by Maxey, Phil
Carla offered her a handgun which she took greedily. “Something moves and isn’t Donnie, shoot it.”
“I hear that, Captain.”
“Not a captain.”
“Okay, Captain.”
Carla shook her head. “We can’t send anymore in after you, so go as far as you can in about twenty minutes. If you can’t find Donnie or you come across bad news just come back.”
Kizzy saluted. “Aye, Captain”
Carla sighed. “Be safe, and come back.”
Kizzy replied with a nervous shake of the head.
Carla closed the hatch.
Kizzy fumbled to turn on the light on her hard hat. Her fingers trembled but she eventually flicked the switch and the circular tunnel in front of her lit up. She crouched, moved forward, then stopped.
Why am I crouching?
Even before the question was finished, her muscles and bones began to change form, until she was a few inches smaller. Her hands were also wider, giving her extra grip as she pulled herself forward.
She waddled along the pipe and quickly got to the point where it plunged into the ground.
She looked down into the depths. “Why did I agree to this… Because Kizzy, they know you’re a shape-changing freak that can fit in tunnels.”
She sniffed at the air below her.
“Don’t smell too good.”
She took a step forward and dropped the twenty feet to the lower level. She felt a bone break, but the pain only lasted a second as the fibers knitted back together.
“Ewww… it stinks down here.”
She was pretty sure that wasn’t right for a pipe which fed in fresh water from an aquifer deep in the ground. Or maybe it was. She wasn’t sure.
She continued onwards.
“Donnie?” she shouted. Her voice leaving a strange ringing echo.
There was no response.
She looked at the watch on her hand. Ten minutes had already passed.
She wanted to turn around now, but the young guy might be stuck or something.
She pressed on, quickening her disjointed method of movement. The spiked metal teeth of the pipe breakage came into view of her flashlight.
“So that’s why the water’s stopped. Check.”
She quickly got to the precipice, looking out into a darkness so thick it appeared to push back against her light.
“Yup, not going down there.”
She went to turn around when she heard the sound of mud and rocks falling. Taking a deep breath, she slowly turned, and peered over the edge.
Her light’s beam showed her ten feet of cliff face, and then nothing.
The sound repeated, this time it was more substantial.
Bats? Vampire moles?
Deep down she knew both were equally unlikely.
“Okay, I’m out of here.”
She turned and started to move back down the pipe when the rocks and dirt falling became a cascade. With it came the sound of breathing, multiple layers of wheezing as the lungs of the things in the pit pushed their limbs upwards.
Kizzy moved faster. “So not going in a pipe again…”
She quickly got back to the vertical section and looked up.
“Hell.”
The sound of twisted metal echoed along the darkness to her. She briefly dared to look back, but there was only a wall of black.
Something’s coming.
She sprung upwards, and made it half the way up the entire height, and then threw her legs and arms out gripping the sides. She slid back a little, but then stopped.
The sounds now reaching her from below were grunts… screeches… scuffling things that were trying to reach her.
She reached up with her hands and feet, each side of her in turn finding what dimples and rivets she could in the metal surface.
The volume of hungry creatures now invaded all her senses.
They’re close.
She heaved herself up, and back onto the flat part of the pipe, and half staggered, half ran forward, back to the entrance.
As she did, she hammered on the inside. “I’m coming out!” she repeatedly shouted.
A square of light appeared on the pipe wall ten or so yards ahead of her. She hurtled towards it while a wave of noise came upwards behind her.
She clambered towards the hatch, pulled herself out, and fell onto the floor.
“Cloo… close…” her words fought with her shortness of breath.
Carla looked back at the opening, and then at the pipe at the far end of the room. Something was moving along it.
Grabbing the heavy cylindrical door, she pulled it shut, immediately spinning the wheel and locking it.
A boom rang out against the inside of the hatch, making Carla step backwards. She instinctively raised her gun.
The whole basement was now alive with drumming just a few inches away inside the large pipe.
Carla waved her weapon left and right wondering if the steel would hold.
And then the room fell silent.
Kizzy climbed back to her feet. “Oh… yeah… you got vamps in your water system.”
*****
“Did you see how many?” said Holland to Kizzy. She was leaning back in a chair, only two legs of it on the staff room floor.
“A lot,” she said, tilting back and forward.
Holland looked at the others. “This stays in this room. If people find out about it they’re not going to want to stay, and then we got a bigger problem.”
Carla, Joel, and Anna nodded.
“So, what’s the plan?” said Holland to Carla.
She looked at Joel.
“They can’t be far away. They’re probably in a valley or hidden somewhere out of line of sight.”
Carla looked down at the sketch of the prison again. This time it had a thick red line tracing the water pipe route to the outside. “I say we go take a look at the direction the water pipe goes.”
“Shouldn’t we wait until daylight?” said Anna.
“This can’t wait,” said Joel.
