Jack sighed. “Well I guess that narrows it down.” He rubbed a hand across his stubbled chin. “But how do we know which one?”
“We must strike them both at the same time. That is the only way.” Viktor stabbed a knife into the paper to emphasize his point. “We strike them both and watch the demons flame out.”
Foster nodded. “There is even a small chance that once they do, the humans they inhabit will be restored.”
“Joy,” Jack groaned. He turned to his crew and motioned them over. “New game plan. Everybody huddle up.”
*****
Jim Youngblood sat up in his hospital bed and turned slowly to stare at Crystal sleeping quietly beside him. He smiled as he watched her in the soft glow of the monitors and the silvery shaft of moonlight that beamed through his window.
He turned slowly and dangled his feet from the edge of the bed, feeling the blood flow into his extremities for the first time in a very long time. He held his hand out into the silver-white light of the moon and turned it slowly, watching the shadows play across the surface of his skin. He watched as the shadows formed and disappeared over the thick veins and ridges of his thick hands. He watched the shadows play off of the tubes sticking out of his forearm and he shook his head.
Since nightfall he’d had a surge of energy unlike anything he’d felt in a very long time. He slid gracefully from the edge of the bed and felt the IV tubes tug at him. His first instinct was to pull the damned things from his flesh and toss them aside, but he didn’t dare. Should he set off an alarm or worse, waken Crystal, he’d be forced back to bed, and he really didn’t want that right now.
He carefully reached across the bed and unhooked the tubes from where they were caught on the rails and lifted them carefully over the mattress. He then turned and took the single step toward the window. He carefully and quietly pulled the curtains back and stared out into the darkness of the night. His eyes rose into the sky and settled on the moon hanging lifelessly in the sky. He could feel a ‘pull’ from that giant piece of rock hanging up there. He couldn’t explain how, or why, he just knew that it was there.
Jim didn’t know how long he stood and stared at the glowing orb, but he allowed his mind to drift. He imagined that he was outside, in the woods, naked and running; his heart pounding in his chest as he raced through the woods. He lifted his nose and caught a scent…prey! He didn’t know exactly what it was at the moment, but he knew it was food.
He turned and followed the scent, his sharp ears picking up the sounds of a rushed scurrying. Rustling leaves, twigs breaking as something small darted about, trying frantically to dart first one direction then another to escape the certain death that it knew was coming.
As he closed on the sound, his nose picked up a stronger scent. Fear. He now knew what he was chasing. A rabbit. Not a huge meal, but it was red meat nonetheless. He increased his speed and darted between two large pines, his feet gaining purchase in the loose pine needles. He darted under a fallen tree then jumped over a thicket, coming down nearly on top of the startled animal.
Jim saw the fear in its eyes as he suddenly appeared out of nowhere and that fear exhilarated him. He felt his mouth water and his heart rate increase at the potential meal. The rabbit froze for just a moment before darting off, Jim hot on his heels.
He could see the rabbit now, its rear feet kicking up little tufts of pine needles and dirt as it fought like hell to escape, but he knew it was for naught. He had the little creature and it would soon make a nice snack.
He watched the rabbit approach a small fallen branch and he knew it couldn’t go under…it had to jump over. He poured on the speed and leapt, his mouth opening and then snapping in the air, closing like a trap on the soft body of the hare as it attempted to escape in mid-jump.
Jim felt himself slide to a stop, the warm blood of the rabbit running down his throat as his jaws closed tighter, snapping the hare’s spine, his canines tearing flesh. He trotted off to a small clearing and laid down to enjoy the small snack.
Just as he ripped the head off the rabbit, Jim snapped out of his daydream, his body slowly rocking as his mind sucked back into his body. He glanced about the room and saw that Crystal still slept soundly just feet away. He smiled again and slowly pulled the curtain shut.
Jim Youngblood draped his IV tubes back over the edge of the bed and slipped back into his bed, pulling the covers over his cold body. As he slid down into the bed, he paused. He wiggled his bare toes in the sheets then pulled the covers back to investigate.
