by P. T. Hylton
Then Jaden charged from where he’d landed, entering the fray. Watching him was mesmerizing. He moved so quickly, her eyes could barely track him, but that was only the beginning. To watch him fight was like watching water flow. He carried two long, curved swords, and he wielded them as if they were extensions of his very soul. Each movement melted into the next in a dance of righteous carnage. His blades whirred through the air, creating a humming sound that added a kind of music to his dance.
Alex thought that it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
He moved along the line of attacking Ferals, slicing through them. Heads parted from necks under his blade. He cut one of them clean in half, cleaving its heart in two along with the rest of its torso.
The Ferals were so focused on the humans that they barely seemed to notice Jaden carving through their companions, much to their detriment. In the time that it had taken Alex to shoot two Ferals, Jaden had dispatched ten with his twin swords.
Alex tore her gaze away from Jaden and appraised their situation. Owl was still focused intently on the road ahead, as it there wasn’t a battle raging all around her. The vampires of Agartha were moving closer, forming a protective circle around the rover. They ran alongside it, easily keeping up with its speed even as they fought. The members of Jaden’s team were almost as lethal as he was. Within a minute, all of the Agartha vampires were covered in blood and the remaining Ferals fell back.
Alex knew better than to think it was over. No. It was just getting started.
32
Garrett marched through the administration building, shouting orders into his radio. “Teams, I want every gun trained on the entrance. The daylights will burn any vampire that gets in here, but we better make damn sure none of them makes if far enough to destroy a light.”
People moved quickly to follow his orders, but in such a chaotic fashion that someone was likely to get trampled in this crowded area. He looked around and saw panic in the eyes of the Resettlers as they shuffled for space.
“Sir,” Shirley said, “people aren’t listening. They’re running around like they have no idea what they’re doing.”
He couldn’t argue. In retrospect, this was probably not the best mission on which to work out the kinks with a new team.
His radio beeped and Mario’s voice came through. “Captain, everyone’s inside. We’ve got two rail guns set up in the hall like you said. We’ll blast anything that tries to come through.”
“Nice work,” he said. “Weld the doors shut.”
“Yes, sir.”
Mario’s team immediately got to work.
Most people seemed to be calming down a little now that they’d found their places and there seemed to be a plan. Garrett looked around, not displeased at what he saw. Maybe they could salvage this thing yet.
The plan had always been to use this building as a last stand in a worst-case scenario. He just hadn’t thought that would happen less than ten minutes after sunset on their first night.
He made his way to the bank of monitors set up in the main room. On them, he could see vampires raining down on the yard. Some of the lights were still functional, and many of the vampires were on fire. Still, others managed to find the gaps and slip through unharmed.
On another screen, Ferals were bashing away at the lights with rocks even as they burned.
The building reverberated with an unending stream of thuds as vampires and rocks landed on the exterior. It would just be a matter of time until they made it into this building.
He knew that this was the end for the three hundred Resettlers, but he wanted to be damn sure that they took three thousand vampires out with them.
“Are we going to make it, Captain Eldred?” Shirley asked.
“I don’t know,” he said, “but do me a favor. Just for tonight. Call me Firefly.”
He hit a button on the control panel in front of him, activating the PA system. Then he spoke into the microphone. "All of you brave men and women have proven your courage here tonight. I need you to hold your ground one more time. Everything that makes humans great—”
At that moment, the lights went out.
He stood frozen, unable to believe this was happening. A few scattered shouts of fear came from the gathered Resettlers. A few managed to turn on their headlamps.
Someone fired, and someone else screamed, but it was impossible to identify either the shooter or the target.
Somehow, impossibly, they’d been compromised without the rail guns firing a single shot.
He turned on his headlamp and shone it around the room. Everyone stood frozen. He didn’t see any Ferals, but—
His light caught a blur of movement on the other side of the room. He heard someone nearby shout. People were screaming, but he couldn't see any vamps. He turned his light to another part of the room and was shocked to see four people lying on the ground and covered in blood, their necks ripped open.
Screams and isolated gunfire rang out from various parts of the room, but Firefly kept his eyes on the four dead Resettlers. It was as if he was frozen; he couldn’t make himself look away. These were four brave individuals who’d risked everything because they’d believed in the cause. They’d believed in Fleming. They’d believed in Captain Garrett Eldred. And they’d paid the ultimate price.
As he stared at them, something impossible happened. They opened their eyes and stood up.
Seemingly unaware of their massive wounds, they got to their feet and stood perfectly still. It was as if they were waiting for something.
Firefly turned, casting his light around the room in a slow circle. Everywhere he looked, he saw the same thing. Resettlers with gashes in their necks and blood-drenched clothes standing at attention.
And then something grabbed him.
He fought hard, flailing against the strong arms that held him, but he may as well have been trying to bend steel. His hand went for the weapon at his belt, but before he could raise it, something sharp and cold sank into his neck and icy pain surged through his body.
As if from a distance, he felt himself sink to the ground, and then everything went black.
And then he opened his eyes again. He felt different. Changed. Cold, but strong.
