked. He wasn’t one of Alistair’s vampires. He had a tattoo of an eagle with his wings spread and a fancy V on his forearm. He belonged to the Patriotic Dead, a vampire/biker collective based in the industrial area of Tacoma. He was holding an adorable two year old in his arms.

  “I sealed the elevator doors on the second level. They must have gone through the elevator shaft to the next level down,” Alistair said.

  “Then we’re doomed,” said Cory.

  “No, the elevator shaft stops here. I never had it extended farther.”

  “How is it the zombies haven’t attacked us yet? We’re moving slowly, the kids are noisy and your man just opened the door,” said a woman with three children clinging to her for dear life.

  “I had a witch put an enchantment on the staircase, but it won’t last forever, so let’s move,” he said.

  “Which witch?” asked Bridgette.

  Alistair looked down and then back up at her, “Dawn, and she didn’t make it. I’m sorry,” he said, and we followed him down and down to the fourth floor below ground. Bridgette seemed stunned by the loss of her coworker, but she eventually started moving again with the rest of us.

  Once we reached the landing for the fourth floor down, one of the guards opened the door ever so slightly and peeked into the hall. All I could hear was nervous chatter from the floor. They knew something wasn’t right. They could hear shouting, screaming, but they didn’t know exactly what was going on.

  “Clear,” he called back.

  Alistair stepped up to his guards and staff. He pulled Bridgette, Chase and two of the guards aside. “You will clear out this floor, send everyone down to the fifth floor. I’ll have everyone down there ready to move.”

  I moved down the staircase to get closer to Alistair. “Ready to move where?” I asked.

  “Farther down.” Farther…to the last two levels of Bastion Fatal? But that’s where Adia did her experiments. It was sealed. Not even Alistair could break the seals, right? All of this worry must have been plain on my face because he said, “It’s the only way to be safe. Trust me.”

  He turned and started climbing down the steps again. A woman leaned in. “I never trust a man who asks for trust,” was all she said, yet she followed Alistair down the stairs anyway. What other options did she have? Follow a strange vampire down a hole with her kids in tow, or stay put and likely get eaten alive.

  As we came to the fifth floor Alistair opened the door himself. In a loud voice he called out to those still in their rooms. He gathered everyone to him and told them what had happened while they slept.

  “You’re telling me that this whole damn place is over-fucking-run!” shouted an irate blond woman.

  “We came here because we thought vamps had their shit together. Man were we wrong,” grumbled another man.

  “What are we supposed to do now?!” someone shouted from the crowd.

  “Die! We’re all going to fucking die!” yelled a dark haired teen, maybe a couple years older than Thomas.

  “Please!” Alistair shouted over all the voices coming at him at once.

  “No, I don’t believe you. I don’t believe shit. You’re a monster, just like those things out there,” said an angry man with a greying handlebar mustache.

  “Please, calm down. We’re all scared, but we have to remain calm. I do have a plan. Just calm down,” said Alistair.

  “You’re trapping us down here for
food!” shouted another man. “I ain’t vamp food, God damn it!” he screamed, and several other’s yelled in agreement.

  “We aren’t your fucking rations!” shouted yet another man in a suit and tie that had seen better days.

  “Fuck you, vampire! Go to hell!”

  “Eat shit and die!”

  The crowd was turning on us. I shook my head in disgust and bewilderment. “He is trying to help us, and all you can think about is prejudice!” I yelled at them. My outburst earned me a crazy dose of hate. “Vampire whore!” and “Evil Bitch!” seemed to be the general consensus. Thomas growled and stepped in front of me, but Alistair put a hand on his shoulder.

  “I’m not going to eat you,” Alistair said to the crowed. “But they are!” he shouted over the arguing masses.

  “What are you going to eat?” asked the blond lady.

  “What are you going to eat?” Alistair replied.

  “Well, you drink human blood. How do we know we’re going to be safe with you?”

  “There’s no food at all for any of us. It was lost when the top floors were lost, but I assure you, vampires can go a lot longer without nourishment than any other humanoid.”

  An older woman stepped up, “So we’re going to starve to death then?”

  “Right now my only concern is surviving. We have flesh-eating zombies coming down on us. We have warheads pointed at us, and the only way we’re going to survive is by working together.”

  The crowd fell silent for only a moment. Shit, warheads? Then the world has given up on us…We’re going to be nuked.

  “Bull shit!”

  “The American people wouldn’t stand for that shit!”

  “You’re a fucking liar!”

  Alistair closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose with his thumb and forefinger. “You have a choice to make then, right here, right now. I won’t force any of you to do anything against your will.” He opened his eyes and looked out over the sea of faces before us; half angry, half scared. “Leave if you don’t trust me. Leave now. I won’t stop you. But if you stay, you will do as I tell you without argument. I can’t help you if you fight me.”