Holland looked at Art. “Get some of the boys ready, we’re—”
Carla shook her head. “No, this needs to be done quietly—”
The older man’s face tightened. “Have you broken into a bank’s vault before?”
“Can’t say I have.”
“Then don’t talk to me about ‘quiet.’” He looked back to Art. “Tell Reaper and Caz they’re up.”
Art nodded and left the room.
“Okay, myself, my team—”
“And me,” said Joel.
“—Joel, and Reaper, and Caz, will leave in twenty. We’ll drive part of the way in one of the pickups, and then hike the rest on foot. The storm should give us good cover.”
“I’ll see if Marina or Evan—”
“Nah-uh,” said Holland. “I want the vamp people to hold down the fort here. If those vamps manage to get out we’re going to need them.”
Joel nodded.
A short while later, Joel looked up at the blanket of light gray shafts falling from the dark heavens. He pulled up his jacket collar around his neck.
Carla passed him an M4 while walking past and getting in the driver’s seat of the pickup. Reaper, Caz, Keller, and Bishop were already in the back, trying to stop a tarpaulin covering them from flying away into the night.
Joel got in, each of the three gates swung open, and they drove onto the country road and headed north.
“This is strictly reconnaissance, got that?” said Carla.
“If Donnie’s there I’m bringing him back,” said Joel, checking the magazine on his rifle.
“The plan is to not be seen. If Donnie is still alive—”
“He’s alive. He’s too valuable to them not to be.”
“—If he’s still alive and goes missing. I think they will know.”
“I’ll make it look like he escaped.”
“Just… take my lead. We go in slow, scope out whatever we find.”
&
nbsp; He looked across to her. “Been doing exactly this kind of work for over a decade. I know what I’m doing.”
She pulled a small paper map from her pocket and tossed it to him. “Found this in the library, it’s a map of the area. Shows some possible spots they could be hiding.”
Joel switched on his pocket flashlight, and moved it across the map. “There’re some hills about six miles to the north of the prison. They’re not high, but they could shield some buildings.”
“Then that’s our first stop.”
The sheets of water battered the front window with the wipers not making much headway. Carla strained to see through the deluge hitting the windscreen.
“Your kind hate the rain as much as we humans do?” she said, trying to keep the pickup from aquaplaning.
“No, we vamps love it.”
She briefly looked at him and caught his smile.
He looked back down at the map. “We should stop up ahead and walk across the fields.”
Moments later, Carla skidded the pickup to a stop and turned the engine off. “Mark where we left the pickup on the map, I don’t want to be wondering around out here. Too easy to fall into one of the canals.”
Joel scratched away at the paper until it frayed, he then put it in his pocket.
The others were already standing outside, resisting the buffeting they were getting best they could.
Carla and Joel fought with the wind, opening their doors at the same time, and got out.
The gusts howled around them as she pointed to the nearby gate and the field beyond.
Most nodded, and they all set out, leaning into the wind.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
Marina looked up at the constant drips of water which fell from the cellblock’s roof. In what used to be the prisoners’ common area, buckets lay scattered trying to catch what rain they could.
Despite there being no windows or skylight above, the sheets of rain battering the prison complex could be clearly heard.
A woman darted out from one of the cells, her form just being visible amongst the light from the few candles that burned on the tables, grabbed a bucket then slid back into the shadows.
“Mom?” said Jess covered in a blanket on a bottom bunk.
Her mother looked back at her. “What is it?”
“How long until the storm passes?”
“Don’t know, maybe—” A crack of thunder played out in the distance and the small window, which was their only view on the world outside, momentarily lit up.
Flint whimpered.
Marina went to walk back inside the cell from the balcony when she heard the sounds of angry voices below her.
She stretched over the guard rail. Three large men stood outside a cell. She couldn’t see who they were shouting at, but they wanted something and the person in the cell wasn’t giving it to them.
She sighed and turned around. “Jess, Jasper, both of you stay here with Flint. I’m going to lock the door—”
Jess’s eyes widened. Her mother stepped inside, sitting on the side of the bed, and placed her hand on her daughter’s knees. “Hey, I’ll just be downstairs. I need to do something, and then I’ll be right up. Just a few minutes. The door will be locked, you’ll be safe.” The window lit up once again, this time the clap never came. “I’ll be right back.”
Marina got up, walked outside, and locked the cell door. The voices rising up from beneath her were now angrier and greater in number. She also heard a child crying.
She went to jump over and drop the fifteen feet to the ground but realized the suicide netting would stop her halfway, so instead she ran the length of the balcony and quickly descended the stairs.
Coming out to the ground floor, there was now a crowd of around ten men, all seemingly wanting whatever was inside the cell they were all facing.
She went to walk towards them when a few of them turned to her.
“Look, fellas, we got one of those freak vamps,” said one of the smaller individuals. A few strands of red hair lay smeared across his scalp which glistened with sweat.
Marina walked forward. “What’s going on here?”
“You ain’t the police, lady,” said another larger man, his shirt a few sizes too small for a gut which threatened to pop the lowermost buttons.