Within two minutes of the administration building losing power, every one of the three hundred Resettlers were dead. Two minutes after that there were three hundred new vampires on Earth.
From the darkness a voice called out, "Who was the leader of this settlement?"
Firefly felt no shock at the sudden appearance of an intelligent vampire. It seemed right.
At first, he thought no one would respond to the question. After all, wasn’t everyone dead? Then he heard a voice answer. It wasn’t until he was already speaking that he realized the voice was his own.
“I’m the commander in charge of this operation."
A moment later, two vampires stood in front of Firefly. From outside, he could still hear lights smashing and vampires howling.
The taller vampire wore a big smile. "I can't believe this all worked so well. We figured this building would have the most humans in it, but you served yourselves up to us before the Ferals could even get to you."
Firefly felt a surge of anger at the vampire’s words. He willed his arm to raise his gun and put a bullet through this asshole, but it refused to do so.
The shorter vampire glared at Firefly. "I can see that you want to use that gun on us. You can give that idea up right now. We are your creators. You will not be able to hurt us or disobey us."
The taller one chuckled. “Honestly, you should really be thanking us. If we hadn’t turned you, the Ferals would have torn through your defenses in the next few minutes and drained each and every one of you dry. You would be gone, but we saved you. All we ask in return is that you obey each and every one of our commands without question for the next hundred years or so." He laughed again. "And since you will have no choice, it looks like we are going to get along just fine. My name
’s Aaron, and this is Mark. But you can call both of us Master.”
Firefly looked around the room. Somehow, he could see in the darkness as clearly as if the lights had been on. Every soldier stood in silence. Some had tears streaming down their cheeks, but none moved. He reached up and touched his neck. His fingers came away sticky, but not wet. His wounds were already healing.
“How?” he asked in a weak voice. “How did this happen?”
Aaron stared at him a moment. “I don’t really have to answer your questions, but you’ll find I’m a kind master. I’ll answer this one. Then I have a few questions for you.” He took a step back and scratched his chin, as if deciding where to begin. “Mark and I recently spent some time in a city called Agartha. We didn’t, let’s say, assimilate well. But we knew there was another human city, so we’ve been hunting for it. Vampires have a mental connection. It’s kind of awful, actually, constantly having Feral instincts shouting in your head. You’ll see what I mean soon enough. But we could tell the Ferals in this area were all kinds of agitated, so we came down to check it out. I’m pretty glad we did.”
“From there, we made it inside before you had all those damn lights installed,” Mark said, “and we buried ourselves next to a wall in the sub-level. Then we waited for moving day. Once the action started up top, we cut the power lines. Honestly, I never thought it would be so easy to get an army.”
Aaron nodded. “You should be embarrassed, commander. Anyway, as you might imagine, we have big plans for settling the score in Agartha, but we’re also dying to hear all about your city. Why don’t you go ahead and tell us? Now.”
Firefly felt himself begin to speak.
33
Both vehicles rolled forward, making progress toward Agartha, but Alex feared they wouldn’t get there quickly enough. The smell of blood and the sounds of battle had certainly alerted every Feral in the area by now. It wouldn’t be long before the second wave of Ferals hit them hard.
Two Ferals slammed into the side of the Agartha transport and sank their claws into the armored vehicle.
“George!” Alex called. “Heads up!” She cursed, realizing he couldn’t hear her. “GMT! Protect George’s transport, and make sure you don’t hit any friendly vamps. Got it?”
“First time I’ve ever heard her say don’t shoot the vampires,” Patrick laughed.
The team unloaded, knocking the Ferals off the transport.
This time the Ferals seemed aware of the vampire protectors—perhaps because of their mental link— and they went straight for them.
The Agartha vampires kept a tight circle around the rover even as the humans inside circled up as well, focusing on taking out the Ferals before they got to Jaden and his team.
Those that did slip through were quickly dispatched. All the vamps fought masterfully, but Jaden was the most ruthless creature that Alex had ever seen. Three Ferals lunged at him together, and he dodged a slash from one of their claws at the perfect angle so that the claws sank into another Feral’s neck. He spun, slicing off the heads of both entangled Ferals as he drove his other sword through the third Feral’s heart. As he fought, he continued to keep pace with the rover, never failing a single step behind.
Alex saw a blur of movement in her peripheral vision and looked up to see a Feral swooping down from above. She fired a round into its head and shouted to her team, “Watch the skies. Make sure that they don’t get to the ground.”
More Ferals attempted that tactic, leaping at the rover and soaring down at them. The team picked them off one by one, not letting any of them touch the ground alive. Corpses of the monsters rained down around them, and the rover bounced over the dead in the road.
One of the Agartha vampires broke away from the group and shifted over to defend George’s transport. It lunged at a Feral climbing the transport, but didn’t see the other two on the roof of the vehicle. They jumped down onto the vampire’s back.
Alex fired, putting a round into each of the Ferals’ heads. She dropped the empty clips and reloaded without taking her eyes off the battle. Her hands and body worked on muscle memory fueled by a lifetime of training, leaving her mind free to concentrate on the danger all around them.