At the end of his bed, his feet lay on the bleached white sheets, covered in rich, black soil…pine needles stuck between his toes.
*****
“Hey, wait up. Where you headed?” Little John trotted to catch up with Spalding as the man marched topside.
“I have a theory I want to test.”
“Okay. So share.” Little John stepped between Spalding and the doorway leading out to the top level of the hangar.
Spalding stopped and stared at him. “Look, Sullivan, this isn’t your fight. You should really stay here.”
Little John crossed his arms and effectively blocked any way past. “Like hell. You’re still my Team Leader. Your fight is my fight.”
“No. It isn’t.” Spalding tried to step past him and found the way blocked. “I mean it, Sullivan. Stand down.”
Little John raised his brows at him and cocked his head to the side. “You said you had a theory.”
Spalding sighed heavily. “Look…it’s just an idea really. But the colonel and XO are both balls deep in an op, so I can’t get it approved.”
“And…”
“And, if I catch hell over it, I’d rather not catch hell for dragging any of my people with me.” Spalding shrugged. “Besides, it’s a wild goose chase at best.”
“I like chasing geese.” Little John shot him a crooked grin. “I guess I’m in.”
“No, John, look…”
“Never leave a man behind.” He turned and opened the door for Spalding, ushering him out. “If you’re about to run out and do something stupid? Try and get rid of me.”
Spalding walked slowly toward the armory. “Look, this is a long shot, but…I was just thinking, Bigby was an operator. SAS, true, but an operator is an operator at his core. If he was the one who pulled the trigger on Apollo, maybe if I go back there and try to put myself in his shoes, I can figure out where he went.”
“I thought the techs scoured the area and came up empty?”
Spalding stopped and turned to him. “That’s the thing, the trail is never completely empty, is it? I mean, not to a trained eye. The techs are just techs. They’re no operators.”
Sullivan nodded. “Okay, I’ll grant you that. But buddy, it’s the middle of the night. It’s dark as hell out there.”
“Exactly!” Spalding slapped his shoulder. “The same conditions that he was in when he pulled the trigger. He probably didn’t know the area well enough to have an escape plan. Neither do I. So…I go out there, try to put myself into the same mindset and then take off into the woods. Take the path that I would take. See where that leads me. Every so often I stop and check for signs.”
Sullivan slowly nodded. “You realize this is a one in a million, right?”
Spalding shrugged. “It’s all I got right now. I can’t just give up and wait for the bastard to come back and try to hit us again.”
Sullivan fell into step behind him as Spalding headed for the armory again. “And you really think he will?”
“He blames us for everything. We’re the reason that his old CO is pushing up daisies. We’re the reason that Apollo turned on them in the end. We’re the reason that all of their wolves got gunned down. He’s out there right now, alone and pissed and plotting revenge. I guarantee it.”
“You sound awfully confident.” Sullivan stopped as they reached the armory. “How can you be so sure?”
“Because it’s what I would do if I were him.”
*****
<
br /> Dom fought off the urge to panic as multiple hands thrust up from the earth like slender mushrooms, fingers grasping at empty air as he and his crew slowly closed in on each other, silver rounds firing into the soil. Occasionally, the owner of a set of hands would go up in orange ash leaving a depression in the soil as their body disintegrated. “Second Squad, converge on me.” Dom spun a slow circle, his suppressed SCAR pumping whispered round after whispered round into the soil around him.
“Look alive, Second Squad. Tangos closing fast on your twenty,” Jericho’s voice echoed Mitchell’s warning from just moments before.
“Sierra Two, Sierra Three, have you neutralized the flanking tangos?” Dom tried to keep his voice calm as he called Marshall and Wallace.
He was about to call a second time when his earpiece finally came alive with the sound of muted gunfire and Marshall breathing hard while trying to respond. “Negative, One. Flanking group maneuvered us into an attempted trap. Clearing our way back now.”
