by Justin Sloan
In a swift, unnatural motion, Giuseppe was behind the vampire, hand on his throat, and then he tore it out. The vampire fell to his knees, gasping for air as he bled out, but Giuseppe wasn’t done. He drew his weapon, a large cudgel of a sword, and then brought it down hard on the back of the vampire’s neck, so that the head went rolling.
Robin covered her mouth at the taste of bile, and she felt the trees around them spinning.
In spite of her hatred and disgust for Brad at that moment, another feeling crept in—gratitude. As much as she despised what he had done for her, the others had assumed she had fed on her own, so she was still alive.
As he had said, he saved her life.
She would be sure to repay him by surviving long enough to really escape and find her family again.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Fallen Lands
Valerie’s bullet wounds were healing well, which was a relief considering that she had to be conservative with the vials of blood.
That didn’t make the trudge any more bearable. God, she thought she hated pain? Well, that was only because she had never been able to compare it to true boredom. This never-ending journey across the land that was at times arid, at others swampy. The world after the collapse of society was nothing if not confusing.
And to make it worse, Sandra and Diego were being their normal, sappy selves. What had she been thinking, letting them come with her?
More than once, as she walked on ahead to scout the area and ensure there weren’t any nomad groups or worse, she considered just telling them to turn back while she ran off in the other direction, too fast for them to catch up.
But she didn’t have it in her. What if they never made it back? She’d be on her return trip, successful, only to find their skeletons by the side of the road. It wasn’t a chance she was willing to take.
So, she walked… and walked… and walked.
Her ears perked up. What was that? For the first time—silence.
She turned back to see Sandra and Diego walking, but neither talking. Her smile didn’t go unnoticed, before she quickly turned back and kept on.
“What was that?” Sandra asked.
“Just enjoying all this nature,” Valerie called back.
It wasn’t a complete lie. Their surroundings, for the first time in over an hour, were quite pleasant. Instead of the fields of dead grass they’d traversed for the last thirty minutes, now they had reached a valley that had accumulated enough water for a small river. Lush trees rose up on each side, and even continued on past the valley a ways.
As they made their way through trees and around clumps of blackberry bushes, tall ferns, and the occasional fallen tree, they heard a low humming.
Valerie held up a hand then motioned forward. She walked slowly, careful not to step on twigs.
The humming grew louder, stopped, then started up again. A glance back showed, Sandra and Diego, eyes narrowed with interest. Funny how Sandra’s eyes would have once conveyed fear. After all they had been through their safety apparently wasn’t as much of a concern as it used to be.
Out here where they didn’t know what could be waiting, that might not be the safest attitude.
They came to a drop-off where a large outcropping of rocks held up the earth, and several trees had grown, which provided cover for them to watch. Below, wading through the river, were men and women in what looked like burlap sacks. They hummed and chanted, and several in the middle carried a man, nude but for a cloth placed over his lower half.
“Dead,” Sandra whispered, and Valerie nodded in confirmation.
With a final chant, the group lowered the wooden carrier with the body into the water, then stood vigilant as it floated off.
Soon the burlap-sack wearing people began to wander off, each in their own time. When the last had gone, Valerie leaned against the large rock. She took out some jerky and handed it around.
“We can push on,” Sandra said. “They don’t seem like the type we have to worry about.”
“It’s not that.” Valerie turned and looked in the direction the body had gone. The water sparkled gold in spots where the sunlight trickled down between leaves. “So many bodies in Old Manhattan just tossed into dumpsters. It feels a bit wrong.”
“Some have gone into the ocean,” Diego said with a shrug. “Oh, and Mecha, we gave him a proper burial.”
“Yes, I guess you did.”
“Something on your mind?” Sandra asked, pausing to chew so that she could assess her friend.
“I’m just ready for the violence to end, is all. Of course I’m happy to see justice done, but when can I stop? When can I sit back and say that everything’s as it should be, and they have no more need of me?”
“That’s what you want?” Diego asked. “To not be needed?”
“If it means more people living in peace, then yes.”
He looked away, and shrugged. “It won’t ever really end, Valerie. There will always be evil people popping up.”
She shook her head. “You don’t understand. It might never end completely, but part of why I left Cammie and the others in control was that I believe they can do what must be done.”
“And then where would you go?” Sandra asked.
“We,” Valerie corrected her.
But Sandra glanced at Diego, then back to Valerie, and bit her lip.
“Ah, the three of us then,” Valerie added. “I never know.”
“We can talk about it more at the time,” Sandra said, earning her a glare from Diego.
Valerie hadn’t considered that there would be something more to discuss. The hesitant look in Sandra’s eyes told it all—her home was in Old Manhattan now. It was where she had come to care for Diego, and it was where she became her own woman.
Maybe Valerie didn’t need to leave either, but… she was dead there, after all. At least, she had hopefully convinced the majority of the population that she was. If it helped bring out Morgan and any resistance fueled by hatred for her, or at least threw the CEOs off her scent, it would be worth it. But returning to live a normal life? Not exactly the easiest thing to do at this point.
