by Maxey, Phil
Shannon was silent.
“Come with us. If we find a place which is safe, maybe you can come back here at some point, see if your parents got the message,” said Anna.
Shannon nodded.
CHAPTER FOUR
A piercing tone echoed through Daniel Copeland’s mind. The sun had gone down, it was time to wake. Not that he needed the alarm. He had woken an hour earlier anyway. He sighed and stared up at the high ceiling of his bedroom. The architecture of his penthouse apartment was minimalistic, with only the occasional Rembrandt and Caravaggio to break up the white and beige stone walls. He preferred the classical artists, especially those from the Baroque movement of painters. He felt their stark use of light and shadow properly reflected the true nature of life. There could be no light without darkness.
In his mind, he could hear them. The thousands upon thousands that the scourge had claimed, that he had claimed. The endless drone of other minds intruding upon his own. At the start, they almost sent him insane, but with some help from tailor-made drugs he managed to drown them out, until he was back in control.
His clawed-hand pulled back the single silk sheet which covered his leathery body and he sat up. There was no light source inside the apartment, none was needed, but his dreams were still of the sandy beaches of Orange County and the blistering sun of clear blue skies.
He stood and walked to the large glass panel which was his view upon the former city of San Jose. He never did like the name, and finally settled upon ‘Copeland’ as the new title of the location of his home.
Unlike the early days, there were only screams once or twice a night, but a few fires still burned in the distance amongst pleasant suburban homes and palm trees.
He smiled. The scene of devastation was his victory. He waved at a small black box on the wall and the entire panel changed to one of cobalt blue skies and waves lazily lapping against white sand. The fidelity was far higher than even the most expensive TVs could offer at the point the scourge struck and was accompanied with the correct ambient sounds.
He turned, moving casually towards a large metal and plastic block which stood against the wall. Taking a plastic cup, he pushed it up against a silver colored lever and watched the dark viscous liquid pour into it. He held it close to his catlike eye and marveled at the eddies and spirals of steam which rose from it. Tilting his head back, his mouth opened like a shark’s, and he let the warmed blood cascade over his snakelike tongue and into his throat.
Even though he had been drinking the life force from other humans for months, he still was not used to the electric charge which flowed through him each time he sipped the red nectar. That’s what he had come to call it, as ‘blood’ did not do it justice.
A small device lit up on a large black alter-like table in the center of the room. The name “Corvin” glowed in neon green on the screen. He slowly walked across and picked it up.
“Yes…”
Engine noise came from the phone. “We’re heading north.”
“Do you have a destination…”
“The boy thinks they are heading for a city. Looking at the map, the obvious one would be Salt Lake.”
“Keep me informed…”
He put the cell phone back onto the cold surface, and the room promptly fell back into darkness with only the blue and yellow hues coming from the former window.
*****
Jess shared the bed with Shannon. She was the only one from the group that Shannon would allow to stay in her room, and Marina heard the door lock when she pulled it closed, hours earlier.
Mary and Bill shared the double bed in the second bedroom, and Hardin got the couch.
The others were meant to be sleeping in the RV, and Anna was making a good attempt to dull her heightened senses in the biggest of the three beds, alongside Marina, but Joel and Evan soon gave up, and had chosen to play cards by candlelight instead. Flint laid by their feet.
Joel rolled his eyes and turned his cards over. “Remind me not to bet real money against you.” He pushed five cheesy snacks across the smooth table top.
“Is money even a thing anymore?”
“Money’s always a thing.”
“Don’t think the vamps have much call for it.”
Joel collected the cards and started to shuffle them. “Was Marina right earlier?”
“About?”
“All that ‘research’ that you and Bill did… are doing. It going to lead to anything?”
Evan slid his hand across the back of his neck. “Maybe… If we can understand how the scourge came about—”
“You said it has to do with Daniel Copeland?” Joel dealt another hand.
“Everything leads to him.”
Joel looked at his cards, but his mind was elsewhere. The small silver case popped into his mind. He put the cards down, stood, opened the cupboard above the sofa opposite, and pulled the suitcase down and placed it on the table.
Evan looked at it, including the handcuffs that hung from its handle. “What’s that?”
“I think it’s time we found out.”
Evan looked at Joel’s remaining snacks. “Is this your way of getting out of losing even more cheese sticks.”
Joel smiled, picked up the suitcase, grabbing both top and bottom, and put all his strength into pulling both sides apart. The case creaked a little, but remained firmly shut. He let out a breath, then looked at Joel. “Let’s both try.”
Evan stood and grabbed both sides with Joel. “Where you get this case from?”
Joel began straining. “It belonged… to a… CDC scientist.”
After a few seconds, they both gave up.
Anna appeared through the curtain which separated the main part of the RV from the rear room. “What’s going on?”
“Joel’s trying to get into some mysterious case that he got from the CDC.”
Anna walked to the suitcase and lifted it. “CDC?” she said, looking at Joel.
“Yeah…”
“Why didn’t you tell me sooner? I thought this contained personal items of yours.”