“Dispatch with all due diligence. Converge on me, ASAP!” Dom slapped a fresh magazine into the heavy SCAR and brought the scope back up to his eye. “We’re about to have a shitload of company, boys. Mow ‘em down!”
His earpiece erupted with a cacophony of ‘Copy that’ and ‘About damn time’ as the vampires broke through the tree line. Dom brought his barrel to bear on each of the forward most vampires, converting each to a pile of glowing ash as they ran to intercept him.
“Sierra One, drop back your position five-zero yards to the southeast. There’s a clearing where Vulture can assist.” Jericho scanned all of the video feeds that the Predator had fed since being airborne and the clearing he directed them to, while small, was by far the closest.
“Copy that, Vulture!” Dom began backing up as he continued sending hot, silver coated lead toward the onrushing attackers. “You heard the man, fall back.”
Each operator began back stepping, averting their eyes from the oncoming targets just long enough to ensure they didn’t step into the waiting hands of a buried tango. Hammer felt a hand grip his BDU trousers and he reacted so quick that his arm was a blur. He pulled his knife, cut the offending hand off at the elbow, and re-sheathed his blade before the next attacking vampire could advance more than a few feet. The handless stub quivered violently before bursting into flame then orange ash rose from the hole in the ground.
As the operators cleared the line of buried vampires, Dom keyed his coms again, “UV grenades!”
Each operator deployed a grenade. Some close to handle the vampires still in the ground, other threw theirs into the oncoming crowd. The operators all turned and double timed it toward the clearing as the quick succession of UV blasts bought them a few precious moments of time.
“Vulture, get your bird ready to lay down cover fire!” Dom yelled into the mic.
“Standing by.” Jericho had the Predator in a tight circular flight path ready to pull out and strafe the northwest tree line of the clearing once the team had broken clear. He watched the same satellite feed that Mitchell and the OPCOM were watching, the heat signatures of the squad quickly closing the gap on the clearing. “You’re almost there, Sierra One. Just the other side of the dry creek bed.”
Jericho saw the creek bed ahead and pushed himself harder. He knew that the clearing would be the only thing that would buy them a reprieve. They needed the cover fire of the drone to thin the herd or his team would be hamburger. “Don’t let up ‘til you’re on the other side of that clearing. Put some distance between yourself and the drones field of fire.” Dom leapt and jumped the dry creek bed. He pushed hard and came out of the tree line in a roll, tumbling and coming up on his knees.
He brought the SCAR back up to his eyes and scanned the trees, watching as his team each jumped the dry creek. Each man broke through the trees and into the clearing, establishing a staggered formation as they began to work their way back.
Mitchell’s voice broke through the coms, “Sierra One, cover your six!”
Dom instantly spun, his SCAR scanning the trees behind them. Movement deep within the shadows of the woods left him scanning left to right, but with no clear shot. “OPCOM, no clear target.”
“Those woods are alive with tangos.” Mitchell’s voice gave away the tension he felt.
“Two by two formations, each group take a quadrant.” Dom pointed to Hammer. “You and I will each take a quad.”
Neils smiled as he slapped a fresh magazine into his carbine. “Roger that, boss man.” He dropped to his knee and leveled his M4 on the trees ahead of him.
“Dammit, Jones, we could really use some backup about now,” Dom cursed through gritted teeth.
“Vulture going hot,” Jericho announced as a sound ripped through the night sky. What always reminded Dom of a giant zipper being unzipped cut through the air, red tracers leaving a trail of death as the woods erupted into an explosion of leaves, pine needles and bark. Twigs, small branches, and soil flew into the air as hundreds of rounds ripped into the stand of trees opposite the clearing. Dom could see dozens of plumes of orange ash rise into the air as the Predator turned and prepared for another pass.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about.” He brought the SCAR back to his eye and watched for more plumes of ash. He didn’t expect to see the line of angry vampires break through the trees and make a rush for the operators in the middle of the clearing…
*****
Loren the Wyldwood pulled her cloak tighter and shrugged her shoulders, allowing the hood to cover her face more. She could barely see as she tried to maneuver through the torch lit cave. The dripping water was glacial and sent a chill through the air that bit her skin even from the protection of the heavy material she wore.
