by Maxey, Phil
“Why’s that bad?” said Hardin.
Marina turned around to face him. “They’re asking to see the group of people who recently arrived.”
A low drone of confused whispers filled the room as people wondered what was happening.
“How do they know we’re even here?” said Anna.
By now, Joel and his group could feel Lucian’s gaze as he exchanged words with Vince.
Lucian stepped forward. “Settle down. There are people at the main gate. I’m going to see what they want.”
“What kind of people? Are they from the government?” said a sinewy older man.
Other questions blurted out from the increasingly agitated audience.
Lucian held his hands up. “There’s no need to be troubled over this. Whoever they are, the good Lord would have sent them here for a reason.”
Vince walked to Joel and the others. They didn’t need to be asked. They all stood and walked into the central aisle.
“Is this because of them?” said a woman with a baby on her lap.
Lucian walked along the aisle. “Everyone stay here until this matter is resolved. There is no need for anyone to be concerned.”
Lucian, Vince, Joel, and the others quickly walked through the doorway at the back of the hall. The doors were closed behind them.
Lucian whipped around to face Joel and the others. “I told you not to give away our location!”
Joel stood his ground. “Your man was there—” he briefly looked at Vince. “—He heard and saw everything we did. Ask him if we gave away anything! We couldn’t even reach anyone to talk to.”
Lucian’s features were strained. “Then how do they know you are here!”
Joel looked confused. “What do you mean? I thought they just asked for the most recent newcomers, that could be—”
Lucian leaned in closer. “They asked for who was not fully vamp, or human!”
A number of thoughts raced through Joel’s mind. He wasn’t lying when he said they contacted nobody, but he couldn’t think of any other direct way that anyone could have been tracking them across the country. Images of Gabe’s distorted face talking to him, and Shannon’s boyfriend doing the same jumped into his mind.
Could the vamps have been tracking me?
He felt Bill’s hand on his arm, and they stepped back away from Lucian and his men.
Bill leaned in to him. “I don’t like this, Joel. Whoever they are, there’s a reason they tracked you here, and it’s probably not good for you or any of us.”
Joel nodded, while Marina and Anna joined them.
“Could it be Copeland’s people?” said Marina.
“There’s only one way to find out,” said Joel. He walked back to Lucian. “I’m going to go out to the gate and find out what’s going on. I don’t want to bring any trouble to this place, you have my word.”
Lucian frowned, then sighed, nodding to Vince to go with Joel.
The two men left, walking out into the cool night air and Joel got in the passenger’s seat of a pickup, while Vince drove. The journey to the gate took less than a minute.
A row of chiseled high wooden posts formed the wall, with struts up against them. Each post was covered in carved crucifixes. Guard towers stood every fifty feet, lit with burning torches and wooden crosses mounted on their roofs. Directly in front of the pickup, a large wooden double gate sat directly on top of the road surface.
Joel could see the towers were manned with one or two men and women, their rifles all pointed in the same direction beyond the wall.
Vince stopped the pickup near the gate, and got out with Joel. Vince then nodded to two more guards who heaved a solid-looking plank of wood up and away from the gates, and then pulled one of them open a few feet. They then all looked at Joel.
He went to feel for his handgun, then realized he wasn’t carrying it anymore. He walked forward, slipping through the gap between the gates.
Immediately, the glare of headlights blocked his vision. He held his hand up to try and see what was beyond. Quickly, he recognized the familiar shape of a military vehicle. Two men in fatigues stood to one side of it, their M4s in their hands, while another man stood on the opposite side. He was unarmed, but Joel could tell from his stance he was in charge. The man leaned back into the Humvee for a few moments before backing out and walking forward.
Joel did the same. They stopped a few yards from each other.
“Who are you?” said Joel.
“My name is Levi Corvin. I’m a former Captain in the Navy, but now I work for—”
“The Copeland Corporation.”
Corvin briefly smiled. “It’s good we are both on the same page. Saves time. You know why I’m here?”
“I have no idea.” That was a lie. He had a few.
“The man I work for wants you to come back with me—”
Joel smiled. “If you hadn’t noticed the world came to an end some months back. Why would I care what some rich guy wants me to do?”
Corvin took a step forward. “I know you’re different. You’re a vamp… but not like the others. And that’s important. Mr. Copeland wants to own that IP.”
Joel wasn’t sure if they knew he wasn’t the only one anymore.
If I go with them, the others should be safe here.
Before the idea of going with Corvin could leave Joel’s mouth, the former Captain took another step forward. Joel stood his ground.
Corvin leaned in, until he was uncomfortably close. “And I’m going to want the suitcase.”
A wave of shock washed over Joel, which he wasn’t able to fully mask. “What case?”
Corvin stood back and smiled. “Joel, what happened to being on the same page? I’m going to need that suitcase… and you. If you do that, then I’ll leave this little town of crazies alone.”
A tinge of anger ran down Joel’s spine. “I have to retrieve it. It’s hidden. I’ll go find it and return, then we can leave. Until then, you’ll leave this place be?”