“Because it was obviously important to the guy who used to be chained to it and the CDC, and I didn’t know who I could trust.”
Anna looked at the small numbered barrels closely. “Well, at least you now finally trust us.”
“Yeah, now we’re like him,” said Evan with a smirk.
“If this is from the CDC, then it’s a Cordair case. I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard of them. They are built to withstand a plane crash,” said Anna.
“What are they used for?” said Evan.
Anna looked back at him, then turned to Joel. “They are used for moving dangerous substances. Diseases, nuclear materials, things like that.”
Evan stood back. “Woah, maybe we don’t open it then.”
Anna looked at Joel. “Where was the CDC taking it to?”
“All we knew is we had to get it, and the scientists, to a ship that was waiting just off the coast of north LA.” He looked momentarily away from her gaze. “We didn’t make it.”
“What you’re describing sounds like an emergency protocol to get whatever is inside this thing to somewhere safe. Probably to somewhere where the scourge hadn’t gotten to yet. Maybe some lab. If what’s inside this suitcase is that important then we need to get it to where it should have gone.”
Joel shook his head and sat back down. “What if whatever inside has something to do with Copeland?”
“Actually, maybe we should open it…” said Evan.
All three pondered in silence.
“What the hell’s going on?” said Marina, pushing past the hanging sheet, and brushing her hair from her face.
Ignoring her comment, Joel looked up at Anna. “Well, going back to LA is out of the question, there’s nothing but death there…” He tried not to notice Marina’s stare.
Evan reached under the table and pulled out his laptop.
“Then let’s find another military base, one th
at is still functioning, and see if they know what to do with this case,” said Anna.
“On it,” said Evan, pulling the computer open and typing away.
Marina looked down at the case. “What is so special about that thing? I thought you had your favorite gun in there or something.”
Joel shook his head. “Months back, I would have been happy to get rid of it, but now… I’d prefer to know what it contains before I give it to anyone, including the government.”
Marina poured herself some water.
Anna sat on the sofa. “The only way to get it open without destroying what’s inside is to know the combination. I don’t suppose the former owner of this thing gave you the seven digit combination?”
Joel shook his head. “He was delirious, just kept saying ‘water too.’ We had to get to one of the basins at the marina, so I presumed it was just him wanting us to get there…”
Marina sipped on her water, and scrunched her face up. “He knew you had to get to the dock to get to a ship anchored nearby, so why keep saying it?”
“He was dying, who knows why.”
“You sure it was ‘water too’ and not something similar sounding?”
“Even if it were, so what?” said Joel.
Evan looked up, his gaze at no one in particular. “Waterloo…” He then looked at Joel across the table. “Could he have said Waterloo?”
“I guess… why?”
Evan typed away at the keyboard, then looked at Anna whose hands were still resting on the case. “Try, one-eight-six-one-eight-one-five…”
She lifted the case slightly and spun the small black dials around, until they lined up with the date of the battle of Waterloo.
She looked at those standing around her, and slid her hands to the latches at the side and pushed. They slid outwards stopping with a click.
Everyone inside the RV could hear each other’s hearts racing as she placed the case back on to the table and pulled the lid up.
Evan picked up the flickering candle and moved it around to light the contents.
On top was a black stone tablet sealed inside a clear plastic case.
Anna reached in and picked it up, as she did, an ethereal blue light came from what was underneath. Two large vials of a translucent blue liquid, with tiny spiraling sparkles within, sat embedded inside black foam.
“What the hell is that?” said Marina, looking at the strange radiant substance that was causing ripples of shadows to appear on the ceiling and bathing their faces in a blue glow.
Anna turned over the plastic-covered stone as Joel reached in to touch one of the vials.
“Be careful…” said Marina.
He nodded and lifted the vial from its holding. It was heavier than he expected and, as he held it close to his eye, the liquid swirled, settled, then fizzed… He felt the temperature around him change to a dry heat before he saw stone walls, each one meticulously carved with symbols.
“What…”
His mind felt detached from his senses and he spun around to face a large square walled cavern with circular pillars at regular intervals. Light came from burning torches and in the center were sarcophagi. Four surrounding one much larger. These were not like the versions he had seen in history documentaries or once or twice in museums. These were covered in black, silver, and gold etchings and lines that connected them all. But that wasn’t what was so strange about the scene, for the surface of the sarcophagi seemed alive, the symbols constantly changing form and colour.
“Joel?”
He blinked. The three others were looking back at him from inside the RV.
“You okay?” said Anna.
He moved the vial away from his face, placing it back down in its soft holding. “Yeah, I’m fine.” The strange image lingered in his mind, until he looked at those looking at him.
Everyone shifted on their feet as if they were lifting their unease at seeing him transfixed.
He looked at the stone tablet in Anna’s hand. “Recognize what that is?”
She shook her head. “History was never my thing. But it looks old… real old.”