She sure hoped that little experiment paid off.
“Come on,” Valerie said, standing and pulling her pack around to grab a couple of the now empty canteens.
“You want to get water from there?” Sandra asked.
“Of course.”
“But it had a dead person in it!”
Valerie laughed. “Dear, the water moves. We can go upstream. The point is, we have no idea when the next clean water source will come along. This could be the last water source you’ll see for days.”
Sandra looked horrified, but they went to the water, refilled the canteens, and then were soon on their way again.
On the other side of the valley, the trees were sparser, but the air was pleasant. The rays of sunshine tickled Valerie’s skin and she was reminded how she had only recently become able to walk about in the day.
Then a thought hit her—Michael had given her these powers, told her he might come back for her. She frowned, wondering what would happen if he returned while she was out dealing with the CEOs, or some other matter.
Would he wait? Would he have some way of tracking her down? Or… did it even matter?
Part of her felt that he had always intended this for her, and he was still trying to figure out his plan for the world as he went. Yes, he would take out The Duke, her creator, in France. But then what? Yuko and Akio would eventually find him, and then they would rejoin Bethany Anne, she supposed.
That sounded great and all, but she wasn’t sure where she fit into the picture. Up in outer space, serving as some sort of soldier in the war against alien forces? Or maybe she would stay here as Michael’s sentry on earth.
Either way, a normal life and settling down and all that didn’t seem to be in her stars. For Diego and Sandra, however, it was. She knew that.
And this knowledge made her sad at the realization that t
he three of them wouldn’t always be together. That life, or fate, or whatever dictated so much of where you went and, in fact, it could all be over at any moment.
With a glance back, she slowed and offered a smile.
“What’s up with the silly grin?” Diego asked.
“Just… it’s not the worst thing in the world that you two came along.”
Sandra laughed and nudged Diego. “That’s her way of saying, ‘You two are the most amazing people in the world, I’m so lucky to be here with you.’”
“Aw, that’s sweet,” Diego said with a chuckle.
“Shut up,” Valerie waved them off, but her smile didn’t falter. She looked over at the rock face lining the surrounding hills, hoping they wouldn’t have to climb it. “You two are like family, you know? The closest thing I have to it, anyway.”
The other two nodded, and Diego said, “We’re all the closest thing we have to family.”
“Screw that,” Sandra said. “We are family. There’s no getting around it.”
They kept walking and, when night settled, they found a small cave in the rock face. Diego got a low fire going just outside the cave for Sandra, then sat with an arm around her.
“It’s been a long time since I had family,” he said, staring into the flames.
“At least you didn’t kill yours,” Valerie said, thinking back to Donovan. “Wait, did you?”
He shook his head with a chuckle, “No, I’m glad to say I didn’t. But… neither did you, really. Right?”
She scrunched her nose, thinking. “Huh, I guess you’re right. He wasn’t my real brother, just my vampire brother. Created by the same vampire. It’s been so long now, it’s all become a kind of blur.”
“If I had a brother, I think he’d be something like that new Were,” Sandra said. “The one who rescued you, Diego. What was his name?”
“Ricky? How so?”
“You know, big so he can protect me. Gay, so he doesn’t try to hit on my girlfriends.”
“Considering I’m your only girlfriend,” Valerie said, “and that I’m kind of single at the moment, in a way, would that be so bad?”
Sandra shrugged. “I just don’t want you hooking up with my brother, that’s all.”
“Wait a minute.” Diego pulled back from her, his brow furrowed. “I’m not big, and I can protect you.”
“First of all, you’re big where it counts, honey—”
“Ew!” Valerie waved. “Guys, I’m right here, okay?”
“As if you haven’t seen it all.” Sandra smirked and squeezed Diego’s leg playfully, causing him to blush. “And second, my big, strong defender… I don’t need you to protect me. That was just a brother thing, you know. I mean like, growing up it would’ve been nice to have a big, strong brother. Now I have Junior here.” She patted her sniper rifle and smiled.
“But I would protect you, if you ever needed it,” Diego said, apparently unable to let it go.
“And I, you,” she said, and gave Valerie a look that she interpreted to mean what they all knew—if it really came down to it, they all knew Valerie would be doing the majority of the protecting.
They rested there in the cave, with Valerie taking the majority of the watch. Diego relieved her in the early morning though, and she had to admit she needed rest. As soon as she leaned up against the cave wall, Sandra curled up beside her, she was asleep.
A clattering woke her and she sprang for her sword, but Diego was there with a wide-eyed look and said, “It’s just me! Apparently, this area has rabbits.”
“You saw one?” she asked.
“Better.” He held up two already skinned and cooked hares. “I did a bit of hunting.”
She had always been partial to the little guys, so didn’t feel too great about eating. But then again, she knew jerky was going to get old fast. Sandra, however, dug in as if she hadn’t eaten in days, not even bothering to wipe the grease from her chin until she was done.
“Never thought you’d get to see this side of each other, huh?” Valerie asked Diego with a wink.