Corvin smiled. “Not one hair will be harmed on any of these good people’s scalps.”
Joel nodded. “I’ll be back in an hour.” He then turned and walked inside the gate, which closed securely behind him. He walked up to Vince. “Get me back to Lucian.”
*****
Lucian paced up and down outside the meeting hall as Vince pulled up. A group of five of his guards as well as Bill, Anna, and Marina stood on the sidewalk nearby.
Lucian walked to Joel as soon as he got out of the pickup. “Did you take care of it?”
Joel looked rueful. It had only been a few minutes’ drive back from the gate but that was enough time for him to come up with a plan.
“Bad news. They are going from town to town, rounding up hybrids. They are shipping them all up north to some kind of detention center.”
A look of horror came on Lucian’s face and lingered as he looked away. “Ain’t no way the government’s going to be taking me anywhere.” He looked at Vince. “I want every inch of the walls monitored. Double the patrols.”
Vince looked unsure.
“What?”
“We are already stretched as it is.”
“Just do it!”
Vince nodded and waved to the group of guards nearby, who ran and got in the pickup, which then pulled away.
Lucian looked back to Joel. “You just saw the one vehicle?”
Before Joel could reply, Lucian looked up at the dark sky. “They got them flying robots, high in the sky. I bet they’re watching us right now!”
“You can be sure there’s more than just the one Humvee. How many, I have no idea, but they wouldn’t have come here unless they felt they could take what they want by force.”
Lucian’s face changed to one of confusion. “Did they say why the hybrids are important to them?”
“Something about wanting to understand how we are different.”
Lucian frowned and shook his head. “Sounds like some scientist stuff.”
&
nbsp; “What weapons do you have?”
“Just what the guards have and a few boxes of extra ammo. That kind of stuff is hard to come by now.”
Marina overhearing the conversation, stepped forward. “We might not be able to match them with weapons, but they don’t have five hybrids.”
Lucian nodded with a grin.
“I haven’t told you this yet, but I’m a former FBI agent. In one of the tactical teams. If you’re willing to let me help, we can get through this,” said Joel.
Lucian looked at him more closely. “Always knew there was something about you. So, Mr. FBI, how we going to stop ourselves from being taken?”
Joel could hear the conversations going on inside the hall, and the smell of fear drifted on the breeze. Most of the inhabitants of Haven were not cut out to fight, especially not against trained individuals from the Copeland Corporation. He needed to avoid a confrontation between the townspeople and the soldiers, but unless he gave them what they wanted, that was not going to happen.
“Well?” said Lucian.
“We need to keep the people of this town safe. Have any of these buildings got a large basement?”
“Where you were being kept, the school does.”
“Get them into the basement.” He turned to Marina and the others. “Mary, Hardin, Bill, and Jessica, you need to go with them.”
Marina pulled Jess closer to her. “She’s not leaving my side, Joel.”
He looked directly into her eyes. “We need you, and if she’s with you she’s going to be in danger.”
Marina sighed.
Shannon put her arm around Jess’s shoulder. “I’ll make sure she’s okay.”
Marina forced a smile, then knelt next to her daughter. “You’re going to go with Shannon, Bill, and the others. You’ll be safe in the basement, okay?” She looked at Flint looking up at her. “And you also got Flint.”
Jess flung her arms around her mother, and then let go, nodding.
Lucian emerged from the hall with the people behind him, most of which gave Joel and the others dirty looks. As they all filed past, led by Lucian and moving quickly towards the school a few blocks away, Shannon, Jess, and the other humans took one final look back at the hybrids, then joined those walking away.
Joel, Marina, Anna, and Evan stepped closer together.
“So, what’s the plan?” said Marina.
“First, we need to know what we’re up against,” said Joel.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Marina threw both of her hands out to grab the side of the small wooden boat which wobbled from side to side. “You sure you don’t want to use your flashlight?” she said to the elderly man still on the bank.
He waved at her. “I’ve been taking Bessie out since before you were born, young lady. I just need the stars above us and I can take you anywhere you want to go.”
“Well, thank you, Oliver.”
The thin man with a fishing cap on stepped into the boat and sat. “Thank me by getting those men away from our town!”
“That’s the plan.”
“And call me Ollie, everyone else does.”
“Will do.”
Evan, who was seated next to Marina, went to take the oars when Ollie grabbed them first. “And you know where to go, young man?”
“Err… no…”
Ollie frowned, then started to pull back and forth with the long wooden sticks. The boat slowly pulled away against the gentle waves.
“So, what makes you think they ain’t watching the lake?” said Ollie.
Marina scanned the far shores. There were no lights, and even though she wasn’t sure how far her audible senses stretched, she felt confident if there were any vehicles’ engines running, she would have heard them. “Can’t see any.”
Ollie scrunched his face up. “Can’t see any? How can you see anything?”
“Oh, umm, I’ve always had really good vision.”
“Right…”
They started to move around the headland and towards the center of the lake. Ollie rested the oars on the side of the boat. “Not as young as I used to be. Just need a short break,” he said breathlessly.