She paused at a Y in the path and looked for some kind of sign showing her which direction she should go. She looked along both walls, the ceiling, the floor…nothing could be found. “Allister, where are you?” Her voice was barely a whisper, but the fog from her breath carried on the small currents of air.
“Where I always am.”
She spun and nearly tripped on the loose rock of the cavern floor.
“Who dares disturb me in my own domain?”
Loren stood erect and lifted the hood from her face. “It is I, Allister. Loren, of the Greater Elves.”
The griffin stepped from the shadows, its nails clicking on the stone floor. “So it is.” He cocked his head and eyed her warily. “You’ve aged well, elf.”
“As have you.” She bowed slightly, her eyes never leaving his.
“Now you may feel free to leave.” He turned with a fluid motion that belied his massive size and slipped back into the shadows of the cavern.
“Wait. Allister, please.” She stepped forward to follow him and paused, her eyes unable to focus in the darkness. “I must speak with you.”
“And so you have. You may feel free to leave me now.” His voice sounded far away, but she knew that he was still close…watching her.
“I am in need of your talents. Your wisdom.” She listened intently, straining her ears in the underground cavern to discern anything. A scrape of his nails, the inhalation of breath, the swish of his mighty tail…any sign to indicate where he was. “The demon queen has returned.”
“Impossible.” His voice sounded close, but the echoes made it impossible for even her to discern where he was. She knew it was just one of his many talents, but it caused an unease that she simply couldn’t stand.
“It is true. She has been made whole.”
“Again, impossible. The cardinal assured me that she would be sent to the four corners of the known world.” He suddenly appeared from behind a rock outcropping, his mighty bird-like head twitching as his eyes studied her.
“It is truth. I have seen it. I have already assembled a group of warriors to meet the threat.”
“So why have you come to search me out?” She could see his tail swishing behind him, curiosity eating at him.
“Because they need you
r guidance.” She stepped closer, her hands held outward, pleading. “They need your wisdom.”
His massive body leapt up onto the outcropping, his feline like legs gripping the rock under their claws, his wings spread to keep him steady. “And why would I do this?”
“Because you want her destroyed as much as anybody.” Loren gave him a knowing look, her eyes probing his own.
“I have accepted my fate.” He spread his wings wide and stood on his hind legs. “I have my library. What more could I want?”
“You’ve had how many thousands of years to study these ancient writings? Surely you’ve memorized it all by now.” Loren shook her head. “You’ve secluded yourself to this place with nothing but your scrolls…aren’t you the least bit curious what new knowledge there is to learn?”
“Bah! All that is fit to learn was writ eons ago.” He hissed at her and settled back onto the outcropping.
Loren crossed her arms and smiled at him. “Truly? You think that nothing worth learning has been writ since the days of Alexander? My, my, talk of hubris.”
“It is not hubris when speaking of the wisdom of others.”
“It is not wisdom, dear Allister. It is the philosophical meanderings of humans. Humans long since dead and buried.” She opened her arms and spun a slow circle. “Imagine the great things writ since you raided the library of Alexandria! The thousands of years of ideas, of technology of…”
“Technology?” Allister stepped down from the outcrop and slowly moved toward her. “Tell me of this.”
She smiled again and sighed. “Oh, the wondrous things that humans have invented since the days of the Empire. They have flying machines now.”
“Bah. Any bird can fly.”
“They have horseless carriages.”
“Horses are better eaten than used for pulling carriages. Tell me something to whet my mental appetites.”
Loren nodded knowingly. “These days, men can remove the beating heart from one man and place it into the chest of another and give life. They perform surgeries daily without infection. They have almost conquered all known diseases. They have ships that can cross the entire world in days rather than years. They have sent men to the moon and walked upon it.”
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