“This side?” He looked from Valerie to Sandra, then smiled, catching on. “Oh, the grease and all that?”
“Not showering, eating like an animal… yeah.”
“You forget, I’m a Were. All that kinda turns me on.”
“Gross.” Valerie turned, pulling together their supplies so they could get back on the road. “Really, just… disgusting. Both of you.”
Sandra glanced at Valerie’s unfinished meal. “Does that mean you won’t be having yours?”
“Go for it.”
“And maybe you can give us twenty minutes?” Diego said. When she looked at him with confusion, he winked and added, “Alone?”
“What? No, fuck no. You two wanted to come on this trip, I mean join me on this journey, so no, no coming on this trip.”
“Talk about vulgar assumptions,” Sandra said, scoffing. She turned to Diego with a raised eyebrow. “Unless…?”
He smiled and nodded. “Yeah, that’s exactly what I was inferring. She was dead on.”
Sandra laughed and stood, finally finished. “Okay, you might get turned on by all this wild living, but this girl needs a bath and some rose water to spray on myself before we can even think about five minutes, let alone twenty.” She sniffed. “Honestly, you stink, and so do I.”
“It doesn’t bother me, so—”
“Nuh-uh, it bothers me. And it bothers Valerie that we’re even talking about this. Look at the flush in her cheeks.”
“Bullshit, I’m not blushing.” Valerie turned and walked out of there, rolling her eyes. Yeah, she had totally been blushing. But also getting kinda pissed. She’d given up her right to get some when she set off on this mission, so it wasn’t fair for them to be so open in front of her.
The following days went by without anything out of the ordinary happening. Sandra started to complain about blisters, but whenever Diego or Valerie got them, they would heal, so it was hard to commiserate.
One morning it started to rain, and didn’t give up for three whole days. Since they hadn’t thought about bringing any sort of raincoats, Valerie scouted ahead and spotted an abandoned barn.
They hunkered down in there, put on dry clothes, and waited it out.
“What if the rain goes on for months?” Sandra asked on the third day.
“I don’t think so,” Valerie said, standing next to her. She sniffed the air, and Diego did the same. “You too?”
He nodded. “It’s like, out here and away from all the city smells, you can almost smell the weather changes.
Sure enough, within an hour the sun was out, and they found themselves chasing a rainbow. None of them talked of gold at the end of it though, Valerie noted. That was a fun belief left over from the old days, still strong as ever, but they all knew the treasure that awaited them, and that treasure was called justice. She meant to bring judgment to the CEOs, and see that they paid for their pasts.
A light mist swirled in around midday, and then the sun won out again and the result was a muggy humidity. They pushed on through it, only stopping to rest for a snack, until the evening. Soon the sun was beginning its descent and casting streaks of bright pink and purple through the clouds above.
Valerie was just starting to think they should veer off the route Sandra had them on and find somewhere to rest, when they spotted what was no doubt once a big city in the foreground, a large lake beyond.
“Huh,” Sandra said, turning the map in her hand and glancing around. “I’m not really sure. It doesn’t feel like we’ve been walking long enough to have reached Chicago, does it?”
Diego shook his head, and Valerie had to agree.
“I doubt it,” she said. “Even at our rate.”
“That would make this any random city along the way,” Sandra said, “or possibly Cleveland, Ohio.”
“Only one way to find out,” Valerie said. “Ask.”
She started off toward the city, determined to march i
n there and find out where they were and how much farther they had to go.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Old Manhattan
The neutral location chosen by Morgan was at an old warehouse by the docks, close to where Jackson imagined Valerie would have arrived when she first came to America. Damn, he missed her. But it wasn’t time to dwell on emotions, and seldom was in this world.
No, it was time to take care of business.
He checked over his shoulder and received nods from Baxter and Talden. Lorain had stayed back at the restaurant for this, but he had others nearby ready for when the moment came.
He paused at the entryway to the warehouse, very aware that they could’ve just set this up to bomb him and everyone else that showed. It certainly wasn’t the first time Morgan’s people had made the attempt.
Not a single sign of foul play though, so he motioned to the others and entered.
There she was, Morgan, with her strikingly red hair up in a bun, wearing her telltale green dress and with a distinctly out of place shotgun at her side.
“For insurance,” she said, patting the weapon fondly.
He looked around, seeing that Morgan had brought many faces he knew, those who had betrayed him. Now they looked at him curiously. They all wondered if he was going to really be okay with this, he imagined. They knew him too well.
“You actually did it,” Morgan said with a slight smile. “Seems the old Jackson is back.”
“The old Jackson?” he asked.
“Ruthless. Unafraid to take a life when it was for the greater good.” She motioned to those around her. “And now, we’re yours again. I think we can all agree this is for the greater good.”
It was all he could do not to lose it right then and there. How dare she talk about Valerie’s death like that? Even if she hadn’t really died, this woman didn’t know that. A second thought hit him as he glanced around.
“Ella and Peterson, where are they?”
Morgan’s eyes showed confusion for a moment, then her mask of a smile returned. “Yes, they’re waiting for this to be over before returning.”