Marina went to take the oars herself when she heard voices. Her head twitched and she turned around in the boat to face the direction they were coming from.
“What you hearing?” said Ollie.
She strained her eyes into the dark, towards a group of buildings which sat along the shore. “What’s over there?”
“Where? I can’t see.”
She took his hand and moved it so it was pointing where the noises were coming from.
Ollie looked up at the stars, then back down. “That was Tom Hensen’s farm. Unfortunately, he and his family never made it. Why? Is that where you want to go?”
“I think that’s where the government people are…” She picked up the oars and started rowing. Ollie and Evan fell back a bit in their seats.
“Steady there,” said the older man.
“You might want to hold on.”
Oliver did, and they were soon moving against the wind, although that made no difference to Marina.
After a few minutes, she stopped, and let the boat drift. The southern shore and the buildings were now just a few hundred feet away, and she could see lights inside the two barns that sat in front of a large farm house. She also saw the Humvees parked.
She took her radio from her jacket and clicked it on. “Found them. They’re about two miles due south of the main gate, in some farm buildings. Over.”
“How many? Over.” Came Joel’s voice from the speaker.
“I see seven Humvees. Hard to say how many soldiers… actually, I think there's someone on the shoreline. Someone small, sitting. Shall we proceed? Over.”
There was a short pause before Joel’s voice came from the radio’s speaker. “If each vehicle had a full complement of people, that’s a lot of soldiers… but I don’t see what choice we’ve got. Get to shore and wait for the signal. Over.”
Inside the now almost completely empty meeting hall, Joel slid the radio back into his jacket pocket and looked at his watch.
Anna entered the hall and walked up the center aisle, placing the silver suitcase on the first of the pew seats. Her fingers shook as she looked back at Joel. “You sure there's no other way? Can't we just leave. If Marina and Evan made it out on the boat, then maybe—”
Joel held his hand up. “If we leave, there’s no telling what they will do to this town. We have to take care of this, here and now.”
“I don’t know if I can do it…”
“For this to work, it’s going to need all of us. Just remember, they only know about me. Lucian is sure it will explode on opening?”
She sighed, then nodded.
On the shoreline, tens of yards from Tom Hensen’s farmhouse, sat a young boy. He could feel the two vampire humans way off in the middle of the lake, watching him, without being aware he was doing the same to them. He knew there were others in the town too.
Since his change, his other senses had improved. He could now see in the dark, and smell and hear things he never could before, but that wasn’t what impressed the founder of the Copeland Corporation. For that was because of a sense that the boy hardly knew he had, but the Copeland’s scientists discovered. An ability that allowed him to link to other vampires. A piece of cloth, or, even better, some blood was all it took, and his mind was chained to theirs. Although they never knew it, for this was just a one-way deal.
As he listened to the waves lapping the shore, ignoring the laughing soldiers in the barns nearby, he wondered if he should tell Captain Corvin about the others. Did he need to know? He was asked to help find just the one. The man that took the suitcase. And soon that man will be coming back with them. The boy picked up a pebble and threw it into the lake.
*****
Joel took in a deep breath, then nodded to the guards to pull one of the wooden gates open. Red and yellow flames reflected in the small silver su
itcase in his hand, and he calmly walked through the opening and out onto the street beyond. Waiting for him was a Humvee with two soldiers, but no sign of Corvin.
He wasn’t expecting the Captain anyway.
One of the soldiers opened the rear door, to which Joel walked and climbed in the back.
Anna, with those of Lucian’s people that were posted along the wall, watched as the Humvee turned around, then headed off into the dark. She quickly climbed down the ladder, then ran out beyond the gate.
Joel looked at the soldier next to him and the one driving. Despite the lack of light inside the cabin he could see them fairly well. Judging by their steady heartbeats and fixed expressions these weren’t new recruits, but battle-hardened veterans. Mercenaries.
Even though that made what he was about to do somewhat easier, he still had an emptiness in the bottom of his stomach.
The journey to the farm took less than a minute.
Two curved roof barns sat perpendicular to each other, and were covered in gray rusting sheet metal, while opposite them both was a single-story brick built residence. An orange glow came from the windows and fires burned inside two barrels outside the barns. There were soldiers everywhere. Joel sighed on seeing most had night vision goggles, but it was to be expected.
As the Humvee drove up a gravel path, he stilled his mind trying to locate the others. Searching from heartbeat to heartbeat, he finally came across one he recognized, but it was in the wrong place. It was inside the house.
Were they discovered?
Just before the rear door was opened, he scanned the area once more, this time two more signature pounding noises came to him, and these were to his left, just behind one of the barns.
His door was opened and a soldier stood waiting. Keeping the suitcase close to him, he followed the soldier towards the light of the house and into the first of just five rooms it contained.
Two soldiers sat on a ragged orange sofa, while others filled the living room, drinking. To his right, three more soldiers sat at a kitchen table.
Out of the gloom of the hallway, walked Corvin, with a child.
No… Why is…