“Let me see…” said Evan. She handed it to him. He examined the gold-etched symbols on the smooth surface. “My grandfather would know better than I, but these look Sumerian.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Joel, Anna, and the rest sat around the coffee table in Shannon’s living room. She still hadn’t made an appearance despite Jess leaving the bedroom and being ready to leave.
Bill sighed. It was the third or fourth time he had while looking at the symbols on the stone tablet.
Mary appeared from the hallway, carrying a few mugs of coffee.
Outside, the sun was just starting to seep through the drapes, and Marina pulled them open to reveal a clear looking morning sky.
Joel looked away from the glare, squinting, and back to Bill. “So?”
Bill shook his head slightly. “Some of these symbols are Sumerian, but there are others here that I don’t recognize at all.”
“What about the symbols you do recognize, what do they say?” said Marina, sipping on her coffee.
Bill looked across to Evan, who met his gaze. They exchanged a knowing nod.
“Care to share?” said Marina.
“Well, the original Sumerian creation story was discovered on a stone tablet, but it was incomplete. There were parts missing. This—” He held it up. “Appears to refer to things that were not mentioned on that stone tablet. Actually, I would say that stone tablet is a copy of this one. This, I think… is the original.”
“What does it say?” said Joel. He had been trying to forget the strange vision that took over his mind hours before, but he couldn’t help feeling that it wasn’t merely his imagination, but something that needed to be seen.
“Like I said, there are markings here I can’t read, but others appear to describe a place called Onkir which the Sumerian gods called home. There is also a list of ingredients, to create something called the ‘Alkron’ which was given to the ‘Kingly’ so that they may ‘divide from the beasts’…” He looked directly at Joel. “I think… this could be what Copeland found in the desert.”
“How did the CDC get it?” said Anna.
Bill shook his head.
Marina walked forward and looked down at the glowing vials. “This is what is responsible for ending the world?”
Bill nodded. “With Copeland’s involvement, yes.”
In one movement Marina pulled her handgun from the back of her pants, swiveled it around in her hand, so the butt was facing down, and lifted her hand to bring it down upon the glass vials.
In the blink of an eye Joel moved forward and caught her arm. “We don’t do anything until we know more about what this stuff is.” He could hear her heart beating and she looked back at him with moist eyes. She dropped her arm back to her side.
Joel moved back to his seat, and an awkward silence descended until Bill cleared his throat. “The contents of this suitcase are very valuable and deadly in the wrong hands. I’m sure there are many that are trying to locate it.”
“Liquid scourge…” said Evan under his breath.
“If this did belong to Copeland, he’s going to want it back,” said Anna.
“Somehow, the CDC got it from Copeland—” said Bill.
“I doubt he offered it up voluntarily,” said Marina.
“—Probably not. And they were trying to get it somewhere else, out of Cali.”
“Away from Copeland…” continued Marina.
Joel sighed, remembering his part in the failed attempt.
Anna looked at Evan. “Did you find any military bases near here?”
He nodded, sliding his laptop’s screen around so it faced the others. “There’s a number of National Guard bases around us, but the closest major bases are an Air Force base north of Salt Lake City, and then three hundred miles east of here, an army base.”
“Seeing we were going to Salt Lake anyway, the Air Force
base seems the best bet,” said Joel.
Most around him nodded in approval.
“Finish up your coffee. Use the restroom. We leave in ten.” He got to his feet and moved close to Marina. He nodded towards Shannon’s bedroom door. “Now or never.”
She nodded.
It wasn’t long before everyone but Marina and Shannon were in the RV. Marina stood outside her bedroom door. She could hear the young girl moving around inside the medium-sized room and knocked. “Shannon, I know you know we’re about to leave. Please, come with—”
Before she finished, the door opened, and Shannon was standing facing her. She had a backpack over one shoulder of a dark blue jacket, which was covered in cartoon patches, and her long hair tied in a ponytail.
She walked past Marina, walking through the open front door. “Let’s go.”
Marina looked back at the white envelope neatly resting on Shannon’s pillow on her bed, turned, and joined her walking to the RV.
*****
Even the threat of light from the waking star made Copeland feel uneasy. He looked down at the deserted homes of the once thriving neighborhoods, and felt all of his children looking up at him as he soared through the sky towards his compound. Even though some were starving, not having had a drink of fresh blood for days, he felt no pity for them. Those were human emotions, and he definitely wasn’t that anymore.
Just as the glow from the sun peered over the distant mountains, the entrance to his apartment in the Copeland tower swung into view, and he quickly swooped lower until its shadow blocked the sunrise. He immediately felt a weight lift from him, and he landed on the twelfth story balcony, his wings receding into his back. As he walked forward, the specially treated clear polymer door slid back, and he walked into his sanctuary. The temperature inside the series of rooms that made up his abode, was twenty degrees higher than the outside. He found, once he changed, he preferred a climate warmer even than north California’s at the end of summer.
He collapsed onto his large bed. He was tired. He did not need to go out for blood, and he was finding he was having to go further and further to find humans, but the hunt was always worth the effort.