She walked even closer to them. Now more were looking at her. She tried looking into the cell, but those at the door blocked any view inside. “If you want something, maybe I can find it for you. What’s in that cell?”
“It’s not a what, it’s a who!” shouted one of the younger in the crowd.
The balding man walked forward standing a few feet from her. Marina noticed in his hand was a wooden molded pole of some kind. Maybe a chair leg. “You heard about Bee Abbott?” he said.
Marina nodded.
“She was working for those who want in here. Those who want to kill us and our families! The guy in there, he worked for Bee. We just want to have a friendly chat with him!”
“He knows something!” came from someone in the crowd.
Those at the front pushed their way inside the small room, a woman screamed as did a child, while a man pleaded to be left alone. But the crowd had become a mob, and the man was dragged out and thrown to the ground.
Marina went to run to his aid when two men, at least a foot taller than her, blocked her path.
The red-haired man flung his fist at the man on the floor. A crack was followed by a spray of blood.
Without thinking, Marina grabbed hold of the first man then flung him behind her. The other lunged at her, but she was too quick, and ducked beneath his outstretched fingers. When he was leaned forward, she pivoted, pushing into his back, and sending him careering across the smooth floor.
The redheaded man pulled his hand back to thrust it forward once again when his armed stopped moving. At first, he couldn’t understand why, and by the time his brain realized Marina was holding it, she had already pushed him back. He fell against some of the other men who quickly helped him back up.
She turned and went to help the man on the floor when an object connected with her back. This wasn’t a chair leg, but something heavier, a metal pole maybe?
She heard something crumple in her torso, but spun around, her hands now claws, and her eyes black. She grabbed the man who was about to launch another attack and hoisted him high into the air above her. At the back of her mind she heard shouts of ‘Get her!’ and heard the thundering steps cascading towards her, but she just wanted to enjoy the blood of the man whose life was slowly ebbing away between her fingers.
A gunshot echoed around the walls and bars, and everyone froze.
Holland lowered his gun to his side. Standing next to him was one of his people and a young guy.
The former camp boss walked forward to the man with a lack of hair. The man went to talk, but before the second word left his mouth, Holland slapped him across his lips instantly cutting them. The man held his mouth in shock then stepped backwards.
“Some of you might know that I used to live in these very hallowed halls.” He pointed up to the back corner of the second floor. “Just up there. I used to pace up and down that balcony, watching the others do their deals. All under my say, of course. And you know what? Those rapists, murderers, and pieces of shit controlled themselves better than all you idiots.”
He walked past the man with the busted lip and stood near the one who was still on the floor. He looked down. Marina, now with human eyes and appendages, readied herself. “This man that you all think is a spy don’t know shit. Bee was working alone. And you know how I know that?” He continued as some asked under their breaths how he did. “Because—” he pointed to Amos. “That boy can read minds. He probably knows which hands you all use to jerk off with each morning just by looking at you.”
Marina stifled her smile.
Holland looked back at his guard. “Get this guy cleaned up in the medical place.” He looked at the crowd. “The rest of you, stop wasting
my time and get back to your damn cells!”
Everyone started filtering away.
Marina leaned over, slightly grimacing.
Holland looked at her. “Maybe you might want to go too.”
She shook her head. “I’m fine. I heal quick.”
Holland smiled, walked a few feet then stopped and looked back. “You ever need any work. Come talk to me.” He turned and walked to the door, taking Amos with him.
*****
Will this rain ever stop.
Joel wiped the drops from the binocular lenses, then looked through them again resting his elbow on a trunk of a tree.
The others were crouched behind various other trees to his left and right, while Carla was by his side. “What can you see?” she said, raising her voice to be heard over the incessant howling.
There were no external lights, but the interior lights seeped through the gaps in the doors and from the skylights on the roof. Within the glows shadows moved.
“Not much. Need to get closer.”
She looked at the others nearby. “We’ll split into three teams. Keller, Bishop, go into the parking lot, see if you can hot-wire any of the Humvees, and disable the others.” She looked to Holland’s men. “You two, you think you can disable the two choppers?” They nodded. “Me and Joel will try and see what’s in the buildings.”
Each person nodded. Keller and Bishop waited for a gust of wind to cover any noise and ran forward, down the bank, and onto the concrete. Reaper and Caz followed quickly behind, moving along the bank then across the lot to the first aircraft.
Carla went to set off when Joel grabbed her arm. “I want to see if there are any excavations, any tunnels.”
She nodded, and they moved down the slope and over the sodden mud and grass, trying to keep their balance as the storm did its best to bowl them over.
Joel slid and kept going, finally stopping when he hit the concrete. He crouched catlike, making sure his fall didn’t alert anyone. His ears picked up multiple voices inside the closest building. He swung around, scouring the darkness for any signs of holes in the ground and immediately spotted a gaping mass of black, tens of yards away, halfway up the bank.