She knew they were only a few minutes away from Agartha, but lasting even that long could prove impossible. Waves of Ferals were coming at them hot and heavy, attracted by the battle and crazed with blood hunger.
Alex glanced ahead to the vampires fighting in front of the rover and saw a horde of Ferals charging down the mountain. There were at least one hundred Ferals, all of them racing at full speed. This would be too much for even the Agartha vampires, she knew. The would wash over them like an avalanche.
“Munitions fifty yards to our twelve o’clock!” she yelled.
Ed, Patrick, Chuck, and Wesley launched grenades into the oncoming wave of Ferals. The Ferals ignored the tiny flying object and kept running. Four grenades exploded moments apart, tearing into the horde. Feral appendages flew like shrapnel all around the road and surrounding forest. The concussion wave hit the team hard enough to blow Alex’s hair back.
The Ferals attacking the Agartha vampires were distracted for a moment by the light and the noise from the explosion. The vamps didn’t let that mistake slip by without extracting maximum damage. They sliced through the Ferals one after another, their blades performing a deadly dance.
For a moment Alex thought that they had made it. After everything they’d been through and the impossible odds, she thought this was it. She looked past the smoke of the explosions and saw the entrance to Agartha in the distance. Aside from a few straggler Ferals and lots of Feral corpses, the path looked clear.
The moment passed quickly as she spotted a boulder the size of her torso flying at the rover.
“Look out!” Alex yelled. She grabbed Owl and jumped, pulling them both off the rover.
Chuck, Wesley, and Patrick moved fast, following their captain’s lead and leaping from the vehicle.
Ed was firing at a Feral behind them and didn’t see what was happening until it was too late.
The boulder slammed into the rover, nearly ripping it in two. The trailer careened onto its side, and Ed went flying into the snow beyond the Agartha vampires.
In an instant, Jaden was in motion. He leapt to Ed and scooped him up with one arm, holding a sword in the other. “Get them in the transport!”
His team responded just as fast. In a moment, every member of the GMT was being tossed into the back of the transport. Another wave of Ferals hit the group, and the Agartha vampires only had seconds to see to the GMT before rejoining the fight.
Through the back of the truck, Alex saw Jaden tearing through more hostiles. He looked different now. The graceful but brutal calm he’d displayed at the beginning had been replaced with something more animalistic.
He threw one of his swords, and it slammed into an approaching Feral, burying itself to the hilt. With his freed hand he plucked a flying rock from the air. He spun as he caught the rock and used the momentum to send it rocketing toward the oncoming wave. The speed and force of the object was so great that it tore the head off one Feral and buried itself in the chest of the one behind it. Jaden’s momentum carried him forward, and he sliced through a Feral as he grabbed his sword from the chest of his fallen enemy.
The Ferals all moved as fast as Jaden, Alex realized, but they were mindless brawlers with no strategy. Jaden dodged their attacks and cut them down, predicting their every move.
Alex looked past Jaden and saw one of his team, a short female, bringing up the rear of their defense. She carried a great sword covered in blood, and she sliced through Ferals as she ran.
As she attacked another Feral, a rock flew at her from behind, smashing into her upper back. There was a loud crack, and she tumbled forward.
“No!” Alex shouted.
Four Ferals were on her in an instant. They tore at her ferociously, claws ripping flesh. In seconds, they’d separated her arms from her body. Then
one of them sank its claws deep into her neck, not to drink, but to destroy. With a mighty pull, it ripped her head off her body.
Alex stared in disbelief at how fast the Ferals had dismembered the poor woman.
“We’re here!” George yelled.
Alex spun, looking out the front of the transport. The blast door slowly opened as they raced toward them.
Alex’s eyes widened with delight as she saw what waited for them just beyond the door. Agartha’s other ninety vampires stood at the ready, lined along the edges with a space in the center for the transport.
The truck did not slow even though the door wasn’t all the way up. Alex ducked instinctively as they sped through, their roof just clearing the door.
Jaden and his eight remaining vampires dashed inside behind the transport, but they were followed by two dozen Ferals.
The vampires of Agartha made quick work of the Ferals.
“Get the door!” Jaden called.
The door slid downward, and the vampires removed the head of any Feral who attempted to duck inside through the ever-shrinking opening.
As the door was almost shut, Alex heard the rail guns ramp up. The Ferals screeched as the automated weapons activated and riddled the horde with bullets.
She fell back on the floor of the transport and allowed herself a moment just to breathe.
There was so much work left to do and so many questions left to answer, but for now, they were safe. They were alive.
And then the moment was over. It was time to once again be a leader. She got up and looked her team over.
Ed was clutching a nasty gash in his leg, but other than that, everyone appeared uninjured. Battered, blood-splattered, and dazed, yes. But they were alive. She was alive.
“All right, team,” she said. “Welcome to Agartha.”
They climbed out of the transport and stood, unsure of what to do next.
The GMT of New Haven and the vampires of Agartha regarded each other.
